BII REPORT: Mobile Gaming's App Store Success - Business Insider


mobile gamesGaming is one of the fastest-growing usage categories in mobile, with huge growth seen in Apple's iOS and Google's Android platforms.

In particular,?social?mobile gaming, enabled by always-connected smartphones and?the "freemium" revenue model, is particularly strong.

BI Intelligence?has?produced?a new report on Mobile Gaming,?taking a look at the size of the mobile gaming market, exploring the demographics of mobile gamers, analyzing the successful pricing, business, and monetization strategies of mobile gaming apps, and handicapping the future prospects for mobile gaming developers.

Access The Full Report By Signing Up For A Free Trial Today >>

Here's a brief breakdown of current Mobile Gaming dynamics:

In full, the?report?examines:

To access BI Intelligence's full report on Mobile Gaming, sign up for a free trial subscription here.

?

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/bii-report-mobile-gamings-app-store-success-2012-9

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Effect of body mass index on blood pressure varies by race among children

ScienceDaily (Sep. 21, 2012) ? Obesity in black children more severely impacts blood pressure than in white children who are equally overweight, according to a new study presented at the American Heart Association's High Blood Pressure Research 2012 Scientific Sessions.

Researchers examined the effect of age and body weight on blood pressure in children at an obesity clinic. While age and body weight were similar among black and white patients, black children had significantly higher blood pressure compared to their white counterparts.

On average, the black children's blood pressure was 8 percent higher than white children. This suggests that obesity affects blood pressure more in black children. The researchers said further research is needed to better understand this race-specific effect, as it could lead to better care and more targeted prevention strategies against high blood pressure in black children.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Indiana University Purdue University Signature Center Initiative.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Heart Association.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


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.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/heart_disease/~3/5W9Fwvlp0jo/120921140258.htm

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Endeavour flies in final air show

Nasa's shuttle Endeavour flying piggy-back on a Boeing 747 over the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco

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Endeavour flies over some of California's landmarks

US space shuttle Endeavour has flown by California landmarks in a final air show before it heads for display in Los Angeles.

Piggy-backing on a modified Boeing 747 jet, the 75-ton ship flew past the California state capitol, Golden Gate Bridge and the Hollywood sign.

The shuttle appeared over San Francisco at around 09:30 local time (16:00 GMT) and Los Angeles some two hours later.

It is the youngest shuttle from a fleet that includes Atlantis and Discovery.

Endeavour replaced the shuttle Challenger, which was destroyed in an accident in 1986 that killed seven astronauts.

In service since 1992, it has made 25 trips, logged 123m miles (198m km) in space and circled the globe almost 4,700 times.

'Grand style'

The space ship's four-and-a-half hour flyover began at 08:15 local time, when it took off from Edwards Air Force Base in California, according to Nasa.

It began by travelling north to Sacramento, the state capital, and San Francisco.

From there, Endeavour turned south and passed over Nasa's Ames Research Center and the Vandenberg Air Force Base as it flew towards Los Angeles.

After 11:30 local time, Endeavour appeared over the city's landmarks, including Disneyland, the Getty Center, Universal Studios and Malibu Beach.

It then landed at Los Angeles International Airport.

"We're so excited to be welcoming Endeavour home in grand style with these flyovers," said Jeffrey Rudolph, president of the California Science Center, where the shuttle will appear on display.

In mid-October, Endeavour will parade through the streets of Los Angeles as it makes its way to the California Science Center.

Los Angeles has ordered 400 trees to be cut down and hundreds of utility poles, street lights and traffic lights are to be temporarily removed to let the space shuttle pass through neighbourhood streets.

There are plans for 1,000 new trees to be planted to replace those felled.

Endeavour will be on display from 30 October.

The shuttle departed from Florida's Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday, stopping in Houston, Texas, home to Mission Control and the astronauts.

Atlantis is to remain on display at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, while Discovery was moved earlier in the year to a Smithsonian museum near Washington DC.

The shuttle prototype, Enterprise, has been put on display in New York City.

Last year, Nasa retired the three ships in its fleet after finishing the US portion of the $100bn (?61bn) International Space Station, a permanently staffed research facility that is owned by 15 countries and flies about 250 miles (402km) above earth.

The closure of the programme was ordered by the White House, so the space agency could devote more resources to destinations beyond low-earth orbit, such as asteroids and Mars.

Nasa is not expected to launch any crewed missions before 2021.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19677972#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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New-Fangled Bicycle Helmets: Not Just Brain Buckets Anymore

There is no denying that serious cyclists adopt some very specific forms of fashion. The jerseys and shorts are tight-fitting to reduce drag, gloves are worn both to provide padding while gripping the handlebars and to protect hands during a crash, and shoes are a fashion statement all of their own. But one piece of equipment has become somewhat ubiquitous: the helmet.

Source: http://ectnews.com.feedsportal.com/c/34520/f/632000/s/23ab8a65/l/0L0Stechnewsworld0N0Crsstory0C7620A80Bhtml/story01.htm

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Let's Welcome to LCM Blog ? Our newest DIY Contributors!

Hello new friends, and readers!

I am so beyond excited to be blogging for Lilac City Momma, and to be able to reach out to a whole new group of people whom I can share all my fun Mommy adventures with! My name is Caroline, and I am a 24 year-old Mom from Spokane, WA. I have lived in 15 different states, but I love calling the Pacific Northwest my new home. I can tell you one thing, I?ve never seen so many seasons!

I have a 2 year old little boy named Hunter, who is my reason for getting out of bed every day, and why I?m so thankful for, (no matter how crazy), our little family at night. Being a SAHM is grueling sometimes, and I?ve worked hard to fill our family home with memories. I grew up in a house full of DIY?ers, antique furniture, good food, and family. Being raised in the South, it was sort of ingrained in my identity to be a do-it-all kind of woman. Thankfully I?m not, because I have learned so much and have so much more to learn.

My main hobbies are DIY, crafting, and baking, to fill my time when I?m not on 24 hour Mommy duty. I love traveling, all over the U.S.A, and bringing things home from my travels to add to our menagerie. I collect old records, any genre, because I adore album artwork and liner notes. My greatest accomplishments are mostly projects that I?ve completed myself, and I am definitely in the school that,one man?s trash is another man?s treasure. I truly believe that anyone can do it with a little effort, and I have tons of tips/tricks to share that I?ve picked up along the way. (Remember, this is coming from a girl who before she was married, or a Mommy, could burn a pot of boiling water and had no idea what a Michael?s even looked like!)

I hope that I can share with everyone along with the mishaps, the sweet satisfaction that comes from completing projects that can make a house your home while doing it on a budget.

Thank you so much for reading. I can?t wait to share my adventures with you, with my own little side of Southern hospitality!

- Caroline

I am a busy Midwest Momma of 3 amazing daughters, and a wife to one of Indianapolis? greatest Paramedics!! I work full time as a Momma, and a Medical Assistant. I work for a busy Family Practice MD (by the way is the most amazing person inside and out), who practices semi-alternative medicine. I believe in what I practice, I see the outcomes everyday, of taking care of yourself, does really pay off. As someone who has food allergies and sensitivities, everyday is a struggle to eat well. I have been quite ?crafty? with food. Re-thinking everyday meals, and making them gluten free, and delish!! I am excited to share some of my ?secret? recipes!

I love, love, love, photography, especially black and white. My daughters are my inspiration! I always have a camera with me, either my Nikon (love), or my phone (which does take pretty amazing pics). My husband is always saying, ?enough Allison?, well, I do not think you can EVER have enough photo?s. I just want to always have permanent memories. I want my girls to always have visual memories, so someday they can look back and say, ?Oh yeah, I remember that!!? You never know when it is going to be your last photo.

I Love to craft, re-purpose, sew, anything. Sometimes I think Goodwill and Hobby Lobby are my second homes. Really I have thought about working at both stores, but I know my direct deposit, would be actually be a direct withdrawal! In between softball practices, laundry, and cooking, I always find time to be crafty. Always find time to sit and sew, or re-purpose something. The girls and I could spend hours ?craftin? and we take over much of the front room/kitchen when we do to!!

I am so excited to be a contributor on Lilac City Momma!! I am looking forward to many new adventures that lie ahead with all of you!!

- Allison

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If you enjoyed this post, don't forget to share it with friends & family. Thank you, I appreciate your support!

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Source: http://lilaccitymomma.com/2012/09/lets-welcome-to-lcm-blog-our-newest-diy-contributors/

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From the White House, 1986 - Independent American Party

From James E. Faust?s 1987 talk entitled ?Will I be Happy?? (scroll down for YouTube video of this talk)

As we come to the closing minutes of this great conference, our souls are subdued and lifted by the inspiring messages of counsel and hope we have heard.? I come prayerfully to this pulpit?not to judge, but to teach and to caution.

Recently I saw on the wall of a stake president?s office in Brisbane, Australia, a picture of a sad-faced little girl.? Above the picture was written ?Will I Be Happy??? I suppose everyone in the world could ask that question: ?Will I be happy??? The Savior himself prayed that all of his disciples ?might have ? joy fulfilled in themselves? (John 17:13).

I wish to speak of a hope that children will know a future filled with some happiness and peace.? No gift bestowed upon us is so precious as children.? They are proof that God still loves us.? They are the hope of the future.

In today?s world, I cannot help wondering, Who will love them enough to help them be happy?? Who will love them enough to teach them faith and moral values?? They must learn so much more than survival and self-gratification.? There is such a great need for the teaching of the heart and not enough of the civilizing part of education.? Where will children learn virtue?? Who will care for them enough to mold their moral character?? How can they become humane, kind, and happy and make life richer for themselves and others?

This teaching of the next generation is not easy in a society where many fundamental beliefs are disappearing.? Deadly mass marketing challenges almost every cherished human value.? Excessive permissiveness under the banner of individual freedom is one driving force behind this.? Reaching a public consensus on what values should be taught to the next generation is almost impossible.? People strongly disagree about almost everything.? Social restraints are weakened.

This means we will have to teach our children a life-style of our own and provide moral anchors in the sea of self-indulgence, self-interest, and self-service in which they float.

How can this tide of wrong values be reversed?? Can anything be done to combat these challenges?? May I suggest three ways to increase the hope that the next generation will grow up with a greater chance to find some continued happiness.

First, adults need to understand, and our children should be taught, that private choices are not private; they all have public consequences.

There is a popular notion that doing our own thing or doing what feels good is our own business and affects no one but us. The deadly scourges that are epidemic all over the world have flourished in the context of this popular notion. But this is simply not true.

All immoral behavior directly impacts society. Even innocent people are affected. Drug and alcohol abuse have public consequences, as do illegitimacy, pornography, and obscenity. The public cost in human life and tax dollars for these so-called private choices is enormous: poverty, crime, a less-educated work force, and mounting demands for government spending to fix problems that cannot be fixed by money. It simply is not true that our private conduct is our own business. Our society is the sum total of what millions of individuals do in their private lives. That sum total of private behavior has worldwide public consequences of enormous magnitude. There are no completely private choices.

Second, adults and children need to know that public and private morality is not outmoded. We need to love our children enough to teach them that laws, policies, and public programs with a moral and ethical basis are necessary for the preservation of a peaceful, productive, compassionate, and happy society. Without the qualities and characteristics of integrity, honesty, commitment, loyalty, respect for others, fidelity, and virtue, a free and open society cannot endure.

Elder Dallin H. Oaks recently responded to those who say, ?Don?t legislate morality.?? Said Elder Oaks: ?I suppose persons who mouth that familiar slogan think they are saying something profound.? In fact, if that is an argument at all, it is so superficial that an educated person should be ashamed to use it.? As should be evident to every thinking person, a high proportion of all legislation has a moral base.? That is true of the criminal law, most of the laws regulating family relations, businesses, and commercial transactions, many of the laws governing property, and a host of others? (?Gambling?Morally Wrong and Politically Unwise,? transcript of an address given at Ricks College, 6 Jan. 1987, p. 20).

Until recently, ethics and moral philosophy were the foundation of higher education.? They were a legacy passed from generation to generation.? Those values are as relevant today as when they were taught by Aristotle.? Said he, ?Man perfected by society is the best of all animals; he is the most terrible of all when he lives without law, and without justice? (Politics, 1.1253a, 31?34).? Therefore, public and private morality need much greater emphasis everywhere.

The third, and most important, way to prepare our children for some lasting happiness is to fortify the family.? For centuries the family was the bedrock of this and many other nations.? It was the glue that held society together.? Now many families are in trouble, and the glue is coming unstuck.? As a result, many children are bewildered: they are growing physically but lack the support system, the disciplined moral framework, and the love and understanding that a strong family can provide.

It is in a home and with a family that values are usually acquired, traditions are fostered, and commitments to others are established. There are really no adequate substitutes. Church, school, and government programs can only reinforce and supplement that which is acquired at home.

To strengthen the family, the morals of human sexuality need to be restored.? Bryce Christensen recently wrote, ?Children who have watched parents treat one another with affection and courtesy already understand more about the relationship between the sexes than they will ever learn from any class in reproductive physiology? (The Family in America, Mar. 1987, 1:3).

By the word of the Lord, all men and women are to practice chastity before marriage and fidelity after marriage.? ?Thou shalt not commit adultery,? said the Lord (Ex. 20:14).? The Apostle Paul was more explicit in his epistle to the Corinthians (see 1 Cor. 6:9).

Alternatives to the legal and loving marriage between a man and a woman are helping to unravel the fabric of human society.? That fabric, of course, is the family.? These so-called alternative life-styles cannot be accepted as right because they frustrate God?s commandment for a life-giving union of male and female within a legal marriage (see Gen. 1:28).? If practiced by all adults, these life-styles would mean the end of family.

The scriptures clearly and consistently condemn all sex relations outside of legal marriage as morally wrong.? Why is this so?? It is so because God said so.? It is so because we are made in the image of God, male and female (see Gen. 1:27).? We are his spirit children.? We were with him in the beginning.? Bringing to pass our exaltation is his work and glory.? We are directed to be the children of light.? We are heirs to eternal life.? The Spirit gives light to every man and woman who comes into the world.

What values can be taught most effectively in the home?? By commandment, parents are to teach their children faith in Christ, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost.? At home, in the warm security of discipline and love, we learn the values that never change.? We learn the differences between right and wrong, as well as self-discipline, self-mastery, personal responsibility, all of the essentials of good character, concern for others, and civil manners.

Values, public as well as private, cannot last very long without being regenerated and sustained by religious belief; they are a matter of continued renewal.? An awakening of faith and belief in religious values is essential.? Family teachings are encouraged by the Church, and the Church, in turn, through its covenants and ordinances, unifies the eternal family.

Some say families can?t do the job because so many people just do not have families.? It is true that a great many do not have a functioning family.? Or it is said that too many families fail.? Unfortunately, that is also true.? However, with all its shortcomings, the family is far and away the greatest social unit, the best answer to human problems, in the history of mankind.? Rather than further weaken family ties, they need to be strengthened?? I would urge overburdened parents to accept every help.? Cannot grandparents, brothers and sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends also reinforce by example and precept their love and concern for members of the extended family?

My Aunt Angie has hand made 175 quilts for her children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and others.? They are works of art; but more important, each is a labor of love.? She can say to a member of her extended family, as she presents a specially made quilt, ?Except when I pricked my finger, with every stitch I thought of my love for you.?

Good family life seems to have little to do with whether we are in affluent or humble circumstances.? All over the world the poor have good, resilient families.? They do their best to raise their children and be good neighbors; they are ?money-poor? but ?value-wealthy.?? Family problems seem to fall on both the wealthy and the impoverished.

The White House Conference on Families reports that ?Good families, rich or poor or in between, provide encouragement and support to their children, but no excuses.? They teach character.? They insist upon standards.? They demand respect.? They require performance? (The White House Report on the Family, Nov. 1986, p. 32).

The White House Report on the Family continues:

?For most ? life is not a matter of legislative battles, judicial decrees and executive decisions.? It is a fabric of helping hands and good neighbors; bedtime stories and shared prayers; loving-packed lunchboxes and household budget balancing; tears wiped away and a precious heritage passed along; it is hard work and a little put away for the future.? In a healthy society, heroes are the men, women, children who hold the world together one home at a time; the parents and grandparents who forgo pleasures, delay purchases, foreclose options, and commit most of their lives to the noblest undertaking of citizenship; raising children who, resting on the shoulders of the previous generation, will see farther than we and reach higher? (pp. 8?9).

Troubled as many homes may be in our society, we cannot abandon the home as the primary teacher of moral values.? Nowhere else will moral values be taught so effectively.? As Brigham Young counseled, we must teach children ?by faith rather than by the rod, leading them kindly by good example into all truth and holiness? (Journal of Discourses, 12:174).

There is a deep private and public need to retrieve for the children the comfort of belief and of belonging.? The products of wealth, technology, and science all fail to satisfy inner spiritual hungering.

Without turning back to the word of our Creator, no one is wise enough to sort out what ethical, spiritual, and moral values should be taught to the next generation, and to their children, and to their children?s children.

There is reason for hope.? More people seem to recognize that public solutions are not as effective as family solutions.? Some authority seems to be returning to the head of the home.? But, most important, I see many adults, mostly parents and grandparents, who are ?crazy about kids.?? If in the process we can bring back into our lives and into our homes sacred spiritual and moral truths, we will reclaim a sacred and precious part of our heritage.

Someone must love the children enough to do this.? Then, if it is done everywhere, to the boys and girls who ask ?Will I be happy?? we can answer: ?Of course! You are going to be happy, and even more.? If you keep the covenants and commandments of God, you will have the joy promised by the Savior when he walked upon the earth.? You will have peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come,? which is the ultimate message.? In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Source: http://www.independentamericanparty.org/2012/09/from-the-white-house-1986-heroes-hold-the-world-together-one-home-at-a-time/

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Wal-Mart will stop selling Amazon.com Kindles

(AP) ? Wal-Mart Stores is phasing out selling Amazon.com's Kindle tablet and e-readers, the world's largest retailer said Thursday.

Wal-Mart says the decision was made as part of its overall merchandising strategy to offer a broad assortment of products at low prices. Wal-Mart Stores will continue to sell a range of tablets and e-book readers, including Apple's iPad, the Barnes & Noble's Nook, and devices from Samsung, Sony and others.

The move echoes Target Corp.'s decision to stop offering the Kindle in May after selling it for two years following a merchandise review.

Wal-Mart spokeswoman Sarah Spencer says the Bentonville, Ark., company will continue to sell its existing inventory of Kindles until it is depleted.

Amazon.com, based in Seattle, declined to comment.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-09-20-US-Wal-Mart-Stores-Kindle/id-ecf0f2bd780543009e620125d013974e

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Nevada leans on colleges to solve economic crisis

Courtesy R. Marsh Starks / UNLV Photo Services

The campus at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, which would be affected by a dramatic proposed change in the way the state's public universities are funded.

By Jon Marcus, The Hechinger Report

LAS VEGAS ? Just off the graveyard shift,?Aaron Starks refuels with coffee in the early-morning quiet of the student union at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, steeling himself for his classes in electrical engineering.

Starks, who?s 27 and raising a 19-month-old daughter, is in his third year at UNLV, persevering in the face of not only sleeplessness but deep state budget cuts that have forced courses to be canceled, programs eliminated, faculty furloughed and services exasperatingly scaled back ? all while tuition has soared.

Many other students in Nevada, however, are giving up. In this world-famous gaming capital, the odds are stacked against them. Just 36 percent earn their four-year degrees within even six years, a smaller proportion than in any state except Alaska. And as tuition rises, enrollment has been falling. That, accompanied by an exodus of college-educated workers, has further shrunk the proportion of 25- to 34-year-olds in this state with degrees, already the lowest in the country.

When Starks is finished, he intends to leave, too.

?I don?t anticipate staying in Nevada,? he says. ?If I find the right job, sure. But what I would like to do isn?t here.?


Can colleges lead the state?
A poster child for the financial predicament in which public colleges and universities find themselves ? and the degree to which education is connected to economic vitality in 21st-century America ? Nevada is now proposing a dramatic turnaround under which it hopes this same battered public higher-education system will help lead it out of economic crisis.

By changing the formula under which colleges and universities are funded, policymakers plan to reward institutions for turning out graduates and research that can build new industries in a state that has proven far too vulnerable to downturns in the dominant areas of gaming and construction.

A Brookings Institution report last year found Nevada overly dependent on a consumption economy acutely prone to booms and busts, with ?substantial? shortages of skilled workers and too little investment in innovation. Six of the top 10 employers are casinos.

As in other places, lawmakers in Nevada have now come to see higher education as a solution to these problems. And with the nation?s worst unemployment and home-foreclosure rates, it?s an ideal laboratory to test this idea.

?The economy has swung more from the top to the bottom here in Nevada than in any other state,? says Steve Hill, executive director of the Governor?s Office of Economic Development. ?And we think it?s important that education and research help lead Nevada back.?

State Sen. Steven Horsford, a Democrat who chaired the committee that recommended the new funding formula, puts it more succinctly. ?We have nowhere to go but up,? he says.

Focus on credits completed
If approved by the full Legislature and the governor, the change would mean that all taxpayer money for colleges and universities would be divided up beginning next year based not on how many students they enroll, but how many credits those students successfully complete.

?We want to fund institutions based on student success,? Horsford says.

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The plan would also provide financial incentives for universities to concentrate on fields that could help revive Nevada?s economy, including natural resources and conservation, engineering, biological and biomedical sciences, architecture, and nursing.

?The performance part is to drive decision-making toward what?s important to the state,? says Assemblywoman Heidi Gansert, a Republican on Horsford?s committee. Adds Daniel Klaich, chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher Education: ?We need to incentivize our institutions to produce degrees with value.?

That?s unique among the several states that have instituted so-called ?performance funding? for their public colleges and universities, says Martha Snyder, an education-policy specialist at HCM Strategists and a former U.S. Department of Education policy adviser who specializes in this topic.

?There?s an increasing understanding by leaders that higher education is an important tool, but that there need to be readjustments within higher-education systems to help states meet their economic goals,? Snyder says. ?They want to be sure that their investments are driving toward what their states need in terms of helping their economies grow. The Nevada approach is the first to tie that to specific industries.?

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But while the plan would alter the way existing money is parceled out, it won?t necessarily add any new funding. Since the state collects no personal or corporate income tax, and sales taxes are only incrementally recovering from the economic downturn, there?s little chance that higher-education spending will soon increase.

Rescuing the budget-cutters
Many Nevada university administrators and faculty are in favor of the change regardless, because, among other reasons, it gives them more control over the proceeds from tuition, which now go into a central fund and are redistributed around the state ? meaning students at large urban institutions end up subsidizing their counterparts at small, rural ones. But the irony is not lost on them that they?re being asked to come to the rescue of the same leaders who have deeply reduced their budgets.

? ?We?ve cut the heck out of you, but, oh, guess what? Now we really need you to be the engine of the economy,? ? says Neal Smatresk, president of UNLV, where funding is down 40 percent, or more than $73 million, since 2008, forcing the elimination of 740 faculty and staff positions, 15 academic departments and 31 degree programs. ? ?Quick, help us build a new economy.? There?s a little irony here, or maybe a big irony, which is that no one seems to have any long-term memory.?

The tension between wanting more from higher education while paying less for it is not unique to his state, Smatresk says. It?s a national phenomenon. ?There?s no question that policy leaders are looking to higher education to lead the way out. There?s a tacit understanding that higher education is absolutely critical.?

More from The Hechinger Report

In the case of Nevada, the state needs new and different industries, and ?the honey-pot that draws in those industries is people who can help them with their R&D,? says Smatresk. ?The other piece they need is the workforce, so they need to know we have the capacity to generate those people for them.?

Nevada?s worst-in-the-nation plight means the role played by its colleges and universities is particularly challenging ? and crucial ? making it, as Smatresk says, ?the canary in the mine shaft of higher education.?

In Nevada, that canary is already in intensive care. The state has never made higher education much of a priority. On the wall of his office, Smatresk has photos of the few buildings on the original UNLV campus of the early 1960s, then an outpost in the desert derided as ?Tumbleweed Tech.? Recent cuts have made things worse.

Sobering numbers
Fewer than two of every five UNLV students earn bachelor?s degrees within six years, according to the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems. And just 10.8 percent of full-time community-college students in Nevada get their two-year degrees in three years, the organization Complete College America reports.

When nearly 60 percent of jobs will require a career certificate or college education by 2020, the Census Bureau reports that only 29.5 percent of 25- to 34-year-olds in Nevada have one ? the lowest proportion in the country, and falling. Yet as tuition has increased 160 percent over the last 10 years to help make up for state budget cuts, enrollment in the state?s public universities has dropped sharply. Last year, the number of students was down 7.7 percent statewide.

Back to school and burdened with debt

Meanwhile, many college-educated people left when the economic downturn hit Nevada hard. And soon-to-be graduates like Starks see little incentive to stay, with 53.6 percent of degree-holders under 25 unemployed or underemployed, according to a recent analysis by Northeastern and Drexel universities and the Economic Policy Institute.

?No student in his right mind would stay in a Nevada with a 53 percent unemployment rate for grads,? says Mark Ciavola, undergraduate student body president at UNLV. Yet when educated people leave, so do the prospects for the kind of innovation that could bring new industries and create jobs. ?It?s a chicken-or-the-egg scenario,? Ciavola says. ?This is a circular cluster we?re sitting in right now.?

The new performance-funding proposal seeks to use the universities to break this cycle.

?There are those of us who believe we cannot diversify the economy into the economy of the future without a more robust public higher-education system that not only invests more over time, but aligns itself in the right way with the jobs we?re trying to create,? Horsford says.

More from The Hechinger Report

Still, a ?knowledge fund? set up by the Legislature to encourage research that can be commercialized has no money in it; the state board of regents has asked for $10 million for this purpose ? a tiny sum when compared to similar efforts in states including neighboring Utah, whose Utah Science Technology and Research initiative, or USTAR, got $179 million, plus $15 million in ongoing annual funding for research teams at the University of Utah and Utah State University, and $160 million toward the construction of $200 million in new research facilities at those schools.

Some faculty also worry that, in their desire to meet the new state goals, colleges and universities will simply make it easier for students to complete their courses.

Smatresk disagrees. ?Tell a faculty member they have to cheapen their degrees and see how they respond,? he says. ?You don?t game degrees.?

?Bull,? responds Sondra Cosgrove, former faculty senate chair at the College of Southern Nevada, who teaches Nevada history. Although she says she wouldn?t lower her own standards, Cosgrove fears that other long-suffering faculty might.

Read more education stories from The Hechinger Report on NBCNews.com

?We haven?t had pay raises in four years,? she says. ?If you say, ?You still don?t get a raise unless we improve student success,? there are a lot of things faculty will do. When people are facing foreclosures on their houses, there are a lot of things they?ll do.?

Besides, she says, for all of the anticipation about it, the performance-funding plan won?t pump more money into public higher education (though her own college will benefit, to the tune of several million dollars, from the new distribution formula).

?We?re not talking about extra funding,? Cosgrove says. ?We?re talking about base funding. We have to compete now for the money we already get.?

This story, "Nevada asks battered universities to solve its economic crisis," was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, nonpartisan education-news outlet based at Teachers College, Columbia University.

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Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/20/13990622-with-dramatic-plan-nevada-asks-battered-universities-to-solve-its-economic-crisis?lite

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T-Mobile to offer Marvel?s The Avengers as a free download for Samsung Galaxy S3 owners

Marvel?s The Avengers

If you're a T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S3 owner looking to take in one of the hottest movies of the summer, you're in luck. Starting on Sept. 25th, T-Mobile will be making Marvel’s The Avengers available a free download to all new and existing T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S3 owners.

The virtual preload will arrive via the Samsung Media Hub application on your device and from there it can be directly downloaded or streamed to various devices that support the AllShare Cast feature or AllShare Cast Wireless Hubs with no fear of blowing any data caps if you're on T-Mobile's Unlimited Nationwide 4G Data plan.

In addition to that news, T-Mobile has also announced the AllShare Cast Hub accessory will be available online and in stores on Sept. 24th for only $99. If you're looking for the full press release, you'll find it below. Overall, that's a nice unexpected treat for T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S3 owners.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/TmX4qlgfXJI/story01.htm

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