Monday, March 26, 2012

AAA: Ohio gas prices drop after 4 weeks of jumps

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/aaa-ohio-gas-prices-drop-4-weeks-jumps-151850277.html

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Samsung Galaxy S II (U.S. Cellular)


There's no doubt about it: Nearly a year after we reviewed the initial, unlocked version, the Samsung Galaxy S II remains one of the top Android phones available. In a market that sees a new hot smartphone?come and go every few weeks, that's an impressive feat. The Samsung Galaxy S II has already taken the major carriers by storm, so it's nice to see it make its way over to U.S. Cellular. And the Galaxy S II remains just as potent as ever?it's every bit as fast and beautiful as before. But U.S. Cellular will soon be launching a 4G LTE network, and the Galaxy S II isn't a 4G phone.

Physical Design, Call Quality, and Network
Slim, sleek, and still super gorgeous, the Galaxy S II measures 5.1 by 2.7 by .4 inches (HWD) and weighs 4.8 ounces. It's a large black slab, made entirely of plastic with a lightly textured back panel, which feels solid and well built. The phone is comfortable to hold, but beware: With my medium-sized mitts, the phone is too large for me to hold in one hand and drag down the notifications bar with my thumb. Most of that size is put to good use in the beautiful, 4.52-inch, 800-by-480 Super AMOLED Plus display. This is lower resolution than the 960-by-540 display on the?Motorola Electrify?($129.99, 4.5 stars), but Super AMOLED Plus looks richer, and lacks the PenTile layout that makes the Electrify appear somewhat fuzzy.

The Galaxy S II is a good voice phone on U.S. Cellular. Reception is solid, and calls sound terrific in the phone's earpiece?full, clear, and natural, with plenty of punch and volume. The speakerphone also sounds good and is just loud enough to use outdoors. Calls made with the phone sound clear, though voices can have a slightly muted, robotic quality in the earpiece. I had no trouble connecting to a?Jawbone Era?Bluetooth headset ($129, 4.5 stars) and calls sounded great. Samsung uses the powerful Vlingo app for voice dialing here instead of the usual Android option. It allows you to dictate texts messages and issue other commands by voice, though it sometimes had trouble connecting me to the names in my address book. Battery life was good, at 6 hours and 49 minutes of talk time.

The phone is a dual-band EV-DO Rev. A (850/1900 MHz) device with 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi. There's no 4G LTE support, which makes sense right now, since U.S. Cellular has yet to officially launch its 4G network. But LTE is coming, likely at some point within the next month, and we expect it to be significantly faster than the carrier's current 3G network.

Processor and Apps
The Galaxy S II is powered by Samsung's 1.2GHz dual-core Exynos processor, which makes for very fast performance. The phone easily bested the benchmark scores set by the Motorola Electrify, U.S. Cellular's other dual-core option, although the Electrify has a higher screen resolution. Still, the Galaxy S II should have no problem running any app or game you can think of.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/BTQLNO7X4XM/0,2817,2399321,00.asp

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High court throws out human gene patents

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/high-court-throws-human-gene-patents-161634977.html

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Finding North Austin Foreclosures | Boomerding Real Estate Blog

2639399916 37d1100424 m Finding North Austin Foreclosures

Finding North Austin foreclosures is easy to do when you know where to take a look.? If you are looking for a way to get the best house for your money, then you can do so when you take a look at the Northwest Austin foreclosures as well as the North Austin foreclosures that are on the market. If? you are looking to live in the Austin area of Texas, then you should look towards North Austin as well as Northwest Austin as you can find some bargains when it comes to real estate in these areas.

?

When you are looking for Northwest Austin foreclosures, you should look online at first.? You can pull up the listings for the North Austin foreclosures and find out the going market value for the properties that are listed.? Realize when you are seeking out North Austin foreclosures or Northwest Austin foreclosures that you can usually bid lower than the market value for the properties when the property is bank owned.? After a home has gone into foreclosure, it is owned by the bank that then turns around and sells the property to the public, usually at an auction.? When you are making a bid for the Northwest Austin foreclosures or North Austin foreclosures, you should bear in mind the amount of work that you will have to do to get the house to the point where it is habitable.

?

North Austin foreclosures as well as Northwest Austin foreclosures are easy to find when you take a look for them online.? The listings often will tell the address of the property as well as something about them.? If you find properties that interest you and are in the right price range, you can then take a look at them yourself by going to the listing broker who will arrange for you to see the properties.? You should also deal with an attorney who specializes in helping buyers purchase foreclosed properties so that they can make sure that you have clear title for the premises.? When you are purchasing North Austin foreclosures or Northwest Austin foreclosures, you normally will have to do your due diligence prior to making your purchase.

?

In order to be able to purchase the Northwest Austin foreclosures or North Austin foreclosures, you are going to have to have pre-approved financing for the property.? In order to be seriously considered to purchase the property, you are going to have to be able to demonstrate that you have the money to make the purchase.

?

Now is the ideal time to make a purchase on property in the Austin area of Texas as there are a lot of homes on the market that are priced lower than market value as they have been foreclosed upon.? When you are looking for a deal in real estate, take a look online at the Northwest Austin foreclosures as well as the North Austin foreclosures and find the best property for you.? Make sure that you do your due diligence and also take a look at the property so that you know what needs to be done by way of work to make the premises habitable.

Source: http://www.boomerding.com/foreclosures/finding-north-austin-foreclosures/

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Sunday, March 25, 2012

Pope's trip sparks hopes for change in Cuba

HAVANA (Reuters) - For years at Havana's historic Cristobal Colon cemetery, Communist Party members refused to enter the Roman Catholic chapel there for funeral services.

They stayed outside while others honored the dead because religious believers were banned from the party and being seen in a church, particularly a Catholic one, could bring trouble even for someone in mourning.

But those days are gone and the Church has taken a bigger role in Cuban society since the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1998, said 68-year-old Erick Osio, who remembers standing outside the cemetery chapel.

"Things relaxed and that taboo ended. Everything has changed for religion in Cuba since then," said the retired army colonel who now works as a parking attendant.

"John Paul began a different evolution here that opened things up for believers."

Fourteen years after John Paul's epochal trip to Cuba, Pope Benedict will come to the island on Monday after a three-day stop in Mexico, on a visit that was not predicted to be as groundbreaking, but has sparked hopes for more economic and political change among some Cubans.

He may have signaled more ambitious aspirations than expected, and jarred the Cuban government on Friday when he told reporters the Caribbean island needed a new economic model because communism had failed.

"Today it is evident that Marxist ideology in the way it was conceived no longer corresponds to reality," the pope said on the flight to Mexico, where he landed on Friday afternoon.

"In this way we can no longer respond and build a society. New models must be found with patience and in a constructive way," he said, extending the Church's offer to help with a transition in one of the world's last communist countries.

When asked about the comments at the opening on Friday of a press center for the papal visit in Havana, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said only that Cuba would listen respectfully to the pontiff during his three-day visit and considered the exchange of ideas "useful."

Benedict's predecessor is a tough act to follow because, even though the Communist Party ended its ban on religious believers in 1991, Cubans generally view John Paul's visit seven years later as the landmark moment that led to improved Church-state relations after decades of hostility that followed the island's 1959 revolution.

This pope's work will be to build on recent gains by the Church in its relations with the government and seeking a bigger role in a time of change under President Raul Castro.

Cardinal Jaime Ortega, the leader of the Cuban Church, has emphasized the spiritual side of the visit and the hope of re-energizing religion on the island that for 15 years under former leader Fidel Castro officially declared itself an atheist state.

A senior Vatican official, who requested anonymity, said recently the pope wanted to assure the Cuban government that its former enemy only wanted to be helpful, not threatening, as Raul Castro undertakes reforms to improve Cuba's Soviet-style economy.

"The pope wants to help Catholic leaders convince the government that it has nothing to fear from the Church in Cuba," the official told Reuters.

"The Church wants to help in education, in teaching moral values. That can only help all of Cuban society as it embarks on many changes in the political and social spheres."

The Cuban rumor mill has been in full swing with speculation that as a gesture to the 84-year-old pope, the Cuban president might release more political prisoners, free jailed American contractor Alan Gross or finally unveil immigration reforms he promised last year.

Gross, 62, is serving a 15-year sentence for illegally setting up Internet networks in a case that has stalled U.S.-Cuba relations.

FRUSTRATIONS

Cubans said this week they believed the pope's visit was a good thing for the country and that it could use the Church's help on several fronts, particularly the economy.

"The pope comes at an opportune time because there is no work," said 19-year-old Carlos Gonzalez as he waited in line for ice cream in Havana's Vedado district. "I've looked for work for two years and I don't find it, and the jobs here have low salaries."

"Young people want to leave because we don't have anything. The only thing we have is the beach and the Malecon," the thin, clean-cut teenager said, referring to the city's spectacular seawall.

"May the changes come very soon," said his friend Yusniel Garcia Suarez, also 19 and jobless.

He smoked a cigarette, wore a faded gray T-shirt with the words "Power Hitter" on the front and, like several people interviewed, said he was religious but did not go to church.

His ambitions were not high, but they would require a lot more money than the average Cuban salary of $19 a month, and immigration reforms making it easier to come and go from his homeland.

"I don't want to leave Cuba. I just want to be able to go to Cancun for a few days with my girlfriend," Garcia said.

Communist Party member Laurent Barredo, 46, warned that no one should expect miracles from the pope's visit because the Cuban government would only make changes at its own pace.

"Nothing is going to change because of the pope. The changes that have happened are going to continue because they are the only thing that will bring internal development to Cuba," he said, adding he thought the trip would help the government.

"It will give prestige to the Cuban revolution. I think that the principles of the Church are the same principles as the revolution. You can believe that God exists and I can believe that he doesn't, but if we are honest, work, produce and help each other, it's the same," he said.

Some anti-Castro groups complain that papal visits give Cuba's communist rulers a legitimacy they do not deserve, although criticism before this trip has been more muted than in 1998, even in Miami, the home of many Cuban exiles.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's No. 2, said in a newspaper interview this week that the visit would help the process of developing democracy and open up new spaces for the presence and activity (of the Church)."

In Havana, retired school teacher and non-believer Galicia Cabrera, 68, said she did not want Benedict's visit to bring a return to pre-revolution days when the Church was a bigger and more powerful part of Cuban society.

A Church survey in 1954 found that 72.5 percent of Cubans were Catholic and 24 percent of them were regular churchgoers. Today, Church officials say about 60 percent of Cubans are baptized, but only 5 percent always go to Mass.

"Everything is good the way it is. Don't change because now is the only way we can live in Cuba - the Church in one part and the government in another part," Cabrera said while looking up from reading Granma, the Communist Party newspaper.

Osio said he thought the pope would do something to improve U.S.-Cuba relations, which have been hostile since the revolution.

The United States has imposed a trade embargo on Cuba for 50 years, which the Cuban government and many Cubans blame for their country's chronic economic woes.

"It looks to me like the pope is going to help tighten or redefine relations between the United States and Cuba. Remember that I said that," he said, wagging his finger.

(Editing by David Adams and Peter Cooney)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/popes-trip-sparks-hopes-change-cuba-020802429.html

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Facebook Says: You Will Break Up on a Friday This Summer [Facebook]

If there's one platform that knows our mating habits better than we do, it's probably Facebook. So you should probably listen up when it rattles off a bunch of stats about relationships, and how yours is probably doomed this summer. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/Fi4H8L_C-Ts/facebook-says-you-will-break-up-on-a-friday-this-summer

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Saturday, March 24, 2012

Dont Let Taxes Determine Refinance Move | Bankrate.com

Don TaylorDear Dr. Don,
I have owned a $400,000 single-family home since 2009. I made a 20 percent down payment on the home and have a fixed-rate mortgage of 5 percent on the property.

I plan to live in this house for 10 years or more. I am interested in your opinion about whether I should make an additional principal payment of $700 each month or to refinance the home with a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage at about 3.5 percent.

Or, would the tax deductions on the existing mortgage generate tax savings great enough to cancel the benefit of making additional principal payments or refinancing to a 15-year fixed-rate loan. What's the best choice?

My other concern is that I have more than $70,000 in savings, and I am wondering if I should get another house with this money or invest it somewhere more profitable. Could you please give me some options?
-- Ken Chooses

Dear Ken,
With a planning horizon of 10 years, it's easy to recommend you refinance at today's lower rates. You're only three years in on your existing loan, which I assume by the rate is a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage. So shortening up by a dozen years is a big financial commitment. Still, the existing mortgage plus your planned additional principal payment of $700 per month is $ 236.73 more than the 15-year mortgage payment.

The table below shows a scenario that approximates your situation, assuming you're in the 25 percent marginal federal income tax bracket, and you can fully utilize the mortgage interest deduction on your income tax return. I assume an additional principal payment on the 15-year loan, so the monthly cash flow is the same regardless of which approach you take.

Mortgage options

?Existing loanExisting loan with additional paymentsRefinancing
Loan balance:$305,100.00$305,100.00$305,100.00
Interest rate:5%5%3.5%
Loan term (months):324180158
Loan payment:$1,717.83$1,717.83$2,181.10
Additional principal payment:-$700.00$236.73
Total monthly payment:$1,717.83$2,417.83$2,417.83
Total interest expense:$251,477.00$128,741.00$75,903.00
Pre-tax savings:-$122,736.00$52,838.00
After-tax savings (25 percent federal rate):-$92,052.00$39,629.00
After-tax savings net of closing costs ($5,000 estimate):--$34,629.00

Don't let taxes be the 'tail wagging the dog' in making a mortgage refinance decision. Losing the tax deduction reduces your after-tax savings, but in the example above, you're still saving almost $35,000. You want to compare the effective rates on your loans, not the size of the tax deduction. Holding on to a 5 percent mortgage when you can get 3.5 percent financing doesn't makes sense from a tax perspective. It can make sense if you don't plan on being in the house long enough to recoup the closing costs in the form of interest savings.

As to how to invest $70,000 in savings after making sure you have an emergency fund that covers three months to six months in living expenses, take a look at your overall portfolio. You already have $400,000 invested in real estate. Do you want to add to that asset allocation in your portfolio? I wouldn't, unless you have a substantial investment portfolio.

Focus on the life goals you want the investments to finance in the future, balance it against the risks you're willing to assume when investing, and find the investment option that you're comfortable with to achieve these goals.

Source: http://www.bankrate.com/finance/refinance/determine-refinance-move.aspx

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