Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/284458258?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Mini e-commerce platform Getonic lands $1.3M to ... - The Next Web
Getonic, a mini e-commerce platform that can be embedded anywhere on the Internet and shared directly through social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, has announced today that it has raised more than $1.3 million in seed funding.
The company says several leading venture partners were involved, including Rutledge Vine Capital,?Israel-based incubator TheTime ? which we visited in May last year?-?private investor Mortimer Singer and a number of other angel investors.
Getonic, based in Tel-Aviv, Israel offers small businesses and professionals a unique way of creating scaled-down online stores that can be posted directly to the Web or social feeds. These storefronts, called POPshops, are essentially social widgets and offer a simple but direct ?Buy Now? button to encourage readers to make a purchase.
Perhaps more importantly though, each POPshop has three sharing buttons underneath which will republish the storefront either on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. If a user chooses to do so and one of their followers buys the product, Getonic and the relevant business or brand rewards them with money or other incentives.
In some of the examples we?ve seen, Getonic is willing to pay users 20 percent of the sale if their friends complete a purchase. It?s a risky strategy, but one that should ensure each POPshop is distributed far and wide on the Internet.
Getonic believes that by sending the store to the consumer, businesses are far more likely to sell a significant amount of their products or services. ?Currently, businesses can post offers to their Facebook pages or Twitter accounts but these provide only very basic experiences,??the company said in a press release issued today.??Users are sent outside of the platforms and making a purchase is still a convoluted process.?
Getonic says its service is an end-to-end solution, allowing businesses to create their own POPshop in a matter of seconds through an online dashboard. Users simply need to select the product or service they want to sell, specify the price and tweak the appearance of the POPshop ? but otherwise it?s good to go. With a single click it can then be posted to Facebook, Twitter, email or a company blog.
Although it?s still early days for the company, the Getonic website shows that large companies such as Warner Music, Groupon, PayPal and Wix are already taking advantage of the service.
?We built Getonic with millions of SMBs in mind. These are businesses that look to the power of the social web to find new customers and generate new revenue,? said Adi Eyal CEO of Getonic. ?Our platform gives these businesses a powerful tool, not only to create visually attractive stores, but also the ability to tap into the social power of platforms like Facebook.?
Image Credit: fotologic/Flickr
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Tuesday, February 12, 2013
William and Kate Hit the Polo Field in California
The Royal Couple felt right at home during their California visit Saturday as Prince William hit the polo fields in Santa Barbara.William led his Royal Salute polo team to victory at the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club while his wife, Kate, cheered him on, according to RadarOnline.com.
Before the match, William addressed the eager crowd, telling them what an honor it was to be celebrating the California polo club's 100th anniversary.
"I was so delighted when Ambassador [Glen] Holden asked me to play polo here ... My father, The Prince of Wales, and my brother, Harry, were as green as that grass out there when I told them I'd be here."
William went on to score four goals during the match, leading his team to a 5-2 victory. The event, in which the players shelled out $100,000 each to play, raised $4 million for the royals' foundation.
"Catherine and I have had a busy few days -- so the prospect of being able to let loose this afternoon is wonderful for me," William continued in his speech. "But that's what sport is all about -- be it polo or football -- more specifically how sport helps young people to find purpose in life -- is a key element to the [American Friends of the Foundation of Prince William and Prince Harry] that Catherine, Harry and I have established."
The Royal Couple has had a whirlwind North American trip -- leaving Canada on Friday after a nine-day stay to get a taste of the California sunshine.
The couple attended Variety's Venture Capital and New Media Summit at The Beverly Hilton hotel Friday night, where they chatted with esteemed guests, including British Ambassador Sir Nigel Sheinwald, California Governor Jerry Brown and pal David Beckham.
Following the polo match, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge attended the star-studded British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Brits to Watch 2011 Gala.
Source: http://www.popeater.com/2011/07/10/william-kate-polo-field-california/
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Is Catholic Church about to change?
The impending resignation of Pope Benedict XVI is prompting cultural liberals to demand the Roman Catholic Church embrace more progressive doctrine on key issues like marriage and abortion, but one of America?s leading Catholic voices says that won?t happen.
?This prejudiced idea that the newest ideas are always the best is a falsehood,? Father Robert Sirico, president of the Michigan-based Acton Institute, told WND. ?I don?t think it much effects the way the College of Cardinals thinks about these things, especially given the fact that they elected Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger within days of his having preached a homily in which he identified and warned against the dictatorship of relativism.
?So these are the men who elected this man. I can?t see that they would weaken or renounce what we consider to be true. There is a tendency on the part of liberal news media to assess the pope the way one assesses political candidates. That is, in order to get elected, you have to appeal to a popular mentality and so the marriage issue and the life issue would be weakened, but that?s not what the church is about. The church is about honestly discerning the truth and then articulating it in the best way it can,? said Sirico, who added that the cardinals may select a pontiff with a very different personality but not one with a vastly different worldview.
?Would we have a different personality? Would a man be gentler or more convivial or funnier or more serious?? Yes, you?ll have a variety of personalities, in just the same way you had the difference between Paul and Barnabas and Peter. So no, the church isn?t going to change because of popular consensus,? he said.
So what kind of choice is Sirico expecting from the College of Cardinals?
?I expect a Catholic pope. This may shock the New York Times,? laughed Sirico. ?I think that given the men that Benedict and, before him, John Paul II appointed to the College of Cardinals, I think we?re very much going to get a pope with a different personality but very much faithful to the ancient tradition of the church.?
Pope Benedict XVI stunned Vatican observers and much of the world with his announcement he would resign at the end of the month. It breaks almost six centuries of pontiffs serving until death. The last time a pope stepped down was in 1415. The pope cited physical wear and tear as the main reason for his impending resignation. He is now 85 years old and believes he can no longer meet the demanding requirements of the papacy.
?He mentioned in several interviews prior to becoming pope that he considers himself fragile and cautious. He also spoke very often about the possibility of a pope resigning, that this wasn?t an inconceivable thing,? Sirico said. ?While it is a sobering thought to think the last time a pope resigned was before America was discovered, I think there?s some order we?ll see unfold here. It?ll be a different kind of conclave because we?ve usually done it in the context of mourning a pope and this time we?ll have a former pope who will still be alive.?
When the College of Cardinals selected then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as the new pope in 2005, his advanced age led may to suggest Benedict XVI would be a caretaker pope. Sirico said the pontiff ended up being much more than that.
?I think he was more than a caretaker pope. I think he unpacked a lot of the pontificate of John Paul II in the sense that he really delineated some of the teaching and expressed it in a slightly different way.
?John Paul was not an easy act to follow, either in terms of his charismatic personality or his intellect, but I think the way Ratzinger went about his pontificate showed that he was his own man. He had his own style, and, intellectually, he was a beautiful complement,? Sirico said. ?I think where he did make a very obvious advance was in the renewal of the church?s liturgy, especially in the greater permission for the celebration of the older forms of the mass and a deeper understanding of the contemplative and spiritual dimension of Catholic worship.?
The pope is also head of state for the Vatican. Sirico said Benedict?s accomplishments on that front include stronger ties with Israel and the Jewish people as well as some tension with Obama administration over some of his policies. Sirico also hopes the Vatican will make some changes at the top of its diplomatic team once a new leader is installed.
Source: http://www.wnd.com/2013/02/is-catholic-church-about-to-change/
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Fun. Make It Rain At The Grammys With 'Carry On'
Rock trio drenched in a downpour as triumphant song hits its climax.
By Luke O'Neil
Fun. win at the 55th annual Grammy Awards
Photo: Getty Images
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1701705/fun-grammys-performance-rain-carry-on.jhtml
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Sunday, February 10, 2013
New US commander takes the helm in Afghanistan
U.S. Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, right, shakes hand with outgoing NATO commander U.S. Gen. John Allen, left, during a change of command ceremony at the ISAF headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013. Dunford takes charge at a critical time for President Barack Obama and the military as foreign combat forces prepare to withdraw by the end of 2014. (AP Photo/Massoud Hossaini, Pool)
U.S. Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, right, shakes hand with outgoing NATO commander U.S. Gen. John Allen, left, during a change of command ceremony at the ISAF headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013. Dunford takes charge at a critical time for President Barack Obama and the military as foreign combat forces prepare to withdraw by the end of 2014. (AP Photo/Massoud Hossaini, Pool)
U.S. Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, center, receives a flag from outgoing ISAF commander, U.S. Gen. John Allen, left facing away from camera, after taking over as new commander of NATO in Afghanistan during a change of command ceremony at the ISAF headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013. Dunford takes charge at a critical time for President Barack Obama and the military as foreign combat forces prepare to withdraw by the end of 2014. (AP Photo/Massoud Hossaini, Pool)
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford took over Sunday as the new and probably last commander of all U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan.
The American-led NATO coalition is entering the final stretch of its participation in a war that will have lasted more than 13 years when most foreign combat troops pull out at the end of 2014.
Dunford took over leadership of the International Security Assistance Force, and a smaller but separate detachment of American troops, from Marine Gen. John Allen, who had led them for the past 19 months.
"Today is not about change, it's about continuity," Dunford told a gathering of coalition military leaders and Afghan officials. "What's not changed is the growing capability of our Afghan partners, the Afghan national security forces. What's not changed is our commitment, more importantly, what's not changed is the inevitability of our success."
He takes charge at a critical time for President Barack Obama and the military. NATO decided at its 2010 summit in Lisbon to withdraw major combat units, but to continue training and funding Afghan troops and leave a residual force to hunt down al-Qaida and other terrorist groups.
Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said "much work lies ahead" for Dunford as he tries to meet those objectives while at the same time withdrawing about 100,000 foreign troops, including 66,000 from the United States.
Dunford, from Boston, Massachusetts, will face serious challenges as he tries to accommodate an accelerated timetable for handing over the lead for security responsibility to Afghan forces this spring ? instead of late summer as originally planned.
"I told him our victory here will never be marked by a parade or a point in time on a calendar when victory is declared. This insurgency will be defeated over time by the legitimate and well-trained Afghan forces that are emerging today and who are taking the field in full force this spring," Allen said.
He added that success would be described as an "Afghan force defending Afghan people, and enabling an Afghan government to serve its citizens. This is victory; this is what winning looks like."
Although the Afghan security forces are almost at their full strength of 352,000, it is unclear if they are yet ready to take on the fight by themselves.
Before departing, Allen admitted that the Afghans still need much work to become an effective and self-sufficient fighting machine, but he said a vast improvement in their abilities was behind a decision to accelerate the timetable for putting them in the lead nationwide this spring when the traditional fighting season begins.
Obama said last month that the Afghans would take over this spring instead of late summer ? a decision that could allow the speedier withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan.
It is also unclear when the remaining 66,000 U.S. troops would return home, or how many American soldiers will remain after the end of 2014.
Obama may use his State of the Union address on Tuesday to announce the next steps for concluding the war and a timetable for withdrawal along with plans for a residual force post-2014.
Much of that depends on the U.S. negotiating a bilateral security agreement with the government that includes the contentious issue of immunity from Afghan prosecution for any U.S. forces that would remain here after 2014. President Hamid Karzai has said he will put any such decision in the hands of a council of Afghan elders, known as a Loya Jirga.
Although Dempsey said earlier in the week that the United States had plans to leave a residual force, a failure to strike a deal on immunity would torpedo any security agreement and lead to a complete pullout of U.S. forces after 2014 ? as it did in post-war Iraq. It is widely believed that no NATO-member nation would allow its troops to remain after 2014 to train, or engage in counterterrorism activities, without a similar deal.
The head of NATO joint command in Europe, German Gen. Hans-Lothar Domrose, said the alliance was already making plans for a post-2014 presence, plans he said that were "all well advanced."
Allen, 59, of Warrenton, Virginia, was the longest serving ISAF commander so far. Nearly two dozen generals have commanded troops from the United States and ISAF since the American invasion in late 2001 ? with six U.S. generals including Dunford running both commands in the past five years alone.
Also attending the ceremony were U.S. Marine Corps Gen. James N. Mattis, Commander, U.S. Central Command, and Gen. James Amos, head of the Marine Corps. Karzai did not attend.
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Family cries: no justice, no peace ? The Collegian : The student ...
CRY FOR JUSTICE: The family of Ernest Duenez Jr. gathers to protest the actions of the Manteca Police Department. PHOTO COURTESY OF DEVIN VALDEZ
Staff writer shares personal story of loved one lost at the hands of those who ?protect and serve?
By society?s perspective, my uncle Ernest Duenez Jr. wasn?t a model citizen. He made mistakes. But those mistakes weren?t who he was to my family.
Need help fixing your car? He was there in minutes. Need someone to protect you? He was your guardian angel. Need someone to make your long days shorter? He was there with his infamous jokes and pranks, with his dumb laugh.
To me, he was the golden child of the family. He was a family man who lived for his loved ones and would lay down his life for them in a heartbeat.
He was a man searching for redemption and hunting for the path to an upswing in his life.
That search was cut short on June 8, 2011.
That day, Jr. was killed in an officer-involved shooting. He was shot 11 times by a Manteca Police Officer John Moody.
I remember where I was and what I was doing the moment I heard he died. I remember the immense pain and confusion my family and I were left with. We had been robbed the life of a loved one. Not a chance to say goodbye was given.
We were angry that one man could be judge, jury, and executioner; deciding another person?s fate in a matter of 4.2 seconds.
The hurt and confusion, though, only grew when the person who killed our loved one was a person who is supposed to protect and serve.
Before this, I never thought about the issue of alleged police brutality or officers manipulating the law for their own interests. Now, it weighs heavy on the hearts of my family and I everyday.
In December 2012, a year and a half after my uncle?s death, the San Joaquin County District Attorney?s office issued its findings on the murder. They told us that it was justified.
In response, my family released the dash-cam video from the patrol car of the officer who fired the fatal shots. The video reveals the officer approaching, yelling ?put your hands up? followed by a quick succession of other commands.
My uncle is shown trying to get out of the vehicle. Multiple shots ring out. Out of 13 total shots, 11 strike Jr?.s body and head. As he lay on the ground, his wife comes out of the house, screaming at the cops. ?Help my husband, he?s dying.? No attempt to help by police was made. Instead, the cops turned their guns toward her.
To our family, the video shows Jr., a man we all loved, being treated like an animal. Manteca Police took his dying body and threw him from his back onto his face before handcuffing him.
To us, the report wasn?t justice.
To us, the Manteca Police have played the victim, taking no responsibility for what we feel are the unlawful acts committed by one of their own.
Instead, our family has seen the department change its story multiple times.
This gruesome, graphic, and personal video was released in hopes of receiving a larger investigation into the shooting, as well as find the true story that lead to Jr.?s death.
Nearly two months later, the video is on multiple websites.
It is also now in the hands of the United States Department of Justice. Still, we have yet to see any kind of response.
A column in The Modesto Bee by Ralph Shaffer, a retired professor from Cal Poly Pomona, on Dec. 17 called my uncle?s death ?only one in a staggering death toll racked up by police and sheriff?s deputies.? The ?body count? in a six-year period was 700, according to the article.
Shaffer writes: ?As usual, the justification was that the officer ?feared for his life.??
This was a hard truth I had never realized or paid attention to until the issue hit close to home.
The number of police officers taking advantage of their power continues to end in unjustified deaths, and they get away with it because of the power they have as officers of the law.
Consider the case of Oscar Grant in Oakland, or that of local teenager James Rivera who was shot by Stockton Police in 2010 after stealing a vehicle and leading police on a chase through North Stockton. His family is still seeking answers.
It upsets me that our justice system now seems anything but just.
My family is disturbed everyday by the fact that the man who killed our son, brother, uncle, husband, father and friend is still patrolling the streets as a man of peace.
It saddens me that people on the streets are more willing to help and protect one another, than the officers who are paid to do just that.
When is enough, enough? I now realize that Jr. wasn?t the first victim of police brutality. It worries me that he won?t be the last.
It?s an overwhelming thought that today it was my loved one. Tomorrow it can be yours.
All of this happened because of a parole violation, a domestic dispute call to police and the assumption that he had a knife on him .
The report provides inconclusive details about the knife.
Regardless, no accusations made and/or previous records pulled against my uncle give a man the right to empty a whole clip on another man.
Let us remember that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
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