Nov 12, 2012
all Iframe Obama
Barack Obama
When Barack Obama signed the Lily Ledbetter fair pay act, which supported equal pay for women, his detractors called it pandering. When Republican candidates were caught making clumsy statements about rape and abortion, their supporters called the ensuing uproar a"distraction" from the real issues. But in this election, it became abundantly clear that women's issues are not fringe issues, and women are not a special interest group. Instead it was women who cast the bulk of the votes this election - 53%, and women who proved the deciding factor, breaking in Barack Obama's favour by 11 percentage points. At the same time, a historic number of female representative were elected, including the first openly gay senator (Tammy Baldwin, Wisconsin), the first Asian-American female senator (Mazie Hirono, Hawaii) and the first female military veteran wounded in combat (Representative Tammy Duckworth, Illinois).
Nov 1, 2012
Test transp and mosaic FR
La journaliste est partie à la rencontre de l’Amérique profonde pour un documentaire réalisé à l’occasion de l’élection présidentielle du 6 novembre. Un road-movie qui lui a permis de découvrir des lieux insolites...
New York
Mon hôtel
Le Carlyle
« J’aime l’ambiance années 30 de ce palace. Woody Allen vient jouer tous les lundis soir avec The Eddy Davis New Orleans Jazz Band, sauf quand il tourne un film ! J’ai eu la chance de le voir, c’était extraordinaire. Woody n’est sans doute pas le plus grand clarinettiste du monde, il le dit lui-même, mais il prend un tel plaisir... »
35 East 76th Street. www.rosewoodhotels.com
« J’aime l’ambiance années 30 de ce palace. Woody Allen vient jouer tous les lundis soir avec The Eddy Davis New Orleans Jazz Band, sauf quand il tourne un film ! J’ai eu la chance de le voir, c’était extraordinaire. Woody n’est sans doute pas le plus grand clarinettiste du monde, il le dit lui-même, mais il prend un tel plaisir... »
35 East 76th Street. www.rosewoodhotels.com
Prendre un verre
The Blue Note Jazz Club
« Je connais assez peu le jazz mais, grâce au tournage à La Nouvelle- Orléans, j’ai vraiment découvert les Brass Bands (orchestre de cuivres et de percussions, NDLR) et je ne m’en suis pas encore remise. Sitôt arrivée à New York, je me suis précipitée dans ce club dont on m’avait parlé. Des stars comme Dizzy Gillespie y ont souvent joué ; les pointures d’aujourd’hui, comme le trompettiste Wynton Marsalis, ont pris le relais. »
131 West 3rd Street. www.bluenote.net
« Je connais assez peu le jazz mais, grâce au tournage à La Nouvelle- Orléans, j’ai vraiment découvert les Brass Bands (orchestre de cuivres et de percussions, NDLR) et je ne m’en suis pas encore remise. Sitôt arrivée à New York, je me suis précipitée dans ce club dont on m’avait parlé. Des stars comme Dizzy Gillespie y ont souvent joué ; les pointures d’aujourd’hui, comme le trompettiste Wynton Marsalis, ont pris le relais. »
131 West 3rd Street. www.bluenote.net
Oct 17, 2012
Live test
Lance Armstrong dropped by Nike over doping evidence
Lance Armstrong has had his contract with sportswear giant Nike terminated.
Nike stated that "due to the seemingly insurmountable evidence that Armstrong participated in doping... we have terminated his contract".
Armstrong, 41, has also stepped down as chairman of his charity Livestrong.
The decisions come a week after the United States Anti-Doping Agencyreleased a report containing accusations of widespread doping by Armstrong and his teams.
It contains sworn statements from 26 witnesses, including 11 former team-mates.
Usada ordered 14 years of Armstrong's career results, including his seven Tour de France titles, to be erased. The former cyclist has always denied doping, but gave up his fight against the charges in August.
Nike, which added that it was "misled" by the American for more than a decade, made a U-turn on a statement released last week when it said it would "continue to support Lance and the Lance Armstrong Foundation". Nike and Armstrong had been in partnership since 1996.
Armstrong also announced on Wednesday that he would be quitting his role as chairman of his cancer charity in order "to spare the foundation any negative effects as a result of controversy surrounding my cycling career".
The Texan will remain on Livestrong's 15-member board, with vice-chairman Jeff Garvey, who was founding chairman in 1997, taking over Armstrong's role.
Armstrong added: "As my cancer treatment was drawing to an end, I created a foundation to serve people affected by cancer.
"It has been a great privilege to help it grow from a dream into an organisation that today has served 2.5 million people and helped spur a cultural shift in how the world views cancer survivors."
Oct 9, 2012
Test Mo only Stage EN
David Cameron: Rebalancing UK economy 'slow and difficult'
The
UK is going through a "slow and difficult healing process" as it
rebalances its economy, Prime Minister David Cameron has said.
His comments came as the International Monetary Fund said it now expected the UK economy to shrink by 0.4% this year.Mr Cameron said the government was doing "everything it can" to encourage growth in difficult economic times.
He said they had cut the budget deficit by a quarter in two years and there were "positive signs" for the future.
According to the IMF the prospects for the global economic recovery have weakened as government policies across the world have failed to restore confidence.
The fund has downgraded its overall estimate for global growth, with one of the biggest individual country downgrades applied to the UK.
'Progress' The IMF now expects the British economy to shrink by 0.4% this year, compared with its forecast of 0.2% growth in July.
New post stage 1
Social networks confront challenges in rush to attract youngest users
A growing number of social networks are racing to capture the loyalties of the Web’s youngest and most vulnerable users.
Last month, Silicon Valley-based Kazaana launched with $3 million in funding and with hopes of attracting subscribers younger than 13 who will be addicted to friending, photo-sharing and farm-tending games. Kidzworld, with its 2.2 million users, has signed up advertisers such as Crocs and Crate & Barrel. Yoursphere boasts AT&T and the American Youth Soccer Organization as paying sponsors who want to lend their services to the site’s 500,000 subscribers — from preschoolers to 17-year-olds.
Then, of course, there’s Facebook, which is pondering whether to allow preteens to join its massive social network with their parents’ permission.
On the fickle Web, most of the smaller social networks may not last, experts say. But Facebook and its rivals hope some of their staying power will come from children who will commit now and remain with them through the years.
“Facebook probably isn’t going to make a lot of money advertising to children, but the strategy is to get children to use the platform before they get pulled away by others,” said Simon Mansell, chief executive of TBG Digital, an advertising and consulting firm for big corporate brands on Facebook and Twitter.
The rush to capture young users has sparked fresh concerns from lawmakers and health advocates over whether social networks will keep children in front of computer and mobile-gadget screens for too long.
They also worry about online predators.
In June, Skout, an app designed for flirtation with local strangers, said adults accused of sexually assaulting youths had lied about their ages to gain access to the site’s teen section. Before those incidents, the company did not verify users’ ages. Facebook has also had to step up its monitoring of sexual predators. Facebook did not respond to requests for comments for this article.
Safety measures
Networks that cater to children tout themselves as safe environments, although they acknowledge that there may be no foolproof way to block predators. Yoursphere, for instance, says it does a thorough background check on adults who register their children for the site.
Under law, the sites must seek permission from parents to sign up users younger than 13. Facebook restricts users under that age, but an estimated 6 million underage users have lied about their age to get on the site, consumer groups say.
In June, Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) sent a letter to Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg urging caution as the tech giant stakes out plans to open to children.
“We believe strongly that children and their personal information should not be viewed as a commodity to be bought and sold to the highest bidder,” Markey wrote in June.
The Federal Trade Commission is also attempting to strengthen protections for children. Last week, the agency proposed stronger child privacy rules that would prevent advertisers from collecting information about those 12 and younger without a parent’s permission.
The online market aimed at children is lucrative, largely because it is untapped, investors say. Some analysts and companies such as Kazaana estimate that tweens — children between the ages of 8 and 14 — spend $43 billion a year, by doling it out themselves or influencing their parents’ buying habits.
“These are users who aren’t locked into anything right now that is safe,” said Pete Thomas, a partner at Silicon Valley-based ATA Ventures, which funded Kazaana. “There is tremendous opportunity to create a platform that pulls them in.”
Some social-network advertisers are moving beyond the traditional banner ad. Kazaana hopes to get companies such as Gap to pay for users to dress up their avatars in the clothesmaker’s jeans and khakis. Proctor & Gamble’s BeingGirl.com and its fan page on Facebook have attracted preteen girls who can find advice on menstruation and talk to peers.
Business challenges
Even with these efforts, child-focused social networks are confronting the same financial challenge befuddling Facebook — how to survive as a business. Facebook has said it is having trouble making money off users who access the social network on smartphones and tablets, which are the favored platforms of youths.
Making subscribers loyal will be a challenge, analysts say. Many early adopters of new social networks try multiple services at once. About 20 percent of Yoursphere users also have Facebook accounts.
“We have a whiteboard with, like, 50 ways to monetize, and we envision the relationships — moms, grandparents and other family members on the site — as a big part of it,” said Michael Adair, the co-founder of Menlo Park, Calif.-based Kazaana.
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/new-social-networks-confront-challenges-in-rush-to-attract-youngest-users/2012/08/08/a3d69daa-dc41-11e1-af1d-753c613ff6d8_story.html?hpid=z1
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