Arnold Schwarzenegger returns to world of bodybuilding

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Arnold Schwarzenegger is going back to his bodybuilding roots.

The action movie star turned politician will become group executive editor for the magazines Flex, and Muscle & Fitness, writing monthly columns in the publications and their online websites, American Media said on Friday.

The "Terminator" star, who began his Hollywood career as a bodybuilder and went on to win five Mr. Universe titles, held the same position at the magazines before he was elected California governor in 2003.

"Bodybuilding has always been part of my life, and I know Muscle & Fitness and Flex will continue to motivate others - as it did me - to lift weights and lead a healthy lifestyle (and) promote the sport of bodybuilding," Schwarzenegger said in a statement.

Schwarzenegger's relationship with the two magazines goes back to 1968, when he was just 21, and he has appeared on their covers more than 60 times.

Schwarzenegger, 65, has taken a diverse path since stepping down as California governor in January 2011, returning to movies in films like "The Last Stand" and "The Expendables 2," writing an autobiography, and launching an eponymous global policy think tank at the University of Southern California's Los Angeles campus.

Muscle & Fitness and Flex are part of American Media Inc, whose other titles include the National Enquirer tabloid, and celebrity magazine OK!

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Eric Walsh)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/schwarzenegger-flexes-muscles-again-bodybuilding-world-012046773--finance.html

stacy keibler stacy keibler oscar red carpet daytona 500 start time ryan zimmerman oscars red carpet jennifer lopez wardrobe malfunction

12 Free Tools to save your money and make your business more ...

When establishing a Web business, you have to be sure that your most important e-business tools are high-quality, dependable products and services.

But if you're like many new online entrepreneurs, you're probably curious about various free tools and resources you may have heard about or discovered yourself when surfing the 'Net for information. And you may be wondering if it's worth your while giving them a try.

My first word of advice on free tools and resources is this: Always be cautious. Free tools can be unreliable or come with hidden "catches," like requirements that you display certain advertisements.

However (now that I've told you the downside), there are a number of very good (and reliable!) tools and resources available on the 'Net that are FREE.

And these can be excellent ways to complement your existing tools at no cost, helping you to make your site stickier and more user-friendly, make your keywords more effective, keep an eye on your competition, find potential business
partners, and more...

Of course, you should still take care in the "free" world, and always be aware of what you may have to give up (like reliability) or give over (like advertising space on your site -- and potential customers).

But the following 12 tools and resources can be effectively used to give your online business that extra edge you need to stay ahead of your competition.

1. Free link partner evaluation tool
http://download.alexa.com

The Alexa toolbar is one of the most useful tools around for businesses on the 'Net. Alexa provides a free, downloadable toolbar that opens in your web browser whenever you're online.

The most useful feature is a "site info" option. When you click on this button, Alexa lays out all the details of the site you're on, including...

The traffic ranking of the site (this is also listed right on the toolbar itself)

A list of related links (two or three of the most popular links also appear on the toolbar)

The number of other sites that link to the site

The contact information of the site owner

All site/user reviews

This is the exact information you need when you're researching high-traffic sites in your industry and considering link partnerships or joint ventures. Use this
information to...

Decide how much you're willing to pay for advertising

Make educated decisions about the worth of a joint venture partner

Determine the credibility and the perceived value of the site

The list of related links -- which also has its own button on the toolbar -- is an excellent way for you to find other popular or similar sites that might be good linking partners or joint venture partners.

Use this list to determine other popular sites that your target market visits -- start by looking at your own site with Alexa's toolbar, and see what related links are suggested!

The toolbar also contains a Google search option, so you can jump directly into a search without having to leave the page you're on.

If you prefer not to download the toolbar, you can still take advantage of these features right from Alexa's site: http://www.alexa.com

2. Free market research tool

http://www.google.com/toolbar

(Make sure to check the "Enable Advanced Features" option when you download it to enable all the options.)

When you're building a successful online business, you'll probably need to spend hours at a time researching your competitors and your target market, and looking for new product ideas.

The good news is that there are some nifty free tools available on the Google Toolbar that can make this whole process faster and a lot more productive:

"Google Groups" search: This is great for product or market research, as you can search for your keywords within the thousands of Google Groups online and find forums relevant to your web site.
By checking these forums regularly, you'll get to know what's important to the people in your target market.
"Search News": This feature lets you find news stories relevant to your web site, e-zine, or blog within news pages indexed by Google. It's great for sparking content ideas or just keeping up with the latest developments in your market or industry.

"Web Directory" search: This option lets you search Google's directory for sites that match your search terms. It's ideal for finding out how many competitors you may have for a new product, and for seeking out potential linking partners.

"Search Froogle": Froogle lets online shoppers search for products and compare prices. It displays pictures, prices, and links to online stores in the results, so you can use it to quickly research how the pricing of your products or services compares with other offerings across the Web.

If you have an idea for a new product, Froogle is a great place to check out your potential competion

Once you get the hang of them, these powerful tools can become a great asset to your business because they can save you hours spent on research -- leaving you more time to concentrate on developing new products, new marketing strategies, and other ways to boost your profits.

3. Free image-reducing tool and free "tool kit" trials

http://www.marketingtips.com/netmechanic

NetMechanic is a "tool kit" resource, offering a number of free trials that are great for easily locating potential problems with your site and repairing them quickly. Address problems such as...

HTML code errors
Browser display problems
Lengthy load times
Broken links
Site downtime
Some of these tools will even give you a free monthly update! However, you'll get a limited version of each tool unless you're willing to pay the fee. But NetMechanic's image-reducing tool, GIFbot, is totally free and is a particularly useful resource.

Using GIFBot is an excellent way to reduce the file size of your images so that your web pages load faster -- and you don't lose those impatient surfers.

Copywriting Techniques - Seven Vital Elements That Will Make Your Salescopy SELL
Blogging for Business - How Make Blogging an Effective Strategy for Your Business
Internet Marketing Strategy - "Make 2006 Your Most Profitable Year EVER with These 'Top 5' Up-to-the-Minute Strategies!"
How to Start with ZERO Visitors, Test Your Web Site to Maximize Sales, and Then Roll Out a Traffic Campaign That Attracts 1,000s of Qualified Buyers
How Responsible Pop-ups Can Boost Your Opt-Ins, Increase Your Sales, and Inform Your Customers!
How to Direct Qualified Buyers STRAIGHT to Your Product or Service by Getting Listed on the Shopping Bot Sites!"
Three Cheap and Effective Ways to Drive Tons of Highly Targeted Traffic to Your Web Site!
Easy Tricks for Simplifying Your Web Site and Turning At Least 60% More Visitors into Sales!
Start Internet Business Idea - Start Your Own Internet Business With These Free Product Ideas, Yours For The Taking!
The Three Common Traits Shared By ?Mom & Pop? Web Sites Earning $100,000 to $600,000 A Year
Uncover New Profit Channels for Your Business by conducting an Online Survey
Harness Your Site's Stats to Measure Your Success
Jermaine Internet Marketing Success Story - Internet marketing guru Corey Rudl interviews Jermaine Griggs
How to Start and Promote Virtually Any Business, Product or Service on the Internet?
How to Market Your business Online
Exclusive Case Studies: Three "Regular People" Share Their Secrets to Earning $100,000+ with Their Internet Home Businesses
Exploit one product or idea to its fullest ("banner" example used)
How to use your current customers to skyrocket your profits
Headlines can increase your response by as much as 1700%!
What Marketing Promotions Do I Start First, For The Biggest Profit?
Should I Sell a Product or Service Online?
What Are The 2 Easiest and Hottest Products Online?
Long copy does work on the web -- I'll prove it
Interview with Internet Marketing Success Story: Corey Rudl
How to Spy on Your Competitors - Legally!
How to easily find every site on the web that has a link to your site
Back to Web Marketing Articles Index

View by Topics:
Website Marketing and Promotion Articles
Internet Marketing Success Story Articles
Build Your Own Web Site
How to Implementing eBooks into Internet marketing strategy
Search Engines Articles
Email Marketing Articles
Merchant Accounts / Ordering Systems
Starting Associate / Affiliate Program Articles
Joining Associate / Affiliate Program Articles
See all Free Internet Marketing articles

Internet Marketing Guide
Step by Step Guide How to build a web site
Internet Marketing Tips
Online Selling Guide
Internet Marketing Case Studies
Email Marketing Guide
Search Engine Guide
Merchant Account Tips
Set-up your own Affiliate Program
Joining Affiliate Program
Internet Marketing Tools
Web site Builder
Internet Entrepreneur Club
Search Engine Marketing Lab
Email Marketing Tool
Search Engine Submission
Merchant Account and eCommerce Solution
Affiliate program software
Desktop Marketer Pro
Secure eBook software
Free Online Business Course
Work at Home Moms - WAHM The Master Course
The Site Build It! Guide
Affiliate Master Course
Service Seller Master Course
Make Your Net Auction Sell!
Make Your Price Sell
Getting Started Guide
The Netwriting Course
Webmaster Business Course
Marketing Course and ebooks
The Insider Secrets to Marketing Business on the Internet

Email Marketing Ebook
Marketing Success Secret
Make Your Content PREsell
Make Your Site Sell
Make Your Knowledge Sell
Make Your Words Sell

Image files can be reduced by as much as 50% - 85% in many cases, and it's so easy to do that nowadays you'll look totally unprofessional with huge, lagging image files that take forever to load on your site.

4. Free HTML editor and HTML tutorials

http://www.nvu.com

You don't have to spend hundreds of dollars on HTML editors and web design software to create your own web site. Nvu is a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) HTML editor that's similar to FrontPage or Dreamweaver -- but completely free to download!

The software allows you to create and manage a professional-looking web site without any knowledge of HTML programming, and includes the following features:

WYSIWYG editing of pages, meaning you can see what your web page will look like as you're creating it

Integrated file management via FTP, so you can upload your pages to your web host

Easy-to-use interface

Free tutorials

If you are interested in learning how to code HTML yourself, here are a couple of excellent tutorial and resource sites where you can learn everything you need to know:

http://www.davesite.com/webstation/html/

http://www.echoecho.com

And, for those of you who are a little more technically inclined, you may want to check out some of the many free CGI script resources out there. Two good places to start include...

http://www.scriptsearch.com

http://www.cgi-resources.com

5. Free-trial keyword service

http://www.marketingtips.com/wordtracker

Using a service such as Wordtracker allows you to easily discover which keywords are frequently searched by your target market -- but are not being used by your competition.

Wordtracker has compiled a massive database of terms that people search on, so all you have to do is enter your keyword, and Wordtracker tells you how often people are searching that term, how many competing sites are using that particular keyword, and how much they are bidding for the pay-per-click search engines.

A tool like this will help you optimize your search engine ranking by targeting keywords and phrases that are frequently searched by your best potential customers, but that few (if any!) of your competitors are competing under.

Capitalize on the streams of neglected and missed traffic that are passing your competition by -- and even discover misspellings of your keywords that may be drawing traffic!

The free trial version of Wordtracker, however, will only compare your keywords with MSN, while the paid version compiles results from the top search engines, directories, and pay-per-click engines.

If you're happy to limit yourself to MSN, you can use the free trial as many times as you like. Otherwise, the paid version is available for $8.04 per day or $26.81 per week, with monthly and yearly subscriptions available as well.

You might also want to try out Yahoo! Search Marketing's Keyword Popularity and Suggestion tool, available free at:

http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/

Yahoo! Search Marketing's keyword service will give you a list of related searches that include your term and tell you how many times those terms were searched in Yahoo! Search Marketing (formerly Overture) in the last month.

This is a good way to find out the popularity of your keyword, but the tool doesn't list bidding amounts. If you're looking for great deals on your keywords, your best bet is to search in both Yahoo! Search Marketing and Wordtracker to gauge popularity, then use Wordtracker to determine your bidding strategy.

6. Free browser compatibility service

http://www.anybrowser.com

The browser compatibility experts, AnyBrowser, offer every tool you'll need to make your site viewable, as the name suggests, in any browser. The most useful tool is the "SiteViewer," which allows you to see your web pages as surfers will see them on multiple browsers.

For example, your site may look different in Netscape Navigator than it does in Internet Explorer -- images may be broken, tables may shift, and so on. With AnyBrowser you can ensure you meet the needs of every browser.

You can also make sure your coding checks out and your links aren't broken, and view an example of how your listing will appear in the search engines (what description will be used, what the title will be, etc.).

AnyBrowser is also a great resource directory, pointing you toward a variety of really useful free tools. It's a great place to find online HTML tutorials, banner exchanges, CGI scripts, and a ton of free resources, including HTML editors, classifieds, fonts, graphics, Java scripts, message boards, and more.

7. Free search tool

http://www.answers.com

1-Click Answers is a downloadable search tool available from the Answers.com search engine. It allows you to search multiple information sources and find instant answers containing concise information on the topic you're searching
for.

After you've downloaded the personal (free) version, you'll have a search bar right on your desktop. When you search on an item, you'll get results from some or all of the following resources, depending on your search term:

Dictionaries
Thesauruses
Atlases
Glossaries
Encyclopedias
... All in just one step! No more messing around with multiple search tools; 1-Click Answers consolidates them in one source to save the precious time of the busy
netrepreneur.

8. Free content

http://www.freesticky.com/stickyweb

This resource is a good place to find free (or cheap) content for your site, so you can keep your site fresh and interesting for your visitors -- and keep them coming back.

Find articles, news briefs, headlines, tickers, tips of the day, and more. The broad variety of topics range from financial advice to hip hop headlines, from travel guides to lottery results. You can also give away free software applications directly from your site, many of which are available for co-branding.

Another good source for articles is www.EZineArticles.com, which offers free content designed for both web sites and e-zines.

Watch that you don't just load up your site with a lot of stuff that you think is interesting. The material you provide has to be relevant to your business and your
customer base.

Also be aware that the sponsorship information that is usually included can pull your readers' attention away from your purpose -- and, most importantly, the sponsors' links can draw traffic away from your site.

It is always a good idea to have quality content on your site, but use discretion and make sure it's worth the risk involved.

9. Free e-mail campaign ROI calculator

http://www.marketingtoday.com/tools/roi_calculator.htm

A very cool tool... Marketing Today's ROI calculator is an easy-to-use little device that allows you to accurately estimate what kind of return on investment you can expect from your upcoming direct mail or e-mail campaigns and promotions.

The most accurate way to operate this tool is to use the response rate you received from your previous mailings to calculate your ROI for future mailings.

All you have to do is enter the numbers: the number of mailings you'll be doing, your total costs, the response rate you expect, the conversion rate you expect, and how much you expect each buyer to spend (i.e., the cost of your product or service).

Hint: If you do not have previous response rates and conversion rates to base your figures on, you should estimate much lower than you think necessary. If you guess too low, you'll just end up with more profits; guess too high, however, and you'll be making a costly mistake.

The ROI calculator is a simple tool that acts as an excellent reality check when you're determining your marketing costs.

10. Free web design tool

http://www.colormatch.dk

Most Internet entrepreneurs have very little, if any, web design knowledge. However, this doesn't have to be a barrier to creating a professional-looking web site.

One of the hardest tasks for someone with no design experience is choosing the color scheme for your site. Well, this easy-to-use free tool allows you to create a complete color scheme at the click of the button.

It also gives you the HTML codes for the colors you choose (every web color has a code, e.g., black is #000000) -- so you can use them on your site and not have to worry if that pink really does match that orange.

11. Free site search tools

http://sitelevel.whatuseek.com

SiteLevel can set you up with effective, free search tools for your web site. If your site is more than a couple of pages and doesn't have a good internal search tool, you're probably losing many a frustrated visitor.

While appeasing your visitors, a site-level search engine also enables you to find out what your users want and need.

SiteLevel's search tools allow you to track what your visitors are searching for and see what they are finding or not finding, so you can adapt to their agendas and increase visitor satisfaction -- and the stickiness of your site.

SiteLevel also lets you customize your own search results page to make it suit the look and feel of your web site.

The basic (free) version has more than enough "oomph" for the average small-business web site, allowing you to index up to 1,000 pages and incorporate a variety of search strategies.

12. More free marketing tools

http://www.thefreesite.com

You got it... The Free Site is free stuff! And lots of it!

Not everything on this site is e-business related, but you can find plenty that is. Probably the most useful section for e-businesses is the "webmaster" section at:

http://thefreesite.com/Webmaster_Freebies/

Here you'll find the "Internet Seer" site monitoring tool that provides downtime alerts so you don't lose valuable customers. You'll also find...

Tools to help you check your keywords and your link popularity

Suggested methods of winning awards for your site

Scripts, banners, and polls

Guestbooks, message boards, and more...

The Free Site also lists free technical support and online tutorials, free personal management tools, plenty of Java script resources, free fonts, clipart, graphics, icons, and buttons, plus much, much more.

Again, be wary of freebies that ask for advertising space in return... but you might want to bookmark this page!

Final thoughts

One of the great advantages of starting an online business, as opposed to taking the more traditional "bricks and mortar" approach, is that costs are SO much lower. Hosting fees are your main overhead, but these are nowhere near the rent you'd pay for office space for an offline business.

And when it comes to creating and building your web site -- as well as marketing it -- you can further reduce your costs by making use of some great free tools and resources.

The tools I've recommended are personal favorites, and I know you'll find them incredibly useful. But when you're choosing free services or software, always proceed with caution and stay in control with each decision you make. Find out
whether any advertising will be included and whether you will be bound by any restrictions or obligations. "Free" can sometimes mean only that there's no charge -- not no consequences.

Source: http://www.internet-earning.com/index.php?/archives/10-12-Free-Tools-to-save-your-money-and-make-your-business-more-profitable..html

pittsburgh penguins record store day jennie garth space needle nashville predators king arthur king arthur

Hungry Americans get "A Place at the Table" in new documentary

NEW YORK (Reuters) - What do a police officer, a teacher, a rancher, and a second grader have in common? They all go hungry despite living in one of the wealthiest countries in the world.

Documentary film "A Place at the Table," which opens nationwide on Friday, shines a spotlight on the prevalence of hunger in the United States through the personal stories of some of the millions of Americans who struggle to feed themselves and their families.

"There is this perception that it's a tiny marginalized group of people who are facing it, but at this point we're looking at 50 million Americans," director and producer Lori Silverbush told Reuters.

Silverbush and fellow director Kristi Jacobson said that the scope of problem remains largely hidden in the United States because people often associate hunger with images of children with sunken cheeks in developing countries. Many citizens are also ashamed to admit they cannot afford enough food.

"It's not what we are conditioned to think hunger looks like," Jacobson said.

Hunger and obesity sometimes coexist in the same person, and "A Place at the Table" draws connections between this seeming paradox.

In the film, New York University nutrition professor Marion Nestle notes that the price of processed foods has decreased by 40 percent since 1980 while the price of fruit and vegetables has gone up by the same amount. The price disparity has helped drive the obesity epidemic, especially among low-income groups, she contends.

FOOD DESERTS BEREFT OF FRUIT, VEGETABLES

Tremonica, a second grader in the Mississippi Delta featured in the film, suffers from both hunger and obesity, and her mother says that she often cannot afford fresh food for her daughter.

"I think it's really important to think about hunger and obesity as opposite sides of the same coin," said Bill Shore, founder and chief executive of Share Our Strength, which works to eradicate child hunger in the United States.

Access to healthy food can be a problem in "food deserts," a term for areas in both urban and rural communities where fresh food is scarce.

North Philadelphia mom Barbie is filmed taking a two-hour round trip bus ride to get to a supermarket with a better selection than the ones in her neighborhood.

Even with a full-time job, she often finds herself feeding her children tins of cheap, small, prepared meals because she can't find or afford much else.

Jacobson and Silverbush hope that their film helps raise awareness about hunger and inspires people to take action.

"We know how to fix hunger. It's not a mysterious condition that we don't know what causes it," Silverbush said.

"When we speak to (U.S.) legislators, they tell us that their phones aren't ringing on this issue, they're not getting texts, they're not getting emails. That's why we made this movie, to convince people that if they decide to engage on this they will have agency and we will change it," she said.

Some of the solutions proposed in "A Place at the Table" include expanding food stamps, ensuring that all children who qualify for free school lunches have access to them, implementing nutrition education, reexamining farm subsidies, and revising guidelines for federal food assistance.

A social media-based action campaign accompanies the launch of the film to connect people with information about anti-hunger efforts.

(Editing by Jill Serjeant and Eric Walsh)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hungry-americans-place-table-documentary-203320411--business.html

wes welker eli manning eli manning kelly clarkson national anthem halftime show super bowl halftime show 2012 ahmad bradshaw

Happy Birthday, Justin Bieber! Here's (1)9 Of Your Best Moments!

As Bieber turns 19, MTV News celebrates his greatest accomplishments of the past 12 months.
By Jocelyn Vena

Justin Bieber
Photo: Getty Images

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1702825/justin-bieber-birthday-19.jhtml

howard johnson levon helm firelight world peace elbow kevin love think like a man world peace

New ice boat helps Adventure Recreation offer more winter activities ...

(Photo: Doug Carty)

by Joseph Bevilacqua
edited by Joe Sousa

Over winter break the Adventure Recreation department added a new toy to their arsenal of offerings with the acquisition of an ice boat.

?I?ve been looking for an ice boat for the better part of three years? said Doug Carty, Director of Adventure Recreation on campus. Carty traded some of the departments old kayaks, which were in the process of being replaced, to expand their winter activites.

?I?ve noticed the snow is hit or miss, but the ice is always there? said Carty. ?I wanted another Adventure Recreation opportunity on campus that could replace lost opportunities from a lack of snow.?

Carty found the boat on Craigslist, listed by its owner, located in Winchendon, Massachusetts.

?The boat has about a foot wide compartment that you sit in with a mast, boom and one sheet.? said Brad Arena, a junior and Trip Leader for Adventure Recreation.

The boat is mounted on top of three large ice skates, one for steering, and the outer two for stabalization. There is also a handbrake to slow down the boat if needed, but the primary way to stop is to head into the wind.

?You can also use the boat in up to three inches of snow. Any more is too much resistance,? said Arena.

Since the boat is only a single seater, it is difficult for Carty and his team to give lessons. ?It certainly requires some training before it can be used,? said Carty. A knowledge of basic sailing techniques is extremely helpful, however, and makes it much less intimidating for first time users of the ice boat. However, any student is more than welcome to give the boat a try, should they desire to do so.

For now, Carty only plans on using the boat on Pearly Pond, but may explore making trips with it in the future, since it also came with a trailer.

Anyone with questions about the ice boat can contact Doug Carty at cartyd@franklinpierce.edu.

?

Source: http://www.fpujournalism.org/theexchange-2013/new-ice-boat-helps-adventure-recreation-offer-more-winter-activities-to-students/

greystone sidney crosby at the drive in alternative minimum tax modeselektor gran torino gloria steinem

Vizio SB4021M-A1 Home Theater Soundbar

Soundbars with wireless subwoofers can certainly sound impressive, because that big 15-pound block you keep next to your couch can make the room shake without much effort. Because of this, when shopping for a system, it's easy to ignore the soundbar speaker itself, which gives you all of the audio above approximately 100Hz. Dialog, music, sound effects, and anything that isn't completely bass-driven suffers if the soundbar doesn't do its job. Unfortunately, the Vizio SB402M-A1 is proof of that. Its subwoofer is capable and its $229.99 (direct) price tag is right, but the soundbar just doesn't have enough depth or power to give the midrange and treble response enough impact.

Design
The soundbar itself is 40.1 inches wide and 4.1 inches high on its removable silver-colored feet, and measures only 2.1 inches deep. It weighs a svelte 4.8 pounds, and can easily be placed in front of your TV or mounted on a wall. The front is covered with a cloth grille interrupted in the middle by a glossy plastic rectangle with a silver Vizio logo and a blue LCD display. The ends are capped with silver-colored trim that give the soundbar a slightly more distinguished look. The top of the soundbar holds Power, Input, and Volume Up/Down buttons flush against a glossy plastic shell. The back holds the power port facing outward and a USB port, analog input, coaxial input, and optical input set facing right or down inside recessed areas, which are designed to make the ports accessible when the soundbar is mounted on a wall.

The wireless subwoofer is nondescript and black, measuring 12.8 by 8.5 by 11.3 inches (HWD) and weighing 10.9 pounds. The front, top, and back are black plastic, while the sides are covered in cloth grilles. A side-firing port sits on the back. It comes pre-paired with the soundbar, so all you have to do is plug it in, make sure it's within about 30 feet of the soundbar, and enjoy the bass.

The remote is large, chunky, and simple, measuring 4.4 inches long and 0.6 inches thick. It holds Power, Input, Mute, and Menu buttons, plus a direction pad that doubles as playback and volume control. The remote isn't backlit, but it's easy enough to use blindly.

Performance
Speakers need room in the cabinet to resonate, and while the big, chunky subwoofer has plenty of space for bass, the soundbar is too thin to produce satisfying midrange. Rage Against The Machine's "Guerilla Radio" sounded notably tinny, with the richer drumbeats and guitar lines sounding hollow and jangly. The subwoofer produced decent deep bass, but when the bass crept over the crossover and requires the soundbar's drivers, it lost a lot of its weight.

The tinny trebles and mediocre midrange was apparent in Tron: Legacy, where the sweeping, alien soundtrack of Daft Punk had plenty of force thanks to the subwoofer. But dialog sounded comparatively fuzzy, and crashing and shattering sound effects lacked much texture. Anything that wasn't deep bass had a distinct lack of warmth, and the soundbar sounded decidedly inferior on all fronts compared to the Sony HT-CT260 soundbar.

The Vizio SB4021M-A1 is an affordable sidebar with a nice design, but it doesn't fare particularly well with audio performance. If you can spend a little more, the Editors' Choice Sony HT-CT260 offers much better midrange and treble response, and features built-in Bluetooth to boot.

More Speaker Reviews:
??? Sony HT-CT260 Home Theater Soundbar
??? Vizio SB4021M-A1 Home Theater Soundbar
??? Samsung HW-E550
??? Harman Kardon SB 30
??? Bowers & Wilkins Panorama 2
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/4cFpUHPB4Eo/0,2817,2415840,00.asp

braveheart earthquake california earthquake california roy orbison the third man 2012 nfl draft order mohamed sanu

Slow-moving snowstorm pummels Midwest, heads east

CHICAGO (AP) ? A slow-moving storm that has paralyzed parts of the nation's midsection for days with heavy, wet snow that strained power lines, clogged roadways and delayed hundreds of flights, dumped at least 6 inches of snow on western Michigan early Wednesday as it churned eastward.

The storm that made travel perilous from the Oklahoma Panhandle to the Great Lakes on Tuesday was expected to linger for another day over Chicago and parts of the Midwest. Up to a foot of snow was forecast for northern New England on Wednesday evening.

Up to 4 inches of wet, heavy snow smothered metro Chicago on Tuesday, while as much as 7 ? inches blanketed some northern suburbs, said Matt Friedlein, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in northern Illinois. A chilly rain kept city streets slick during the Wednesday morning commute.

Other parts of the Midwest were hit much harder, with more than 15 inches of snow in parts of Oklahoma, up to a foot in Kansas and up to 13? inches in Missouri. In Iowa, officials warned of hazardous travel conditions as temperatures fell and ice formed on snowy roads.

Keith Voss, manager of the Fareway Grocery in Centerville, Iowa, said he was planning to close up five hours early Tuesday because only a handful of customers had come in.

"The weather here has been really bad. They couldn't get here, most of them, if they wanted to," Voss said. "The town has been pretty rough traveling."

With the power out and an electric water pump silenced, Shannon Wickware and a house full of relatives in Woodward, Okla., which received 15 inches of snow Monday, had only to fetch a pile of snow from outside whenever they got thirsty.

"It's just snow. That's all we can see," Wickware said Tuesday. "We've been trying to melt snow and drinking that. And we've been just trying to keep the fire going."

The weather service said early Wednesday that 6 inches had fallen on Grand Haven and Muskegon in western Michigan, while some Detroit suburbs saw 4 inches of snow. The state's highest accumulations, totaling 5 to 8 inches, were forecast for the rural Thumb region, surrounded on three sides by Lake Huron.

Fueled by a strong low pressure system, the crescent-shape storm began Sunday in Texas, then headed north. On Monday, whiteout conditions made virtually all Texas Panhandle roads impassable, although primary roadways reopened Tuesday when the sun emerged and began to thaw ice and snow-packed surfaces. A hurricane-force gust of 75 mph was recorded in Amarillo, where 17 inches of snow fell. The heaviest snowfall was in Follett, Texas, with 21 inches.

The system, more common in early spring, contained so much moisture that it was difficult to forecast where it would rain or where it would snow ? or even if the snow would accumulate, Friedlein said.

At one point, snow fell at a rate of 1-2 inches per hour on the North Side of Chicago and northern counties, he said.

The blizzard came on the heels of another massive snowstorm last week, but experts cautioned that the snowpack now resting on the Plains would likely not bring sufficient relief after months of drought.

"If we get one more storm like this, with widespread 2 inches of moisture, we will continue to chip away at the drought," said meteorologist Mike Umscheid of the National Weather Service office in Dodge City. "But to claim the drought is over or ending is way too premature."

The Missouri Department of Transportation issued a rare "no travel" advisory, urging people to stay off highways except in case of a dire emergency. Conditions were so bad that snowplows slid into ditches, underlining the danger.

The weight of the snow strained power lines and cut electricity to more than 100,000 homes and businesses. Hospitals closed outpatient centers and urgent-care clinics. Early Wednesday, some 40,000 customers in Michigan were without power.

At least three deaths were blamed on the blizzard.

In the northwest Oklahoma town of Woodward, a person was killed after 15 inches of snow brought down part of a roof. The storm was also blamed for the deaths of two people who were killed in rollover crashes Monday on Interstate 70 in Kansas.

Heavy snow pulled down large trees and caused roofs to cave in at businesses in Belton and Warrensburg, Mo. In Columbia, a canopy over gas pumps collapsed at a convenience store.

By late Tuesday afternoon, airlines had canceled almost 500 flights at Chicago's O'Hare and Midway international airports. Some 100 flights were sidelined Wednesday, and yet more were delayed.

Many commuters appeared to heed warnings and either stayed home or left work early. Chicago train cars were half empty during the evening commute, and traffic on some expressways flowed as if it was Sunday afternoon.

"This is fabulous," said Mitzi Norton, 34, of suburban Elmwood Park, as she rode a train home. "I wish I drove."

___

Associated Press writers Don Babwin in Chicago, Betsy Blaney in Lubbock, Texas, Josh Funk in Des Moines, Nomaan Merchant in Dallas, Jill Zeman Bleed and Kelly P. Kissel in Little Rock, Ark., Daniel Holtmeyer in Oklahoma City, Steve Paulson in Denver, Paul Davenport in Albuquerque, N.M., Roxana Hegeman in Wichita, Kan., and Seth Borenstein in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/slow-moving-snowstorm-pummels-midwest-heads-east-082250052.html

tacoma narrows bridge open marriage department of justice doj dept of justice weather chicago swizz beatz