Shiny Ads Secures Funding For Its Award-Winning Self-Serve Advertising Platform

Advertising technology company, Shiny Ads, announced that it had closed a seed funding round led by the two largest Angel networks in the greater Toronto area - Maple Leaf Angels and York Angels. Also contributing to the seed round were individual investors from the digital media industry.
Shiny Ads' self-serve advertising platform has helped mid to large online publishers, like deviantART.com, maximize their advertising revenue by providing a simple, user-friendly interface so that long-tail advertisers can purchase ads on high traffic websites. This was nearly impossible before Shiny Ads due to resource constraints - budget, industry knowledge, graphic design, etc. "The platform that Shiny Ads provides allows us an efficient and customizable way to offer a great product to the large number of small businesses looking to advertise on deviantART," says Ernie Riemer, VP of Advertising for deviantART.
Shiny Ads was established in May 2009 and until now, Roy Pereira, its founder and President, privately funded the advertising technology company. "Passion is everything in a start-up environment. If you truly believe in your product and execute like your life depends on it, then success will follow," says Roy Pereira. The fact that Shiny Ads was already integrated into a large number of online publisher's websites prior to the seed funding round is testament to that passion and the revolutionary technology behind the company. Pereira has been involved in several start-ups, some successful and other not so successful, from the creation of remove access VPN at TimeStep to the award winning Refresh Partners, the first boutique marketing firm to focus on social networks. Roy's experience goes beyond start-ups, working with a number of highly successful public companies such as Cisco Systems, in California, and Certicom, in Toronto.
Given this investment, Shiny Ads has grown the team to include industry veterans like Zunaid Khan, VP of Business Development and Sales. Khan's previous roles include Canoe/Sun Media as Director of Product Management and Strategic Alliances and Director of Technology Sales at 24/7 Real Media. Joining the Board of Directors is James Prudhomme, one of Canada's leading Digital Media executives, Scott MacCannell, founding President of York Angels, and Robert Koturbash who is the founding Managing Director of the Maple Leaf Angels. "Shiny Ads is a disruptive technology that allows content publishers to directly interact with their small and local advertisers in an extremely cost effective manner - it allows them to once again own those critical relationships at the same time as generating revenue that was once lost to them," says Koturbash. "York Angels is very pleased to be involved as a partner with Roy Pereira and the great team of professionals that he has assembled at Shiny Ads to address this promising market opportunity. We very much look forward to working with Roy and his team, the Maple Leaf Angels and the other independent Investors that are involved in this exciting venture," said Scott MacCannell.

ABOUT SHINY ADS
Shiny Ads is a Toronto based advertising technology company focused on helping online publishers maximize revenue from advertisers of all sizes. With Shiny Ads, publishers have control over the entire ad purchasing process by a simple, user-friendly self-serve advertising platform integrated into their backend. It allows small and local (long-tail) advertisers to quickly and easily purchase advertising without the need for industry knowledge, graphic designers, or a large budget. Visit our website at www.ShinyAds.com or check out our demo at www.vimeo.com/shinyads/intro.
ABOUT MAPLE LEAF ANGELS
The Maple Leaf Angels is a group of private investors who come from a wide variety of backgrounds and careers. With chapters based in Toronto and Mississauga, the group has invested over $7 million into 19 high growth companies. Maple Leaf Angels possesses deep expertise in information, communication and clean technologies. Visit their website at www.mapleleafangels.com.

ABOUT YORK ANGELS
York Angels actively provides a supportive linkage between local entrepreneurs, seeking early-stage capital, and investors with a commitment to the economic development of the Region and Ontario generally, and to the entrepreneurial spirit of their communities. We are committed to providing quality investment support and coaching to qualifying companies, thereby ensuring they have the best opportunity for growth and expansion in their industry. Visit their website at www.yorkangels.com.

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Infamous Cabrini-Green Projects To Be Demolished

As the Chicago Housing Authority begins demolishing the now-vacant urban renewal project, artist Jan Tichy is preparing an art installation to on commemorate the site reflecting on the themes of home, housing, and community.

Tichy, a faculty member at the Art Institute of Chicago, is working with a social worker and 25 of his students on the art installation.
Reporter Brian Costello describes the project:
"On the morning of March 28, Tichy and his team plan to place a module in each of the apartments at 1230 N. Burling. That evening, the LEDs will come to life, silently flickering to the rhythm of the kids' stories and poems. The spectacle will run from 7 PM to 1 AM that night and every night thereafter, until the Heneghan Wrecking Company completes demolition—about four to six weeks. Tichy expects the white light generated by the LEDs to reflect the colors of the walls around them, giving observers outside a prismatic display."

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Malcolm X’s Daughter Faces Fraud Charges

Malcolm X’s Daughter Faces Fraud Charges - One of Malcolm X’s daughters, Malikah Shabazz, appeared in a Queens court today on charges that she defrauded the 70-year-old widow of one of her father’s former bodyguards.
Shabazz, 45, is accused of stealing more than $55,000 from the unidentified victim. She was arrested two weeks ago in Mars Hills, N.C. and held in lieu of $100,000 bail. She was extradited to New York on Wednesday and placed in protective custody.

Malcolm X’s Daughter Faces Fraud Charges - Malikah’s twin sister, Malaak, was in the courtroom showing her support, despite their ongoing family feud over their father’s $1.4 million estate and unpublished writings.
"We love her, no matter what," Malaak said after the hearing. "Families have ups and downs, but she's still our sister."

Malcolm X’s Daughter Faces Fraud Charges - Shabazz was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court for third-degree grand larceny, third-degree criminal possession of stolen property, second-degree forgery, second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, first-degree identity theft, first-degree falsifying business records, first-degree scheme to defraud and third-degree unlawful possession of personal identification information.
She faces up to seven years in prison if convicted.

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Cedar Point

Turmoil at Cedar handsome is durable suppress dueling lawsuits and new demands for a more board. Q Investments, the activist hedge fund dogging the amusement arena company’s management, uttered Thursday seven board members should desert for misleading shareholders about the abrupt grim reaper of a top executive supremacy January.

Q Investments is pointing to a Feb. 28 ruling by an arbitration panel that Jacob “Jack” Falfas, the company’s former chief operating officer, was wrongfully terminated, in incursion of his employment agreement. Falfas vocal unabridged along that he was fired, while Cedar shapely said he resigned.
Falfas is entitled to back pay, legal fees besides reinstatement to his job, the arbitration panel said.
Cedar Fair concedes that original at sea the ruling, but maintains Falfas is not entitled to carry off his employment transfer. The dispute is now playing exterior domination lawsuits in Erie possessions homely Pleas Court.

Shareholder Leland Wykoff said the sudden paradise of Falfas last June was mysterious because he was seen as Kinzel’s right-hand partner again heir apparent.
Wykoff uttered he sought answers from the camper on why Falfas left, but never got a satisfactory explanation.

Falfas’s attorney did not return a call chase comment.
Cedar Fair spokeswoman Stacy Frole uttered the camper stood behind its conclusions and initial reporting to the Securities and altercation aim that Falfas resigned “based on the actions of Mr. Falfas on June 12, 2010.” She offered no details on his departure, rendering the caravan doesn’t compare notes personnel matters publicly.

Frole went on to interest that Falfas chose to exercise his right to an adjudicature reasonableness. But the reconciliation panel’s 2-1 decision “in no way” concluded that the camper or its element misled shareholders, she said. Cedar classy is pursuit a court’s descant of the award of ferry wealth and reinstatement.
Q Investments sent a letter to instrumentality members Thursday reading the panel’s compromise “could not count on been a supplementary sleety rebuke” of the company’s previous statements on Falfas.
“We consider lost expectation grease this board,” the letter concluded.

Among the board members Q Investments wants outermost is Chief Executive Richard Kinzel and C. Thomas Harvie, who took over the board chairman’s job that Kinzel held until relinquishing tangible magnetism January after Q Investments agitated to separate the positions.

Q Investments is a Texas-based hedge lucre that has bought up 18 percent of Cedar marvelous shares since December 2009, making right the company’s biggest shareholder.

The fund contends Cedar Fair needs new leaders in lustrous of board decisions that led to the company’s failed proposed sale to private-equity firm Apollo Global Management. The deal was called off make headway April since of a lack of shareholder support, also the company paid a $ 6.5 million breakup fee.
Asked whether Q Investments was onerous to seize oversee of Cedar Fair, partner Scott McCarty noted that the hedge fund had declined the board seat that the company offered Q Investments last year.
“What we wanting is a competent constituent that listens to its unitholders,” he said.

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Search Continues on Disney Cruise Ship

Authorities searched all day Saturday for a cruise worker who disappeared on a Disney cruise ship heading to Mexico from Los Angeles. Authorities will continue the investigation of the Disney Wonder after it docks in San Pedro early Sunday morning.

Rebecca Corium, 24, was reported missing Tuesday when she did not show up for her shift on the Disney Wonder as it traveled from Los Angeles to Puerto Vallarta.

Corium was last seen early Tuesday. Her family said her roommate told them Corium had called a friend, but Disney representatives were not releasing information regarding the call.

“They say they know what the conversation was but they're not telling us,” Corium's aunt, Trish Davies, told reporters. “They say they've got to wait for the investigation.”

The ship is registered in the Bahamas, so authorities there are handling the investigation.

“We didn't know if Rebecca had fallen overboard or what, just that the ship had been thoroughly searched,” Coriam's mother, Ann Coriam, told local reporters. “We'd asked whether the police were onboard and we were told ‘no’ at that stage.”

Authorities said all parties were cooperating with the ongoing investigation.

“It seems that the ship's just gone on with its holiday,” Davies said. “The crew have carried on working as normal like nothing's happened.”

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Mega Millions winning numbers worth $172 million

mega millions, megamillions, mass lottery, lelong, yahoo sports BY BOB HOLT

Mega Millions winning numbers worth $172 million

Mega Millions winning numbers worth $172 million -

New Jersey's lottery players will be thinking green two days before St. Patrick’s Day. A whole lot of green.
The grand prize in Tuesday’s Mega millions drawing stands at $172 million. A winner would have the choice to take annual payments of roughly $6 million for 26 years or walk away with a cash option lump-sum payment of $108.9 million.
In this past Friday night's Mega Millions drawing, there was no jackpot winner, but according to lotterypost.com, 11 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $250,000 prize, one of them coming from New Jersey.

The 40-year-old New Jersey Lottery outdoes many other states’ comparable operations in sales and in the amount of revenue it provides to the state. In 2010, despite a poor economy that has hurt casino and racetrack gambling, the state lottery broke all of its previous revenue records.

MEGA MILLIONS WINNING NUMBERS FOR TUESDAY, MARCH 15, 2011:

10, 11, 12, 28, 43 and Mega ball 45

In June 2010 the state Treasury Department and acting director of the state Lottery Commission, Carole Hedinger announced that total profits for the previous 12 months had exceeded $2.6 billion for the first time.
Not all states shared such good fortune: The Press of Atlantic City reported last year that a study by the Rockefeller Institute for Government, based in New York, found in the same period that some lotteries, such as those in Oregon and West Virginia, lost as much as 15 percent of their revenue. Neighboring Pennsylvania, which has expanded casino gambling, saw a drop last year, too, of about $22 million, or nearly 1 percent of revenue.
But money can create just as many problems as it solves if you’re not careful. There are too many stories of people winning the lottery which turn into nightmares.

Craig Wallace, a senior funding officer for a company that buys lottery annuity payments in exchange for lump sums, told bankrate.com, "In New Jersey, they manipulate the reality of the situation to sell more tickets. Each winner takes a picture with a check that becomes a 3-foot by 5-foot stand-up card. The winner is photographed standing next to a beautiful woman and the caption reads: 'New Jersey's newest millionaire.'"
Evelyn Adams won the New Jersey twice in 1985 and 1986, for a total of $5.4 million. Today the money is all gone and Adams lives in a trailer.

"Everybody wanted my money. Everybody had their hand out. I never learned one simple word in the English language — 'No,' said Adams.
Tuesday's Mega Millions jackpot will be the 12th drawing since the last jackpot prize winner. If no one wins on Tuesday, Friday’s Mega millions drawing could conceivably approach $200 million.

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Huge Demand for Flash Brings Down the Skyfire iPhone App

The Flash-playing Skyfire iPhone app has been pulled from the Apple App Store due to overwhelming demand, in proof once and for all that access to Flash is an important issue for many iOS users.

Within five hours of its release, Skyfire had become “the top grossing app, the third highest paid app overall and the top application in the Utilities category” according to company representatives. However, it has become a victim of this huge success and is now completely unavailable for download.

Skyfire Labs attempted to increase their server capacity to cope with yesterday’s demand, but they were simply overwhelmed and lacked the capacity to keep up. Robert Oberhofer, a Skyfire developer said on the company blog yesterday “Please bear with us as we bring our capacity in line with the incredible demand — stay tuned.”

This huge demand is a direct result of Apple’s refusal to support Adobe Flash directly, a product that many people consider a web standard for video and animated content. While Flash does have some issues – like most software does – the demand for Skyfire goes to show that a lot of people still want to use it on Apple devices.

Apple favour HTML5 over Adobe Flash, which they say is a better alternative in terms of the battery life and performance of their technology. The problem however, is that Flash is used a lot more than HTML5 at this time, no matter how hard Apple try to ignore this fact.

The capacity problems experienced by Skylab are a result of how it was forced to deal with Flash content. The Skyfire browser doesn’t actually show Flash directly, it converts it to HTML5 in order to be compatible with Apple technology. While this proxy-based translation system has received good reviews, it was obviously not ready for the huge amount of Flash content that users wanted to access.

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STD Tests Through Your Mobile Phone

In news from the UK, a group of health professionals are developing a new test for sexually transmitted diseases. While this might not seem too exciting on the surface, what if I told you that this test is designed to work via your normal mobile phone!

This new test for STDs is being designed as a cheap and widely available solution, which can be privately administered through a regular mobile phone. The process involves peeing or spitting onto a specially designed computer chip, and then plugging it into your phone for detailed software analysis.

This technology has the potential to revolutionise the testing of STDs, with results for a number of diseases appearing within minutes. Some of the common diseases able to be tested this way include gonorrhea, chlamydia, and herpes, although amazingly, this technology works in a way that it will also be able to recognise some yet-to-be-identified STDs.

Lead scientist Tariq Sadiq from the University of London has said that this test gives people no excuse to not get tested. In a recent press release, Mr Sadiq said “Currently, if you want to know if you have an infection, your sample is usually sent to a laboratory and the results come back in a few days,” adding “Imagine how much more likely you would be to get tested if you could test yourself away from a clinic and have an on-the-spot, accurate result, but still let a doctor or pharmacist know within minutes that you may need treatment.”

The project, called eSTI (electronic self-testing instruments for STIs), is being developed in the UK through a number of hospitals and institutions, with the help of funding from the Medical Research Council and UK Clinical Research Collaboration. The technology is “very close to becoming a reality,” according to Tariq, who is hoping to have these tests available soon in vending machines, pharmacies, and supermarkets for as little as 50p each.

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Amazon Refuse to Take Down Pedophile Guide

 

A controversial e-book is making big news today, as Amazon refuse to take down ‘The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure’ by Phillip R Greaves 2nd. Lots of Amazon users are incensed, choosing to boycott the Internet giant and take their business elsewhere.

e-book is proving to be one of the most talked about publications ever on Amazon, as users around the world ignite with rage. One customer review summarises a common feeling of indignation, saying “Goodbye Amazon, I’ll be closing my account momentarily. Enjoy your freedom of speech, I will enjoy shopping else where [sic].”

Amazon are aware of the book and are refusing to take it down, saying “Amazon believes it is censorship not to sell certain books simply because we or others believe their message is objectionable. Amazon does not support or promote hatred or criminal acts, however, we do support the right of every individual to make their own purchasing decision.”

Phillip Greaves, the author of the publication, says he is not a pedophile, adding “This is my attempt to make pedophile situations safer for those juveniles that find themselves involved in them, by establishing certain [sic] rules for these adults to follow. I hope to achieve this by appealing to the better nature of pedosexuals, with hope that their doing so will results in less hatred and perhaps liter [sic] sentences should they ever be caught.”

While some Amazon users have come out defending the retailers position on censorship, the vast majority of customers are unhappy with their position – and this is putting it mildly. There is also a “Boycott Amazon for Selling Pedophile Guide” Facebook page which is getting bigger and noisier all the time.

The reason why so many people are disgusted at this e-book is fairly self evident, but the reason they are almost equally disgusted with Amazon is a little more complex. While Amazon do not believe in censorship, they do object to “offensive material” in their guidelines, and this includes pornography. I think many people would consider the availability of pornography between two consenting adults far less offensive than this publication that is available right now for purchase.

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Top 10 Tech Gifts for Christmas 2010

Christmas will be here before we know it, and many stores have already begun their Black Friday sales ahead of the traditional day-after-Thanksgiving date. With this rush to get in on the Christmas bargains, here are the top 10 ideas for Christmas 2010 gifts from the world of technology, sure to impress geeks, electronics enthusiasts, and gadget lovers.

10. Apple MacBook Air 11-inch

The latest in the MacBook Air line, this slimmer and lighter weight notebook comes with a newly improved, lower price tag, too. Featuring an 11.6″ backlit LED, widescreen display, the petite computer runs the Mac OS Snow Leopard operating system. Up to 5 hours battery life, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, built-in webcam, memory card slot, 2 USB ports, and Mini DisplayPort slot round out the extras to the core of the machine, which comes in 1.4GHz or 1.6GHz Intel Core 2 dual processor options. Flash storage is either 64GB or 128GB and RAM is either 2GB or 4GB, depending on the model. nVidia GeForce 320M graphics help you make the most of every one of the 1366 x 768 pixels.

9. A Very Special Heart

A Very Special Heart comes in a necklace or key chain option, and houses a hidden USB device for connection to any computer. It holds medical conditions, medications, and allergies information. Non-emergency information like passports, social security cards, and birth certificates can be included with an owner-only password. It translates its stored information in 7 languages. This eye-catching filigree heart comes in rhodium silver or 18k yellow gold.

8. Carbonite Online Backup

While not so much a gadget or electronic, this online backup system installs a small background application on your computer, which runs silently and searches for new and changed files to backup. When it finds a new or changed file it automatically backs it up to Carbonite’s secure data center, where it’s stored in case you need to restore a lost or deleted file – which can be done in a few mouse clicks. Carbonite encrypts data twice for security and privacy in transmission. It involves a yearly membership fee.

7. Wacom Bamboo Pen and Touch

This sleek tablet has both pen and touch inputs, making it ideal for designers and artists. It has a 4.9 x 3.4″ touch area and a 5.8 x 3.6″ pen area. Included are Adobe PhotoShop Elements and Nik Color Efex Pro programs. And as it’s relatively inexpensive ($99) it’s a great low-cost investment for beginners and professionals alike.

6. iPad

It goes without saying, but we’ll say it anyways, the iPad will have sold close to 10 million units by the end of the year, making it the most successful piece of electronic equipment on the market. With enough apps to make your head spin, WiFi and 3G versions available, coupled with 10 hours worth of battery life, the iPad is the must have gadget of 2010, we would suggest getting your loved ones this present now, for fear of shortages as Christmas approaches.

5. Crosley Radio Memory Master II

The CR2413A Memory Master II is a turntable device that allows you to record vinyl and cassettes to CD without the hassle of adapters or complicated computer savvy. Recording from older media is as simple as a push of a button. With a built-in radio, it’s a great nostalgia device for listening to old music, too. It supports 3 different record speeds: 33 1/3, 45, and 78 rpm. It’s also USB enabled for a computer connection.

4. Apple TV

The new and improved Apple TV is far smaller than its predecessor, now able to be slipped into almost any home entertainment setup with ease. It comes with an unobtrusive remote and a free remote app for Apple devices. It connects to the Apple TV service via either WiFi or ethernet. Stream content from iTunes, Netflix, YouTube, Flickr, and other popular services. Some critics note the television selection available on Apple TV doesn’t stand up to competition from Amazon’s on demand service, but it’s hard to beat the versatility of services covered by Apple TV.

3. Xbox 360 Kinect

The latest in Xbox gaming technology is setting the world in fire, one calorie burning session at a time. Set to blow Nintendo Wii out of the water, Xbox 360 Kinect camera peripheral allows you to control games with your body, tracking total body movements. It also features a standard voice recognition option that lets you communicate vocally with your Xbox, rather than using a controller or your arms and hands to control menu options. It comes bundled with a suite of addictive games that really show off its single and multiplayer capabilities. Watch out Wii, a new trend in physical gaming has come to town.

2. Apple iPod Touch 2010

Enjoy the iPhone experience with no carrier costs. This newest iPod offers a high definition camcorder, front-mounted camera, omnidirectional integrated microphone, video calling, retina display, and other flashy features. As a result it’s fully capable of making VoIP calls via 3rd party apps. And as you’d expect, it runs applications with ease. CNET calls it the “iPad that fits in your pocket.”

1. Amazon Kindle

The 3rd generation of Kindle offers a library of hundreds of thousands of books, newspapers, magazines, and blogs available for reading. It comes standard with a free 3G wireless network connection and stores up to 3,500 eBooks. Its flexible display options including 8 different fonts, some of which are extra-large, make it accessible to most people. It’s far lighter weight than earlier generations, displays images, plays MP3 and AAC audio files, and totes a lower price tag than any Kindle before it. Kindles are very en vogue and its popularity, impressive features, and overall usefulness propels Amazon’s golden child to the top of our list.

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Censure Definition

Censure can be a method by which a formal reprimand is issued to someone by an authoritative entire body. In a very deliberative assembly, a movement to censure is employed.
In politics, censure is definitely an choice to a lot more significant measures in opposition to misconduct or dereliction of duty. Censure can be a method by which the house of Commons or the Senate can rebuke the actions or conduct of a person. The energy to censure just isn’t immediately pointed out inside the constitutional texts of Canada but is derived in the powers bestowed upon the two Chambers by means of section 17 with the Structure Act, 1867. A movement of censure could be released by any Member of Parliament or Senator and handed by an easy vast majority for censure to become deemed to get been delivered.
In United States, Censure can be a method for publicly reprimanding a public official for inappropriate habits. Once the president is censured, it serves simply like a condemnation and has no immediate impact around the validity of presidency, nor are there another certain authorized effects. Not like impeachment, censure has no foundation inside the Structure or inside the guidelines with the Senate and House of Representatives. It derives from your formal condemnation of both congressional entire body of their very own members.

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