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Tuesday, July 23, 2013

T-Mobile offers free Lookout Premium subscriptions for Asurion PHP and Jump! customers

Lookout and T-Mobile have a special treat for customers who elect to purchase Asurion PHP (Premium Handset Protection) or enroll in T-Mobile's new Jump! program -- a free subscription to Lookout's premium features.

If you're enrolled in the Asurion program, or have signed up for Jump!, and a current Lookout user, you should soon be getting an email about the new promotion telling you a little more information. The gist of it all is that in addition to the antivirus, find-my-phone and backup and restore options offered in the free version of Lookout, you'll also have access to photo backup, remote lock and wipe, Safe Browsing, and Lookout's privacy advisor.

These tools are pretty useful, and Lookout has a long history with Android. You may or may not find the antivirus features useful, but the monitoring ans security features are great to have. Look for your email soon!

Source: Lookout. Thanks, Jimmy!

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/Y6zT7cpjFNE/story01.htm

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Monday, July 22, 2013

54 reported dead in central China earthquake

Chinese state media are reporting this morning that at least 75 people were killed and nearly 300 injured after a 6.6 magnitude earthquake shook western China.

By M. Alex Johnson, Staff Writer, NBC News

A 6.6-magnitude earthquake struck central China on Monday, reportedly killing at least 75 people and collapsing many homes.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake hit in Gansu province about eight miles east of Chabu at 7:45 a.m. Beijing time (7:45 p.m. ET Sunday). The USGS recorded it at 6 miles deep and said it caused shaking in a rural region where the infrastructure isn't seismically resistant.

State news agency Xinhua said the death toll had risen to 75. It put the number of people injured at 600.?

China Daily via Reuters

A man gives water to an injured woman after an earthquake hit Minxian county in China's Gansu province on Monday.

Photos posted on Chinese social media showed roads on the sides of riverbanks that had subsided and farmhouses reduced to piles of red bricks, Reuters reported.

"Many have been injured by collapsed houses," a doctor surnamed Du told Reuters.

The official China Meteorological Administration warned that heavy rain was possible in southeastern Gansu province Monday night and into Tuesday. It said the rain could hamper rescue efforts and urged residents to be alert to flash flooding in areas damaged by the earthquake.

About 5,600 residential buildings were damaged, the Beijing-based China Daily newspaper reported Monday afternoon. Some train service was suspended, and hundreds of armed police were mobilized to repair a damaged part of the main highway linking Lanzhou, the provincial capital, to Minxian county, it reported.

Bing Maps

Xinhua said the quake was felt in the neighboring cities of Dingxi, Longnan and Tianshui, as well as Lanzhou, more than 100 miles away. About 19,000 people live in the area that was subject to the strongest shaking, it said.

The quake was followed an hour and a half later by a 5.6-magnitude quake at about the same depth,?the USGS reported.

Based on the history of earthquakes of this size in rural China, there could be "significant casualties," the USGS said.

Gansu abuts Sichuan province, where a 6.6 quake in April killed 164 people and injured more than 6,700, China's worst quake in three years.

NBC News' Li Le, Sarah Burke and Alastair Jamieson contributed to this report.

This story was originally published on Mon Jul 22, 2013 4:02 AM EDT

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663309/s/2efc17ea/l/0Lworldnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A70C220C1960A25120E540Ereported0Edead0Ein0Ecentral0Echina0Eearthquake0Dlite/story01.htm

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Home sales take a breather, but prices hit five-year high

By Lucia Mutikani

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. home resales unexpectedly fell in June after two straight months of hefty increases, but a surge in prices to a five-year high suggested the housing market recovery remained on course.

The National Association of Realtors said on Monday home sales fell 1.2 percent to an annual rate of 5.08 million units. Still, sales remained the second highest since November 2009.

May's sales pace was revised down to 5.14 million units from the previously reported 5.18 million units. Economists polled by Reuters had expected sales to rise to a 5.25 million unit pace in June.

Sales were up 15.2 percent from their year-ago level.

The NAR said a spike in mortgage rates, in anticipation of the Federal Reserve starting to reduce its massive monetary stimulus later this year, had probably dampened sales in June.

But economists were skeptical.

"We do not believe that the weaker sales are indicative of a broad-based slowdown in the housing recovery caused by the recent rise in mortgage rates," said Gennadiy Goldberg, an economist at TD Securities in New York.

The 30-year mortgage rate increased 0.53 percentage point to 4.07 percent in June from May, the highest level since October 2011. Still, they remain low and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke last week expressed optimism the housing market recovery would continue.

The recovery, marked by a surge in prices and dwindling inventories, is helping to shore up the economy by bolstering household finances and supporting consumer spending.

The median price for a previously owned home soared 13.5 percent from a year ago to $214,200, the highest since June 2008. Prices are being boosted by still-lean inventories.

The inventory of unsold homes on the market rose 1.9 percent from May to 2.19 million units. That represented a 5.2 months' supply at June's sales pace.

While that was up from May's 5.0 months, it remained below the 6.0 months that is normally considered as a healthy balance between supply and demand.

Other details of the report were also encouraging. Distressed properties - which can weigh on prices because they typically sell at deep discounts - accounted for only 15 percent of sales last month.

That was the lowest since the Realtors group started monitoring them in October 2008. These properties, foreclosures and short sales, had made up 18 percent of sales in May.

In another sign of underlying strength, properties are selling more quickly. The median time on the market for homes was 37 days in June, down from 70 days a year ago.

That was the fewest days on the market since the NAR started monitoring that number in May 2011. Before the market collapsed in 2006, it usually took about 90 days to sell a home.

"The underlying fundamentals are indicative of a continuation of the broad-based housing market recovery as affordability remains near record levels and mortgage rates remain low from a historical perspective," said Goldberg.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/existing-home-sales-breather-prices-soar-140918301.html

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Phil Mickelson Wins British Open---And California Taxes It

US golfer Phil Mickelson poses for pictures with the Claret Jug after winning the 2013 British Open Golf Championship at Muirfield golf course at Gullane in Scotland on July 21, 2013. Mickelson won the British Open at Muirfield with a superb final round of 66. The 43-year-old American won with a three under total of 281, three strokes clear of Henrik Stenson who had a closing 70. (Image credit: AFP/Getty Images via @daylife)

Phil?Mickelson?s come-from-behind win in the 142^nd?British Open Championship at Muirfield Golf Links in Scotland was decisive. The prize money of ?945,000 ($1.43M) is nice,?but the big money will be in Mr. Mickelson?s brand extension. See Mickelson?s Brilliant British Open Win Will Pay Off Away From Links. And as long as Mickelson remains a California resident, the state will get a piece of it all.

The oldest among golf?s hallowed events, this marked the 142nd British Open Championship. That is 29 more successive events than the U.S. Open, golf?s next most prevalent tournament. All that history, prestige and global impact should translate into revenue. Even before this win, Mickelson was one of the wealthiest product endorsers in the world.

Sports Illustrated?estimated that Mickelson made $36 million last year in endorsements from companies such as KPMG, Barclays, and Callaway. His Open win should extend his marketing and endorsement appeal. This oldest and most international of golf?s championships should make Mickelson even more attractive. Of course, more revenue means more taxes.

Mickelson became a kind of poster-child for selecting residency with an eye on the tax law. That?s curious, considering that Mickelson still calls high-tax-California his home. Mickelson found himself in hot water after he suggested that his taxes were high and that he had to look at alternatives. He even suggested that taxes were one of the reasons he withdrew from buying the San Diego Padres.

?There are going to be some drastic changes for me because I happen to be in that zone that has been targeted both federally and by the state and, you know, it doesn?t work for me right now,??Mickelson said?after his T37 finish at the?Humana?Challenge in Palm Springs. Mickelson?s tax remarks were tame by any standard, but they still provoked an outcry. He apologized, but even that provoked outrage from observers who liked the fact that he mentioned high taxes. See?The Mickelson Vote: Lefty Offends the Lefties.

Most states and countries tax athletes and entertainers when they play or perform within their boundaries. Foreign athletes and entertainers must file U.S. income tax returns and face?special withholding rules. U.S.-source income generally includes pay for performances, endorsements, merchandise sales, and royalty or other income closely related to the event. See?IRS Sand Trap For Pro Golfers.

But as a California resident, California gets a piece of it all. If Mickelson?s advisers work on him to move as seems likely, one might expect him to simply move rather than talk about it. Tiger Woods?admitted that he moved to Florida in the 1990s, in part due to California?s high taxes. See?Tiger Woods?admits he left California because of?tax?rates.

That was before California passed huge retroactive tax increases in November 2012. California?s Proposition 30 increased state tax rates for those earning $250,000 to $300,000 a year to 10.3%, up from 9.3%. For $1 million-plus-earners, California?s rate is 13.3%, up from a prior top rate of 10.3%.

By comparison, the combined state and local top rate in New York is 12.7%. Combined with federal rates and even sales taxes, the mix is causing some even outside the professional sports stratosphere to think critically about where to live. Although Florida and Texas are both attractive no-tax states, there is debate about how large an impact taxes have on moves even by high income taxpayers. See?The Myth of the Rich Who Flee From Taxes.

One report claims that jobs, housing costs, family ties and climate are more important. Even wealthy taxpayers generally don?t move for tax reasons, the report claims. See?Trends in New Jersey Migration: Housing, Employment, and Taxation. See also?Tax Flight Is a Myth. Yet for a professional athlete, especially one not tied to a team, it seems hard to support.

After his British Open win, if he does move,?Mickelson Will Not Be Alone In Fleeing Taxes.?If he stays, his California tax bill is likely to get even bigger. That could make Florida or Texas too hard to resist.

You can reach me at?Wood@WoodLLP.com.?This discussion is not intended as legal advice, and cannot be relied upon for any purpose without the services of?a qualified professional.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2013/07/21/phil-mickelson-wins-british-open-and-california-taxes-it/

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Pastor departs NJ church amid concerns

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Source: http://www.app.com/article/20130721/NJNEWS10/307210049/1007/NEWS03&source=rss

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Sunday, July 21, 2013

CEPEDA: College yes, but boot camp first

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By ESTHER J. CEPEDA
CHICAGO -- For some young people, July is a month for getting in a few last weeks of relaxation before enrolling in college. For others, it?s also the lead-up to what could be one of the worst experiences of their lives.

The luckiest of this latter group are steeling themselves against all that could go wrong.

Here in Chicago, young men who got into college but are otherwise unprepared to navigate the environment of a university campus are attending a five-week first-year-of-college boot camp called ?The Wall.? It?s the brainchild of the Black Star Project, an organization that harnesses the power of parental and neighborhood involvement to drive academic excellence in the city?s black and Hispanic communities.

In their e-blast, the organization minces no words about how perilous college can be for young black and Hispanic men who have grown up on blood-spattered streets and graduate from college at far lower rates than white males:

?It is estimated that 67 percent of young black men who start college return home as dropouts in their first year of being on a college campus. Some families send colleges their honor students and get ex-felons in return. Young black men get caught up in the traps of freedom, women, drugs, sports, parties, fraternities, et cetera without guidance or support and they flunk out of college.?

Phillip Jackson, the executive director of the Black Star Project, told me that parents, in a last-ditch effort to protect their boys before they enter a world that is scary and unknown, drag their sons to the afternoon-long Saturday sessions. These parents have heard the horror stories of their neighbors? kids calling home from a college town?s jail three months after leaving home and want to avoid the nightmare.

?We?re telling them things that their parents don?t know or won?t tell them and that the dean at the school won?t tell them: ?This is how young black men get arrested on a college campus, this is how young black men get trapped by women who go to college to find a man, this is the environment of the small, rural town where your campus is located, where you?re going to have a target on your back,?? said Jackson.

He says that being away from home, being surrounded by an unfamiliar culture and starting out woefully academically underprepared for college-level work are the top contributors to the U.S. Department of Education?s scant estimates for six-year graduation rates among African-American males (34 percent) and Hispanic males (46 percent).

?Most wash out and come home thousands of dollars in debt within 12 months,? said Jackson.

?(Inner-city schools) don?t adequately prepare young people for college -- we have to come in and teach these kids organizational skills, study habits, success habits. For instance, we know that in the classroom young black men especially fail because they don?t ask questions. Well, you don?t ask questions on the streets of Chicago -- you get shot for asking questions. But now they?re in a classroom in Edwardsville, Ill., and they have to or they fail. They have to code switch from culture to culture, but no one?s ever told them that. So we tell them.?

?Then there?s this idea of studying and working in groups. You look at Asian students, they work together in large groups to study, prepare for tests, help each other and they make all the top grades,? Jackson said.

?But black students are lone rangers -- and at the bottom flunking out. We teach them how to work in groups, which they?ve never done. But if you don?t know how to work in groups, you?re never going to succeed in corporate America.?

Plenty of organizations have released reports on how institutions can improve college outcomes for black and Hispanic males, but I?ve never seen one that emphasized the mentoring aspect that the Black Star Project has keyed in on.

?We get young men who have themselves very recently graduated from college to teach these kids what to do and what not to do,? Jackson said. ?It?s almost like providing a Harriet Tubman -- a person who has gone to freedom but has come back to carry other slaves to freedom. This freedom is one of college graduation and we hope to create more graduates to start carrying others along this same path.?

Esther Cepeda?s email address is estherjcepeda@washpost.com. Follow her on Twitter, @estherjcepeda.

Source: http://www.timesherald.com/article/20130720/OPINION/130729994/cepeda-college-yes-but-boot-camp-first

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This Week's Most Popular Posts: July 12th to 19th

This week we rounded up the best apps for every platform, discovered the best cheap products at Monoprice, picked out the best razors, and saved even more money at Costco. Here's a look back.