PFT: Seau's brain was damaged by head trauma

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I?ve been fighting the flu for a week.? Which is my officially unofficial excuse for getting three of last weekend?s games incorrect.

My other unofficial excuses are:? (1) Andy Dalton overthrew A.J. Green on what would have been a game-winning touchdown; (2) Joe Webb isn?t as good as I thought he was; (3) Christian Ponder is better than I thought he was; and (4) the Colts were far more charitable to Baltimore than they were in 1984.

So MDS went 4-0 and I went 1-3 and now that we agree on every game this weekend all I can hope for is a tie, at best, in the postseason edition of the picks contest.

Did I mention I won the regular-season contest by 11 games?

Ravens at Broncos

MDS?s take: Peyton Manning and Ray Lewis, the best offensive and defensive players of their generation, will meet one last time in Denver. I don?t think it?s going to go well for Lewis and his team. The Ravens have struggled all year against good quarterbacks and good wide receivers, and I see this game looking a lot like their December meeting, when Manning?s passing got the Broncos a big lead, and Knowshon Moreno?s running ran out the clock in the second half. In fact, I?ll go ahead and predict the same score as last time.

MDS?s pick: Broncos 34, Ravens 17.

Florio?s take:? Peyton Manning has beaten the Ravens nine straight times, including earlier this year in Baltimore.? While Ray Lewis missed that game, he could be more of a liability than an asset in the rematch.? Noticeably larger than he was when he reported to training camp with a lean frame intended to help chase tight ends, Manning could have Lewis running ragged in the thin air of Colorado.? Along with the rest of the defense.

Florio?s pick:? Broncos 31, Ravens 17.

Packers at 49ers

MDS?s take: This, to me, is the toughest game to pick. The 49ers won at Green Bay in Week One. The 49ers had a better record during the regular season. The 49ers are at home. The 49ers got a week to rest while the Packers had to play last week. For all those reasons, the 49ers would seem to be the logical pick. But two factors have me leaning toward the Packers: The way Aaron Rodgers is playing lately, with 11 touchdowns and no interceptions in the last four games. And the question mark about 49ers defensive end Justin Smith, who in my opinion is their single most important player, but who won?t be at full strength with a torn triceps. I like the Packers to win a close, high-scoring game.

MDS?s pick: Packers 35, 49ers 31.

Florio?s take:? In what could end up being the best postseason game of the year, the Niners will try to beat the Packers for the second time since September ? and the first without Alex Smith at quarterback.? Even though Colin Kaepernick has the ability to move the ball on the Green Bay defense, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers will be determined to prove to the Niners that they should have picked him with the first selection in the 2005 draft.

Florio?s pick:? Packers 28, 49ers 24.

Seahawks at Falcons

MDS?s take: I was all set to take the wild-card Seahawks to win on the road against the No. 1 seed Falcons, but the injury to Seattle defensive end Chris Clemons made me reconsider. Clemons started every game and led the Seahawks in sacks, and I believe Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan can take advantage of an opposing defense with a depleted pass rush. If Seattle cornerbacks Richard Sherman and Brandon Browner can lock down Atlanta receivers Julio Jones and Roddy White, and if rookie Bruce Irvin can step up his play in place of Clemons and make life difficult for Ryan, the Seahawks? defense can still play well enough to win this game. But I?m going to go with the Falcons in a close one.

MDS?s pick: Falcons 27, Seahawks 24.

Florio?s take:? I?ve said all year that the Falcons won?t get respect until they earn it by winning in the postseason.? And it won?t be easy against a Seahawks team that has demonstrated it can beat anyone, anywhere.? But with two weeks to prepare and five seasons of pent-up frustration, Matt Ryan and company will finally find a way.? Most likely.? Probably.? Possibly.? Maybe.

Florio?s pick:? Falcons 24, Seahawks 21.

Texans at Patriots

MDS?s take: This game won?t go as badly for the Texans as their previous meeting, but it won?t go particularly well for the Texans, either. Tom Brady can pick apart Houston?s secondary, and while there are some big holes in the Patriots? secondary, too, I?m not convinced that Matt Schaub is playing well enough right now to take advantage. The Patriots will beat the Texans convincingly again and earn an AFC Championship trip to Denver.

MDS?s pick: Patriots 31, Texans 17.

Florio?s take:? Sure, the Jets were blown out by the Pats in December 2010 before beating New England in the postseason.? But that makes it even more likely that the Patriots won?t fall into a trap, barely a month after trouncing the Texans, 42-14.? Indeed, last year the Patriots blew out the Broncos in December before blowing them out even worse in the playoffs.? Coach Bill Belichick will have his guys ready to charge out of their foxholes and attack ? in slightly more organized and effective fashion than the way the guys in Stripes attacked the obstacle course.

Florio?s pick:? Patriots 38, Texans 17.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/01/10/doctors-say-junior-seaus-brain-was-damaged-by-head-trauma/related/

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Study examines how news spreads on Twitter

Jan. 9, 2013 ? Nearly every major news organization has a Twitter account these days, but just how effective is the microblogging website at spreading news? That's the question University of Arizona professor Sudha Ram set out to answer in a recent study of a dozen major news organizations that use the social media website as one tool for sharing their content.

The answer, according to Ram's research, varies widely by news agency, and there may not be one universally applicable strategy for maximizing Twitter effectiveness. However, news agencies can learn a lot by looking at how their news diffuses once it is posted on Twitter, said Ram, McClelland Professor of Management Information Systems in the UA's Eller College of Management.

Ram, who recently presented her findings at the International Workshop on Business Applications of Social Network Analysis in Istanbul, examined, over a six-month period, the Twitter activity of 12 major news organizations focused on U.S. news, global news, technology news or financial news.

All of the agencies selected -- The New York Times, Washington Post, BBC, NPR, Reuters, Guardian, Forbes, Financial Times, Mashable, Arstechnica, Wired and Bloomberg -- regularly share news articles on Twitter, which allows users to post 140-character messages as well as links to online content.

Ram, working with Devi Bhattacharya, an MIS doctoral student at the UA, tracked what happened to a news article after it was tweeted by a news organization. Together, they looked at how many people retweeted, or reposted, the article on their own Twitter feeds, then how many times it was subsequently retweeted from those accounts and so forth.

They were then able to evaluate the volume and extend of spread of an article on Twitter, as well as its overall lifespan.

"The goal for a news agency is to have a lot of people reading and following your articles," said Ram, who is also a professor of computer science at the UA. "What we've done is use network analysis, which is quite different from just looking at the total number of tweets or total number of retweets. You're starting to see, over time, how information is spreading."

Ram and Bhattacharya rendered the data they collected from each organization visually as images showing how the news is diffused. The network visualizations appear something like fireworks, with dots representing individual twitter users and cascade streams from those dots depicting retweets. The images reveal different diffusion patterns for the different agencies, which can provide clues to those organizations about how their news is spreading and what they might want to focus on to be successful, Ram said.

"This gives them good feedback, and it's kind of a performance report for them," Bhattacharya said. "It gives them an idea about the reading habits of people online and how they like to consume news."

Of the organizations analyzed, BBC had the maximum reach in terms of affected users and retweet levels. BBC articles also had the highest chance of survival on Twitter, with 0.1 percent of articles surviving, through continual retweets, for three or more days. The BBC's high numbers were likely due in large part to the fact that the main "bbcnews" Twitter account also is supported by two other agency accounts -- "bbcbreaking" and "bbcworld," Ram said. The New York Times and Mashable had the second highest reach. Articles from Forbes, Wired and Bloomberg had the shortest Twitter lifespans.

Overall, Ram said the data showed that articles on Twitter dissipate fairly quickly, with retweeting typically ending between 10 and 72 hours after an article is originally shared.

The Twitter study is a jumping off point for further research into how news is disseminated through various social media platforms, Ram said. In December, Ram will present a follow-up paper at the Workshop on Information Technologies and Systems in Florida on the importance of Twitter-follower engagement for news organizations, as opposed to volume of followers.

"The term 'social media' refers to a lot of things. The first thing people think about is Facebook and then Twitter, but it's so much more than that," Ram said. "It's really all the various forums -- the blogs, photo sharing sites, video sharing sites, microblogging, social bookmarking like Digg, Delicious and Reddit and so on."

Ram's research is part of the ongoing work being done by the UA's INSITE: Center for Business Intelligence and Analytics. The center -- which Ram co-directs with Paulo Goes, head of the UA's MIS department -- mines data from social media sources to find patterns that can help businesses and organizations identify ways to improve their operations.

Ram says she hopes to do more extensive research on news sharing and develop partnerships with news agencies to help them answer specific questions about their social media practices and performance.

"The idea is really to see if we can make some predictions," Ram said. "What are some attributes of these networks that will help us make predictions? Is it number of followers? Is it engagement of followers? Is it what time you tweet? Is it who else is tweeting at the same time? Which are the more useful attributes that will help us predict, and therefore will help us give organizations suggestions on how to be more effective in spreading their news? Because ultimately their goal is more people reading their articles and talking about them."

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/DbLkqICENJI/130109151158.htm

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Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with Sony's TV division

It's time for Sony interview number two. As mentioned early, the company goes all out each CES, and this year is no different. This time out, we'll be chatting up a rep from the company's TV wing.

January 10, 2013 4:30 PM EST

Check out our full CES 2013 stage schedule here!

Continue reading Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with Sony's TV division

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Sony

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/HR1smDM5FsA/

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Obama campaign supporters to discuss future

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama's supporters plan to gather during the weekend of his inauguration to discuss the future of his campaign operation ? and how it could support his second-term agenda.

Obama campaign manager Jim Messina says in an email to supporters that volunteers and staff will hold an "Obama Campaign Legacy Conference" in Washington that will talk about the structure and leadership of his campaign operation going forward.

Obama has called 2012 his last campaign. But his aides hope to use his campaign structure to promote his legislative agenda on issues like immigration reform, climate change and gun violence.

Messina says the campaign operation is "an advantage that no previous president has enjoyed and one that has the potential to reshape our politics for years to come."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-01-10-Obama%20Campaign-Future/id-cb3b4385dd9c45fe80c3f08d3a2376e0

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New Mexico to expand Medicaid program

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) -- Republican Gov. Susana Martinez says New Mexico will follow provisions of a federal health care law to expand the state's Medicaid program to potentially provide medical services to 170,000 low-income adults.

New Mexico will join at least 15 other states and the District of Columbia in broadening eligibility for the health care program under terms of a health care overhaul championed by President Barack Obama.

Martinez made the announcement Wednesday during a speech in Albuquerque.

About a fourth of New Mexico's population currently receives health care through Medicaid, but the program mostly covers uninsured children in low-income families along with the disabled and some extremely low-income adults.

The expansion in 2014 will make adults eligible with incomes of about $26,000 for a family of three or $15,400 for an individual.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mexico-expand-medicaid-program-202605825.html

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Lawyer: Tunisian suspect in Libya attack freed

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) ? The only suspect in custody over the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi has been conditionally released by Tunisian authorities due to lack of evidence, his lawyer said Tuesday.

The release of Ali Harzi, a Tunisian, represents a blow to the investigation of the Sept. 11 attack on the consulate in Libya that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans. The investigation in Libya itself has been stalled due to the weak power of the central government in the face of the powerful militias, some of whom may have been involved in the attack.

Harzi's lawyer Anwar Oued-Ali said his client was freed Monday night but has to remain in the greater Tunis area in case the court needs him.

Harzi had previously been interrogated by FBI officials in the presence of a Tunisian judge in December. He was originally detained in Turkey and in October was extradited to Tunisia, where authorities had said he was "strongly suspected" of being involved in the attack.

His lawyer had always maintained there was no evidence linking him to the attack.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-01-08-Tunisia-US-Libya%20Attack/id-5e6c191b7a554c7d867fd206f6c59426

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LG's curved EA9800 OLED display eyes-on

One word describes LG's EA9800 curved OLED: stunning. We were as wowed as anybody else stumbling about LG's monstrous booth who happened upon this three-panel wide miracle. LG is touting this 55-inch WRGB set as the industry's first curved ergonomic display with Cinema 3D support. The idea behind the curve is to reduce screen edge distortion by keeping the entire display surface the same distant from your eyes. Pricing and shipping date is a mystery, but, LG's flat 55-inch OLED set is a cool $12K so you can expect something in that ballpark we'd assume. Unfortunately we couldn't get as close as we wanted, though we still grabbed a bit of video and some pictures for you to enjoy. So breeze on past the break and check them out.

Continue reading LG's curved EA9800 OLED display eyes-on

Filed under: Home Entertainment, LG

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