American Football Rules

American Football is one of the biggest North American sports. Whilst the game is played worldwide, the professional leagues in North America (such as the NFL) easily attract the best players in the world making its leagues the most competitive. The pinnacle of the sport comes in the form of the Super Bowl played out every year to millions of people around the world.

Object Of The Game

The object of American football is to score more points than your opponents in the allotted time. To do this they must move the ball down the pitch in phases of play before eventually getting the ball into the ‘end zone’ for a touchdown. This can be achieved by either throwing the ball to a teammate or running with the ball.

Each team gets 4 chances (downs) to move the ball 10 yards forward. Once they pass the 10 yards their downs reset and they start again for another 10 yards. After 4 downs have passed and they have failed to make it over the 10 yards required the ball will be turned over to the defensive team.

Players & Equipment

Whilst there are only 11 players from each team on the field at any team, an American football team is actually made up of 45 players. The teams are generally split into three groups of attacking (generally smaller, stronger, faster type of players, including a quarterback who is said to run the attacking plays and throw the ball to their teammates), defence (larger, more powerful players designed to stop players from running) and special team players (responsible for the kicking and punting side of the game with a mixture of larger and faster players).

An American football field is generally around 100 yards long and 160 yards wide. Lines are drawn on the field at 10 yard interval to indicate how far each team has to go before reaching the end zone. The end zones are added at each end of the pitch and are roughly 20 yards in length each. Posts can also be found at each end of which the kicker kicks the ball over.

Scoring

When a player scores a touchdown six points are awarded to their team. A touchdown can be scored by either carrying the ball into the end zone or receiving the ball from a pass whilst in the end zone. After a touchdown has been scored the attacking team have opportunity to kick the ball for an extra point. The ball must pass between the upright posts for a successful kick.

A field goal can be scored from anywhere on the pitch at any time (usually on the final down) and a successful kick will result in three points. A safety is where the defensive team manages to tackle an attacking opponent in their own end zone; for this the team will receive 2 points.

Winning The Game

The team with the most points at the end of the game will be deemed the winner. If the points are tied then over time will come into play where the teams will play an additional quarter until a winner is found.

Rules of American Football

• Games last for four 15 minute quarters. A 2 minute break between the 1st & 2nd and 3rd & 4th quarters is had along with a 15 minute rest between 2nd and 3rd quarters (half time).


• Each team has 4 downs to gain 10 or more yards. They can either throw or run the ball to make the yards. As soon as the team gains the required yards then the downs reset and the yardage resets. Failure to make the yardage after 4 downs will result in a turnover.


• There are hundreds of different plays that players can run on any down. Plays are made up by the teams and often have players running all over the place (routes) in what is essentially organised chaos. The head coach or quarter back calls the on field plays for the attacking team whilst the defensive captain calls the plays for the defensive team.


• At the start of every game is the coin toss to decide which team receives the ball first and which side of the pitch they want to start from.


• The game begins with a kick-off where one team punts the ball down field for the other team to then run back with the ball as far as possible.


• On fourth down the offence has the option to either try to make up the yards they are short or to kick the ball. If they decide to kick they have two options; to punt or to try for a field goal. Depending on their position on the pitch will usually dictate their paly. Anything within 40 yards or so of the opposition’s goal posts will result in a field goal attempt. Further back will likely mean they take the punt option.

Source by: http://www.rulesofsport.com

Aussie Rules Football Rules

Aussie Rules has been around since 1841 in some form or another. Its game that is pretty much exclusively played in Australia and the only professional league of its kind, the Australian Football League (AFL) is also situated there. Many players affectionate with the sport may call it a mix of footy, football, Aussie rules and Australian rules.

Object Of The Game

The object of the game is to kick the football between a series of 4 goal posts. Depending on which posts the ball goes between will depend on how many points you score. The ball can be passed around between team mates in a series of fashions and the winning team will be the team with the highest number of points at the end of the game.

Players & Equipment

Aussie rules pitches are usually played on oval sized pitches with dimensions ranging from 135 to 185 metres in length, and 110 to 155 metres in width. Many Aussie Rules pitches mix with cricket fields as they or of a similar size and proportion.

The pitches are marked around the outside to highlight the out of bounds area. At either end of the pitch 4 tall posts will be apparent. These are the scoring zones and are roughly 6 metres in height. The two front posts are 6.4 metres apart and represent the main scoring area (goal). The two post behind are also 6.4 metres apart and represent the secondary scoring area (point).

The ball is made from leather and forms an oval shape (similar to a rugby ball). Other markings on the pitch include a goal square that is 9 metres wide and spanning with width of the goals posts, centre square and centre circle.

Each team will consist of 18 players of which are all assigned to different positions. These players are allowed to move freely on the pitch. Each team may also have up to three substitutes which are ‘rolling’ meaning they can come on and off as many times as they want. Once a starting player gets substituted these players then become rolling. The positions are broken down into Full Forward, Half Forward, Centre Line, Half Back and Full Back.

There are 7 umpires for Aussie Rules in total. The three main umpires are known as filed umpires and they basically oversee all the decisions on filed such as time keeping, infringements and enforcing the rules. The two line judges are there to see if the ball goes out of play or not – these judges can also intervene where on filed umpires have missed a decision. The last two umpires are goal umpires and its their job to signal if a goal has been scored successfully or not.

Scoring

If the ball is kicked between the two goal posts (middle posts) then 6 points are awarded. If the ball goes between a goal post and one of the behind posts (point) then 1 point is awarded. 1 point is also awarded if the ball is carried or forced over the scoring line by the attacking team.

Winning The Game

The team with the highest amount of points at the end of the game are deemed the winners.

Rules of Aussie Rules Football

• Umpires signal for all decisions and their call is final


• By kicking the ball between the goal posts without it being touched by any other player, then 6 points are awarded. If the ball is kicked without being touched between the behind posts (point) then 1 point is scored.


• A game consist of four 20 minute quarters.


• The game starts with ruck. This is where the umpire throws the ball into the air and one player from each team will try and tap the ball to their team. After a goal has been scored the game will be restarted with the same way as at the beginning of the game.


• The only way you can pass the ball is to hand ball. For this to happen the ball must be placed in the palm of the hand and then the ball struck with the butt of the other hand clenched into a fist. You cannot throw or slap the ball to perform a successful pass.


• A player can ‘mark’ the ball when they receive it. This can happen one of three ways; the player catches the ball without the ball bouncing, the player catches the ball after it has travelled over 10 metres or the player catches the ball before it’s been touched in the air. Once marked the player cannot then be tackled. If a tackle occurs or an opponent steps over the mark then a foul will be called and the team with the ball will advance 15 metres down the field.


• Players can tackle opponents to try and win back the ball. A player can only be tackled from shoulder height downwards.


• If a player is tackled and refuses to let go of the ball then holding the ball will be called by the umpire and possession will be turned over.


• Players are permitted to block their opposition by shepherding players away from the ball. This can only be done within 5 metres of the ball.


• Players are omitted from pushing their opponents in the back either whilst they are running or whilst in a tackle.

Source by: http://www.rulesofsport.com

Football (Soccer) Rules

Football (Soccer) is one of the oldest sports in the world and with that; it’s also one of the most recognised. The pinnacle of the international game comes in the form the Football World Cup. There are also tournament such as the Euro Championships, Copa America and the African Cup of Nations. Domestically the strongest leagues come from England (English Premier League), Spain (La Liga), Italy (Serie A) and Germany (Bundesliga). In parts of the world the sport is also known as Soccer.

Object Of The Game

The aim of football is to score more goals then your opponent in a 90 minute playing time frame. The match is split up into two halves of 45 minutes. After the first 45 minutes players will take a 15 minute rest period called half time. The second 45 minutes will resume and any time deemed fit to be added on by the referee (injury time) will be accordingly.

Players & Equipment

Each team consists of 11 players. These are made up of one goalkeeper and ten outfield players. The pitch dimensions vary from each ground but are roughly 120 yards long and 75 yards wide. On each pitch you will have a 6 yard box next to the goal mouth, an 18 yard box surrounding the 6 yard box and a centre circle. Each half of the pitch must be a mirror image of the other in terms of dimensions.

Essentially the equipment that is needed for a soccer match is pitch and a football. Additionally players can be found wearing studded football boots, shin pads and matching strips. The goalkeepers will additionally wear padded gloves as they are the only players allowed to handle the ball. Each team will have a designated captain.

Scoring

To score the ball must go into your opponent’s goal. The whole ball needs to be over the line for it to be a legitimate goal. A goal can be scored with any part of the body apart from the hand or arm up to the shoulder. The goal itself consists of a frame measuring 8 feet high and 8 yards wide.

Winning The Game

To win you have to score more goals than that of your opponents. If the scores are level after 90 minutes then the game will end as a draw apart from in cup games where the game can go to extra time and even a penalty shootout to decide the winner. Players must use their feet to kick the ball and are prohibited to use their hands apart from goalkeepers who can use any part of their body within the 18 yard box (of which more can be found out in the next section).

Rules of Football (Soccer)

• A match consists of two 45 minutes halves with a 15 minute rest period in between.


• Each team can have a minimum off 11 players (including 1 goalkeeper who is the only player allowed to handle the ball within the 18 yard box) and a minimum of 7 players are needed to constitute a match.


• The field must be made of either artificial or natural grass. The size of pitches is allowed to vary but must be within 100-130 yards long and 50-100 yards wide. The pitch must also be marked with a rectangular shape around the outside showing out of bounds, two six yard boxes, two 18 yard boxes and a centre circle. A spot for a penalty placed 12 yards out of both goals and centre circle must also be visible.


• The ball must have a circumference of 58-61cm and be of a circular shape.


• Each team can name up to 7 substitute players. Substitutions can be made at any time of the match with each team being able to make a maximum of 3 substitutions per side. In the event of all three substitutes being made and a player having to leave the field for injury the team will be forced to play without a replacement for that player.


• Each game must include one referee and two assistant referee’s (linesmen). It’s the job of the referee to act as time keeper and make any decisions which may need to be made such as fouls, free kicks, throw ins, penalties and added on time at the end of each half. The referee may consult the assistant referees at any time in the match regarding a decision. It’s the assistant referee’s job to spot offside’s in the match (see below), throw ins for either team and also assist the referee in all decision making processes where appropriate.


• If the game needs to head to extra time as a result of both teams being level in a match then 30 minutes will be added in the form of two 15 minute halves after the allotted 90 minutes.


• If teams are still level after extra time then a penalty shootout must take place.


• The whole ball must cross the goal line for it to constitute as a goal.


• For fouls committed a player could receive either a yellow or red card depending on the severity of the foul; this comes down to the referee’s discretion. The yellow is a warning and a red card is a dismissal of that player. Two yellow cards will equal one red. Once a player is sent off then they cannot be replaced.


• If a ball goes out of play off an opponent in either of the side lines then it is given as a throw in. If it goes out of play off an attacking player on the base line then it is a goal kick. If it comes off a defending player it is a corner kick.

The Offside Rule in Football

Offside can be called when an attacking player is in front of the last defender when the pass is played through to them. The offside area is designed to discourage players from simply hanging around the opponent’s goal waiting for a pass. To be onside they must be placed behind the last defender when the ball is played to them. If the player is in front of that last defender then he is deemed to be offside and free kick to the defending team will be called.

A player cannot be caught offside in their own half. The goalkeeper does not count as a defender. If the ball is played backwards and the player is in front of the last defender then he is deemed to be not offside.



Source by: http://www.rulesofsport.com

England and Wales meet in historic Euro 2016 fixture

England and Wales will meet at a tournament for the first time after being drawn together at next summer’s European Championship.

The third oldest international fixture will be played at a major finals 136 years after the sides first met.

England drew Wales less than five months after being paired with Scotland in World Cup qualifying for the first time. Manager Roy Hodgson told the BBC: “Whichever teams we got in that pot would have been tough; why not have a tough one close to home?"

  Photo: REX

“We know the players because all of them basically play in England. We know the team is very well organised, play well together, have fantastic team spirit and a very strong spine.” Opposite number Chris Coleman, who had wanted to avoid England, added: “England are one of the best teams so I’m thinking if we could avoid it...

“It’s fine — it will be a great game and we’ll look forward to it.” The two home nations will also play Russia and Slovakia in Group B of what will be Wales’s first appearance at a major tournament since 1958.

However, there was a familiar feeling about the venues for England’s first competitive fixtures in France since the 1998 World Cup.

Just as they did 17 years ago, they will play in Marseille, Lens and Saint-Etienne, where, respectively, they faced Tunisia, after supporters went on a rampage; Colombia, against whom David Beckham scored his first international goal; and Argentina, who won on penalties after Beckham’s red card. Roy Hodgson’s side will open against Russia in Marseille on June 11 (8pm kick-off) before taking on Wales in Lens five days later at 2pm, and finishing with Slovakia in Saint-Etienne on June 20, at 8pm. Wales open against Slovakia in Bordeaux on June 11, with a 6pm kick-off, and finish with Russia in Toulouse on June 20 at 8pm.



Hodgson will be apprehensive about facing Gareth Bale and company, despite England having not lost to Wales since 1984. But, unlike the draw for last year’s World Cup, England’s group was not terrifying enough to prompt a cut-throat gesture from Football Association chairman Greg Dyke.

Indeed, with the top two in each group and four best third-placed sides all qualifying for the new round of 16, Hodgson will have no excuses for a repeat of the debacle in Brazil.

England won 10 out of 10 matches in qualifying for the first time and Dyke said before yesterday’s draw: “I’m looking forward to the draw but I’m looking forward to the tournament even more, because we’re going to win.”

The draw for the expanded 24-team tournament contained four teams from the British Isles for the first time since 1958 and there was a 50-50 chance England would meet one of them.

Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland both were handed nightmare draws. In their first major tournament since 1986 and first Euros ever, Northern Ireland will face world champions Germany, Poland and Ukraine.

The Republic fared even worse, drawing Italy, Belgium and Sweden.

Source by http://www.telegraph.co.uk

10 Strangest Competitions Around The World

Humans are competitive by nature, that’s why they enjoy each activity more by making it into a competition. There are plenty of strangest competitions out there, some of which are incredibly dangerous. But, here’s a selection of top ten out of several unusual, weirdest, Bizarre and strangest competitions around the world. After reading this top list you admit that people can compete on everything. Enjoy! this list of the top ten strangest competitions.

10 Strangest Competitions You Have To See To Believe

10. The Championship of Extreme Ironing

The first Championship on extreme ironing was held in 1997 in Leicester, Great Britain. The participants of this extreme action had to iron a couple of things in the most dangerous places – on the mountain, on the ice or in the water. The winner should not only possess skills of rock-climbing or a scuba diving, but also be able to iron shirts.

9. The Championship on Crawling

1122 children took part in the first “Marathon of Toddlers” which was held in 2005 in Colombia. Children at the age from 8 till 18 months desperately crawled on a 5-metre distance. It is not surprising that not all participants reached the end of a distance. This event was arranged by the Ministry of Health to support the sport and a healthy lifestyle.

8. Football in a Mud

In 2008 thousand men and women there were on ankles in a mud in struggle for the main prize of the annual 10th Football Championship in the mud. This grandiose event was held in Finland, in a natural mud bog which especially for this event transformed into 22 game fields of size 60х35 meters.

Every game lasted 2 periods 25 minutes of each. In the Championship on 6 players 340 commands have taken part in everyone. Externally, the game more like a dirty carnival – sneakers and socks rewound by an adhesive tape, long dresses, white hospital gowns, supermen, tight shorts, ties, pink wigs- participants were willing to do anything to seize the main prize.

7. The Championship of Throwing Eggs

The throwing of eggs is serious sports competition which is held around the world. The championship on throwing eggs annually passes in Sutton, Great Britain, since 2006. The championship includes 4 competitive disciplines with generous cash prizes.

6. The Championship on Climbing to Palm Trees

Independence Day in Indonesia is on August, 17th. This day is celebrated by traditional folk festivals, fireworks and various competitions. Climbing palm trunk – this is the hardest competition, which is attended by a team of 4 people.

To climb on absolutely smooth, oiled trunk is an uneasy problem. Some teams form a sort of ladder, clambering on each other’s shoulders. At the top of the trunk there are prizes – from towels, clothes and other practical trifles to mountain bicycles and cash certificates. The above a trunk, the more expensively a prize – such is a principle. If any team gets to the top too fast, the organizers pour water over the participants, so that they had to prove their skills again.

5. Feet Wrestling

The first World championship on Feet wrestling was held in 1976 in one pub in Derbyshire, Great Britain. Participants converged with their big toes in a life and death! In 1997, the organizers even applied for the inclusion of the sport in the list of Olympic disciplines. However, this idea was not adopted. By the way, feet wrestling- is a pretty dangerous sport, which often results in sprained ankle and broken toes.

4. Championship on Inflating Hot Water Bottles

18-year-old Jamal Tkeshelashvili certainly was not joking if threatens to tear you, as a hot water bottle! After all he became the winner of the championship on inflating warmers in 2009. In total Jamal managed to burst 3 heaters: one for 23 seconds, the second – for 16 seconds and the third just in 13 seconds. He inflated one warmer with the person sitting on it! Thus, the young man from Georgia put a new world record on inflating warmers (13 seconds compared to the previous record 51.98 seconds).

3. The Championship on Whistle

Today for whistling at seeing a pretty girl it is possible to obtain slap in the face if only you are not in small town Irvinstown. In 2009 there also held the first championship in Ireland on “the wolf” whistle. The participant who was able to express his admiration of the fair sex by means of whistles better than others received the grand prize! By the way it was the local butcher Stephen Millar.

2. Marathon on High Heels

Strangest Competitions of Races on heels are held in many cities like Sydney, Paris, Amsterdam and even in Moscow. However residents of Milan were luckier than others, because they fought for a pair of elegant, luxury sandals from Manolo Blahnik itself!

300 participants of this competition had to cover a distance of 80 meters on the heels of not below than 7 cm and no thicker than 1.5 cm. All these sacrifices were worth the grand prize. By the way, at the end as many as three winners left the race in magnificent luxury sandals!

1. The Championship on Unemployment

Crowds of people, who lost their workplaces as a result of an economic crisis, are not going to hide in their homes and complain about their bitter fate. On March 31st, 2009 a group of unemployed people gathered in New York to take part in the so-called Olympic Games of the Unemployed. Such idea came to mind of one programmer who was recently sent resignation. 20 Olympians took part in the competition disciplines called “Accuse the Boss”, throwing the office phones, office boxing and “You are discharged”.

Source by: http://www.wonderslist.com

 

Top 12 Coolest Female Mixed Martial Artists

Over the past few year, MMA or Mixed Martial Art competition have become very popular. Like the male counterpart, there are female MMA tournaments too where some of the most incredible women fight it out to win. Here are 12 coolest female mixed martial artists:

The Coolest Female Mixed Martial Artists

12. Alexa Grasso

Alexa Grasso is a 22-yeras-old Mexican mixed martial artist who is currently signed with Invicta FC. She made her professional MMA debut in Mexico in 2012. She is hailed as a very powerful fighter from the beginning. In the first eighteen months, she remained undefeated with 5 wins. After a gap year, Grasso made her debut in Invicta FC in 2014 against Ashley Cummins and won.

11. Joanne Calderwood

Joanne Calderwood is a mixed martial artist from Scotland. In the official UFC Strawweight rankings she holds the number 7 position. One day while accompanying her brother to his class, she got introduced to Muay Thai accidently. Growing up, Calderwood moved from jobs to jobs and her training suffered until she settled on being dedicated to becoming a fighter. Professionally, she started off in 2000 and by 2009, Calderwood was named STBA Fighter of the year. Currently she competes in the Women’s Strawweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

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10. Rose Namajunas

Rose Namajunas is an American mixed martial artist. She ranks number 4 in the official UFC Strawweight. Namajunas has been practising Taekwondo since 5 and by the age of 16, she had learned karate and jiu-jitsu too. She attended the Milwaukee High School of the Arts and trained under Duke Roufus for kickboxing and mixed martial arts. In 2010, Namajunas debuted in MMA as an amateur martial artist. During fighting, she usually makes forward movement, kicks and jabs. She currently competes for the Women’s Strawweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Namajunas was a runner-up in The Ultimate Fighter: A Champion Will Be Crowned.

9. Valerie Letourneau

Valerie Letourneau is a Canadian mixed martial artist. According to UFC website, Letourneau ranks at number 9 strawweight overall. She currently competes in the Strawweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). She debuted in MMA in 2007against Tannaya Hantelman and won. In November 2015, Letourneau is expected to face the current number one mixed martial artist Joanna Jędrzejczyk. So far, in total Letourneau has won 8 fights – 4 by knockout, one by submission and 3 by decision.

8. Carla Esparza

Carla Kristen Esparza is a professional mixed martial artist. According to the MMARising website, Esparza ranks 9th in pound-for-pound female MMA fighter in the world and second according to the Unified Women’s MMA Rankings. When in high school, Esparza started wrestling for the varsity team. She began participating in local and national high school wrestling competitions and won them one after the other. Seeing her talents she was given a scholarship and the opportunity to train under two-time Olympian Lee Allen. Esparza is the first UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship. Among her other accolades there is the Performance of the Night, The Ultimate Fighter 20 Tournament, the first Invicta FC Strawweight Championship and the 2013 Pan-American Jiu-Jitsu Championship Female Blue Belt Silver Medalist.

7. Livia Renata Souza

Livia Renata Souza is a Brazilian mixed martial artist. Currently she lies at number 6 position in the ‘fightmatrix’ website. She competes in the Strawweight division of the Invicta FC. Souza is the current Invicta FC Strawweight Champion. Souza went on to win the title in her very first fight just like her former Invicta FC Atomweight Champion and fellow Brazilian martial artist, Herica Tiburcio. In her professional mixed martial artist career, Souza has practically won every fight she has participated in, including PFC 23, XFMMA 26, PFC 24, Talent MMA Circuit 4: Itatiba 2013, Costa Combat MMA, XFMMA 9 and the Talent MMA Circuit 12: Campinas 2014.

6. DeAnna Bennett

DeAnna Bennett is an American mixed martial artist. In 2011, Bennett had an amateur stint at MMA and eventually made her professional debut in 2012. For the next two years, she competed for the promotion four times and won all the bouts. Then in 2014, she made her debut in Invicta FC and has since then been quiet successful at it. She won the first bout against Michelle Ould by TKO, in the second fight she faced Jennifer Maia and won unanimously. After this, in 2015, Bennett had a stand-off with Norma Rueda Center and won, once again. She currently competes in the Strawweight division.

5. Jessica Aguilar

Jessica Aguilar is an American mixed martial artist. Currently ranked as the third best mixed martial artist in the world, Aguilar made her professional mixed martial arts debut in 2006. In the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), she made her debut against Claudia Gadelha but lost. She used to be the reigning WSOF Women’s Strawweight Champion. Previously she has also competed for Bellator Fighting Championships. Currently Aguilar is signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

4. Claudia Gadelha

Ana Cláudia Dantas Gadelha is a Brazilian mixed martial artist and is the youngest BJJ black belt in Nova União’s history. As a child Gadelha was very rebellious and got herself involved with drugs and the wrong people. Her parents move her away. Following this one day after watching a female fighter in MMA she decided to give martial art a try. She never looked back. She made her pro MMA debut in 2008. She is three times BJJ world champion, four times BJJ Rio International Open champion, seven times Brazilian Nationals champion and she won the First Women’s Strawweight fight in UFC History.

3. Miesha Tate

Miesha Theresa Tate is a mixed martial artist from America. Tate began wrestling when she was in high school and even won a state championship. She made her professional mixed martial arts (MMA) debut in 2007. In 2009 she won her first big title in bantamweight championship of the Freestyle Cage Fighting promotion. After winning the Strikeforce Women’s Bantamweight Championship she began to be officially hailed as one of the greatest contemporary mixed martial artist. Tae also won silver in the FILA Grappling Championships.

2. Joanna Jędrzejczyk

Joanna Jędrzejczyk is a polish mixed martial artists who currently holds number 1 position in Fight Matrix. She came to know about Muay Thai when she was a teenager. Hoping to keep her body in shape, Jędrzejczyk began training and eventually started entering competitions. She was later trained by kickboxers Ernesto Hoost and Paul Slowinski in Muay Thai. She won the world championship six times and the European champion four times. Jędrzejczyk was signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in 2014. In professional kickboxing Jędrzejczyk holds a record of 27 wins and 2 losses and a record of 37 wins against 3 losses in amateur kickboxing.

1. Ronda Rousey

Ronda Jean Rousey is a mixed martial artist from America. Having won all twelve professional fights, she is the current reigning undefeated in mixed martial artist. Rousey is the first and reigning UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion. She is also the Strikeforce Women’s Bantamweight Champion. In the 2008 Summer Olympics Rousey became the first American woman to win an Olympic medal in Judo. Currently she hold the number one position in the 50

Source by: http://www.wonderslist.com

Twitter Sics Promoted Tweets on Logged-Out Users

Twitter on Thursday revealed it's testing the expansion of promoted tweets aimed at logged-out users.

The company has been searching for ways to monetize the patronage of the roughly 500 million logged-out users per month who hop off Google for a moment to read tweet or two. The glue here is more tweets, more content.

The test will enable logged-out users to view promoted tweets and allow organizations to continue using their same marketing techniques.

If the experiment goes as planned, the expanded reach will enable marketers to "tap into the total Twitter audience" and reach more people using the same targeting, advertising and measurement tools, said Deepak Rao, Twitter's revenue product manager.

The move will provide marketers with a new channel, said Justin Hamel, CEO ofMastaMinds.

"In the past, what we have seen with new advertising channels is the prices will be very cheap -- that will make it very attractive to advertisers," he told the E-Commerce Times. "Having the ability to target non-logged-in Twitter users provides a new demographic to laser target ads to."

Know the Audience

While it will open up a new channel for marketers, Twitter may not understand enough about its logged-out users, or else the number wouldn't have climbed to 500 million per month, according to Elizabeth Lampert, president ofElizabeth Lampert PR.

"There are a number of impressions that need to be made to activate the purchase," she told the E-Commerce Times.

"That said, Twitter does have the advantage of knowing a lot about the user based on the information they share, they follow and tweets they favorite. Knowing and understanding are necessary for monetization, and I think they may have a long way to go," Lampert added.

For logged-in visitors, this might not be the greatest thing in the world, according to Hamel.

"Nobody wants to see more ads," he said. "Not to mention finding the relevant info is going to be harder now for them because they will have to sift through more ads and tweets."

For marketers, the downside is that this wider audience includes even more unknowns. Simply put, it's easier to serve regulars than to cater to out-of-towners.

On the Money

Though it's still just a test, and Twitter has scrapped loads of experiments, the move should at least encourage investors, Hamel said.

"Twitter stockholders, stand up and applaud. This strategic move will surely increase Twitter's revenue and profits. It will also give non-signed-up users a swift kick in the caboose to actually take action and create a Twitter account, since creating an account will get rid of some of the spammy ads," he said.

While promoting content to outsiders may be new to Twitter, it's a common practice among forum sites across the Internet, said MastaMind's Hamel.

"It kills two birds with one stone: maximizes profit and increases user signup," he said. "If I was running Twitter.com, I would have done this many moons ago."

Source by: http://www.technewsworld.com

Apple's Pricey New iPhone Battery Case Gets Very Little Love

Apple on Tuesday unveiled its own battery case for the iPhone 6s.

Offered in white and charcoal gray, it has a silicone exterior and a microfiber lining. In addition to offering protection, it increases iPhone usage times.

The intelligent battery status is displayed on the iPhone Lock screen and in Notification Center.

Priced at US$99, the case supports Lightning accessories, so users can transfer data while the iPhone is in it.

The Price Is Not Right

"It is expensive," observed Susan Schreiner, an analyst at C4 trends.

"From a purely technical standpoint, the Smart Battery Case doesn't offer as much extra battery life as competitors do," remarked Lauren Goode in her reviewfor The Verge. "So in order to justify its $99 price point, it has to be 'smart' in other ways. It has to build upon existing Apple designs, and it has to utilize the iPhone's software. It does all of this -- but I'm not convinced this is the best case."

Get Mophie's $60 Juice Pack Reserve for the iPhone 6 and 6s "if you're looking for something pocketable and cheap," suggested Chris Velazco, writing for Engadget.

There are many third-party iPhone 6s battery cases available, some selling for as little as $25.

Some third-party cases have batteries in the 3,000 mAh range, while Apple's case has a 1,900 mAh battery, which means it provides less battery life than some competitors.

"Apple's a high-margin company, so you could argue everything they sell is overpriced," noted Rob Enderle, principal at the Enderle Group. "That's part of their allure; they appeal to folks who like to think they don't care about price."

Design Issues

The Apple case's bump -- it conceals an antenna -- has raised some hackles. [*Correction - Dec. 9, 2015]

"It's not a look-at-the-way-the-lens-extends-from-the-body bump, it's a my-iPhone-ate-my-iPod bump," quipped The Verge's Goode.

However, there are things she praised: the soft pass-through buttons for volume and power; cut-outs for the ring/silent button and rear camera lens; an acoustic port for the speaker; and the flexible top part of the case, which makes it easier to slide an iPhone in and out.

The case "is butt ugly for an Apple product," Enderle remarked. The white case will, like other white cases, "likely yellow over time and show dirt -- and it looks like the iPhone ate a flip phone."

Apple's case "is nicely practical, but it makes your beautiful new iPhone look like something that was rushed out of China," he told TechNewsWorld. "I can't remember the last time Apple brought out a product that didn't emphasize the design."

Paying a premium for a well-designed product and then buying an accessory that falls down in the design department "is like buying a Porsche then strapping on external gas tanks and covering the whole thing with taped-on bubble wrap," Enderle observed.

Topsy-Turvy Charging

Most battery cases act as a power reserve, so the smartphone draws power from them only when its own battery is out of juice, but the Apple iPhone 6s case does the opposite -- the phone draws from it first and uses its own battery as a reserve.

"I think it would be a surprise to users initially," C4 Trends' Schreiner told TechNewsWorld, "but people would adjust to something like that."

Still, "people aren't used to that with Apple -- they're used to things just working and not being complicated -- they don't have to read instructions," she pointed out. "Apple products are the ultimate plug and play."

While that might pose a problem at first, external batteries "keep the phone battery topped off until they lose charge, [which] tends to cycle the phone battery very quickly and can reduce its useful life significantly, something we don't talk about," Enderle said.

"This [case] battery actually talks to the phone, which may mean it bypasses the phone's battery," he said, "and if it does that, it could significantly increase the iPhone battery's useful life.

Source by: http://www.technewsworld.com

Shadow IT Feeds 'Man in the Cloud' Attacks

Shadow IT -- the use of unauthorized online services by company employees -- is a concern of cyberwarriors charged with defending business systems against network attacks. There's new evidence that those concerns are justified.



A new attack vector on business systems leverages the synchronization features of services like Dropbox and Google Drive to perform malicious mischief, according to a report Imperva released earlier this month at the Black Hat Conference in Las Vegas.

The "Man in the Cloud" attack, as it's called, involves making a simple change in configuration settings to turn services into a devastating criminal tool not detected easily using common security measures, the report explains.

The key to the attack is in the way the services synchronize files among devices linked to an account. Each device has software provided by the service to ensure all the information on the devices and in the cloud is the same.

When a change is made in a local Dropbox folder, for example, the software ensures that the change is made in the cloud and to all other devices linked to that Dropbox account.

Blind Defenders

When those changes are made, all the devices must be authenticated. Since it would be very inconvenient to authenticate all the devices by requiring the use of a user name and password every time a change is made to a file, the services use an alternative authentication method that involves the use of tokens.

However, it's possible to steal a token for an account and use it to add a device to it without the account owner's knowledge, Imperva discovered. Then, every time the owner would change the information in the account, those changes would appear on the unauthorized device, too.

The user does not know what's going on, and it's also hard for network defenders to detect.

"Communication using the cloud server doesn't raise any alarms," explained Morgan Gerhart, VP of product marketing for Imperva.

"If a separate communication channel were set up from a user's device to a command-and-control server somewhere, an out-of-band communication channel would be needed," he told TechNewsWorld. "That could potentially be tracked by a firewall or [intrusion detection] system."

As the number of devices connected to company networks increases, the ability of traditional security solutions to counter threats will decrease, he maintained.

"Consumerization of IT and BYOD are accelerating the rate at which traditional endpoint and network solutions are becoming blind to the kinds of threats that are out there," Gerhart said. "Our Man-in-the-Cloud analysis is a perfect example of that."

Bulletproof Servers

Bulletproof servers are an important part of how the online criminal underground does business, but their operations remain shadowy.

The servers provide many of the same functions as legitimate hosting services, such as being repositories for any kind of content or executable code, but they cater to malicious content -- phishing sites, pornography, fake shopping and carding sites, and hacker command-and-control infrastructure.

In short, it's the foundation major cybercriminal operations are built upon, according to a recent Trend Micro report.

"Bulletproof hosting services very consciously make a business out of providing services for illegal or unethical online behavior," said Christopher Budd, threat communications manager at Trend Micro.

Rules of the Game

Why are the servers called "bulletproof"?

It's all in their operator's sales pitch, which goes something like this: "If you do business with us and follow our rules, we will guarantee that we will keep your online activity up despite attempts by organizations or law enforcement to take them down," Budd told TechNewsWorld.

"They can make that guarantee by being located in countries that are unresponsive or are otherwise uninterested in enforcing takedown requests," he said.

What about those rules?

Usually they include leaving alone the citizens in the country where the bulletproof server is located. Pornography is OK, but child pornography is usually forbidden.

"That's where following the rules is really important," Budd noted, "because even though bulletproof hosters are providing the material and logistical support for illegal activities, it's not anything goes."

Supply Chain Vulnerabilities

Trading on press announcements before they're released is a new twist on insider trading. Three of the biggest PR outlets on the Web earlier this month were sucked into just such a scheme involving overseas hackers and U.S. traders.

The caper may be a sign that companies are thinking too small when it comes to protecting their supply chains.

"The modern information supply chain goes far and beyond hardware, software and logistics of an organization," said Tom Kellermann, chief cybersecurity officer at Trend Micro.

"It should include not only your outside general counsel, but your PR and market intelligence firms with whom you decide to relay embargoed information," he told TechNewsWorld.

Of course, organizations need to do more than just create an extensive map of their supply chain if they want to reduce the risks connected to it.

"As the business environment becomes more and more interconnected,"BitSight VP of Business Development Jake Olcott told TechNewsWorld, "businesses will need visibility into their supply chains to make sure their vendors are doing well with cybersecurity."

Breach Diary

• Aug. 17. IRS announces it will be notifying an additional 390,000 taxpayers that their personal information was compromised in a data breach revealed in May. Total number of taxpayers affected by the breach now stands at 600,000.


• Aug. 17. Colorado Office of Information Technology begins notifying some 3,000 people that some of their personal healthcare information was placed at risk when it was mailed to wrong addresses due to a technical error.


• Aug. 17. Tripwire releases results of survey taken at Black Hat conference revealing 64 percent of respondents said targeted attacks against their networks have increased over the last year by 20 percent or more.


• Aug. 18. Target announces deal to pay Visa card issuers up to US$67 million to settle lawsuit resulting from a massive 2013 data breach.


• Aug. 18. In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Web.com reports data breach has compromised credit card information of 93,000 users.


• Aug. 18. Microsoft releases out-out-of-band patch for Internet Explorer to address zero-day flaw that allows an attacker to gain the same user rights as the operator of a computer.


• Aug. 20. University of Rhode Island reveals data breach has placed at risk some 3,000 of the school's email accounts.

Upcoming Security Events

• Sept. 12. B-Sides Augusta. GRU Harrison Education Commons Building, 1301 R.A. Dent Blvd., Augusta, Georgia. Free.


• Sept. 12-21. SANS Network Security 2015. Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada. Long Courses: $3,145 - $6,295. Short Courses: $1,150 - $2,100.


• Sept. 16. ISMG Data Breach Prevention and Response Summit. The Westin San Francisco Airport, 1 Old Bayshore Highway, Millbrae, California. Registration: $695.


• Sept. 16-17. SecureWorld Detroit. Ford Motor Conference & Event Center, Detroit. Registration: open sessions pass, $25; conference pass, $175; SecureWorld plus training, $545.


• Sept. 18. B-Sides Cape Breton. The Verschuren Centre, Cape Breton University, Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada. Free.


• Sept. 22-23. SecureWorld St. Louis. America's Center Convention Complex, St. Louis. Registration: open sessions pass, $25; conference pass, $175; SecureWorld plus training, $545.


• Sept. 28-Oct. 1. ASIS 2015. Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, California. Through May 31: member, $895; nonmember, $1,150; government, $945; student, $300. From June 1 through Aug. 31: member, $995; nonmember, $1,250; government, $1,045; student, $350. From Sept. 1 through Oct. 1: member, $1,095; nonmember, $1,350; government, $1,145; student, $400.


• Sept. 30-Oct. 1. Privacy. Security. Risk. 2015. Conference sponsored by IAPP Privacy Academy and CSA Congress. Bellagio hotel, Las Vegas. Registration: Before Aug. 29, $1,195 (member), $1,395 (nonmember), $1,045 (government), $495 (academic); after Aug. 28, $1,395, $1,595, $1,145 and $495.


• Oct. 2-3. B-Sides Ottawa. RA Centre, 2451 Riverside Dr., Ottawa, Canada. Free with registration.


• Oct. 6. SecureWorld Cincinnati. Sharonville Convention Center, 11355 Chester Rd., Sharonville, Ohio. Registration: open sessions pass, $25; conference pass, $175; SecureWorld plus training, $545.


• Oct. 6. UK Cyber View Summit 2015. 6 a.m. ET. Warwick Business School, 17th Floor, The Shard, 32 London Bridge, London, UK. Registration: 550 euros plus VAT.


• Oct. 9-11. B-Sides Warsaw. Pastwomiasto, Anders 29, Warsaw, Poland. Free with registration.


• Oct. 12-14. FireEye Cyber Defense Summit. Washington Hilton, 1919 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. Registration: before Sept. 19, $1,125; after Sept. 18, $1,500.


• Oct. 15. SecureWorld Denver. The Cable Center, 2000 Buchtel Blvd., Denver, Colorado. Registration: open sessions pass, $25; conference pass, $175; SecureWorld plus training, $545.


• Oct. 19-21. CSX Cybersecurity Nexus Conference. Marriott Wardman Park, 2660 Woodley Rd. NW, Washington, D.C. Registration: before Aug. 26, $1,395 (member), $1,595 (nonmember); before Oct. 14, $1,595 (member), $1,795 (nonmember); after Oct. 14, $1,795 (member), $1,995 (nonmember).


• Oct. 28-29. SecureWorld Dallas. Plano Centre, 2000 East Spring Creek Parkway, Plano, Texas. Registration: open sessions pass, $25; conference pass, $175; SecureWorld plus training, $545.


• Oct. 28-29. Securing New Ground. Conference sponsored by Security Industry Association. Millennium Broadway Hotel, New York City. Registration: Before Sept. 8, $895 (members), $1,395 (nonmembers), $300 (CISO, CSO, CIO); after Sept. 7, $1,095, $1,495 and $300.


• Nov. 4. Bay Area SecureWorld. San Jose Marriott, 301 South Market St., San Jose, California. Registration: open sessions pass, $25; conference pass, $175; SecureWorld plus training, $545.


• Nov. 11-12. Seattle SecureWorld. Meydenbauer Center, 11100 NE 6th St., Bellevue, Washington. Registration: open sessions pass, $25; conference pass, $175; SecureWorld plus training, $545.

Source by: http://www.technewsworld.com

Cisco and Ericsson Hook Up for IoT Network

Cisco and Ericsson on Monday announced a partnership to build out a next-generation network for smart things and the carriers and enterprises that want to support such devices.

The deal plays to the companies' strengths in cloud, data center, mobility, management and control, networking, routing and global services, they said.

Each company expects to earn about US$1 billion in revenue by 2018 from the deal, if all goes according to plan.

Cisco and Ericsson will support other agreements aimed at cutting through the walls and red tape standing in the way of their development efforts, reseller agreements, system management and marketing in emerging markets.

The relationship is not quite a marriage, but it's much more than friends with benefits. It falls just short of a merger and is a reaction to the merging of Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent, said Roger Entner, principal analyst for Recon Analytics.

"It's designed for Ericsson and Cisco to have better, broader and more compelling products and services to offer," he told the E-Commerce Times. "It, impressively, shows how much the Internet has gone mobile and how much mobile can increasingly become the Internet."

Moving Forward

They'll provide end-to-end solutions for the likes of Verizon and AT&T, according to the companies.

Verizon is looking forward to this partnership and the advances in wireless it will bring, said Roger Gurnani, chief information and technology architect at Verizon.

"This global partnership has the potential to reshape the industry," he said.

After kicking off their strategies for the likes of AT&T and Verizon, the two companies will turn their attention to enterprises, Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg said.

"Initially the partnership will focus on service providers, then on opportunities for the enterprise segment and accelerating the scale and adoption of IoT services across industries," he said.

Because each company has a large footprint on both ends of the Internet of Things market -- networking and networking equipment -- they'll have significant moment going forward, according to Karma Martell, president ofKarmaCom.

They both have "solid histories and brand recognition in systems integration and telecommunications," she told the E-Commerce Times. "Combined they will have a robust sales force and R&D to go after and grow this area of business."

Cisco and Ericsson have invested a combined total of $11 billion in research and hold more than 56,000 patents between them, they said.

Competition and Commitment

Despite possible synergies, the relationship won't be without its challenges.

The Cisco-Ericsson partnership follows a similar deal between Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia. In short, Cisco and Ericsson aren't the first to realize that it's a cloud-first, mobile-first world out there.

Besides competition, the relationship will be challenged by issues of commitment and control, according to Entner.

"The harmonization of everything that will be the big challenge," he said. "It's about bringing two companies in sync. Traditionally, there are very few partnerships and joint ventures that have actually worked out because, generally, you need one person to be in charge, not two.

Source by: http://www.technewsworld.com

 

Facebook Lets Ordinary People Try Out Live Video

Facebook last week launched a beta of its Live Video service for a small percentage of iPhone users in the United States. Live Video reportedly will be available for the Android platform at a later date.

Facebook also has launched a pilot to make it easier to share videos from mobile devices. Some iPhone and Android device users can tap the "What's on your mind?" prompt to trigger a drop-down menu of the options they can share. The lessons learned from that will help Facebook decide which new items to share in the future.

"This has implications for the whole ecosystem, including Periscope, Meerkat, Google," remarked Susan Schreiner, an analyst at C4 Trends.

Facebook Live Video "could potentially be very disruptive given the numbers Facebook has," she told TechNewsWorld.

Social media sites are "moving away from the exchange of basic information, such as a Facebook news feed or Twitter account, to an experience where users expect more functionality, easier functionality, and greater sense of emotion," commented Jason Dorsey, chief strategy officer at the Center for Generational Kinetics.

Using Live Video

To begin broadcasting, users tap their news feed or timeline on the Facebook iPhone app, write a description for their broadcast if they want, then tap Go Live. To end, they tap Finish.

They can preselect their audience before going live.

During a broadcast, users will see the number of live viewers, the names of friends tuning in, and a real-time stream of comments.

They can block commenters during a live broadcast by tapping the profile picture next to a comment and then tapping Block. They also can unblock someone they've previously blocked.

Broadcasts cannot exceed 30 minutes. They will be saved on users' timelines when they're over and then can be deleted or saved.

"Facebook Live Video has the chance to bridge a digital and emotional gap that exists on Facebook today," the Center for Generational Kinetics' Dorsey told TechNewsWorld.

Seventy-seven percent of Americans feel more deeply connected to people who send them messages, including a personal picture, video or music, and 66 percent wanted a way to make standard electronic communications such as email more personal and special, according to a nationwide study in the U.S. conducted by the center and Gift Card Impressions.

The Money Game

"Live video is a great way to show your online friends and the public what you're doing at the moment," Brian Blau, a research director at Gartner.

Companies also could use it to bring their own live events to customers on Facebook, he told TechNewsWorld.

Live Video potentially could be a huge source of income.

"Facebook's going to have to start to think about monetization," C4 Trends' Schreiner predicted.

Seventy-four percent of business-to-consumer marketers and 92 percent of business-to-business marketers use video in their marketing efforts, according to a report this year by Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs.

Video will account for 79 percent of all traffic by 2018, Cisco reported.

Video viewers are 1.7 times more likely to make a purchase than nonviewers,Invodo said.

Coming Up with Collage

Facebook on Thursday also updated its iPhone app to add Collage, a feature that lets users create collages consisting of photos and videos, arranging them in grids rather than a scrolling list as was done before.

Users can edit a collage and can title it before sharing.

Collage will be extended to Android devices early next year.

Going All Visual

The rollout of Collage and Live Video are "a continual progression of adding more sophisticated and rich media to common and everyday online interactions such as social networking," Gartner's Blau said.

"Pictures will start to move; video will become interactive; and, with the gaining popularity of advanced cameras such as 360-degree cameras, I think we will see even more rich media integrations in the future," he commented. "We may see live video come to many of Facebook's apps over the coming years.

Source by: http://www.technewsworld.com

Adobe Lays Out a Feast at Its MAX Picnic

Adobe on Monday raised the curtain on two mobile apps and a basket of product upgrades at its MAX conference in Los Angeles.

Both new apps -- Photoshop Fix and Capture CC -- are free, but they initially will be available only to users of Apple's mobile devices.

Photoshop Fix includes some commonly used Photoshop features -- exposure, contrast and saturation control, as well as object and blemish removal. It also has a tool for altering parts of a face. For example, you can widen eyes, suggest a smile, or perform a virtual rhinoplasty on a visage.

Image editors ought to be careful when working with the face feature, cautioned David D. Busch, creative director of David Busch Photography Guides, who has worked with similar programs for Photoshop.

"Whenever I've done it, the faces look a little creepy," he told TechNewsWorld.

Ambient Inspiration

The other mobile app, Capture CC, combines capabilities found in Adobe Brush, Adobe Shape, Adobe Color and Adobe Hue into a single app. Assets captured and created with the app can be used as a brush, shape or color theme for professional work.

"More work is going mobile," said Ross Rubin, principal analyst with Reticle Research. "Providing these tools not only creates more opportunities for collaboration on-the-go but for inspiration from things around you at a particular time."

By offering the apps free of charge, Adobe can build good will with both existing and potential users.

"The mobile apps are complementary to Adobe's desktop software packages, so they're a value-add to those customers, as well as a way to introduce new customers to the brands and the capabilities," Rubin told TechNewsWorld.

In addition to the new mobile apps, Adobe announced expansion of touch capabilities across desktop apps like Photoshop CC, Illustrator CC and Premiere Pro CC.

Adding more touch support may be a tip-off of where Adobe sees the tablet market going.

"There was a trend where tablets were going to replace computers, and then it went away," Busch explained. "Now it's coming back with Apple's iPad Pro. It's starting to become more practical to retouch on a tablet with a stylus."

Natural Touch

Touch expansion is a positive step for Adobe, said Rubin.

"Gaining more experience with mobile interfaces is helpful, because they're bubbling up to more powerful creation platforms like the iPad Pro and Microsoft Surface," he said. "Touch is just a more natural way for artists to work."

A number of new features were announced for products across Adobe's Creative Cloud line:

• touch workspaces for InDesign CC and Illustrator CC;


• Shaper tool, Live Shapes and enhanced Smart Guides in Illustrator CC;


• new online publishing capabilities in inDesign;


• Adobe Fuse CC 3D character software in existing Creative Cloud memberships;


• free-form responsive design in Muse CC;


• responsive design capabilities in Dreamweaver CC; and


• Artboards capabilities for precise placement of elements and layers in Photoshop.

Subscription Success

Adobe announced some additions to its video products, including the following: native format support for editing 4K-to-8K video footage; support for High Dynamic Range workflows in Premiere Pro CC; improved color fidelity in After Effects CC; and Remix, a new audio feature in Audition CC.

Adobe also gave Premiere Pro CC the touch treatment, and it optimized After Effects CC and Character Animator for Surface Pro, Windows tablets and Apple track pad devices.

Looking ahead, the company announced it will add stock video to its stock photo service. Also in the works is Portfolio, a new way to create online portfolio websites.

The new features for Adobe's Creative Cloud service will come without any change in its US$9.95 monthly fee.

The company's transition to a cloud service provider seems to be a success.

"The subscription model seems to be working pretty well, which has allowed them to move to it exclusively," Rubin said. "It's worked so well that Microsoft is moving to the same model.

Source by: http://www.technewsworld.com

JPEG Committee Proposal Stirs Image-DRM Fears

The JPEG Committee last week met in Brussels to discuss a proposal to secure privacy information such as metadata for published pictures that includes geographical information enabling identification of people who have given anonymous interviews to journalists and pictures posted on social media intended only for a limited audience.



The proposal also seeks to address intellectual property rights for images provided by commercial stock providers or news agencies.

Privacy concerns inhibit digital content distribution, the JPEG Committee said. It is seeking solutions that provide trust when sharing image content and metadata.

Its focus is on legacy images as well as standards such as JPEG XT, JPSearch and JPEG Systems.

The result will be the addition of digital rights management to the JPEG image format, argued Jeremy Malcolm, senior global policy analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Extending DRM to Images Online

Much of the privacy and security support functionality required already is available in Part 8 of the JPEG 2000 standard.

JPEG 2000 has a DRM extension called JPSEC that is used for highly specialized applications such as medical imaging, broadcast and cinema image workflows, and archiving, so it "hasn't affected the use of images online," Malcolm pointed out.

The JPEG Privacy and Security Group is thinking of "essentially backporting DRM to legacy JPEG images," he said. This would impact the open Internet.

Cryptographers don't believe DRM works, Malcolm told the JPEG Committee. It doesn't account for copyright limitations such as fair dealing, fair use and quotation, and it "allows anticompetitive conduct such as region coding."

In addition, archives often wrongly claim copyright-like rights to images in the public domain, he said.

Further, laws against circumventing DRM threaten liability for people reporting vulnerabilities in DRM implementations and infringe upon freedom of expression, Malcolm said. In 2001, for instance, the music industry used the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to prevent Princeton and Rice university professors from discussing security flaws in its SDMI DRM technology.

Alternatives to DRM include cryptography, rights management information and licensing, he said.

DRM May Not Work

The DRM issue is complicated because it "steps on many other issues, such as the rights of the user," said Jim McGregor, a principal analyst at Tirias Research.

The best defense against piracy is "a change in business models," he told the E-Commerce Times. "Provide value and make it affordable and/or develop alternative business models around the content, and piracy will no longer be an issue."

The argument for DRM is that it would protect investment in the development of content, but "it's really just protecting antiquated business models that are out of date with modern society and current technology," McGregor contended.

"Any software company will tell you that there's no way to completely protect software from hacking," he said. "Likewise, there's no way to completely protect content, especially with the speed with which it can spread around the Internet."

The alternatives Malcolm suggested are "at best Band-Aids," McGregor contended, because "once content is out in the public eye, it can be copied and distributed in many different ways."

Much Ado About Nothing?

The JPEG Committee "has not endorsed any specific solution to protect privacy or secure JPEG images," said JPEG convener Touradj Ebrahimi.

The JPEG Committee invited the EFF, as well as several other organizations, to provide its opinion because JPEG "wants to have as much reaction as possible before standardizing security solutions for its format," he told the E-Commerce Times. "These comments will be used to better define the scope and framework of the JPEG Privacy and Security [Group]."

DRM "is a generic definition that refers to a large spectrum of solutions, ranging from protection to monitoring," Ebrahimi pointed out.

"It's better to ask EFF to provide a more detailed description of what they mean by DRM," he said, "and maybe some references to back this statement as we do not either endorse or deny this general statement."

Source by: http://www.technewsworld.com

End of Year Goodies

The end of the year brings out some interesting goodies from various workshops competing with Santa for big kids' attention. Some of it is pretty good stuff.

Here's a sampling of the best end-of-year product announcements from the cloud community designed to put you in the post-holiday, already-back-at-work spirit.

Xactly Inspire

Xactly, the sales compensation experts in the cloud, announced Xactly Inspire the other day. It's the kind of tool that managers will love, because it gives them both insight into what's happening in the sales funnel and advice about how to use it. For a very long time, sales managers could have one, but not necessarily the other, so this announcement should please the sales manager who has everything except quota.

This cloud-based coaching and on-boarding solution enables managers to monitor and predict sales activity based on the data flying around in the sales force automation and compensations systems. So what, you might say, we could always do that in sales meetings -- what's the big deal? Ummm, it's the meeting part that I think is most interesting.

We're always talking about ways to boost sales rep productivity, but it rarely dawns on us that one less meeting could do a lot to put reps in the field and maintain their managers' sanity and blood pressure. This is essentially an analytics application designed to derive meaning from the chaos that is sales -- something that actually could accelerate the sales process. So, I'd give this innovation 5 out of 5 reindeer in my magical mythical year-end scoring system.

NetSuite OneWorld

Yes, we're not going in alphabetical order this time. I do this to discourage entrepreneurs from naming their companies AAAAsoftware and the like, an idea that comes directly from the analog world of the yellow pages and bail bondsmen.

Anyhow, NetSuite for many years has aimed at providing a back office suite in the cloud that enables any size of enterprise to manage a global empire completely in the cloud from any terrestrial location. That's a tall order, considering business models, e-commerce strategies, currencies, languages, accounting rules and global opportunities.

NetSuite has just put a marker down on a slew of new and improved products with names like "multi-subsidiary management," "multi-location inventory management," "multi-book accounting," "global item and vendor records" and more. I don't understand some of this, but it looks like the people who need to indeed do.

NetSuite is on the threshold of being a billion-dollar company, and this functionality should do a lot to propel it to that club. If you're counting, that would be two billion-dollar companies for Larry. Not too shabby. NetSuite has been a solid 4 out of 5 reindeer company for a long time, but this introduction deserves an extra Rudolph, so it's 5 out of 5 from me here.

Salesforce Opportunity Management for Desk.com

Salesforce several years ago passed a tipping point, which makes it virtually impossible for it not to introduce products, so big has its footprint in platform technology become. It doesn't hurt that Salesforce buys compatible companies with leadership teams and technologies that bolt together into its vision.

One of its latest wrinkles is to offer an array of solutions for both the enterprise and the SMB markets, the better to maintain its pricing at the higher end, I think. Salesforce this week introduced Opportunity Management for Desk.com, its SMB service and support offering. The idea is on solid footing. In small companies, especially, employees wear multiple hats, the situation is more fluid, and people take on the responsibilities that excite them -- at least, in my experience.

Opportunity Management for Desk.com relieves service people from the bureaucratic overhead of telling customers that they can't take an order but that they can connect you with the sales desk, which will only place you on a brief hold with -- pick your least favorite music, it's always there.

Seriously, though, the lines have been blurring for a long time between sales and service, and this introduction simply follows the trend of enabling SMBs to be more responsive to commonsense customer needs. Another solid 5 out of 5 reindeer performance for the company.

Selfie Mirror

Speaking of common sense, the Selfie Mirror provides a bit of comic relief just when you might need it. Not in line with the holidays, my first impression of the mirror was straight out of the Brothers Grimm -- "mirror, mirror on the wall... ." That should be enough to give you the concept, though you can get more here in a short video. Is this finally the future of the telephone beyond your pocket?

The futurist in me saw huge possibilities. The mirror has an HD camera, hi-fi sound, and Internet integration built in. Some of its uses include recording and transmitting anything you record in the mirror, which would make video blogging or social media participation a snap. The mirror also has home security benefits that enable users to monitor anything happening in front of it at any time.

What's impressive about this, to me, is merging multiple advanced capabilities into a single product unimaginable just a few moments ago. It is a great example of niche creation and of supply creating its own demand. Selfie Mirror gets 6 out of 5 reindeer for innovation. Don't ask me how you get 6 out of 5 -- it's part of the magic of the season. Enjoy yours

Source by: http://www.technewsworld.com

Top 10 Greatest Wrestlers of All Time

Wrestling is perhaps the oldest form of combat. Cave paintings found in France made 15 thousand years ago has depicted people wrestling for sport. During the Middle Ages wrestling was one of the most popular sports in Japan and France and wrestlers had patronage from Royal families. Today although wrestling has changed from how it used to be but is still a popular sport. Here is a list of top 10 greatest wrestlers of all time:

Top 10 Greatest Wrestlers of All Time

10. Bruno Sammartino

Bruno Leopoldo Francesco Sammartino is a retired professional wrestler. For over 11 years he had held the WWWF (World) Heavyweight Championship. In the 1960s and 198s, he reigned in the world of wrestling. Like the typical wrestlers from his era, his wrestling style is mat-oriented. Sammartino originally came from Italy and knew no English when he arrived in America. His made him a target to bullies which prompted him into becoming physically strong. He began building himself, and from then started his journey towards becoming the one of the greatest wrestlers ever. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2013.

9. Bret Hart

Bret Hart is a retired professional wrestler. His nick name is “Hit Man” and he hails from a family of wrestlers. Hart is a second-generation wrestler himself. Regarded as one of the greatest pro wrestlers of all time, in the 90s, Hart is attributed for revolutionising the wrestling industry and bringing in more athletic spirit to the ring. He made his in-ring debut in 1978 for the World Championship Wrestling (WCW); then he went on to participate in the “Montreal Screwjob”. Later he served as the general manager of Raw. In a career spanning for five decades between 1970s to the 2010s, Hart was a seven-time world champion, two-time WWF Intercontinental Champion, five-time WCW United States Champion and a three time world tag team champion.

8. Buddy Rogers

Herman Gustav Rohde Jr. was a professional wrestler who was popular by his ring name “Buddy Rogers”. During the start of the television era he gained the status of a very popular celebrity. He ended up inspiring wrestlers’ generations after him. Rogers worked at a shipyard and became a police officer. But one day he got a big break in wrestling and never looked back. His great physique and incredible personality made him an instant hit with the crowd. Notably he has won two world champions.

7. Hulk Hogan

Terry Gene Bollea is known by his ring name Hulk Hogan. He is a professional wrestler who made his name in the 1980s and 1990s in WWE and in WCW (World Championship Wrestling). Today he is the World Championship Wrestling in the world. Hogan is a six-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, six-time WWE World Heavyweight Champion and a twelve-time world champion. He won the Royal Rumbles consecutively two times, becoming the first wrestler to do so.

6. The Undertaker

Wrestler Mark William Calaway is popular by the ring name the “Undertaker”. He debuted in the World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) in 1984. From 1989 to 1990, Calaway wrestled as “Mean” Mark Callous in World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The Undertaker is known for his 21 straight victories at WWE’s leading pay-per-view(PPV). He is an eight-time world champion, four times WWE Champion, three times World Heavyweight Championship, and one time USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship. Among fans he is considered as one of the best professional wrestlers of all time.

5. Sting

Steve Borden, Sr. is popular by his ring name Sting. He is known for being part of the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). Sting has a 14-year career with the World Championship Wrestling (WCW). He has won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship six times, the NWA World Heavyweight Championship once and the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship on two occasions. Sting has in total participated in 25 championships and won the award of the “Most Popular Wrestler of the Year” four times.

4. Randy Savage

Randy Mario Poffo is a retired professional wrestler who is best known by his ring name “Macho Man” Randy Savage. Considered as one of the greatest pro wrestlers, Savage has had a wrestling career spanning for over 32 years during which altogether he has won 20 championships. He is two times winner of WWF Championship, four times winner of WCW World Heavyweight Championship, He won the WWF Intercontinental Champion once, the WWF King of the Ring once and the WCW World War 3 once. In 2015, Randy Savage was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

3. Shawn Michaels

Michael Shawn Hickenbottom is a retired professional wrestler.  From 1989 to 2010, Michaels headlined major pay-per-view events. He wrestled for both WWE and American Wrestling Association (AWA). He is a former World Heavyweight Champion, four-time world champion, three-time WWF Champion, two-time Royal Rumble winner. He was also WWE’s first Grand Slam Champion. He was trained by José Lothario and in his debut match he left a marking impression especially on Terry Taylor. Besides being a professional wrestler he was also a television presenter. From 1998 to 2000 he was involved in non-wrestling feats for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Shawn Michaels has retired and returned to the ring a number of times. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2011.

2. Stone Cold Steve Austin

Steve Austin known by his ring name “Stone Cold” is a former professional wrestler who enjoyed popularity in the late 1990s in WWE. He was the “poster boy” of the WWE business in the 1990s and 2000s. The period is also called Attitude Era. Austin is a two-time WWF Intercontinental Champion, six-time WWF Champion, and a four-time WWF Tag Team Champion. He has also won the King of the Ring three times and the Royal Rumbles once. For a long time in his career, Austin has wrestled in pay-per-view events for the WWF. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009.

1. Ric Flair

Richard Morgan “Ric” Fliehr is a former professional wrestler. His ring name is Ric Flair and is nicknamed “The Nature Boy.” He had a professional career spanning over 40 years in which he has been decorated several times. He has been a 16-time world champion. He is the first ever wrestler to be inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame twice. Throughout his career, Flair majorly played as pay-per-view attraction. Today Flair is regarded as the greatest professional wrestler of all time and currently makes appearances under the WWE contract.


Source by: http://www.wonderslist.com

Top 10 Bikes in India

Any real guy would agree that his bike is his prized possession. And why not it be so, a bike is not just another means to travel but an extension of the personality of its rider! Here we take a look at the top 10 bikes in India and why these machines sell the most. Checkout the list of world’s most expensive bikes.

Top 10Best Selling Bikes in India

10. Yamaha Fazer

Yamaha Fazer is one of the best bikes in India. The upcoming Yamaha Fazer Fi V2.0 will come with a split seat, redesigned exhaust and updated instrument cluster. Also it would be available in new colors/graphics – White Cloud, Black Hawk and Red Dawn. In comparison to its old version, new Yamaha Fazer is three kilos lighter and weighs about 138 kgs.

Engine: 149cc single-cylinder, air-cooled, fuel-injected engine
Power and Torque: 13.1PS of power and 12.8Nm of torque
Estimated Price: INR 97000 (approx)

9. Honda CBF Stunner

Honda Stunner was launched in 2010 and has registered record sales in India several times. Best bikes in India, CBF Stunner is an entry-level semi-faired bike.

Engine: 125cc
Mileage: 61kmpl
Max Power: 10 bhp @ 8000 rpm
Weight: 128 kgs

8. Honda Shine

Honda Shine 125cc happens to be the most selling bike in India from Honda. A brilliant combination of power, great mileage and stylish looks, Honda Shine continues to top the sales charts.

Engine Type: Air cooled, 4 stroke, SI engine
Max Power: 10.6PS
Max Torque: 10.54Nm
Mileage: 65kmpl

7. Bajaj Platina

What makes Bajaj Platina one of the best bikes in India is its exceptional mileage. The latest version of Bajaj Platina is claimed to be the most fuel efficient motorcycle in the world at 96.9 KMPL mileage (in 100 cc category). To make the Platina ES even more attractive, Bajaj Auto has given it improved styling and electric start option. The on-road price of Bajaj Platina is close to INR 50,000 approximately.

Engine: 102 CC Single cylinder 2 value DTSI air-cooled petrol engine
Max power: 8.1 BHP @ 7500 RPM
Max torque: 8.6 Nm @ 5000 RPM

6. Hero Karizma

The Hero Honda Karizma was always a revolutionary machine and one of the best bikes in India. Manufactured by Hero Motocorp, Karizma was launched in 2003 and given a cosmetic upgrade Karizma R in 2007. Later in 2009 another variant Karimza ZMR was added to the league.

Engine: Air cooled, 4-Stroke Single Cylinder OHC
Max power: 14.32 kW (19.2 BHP) @ 7500 rpm
Max torque: 19.35 N-m @ 6000 rpm

5. Hero CBZ

One of the best bikes in India, Hero CBZ by Hero Honda Motors (initially) has a long history. It was first launched in early 1999 and stayed unchanged for about five years. In 2004, a new variant called CBZ* (star) featuring new graphics was introduced to ramp up sales.

However, Hero CBZ was discontinued after 2005 September. After a gap of two years, CBZ was followed by the CBZ-Xtreme which was a completely new product platform featuring a Honda 149 cc engine and five-speed gearbox.

Again in 2008, the bike went through a major visual makeover.

Engine: Air cooled, 4 – stroke single cylinder OHC
Max power: 10.6 KW (14.4 Ps) @ 8500 rpm
Max torque: 12.80 Nm @ 6500 rpm

4. TVS Star City Plus

TVS Star City Plus, one of the best bikes in India and a hot seller, is known for its smooth handling. Riders can adjust the rear shock absorber through a convenient lever without any need of additional tools. TVS Star City Plus 110cc gives an excellent mileage of 86 kmpl.

Max power: 8.4 PS @ 7000 rpm
Max torque: 8.7 NM @ 5000 rpm
Weight: 109 kgs

3. Bajaj Discover

Another Bajaj bike that has huge popularity! If Bajaj Pulsar strikes well with stylish youths, Discover is for young office going men. Bajaj Discover was initially launched in 125cc segment but later came with 100cc and 150cc variants.

Engine: Single cyl, 4-valve, 124.6 cc DTS-i with ExhausTEC
Max power: 11.5 ps @ 8000 RPM
Max torque: 10.8 Nm @ 6000 RPM

2. Hero Splendor

A 100 cc segment bike, Hero Splendor ((which includes the Super Splendor) sold at the average rate of 2.7 lakh units per month in 2014. Also in the same year Hero Motors launched a new model ‘Splendor iSmart’.

Engine: 97.2 cc air cooled, 4 – stroke single cylinder OHC
Max power: 6.15 kW (8.36 Ps) @ 8000 rpm
Max torque: 0.82 Kg-m (8.05 Nm) @ 5000 rpm

1. Bajaj Pulsar

Bajaj Pulsar is the topper on the list of best bikes in India. Number one seller in Indian market, Bajaj Pulsar was the first sports bike launched in India and that too by an Indian company. Pulsar comes with engine variations of 135 cc, 150 cc, 180 cc, 200 cc, 220 cc.

Engine: 4-stroke, DTS-i, air cooled, single cylinder
Max power: 15.06 @ 9000 (Ps @ RPM)
Max torque: 12.5 @ 6500 (Nm @ RPM)


Source by: http://www.wonderslist.com