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Monday, 17 June 2013
Finance for startups seminar being held - timesofmalta.com
The Malta Business Bureau, the European Commission Representation in Malta and Bank of Valletta have partnered together to discuss finance for business, particularly start-ups, through the assistance of EU initiatives.
The seminar will give an overview of the availability of finance and types of finance products including debt, grants, banking products and alternative sources of finance for the present and opportunities that are currently being negotiated for the next programming period 2014-2020.
The event will enable startups to learn best practice from EU Commission, European Investment Fund and Bank officials on developing access to finance instruments (financial engineering instruments and grant schemes) through the current and the next programming period.
They will also be briefed on plans and initiatives that the EU Commission DG Enterprise and Industry has in the area of access to finance both through decentralised (member state) and centralised funds (Brussels-based).
Keynote speakers include Joanna Drake, director, promotion of SMEs competitiveness, DG Enterprise and Industry, European Commission; Bruno Robino, head of region Southern countries, Regional Business Development, European Investment Fund; and Albert Frendo, chief officer credit, Bank of Valletta
The event will take place on June 28 from 9am to 11.30am at the Old University of Malta, St Paul?s Street, Valletta. This event is free to attend. Registration opens at 8.30am.
For further information and registration, send an e-mail to the Malta Business Bureau on [email?protected] or call on 2125 1719.
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Obama: Northern Ireland peace will be tested
From right, Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, US President Barack Obama and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy attend a media conference regarding EU-US trade at the G-8 summit in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland on Monday, June 17, 2013. British Prime Minister Cameron said he expects formal agreement to launch negotiations on a European-American free trade agreement. He also said a pact to slash tariffs on exports would boost employment and growth on both sides of the Atlantic. (AP Photo/Andrew Winning, Pool)
From right, Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, US President Barack Obama and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy attend a media conference regarding EU-US trade at the G-8 summit in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland on Monday, June 17, 2013. British Prime Minister Cameron said he expects formal agreement to launch negotiations on a European-American free trade agreement. He also said a pact to slash tariffs on exports would boost employment and growth on both sides of the Atlantic. (AP Photo/Andrew Winning, Pool)
US President Barack Obama delivers a keynote address ahead of the G-8 summit at Waterfront Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland on Monday, June 17, 2013. (AP Photo/ Paul Faith, Pool)
President Barack Obama, center right, and British Prime Minister David Cameron, center left, help students as they work on a school project about the G-8 summit during a visit to the Enniskillen Integrated Primary School in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, Monday, June 17, 2013. The visit takes place before leaders from the G-8 nations are to gather to discuss the ongoing conflict in Syria, and free-trade issues. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, Pool)
US President Barack Obama, left, and his wife Michelle Obama wave after he delivered a keynote address ahead of the G-8 summit at Waterfront Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland on Monday, June 17, 2013. (AP Photo/ Paul Faith, Pool)
President Barack Obama gestures during a speech at the Belfast Waterfront Hall on Monday June 17, 2013, in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Obama is attending the G-8 summit in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland where leaders are expected to discuss the ongoing conflict in Syria, and free-trade issues. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
ENNISKILLEN, Northern Ireland (AP) ? President Barack Obama declared peace in Northern Ireland a "blueprint" for those living amid conflict around the world, while acknowledging that the calm between Catholics and Protestants will face further tests. Summoning young people to take responsibility for their country's future, Obama warned there is "more to lose now than there's ever been."
"The terms of peace may be negotiated by political leaders, but the fate of peace is up to each of us," Obama said Monday during remarks at Belfast's Waterfront Hall. The glass-fronted building would never have been built during the city's long era of car bombs.
Obama arrived in Northern Ireland Monday morning after an overnight flight from Washington. Following his speech to about 1,800 students and adults, he flew to a lakeside golf resort near Enniskillen, passing over a sweeping patchwork of tree-lined farms as he prepared to meet with other leaders of the Group of 8 industrial nations on Syria, trade and counterterrorism.
British Prime Minister David Cameron greeted the leaders one-by-one in front of the picturesque lake where the summit was being held and posed for media cameras before they headed into their first closed session, on the global economy. Earlier, Obama and European Union leaders emerged from a group roundtable meeting to announce that they were opening negotiations next month in Washington toward a broad trade deal designed to slash tariffs, boost exports and fuel badly needed economic growth.
Obama said there will be sensitivities and politics to overcome by parties on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, but he's hopeful they can "stay focused on the big picture" of the economic and strategic importance of the agreement. "America and Europe have done extraordinary things together before and I believe we can forge an economic alliance as strong as our diplomatic and security alliances, which of course have been the most powerful in history," Obama told reporters.
One-on-one meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Cameron and Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta all were on Obama's agenda for Monday. Cameron selected Enniskillen as the site of this year's meeting as a way to highlight Northern Ireland's ability to leave behind a four-decade conflict that claimed 3,700 lives.
Significant progress has been made in the 15 years since the U.S.-brokered Good Friday Accords, including a Catholic-Protestant government and the disarmament of the IRA and outlawed Protestant groups responsible for most of the 3,700 death toll. But tearing down Belfast's nearly 100 "peace lines" ? barricades of brick, steel and barbed wire that divide neighborhoods, roads and even one Belfast playground ? is still seen by many as too dangerous. Obama cited that playground in his speech, lauding an activist whose work led to the opening of a pedestrian gate in the fence.
Acknowledging the reality of a sometimes-fragile peace, Obama recalled the Omagh bombings that killed 29 people and injured hundreds more. It was the deadliest attack of the entire conflict and occurred after the Good Friday deal.
Peace will be tested again, Obama said in Belfast.
"Whenever your peace is attacked, you will have to choose whether to respond with the same bravery that you've summoned so far or whether you succumb to the worst instincts, those impulses that kept this great land divided for too long. You'll have to choose whether to keep going forward, not backward," he said.
Last month, the Catholic and Protestant leaders of Northern Ireland's unity government announced a bold but detail-free plan to dismantle all peace lines by 2023. British Prime Minister David Cameron formally backed the goal Friday, and Obama followed with his own endorsement Monday.
The president specifically endorsed an end to segregated housing and schools, calling it an essential element of lasting peace.
"If towns remain divided ? if Catholics have their schools and buildings, and Protestants have theirs, if we can't see ourselves in one another, if fear or resentment are allowed to harden ? that too encourages division. It discourages cooperation," Obama said.
One symbol of that effort to end the segregation was on display as Obama spoke to an audience that brought together students from both faiths, effectively integrating Northern Ireland's schoolchildren if just for a morning. Later, in Enniskillen, Obama and Cameron rolled up their sleeves at one of Northern Ireland's first integrated schools, talking hunger and poverty with children who were studying the G-8.
Drawing on America's own imperfect battle with segregation, Obama recalled how well over a century after the U.S. Civil War, the nation he leads is still not fully united. His own parents ? a white woman from Kansas and a black man from Kenya ? would not have been able to marry in some states, Obama said, and he would have had a hard time casting a ballot, let alone running for office.
"But over time, laws changed, and hearts and minds changed, sometimes driven by courageous lawmakers, but more often driven by committed citizens," he said.
Though Obama did not specifically mention Syria, his remarks on Northern Ireland recalled the fierce conflict there that has so far resulted in 93,000 deaths. For those looking for a way out of conflict, Obama said Northern Ireland is "proof of what is possible."
Obama and other G-8 leaders were expected to discuss Syria Monday night over a working dinner. Obama will be looking to Britain and France to join him in sending weapons to the Syrian opposition.
Casting a shadow over the summit are new revelations by the Guardian newspaper that the British eavesdropping agency GCHQ repeatedly hacked into foreign diplomats' phones and emails when the U.K. hosted international conferences, including a 2009 Group of 20 summit in London. The report follows recent disclosures about the U.S. government's own surveillance programs and could lead to awkward conversation as the leaders open another international gathering that Britain is hosting.
Despite an agenda devoted to trade, economic growth and international tax issues, the G-8 will be eclipsed by discussions over how to address the two-year-old civil war in Syria and the decision by the United States to begin supplying rebels with military aid.
Obama's meeting with Russia's Putin later Monday will highlight the rift between their countries in addressing fierce fighting in Syria. While Putin has called for negotiated peace talks, he has not called for Syrian President Bashar Assad to leave power, and he remains one of Assad's strongest political and military allies.
In a likely preview of his discussions with Obama, Putin defended Russia's continuing supply of weapons to Assad's military Sunday and said Russia was providing arms "to the legitimate government of Syria in full conformity with the norms of international law."
The White House is not expecting any breakthrough with Putin on Syria during Putin's meeting with Obama.
Obama is making his first visit to Northern Ireland, though he visited the neighboring Republic of Ireland in 2011. That trip included a public speech in the center of Dublin, as well as a stop in the village of Moneygall, where Obama's great-great-great grandfather was born. The president called that visit "magical."
First lady Michelle Obama and daughters Malia and Sasha, who also made the trip from Washington, were to spend Monday and Tuesday in Dublin while the president attended the G-8 summit. Later Tuesday, the first family departs for Germany, where the president will meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel and speak at the Brandenburg Gate.
___
Associated Press writers Julie Pace in Sligo, Ireland, and Shawn Pogatchnik in Enniskillen contributed to this report.
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Scientists Have Found the Ancient Secret of Indestructible Concrete
For the most part, we humans are better at things than we were thousands of years ago. But there are some things the ancients had down pat. Roman concrete, for instance, is just way better than anything we can whip up today. Finally, after some 2,000 years, modern-day scientists have figured it out. And it's a secret worth knowing.
Concrete, while often not exactly pretty, is a super important tool of city-building today. We've been using Portland cement (an ingredient in concrete) as a binder for nearly 200 years as a building block of modern architecture, but it just can't hold a candle to that old Roman stuff. There are concrete harbors in Italy that are still doing pretty damn well after thousands of years. Meanwhile, a modern-day Portland cement structure is lucky to last 50 years when exposed to saltwater.
Now, after years of research in labs across the US and Europe, scientists have figured out that the most robust Roman concrete is a specific mixture of lime and volcanic rock, the details of which have been published in this month's issues of the Journal of the American Ceramic Society and American Mineralogist.
The researchers described it this way in a press release on the subject:
The Romans made concrete by mixing lime and volcanic rock. For underwater structures, lime and volcanic ash were mixed to form mortar, and this mortar and volcanic tuff were packed into wooden forms. The seawater instantly triggered a hot chemical reaction. The lime was hydrated ? incorporating water molecules into its structure ? and reacted with the ash to cement the whole mixture together.
And it gets even better. Portland cement is environmentally messy to produce, accounting for some seven percent of the C02 modern industry produces. Roman concrete? Much, much greener. There's still a lot of work to be done in adapting traditional Roman construction techniques to today's needs. But the recipe is as good as ever. We just have to get cookin'. [Bloomberg Businessweek]
Image by Diliff/Creative Commons
Source: http://gizmodo.com/scientists-have-found-the-ancient-secret-of-indestructi-513592527
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Scientists Have Found the Ancient Secret of Indestructible Concrete
For the most part, we humans are better at things than we were thousands of years ago. But there are some things the ancients had down pat. Roman concrete, for instance, is just way better than anything we can whip up today. Finally, after some 2,000 years, modern-day scientists have figured it out. And it's a secret worth knowing.
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Obama takes economic, foreign policy agenda to UK
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama is taking a security, foreign policy and economic agenda to Northern Ireland for a meeting with heads of the leading industrial nations.
He's looking for consensus on Syria while pushing for common ground on trade, economic growth and tax policies.
Obama left Washington on Sunday night and is scheduled to arrive in Belfast on Monday, ahead of the Group of eight summit, and give a speech focused on Northern Ireland's reconciliation.
Aides say the president plans to call on young people to sustain the peace.
He's then scheduled to attend a two-day summit in at a resort with leaders from Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Canada, Russia, and Japan.
Obama also plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The president's trip will end Wednesday in Berlin.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-takes-economic-foreign-policy-110847130.html
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BlackBerry Q10 (T-Mobile)
BlackBerry's new Q10 smartphone?is almost exactly the same across the big four wireless carriers, but T-Mobile has a compelling argument to put forth: the lowest up-front and ongoing prices for BlackBerry service. T-Mobile's version also adds HD Voice calling, although it lacks T-Mobile's Wi-Fi calling tricks.
Physically and functionally, the T-Mobile Q10 is nearly identical to the Verizon Wireless model we reviewed earlier this week. Take a look at our Verizon Wireless BlackBerry Q10 review and our BlackBerry 10 OS review for more details. Here we'll focus on the differences with the T-Mobile model.
To summarize, it's difficult to compare the Q10 to any other smartphone on the market. T-Mobile doesn't have any other keyboarded smartphones we'd recommend, just the bulky, so-so Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G and the laughably basic BlackBerry Curve 9315. So that makes the Q10 the only choice for people wanting a classy phone in a pocketable size, with a high-quality keyboard and a tight focus on messaging.
But that doesn't mean the Q10 is the best choice overall. The price of a physical keyboard is a smaller screen for Web browsing, and more importantly, BlackBerry 10 lacks many of the popular apps and third-party experiences enjoyed on other platforms.?
Call Quality, Networking and Service Plans
T-Mobile's BlackBerry Q10 runs on T-Mobile's and foreign HSPA+ 42 networks as well as T-Mobile's budding LTE network. It'll work on AT&T's HSPA+ network, but it doesn't have all of AT&T's LTE bands, so really, just buy the AT&T model if you intend to use it with AT&T.
I got very good speeds on T-Mobile's HSPA+ 42 network in New York City, up to 12Mbps down and 1.3Mbps up. That was measured through the Flash-based Ookla Speedtest.net Web site, by the way. That's a good thing and a bad thing: It's great that the complex Flash site works on the Q10, and sad that there are no reliable, native speed testing apps for the device.
Call quality, like on the Verizon Q10, is decent but not extraordinary. T-Mobile's HD Voice pulls in another variable. When I called non-HD Voice phones from the Q10, the earpiece was a bit quieter than I'd prefer. But with an HD Voice call to another T-Mobile phone, volume jumped up a few notches, as did the entire treble side of the audio. The bottom-ported speakerphone was about the same volume as the Verizon Q10's?good for indoor use, not quite loud enough for a noisy outdoor area.
Unfortunately, the Q10 doesn't have T-Mobile's Wi-Fi calling solution (at least for now). That's a pity, as being able to make clear calls over Wi-Fi is a strong differentiator for T-Mobile. While BlackBerry's built in BBM has audio and video integrated into the platform, it doesn't work with your T-Mobile phone number to call anyone with a telephone.
One of the joys of the BlackBerry Q10 is the almost total lack of bloatware. T-Mobile has only added one app, an account manager which is a badly laid-out port from Android. There's a "T-Mobile" section in the BlackBerry World app store, but it doesn't have any exclusive apps in it.
Battery life was pretty good. I got 12 hours, 5 minutes of talk time from the 2,100mAh battery on T-Mobile's HSPA+ network, in the same league as the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S 4 and much better than on the BlackBerry Z10. LTE video streaming time fell short of the One, though; tested on the very similar AT&T unit, I got 4 hours, 14 minutes.
T-Mobile's Q10 costs either $99.99 plus $20/month for 24 months, or $579.99 total. That first price is $100 less than AT&T's or Verizon's subsidized prices, and the full price is $5 less than AT&T and $20 less than Verizon. T-Mobile's plans are less expensive, too. One line with 2GB data and unlimited voice and text is $60 on T-Mobile (or $80 if you're paying off the phone by installments). A similar deal would be $100 on Verizon or $90-110 on AT&T. Of course, both Verizon's and AT&T's LTE networks are more responsive than T-Mobile's HSPA+, although I'd call all three 4G and broadband.
Sprint, right now, is claiming to match T-Mobile's price with a $99.99 up-front phone and a $79.99 "Everything Data" plan, which includes unlimited data, messaging, and 450 minutes of voice. But Sprint also isn't selling the Q10 quite yet, and its network has its own issues: Outside of Sprint's LTE coverage areas, it's much, much slower than T-Mobile.
Conclusions
There are two things to ask here: If I'm with T-Mobile, should I buy the Q10? And: If I'm shopping for a Q10, should I consider T-Mobile?
The BlackBerry Q10 is a niche product. It's for people who want the best possible Microsoft Exchange messaging and Web access, and don't care much about popular third-party apps from other platforms. These people probably wouldn't be satisfied with any other smartphone on the market, and mainstream smartphone buyers probably wouldn't be satisfied with the Q10.
T-Mobile offers the most affordable nationwide Q10 plan for heavy voice callers, so if that describes you, take a very close look at whether T-Mobile's coverage area works for you. You could save up to $600 per year over the larger carriers.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/rEW3s4LWois/0,2817,2420371,00.asp
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