Struggling Groupon ousts CEO Andrew Mason

FILE - In this Oct. 14, 2009 file photo, Andrew Mason, the CEO of Groupon, poses for a photo in Chicago. The struggling online deals company said Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013, after the market closed that it ousted Mason as CEO and will look for a new chief. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Greenm, File)

FILE - In this Oct. 14, 2009 file photo, Andrew Mason, the CEO of Groupon, poses for a photo in Chicago. The struggling online deals company said Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013, after the market closed that it ousted Mason as CEO and will look for a new chief. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Greenm, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Struggling online deals pioneer Groupon has ousted its quirky founder and CEO Andrew Mason amid worries that people are tiring of the myriad of online restaurant, spa and Botox deals that Groupon built its business on.

Shares jumped following Thursday's announcement, which had been anticipated for months. Executive Chairman Eric Lefkofsky and Vice Chairman Ted Leonsis were appointed to the Office of the Chief Executive while a replacement is found.

"After four and a half intense and wonderful years as CEO of Groupon, I've decided that I'd like to spend more time with my family. Just kidding ? I was fired today. If you're wondering why. you haven't been paying attention," Mason, 32, wrote in a memo to staff.

He referred to controversial metrics used in its regulatory filings ahead of Groupon Inc.'s November 2011 initial public offering of stock as well as "two quarters of missing our own expectations and a stock price that's hovering around one quarter of our listing price."

"The events of the last year and a half speak for themselves," he wrote. "As CEO, I am accountable."

The announcement came one day after Groupon reported a bigger-than-expected loss and gave a weak revenue outlook for the current quarter. The guidance had fueled investor worry ? which started even before Groupon's IPO ? that people are suffering from fatigue over the frequent emails flooding subscribers' inboxes. There were also worries that the company's efforts to broaden into an e-commerce powerhouse haven't been paying off.

Groupon said Mason was not available for interviews.

In a statement, Leonsis said, "Groupon will continue to invest in growth, and we are confident that with our deep management team and market-leading position, the company is well positioned for the future."

Groupon Inc. makes money by taking a cut from the online deals it offers on a variety of goods and services. Investors have questioned whether that business model is sustainable and leads to growth over the long term ? and whether the company can not only grow its customer base but make more from each subscriber.

Groupon had the advantage of being first, but the model is easy to replicate. It has spawned many copycats after its 2008 launch, from startups such as LivingSocial to established companies such as Google Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. Chicago-based Groupon Inc. also has faced scrutiny about its high marketing expenses, enormous employee base and the way it accounted for revenue.

Mason, a Northwestern University graduate and former punk band keyboardist, founded Groupon in 2008. By 2010, Groupon was available in 25 countries and its staff ballooned to nearly 10,000, many times that of other Internet darlings such as Twitter, Facebook or Zynga Inc., the other fallen star of the latest swath of Internet IPOs.

Groupon's stock has lost about 77 percent of its value since the IPO after losing $1.45, or 24 percent, to close Thursday at $4.53. After the announcement of Mason's ouster, the stock gained nearly 4 percent in after-hours trading.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-02-28-Groupon-CEO/id-f885777f008e4a9196f7918dd65a1cc0

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World News Brief, Friday March 1 | Pundit

US to send food and medical supplies to Syria; Thailand signs deal with militant Muslim group; China signals new foreign policy focus; Tony Blair defends Rwanda's role in Congo; Bulgaria announces election; and more

Top of the Agenda: U.S. Non-Lethal Aid to Syria Marks Major Policy Shift

In a significant policy shift, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday that the United States plans for the first time to provide non-lethal aid (Reuters), including food rations and medical supplies, to Syrian opposition fighters battling Bashar al-Assad's regime. The Obama administration will also provide an additional $60 million (BBC), adding to the $385 million of humanitarian aid already given and $54 million in equipment, medical supplies, and other non-lethal assistance. Speaking at an international conference on Syria in Rome, Kerry said that the decision was the result of "the brutality of superior armed force propped up by foreign fighters from Iran and Hezbollah" (AP).

Analysis

"If the Obama administration is to lead on Syria, it must commit itself to steps that can bring about the early collapse of the regime and its replacement by a representative and responsible alternative. Only direct political and military intervention on the side of the opposition can make that happen," writes a Washington Post editorial.

"If Mr Kerry is to have any diplomatic force in discussions he must be able to threaten an alternative. Mr Assad has cynically exploited the west's reluctance to intervene to stay in power. This bluff has to be called. This applies equally to the EU, which last week rejected a UK call to lift its arms embargo to allow shipments to rebels. If western powers continue to stand on the sidelines, the war will drag on," writes a Financial Times editorial.

"[If] the past is prologue, and more arms proved insufficient, advocates of arming the rebels would soon argue for direct U.S. intervention. The only strategy that stands a chance?and not even necessarily a very good one?is for the United States, the post-Assad Alawites, and the secular Syrian Sunnis to focus relentlessly on the common goal: stopping the victory of Islamic extremists," writes CFR's president emeritus Leslie H. Gelb for the Daily Beast.

?

PACIFIC RIM

Thailand Signs Historic Deal With Militants

Thailand signed a landmark deal with the militant Muslim group Barisan Revolusi Nasional, agreeing to hold talks in a bid to end the nine-year insurgency (PTI) in the country's restive south that has claimed more than five thousand lives. The deal was brokered by Malaysia.

CHINA: China will likely appoint two officials with deep experience in the United States, Japan, and North Korea to its top diplomatic posts (Reuters), signaling its foreign policy focus.

This CFR Timeline takes an interactive look at U.S.-China relations.

ELSEWHERE:

Tony Blair defends Rwanda's role in Congo

Bulgaria announces elections

This is an excerpt of the CFR.org Daily News Brief. The full version is available on CFR.org.

Source: http://pundit.co.nz/content/world-news-brief-friday-march-1

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Preserving Richard the Lionheart's heart

Philippe Charlier

The dusty remains of Richard I's heart now rest in this crystal box.

By Stephanie Pappas
LiveScience

The heart of Richard the Lionheart was preserved with mercury, mint and frankincense, among other sweet-smelling plants, a new study finds.

The study is the first biochemical look at the heart of Richard I, who died in 1199. As was common practice at the time, the king's heartwas removed and mummified separately from the rest of his body. It rested in a reliquary at Notre Dame in Rouen for centuries before its rediscovery in 1838.

Now, for the first time, the chemical composition of the substances used to preserve the heart has been revealed. These substances were directly inspired by biblical texts, said study leader Philippe Charlier of University Hospital R. Poincar?.

"The aim was to approach the odor of sanctity," Charlier told LiveScience.

The life and death of Richard I
Richard I of England began his rule in 1189. He spent two years in captivity in Europe, much of that time being held for ransom by the Holy Roman Emperor. Later, the tale of Richard I's ransom would be folded into folk tales about Robin Hood, casting Richard I as a benevolent absent monarch and his brother John as a tax-happy usurper.

(Richard I came centuries before Richard III, the English monarch whose bones were discovered in a Leicester parking lot in September 2012. Richard III died in 1485.)

Mus?e d?partemental des Antiquit?s (c) Yohann Deslandes/CG76

The box that contained Richard the Lionheart's preserved heart. Translated, the inscription reads "Here is the heart of Richard, King of England."

On March 25, 1199, years after the kidnapping, Richard sustained a crossbow wound in Chalus, France, and died 12 days later of gangrene. His abdominal organs were removed and interred in Chalus, while his body went to rest at Fontevraud Abbey in France. His heart was embalmed and placed in its own casket and taken to Notre Dame in Rouen. [The 10 Weirdest Ways We Deal With the Dead]

This division of the body was used to symbolize and mark Richard I's territory, Charlier said. However, no ancient texts remain to record how the embalming process was done.

The heart rested in Rouen until July 1838, when a local historian discovered a lead box inscribed, "Here is the heart of Richard, King of England." The heart itself had been reduced to dust in the preceding centuries; all that the box contained was a brownish-white powder.

Spiritual and practical
It was this powder that Charlier and his colleagues tested. They found a variety of compounds, including traces of the proteins found in human heart muscle. They also observed tiny fragments of linen, suggesting that the heart was wrapped before placement in the box.

Some metal compounds, including lead and tin, likely seeped into the powder from the lead box. Others were probably used in the embalming process. In particular, the researchers detected mercury, which has been found in other medieval burials and was probably used as an embalming agent.

The analysis also turned up pollen from a variety of plants: myrtle, daisy, mint, pine, oak, poplar, plantain and bellflower. Some of these, including poplar and bellflower, would have been blooming in April when Richard the Lionheart died; their pollen may have simply settled out of the air into the casket.

Other plants were probably used to preserve the heart. Myrtle, daisy and mint would not have been in bloom at the time, the researchers found, and probably would have been part of the embalming process. Frankincense, a tree resin, would also have been useful for both its preservation and its symbolic properties.

"This symbolic substance appeared at both extremities of the Christ life," the researchers wrote online Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports. "Presented by the Biblical Magi at His birth, and used during His external embalming after the Passion."

Preserving the heart would have been important, because the journey to Rouen from Chalus was about 330 miles (530 kilometers), the researchers wrote. But Richard I's contemporaries may have also seen the process as one of "theological transformation," Charlier said.

Indeed, contemporary wisdom seems to have held that Richard I needed all the spiritual help he could get. In the 1200s, the bishop of Rochester announced that the king had only made it to heaven in 1232, having spent the intervening 33 years in purgatory, repenting his Earthly sins.

Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitter @sipappas?or LiveScience @livescience. We're also on Facebook?and Google+.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://science.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/28/17133165-how-king-richard-the-lionhearts-heart-was-preserved?lite

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China says US-based hackers target its websites

Staff , The Associated Press ? ? ? 6 hrs.

BEIJING ? China's military said Thursday that overseas computer hackers targeted two of its websites an average of 144,000 times per month last year, with almost two-thirds of the attacks originating in the United States.

The claim from Defense Ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng follows accusations last week by American cybersecurity company Mandiant that Chinese military-backed cyberspies infiltrated overseas networks and stole massive amounts of data from U.S. companies and other entities. China denied the allegations, and its military said it has never supported any hacking activity.

Geng told reporters at a monthly news conference that an average of 62.9 percent of the attacks on the Defense Ministry's official website and that of its newspaper, the People's Liberation Army Daily, came from the U.S.

"Like other countries, China faces a serious threat from hacking and is one of the primary victims of hacking in the world," Geng said. "Numbers of attacks have been on the rise in recent years."

Related story: Red Tape: His firm accused China of hacking the US; now he awaits the consequences

Geng attacked the Mandiant report, which blamed hacking on the People's Liberation Army's Shanghai-based Unit 61398, as "unprofessional and not in accordance with the facts." He also criticized the U.S. military's cyber command for impeding international efforts at controlling hacking.

The Mandiant report was widely praised by cybersecurity professionals interviewed by The Associated Press, who said it provided the most detailed picture yet of China's state-sponsored hacking efforts.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

? 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/china-says-us-based-hackers-target-its-websites-1C8628546

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Small cells go large to help meet data demand

BARCELONA (Reuters) - Small cell radio equipment that boosts network coverage is providing big opportunities for telecom operators as they face growing demand for smartphone Internet access in busy streets, shopping centers and stadiums.

The devices - small radio nodes which provide network coverage over a range of between 10 and 200 meters - have been used by businesses and consumers to provide a signal in areas of poor coverage for years.

Now operators are using them to bolster public broadband networks and ease pressure on traditional base stations, as they struggle to meet exploding data demand from customers wanting to access the Internet via smartphones and tablets on the go.

Nicola Palmer, chief technology officer of Verizon Wireless, said the U.S. carrier would deploy up to 300 4G small cells this year and "a lot more in 2014".

"I view small cells as a complement to the rest of the network especially in areas of intense demand such as business districts or shopping malls, but they won't replace the traditional mobile tower," she said at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona.

Small cells, which are around the size of a shoe box, can be clustered in streets between tall buildings - canyons where mobile reception can be poor - and where demand is high.

Telecoms consultancy Informa predicted the deployment of public small cells would generate 2016 revenues of $16.2 billion, creating an opportunity for network gear providers like Ericsson, Huawei and Nokia Siemens Networks, which make them.

"Public access small cells in busy urban areas are set to be one of the defining mobile network trends in the coming years," said analyst Dimitris Mavrakis in Barcelona.

"The vendors who succeed in this space are going to win the lion's share of small cell revenues."

The installed base of small cells was set to grow from almost 11 million today to 92 million in 2016, with a total market value of over $22 billion, Informa said.

Telecoms gear maker Alcatel-Lucent said as demand for data soared, the capacity of the main network would run out of steam, and small cells would be part of the solution.

HERE AND NOW

"It's no longer an 'if small cells', in fact in my mind it's no longer a 'when small cells', it's here and now," said Michael J. Schabel, the company's vice president of small cells.

Companies including AT&T and Vodafone UK as well as Verizon, have announced plans to roll out more small cells in their networks, as consumers increasingly expect a seamless data service.

Mike Flanagan, chief technology officer for network software firm Arieso, said the networks were coming under pressure from a small group of users who consume a huge amount of data, often for video or gaming.

He said one percent of all subscribers consumed more than half of all the data being transmitted in the network.

"So when you employ these small cells, don't think of a uniform ubiquitous small-cell coverage across a certain area, like Soho in London," he said.

"Instead look at it as a surgical placement of small cells precisely where they are required to satisfy the demand of those extreme one percent of users."

He said the technology was now able to detect where that demand was located down to the individual building.

"If the network operator can just satisfy the demands of one percent they've doubled the effective capacity of their whole network."

(Additional reporting by Leila Abboud; Editing by Helen Massy-Beresford)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/small-cells-large-help-meet-data-demand-175149053--finance.html

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Women's Health Conference set for April 27 in Middletown - The ...

MIDDLETOWN >> Cross Street Zumba Fitness program is hosting its third annual Women?s Health Conference on Saturday, April 27.

Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. and the conference will end by 4 p.m. The purpose of the event is to bring awareness to many health issues affecting women, and to empower women to make informed and better healthier choices.

The main guest speaker this year will be Dr. Jewel Mullen?s, who was appointed by Gov. Dannel Malloy as the commissioner of all the health departments in the state of Connecticut. Other speakers will discuss? heart disease, mental health, nutrition, colon cancer, beauty and much more.

Breakfast and lunch will be provided by Lino?s Market in Durham. The conference will open up with Drums Alive and commerce with Zumba fitness.

Sponsors for the event are the city of Middletown, Middlesex Hospital, The Middletown Press, Doolittle Funeral Home, Middlesex Gastroenterology and Lino?s Market.

For more information, call (860) 770-4644 or email Adzumbalady.dempsey@gmail.com.

Source: http://middletownpress.com/articles/2013/02/28/news/doc512ea44d7ebcb522917111.txt

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The giant cockroach genus Pseudophoraspis expands to the north with 3 new species

Public release date: 28-Feb-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Zongqing Wang
zqwang2006@126.com
0086-236-825-0413
Pensoft Publishers

Cockroaches (Blattodea) are an insect order remarkable in their biodiversity and distribution, with more than 4500 species known and great geographical reach. Cockroach fossils date back around 400 million years, which testifies to their great adaptability and endurance that puts them among the planet's great survivors.

The cockroach genus Pseudophoraspism has has been reported from China for the first time thanks to the discovery of three new species: Pseudophoraspis clavellata, Pseudophoraspis recurvata and Pseudophoraspis incurvata, alongside the first regional record of three already described ones. They belong to the cockroach family Blaberidae, known also as giant cockroaches. The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

Although the adults of the newly described species can reach a size of around 3 cm in length, they are still some of the smallest representatives in the family. For comparison, the females of the largest species known, Blaberus giganteus, can reach up to 10 cm in length. The heaviest species, Macropanesthia rhinoceros, also known as the rhinoceros cockroach, reaches only around 8 cm but can weigh remarkable 35 grams.

All of the known species of the genus Pseudophoraspis, to which the three newly described ones belong, were reported from Southeast Asia and South Asia, with Vietnam considered the north boundary of their territory. This new record of three already known species, and three newly discovered ones in China's provinces Hainan, Yunnan and Guangxi, however, considerably expands the reach of the genus to the North.

One of the authors, Dr. Zongqing Wang from the Institute of Entomology, Southwest University, China comments: "All of the known species were reported from Southeast Asia and South Asia, and the previously known boundary of this genus would be Vietnam. We found three new species from China, located in Hainan, Yunnan and Guangxi Provinces respectively, which extends the range of the genus Pseudophoraspis northward."

###

Original Source:

Wang Z, Wu K, Che Y (2013) New record of the cockroach genus Pseudophoraspis (Blaberidae, Epilamprinae) from China with descriptions of three new species. ZooKeys 273: 1. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.273.4122

Licensing:

This press release is available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. It is expected to link back to the original article.

Posted by Pensoft Publishers.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 28-Feb-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Zongqing Wang
zqwang2006@126.com
0086-236-825-0413
Pensoft Publishers

Cockroaches (Blattodea) are an insect order remarkable in their biodiversity and distribution, with more than 4500 species known and great geographical reach. Cockroach fossils date back around 400 million years, which testifies to their great adaptability and endurance that puts them among the planet's great survivors.

The cockroach genus Pseudophoraspism has has been reported from China for the first time thanks to the discovery of three new species: Pseudophoraspis clavellata, Pseudophoraspis recurvata and Pseudophoraspis incurvata, alongside the first regional record of three already described ones. They belong to the cockroach family Blaberidae, known also as giant cockroaches. The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

Although the adults of the newly described species can reach a size of around 3 cm in length, they are still some of the smallest representatives in the family. For comparison, the females of the largest species known, Blaberus giganteus, can reach up to 10 cm in length. The heaviest species, Macropanesthia rhinoceros, also known as the rhinoceros cockroach, reaches only around 8 cm but can weigh remarkable 35 grams.

All of the known species of the genus Pseudophoraspis, to which the three newly described ones belong, were reported from Southeast Asia and South Asia, with Vietnam considered the north boundary of their territory. This new record of three already known species, and three newly discovered ones in China's provinces Hainan, Yunnan and Guangxi, however, considerably expands the reach of the genus to the North.

One of the authors, Dr. Zongqing Wang from the Institute of Entomology, Southwest University, China comments: "All of the known species were reported from Southeast Asia and South Asia, and the previously known boundary of this genus would be Vietnam. We found three new species from China, located in Hainan, Yunnan and Guangxi Provinces respectively, which extends the range of the genus Pseudophoraspis northward."

###

Original Source:

Wang Z, Wu K, Che Y (2013) New record of the cockroach genus Pseudophoraspis (Blaberidae, Epilamprinae) from China with descriptions of three new species. ZooKeys 273: 1. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.273.4122

Licensing:

This press release is available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. It is expected to link back to the original article.

Posted by Pensoft Publishers.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-02/pp-tgc022813.php

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