Verizon in the midst of yet another major data outage

Update: Looks like data's starting to come back for some of us. Still no word from Verizon yet.

Well, that's no good. Verizon Wireless is dead in the water this morning for what appears to be, well, most everybody this morning. 3G data ... dead. 4G data ... dead. Pick a 3G/4G LTE phone. It's dead. Phone calls can still be made, which means we're not overly worried about public safety. But it's yet another outage for Verizon, which already is the subject of much signal scrutiny these days.

More on the Next Great Data Outage of 2011 as we get it.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/srAgk9mTrm4/story01.htm

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Smoking Linked to Skin Cancer in Women (HealthDay)

THURSDAY, Dec. 15 (HealthDay News) -- If you're a woman who smokes and you are looking for another reason to quit, consider this: A new study has found a link between tobacco use and skin cancer.

The study found that women who had squamous cell skin cancer were more likely to have smoked than those who were free from the disease. And those who smoked at least 20 years were twice as likely to develop squamous cell skin cancer, a less aggressive form of skin cancer than melanoma.

Men who smoked had a modest risk for the two types of non-melanoma skin cancer -- basal cell and squamous cell cancer -- but the results weren't statistically significant, the study authors noted.

"We don't know why," said study lead author Dana Rollison, referring to the difference between women's and men's risk. Both men and women get a lot of exposure to the sun, the main risk factor for skin cancer, she noted.

But lung cancer research may offer a clue, said Rollison, an associate member in the Moffitt Cancer Center department of cancer epidemiology, in Tampa, Fla. Hormonal differences affecting the metabolization of nicotine and the body's ability to repair damage to lung DNA caused by smoking have been noted before, suggesting that the female hormone estrogen may play a role, she said.

The study, published online in the journal Cancer Causes Control, was done at the Moffitt Cancer Center and the University of South Florida, also in Tampa.

For the study, 383 patients with skin cancer were compared to 315 people without the disease. The participants were asked how much they smoked, when they picked up the habit and the total number of years they'd smoked. A total of 355 men and 343 women were included in the study. All were white, the group most at risk for skin cancer. Risks for both types of non-melanoma skin cancer were analyzed separately, compensating for the presence of other risk factors.

The researchers found that the more people smoked, the more likely they were to have skin cancer, Rollison said. Men who had basal cell skin cancer were significantly more likely to have smoked for at least 20 years than men with no cancer, the study authors noted.

While the study found an association between smoking and skin cancer risk, it did not prove a cause and effect.

Despite the elevated smoking-related risk among women, men overall are more likely to get skin cancer, Rollison noted. She said that "it is possible men's skin is more sensitive to sun exposure than women's."

But another skin cancer expert suggested that men may be less inclined to use sunscreen or other protection when outdoors.

"Although it could just be a genetic difference (between men and women), men tend to have more unprotected sun exposure in their lives," said Dr. Jeffrey Dover, associate clinical professor of dermatology at Yale University Medical School.

Dover said the study findings weren't surprising because "we know cigarette smoke contains carcinogens" and smokers are "blowing the smoke and ash around their faces all day."

The study is important, he added, because "although we have done well, we can do even better" at eliminating smoking as a cause of disease. "This adds more fuel to the idea that smoking has no place in our society."

Non-melanoma skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States, where about 2 million cases are treated annually, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Squamous cell cancer occurs in the epidermis, the top layer of skin, and can spread to other organs. Basal cell skin cancer occurs in the dermis, the skin layer beneath the epidermis. While it does not spread to other organs, it is far more common than squamous cell cancer, according to the government agency.

More information

To learn more about skin cancer, visit the U.S. National Cancer Institute.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20111215/hl_hsn/smokinglinkedtoskincancerinwomen

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SkyDrive Releases iPhone and Windows Phone 7 Apps to Sync and Share Data Anywhere [Video]

iOS/Windows Phone 7: Microsoft has released two mobile apps for its SkyDrive cloud storage service, allowing you to access, share, and store files from your Windows Phone or iPhone.

The previously featured cloud storage service Skydrive has advantages compared to other similar services, including more default storage space than the likes of Dropbox, but it was lacking a mobile version for people to access files from phones. The new mobile apps have the same basic features and functionality of the webapp version and only require a Windows Live account to start using.

You can download the Windows Phone 7 version and the iPhone version for free right now.

Introducing SkyDrive for iPhone and Windows Phone | Windows Live Blog

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/FQhNzgXq6GU/skydrive-releases-iphone-and-windows-phone-apps-to-sync-and-share-data-anywhere

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2012 Ford Focus Electric Garners 100 MPGe Rating, Production Starts This Month

You are here: Home ? Car News ? 2012 Ford Focus Electric Garners 100 MPGe Rating, Production Starts This Month

Today, the two pure electric vehicles on the United States market are the Tesla Roadster and the Nissan LEAF. They will soon be Ford Focus Electric and Tesla Model S. General Motors and Honda also plan to enter the market with their Spark EV and Fit EV models, respectively. The Focus Electric is next up, and Ford has announced the start of production this month at it?s Michigan Assembly Plant.

The Focus Electric is Ford?s only all-electric, zero-emissions vehicle. The company says it is the world?s first five-passenger electric production vehicle with the equivalent of 100 MPGe. More important though is the Focus Electric?s quick charging ability.

The car takes only three hours to recharge its battery pack when using a 240V charging station. That is half the time of the Focus Electric?s nearest competitor, the LEAF. That means the car charges at a rate of 30 miles per hour. Ford hasn?t released official statistics on range between charges, but it is targeting around 100 miles.

The Focus Electric definitely isn?t cheap though ? Ford is charging $39,995, just a hair under 40 grand. That is a few thousand more than the Nissan LEAF. Ask us which one we?d choose though and there is a clear answer: the Focus Electric. It appears to be a much more well-developed vehicle, using the refined Focus as its basis.

It?ll be an interesting sales race to watch between the LEAF and Focus Electric. People have been comparing the Chevrolet Volt with the LEAF, and surprisingly the LEAF has done better. The Focus Electric will be sold in just a two markets from the get go ? California and New York. As production ramps up, the car will be sold in 19 markets: Atlanta, Austin, Houston, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, New York, Orlando, Phoenix, Tucson, Portland, Raleigh-Durham, Richmond, Seattle and Washington, D.C. So if you live in one of those, you?re in luck. Ford determined these to be the markets best suited to electric car sales, at least in the beginning. It remains to see if availability will be expanded nationwide as time goes on.

Filed Under: Car News ? Ford

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Automoblognet/~3/kWfjH1gMBoM/

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Saab in talks with Youngman and Chinese bank

STOCKHOLM (AP) ? Swedish Automobile, the owner of Saab, said Monday it is in talks with an unnamed Chinese bank and an auto company about getting them to buy stakes to help the troubled car brand.

Swedish Automobile, or Swan, said the negotiations with the bank and Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile Co. include short-term actions to help it pay November wages to Saab's staff and continue reorganization.

Swedish Automobile CEO Victor Muller told local news agency TT the bank in question is not Bank of China, but didn't give any more details.

The outcome of the discussions is still uncertain and a deal needs the approval of relevant stakeholders, including previous Saab-owner General Motors Co.

Saab has been fighting for survival since Muller took over the loss-making brand from GM in 2010 through his Dutch company Spyker Cars, which has since changed names to Swedish Automobile. The company's production has been at a standstill for most of the year, and the car maker entered bankruptcy protection in September.

Earlier this year, Youngman and Chinese car distribution firm Pang Da Automobile Trade Co. said they would buy the brand for euro100 million ($135 million), but that deal was blocked by GM amid concerns over its technology licenses.

Saab's employees have still not received their November salaries and two labor unions last week filed official requests for the money, which means Saab has seven days to pay, or face bankruptcy proceedings.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-12-05-EU-Sweden-Saab/id-9251582210bb4cb889d55377d0876ecd

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Madonna Confirmed as Super Bowl Halftime Show Act

News reports are confirming the rumor we told you about weeks ago. The Queen of Pop, Madonna, is going to be the halftime entertainment at the Super Bowl XLVI.

Prince, U2, Black Eyed Peas, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, The Who and Janet Jackson have done the honors of late.

According to a joint statement by the NFL and NBC, which will air the game, Madonna will perform with help on the field by Cirque du Soleil and Jamie King February 5.

The Black Eyed Peas halftime show this year was kind of bad, so Madonna takes the stage to find the bar set relatively low for such a mammoth TV spectacle.

Taking place at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, the title game coincides with Madge's new album release - her first effort since 2008 - around that time.

Her new single, "Give Me All Your Love" leaked recently, before being pulled by the singer's label. It generated serious buzz and generally positive reviews.

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/12/madonna-confirmed-as-super-bowl-halftime-show-headliner/

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How muscle fatigue originates in the head

Monday, December 5, 2011

The extent to which we are able to activate our muscles voluntarily depends on motivation and will power or the physical condition and level of fatigue of the muscles, for instance. The latter particularly leads to noticeable and measurable performance impairments. For a long time, the research on muscle fatigue was largely confined to changes in the muscle itself. Now, a joint research project between the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich has shifted the focus to brain research. Headed by neuro-psychologist Kai Lutz from the University of Zurich in collaboration with Urs Boutellier from the Institute of Human Movement Sciences and Sport at ETH Zurich, the researchers discovered neuronal processes for the first time that are responsible for reducing muscle activity during muscle-fatiguing exercise. The third and final part of this series of experiments, which was conducted by Lea Hilty as part of her doctoral thesis, has now been published in the European Journal of Neuroscience.

Muscle's nerve impulses inhibit motoric area in the brain

In the initial study, the researchers showed that nerve impulses from the muscle ? much like pain information ? inhibit the primary motoric area during a tiring, energy-demanding exercise. They were able to prove this using measurements in which study participants repeated thigh contractions until they could no longer attain the force required. If the same exercise was conducted under narcotization of the spinal chord (spinal anesthesia), thus interrupting the response from the muscle to the primary motoric area, the corresponding fatigue-related inhibition processes became significantly weaker than when the muscle information was intact.

In a second step, using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the researchers were able to localize the brain regions that exhibit an increase in activity shortly before the interruption of a tiring, energy-demanding activity and are thus involved in signalizing the interruption: the thalamus and the insular cortex ? both areas which analyze information that indicates a threat to the organism, such as pain or hunger.

Neuronal system has regulating effect on muscle performance

The third study has now shown that the inhibitory influences on motoric activity are actually mediated via the insular cortex: In tests using a bicycle ergometer, the researchers determined that the communication between the insular cortex and the primary motoric area became more intensive as the fatigue progressed. "This can be regarded as evidence that the neuronal system found not only informs the brain, but also actually has a regulating effect on motoric activity," says Lea Hilty, summing up the current result. And Kai Lutz points to the new research field that now opens up with these results: "The findings are an important step in discovering the role the brain plays in muscle fatigue. Based on these studies, it won't just be possible to develop strategies to optimize muscular performance, but also specifically investigate reasons for reduced muscular performance in various diseases." Prolonged reduced physical performance is a symptom that is frequently observed in daily clinical practice. It can also appear as a side effect of certain medication. However, so-called chronic fatigue syndrome is often diagnosed without any apparent cause.

###

Lea Hilty, Lutz J?ncke, Roger Luechinger, Urs Boutellier, and Kai Lutz. Limitation of Physical Performance in a Muscle Fatiguing Handgrip Exercise Is Mediated by Thalamo-Insular Activity. Human Brain Mapping. December 10, 2010. doi: 10.1002/hbm.21177

Lea Hilty, Kai Lutz, Konrad Maurer, Tobias Rodenkirch, Christina M. Spengler, Urs Boutellier, Lutz J?ncke, and Markus Amann. Spinal opioid receptor-sensitive muscle afferents contribute to the fatigue-induced increase in intracortical inhibition in healthy humans. Experimental Physiology. February 11, 2011. doi: 10.1113/expphysiol.2010.056226

Lea Hilty, Nicolas Langer, Roberto Pascual-Marqui, Urs Boutellier, and Kai Lutz. Fatigue-induced increase in intracortical communication between mid ?anterior insular and motor cortex during cycling exercise. European Journal of Neuroscience. November 21, 2011. doi: 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2011.07909.x

University of Zurich: http://www.uzh.ch

Thanks to University of Zurich for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/115718/How_muscle_fatigue_originates_in_the_head

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Herman Cain?s exit gives him financial flexibility (Washington Post)

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Lost Rembrandt portrait revealed

2 December 2011 Last updated at 06:08 ET

An unfinished self-portrait by the Dutch master Rembrandt has been discovered under another painting using advanced scientific techniques.

No detail is visible in the face, but experts say it matches a reproductive print from 1633 that has an inscription saying it is by Rembrandt.

X-ray scanning was used to detect the pigments in hidden layers of paint.

A leading expert on Rembrandt said he was convinced of its authenticity based on similarities in painting style.

The unfinished self-portrait was discovered under another panel said to be by the master - Old Man with a Beard.

Art historian Ernst van de Wetering, head of the Rembrandt Research Project, said there were key technical similarities in painting style between the self-portrait and authenticated works by Rembrandt that date to the 1630s.

There is also a copy of the painting that must have been made by one of the pupils in the artist's studio.

The self-portrait was revealed when the painting was scanned at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York and the ESRF light source in Grenoble, France.

Koen Janssens of the University of Antwerp, Belgium, told BBC News: "The portrait is considered to be an early work. So this documents a little bit better how Rembrandt in his early period was functioning in his workshop.

Prof Janssens, who led the X-ray scanning, added: "Which projects did he start? Which ones did he finish? How many are there that he changed his mind about and started over."

The technique of X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry allowed the different chemical elements present in the paint to be mapped, revealing different views of the hidden image.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/science-environment-15985943

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Lawsuit: Hershey school rejects HIV-positive boy (AP)

PHILADELPHIA ? PHILADELPHIA (AP) ? A Philadelphia-area teen says he was denied admission to the private boarding school connected with the Hershey chocolate company because he's HIV-positive.

A discrimination suit filed Wednesday in Philadelphia federal court claims the Milton Hershey School violated anti-discrimination laws in denying the 13-year-old's request for admission to the school for disadvantaged students. The AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania filed the lawsuit for the unidentified boy.

School officials say the boy was denied admission to protect the other 1,850 students in grades pre-K through 12.

Founded in 1909 by the late chocolate maker Milton Hershey, the school educates low-income and socially disadvantaged students for free. It's financed by the Milton Hershey School Trust, which also holds the controlling interest in The Hershey Co.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/aids/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111201/ap_on_re_us/us_admission_denied_hiv

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Feisty Cain presses ahead with bid

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain speaks during his first stop of an Ohio bus tour at the Cincinnati Marriott North in West Chester, Ohio, Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011. Cain claimed Wednesday that he has experienced a "groundswell of positive support" from backers who are ignoring the most recent charge of a 13-year extramarital affair. (AP Photo/The Enquirer, Tony Jones) NO SALES, MANDATORY CREDIT

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain speaks during his first stop of an Ohio bus tour at the Cincinnati Marriott North in West Chester, Ohio, Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011. Cain claimed Wednesday that he has experienced a "groundswell of positive support" from backers who are ignoring the most recent charge of a 13-year extramarital affair. (AP Photo/The Enquirer, Tony Jones) NO SALES, MANDATORY CREDIT

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain speaks during his first stop of an Ohio bus tour at the Cincinnati Marriott North in West Chester, Ohio, Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011. Cain claimed Wednesday that he has experienced a "groundswell of positive support" from backers who are ignoring the most recent charge of a 13-year extramarital affair. (AP Photo/The Enquirer, Tony Jones) NO SALES, MANDATORY CREDIT

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain greets supporters during his first stop of an Ohio bus tour at the Cincinnati Marriott North in West Chester, Ohio, Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011. Cain claimed Wednesday that he has experienced a "groundswell of positive support" from backers who are ignoring the most recent charge of a 13-year extramarital affair. (AP Photo/The Enquirer, Tony Jones) NO SALES, MANDATORY CREDIT

Ginger White poses for a photo near Dunwoody, Ga., on Monday, Nov. 28, 2011. In an explosive allegation, White said Monday she and Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain had a 13-year extramarital affair that lasted nearly until the former businessman announced his candidacy for the White House several months ago. (AP Photo/Greg Bluestein)

WEST CHESTER, Ohio (AP) ? His campaign rocked anew, a feisty Herman Cain claimed a "groundswell of positive support" from backers on Wednesday and accused critics of trying to derail his White House bid as he worked to stem the fallout from allegations of a 13-year extramarital affair.

"They're attacking my character, my reputation and my name in order to try to bring me down," a feisty Cain told a friendly crowd without naming his critics. "But, you see, I don't believe that America is going to let that happen."

Questions about the campaign's viability hovered over Cain's one-day bus tour through Ohio.

It came a day after the candidate told staff he was reassessing his campaign after Ginger White, an Atlanta businesswoman, alleged in media interviews that she and Cain had a long-running sexual affair.

"We are reassessing as we speak. Reassessment means reevaluation," Cain told reporters Wednesday after his well-received speech to roughly 150 people in a hotel meeting room. He gave no indication to the audience that he was considering abandoning his bid despite telling staff that he would make a decision in the next few days about whether to continue it.

Cain received a standing ovation after he spoke about what a "Cain administration" would do. And he said that while some people predicted that the room would be empty, "I don't see any empty seats."

"It's been a groundswell of positive support," Cain insisted to reporters later, even as some backers in early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire who had stuck by him after decade-old allegations of sexual harassment surfaced several weeks ago now indicated they were abandoning him.

Cain's latest turmoil comes just five weeks before the first votes are cast in the state-by-state march to the nomination. The earlier sexual harassment accusations that have taken a toll on both his standing in polls and, supporters say, his fundraising. Prominent conservatives who rushed to his defense earlier this month were all but silent when White stepped forward on Monday to accuse Cain of a consensual sexual relationship that ended this year before he became a White House candidate.

The candidate has denied the affair, and in a letter addressed to "patriots and supporters," called her allegations "completely false" and labeled her "troubled."

White steadfastly stood by her assertion in an interview Wednesday on ABC's "Good Morning America" and said she was "disappointed" by Cain's characterization of her. She called her relationship with Cain "a very casual affair" that lasted more than a dozen years.

"I'm not here to say anything negative about Mr. Cain," White said, although White added that she didn't think he should be president.

She elaborated on her claims, saying she took several trips with Cain, including a flight to Las Vegas to see a Mike Tyson-Evander Holyfield boxing match. She also said she had "consistently" received gifts and money from Cain over the past two and a half years, but said it was "not sex for cash."

Following Monday's developments, some Cain supporters have started to defect.

New Hampshire state Rep. William Panek endorsed Cain at a news conference earlier this year. But he changed his mind Tuesday after seeing reports that White showed evidence that she had traded 61 text messages and cellphone calls with the candidate. Panek has endorsed former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in the upcoming primary.

"I felt like we were being lied to," he said. "I'm putting my name in New Hampshire as a state rep behind him, and I just didn't like the way it was being played out."

In Iowa, Cain's campaign has lost some precinct-level supporters following the new allegations, according to Steve Grubbs, Cain's Iowa chairman. Cain was in Iowa for a day last week to film a new ad, but aides say that spending to air it was on hold pending the fundraising in the days to come.

Still, some are sticking by him.

Florida state Rep. Scott Plakon, one of four chairmen for Cain's Florida campaign, said he wanted to see more evidence.

"If it is true that he didn't do this, I think he should fight and kick and scratch and win," Plakon said.

But if Cain did have the affair, Plakon said, "that would be very problematic," he said. "There's the affair itself and then there's the truthful factor. He's been so outspoken in these denials."

White's revelation was the latest setback for a candidate who has been under scrutiny in the past month, since it was revealed that the National Restaurant Association paid settlements to two women who claimed Cain sexually harassed them while he was president of the organization. A third woman told The Associated Press that Cain made inappropriate sexual advanced toward her but that she didn't file a complaint. A fourth woman also stepped forward to accuse Cain of groping her in a car in 1997.

Cain has denied wrongdoing in all cases.

Outwardly on Wednesday, the candidate tried to project an image of a campaign focused on winning ? and not damage control. He planned to continue his bus tour in Dayton and Columbus before heading to New Hampshire later in the day.

On Tuesday, Cain delivered a national security speech to nearly 1,000 people at conservative Hillsdale College in Michigan. He didn't address White's allegations; he also avoided speaking to reporters and stuck to his plan to present his foreign policy vision, one in which the U.S. would stand by friendly nations such as Israel, quit giving money to countries he considered enemies and spend more on defense.

Earlier that day, he acknowledged the "firestorm" that White sparked, and he acknowledged he was assessing whether her claims are too much for his candidacy to go forward.

"If a decision is made, different than to plow ahead, you all will be the first to know," Cain said during the call, according to a transcript from the National Review, which listened in.

In connection with the White allegation, Cain said: "With this latest one, we have to do an assessment as to whether or not this is going to create too much of a cloud, in some people's minds, as to whether or not they would be able to support us going forth."

__

Associated Press writers Kathy Barks Hoffman in Hillsdale, Mich., Ray Henry in Atlanta, Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, and Steve Peoples in Amherst, N.H., contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-11-30-US-Cain/id-828fec0c378549dd9b025b332020d379

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Review: iTunes Match wins cloud music war by wisp (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? In recent weeks, Apple, Google and Amazon.com have each launched the missing puzzle piece in their wireless mobile music systems.

Apple enabled storage and delivery of your songs over the Internet through iTunes Match. Google started selling music digitally. Amazon shipped an electronic-books device, called the Kindle Fire, that does much more than books.

With those additions, each system now lets you buy songs, store them on faraway computers called the cloud and retrieve them wirelessly on devices connected to the Internet.

But which system do you want to live with? It's a choice you can't make lightly because these companies don't play nice with each other. Once you've adopted one, it's hard to switch.

If this were the Music Cloud Wars, then Apple's iTunes Match would be winning ? but not by much.

Here's a quick primer, along with a few ways to get in and around their digital barriers.

___

iTunes Match.

There's a good chance you are familiar with iTunes. The software is on millions of computers, and many of you have iPods, iPhones or iPads that let you consume content bought through the iTunes online store.

ITunes Match is a $25-a-year service on top of that. It sees everything you have in iTunes and matches it to copies Apple already has stored in the cloud. Songs not already there will be uploaded from your computer to a personal locker in the cloud.

It's alone among the three to let you download songs to iPhones and iPads wirelessly. That means a full copy of the song is stored for listening anytime, rather than streamed on demand over wireless networks, which can be spotty. There's nothing more annoying than having your songs stop and start as your connection flutters.

You can have up to 25,000 songs on the service, plus an unlimited number bought through iTunes ? great for those with large music collections. Of course, most of you won't fit 25,000 songs on your device, so streaming is an option for songs you haven't downloaded yet.

If there's a tune you want to listen to offline, just tap an icon. It takes only a few seconds, and you can start listening before it's done.

One major caveat: You need an Apple device to use this, and specifically a newer one with Apple's iOS 5 mobile software. You're out of luck if you have a phone running Google's Android system, for instance.

___

Google Music.

Using Google's free Music Manager program, you upload music you own into Google's cloud. Unlike Apple, Google doesn't have songs preloaded, so this can take hours or days.

Google Music works best with an Android phone or tablet computer. You simply download the Google Music app to your device. Voila, your songs will be available for streaming. You can save songs for offline playback by "pinning" them with a digital push pin icon.

The service stores up to 20,000 songs, not including those bought through a companion music store run by Google. That's not as many as iTunes Match, but it's free.

I like Google's music store because it offers plenty of bargains. I found Coldplay's latest album, Mylo Xyloto, for $5 ? half the price on iTunes. Google plans to release lots of free music, too.

I also like that if you buy from Google's music store, you can share the songs with friends on its Google Plus social network. They get one full listen for free ? that's something not available anywhere else.

One downside: Google's store isn't as extensive as Apple's or Amazon's. For instance, it's missing songs from Warner Music Group, which accounts for about 20 percent of music sold in the U.S.

Google Music also isn't a great option for users of Apple devices.

Google found a way to make the system work on iPhones and iPads through Apple's Safari Web browser. It has a surprising app-like feel because of the way menus respond to touch. But you won't be able to store songs on your phone for offline use.

There's also a trick for Apple users to take advantage of music deals: Download the songs onto a computer, put the music in iTunes and upload the songs into Apple's cloud through iTunes Match. It's not pretty, but it works.

___

Amazon Cloud Drive.

The new Kindle Fire completed Amazon's music system, though it's not required. It works fine on Android devices through the Amazon MP3 app.

Released in March, Amazon's cloud storage system is free for up to 5 gigabytes of storage ? roughly 1,250 songs. If you bought Lady Gaga's latest album, "Born This Way," in a 99-cent promotion in May, you'll have 20 GB of space ? good for about 5,000 songs.

Amazon's uploader works about the same as Google's. It could take hours or days to get your songs into the cloud. But once there, you can stream or download songs to the Kindle Fire or to Android devices.

Like Google, Amazon sells songs and albums at a discount to iTunes, and its long-running music store has a selection comparable to iTunes.

Amazon has also found a way to make its system work on Apple devices, using Safari as well, but that workaround is clunkier than Google's and doesn't support downloads either.

One other downside to Amazon's service is that you'll likely have to pay for cloud storage, as you do with iTunes Match.

Having 5 GB of storage for free is kind of meaningless because most mobile devices have that already. The Kindle Fire comes with 8 GB on board. For a limited time, you can get 20 GB of storage for $20 a year ? and most music files won't count against the total.

___

Although there are things to like about Google's and Amazon's systems, they both favor streaming, which isn't how I want to listen to music when I'm not at a computer.

Apple's iTunes Match is fundamentally more oriented to work with downloading in mind, and it meshes well with your existing song library, either on your device or on your computer.

The iTunes store is also set up better ? showing what's new and popular, and acting as a barometer of popular culture. Google promotes what's free and Amazon emphasizes its bargains, but those picks aren't always what I'm looking for.

Ultimately it's great to have cloud services out there. It has helped me organize my music collection and reconnected me with songs stuck in the recesses of my computer.

In the end, though, these services ought to be as free and easy to access over multiple devices as email is. Instead, they come across as tools to get you to buy this or that device. And we shouldn't be made to pay for a song once and then again when we store it.

Music in the cloud has promise, but it hasn't fully delivered just yet.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111128/ap_on_hi_te/us_digital_life_tech_test_online_music

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Browns' HIllis could return Sunday (AP)

BEREA, Ohio ? Browns running back Peyton Hillis is ready to make his return after missing six straight games with a hamstring injury.

Hillis practiced Friday for the first time since Nov. 4 and may play on Sunday at Cincinnati. Hillis first got hurt on Oct. 16 in Oakland and was poised to return three weeks ago before he aggravated the hamstring during practice. Earlier this week, Browns coach Pat Shurmur ruled Hillis out for this week's game, but Hillis is now a game-time decision against the Bengals.

Hillis' second season with the Browns has been loaded with drama. He expressed disappointment at not getting a contract extension and missed one game with strep throat on the advice of his agent.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111125/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_browns_injuries

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