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Daily Archives: May 7, 2012

Pew – Just-in-time Information through Mobile Connections

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Just-in-time Information through Mobile Connections by Lee Rainie, Susannah Fox, May 7, 2012

  • “The rapid adoption of cell phones and, especially, the spread of internet-connected smartphones are changing people’s communications with others and their relationships with information. Users’ ability to access data immediately through apps and web browsers and through contact with their social networks is creating a new culture of real-time information seekers and problem solvers. The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project has documented some of the ways that people perform just-in-time services with their cell phones. A new nationally representative survey by the Pew Internet Project has found additional evidence of this just-in-time phenomenon. Some 70% of all cell phone owners and 86% of smartphone owners have used their phones in the previous 30 days to perform at least one of the following activities: Coordinate a meeting or get-together; Solve an unexpected problem that they or someone else had encountered; Decide whether to visit a business, such as a restaurant; Find information to help settle an argument they were having; Look up a score of a sporting event — 23% have used their phone to do that in the past 30 days; Get up-to-the-minute traffic or public transit information to find the fastest way to get somewhere; Get help in an emergency situation.”

    • Federal Reserve Board publishes comparative information on average debit card interchange fees

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    News release: “The Federal Reserve Board on Tuesday published comparative information on the average debit card interchange fees that each payment card network charges acquirers (and indirectly merchants) and provides to debit card issuers. The Board’s Regulation II provides that an issuer subject to the interchange fee standard (a non-exempt issuer) may not receive an… Continue Reading

    EPA Releases Draft Permitting Guidance for Using Diesel Fuel in Oil and Gas Hydraulic Fracturing

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    Follow up to previous posting on fracturing, on May 4, 2012 “the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released draft underground injection control (UIC) program permitting guidance for class II wells that use diesel fuels during hydraulic fracturing activities. EPA developed the draft guidance to clarify how companies can comply with a law passed by Congress… Continue Reading

    Three tutorials for United Nations sources are available on You Tube

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    Via Debbie Rabina, Ph.D, Associate Professor: “Three tutorials for United Nations sources are available on You Tube. They were made by students taking International Information Sources at Pratt Institute, School of Information and Library Science.” U.N. Treaty Series: Multilateral treaty search Using the U.N. Juridical Yearbook Using the U.N. International Commission Law Analytical Year Continue Reading

    When capital adequacy and interest rate policy are substitutes (and when they are not)

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    When capital adequacy and interest rate policy are substitutes (and when they are not) by Stephen G Cecchetti and Marion Kohler, Working Papers No 379, May 2012 “Prudential instruments are commonly seen as the tools that can be used to deliver the macroprudential policy goals of reducing the frequency and severity of financial crises. And… Continue Reading

    IG Audit – Virtual Server Technology at Has Been Successfully Implemented at IRS

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    Virtual Server Technology Has Been Successfully Implemented, but Additional Actions Are Needed to Further Reduce the Number of Servers and Increase Savings, March 30, 2012 Reference Number: 2012-20-029 “As of the end of Fiscal Year 2011, the IRS estimated that server virtualization had saved approximately $10.2 million in equipment costs, and it expects to save… Continue Reading

    Study: Wikipedia Appears On Google’s Page One 46% of theTime, Compared to 31% on Bing

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    Conductor: “We recently published a study on the frequency Wikipedia appears in the search engine results pages (SERPs) that was covered by both Search Engine Watch and Search Engine Land. We broke a 2,000 keyword set into informational vs. transactional keywords, and our distribution of length of keywords was based on Hitwise’s keyword query length… Continue Reading

    NOAA near-term weather forecasts get powerful boost from new computer model

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    News release: “NOAA is [now] using a sophisticated new weather forecast computer model to improve predictions of quickly developing severe weather events including thunderstorms, winter storms and aviation hazards such as clear air turbulence. The Rapid Refresh now provides NOAA’s most rapidly updated weather forecast, replacing an older model that served a similar function. The… Continue Reading