Progress being made on new SIU baseball stadium

CARBONDALE, IL-- Construction crews have been busy at Abe Martin Field, demolishing almost everything that was once there. Saluki baseball coach Ken Henderson says a new field will not replace the memories made at Abe Martin the last half century.

"The history is going to remain,"?said Henderson. "It's still going to be Abe Martin Field, and it's still going to be on the same site, and so no one is going to take that history away from us."

But plenty will change. As Henderson pointed to, the field itself will still be called 'Abe Martin Field,' but it will be apart of a larger facility referred to as 'Itchy Jones Stadium.' And new memories will be made at the state of the art stadium, which includes field turf, lights, and updated amenities for fans, which is expected to help?boost attendance.

Of all the things changing, one thing that is untouched is 'The Hill,' where Saluki fans of all ages have watched the games for a different vantage point, for decades.

"Everybody has something about their facility that's theirs, and 'The Hill' is ours,"?admitted director of facilities Andy Pettit. "We aren't going to touch that hill, it will actually be improved. We're sinking the dugouts, so the view over the dugouts will be better from 'The Hill.'

But for the first time ever, everyone will be charged admission. Pettit says they haven't yet decided what that charge will be, but it will not be expensive.

Henderson says that as bright as the future is for the Salukis, they'll be worth the price of admission.

"I think it's the most exciting time in my twenty-four years here,"?Henderson said.?"And I?think it's one of the most exciting programs in the midwest right now."

As long as the weather co-operates, construction crews are planning to lay field turf down in November, and the new stadium will be unveiled in the spring.

?

Source: http://www.wpsdlocal6.com/news/local/Progress-being-made-on-new-SIU-baseball-stadium-218177002.html

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Five-year-old TOUSA homebuilder bankruptcy gets exit plan - South Florida Business Journal

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Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNF7qha0b75tu3MsqJ84NlVvkiDn3w&url=http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/news/2013/08/01/five-year-old-tousa-homebuilder.html

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Motorola Xoom 4G LTE soak test to finally begin, 3 months after initial invites

Android version of the test is unknown, Jelly Bean expected

Update: Shortly after the soak testers started getting emails, Verizon made 4.2 official for everyone with a Xoom. We're not sure if they still have something special planned for testers or if they're done with the Xoom. 

Almost 3 months after the initial invites were sent out by Motorola, emails telling participants that the soak test for the Verizon Motorola Xoom 4G LTE will soon begin and finally being sent. At the time when the invitations initially went out, it was expected that Xoom owners would get a version of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean to test, or maybe Android 4.2. Now that more time has passed, and Android 4.3 has been released, things could change — although it is unlikely.

It would make sense for Motorola to bring the Verizon Xoom up to the same Android version as its WiFi-only sibling, Android 4.1.2. We won't know for sure until builds become available to those participating in the soak test, which should be any time now. Verizon Xoom owners that received an invite back in May, make sure to keep an eye on your inbox.

Thanks, Hunch!

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/rvVdpJj77U8/story01.htm

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Keith Urban returning as 'American Idol' judge

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) ? Keith Urban is coming back to "American Idol."

Fox chairman Kevin Reilly on Thursday confirmed the return of the country music star, settling the fate of the only judge left from last season on the talent competition.

"He did a really good job last year," Reilly said to a gathering of the Television Critics Association. "The fans really like him."

Reilly said Urban didn't have a chance to show his personality. The executive didn't say why, but the country singer was routinely overshadowed by bickering between fellow judges Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey. Their departures, along with that of Randy Jackson, were announced weeks ago, a response to the show's sagging ratings.

But Reilly was mum on who would sit beside Urban at the judges' table next season, which begins in January. Reilly said there have been discussions with Jennifer Lopez, a former judge, "but there is no deal with her or with anyone else."

"Idol" is looking for judges who make it comfortable for viewers, Reilly said. Whoever is on the panel, there will be a renewed emphasis on the contestants.

"The show always has been about the contestants," he said.

___

Online:

www.fox.com

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/keith-urban-returning-american-idol-judge-190842284.html

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Rob Ford 'obsessed' with ridding Toronto of graffiti [Photos] [Video]

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TORONTO?-?

Mayor Rob Ford?s war on graffiti rolled out a new weapon Wednesday.

Ford heralded the awarding of a $400,000-a-year graffiti removal contract to Goodbye Graffiti with a press conference in Etobicoke?s West Deane Park. The new contract, which starts Thursday, bundles together graffiti removal for all the city?s divisions including transportation services, parks, Toronto Water, municipal licensing and standards along with Toronto Community Housing.

?I?m obsessed with getting graffiti out of the city and keeping it out of the city,? Ford said. ?As you know, I?ve been fighting since I was first elected to get this city as clean as possible by removing all the graffiti. Through Clean Toronto Together the city works with businesses and residents to keep our streets clean of garbage, graffiti vandalism and illegal postering.

?A cleaner Toronto, as you know folks, is better for everyone.?

Ford argued the contract takes his Clean Toronto Together campaign to ?the next level.?

?Everywhere that there is graffiti, I will guarantee that we will be removing it,? he said.

Before spraying graffiti off a wall in the park, Ford encouraged residents to report graffiti vandalism to his office or to the city?s 311 service.

?Or please call 911 if you witness graffiti vandalism in progress,? Ford said. ?All you have to do is take a picture and we will catch the culprit doing it.?

If someone sees someone engaging in graffiti vandalism, Toronto Police said it is appropriate to call 911 to get officers to the scene as quickly as possible.

?Whenever there is a crime in progress you should contact 911,? Const. Tony Vella said.

The mayor managed to clean about half the wall before leaving it for staff at Goodbye Graffiti to finish the job.

Brent Bowman, franchise owner of Goodbye Graffiti, joked Ford?s graffiti removal technique was ?a little bit off.?

?But I?m sure with a little more training he?d be just fine,? Bowman said.

Ford said he?ll stick to his current job.

?Obviously I?m going to monitor closely, we?re spending taxpayers? money on this,? he said. ?Let them go out and clean up city facilities and I?m sure everyone will be happy with what they do.?

Councillor Adam Vaughan complained about Ford?s anti-graffiti push.

?Every time he does this we get more graffiti,? Vaughan said. ?The graffiti artists see it as a taunt and they respond by tagging people ? usually it?s anti-Ford stuff.

?The way to deal with it is to deal with it the way it is presented to us, by stealth. You just deal with it. But these high-profile campaigns, they actually generate more graffiti than they clean. Some of this anti-Ford stuff is priceless.?

Source: http://www.torontosun.com/2013/07/31/rob-ford-obsessed-with-ridding-toronto-of-graffiti

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Kiip CEO Brian Wong Changes Mobile Game Ad ... - Business Insider

Kiip

Kiip's Brian Wong

The worst kept secret of the mobile ad world is that a huge percentage of its revenues come from ads for games. Agencies talk a lot about how mobile ads ? and their location-based targeting ? will change everything for brands. But the real money in mobile ads right now is in promoting game app downloads.

So Brian Wong, the 22-year-old CEO of mobile ad company Kiip, decided recently that his company was not going to become dependent on mobile games, even though the original basis of the company was to serve ads between levels in games, he told Business Insider.

His decision was validated by King.com's recent decision to banish all advertising from Candy Crush Saga, the hottest and most lucrative game on the market right now. Until a few weeks ago, Candy Crush featured ads between levels, just like a lot of games. But so many people were paying for in-game boosts that King found it could make more money by killing off the ad placements in favor of in-game payment offers for extra lives and game boosts.

Wong believes that the growth of in-app payments can be exponential, whereas growth in mobile ads is more linear. For instance, a Candy Crush addict can rapidly increase the amount they spend inside the game, but ads only get served once per level.

"Games have a variety of tactics to monetize and optimize their revenue streams and as such, occasionally decide to focus their resources on only a few. Because advertising has a reputation still in games for being interruptive (something we are changing with rewards), it typically isn't at the top of the priority list," Wong tells us.

And as Candy Crush proves, if your game is truly successful it will actually kill off all its ads.

That's a problem when your entire business is based on serving ads in games. We became interested in Kiip last year because its ads aren't standard banners and interruptive units. They offer rewards ? discounts, free products and so on ? for players who complete game levels. (Interpublic became interested, too, and bought a stake in the company.)

Kiip still has plenty of game clients, of course.

But since January it has pushed heavily into non-game apps like Wake, the super-cool alarm app, and Gym-Pact, the fitness app. Kiip's ads now reward people who achieve new "moments" inside those apps, such as completing a certain distance run. (Kiip has previously rewarded users with free Propel water from Kiip client PepsiCo in MapMyRun, too).

There are, of course, many, many more moments inside non-game apps that are virtually unexploited. And some non-game apps are hurting their user experience with standard banner ads when they could be rewarding consumers simply for using them, Wong believes.

Kiip has taken $15.3 million in funding including the Interpublic stake, and Wong says 2013 revenue will be somewhere in the eight-figure range. The San Francisco company has 55 employees, including a small sales team in New York and other offices in Chicago, London, Bogota, Vancouver, and Japan.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/kiip-ceo-brian-wong-changes-mobile-game-ad-strategy-2013-7

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