The Blog Conglomerate
Top News, Music, and Sports
Email Subscription
Comments
Posts

Posts Tagged ‘reuters’

New York Times endorses Obama for president

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The new York Times endorsed Democrat Barack Obama for U.S. president on Thursday, saying he had “met challenge after challenge, growing as a leader and putting real flesh on his early promises of hope and change.”

Barack Obama

The Times posted its endorsement on its Internet site on Thursday evening and was to publish it in Friday editions of the newspaper.

Earlier this year, the newspaper endorsed new York Sen. Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination, but it said Obama had long ago erased the reservations that led it to make that decision.

“He has drawn in legions of new voters with powerful messages of hope and possibility and calls for shared sacrifice and social responsibility,” the Times said. “He has shown a cool head and sound judgment. We believe he has the will and the ability to forge the broad political consensus that is essential to finding solutions to this nation’s problems.”

The newspaper declared that the choice between Obama and Republican John McCain was easy.

“Mr. McCain, whom we chose as the best Republican nominee in the primaries, has spent the last coins of his reputation for principle and sound judgment to placate the limitless demands and narrow vision of the far-right wing,” it said.

The endorsement was not unexpected. The Times endorsed Democrats John Kerry in 2004 and Al Gore in 2000.

According to Editor & Publisher magazine, Obama is outpacing McCain in newspaper endorsements by about three to one, even winning the nod of the Chicago Tribune, the first time it has endorsed a Democrat for president.

However such endorsements are considered to have little influence on voters, especially in presidential races.

(Reporting by Alan Elsner; editing by Mohammad Zargham)

New York Times endorses Obama for president


Related Websites

Be the first to comment - What do you think?  Posted by - April 14, 2010 at 9:00 am

Categories: Top Sports News   Tags: , , ,

Even Reuters Transcribes it’s News!

Copyright (c) 2009 Ajay Prasad

In the last four years in particular the Podcasts have taken a unique place in the data exchange over the Internet. A podcast is a series of digital computer files usually either audio or video that is released periodically and made available for download by means of web syndication. Transcription of Podcasts has taken immense importance such that even news agencies like Reuters are transcribing their pod casts over the Internet. For syndication you need to have client software applications known as podcather. It helps to store the podcasts in your computer or other device for offline use.

Podcasting is extremely analogous to this but for one exception. The new content is not read from the desktop system but is read from one’s ipod or other portable media player device. The website owner publishes the file he wants to keep open for subscription via RSS feeds. Podcasting transcription is an excellent way to be noticed by search engines. The transcription services would acquire your podcasts either through feeds or through an upload location.

Also if you have only one or two recordings or video/audio files at your site, it is a good option to transcribe it. You may say that we can transcribe the podcast ourselves. By providing you the transcribed version we are saving your time and effort. Besides by providing the transcription, you will be providing a spiderable resource that can be easily scanned, quoted, cut and paste.

For those who are hearing impaired, transcribed version of audio is very helpful. It also solves the problem of indexing as audio files cannot be indexed and searched. There are a multiple levels of transcription of podcasts. The summary version just gives the main points of the podcast and pulled into text. The strict verbatim is sound typed transcription which includes uhs, ums and sentences pauses. Then, there is cleaned up verbatim, which filters the filler sound like ahs but includes sentence pauses and stutters etc. In the last form of transcription, the edited form of transcription, the fillers such as sentence pauses, stutters, and restarts are omitted. This form of transcription is cleaner, and looks better in writing, making it easier for the reader to understand.

For an experienced transcriptionist, one hour of audio will take from three to four hours to transcribe. For someone just learning to transcribe, that one hour of audio can take six or more hours to transcribe.

Even news agencies like Reuters transcribe their podcasts. It implemented the speech transcription system as early as 2007 which increased the advertising targetability which increased the number of download requests. After the increased popularity of pocasts, Reuters began to deliver latest news on your portable media player. You may find the Reuters news podcasts at http://www.reuters.com/tools/podcasts/video.

Nowadays Reuters provide the transcribed version of news audio and video podcasts for their readers. The readers can now get the listing by tying the keywords of the news. For those who wish to read the news rather than watch the video, transcribed version is very useful.

Reuters also give you the option of downloading the transcribed version of the podcast along with the original video or audio file.

Ajay Prasad is the President of GMR Transcription Inc., an Orange County, California based Transcription Company and has been providing accurate and affordable transcription services of all types over the years. GMR Transcription guarantees a 98% accuracy on clear audios. Podcast Transcription takes your podcasts beyond the realm of just audio into world of letters and reaches a much wider audience.


Related Websites

Be the first to comment - What do you think?  Posted by admin - April 13, 2010 at 9:13 am

Categories: Headlining News   Tags: , , , ,

TNT mulls mail business IPO, partnership

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Dutch post and logistics company TNT NV (TNT.AS) said it is considering a listing or partnerships for its mail unit, sending its shares to a 19-month high, as investors see the move as facilitating a split of the group.

Deals

Increased competition due to European mail liberalization and a rise in electronic communications have seen TNT, Europe’s second-largest mail and delivery company after Deutsche Post AG (DPWGn.DE), struggle with volumes and costs in its mail unit.

TNT shares closed up 5.5 percent at 22.81 euros, making it the top gainer on the Amsterdam blue-chip index .AEX, which closed down 0.85 percent.

“A lot of the reaction in the stock is based on takeover speculation for TNT’s express unit, as separation from mail would make this easier, and further speculation could push the share price into the high 20s,” said ING analyst Axel Funhoff.

“They could try an initial public offering for mail, but they would have to give a good dividend yield, I think, of around 5 percent. they could fetch more if they sold to private equity,” added Funhoff, who has an enterprise valuation on the mail unit of between 3 billion and 3.5 billion euros.

KBC analyst Dieter Furniere estimates the mail unit’s enterprise value to be 3.4 billion euros.

TNT’s management has already held strategy talks with an activist shareholders’ consortium comprising Jana Partners and Canadian asset manager Alberta Investment Management Corp, which see value in splitting off the express and mail units.

TNT Chief Executive Peter Bakker said the move to carve out the mail unit, a preparatory step for any equity sale in the division, is not due to shareholder activism.

“From my vantage point, there is no shareholder pressure. There are, of course, shareholders who have made their views known,” Bakker told reporters on a conference call. “Structurally, post is in decline and that poses challenges.”

Bakker said he is open to discussions with potential buyers of TNT’s express unit, which has been expanding in China, India and Latin America. But he played down the likelihood of a bid, pointing out that rumors of interest had surfaced in the past, but without result.

U.S. rivals FedEx Corp (FDX.N) and United Parcel Service Inc (UPS.N) in 2008 were rumored to be interested in TNT’s express unit.

The Dutch company relies on express for close to two-thirds of its revenues; and with volumes in mail falling, Bakker said that in five years up to 90 percent of revenues could be coming from the express unit.

In the latest sign that TNT faces more shareholder scrutiny, a proposal by management to retain the so-called “large company” regime, in which a supervisory board, rather than shareholders, largely oversees the management board, was rejected in the company’s annual general meeting on Thursday.

Bakker said the separation of the mail unit from the group could be completed this year, but any process for a partnership or an IPO would take more time.

He said TNT was not in discussions with any rivals about potential partnerships.

A spokesman for Deutsche Post declined to comment on whether the group was interested in TNT’s mail arm.

If there were proceeds from selling the mail unit, or a stake in it, TNT could return some of the funds to shareholders and re-invest a part of it in mail or express, Bakker said, adding that a total sale was not the most likely option.

TNT also highlighted the challenges its mail unit faces. Addressed volumes in the first quarter declined between 7 percent and 9 percent from the previous year.

However, it said mail operating income is expected to improve year-on-year in the quarter due to more working days, lower pension costs and significantly better performance from its mail and parcels operations outside the Netherlands.

The operating income for the quarter in express is expected to show a significant improvement over the prior year on stronger volumes and good cost control, the company said.

(Additional reporting by Aaron Gray-Block in Amsterdam and Maria Sheahan in Frankfurt; editing by Karen Foster, Rupert Winchester and Gerald E. McCormick)

TNT mulls mail business IPO, partnership


Related Websites

Be the first to comment - What do you think?  Posted by - April 8, 2010 at 3:00 pm

Categories: Headlining News   Tags: , , , ,

What We're Reading: The April Fools' Edition – Bits Blog – NYTimes.com

Thursday’s installment is a mixture of the fake and the real, but the tech editors and reporters of The New York Times sorted it out.

Amazon Stops Selling Some Penguin, Hachette E-books — techflash.com
Brad Stone says: Amazon has halted sales of some e-books as it tries to conclude negotiations with publishers on new terms in advance of the iPad launch.

iPad Striptease: It’s What’s Inside That Counts — Reuters UK
Damon Darlin says: this could be the first peek inside the iPad.

The Cell Phone Bill of Rights: four Rules to Fix Mobile Phone Service in America. — Slate
Damon Darlin says: Should cellphone owners have the right to know their carrier’s dropped-call rate?

Top 25 Facebook Games for April — insidefacebook.com
Damon Darlin says: half the top Facebook games had fewer players, including FarmVille.

Google Reader gives Back — googlereader.blogspot.com
David Gallagher says: O.K., I briefly fell for this one: Google Reader copies Foursquare and airlines with a “reward program.”

Geeky In-Jokes Dominate April Fools’ Day — news.cnet.com
Damon Darlin says: it is almost as much fun to read about geeky April Fools’ jokes as to fall for them.

What We're Reading: The April Fools' Edition – Bits Blog – NYTimes.com


Related Websites

Be the first to comment - What do you think?  Posted by - April 2, 2010 at 9:00 am

Categories: Headlining News   Tags: , ,

Reuters Outsources to India to Cover US Financial News

Outsourcing of media and publishing is one of the most recent events in the Outsourcing industry, bringing about an unprecedented revolution in the global media and publishing business. Preceding Reuter’s decision to outsource its work to India, Time Warner’s magazine Business 2.0, New York Times, and Technology news portal CNET have experimented with outsourcing their research reports, news alerts, editing work and are looking to initiate pilot programs to get news pages designed in India.

The aim again is cost-cutting and to provide up-to date news, keeping the reports, bulletins, and broadcasts, fresh throughout the day. Reuters has acquired a base in Bangalore (a Reuters Bureau, like any other) with 60 people who are to carry out their basic data analysis, and compile tables, with over 300 non-editorial people monitoring market data. In addition, a polling unit has also been set up to make calls for collecting data, starting with Australian economic polling. The stories, however, will be written in the original centre.

David Schlesinger, global managing editor, Reuters, corroborates that the driving force behind outsourcing their work to India is to avail of the huge cost advantage. According to Schlesinger, the move meant that Reuters could broaden their coverage of US companies without incurring crippling costs. Also, they can use their New York journalists for more interesting stories, and to conduct interviews with senior company officials. Reuters is keen to benefit from the advance in technology in India, which is apt for conducting editorial and publishing work, and looks forward to a flourishing outsourcing publishing business from India.

The journalists employed by Reuters, Bangalore, cover US financial news in night shifts. Company news is reported live as it happens on the New York Stock Exchange. These journalists get an opportunity to work for the world’s biggest news agency, Reuters, for much less than their counterparts in the US. With this move, Reuters implements its massive cost-cutting program. The journalism operation in Bangalore could soon be significantly expanded, said Schlesinger.

So, while the News industry never tires of slamming the outsourcing industry in general, it seems to have discovered the benefits of Outsourcing for itself.

We are a team of Online marketing and SEO professionals. We offer high end outsourcing services by providing an online portal, intended to offer public views on all aspects of outsourcing. For more information visit outsourcingstrategies.com


Related Websites

Be the first to comment - What do you think?  Posted by admin - March 8, 2010 at 5:22 pm

Categories: Headlining News   Tags: , , , , ,

Nigeria president puts forces on alert after Jos deaths

Nigeria’s acting President Goodluck Jonathan has ordered security forces to prevent more weapons being brought into the area around the city of Jos.

More than 100 people, many of them women and children, are believed dead after attacks in the area on Sunday.

Witnesses said the mainly Christian villages had been attacked from the surrounding hills by men with machetes.

Jos itself has been under curfew since January when at least 200 died in clashes between Christians and Muslims.

Military deployed

The attack happened before dawn on Sunday morning when gangs of men descended on several communities, centred on the village of Dogo-Nahawa, and attacked people with machetes, reports say.

A resident of Dogo-Nahawa said the attackers had fired guns as they entered the village.

“The shooting was just meant to bring people from their houses and then when people came out they started cutting them with machetes,” Peter Jang told Reuters.

An aid worker with the Christian charity Stefanus Foundation, mark Lipdo, said at least 100 people had been killed.

He told the BBC he went to the villages of Zot and Dogo-Nahawa after daylight on Sunday and recorded the names of 77 victims and said there were at least two dozen more bodies.

“We saw mainly those who are helpless, like small children and then the older men, who cannot run, these were the ones that were slaughtered.”

He said Zot had been almost wiped out.

Other witnesses said they had also seen at least 100 bodies and a Plateau state official told Reuters news agency that more than 300 people had died.

A doctor at a hospital in Jos told news agencies that victims had been cut by machetes and burnt.

The military, which already has a presence in Jos, has sent troops to Dogo-Nahawa.

“The acting president has placed all the security forces in Plateau and neighbouring states on red alert so as to stem any cross-border dimensions to this latest conflict,” Mr Jonathan’s office said in a statement quoted by Reuters news agency.

He also ordered those behind the violence to be found.

Analysts say the attack seems to be in reprisal for the clashes between Christians and Muslims in January, which claimed the lives of at least 200 people and displaced thousands of others.

Hundreds of people have fled from Jos in the aftermath of the fighting, the Red Cross says.

Robin Waudo, a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, told the BBC his volunteers were assisting people wounded in the latest fighting.

“We know that late this morning there was some fighting in the south part of the city and it seems like there are reprisal attacks from what happened a few weeks ago,” he said.

Nigeria president puts forces on alert after Jos deaths


Related Websites

Be the first to comment - What do you think?  Posted by - at 2:00 am

Categories: Headlining News   Tags: , , , , ,

« Previous Page

Powered by Yahoo! Answers