The San Francisco Giants wrapped up their second MLB National League West title in three years with an 8-4 win over San Diego.
Madison Bumgarner, 23, struck out six and walked one in 5 2/3 innings to help the Giants clinch a play-off berth with their sixth straight win.
Marco Scutaro had three hits and three RBIs, and his two-run single in the fourth helped the 2010 World Series winners to a 5-1 lead.
He singled another run at the bottom of the sixth to help respond to a two-run inning from the Padres, as the 36-year-old matched his career-best hitting streak of 12 games.
In the American League, the New York Yankees held onto first place in the East division thanks to a miraculous 10-9 come-from-behind victory over the Oakland Athletics.
With scores locked at 5-5 after nine innings, the Yankees trailed by four runs in the 13th after Johnny Gomes, Yoenis Cespedes and Chris Carter homered to stun the Yankee Stadium crowd.
But the Yankees weren't finished, and they scored two runs on an errant pitch before Raul Ibanez tied the game with a two-run drive.
And Oakland were left to rue a mistake from first baseman Brandon Moss in the 14th, when he misfielded a grounder from Eduardo Nunez to allow Ichiro Suzuki to score and complete a remarkable win.
In other American League results, Baltimore needed 12 innings to get past the Boston Red Sox 9-6, Detroit Tigers pitcher Doug Fister threw his first career shut-out to power his team to an 8-0 win over the Minnesota Twins, and the Kansas City Royals defeated Cleveland 5-3.
The Tampa Bay Rays took care of Toronto 11-5, the Los Angeles Angels were 4-2 winners over the Chicago White Sox and the Seattle Mariners had a solo homer from Michael Saunders to thank for their 1-0 win over the Texas Rangers.
In the National League, pitcher Gio Gonzalez earned his 20th win of the season in the Washington Nationals' 10-4 win over Milwaukee, while the St Louis Cardinals beat the Chicago Cubs 5-4 in 10 innings.
The New York Mets prevailed 4-3 over the Miami Marlins, the Atlanta Braves crushed Philadelphia 8-2 and the Cincinnati Reds had few problems with the Los Angeles Dodgers, winning 6-0.
The Houston Astros were 4-1 victors over the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Arizona Diamondbacks held off the Colorado Rockies to take an 8-7 win.
This photo provided by Kim Chapin shows a 41-pound fat cat named Skinny at the Richardson, Texas, Animal Services shelter on Friday, Sept. 21, 2012. A shelter spokeswoman says the 5-year-old orange tabby was dropped off at the facility last week, seems healthy except she is too heavy and likely has diabetes, and needs a home. (AP Photo/Kim Chapin)
This photo provided by Kim Chapin shows a 41-pound fat cat named Skinny at the Richardson, Texas, Animal Services shelter on Friday, Sept. 21, 2012. A shelter spokeswoman says the 5-year-old orange tabby was dropped off at the facility last week, seems healthy except she is too heavy and likely has diabetes, and needs a home. (AP Photo/Kim Chapin)
This photo provided by Kim Chapin shows a 41-pound fat cat named Skinny at the Richardson, Texas, Animal Services shelter on Friday, Sept. 21, 2012. A shelter spokeswoman says the 5-year-old orange tabby was dropped off at the facility last week, seems healthy except she is too heavy and likely has diabetes, and needs a home. (AP Photo/Kim Chapin)
RICHARDSON, Texas (AP) ? Don't be fooled by the name: Skinny the cat is one hefty feline. And all 41 pounds of her needs a home.
A Dallas-area animal shelter has cared for the 5-year-old orange tabby since getting a call about a stray in a yard about a week ago.
Kim Chapin with Richardson Animal Services said Friday that Skinny's "very sweet" ? and the largest cat she's seen in 21 years with the shelter.
Not surprising. U.S. government growth charts show Skinny weighs about as much as the average 4-year-old child.
Chapin says Skinny appears healthy except for being overweight and likely having diabetes. Blood tests have been ordered.
Chapin says somebody apparently had been caring for the cat but officials aren't sure who owned the huge kitty.
Consumers would rather get customer service in-person or over the phone than online, according to a report by Forrester Research.?
More than half of brick-and-mortar consumers with customer service issues go to a physical store to solve the problem, while another 30 percent pick up the phone and call, according to the report.
Even online customers are just as likely to pick up the phone or go to a store as use internet customer service such as emailing or instant-messaging.
They did this because going to a store or making a phone call is more convenient than using online methods, according to Forrester:
"For individuals looking for support, convenience is a key factor. Thirty-five percent of consumers who turned to an offline channel to resolve their problem did so because they thought it was the fastest way," the report says.
This could be a message to online retailers to stop investing so heavily in internet customer service. From the looks of this report, you're better off ramping up phone and in-store customer service.
Here's a chart showing where customers in every channel seek out customer service. Note that brick-and-mortar shoppers still make up 87 percent of customers:
DON'T MISS: 8 Better Burger Chains That Are Spreading Across America >
Reaction to Thursday?s announcement by the Cuomo administration that New York State must review potential public health effects before deciding whether to allow fracking is split along fairly predictable lines.
Gas industry officials and landowners who want to lease their properties for this kind of natural gas drilling said they were disappointed because the move means that fracking won?t start anytime soon in New York. Still, some said they were relieved that the state ? and not outside experts, as environmental groups had wanted ? will assess the potential for public harm.
Dan Fitzsimmons, president of the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York, which represents around pro-fracking 77,000 property owners, said that delegating the study to others would surely have resulted in longer delays. He therefore called the move ?good news.?
All the same, he said that further health studies were unnecessary. ?As people who would host this activity on our land, we have investigated the practices and participated for years in recommending safeguards that will allow us to utilize our resources and protect our land, air and water,? Mr. Fitzsimmons said.
Still, the sharpened focus on health heartened many of the dozens of state legislators, medical professionals and environmental groups who had warned that the state?s environmental assessment of fracking gave short thrift to medical problems that could result from drilling-related ills like accidental water contamination and increased truck traffic.
And Joseph Martens, commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Conservation, did say that the state?s health commissioner, Nirav Shah, who will be in charge of the review, could seek advice from ?the most qualified outside experts,? some noted.
The environmental group Riverkeeper welcomed the news. ?We are confident that Commissioner Shah?s review, if done comprehensively, objectively and with the help of truly qualified outside experts, will reveal significant omissions in D.E.C.?s analysis and show why fracking cannot be allowed to move forward in New York,? the group said in a statement.
Yet other environmentalists, noting that state officials had ignored calls for a separate health impact assessment for more than a year, continued to demand an independent study.
New Yorkers Against Fracking, a coalition of individuals and groups that want an outright ban on the controversial drilling process, said in a statement that ?nothing has roused the Department of Health from its unconcerned slumber? when it relates to fracking. ?And we are now to believe that this agency will do any more heavy lifting than rubberstamp the findings of the D.E.C.?? it said.
?With the health of millions of New Yorkers at risk, Governor Cuomo must demand a rigorous, comprehensive health impact assessment by an independent team of public health experts,? the group said. ?That?s what New York?s universities and medical institutions are there to provide.?
The state plans to set up a surveillance system to monitor health impacts if fracking does get under way.
Wayne Watson, who just won a $7 million lawsuit, explains how a bag of popcorn would "whoof" when opened, releasing steam and flavor.
Ed Andrieski/AP
Wayne Watson, who just won a $7 million lawsuit, explains how a bag of popcorn would "whoof" when opened, releasing steam and flavor.
A federal court has awarded a Denver man $7.2 million in a lawsuit he filed against a popcorn maker and a grocery store for selling him microwaved popcorn that made him sick.
According to ABC News, furniture salesman Wayne Watson developed respiratory problems known as "popcorn lung" in 2007 after eating about two bags of popcorn every day for 10 years. "I probably look like a fairly healthy guy, but I only have, on a good day, about 53 percent lung capacity," Watson tells ABC.
The defendants in the case were Glister-Mary Lee, which makes popcorn, Kroger and its subsidiary, Dillon Cos. They had argued that Watson's work with carpet cleaning chemicals caused his illness.
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"At this time we intend to file an appeal of the decision," Kelli McGannon, a spokeswoman for King Soopers, which is owned by Dillon Cos., a subsidiary of Kroger, tells the Denver Post.
Chester, Ill.-based Glister-Mary Lee executives issued a statement to a local TV station that it was evaluating "next steps."
In fact, many companies have been evaluating their "next steps" regarding diacetyl, a chemical used to create that unique dairy flavor ? without actually using any dairy ? in butter-flavored microwave popcorn and other snacks.
The lung problems described by Watson are relatively rare and have generally been limited to workers in the plants who handle the chemical ? but documented case are severe, according to a briefing paper by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. And many manufacturers are phasing diacetyl out for these reasons.
Workers' unions have been calling for an end to its use in food products for years, and a recent study even linked the chemical to an abnormal brain protein associated with Alzheimer's.
However, it's not really known how much exposure to diacetyl is safe. "OSHA does not have permissible exposure limits (PELs) for most flavoring substances, including diacetyl and acetoin [a substitute of diacetyl]," the paper notes.
Stay tuned for more on the science of food additives from us.
Meanwhile, CNBC predicts the recent verdict will spark a rash of future lawsuits.
After Rams running back Steven Jackson left Sunday?s win over the Redskins in the second quarter, it widely was believed that he?d been benched for spiking the football in frustration and drawing a 15-yard penalty.
After the game, coach Jeff Fisher said that Jackson has an injured groin, but that he could have re-entered the game.
Regardless of whether Jackson could have returned to the game, he has now missed two days of practice.
?He did not practice today and we?ll have him on the injury report for you on Friday,? Fisher told the media on Thursday.
Fisher added that he doesn?t have a policy that requires a player to practice in order to play.? Jackson said he has played with worse injuries.
?I?m not 100 percent, but day-to-day,? Jackson said. ?The injury is not as significant as we once thought it was and we?re just going to go from there. I still have the three days before the game, I believe. Each and every day buys me time.?
It?d be interesting to know when the Rams specifically thought the injury was significant.? The fact that the Rams gave no in-game injury update on Jackson could pique the league?s interest in that regard, too.
Nine years ago, former Broncos coach Mike Shanahan was fined for reporting during a game that quarterback Jake Plummer had left with a concussion when, in reality, Plummer had a separated shoulder.? Shanahan said at the time that he lied in order to conceal the true nature of the injury from the Chargers, in the event the team?s other quarterback (Steve Beuerlein) had gotten injured, forcing Plummer back into the game.? (And, yes, in 2003 a guy could re-enter a game with a concussion.)
?To share with somebody that Jake has a separated shoulder and could not throw and our quarterback goes down, we have a good chance to lose the football game,? Shanahan said at the time.
In this case, with Shanahan on the other sideline, Fisher likely didn?t want the Redskins to think that Jackson was injured in any way, in the event that he had to re-enter the game.? And despite the friendship between Shanahan and Fisher, Shanahan should be asking 345 Park Avenue whether Fisher will be making the same involuntary contribution to the NFL?s charities that Shanahan once did.
Politicians who lie and cheat are being held to account by the social network tools that spread half-truths in the first place
FOR those who care about truth, politics has become a depressing spectacle. Politicians have always bent and spun the facts, but the barefaced lying of recent years is especially difficult to swallow.
The US presidential campaign is a case in point, with both sides apparently ready to lie and lie again for political gain. When Republican vice-presidential hopeful Paul Ryan implied in his speech to the convention that the car factory in his hometown was shut down under Barack Obama's watch, he must have known it wasn't true. The plant closed before Obama's inauguration.
Ryan's Democrat counterpart Joe Biden was also at it during his convention speech, repeatedly lying about Republican Medicare plans and tax policy, according to FactCheck.org, a nonpartisan scrutineer of political spin.
Perhaps politicians are simply reflecting the times in which we live, where outlandish lies and conspiracy theories spread more easily than ever. If so, there are welcome signs of a change in the atmosphere.
The same social media technologies that lubricate the spread of nonsense are being recruited to fight back. When a politician deviates from the truth, instant rebuttals are increasingly circulated around social networks. If those refutations spread far enough, the mainstream media are forced to take notice. Ryan, for example, had his convention speech picked apart line by line.
Organisations like PolitiFact and FactCheck.org are also fuelling this wave. They put in the legwork scrutinising disputed political claims, then publish their findings. There are even plans to annotate the whole web with fact checks - displayed as "layers" over websites such as The New York Times or Fox News (see "Reality checker: How to cut nonsense from the net").
These efforts will not purge the online world of lies, but are part of an escalating arms race between those who care about the truth and those who don't. At least they should raise the level of discourse above which set of lies to believe. The great political challenges of our time, from food and energy security to climate change, cannot be solved or wished away with lies and spin. Those who aspire to lead must be held to the highest standards of truth.
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Birth is no reason to go to hospitalPublic release date: 19-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Ole Olsen ole.olsen@sund.ku.dk (45) 60-43-39-20 University of Copenhagen
A new Cochrane Review concludes that all countries should consider establishing proper home birth services. They should also provide low-risk pregnant women with information enabling them to make an informed choice. The review has been prepared by senior researcher, statistician Ole Olsen, the Research Unit for General Practice, University of Copenhagen, and midwifery lecturer PhD Jette Aaroe Clausen.
In many countries it is believed that the safest option for all women is to give birth in hospital. However, observational studies of increasingly better quality and in different settings suggest that planned home birth in many places can be as safe as planned hospital birth and with less intervention and fewer complications.
"If home birth is going be an attractive and safe option for most pregnant women, it has to be an integrated part of the health care system," Ole Olsen says and adds, "In several Danish regions the home birth service has been very well organised for several years. This is not the case everywhere in the world."
The updated Cochrane Review concludes that there is no strong evidence from experimental studies (randomised trials) to favour either planned hospital birth or planned home birth for low-risk pregnant women. At least not as long as the planned home birth is assisted by an experienced midwife with collaborative medical back up in case transfer should be necessary.
Fewer interventions in home birth
Routines and easy access to medical interventions may increase the risk of unnecessary interventions in birth explaining why women who give birth at home have a higher likelihood for a spontaneous labour. There are 20-60 per cent fewer interventions, for example fewer cesarean sections, epidurals and augmentation among those women who plan a homebirth; and 10-30 per cent fewer complications, for example post partum bleeding and severe perineal tears.
"Patience is important if women want to avoid interference and give birth spontaneously," says Jette Aaroe Clausen. "At home the temptation to make unnecessary interventions is reduced. The woman avoids for example routine electronic monitoring that may easily lead to further interventions in birth."
Jette Aaroe Clausen adds that interventions in childbirth are common in many countries, but also that there is a growing concern internationally because interventions may lead to iatrogenic effects; iatrogenic effects meaning unintended consequences of the intervention. Routine electronic monitoring may for example lead to more women having artificial rupture of membranes which in turn can lead to more interventions.
Evidence and human rights
While the scientific evidence from observational studies has been growing, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg in the case Ternovszky versus Hungary has handed down a judgment stating that "the right to respect for private life includes the right to choose the circumstances of birth". This is quoted in the review.
Thus the conclusions of the review are based on human rights and ethics as well as on results from the best available scientific studies.
###
Further information
Ref.: Olsen O, Clausen JA. Planned hospital birth versus planned home birth. The Cochrane Library, Issue 9, 2012.
The full review may be available here (depends on country): http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD000352.pub2/abstract
Contact
Ole Olsen
Phone: +45 35 32 71 55
Mobile phone: +45 60 43 39 20
E-mail: ole.olsen@sund.ku.dk
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.
Birth is no reason to go to hospitalPublic release date: 19-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Ole Olsen ole.olsen@sund.ku.dk (45) 60-43-39-20 University of Copenhagen
A new Cochrane Review concludes that all countries should consider establishing proper home birth services. They should also provide low-risk pregnant women with information enabling them to make an informed choice. The review has been prepared by senior researcher, statistician Ole Olsen, the Research Unit for General Practice, University of Copenhagen, and midwifery lecturer PhD Jette Aaroe Clausen.
In many countries it is believed that the safest option for all women is to give birth in hospital. However, observational studies of increasingly better quality and in different settings suggest that planned home birth in many places can be as safe as planned hospital birth and with less intervention and fewer complications.
"If home birth is going be an attractive and safe option for most pregnant women, it has to be an integrated part of the health care system," Ole Olsen says and adds, "In several Danish regions the home birth service has been very well organised for several years. This is not the case everywhere in the world."
The updated Cochrane Review concludes that there is no strong evidence from experimental studies (randomised trials) to favour either planned hospital birth or planned home birth for low-risk pregnant women. At least not as long as the planned home birth is assisted by an experienced midwife with collaborative medical back up in case transfer should be necessary.
Fewer interventions in home birth
Routines and easy access to medical interventions may increase the risk of unnecessary interventions in birth explaining why women who give birth at home have a higher likelihood for a spontaneous labour. There are 20-60 per cent fewer interventions, for example fewer cesarean sections, epidurals and augmentation among those women who plan a homebirth; and 10-30 per cent fewer complications, for example post partum bleeding and severe perineal tears.
"Patience is important if women want to avoid interference and give birth spontaneously," says Jette Aaroe Clausen. "At home the temptation to make unnecessary interventions is reduced. The woman avoids for example routine electronic monitoring that may easily lead to further interventions in birth."
Jette Aaroe Clausen adds that interventions in childbirth are common in many countries, but also that there is a growing concern internationally because interventions may lead to iatrogenic effects; iatrogenic effects meaning unintended consequences of the intervention. Routine electronic monitoring may for example lead to more women having artificial rupture of membranes which in turn can lead to more interventions.
Evidence and human rights
While the scientific evidence from observational studies has been growing, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg in the case Ternovszky versus Hungary has handed down a judgment stating that "the right to respect for private life includes the right to choose the circumstances of birth". This is quoted in the review.
Thus the conclusions of the review are based on human rights and ethics as well as on results from the best available scientific studies.
###
Further information
Ref.: Olsen O, Clausen JA. Planned hospital birth versus planned home birth. The Cochrane Library, Issue 9, 2012.
The full review may be available here (depends on country): http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD000352.pub2/abstract
Contact
Ole Olsen
Phone: +45 35 32 71 55
Mobile phone: +45 60 43 39 20
E-mail: ole.olsen@sund.ku.dk
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.
iPad: The iPad version of Tweetbot, our favorite Twitter client for iOS, is on sale today for $0.99, down from $3.
The official Twitter client for iOS is pretty good, and it integrates directly with the OS. But Tweetbot is still the best client around, not due to any one specific feature, but just due to how well the app is put together. It's found that perfect balance between being easy to use and being feature-filled, which is a hard sweet spot to hit. If you haven't tried it out yet?and you don't like the new interface of Twitter's official app?now's a good time to check out Tweetbot.
Tweetbot for iPad | iTunes App Store via App Shopper
Running an office is never easy. Balancing the business, your employees, and the building is difficult enough, but trying to do all of this while keeping your overhead costs low can seem impossible. Luckily, there are easy ways to save money behind the scenes that take very little effort if any at all. By improving the energy efficiency of the heating and cooling systems, you can keep costs low month after month and use the savings to invest in the success of your business. These tips are simple to implement and could save your office hundreds of dollars every year.
Sign Up for a Maintenance Program: Regularly maintaining your equipment will not only help it run more efficiently but it will also help prevent inconvenient and costly breakdowns. Remembering to schedule a maintenance check is a hassle, but a maintenance contract with your local heating and cooling professional will make cleaning your equipment easy and affordable.
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Change Filters Regularly: Many types of heating and cooling systems clean the air as it circulates through the system. The filter that collects the dust and particles from the air needs to be replaced or cleaned on a regular basis in order to ensure good air quality and energy efficient operation of your heating and cooling system. Plugged up filters restrict air flow and this will result in inefficient operation and possibly even a system failure. Figure out which type of filter your system uses and keep a stock of backup filters for easy replacement.
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Purchase High Efficiency Systems: If the units operating in your building are extremely old and in need of replacement, choose high efficiency replacement systems instead of the bargain units. You may have to invest a little more out of pocket initially, but the savings on your energy costs will quickly pay off the difference. These systems are also environmentally responsible because they use energy in a way that keeps waste at a minimum.
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Setting the Thermostats: Temperature wars are common in office buildings. One employee likes it hot while the other likes it icy cold and all the while your energy cost skyrocket. Stop the constant ups and downs and program the thermostat to the most energy efficient temperature possible. The higher you set it in the summer and the lower you set it in the winter the more money you will save. Also, consider turning back the thermostat even further when the building is empty, so that you don?t waste large amounts of money heating and cooling unoccupied spaces.
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Fans for Summer and Sweaters for Winter: When you control the temperature, employees may complain. Therefore, you need to make some accommodations to ensure their comfort while they work. Providing fans and encouraging employees to wear sweaters will keep them comfortable without hitting you where it hurts: your wallet.
Implement these tips in your office and you will begin to notice a difference in your energy costs without sacrificing your comfort or the comfort of your employees. A local heating and cooling professional can help you get on top of your maintenance needs and recommend the perfect system for specific application. So, what are you waiting for? Stop wasting and start saving today!
Guest Author: Kate Miller
Kate Miller is a content writer for Four Seasons Heating and Air Conditioning out of Chicago, IL. Her blogs focus mainly on heating and cooling topics, but she also writes on plumbing, energy efficiency, and home improvement topics as well. Check out her blog: 24 Hour Heating and Cooling News.
For what's ostensibly a mid-range phone, we've been pleasantly surprised by the quality of images produced by the Motorola RAZR i's camera during our first few hours with the phone. The device comes with an 8MP rear camera with LED flash and 1080p video recording -- a spec it shares with just about every mid-to-high-end smartphone out there. But the images and video pumped out by the RAZR i are substantially above average. Maybe not HTC One X level, but certainly impressive given the class of the device.
In normal snapshot mode, image capture is near instant, something chipmaker Intel was keen take credit for in today's press conference. HDR mode takes a little longer to complete, but produces great results in bright outdoor scenes with a no noticeable ghosting. Helpfully, the camera app advises you to activate HDR mode where you're shooting images with very bright and dark areas. We did notice occasional discoloration in HDR images, however, likely the result of the post-processing and contrast enhancement that's employed by the phone's software. There are a few conspicuous absences in the built-in camera app, however, notably panorama mode. And there's only a sparse selection of effects, including black-and-white and sepia modes.
In our brief time recording sample video on the RAZR i, we were also pretty impressed with the footage produced. The frame rate was consistent, audio was relatively clear, and dynamic range was entirely reasonable.
So the overall picture is a positive one. If you're unconvinced, you can take a look at our sample shots and video after the break. Note that our RAZR i is running pre-release firmware, so the image quality in the retail version may vary somewhat.
Dubai continues to position itself as a major hub for online and video games industry in the Middle East and worldwide. With more than $100m in revenues from the online gaming industry in the Middle East, experts revealed that the United Arab Emirates has a big share in this industry especially after it was ranked 5th largest in the Middle East for internet usage.
The online gaming industry is at its highest among the rest and experts are expecting this number to double in the coming few years.
Moreover, the worldwide online gaming market is projected to grow to $20bn by the end of 2012.
Experts in the Game industry in the Middle East and game developers had revealed lately that the ME online gamers community are now considered the fastest growing among others globally and that the industry is witnessing a phenomenal growth.
Moreover, demographics show that the gaming industry in the Middle East will continue to boom for many years to come due to the unprecedented number of gamers whom are increasing every day in addition to the increase in the number of internet users which is estimated at 70 million users in the ME and are expected to reach 150 million in 2015.
The increase in the number of internet users is connected to the increase in the number of gamers, as most of the gamers prefer online games more than video games where they can compete with local, regional and international gamers whenever they want and wherever they are.
This trend has been taking a new dimension for the past five years, and youth ? whom are 60% of the Arab population, are getting more attracted and attached to online games.
Facebook for example features thousands of games where you can play with your friends or any other competitors on the social network, while statistics reveal that there are 2.89 million Arabic gamers playing on Facebook every month while the total number of Facebook users reached 24 million.
Nexon ? a worldwide leader in online games ? is to debut in the Middle East through participating in the upcoming edition of the Dubai World Game Expo which is part of the Big Entertainment Show in Dubai ? the United Arab Emirates.
They are looking forward to explore the Middle East platforms through BES hoping that they will also meet some service providers whom can bridge the gap between Nexon and online games consumers.
Nexon?s robust portfolio includes more than 50 games that are available in more than 100 countries including china, Korea, Japan, North America and Europe. Nexon titles appeal to more than 77 million monthly active users across the globe.
Their titles include popular franchises such as MapleStory, KartRider, Dungeon and many more. KartRider alone has more than 220 million registered users worldwide.
Turkey?s Peak Games has stated that the value of the regional online gaming industry is about $100m compared to last year?s estimated $70m.
The next phase of growth lies with Arabic localized content, which is moving rapidly to catch up with counterparts from the west, and with the growth of the video game industry in the Middle East, many service providers are joining their efforts and some are emerging in order to fill the gap and demand for complementary services such as mobile and online payment gateways.
Istanbul-headquartered social gaming company Peak Games is the 3rd largest social gaming firm which focuses on the Middle East Region and has 9.7 million daily active users worldwide on Facebook, compared with 56 million for Zynga and 12 million for King.com. One of the reasons that Peak has grown so fast is that half of Turkey?s population has internet access and a significant number of them use Facebook.
Thousands of enthusiasts including developers, publishers, distributors, payment providers and gamers are geared up to take part in the fifth edition of the Dubai World Game Expo, which is part of The Big Entertainment Show.
Interest in the Dubai World Game Expo this year is large with exhibitors from several countries such as South Korea, China, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Germany, Portugal, India, the United States and Japan.
As the industry continues to grow, the demand for service providers continues to increase. The Dubai World Game Expo organizers announced that a number of payment gateway providers such as Onecard and Mopay are among the exhibitors that provide online payment solutions.
These companies will fill the need for online gaming companies who are keen to enter the Middle East gaming market.
The Big entertainment Show has become the largest show in the Middle East Region specialized in Media and TV content, Character and Brand Licensing, Game Developing and publishing, in addition to all trading companies working in the export and import business.
This unique event which combines the ?Dubai International Character and Licensing Fair?, ?Dubai World Game Expo? and ?Mycontent? attracts TV broadcasters, game developers, investors and licensors from all parts of the world to the Middle East Market, which is considered one of the biggest importing markets for this industry.
The Show is scheduled from the 27th ? 28th of November this year at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.
The event will highlight the importance of this promising market and the need to develop proper Arabic content, learn from the foreign experiences and the success stories during the event?s summit and educational sessions.
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Public release date: 19-Sep-2012
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iPad: The iPad version of Tweetbot, our favorite Twitter client for iOS, is on sale today for $0.99, down from $3. 
