Rotting whale casts foul stench into Malibu

A woman walks her dog past a dead young male fin whale that washed up Monday between the Paradise Cove and Point Dume areas of Malibu, Calif. on Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012. The rotting carcass near celebrity homes is causing a gigantic cleanup problem as authorities try to decide who's responsible for getting rid of it. Los Angeles County lifeguards planned to try to pull the 40,000-pound carcass out to sea, perhaps at high tide Thursday, said Cindy Reyes, executive director of the California Wildlife Center.( AP Photo/Nick Ut)

A woman walks her dog past a dead young male fin whale that washed up Monday between the Paradise Cove and Point Dume areas of Malibu, Calif. on Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012. The rotting carcass near celebrity homes is causing a gigantic cleanup problem as authorities try to decide who's responsible for getting rid of it. Los Angeles County lifeguards planned to try to pull the 40,000-pound carcass out to sea, perhaps at high tide Thursday, said Cindy Reyes, executive director of the California Wildlife Center.( AP Photo/Nick Ut)

People look at a dead young male fin whale that washed up Monday between the Paradise Cove and Point Dume areas of Malibu, Calif. on Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012. The rotting carcass near celebrity homes is causing a gigantic cleanup problem as authorities try to decide who's responsible for getting rid of it. Los Angeles County lifeguards planned to try to pull the 40,000-pound carcass out to sea, perhaps at high tide Thursday, said Cindy Reyes, executive director of the California Wildlife Center.( AP Photo/Nick Ut)

Sea birds pick at the carcass of a young male fin whale that washed up Monday between the Paradise Cove and Point Dume areas of Malibu, Calif. on Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012. The rotting carcass near celebrity homes is causing a gigantic cleanup problem as authorities try to decide who's responsible for getting rid of it. Los Angeles County lifeguards planned to try to pull the 40,000-pound carcass out to sea, perhaps at high tide Thursday, said Cindy Reyes, executive director of the California Wildlife Center.( AP Photo/Nick Ut)

People look at a dead young male fin whale that washed up Monday between the Paradise Cove and Point Dume areas of Malibu, Calif. on Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012. The rotting carcass near celebrity homes is causing a gigantic cleanup problem as authorities try to decide who's responsible for getting rid of it. Los Angeles County lifeguards planned to try to pull the 40,000-pound carcass out to sea, perhaps at high tide Thursday, said Cindy Reyes, executive director of the California Wildlife Center. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

MALIBU, Calif. (AP) ? A dead whale rotting near the Malibu homes of Barbra Streisand, Bob Dylan and other celebrities is causing a gigantic cleanup problem as authorities try to decide who's responsible for getting rid of it.

Los Angeles County lifeguards planned to try to pull the 40,000-pound carcass out to sea at high tide, said Cindy Reyes, executive director of the California Wildlife Center.

But fire Inspector Brian Riley said that's unlikely to work.

"You would need a tug boat to drag it out to sea," Riley told City News Service in a report Thursday.

"It is entrenched in the sand and impossible to tow free even at high tide," Riley said. "Burial at low tide will be difficult as well as land removal. It's in an area with bad access."

The city was not sure who would do the job, spokeswoman Olivia Damavandi said.

The Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors was not responsible for disposing of the more than 40-foot body, said Carol Baker, who represents the agency.

"It's on a private beach" controlled by homeowners down to the high tide line and the state is responsible for the tidelands, Baker said.

The young male fin whale washed up Monday between Paradise Cove and Point Dume, near the homes of the rich and famous, including Streisand and Bob Dylan.

The whale may have been hit by a ship and had a gash to its back and a damaged spine, according to results of a necropsy conducted Tuesday by the wildlife center.

"It's relatively common for it to happen. It's really unfortunate," Reyes told the Los Angeles Times (http://lat.ms/UGcue1 ).

Such accidents have become more common as increased numbers of migrating blue, fin and humpback whales swim to California's shore to feast on shrimp-like krill.

Fin whales are endangered and about 2,300 live along the West Coast. They're the second-largest species of whale after blue whales and can grow up to 85 feet, weigh up to 80 tons and live to be 90 years old.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-12-07-Dead%20Whale/id-13ae510cd32c4a70ad564960285d2da3

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Vaginal microbicide gel may offer a promising strategy for prevention and protection against HIV transmission

ScienceDaily (Dec. 6, 2012) ? A new study shows that a microbicide gel is highly effective in block infection by the AIDS virus in a non-human primate model. In the paper published December 6 in the Open Access journal PLOS Pathogens, Dereuddre-Bosquet and colleagues from the European Combined Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Microbicides (CHAARM) Consortium describe the gel's key ingredient, which are small peptides engineered to present a decoy to bind up the virus and prevent it from entering and infecting the cells of the body. Because this is a gel it can be topically applied and could represent a powerful preventative agent against sexual transmission of HIV.

Worldwide, the scientific community is working on the development of a vaccine against HIV. Meanwhile, research is also focused on the reduction of the spread of the virus by the application of a microbicide gel to protect users during intercourse which is a time of first exposure to virus. To date, few treatments that block virus entry have shown promising protection.

Dereuddre-Bosquet et al. engineered peptides named "miniCD4s" because they mimic the CD4 receptor used by HIV to gain entry into immune cells of the body. The study shows that the miniCD4s blocks HIV entry into isolated cells in a dish and tissue models that mimic mucous membranes which are points of virus entry. The authors then formulated miniCD4s at 0.3% in a microbicide gel that was vaginally applied to six female cynomolgus macaques monkeys for one hour before the animals were given a high dose of the virus also in the vagina. This dose would ordinarily make the animals highly infection but instead, five of the six were completely protected from HIV infection. No trace of virus was found in any body tissue. They were also unable to detect any antibodies to the virus in the plasma of the animals, indicating that the virus was completely repelled and there was full protection.

This study provides a proof of principle that for a a promising strategy for the prevention and protection against HIV ransmission during sexual intercourse. Importantly, the protection was demonstrated in a non human primate model which represents an essential step prior needed to progress to a prospective clinical trial.

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Journal Reference:

1. Nathalie Dereuddre-Bosquet, Laurence Morellato-Castillo, Joachim Brouwers, Patrick Augustijns, Kawthar Bouchemal, Gilles Ponchel, Oscar H. P. Ramos, Carolina Herrera, Martha Stefanidou, Robin Shattock, Leo Heyndrickx, Guido Vanham, Pascal Kessler, Roger Le Grand, Lo?c Martin. MiniCD4 Microbicide Prevents HIV Infection of Human Mucosal Explants and Vaginal Transmission of SHIV162P3 in Cynomolgus Macaques. PLoS Pathogens, 2012; 8 (12): e1003071 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1003071

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/Lbrs7QyKMO4/121206203242.htm

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High hormone levels put young black males at risk for cardiovascular disease

Public release date: 7-Dec-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Toni Baker
tbaker@georgiahealth.edu
706-721-4421
Georgia Health Sciences University

AUGUSTA, Ga. Increased levels of the hormone aldosterone in young black males correlate with an unhealthy chain of events that starts with retaining too much salt and results in an enlarged heart muscle, researchers say.

The findings indicate physicians may want to reach for aldosterone inhibitors early in their effort to control blood pressure and reduce cardiovascular risk in young black males.

Their studies of a cohort of 191 healthy black and white 15- to 19-year-olds showed that only in the black males was higher aldosterone associated with impaired sodium excretion, increased blood pressure and enlargement of the left pumping chamber of the heart, said Dr. Gregory A. Harshfield, hypertension researcher at the Medical College of Georgia and Institute of Public and Preventive Health at Georgia Health Sciences University.

"It's a clear pathway and is consistent with the idea that is the highest risk group for developing earlier and more severe cases of hypertension," Harshfield said. Increased sodium makes the body hold onto more fluid, which increases blood pressure. Unhealthy enlargement of the pumping chamber of the heart, called left ventricular hypertrophy, results from the heart having to work too hard against high blood pressures to push blood and oxygen out to the body. Harshfield's studies have shown that black males particularly have a problem with blood pressure returning to normal following stress because of an impaired ability to eliminate sodium.

"It might be a good idea to consider early on drugs that target aldosterone in these individuals," said Diana G. Murro, a fourth-year student at MCG and first author of the study in the journal Pediatric Nephrology. While aldosterone inhibitors are used to treat refractory hypertension, they typically are not used in blacks, possibly because they haven't been well studied in that population, Harshfield said.

The steroid hormone aldosterone, produced by the adrenal gland, is part of a renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system that helps the body regulate blood pressure and sodium retention. Aldosterone acts on the kidneys, prompting them to hold onto sodium which increases blood pressure. While that can be an asset in some finite scenarios, such as having limited access to water over an extended period, it can become a major health liability in the everyday world where you can consume a day's sodium requirement in single pack of crackers, Murro said.

Each of the other subgroups of young, healthy individuals actually showed some negative impact from higher aldosterone. In white and black females, it correlated with higher baseline blood pressures. In fact, white females had the highest aldosterone levels. In white males, it correlated with reduced sodium excretion. "It was more like we had a piece of the puzzle but not the whole puzzle like we did in the black males," Murro said.

Still, all the findings were concerning, Harshfield said. "This is a normal, healthy group of young people and we are already seeing these associations."

Interestingly, only 16 of the study participants were obese, and there was no significant correlation between obesity a major contributor to hypertension and heart disease and higher aldosterone.

Similar studies are needed in hypertensive youth or those with a family history of high blood pressure to see if their findings hold, the researchers said. One of the newer, more selective aldosterone blockers, eplerenone, has proven more effective than the angiotensin II receptor blocker losartan at treating hypertension in a predominantly black, adult male population. While angiotensin is a precursor for aldosterone, at least one study indicates it's not very effective at directly suppressing aldosterone.

Fewer than half of hypertensive Americans have their blood pressure under control, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The MCG research was funded by the National Institutes of Health. Murro worked with Harshfield as a member of the inaugural GHSU Child Health Discovery Institute Summer Scholars Program.

###

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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.

Public release date: 7-Dec-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Toni Baker
tbaker@georgiahealth.edu
706-721-4421
Georgia Health Sciences University

AUGUSTA, Ga. Increased levels of the hormone aldosterone in young black males correlate with an unhealthy chain of events that starts with retaining too much salt and results in an enlarged heart muscle, researchers say.

The findings indicate physicians may want to reach for aldosterone inhibitors early in their effort to control blood pressure and reduce cardiovascular risk in young black males.

Their studies of a cohort of 191 healthy black and white 15- to 19-year-olds showed that only in the black males was higher aldosterone associated with impaired sodium excretion, increased blood pressure and enlargement of the left pumping chamber of the heart, said Dr. Gregory A. Harshfield, hypertension researcher at the Medical College of Georgia and Institute of Public and Preventive Health at Georgia Health Sciences University.

"It's a clear pathway and is consistent with the idea that is the highest risk group for developing earlier and more severe cases of hypertension," Harshfield said. Increased sodium makes the body hold onto more fluid, which increases blood pressure. Unhealthy enlargement of the pumping chamber of the heart, called left ventricular hypertrophy, results from the heart having to work too hard against high blood pressures to push blood and oxygen out to the body. Harshfield's studies have shown that black males particularly have a problem with blood pressure returning to normal following stress because of an impaired ability to eliminate sodium.

"It might be a good idea to consider early on drugs that target aldosterone in these individuals," said Diana G. Murro, a fourth-year student at MCG and first author of the study in the journal Pediatric Nephrology. While aldosterone inhibitors are used to treat refractory hypertension, they typically are not used in blacks, possibly because they haven't been well studied in that population, Harshfield said.

The steroid hormone aldosterone, produced by the adrenal gland, is part of a renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system that helps the body regulate blood pressure and sodium retention. Aldosterone acts on the kidneys, prompting them to hold onto sodium which increases blood pressure. While that can be an asset in some finite scenarios, such as having limited access to water over an extended period, it can become a major health liability in the everyday world where you can consume a day's sodium requirement in single pack of crackers, Murro said.

Each of the other subgroups of young, healthy individuals actually showed some negative impact from higher aldosterone. In white and black females, it correlated with higher baseline blood pressures. In fact, white females had the highest aldosterone levels. In white males, it correlated with reduced sodium excretion. "It was more like we had a piece of the puzzle but not the whole puzzle like we did in the black males," Murro said.

Still, all the findings were concerning, Harshfield said. "This is a normal, healthy group of young people and we are already seeing these associations."

Interestingly, only 16 of the study participants were obese, and there was no significant correlation between obesity a major contributor to hypertension and heart disease and higher aldosterone.

Similar studies are needed in hypertensive youth or those with a family history of high blood pressure to see if their findings hold, the researchers said. One of the newer, more selective aldosterone blockers, eplerenone, has proven more effective than the angiotensin II receptor blocker losartan at treating hypertension in a predominantly black, adult male population. While angiotensin is a precursor for aldosterone, at least one study indicates it's not very effective at directly suppressing aldosterone.

Fewer than half of hypertensive Americans have their blood pressure under control, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The MCG research was funded by the National Institutes of Health. Murro worked with Harshfield as a member of the inaugural GHSU Child Health Discovery Institute Summer Scholars Program.

###

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-12/ghsu-hhl120712.php

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No Grammy love for Justin Bieber, One Direction

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Irate fans of Justin Bieber and boy band One Direction took to social media on Thursday to voice their outrage after being snubbed by the Grammys for a chance to win the biggest honors in the music industry.

Indie-pop band fun and rapper Frank Ocean led the 2013 nominations, tying with The Black Keys, Mumford & Sons, Jay-Z and Kanye West for six nods. But The Recording Academy overlooked some of the year's biggest and most commercially successful artists in Wednesday's nominations.

While Bieber, 18, who won three American Music Awards in November, stayed quiet on his omission, his manager Scooter Braun took to Twitter.

"Grammy board u blew it on this one. the hardest thing to do is transition, keep the train moving. The kid delivered. Huge successful album, sold out tour, and won people over. ... This time he deserved to be recognized," Braun posted in a series of tweets.

Many of Bieber's 31 million Twitter fans quickly followed suit, with hashtags such as #BieberForGrammys trending on the micro-blogging service.

The Canadian singer, who has never won a Grammy, in June released album "Believe," showcasing a more grown-up image. The album, which produced top 10 hits "Boyfriend" and "As Long As You Love Me," has sold more than 1.1 million copies.

British boy band One Direction was also left empty-handed despite their debut album "Up All Night" having topped the Billboard 200 album chart.

The quintet has performed sold-out shows across the world and won three MTV video music awards earlier this year.

The Grammy Awards are voted on by members of The Recording Academy and recognize achievement in 81 categories.

Lady Gaga, rapper Nicki Minaj and Korea's Psy also failed to snag any nominations.

While Gaga hasn't released new music this year, focusing on her global tour, Minaj released "Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded," which topped the Billboard 200 chart and spawned singles such as "Starships."

Psy may have YouTube's most watched video ever with "Gangnam Style," - over 897 million views - but he missed out on becoming the first Korean artist to receive a Grammy nod.

The Grammy Awards will be handed out at a live performance show and ceremony on February 10 in Los Angeles.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy; editing by Jill Serjeant and Todd Eastham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/no-grammy-love-justin-bieber-one-direction-005542568.html

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Exclusive: New Pakistan Taliban chief emerging, will focus on Afghan fight

WANA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan's Taliban, one of the world's most feared militant groups, are preparing for a leadership change that could mean less violence against the state but more attacks against U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan, Pakistani military sources said.

Hakimullah Mehsud, a ruthless commander who has led the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) for the last three years, has lost operational control of the movement and the trust of his fighters, said a senior Pakistan army official based in the South Waziristan tribal region, the group's stronghold.

The organization's more moderate deputy leader, Wali-ur-Rehman, 40, is poised to succeed Mehsud, whose extreme violence has alienated enough of his fighters to significantly weaken him, the military sources told Reuters.

"Rehman is fast emerging as a consensus candidate to formally replace Hakimullah," said the army official, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter. "Now we may see the brutal commander replaced by a more pragmatic one for whom reconciliation with the Pakistani government has become a priority."

The TTP, known as the Pakistan Taliban, was set up as an umbrella group of militants in 2007.

Its main aim is to topple the U.S.-backed government in Pakistan and impose its austere brand of Islam across the country of 185 million people, although it has also carried out attacks in neighboring Afghanistan.

The militants intensified their battle against the Pakistani state after an army raid on Islamabad's Red Mosque in 2007, which had been seized by allies of the group.

Mehsud, believed to be in his mid-30s, took over the Pakistan Taliban in August 2009. He rose to prominence in 2010 when U.S. prosecutors charged him with involvement in an attack that killed seven CIA employees at a U.S. base in Afghanistan. His profile was raised further when he appeared in a farewell video with the Jordanian suicide bomber who killed the employees.

Reuters interviewed several senior Pakistan military officials as well as tribal elders and locals during a three-day trip with the army in South Waziristan last week, getting rare access to an area that has been a virtual no-go zone for journalists since an army offensive was launched in October 2009.

Three senior military officials said informers in the Pakistan Taliban told them Mehsud was no longer steering the group.

Pakistan Taliban commanders did not respond to repeated requests for comment on the possible leadership change.

U.S. officials said that while Rehman was Mehsud's natural successor, they cautioned about expecting an imminent transition. Mehsud's standing in the Pakistan Taliban might have weakened, but he still had followers, they said.

Washington has offered a reward of $5 million for information leading to the capture of either Mehsud or Rehman.

One Pakistan military official, who has served in South Waziristan for more than two years, said his Pakistan Taliban contacts first alerted him to Mehsud's waning power six months ago, when constant pressure from the Pakistan military, U.S. drone strikes and poor health had hurt his ability to lead.

"Representing the moderate point of view, there is a probability that under Rehman, TTP will dial down its fight against the Pakistani state, unlike Hakimullah who believes in wanton destruction here," said the military official based in the South Waziristani capital of Wana.

The official said this might lead to more attacks across the border in Afghanistan because Rehman has been pushing for the group's fighters to turn their guns on Western forces.

Other factions within the Pakistan Taliban such as the Nazir group in South Waziristan and the Hekmat Gul Bahadur faction in North Waziristan have struck peace deals with the Pakistani military while focusing attacks on Western and Afghan forces in Afghanistan.

A change in the Pakistan Taliban's focus would complicate Western efforts to stabilize Afghanistan before most NATO troops leave by the end of 2014, said Riaz Mohammad Khan, a Pakistani diplomat who has held several posts dealing with Afghanistan.

The United States is already fighting the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network, which is based along the unruly frontier between Afghanistan and Pakistan and which is perhaps Washington's deadliest foe in Afghanistan.

The last thing U.S.-led NATO troops need is a new, formidable enemy in the approach to 2014.

Such a shift in emphasis, however, could reduce the number of suicide bombings that have plagued Pakistan in recent years, scaring off investment needed to prop up an economy that has barely managed to grow since 2007.

AT EACH OTHER'S THROATS

The Pakistan Taliban, who are close to al Qaeda, remain resilient despite a series of military offensives. They took part in a number of high-profile operations, including an attack on army headquarters in 2009, assaults on military bases, and the attempted assassination of Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousufzai in October, who had campaigned for girls' education.

The Pakistan Taliban were also blamed for the 2008 bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad which killed more than 50 people.

Under Mehsud, the organization formed complex alliances with other militant groups spread across Pakistan.

But it has long been strained by internal rivalries over strategy. Mehsud has pushed the war with the Pakistani state, while others such as Rehman want the battle to be against U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan.

"Rehman has even held secret negotiations with the Pakistani government in the past but Hakimullah always stood in his way, wanting to carry on fighting the Pakistani military," a second Wana-based military official said.

The two were at each other's throats earlier this year and hostilities were close to open warfare, Taliban sources said.

"Differences within the ranks have only gotten worse, not better, rendering the TTP a much weaker force today than a few years ago," the second military official said.

A source close to the Taliban told Reuters there had been months of internal talks on the Pakistan Taliban's decreasing support among locals and fighters in tribal areas where the group has assassinated many pro-government elders.

"The Taliban know they are fighting a public relations war, and under someone like Hakimullah, they will only lose it," added the source, who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

It isn't clear whether Mehsud will hand over the leadership to Rehman without a fight.

A power struggle could split the group, making it more difficult to recruit young fighters and also disrupt the safe havens in Pakistan used by Afghan militants.

According to accepted practice, a leadership council, or shura, will ultimately decide whether to formally replace Mehsud with Rehman.

Intelligence officials said Mehsud had not commanded any recent operations, including an August 16 attack on the Minhas Airbase in Pakistan and a suicide attack on a street market in May that killed 24 people.

Military sources said Rehman planned the April 15 jail break in Bannu in Pakistan that freed 384 prisoners, including an estimated 200 Taliban members and an al Qaeda-linked militant who had attempted to assassinate former president Pervez Musharraf.

FALL FROM GRACE

Intelligence officials in the area said Mehsud's brutality had turned his own subordinates against him, while the more measured Rehman had emerged as the group's primary military strategist.

"If a leader doesn't behave like a leader, he loses support. For the longest time now, Hakimullah has done the dirty work while Wali-ur-Rehman is the thinker. Taliban fighters recognize this," said the first Pakistani military source.

A local elder described Mehsud as "short-tempered and trigger-happy".

"(Mehsud) used to work 24 hours a day, tirelessly. But he would also put a gun to anyone's head and kill them for his cause," said a local shopkeeper who has family members involved in the Pakistan Taliban.

Mehsud gained his reputation fighting with the Afghan Taliban against U.S. and allied forces in Helmand province in Afghanistan. He was later given command of Taliban factions in the Bajaur, Orakzai, Khyber and Kurram regions.

He took over the Pakistan Taliban after a weeks-long succession battle with Rehman following the death of Baitullah Mehsud in a drone strike. The two Mehsuds were not related.

(Additional reporting by Jibran Ahmad in Peshawar; Editing by Randy Fabi, Michael Georgy and Dean Yates)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-pakistan-taliban-chief-emerging-focus-afghan-fight-103046052.html

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Real Estate App Open Home Pro Expands Beyond Open Houses ...

Open Home Pro, a startup that began as an iPad application allowing realtors to collect info from potential buyers at open houses, is today launching a new app for iPhone. Unlike its big-brother counterpart, the new iPhone application isn?t meant for open houses, but rather for posting new listings online in a matter of minutes.

The app takes advantage of the iPhone?s built-in camera and ability to take high-res photos to help flesh out the listing details. After also entering the standard info (address, BR/BA, price, agent info, etc.), realtors can then immediately share the listing on Facebook, send it out as a pre-formatted HTML email, and even post the listing to Craigslist.

Founder Andrew Machado admits he hopes that the latter option won?t be shut down. However, even if so, that may not matter in the long run, as the plan is to eventually work with third parties like Zillow or Trulia, for example, to immediately post listings directly to services that attract buyers? eyeballs.

But in the meantime, Machado describes the new iPhone app as the quickest way to post listings and their accompanying photos online. ?Great photos exist,? he explains, ?it?s just that [realtors] can?t upload them to their local MLSs [multiple listing services] because that technology was built 15 years ago.? There are some 900 MLSs out there, Machado says, and they have a tendency to make photos look worse than they actually are. He refers to MLS?s handling of photos as a ?sausage machine? even, as the photos are crunched down, with a border and watermark added upon upload. ?By the time they leak out to Trulia, they just don?t look that great,? he says.

While today?s realtors can?t avoid using MLS entirely, there?s an immediacy that One Home Pro?s iPhone app can provide that would be especially helpful in markets where new listings go quickly. Realtors could be taking calls and booking showings before they or their administrative assistants ever get around to the tedious data entry that is the MLS input process.

The iPhone app also supports realtor profiles, a Twitter-like following model ? which allows all the realtors in an office to quickly network with others ? a favoriting feature, a section featuring trending listings, and more.

As for the iPad version of the application, it has already demonstrated a bit of traction, given the niche market being targeted. The National Association of Realtors currently has 1 million registered members across both residential and commercial markets, for example. Without buying users, with little social integration (until now), and with a fairly high price point ($12 for the iPad app), One Home Pro has grown its install base to 27,000 users since its debut last year.

Today, 15,000 leads flow through its system per month, and the email success rates for the iPad app are at 93 percent. For those unfamiliar, the iPad version allows realtors to email immediately following the open house, again when the price is dropped and, finally, when the home is sold. It also lets realtors export leads into their preferred CRM system, which is often just their iCloud address book.

The iPad and web versions (yep, some realtors are old-school) of the service have both supported photos before today, and 170,000 images have been posted to date. That number will surely grow with today?s launch of the iPhone app. The new app is available for $2.99 and can be downloaded from iTunes here. A future update will add the much-requested support for rentals, too.

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2012/12/06/real-estate-app-one-home-pro-expands-beyond-open-houses-now-lets-realtors-post-listings-from-their-iphone/

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Sean Bean replaces Brendan Fraser in TNT pilot "Legends"

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - TNT's upcoming pilot "Legends" is getting a Stark makeover.

Sean Bean, who played ill-fated Lord of Winterfell Eddard Stark in HBO's "Game of Thrones," has signed on to replace Brendan Fraser in TNT's upcoming pilot "Legends."

Fraser dropped out of the pilot last month; the show would have marked his first starring turn on a TV series.

Bean will play Martin Odum, a deep-cover operative who has a chameleon-like ability to transform himself into a different person for each mission. The project is based on a book by spy novelist Robert Littell.

"Homeland" duo Howard Gordon and Alexander Cary are executive-producing the pilot, which comes from Fox 21, as are Jeffrey Nachmanoff ("The Day After Tomorrow") and Jonathan Levin ("Charmed").

Deadline first reported news of Bean's "Legends" casting.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sean-bean-replaces-brendan-fraser-tnt-pilot-legends-185752956.html

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