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On the Internet censorship issue, MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar has requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to withdraw India's proposal to the United Nations for control of the Internet through a 50-member inter-governmental body

BANGALORE, INDIA: Internet censorship has become a buzzword these days. As the Centre is seemingly hell-bent on imposing stringent restrictions on the Internet, activist groups of different hues and orientations have been up in arms, protesting such moves tooth and nail.

On May 17, there was the case of blocking file-sharing websites in the country, which came up at the Madras High Court that witnessed an order against some torrent websites being passed. The move led to many Internet Service Providers (ISPs), including Airtel and Reliance, blocking their own set of websites.

It was later revoked following protests and an appeal from ISPs to unblock those restricted sites. Anonymous, a hacktivist group, took to the streets across several cities in India and brought about awareness among citizens on the burning issue.

In this background, Rajya Sabha MP from Bangalore Urban district, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, wrote a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on May 15 with regards to India's proposal to the United Nations (UN) for control of the Internet through a 50-member, inter-governmental body.

Also read: How users unblock torrent sites

The proposal, in his words, is an assault on our citizens' freedom of speech. "India's statement in the UN in October 2011 regarding government control through a United Nations Committee on Internet Related Policies (CIRP) over the Internet is inherently against the open, democratic, inclusive and unhindered growth of the Internet," states Chandrasekhar.

"It harms India's reputation, has been submitted without a prior public consultation with multi-stakeholder groups, and therefore needs to be withdrawn."

Later, in a letter dated June 1, 2012 addressed to the PM again, the MP expresses his regret over India not withdrawing its proposal at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and the Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) in Geneva.

Chandrasekhar's argument is that India's refusal to withdraw "yielded the worst possible results, wherein countries with dubious record on human rights and democracy have publicly aligned their positions to that of India during the review of the implementation of the outcome of WSIS in Geneva".

The rest is here:
Internet curbs: Rajeev Chandrasekhar's letter to PM

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

24/7 Media, WPPs marketing technology company, announced today the promotion of Dan McKinney to Director of Platform Strategy and Development. McKinney reports to Rob Schneider, SVP, Platform Strategy and Development.

Im delighted to announce Dan McKinneys promotion to Director, said Schneider. His strategic thinking and knowledge of the digital marketplace make him an integral part of the Platform Strategy and Development team.

McKinney has held various positions during his eight year tenure with 24/7 Media, including roles in account management, training, sales engineering, product management, and most recently on the partnerships and mergers and acquisitions team.

As Director of Platform Strategy and Development, McKinney will focus on finding best-of-breed partners and companies that compliment 24/7 Medias technology stack and product suite, offering the most comprehensive end to end solution available in todays marketplace. He and the team will ensure that 24/7 Media provides its advertiser and publisher clients with innovative tools and technology that simplify the complexity of digital advertising, optimize their return on investment and provide a competitive advantage.

This promotion is effective immediately.

About 24/7 Media, Inc.

24/7 Media, Inc., formerly 24/7 Real Media, is a leader in digital marketing technology, serving advertisers, agencies and digital publishers worldwide. The company has been in the forefront of media innovation for fifteen years. The 24/7 technology platform spans every digital channel, providing users with unprecedented control and consolidated data analysis. This technology powers two specialized business units: Real Media Group helps marketing organizations engage their audiences with superior precision, transparency and return on investment. The group also helps digital publishers monetize their properties and manage advertising operations more effectively. Media Innovation Group provides advertisers and agencies with strategic consulting and implementation services that deliver competitive advantage in fields being transformed by technology.

24/7 Media is a WPP Digital company headquartered in New York with 18 offices in a dozen countries. For more information, please visit http://www.247media.com.

24/7 Media is a member of the NAI and adheres to the NAI privacy principles that have been applauded by the FTC. These principles are designed to help ensure Internet user privacy. For more information about online data collection associated with ad serving, including online preference marketing and an opportunity to opt-out of 24/7 Media cookies, go to: http://www.networkadvertising.org.

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Dan McKinney Promoted to Director of Platform Strategy and Development at 24/7 Media

JUPITER, Fla., June 28, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GelTech Solutions, Inc. (GLTC), creators of FireIce, a revolutionary water enhancing fire suppressant that has the potential to change current firefighting techniques globally, announces that FireIce was successfully dropped by single engine air tankers (SEATS) engaged to aerially combat the 300+ acre Romero wildfire near Corrales, New Mexico. FireIce and the SEATs pilots have been credited with preventing this fire from becoming another large fire.

Dutch Snyder, a 27 year veteran SEAT pilot, commented, "I have never seen a retardant hold a fire line like FireIce or any product knockdown a fire so quickly as a suppressant. With the added safety factor of being lightweight, FireIce improves the performance of any aircraft flown on wildland fires. This is the product every air tanker pilot should have onboard. Being environmentally safe, FireIce makes everyone on the job in the air or on the ground feel right."

Michael Cordani, chief executive officer of GelTech Solutions, stated, "This is an important milestone of the five year process to bring our game-changing FireIce fire suppressant and retardant to the wildfire industry. The success of FireIce on the Romero fire in New Mexico should begin to build momentum for our product and drive added awareness to other state and federal agencies responsible for protecting their lands. Once they become aware, we feel confident they will see the benefits of using our product which is highly effective and environmentally non-toxic to plant, wildlife and fish populations."

For additional information about our equipment and aerial firefighting support capabilities, please see the following links:

FireIce Aerial Firefighting Video

FireIce 2012 Equipment Guide

About GelTech Solutions, Inc.

GelTech Solutions creates innovative, Earth-friendly, cost-effective products that help industry, agriculture, and the general public achieve environmental and safety goals such as water conservation and protecting lives, homes and property from fires. All the products currently marketed by GelTech Solutions, Inc. were created for the Company by inventor and chief technology officer, Peter Cordani.

FireIce is a patent pending fire suppressant used for direct attack of fires as well as a medium term retardant for structure protection. FireIce can be used in all types of apparatus; fire extinguishers, pumper trucks, aerial units for wildfires and home defense units for personal home protection.

GelTech also markets SoilO which is both a non-toxic soil conditioner and a dust abatement product. SoilO "Dust Control" products and solutions stop all types of particulate matter from entering the air and water, solving even the most stubborn dust control problems. SoilO Granular and Topical blends reduce water consumption up to 50% and promote healthy root development in plants and lawns, generating faster seed germination by keeping nutrients and moisture at the root level longer.

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GelTech's FireIce Used to Control New Mexico Wildfire

NEW YORK, NY and ATLANTA, GA, June 28, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Remark Media, Inc. (Nasdaq: MARK), a global digital media company, today announced that it has completed its acquisition of Banks.com, Inc. (OTCQB: BNNX), a financial media company that owns and operates Banks.com, IRS.com, FileLater.com and MyStockFund.com.

With this acquisition, Remark Media will expand its online personal finance ecosystem that will serve as the go-to destination for users seeking actionable financial advice. The hub of this ecosystem is DimeSpring.com--currently in beta--which offers original content and an interactive platform for consumers to share experiences and interact with the world's leading financial experts.

"Currently there are no dynamic online personal finance communities that offer easy access to expert advice, actionable content and shared user experiences," said Carrie Ferman, CEO of Remark Media. "We plan to provide an entertaining and engaging one-stop-shop for extensive personal financial information. With the acquisition of Banks.com, we gain established brands from which to create a rich portfolio of sites that aim to simplify financial matters and help people make better informed decisions."

Currently, Banks.com, Inc.'s web properties provide users with finance-related content and services. The advertising-supported website, Banks.com offers access to financial news, interest-rate tables and financial calculators. Banks.com, Inc.'s other properties offer access to related financial services, including: online tax information and preparation assistance through IRS.com; online tax extensions through FileLater.com; and online brokerage services through MyStockFund.com.

Remark Media will redesign and integrate Banks.com, IRS.com and the other newly acquired sites with DimeSpring.com, providing a comprehensive suite of financial content, conversation and services for users. Plans include: shifting the Banks.com websites onto Remark Media's digital media platform; dramatically enhancing the content offerings and user experience; and adding new social features and interactive elements. The redesigned Banks.com sites, scheduled to launch in the fall, will offer new features including content recommendations and social tools, and newsletters that are personalized to individuals' particular needs. Additionally, they will incorporate responsive design that allows content to be optimized on all devices.

"We see tremendous opportunity in combining forces with Remark Media," said Dan O'Donnell, President and CEO of Banks.com. "It has a proven track record of taking great brands and applying top-notch technologies and know-how to create a more positive user experience and increased engagement."

O'Donnell and other members of Banks.com's leadership team will join Remark Media, bringing their years of experience in personal finance to help cultivate relationships and lend industry knowledge.

Shareholders of Banks.com will become shareholders of Remark Media, and Banks.com stock will cease to trade prior to the opening of trading on June 29, 2012.

About Remark Media

Remark Media, Inc. (Nasdaq: MARK) is a global digital media company focused on creating destinations that merge engaging content with rich social interaction. Remark Media is the exclusive digital publisher in China and Brazil for translated content from HowStuffWorks.com, a subsidiary of Discovery Communications, and in China for certain content from World Book. The Company's leading brands, BoWenWang (bowenwang.com.cn) and ComoTudoFunciona (hsw.com.br), provide readers in China and Brazil with thousands of articles about how the world around them works, serving as destinations for credible, easy-to-understand reference information. Remark Media is also a founding partner and developer of the U.S.-based product Sharecare, a highly searchable social Q&A healthcare platform organizing and answering the questions of health. The Company is headquartered in Atlanta with additional operations in New York, Beijing and Sao Paulo. Additional information is available on its corporate website at remarkmedia.com.

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Remark Media Completes Acquisition of Banks.com, Inc.

First things first. This is going to be a two-part first look at the Google Nexus Q media streamer for the simple reason that I am not yet able to stream media to the preview hardware handed out at Google I/O.

Why? Because while Google's Nexus Q web site says you can control the device with a Nexus Q app that will run on any Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) smartphone or tablet, it turns out that the app right now only runs on Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean), which also was previewed at Google's developer conference. Google's PDF user guide explains that support for earlier Android devices won't be available until the Nexus Q actually ships to consumers, which Google says will be "soon" --- two to three weeks.

It's interesting, by the way, that the Q itself is based on Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). It's downright weird that Google has limited its market to Android device owners, and its functionality to playing music you own or have bought from Google Play; YouTube videos, and movies and TV shows you've bought or rented, also from inside . Even Apple didn't hobble Apple TV thusly.

I had planned to use a couple of older Android phones for my test run (I wanted to verify that several Android users can, if authorized, contribute to a playlist) so I don't at this writing have a Jelly Bean device. I'll update this post once I do, but in the meantime I can share a few impressions based on the setup I was able to complete.

Out-Appling Apple

Unboxing the Q, I couldn't help feeling like Google was trying to out-Apple Apple in its packaging and presentation. You get the same minimalist approach, only in black instead of white. Here's the box, once you remove the sleeve.

After you open the black seals (there's a second one on the back of the box), you see the flat bottom of a Magic 8 Ball-sized black sphere--and nothing else.

As with Apple's products, the rest of the box's contents are concealed until you lift a cardboard tab. But there isn't much more to find--just a charging cable and a quick start guide on a single cardboard square.

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Google Nexus Q Media Streamer: First Impressions, Part 1