House passes livestock disaster relief bill

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The House on Thursday extended disaster assistance to livestock producers reeling from rising feed prices caused by the drought that has scorched much of the nation.

The 223-197 vote to revive expired disaster relief programs for cattle and sheep producers was one of the House's last actions before lawmakers left for their five-week August recess.

The Senate was not acting on the bill as it wrapped up its pre-recess work, and Democratic opponents characterized the legislation as cover for Republicans having to explain to rural constituents why they put off action on a comprehensive five-year farm policy bill.

While many crop farmers have insurance that provides some protection from the effects of the worst drought in a quarter-century, livestock producers are vulnerable to sharp increases in feed prices resulting from the dry weather. Some have had to liquidate stocks early because of the high maintenance costs.

The bill would restore four disaster aid programs, mostly for livestock producers and tree farmers, that expired last year. The estimated cost, $383 million, would be paid for by shaving some $630 million from two conservation programs. The disaster programs would be restored for the 2012 budget year.

While there was little dispute over the difficult straits of the livestock industry, there was opposition to the bill from environmental groups disturbed by the cuts to the conservation programs, anti-tax groups who saw the bill as another government bailout and agriculture groups who have been pushing the House to vote on a five-year farm bill that, in addition to making fundamental changes in agriculture safety nets, would restore the disaster relief programs. The current long-term farm bill expires at the end of September.

The top Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, Rep. Collin Peterson of Minnesota, said that while he would vote for the disaster relief measure, "this bill is a sad substitute for what is really needed, a long-term farm policy." He said that while the legislation would help cattle and sheep farmers, "dairy and specialty crop producers will be left hurting and there is no assistance for pork and poultry producers."

Another Agriculture Committee Democrat, Jim Costa of California, said he opposed the bill. "The drought relief package that we are voting on I believe is sadly more about giving the Republican leadership relief when they go back to their districts in August than helping our nation's farmers, ranchers and dairymen."

The Senate in June passed, on a bipartisan vote, a five-year farm bill that revises crop subsidy programs, eliminating direct payments to farmers even when they don't plant crops, and authorizes nearly $100 billion a year for subsidy, conservation and food stamp programs. The House Agriculture Committee last month approved similar legislation.

But the House GOP leadership has resisted bringing the bill to the floor, leery of a potential rebellion from conservative lawmakers against spending levels in the bill ? particularly the nearly $80 billion a year for the food stamp program, which provides food aid to some 46 million people. Some Democrats, in turn, oppose the House bill because it cuts 2 percent, or $1.6 billion a year, from the food stamp program.

House leaders last week proposed legislation that would have combined disaster relief with a one-year extension of the existing farm law. That was widely criticized by farm groups, who said farmers need the certainty of a new five-year bill, and Senate Democrats, who warned that it was a ploy to block consideration of the new bill. The one-year extension idea was abandoned this week.

The head of the Senate Agricultural Committee, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said after the House vote that "we have to address what's happening to livestock" but that it would be more appropriate to negotiate a compromise on the farm bill that includes comprehensive disaster relief and safety net provisions covering all food producers. She said informal talks would be held over the August recess with the intention of coming up a plan that could be offered to the House and Senate in September.

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., said his "priority remains to get a five-year farm bill on the books." But he said the more pressing issue was ensuring that drought-hit farmers were protected. "Vast areas of productive pastureland are burning up and our ranchers are in dire need."

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Wednesday that some 3.8 million acres of conservation land would be opened for emergency haying and grazing to bring relief to livestock producers dealing with shortages of hay and pastureland. He also said farmers would be given an extra 30 days to make insurance premium payments this year without incurring interest penalties on unpaid premiums.

Vilsack also signed disaster designations for an additional 218 counties in 12 states. Half of all counties in the country have been designated disaster areas by the Agriculture Department in 2012, mainly due to drought.

Also on Thursday, 156 lawmakers wrote Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson urging her to relax government rules requiring that a certain percentage of corn production go to making ethanol for transportation fuel.

"Relief from the Renewable Fuels Standard is extremely urgent because another short corn crop would be devastating to the animal agriculture industry, food manufacturers, food service providers, as well as consumers," said the letter sponsored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and Mike McIntyre, D-N.C. They said about 40 percent of the corn crop now goes into ethanol production.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-08-02-Congress-Drought/id-52c8ef09ad094c0f9b1fa623574ef1f0

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Tennis - Murray rides wave to reach final

LONDON (Reuters) - Andy Murray rode the wave of British euphoria at the Olympics on Friday to reach the men's singles final with victory over world number two Novak Djokovic of Serbia at Wimbledon.

The Scot, roared on by a vociferous Centre Court crowd, won 7-5 7-5 to set up a repeat of last month's Wimbledon final against Swiss maestro Roger Federer.

With news of British golds in track cycling filtering through the atmosphere inside the normally reserved citadel of tennis was raucous with fans chanting "GB" and "Murray" while waving plastic Union Jacks.

Murray fed off the energy inside the arena, producing a scintillating display of shot-making to leave Djokovic facing a scrap with Juan Martin del Potro for a bronze medal.

He fended off everything Djokovic could throw at him in the depths of the second set, then pounced when the Serb served to stay in the match at 5-6, claiming victory with a dipping backhand that his opponent bundled into the net.

Murray, who shed tears when losing to Federer last month in his first Wimbledon final, celebrated by leaping around Centre Court, pumping his fists to the delirious army of fans.

(Editing by Ed Osmond)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tennis-murray-rides-wave-reach-final-194135849--ten.html

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Sydney Personal Trainer Offers Comprehensive Weight Loss Solution

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Australia has been regarded as one of the fattest country in the developed world and obesity has become more deadly and fatal than smoking. Obesity is rapidly becoming single biggest threat to Australian?s public health. More than 60% Australian adults and 25% Australian children are either overweight or obese.

Obesity has become serious cause of concern due to its dangerous impacts on human health. In midst of the alarming increase, Sydney personal trainer, Dan Clay is offering comprehensive weight loss solutions to the residents of Sydney and fulfilling the noble duty of corporate social responsibility.

Sydney personal trainer says, ?Tailored fitness programs and nutritional plans have made my exercise sessions different from all the other fitness centers and gyms. My service stands tall against all other self-learned personal trainers. My fitness team is committed to provide excellent and superior personal training for the residents of Sydney.?

Sydney personal trainer, Dan clay is recognized CIV personal trainer & sports coach and Kung Fu instructor, who have pursued Diploma in Physical Training. He provides personal training at CBD, Eastern Suburbs & Inner West from Monday to Friday. He specializes in weight loss, muscle gain, functional strength, body toning and general fitness.

Some of the fitness methods employed by Sydney personal trainer Dan clay are dumbbells bodyweight exercises, Kettle bells, sand bags, Olympic rings, med-balls and boxing/martial arts. His Personal Training 1on1 and fat loss methods are talk of the town.

Dan Clay is the owner of Dangerously Fit Boot Camp and recognized as one of the most qualified personal trainer in Sydney and even entire Australia. He has dedicated and experienced team of fitness trainers, who have helped scores of individuals to reach their weight loss goals and maintain a high level of fitness that was beyond their reach.

If you also want to hire Sydney Personal trainer, visit http://www.personal-trainers-sydney.com.au/ for more details and information today.

Dan clay owns Dangerously Boot Camp and features in http://www.personal-trainers-sydney.com.au/, which is most sought Fitness camp in Sydney. He have given fitness advice on ABC radio and his interviews have been published in a number of leading magazines including FHM, MindFood and Good Health and Medicine.

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Source: http://www.freepressreleases.com/sydney-personal-trainer-offers-comprehensive-weight-loss-solution/208088

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Extreme Makeover, Potato Edition

Potatoes come in all colors, like Red Erik, Snowball, Cariboo, Purple Peruvian, Caribe and French Red varieties. Enlarge David Cavagnaro/Corbis

Potatoes come in all colors, like Red Erik, Snowball, Cariboo, Purple Peruvian, Caribe and French Red varieties.

David Cavagnaro/Corbis

Potatoes come in all colors, like Red Erik, Snowball, Cariboo, Purple Peruvian, Caribe and French Red varieties.

The sizzle seems to be gone from America's long-term relationship with the potato. Consumers are eating fewer of them, especially the kind that's not fried in a vat of hot oil. But what if a new and different potato arrived in town? A stylish one, with colorful flesh that was good for you, too?

Get ready. It's happening, in part, thanks to Chuck Brown, a geneticist who works for the USDA's Agricultural Research Service in Prosser, Wash. Brown's job involves poking around in odd corners of the potato gene pool. His goal used to be finding genes to make potatoes less vulnerable to insects, or disease. He didn't think much about changing the good old reliable potato itself ? until one day in the early 1990s.

"I was walking through the field on harvest day," Brown recalls, "and the glint ? the sunlight glinting off some of the tubers ? kind of caught my interest. And I went over there with my knife and started cutting them. And I found some that had orange flesh."

?

Brown wasn't completely surprised. He'd once worked in Peru ? the potato's ancestral homeland ? and he'd seen all kinds of strange-looking potatoes there: long, thin ones; potatoes with sunken eyes; blue and yellow ones.

It occurred to him that orange potatoes might be useful in the U.S., too, because the color orange usually signals that a plant contains valuable nutrients called carotenoids.

But he didn't really pursue this idea until a few years later when he stumbled upon yet another exotic potato; this one had solidly red flesh.

"To me this was astounding. I hadn't even seen this kind of thing in Peru," Brown says. "I'd seen solidly purple flesh, but I'd never seen solidly red flesh."

Another scientist, Ron Wrolstad at Oregon State University, figured out that the color came from pigments called anthocyanins. These pigments are really valuable. They're antioxidants and can help protect the body against various diseases. You can get them from fruits like blueberries and cranberries. But Wrolstad "realized right away that potatoes would be a much better way to provide people this pigment," Brown says. "Everybody can afford potatoes, and everybody kind of likes potatoes. You know, kids like potatoes; adults like potatoes."

So Brown went back to some of the huge variety that exists in the potatoes of South America to learn to breed new potatoes for the North American market. These would be potatoes with new colors, more nutrients and with a variety of tastes.

"We should return to this kind of variation and promote it as a healthful potato, as a good thing," he says.

A server at Ardeo+Bardeo shows off potato mousse with a coddled egg hidden inside. Enlarge Benjamin Morris/NPR

A server at Ardeo+Bardeo shows off potato mousse with a coddled egg hidden inside.

Benjamin Morris/NPR

A server at Ardeo+Bardeo shows off potato mousse with a coddled egg hidden inside.

Taking A Risk At The Market

Other potato breeders have joined Brown's quest, and there now are some results. You can find purple potatoes at many farmers markets. Red-fleshed varieties just became available in the past two years, and a few growers are now trying them out. There are even multicolored potatoes in the pipeline.

There's just one problem, Brown points out: "These kinds of potatoes are hard to get, still."

You can find them in some high-end restaurants ? especially near the heart of American potato-growing, in the Pacific Northwest. But mainstream supermarkets are a different story. It can be hard to convince them to stock something new, "and if they put it out and they don't sell much, they're probably going to drop it. I've seen this happen a lot," Brown says.

But now, Chuck Brown's colorful potatoes have gained a powerful new ally.

Potatoes go glam at the Washington, D.C., restaurant. Enlarge Benjamin Morris/NPR

Potatoes go glam at the Washington, D.C., restaurant.

Benjamin Morris/NPR

Potatoes go glam at the Washington, D.C., restaurant.

Getting Ready For The Runway And The Buffet

Some big players in the potato industry are looking for ways to give their product an extreme makeover. They want to convince consumers that the potato is good for you, despite what you may have heard lately, and perhaps even more important: It can be exciting and seriously trendy.

That's why the U.S. Potato Board recently asked the staff at Ardeo+Bardeo, one of Washington, D.C.'s nicer restaurants, to put together a "potato-centric" meal.

Did it ever. There were seven courses, plus appetizers. Some of the highlights: red and purple potato confit; gnocchi, of course; and smoked white potato mousse with some runny egg and caviar.

"There's a few things that we experimented with, through the process, that really surprised even us, as to how far we could push the potato," says J.B. Samuel, the manager at Ardeo+Bardeo.

The Potato Board had one request for this meal. It had to include seven different kinds of potatoes. Some were the old standbys, like the rough brown-skinned russets. But there also were little finger-shaped potatoes called fingerlings and purple potatoes.

It's all part of an effort to persuade consumers and chefs that new kinds of potatoes offer new tastes, textures and colors.

So the Potato Board is really excited about Chuck Brown's colorful potatoes. They fit in perfectly with this image makeover.

And Brown is hoping that tomorrow's supermarket will have a very different kind of potato section. "I think it should look like the apple section," he says. Maybe 10, maybe 15 different types of potatoes."

Something like this has happened, in fact, in Great Britain. Grocery stores there stock half a dozen different kinds of potatoes. That's a much greater variety than was typical a decade ago.

One potato expert told NPR that among some British consumers, the potato is finally hot.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/08/02/157499117/extreme-makeover-potato-edition?ft=1&f=1007

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Obama pays tribute to US Olympic team

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama says he is proud of the hard work and sacrifice of the U.S. Olympic team competing at the London Games.

Obama thanks the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams in Saturday's radio and Internet address for, in his words, "presenting the best of America to the rest of the world."

The president says he was "filled with pride" when gymnast Gabby Douglas won the all-around gold and enjoyed watching the medal-winning swim teams, including Michael Phelps, who became the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time.

In the Republican address, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia says Democrats should extend Bush-era tax cuts. He says the threat of higher taxes and red tape has small business owners anxiously sitting on the sidelines instead of hiring workers.

___

Online: Obama address: www.whitehouse.gov

GOP address: www.youtube.com/HouseConference

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-pays-tribute-us-olympic-team-100622478--spt.html

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Infants exposed to specific molds have higher asthma risk

ScienceDaily (Aug. 2, 2012) ? In the United States, one in 10 children suffers from asthma but the potential environmental factors contributing to the disease are not well known. Cincinnati-based researchers now report new evidence that exposure to three types of mold during infancy may have a direct link to asthma development during childhood.

These forms of mold -- Aspergillus ochraceus, Aspergillus unguis and Penicillium variabile -- are typically found growing in water-damaged homes, putting a spotlight on the importance of mold remediation for public health.

Lead author Tiina Reponen, PhD, and colleagues report these findings in the August 2012 issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, the official scientific publication of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.

In a long-term population study of nearly 300 infants,, researchers from the University of Cincinnati (UC), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center assessed allergy development and the respiratory health of children annually for the first four years of life then again at age 7 -- an early age for objective diagnosis of asthma in children. The team also monitored home allergens and mold. All infants enrolled in the study were born to at least one parent with allergies.

They found that 25 percent of children whose parents had allergies were asthmatic by age 7. Among the multiple indoor contaminants assessed, only mold exposure during infancy emerged as a risk factor for asthma at age 7.

"Previous scientific studies have linked mold to worsening asthma symptoms, but the relevant mold species and their concentrations were unknown, making it difficult for public health officials to develop tools to effectively address the underlying source of the problem," explains Reponen, who is a professor in the UC College of Medicine's environmental health department.

The UC-based team used the environmental relative moldiness index (ERMI), a DNA-based mold level analysis tool, to determine that exposure to Aspergillus ochraceus, Aspergillus unguis and Penicillium variabile was linked to asthma development in the high-risk study population. The ERMI tool was developed by the EPA to combine analysis results of 36 different types of mold into one index that describes a home's cumulative mold burden.

"This is strong evidence that indoor mold contributed to asthma development and this stresses the urgent need for remediating water damage in homes, particularly in lower income, urban areas where this is a common issue," says Reponen. "Therapeutics for asthma may be more efficient if targeted toward specific mold species."

Children included in this study were part of the Cincinnati Childhood Allergy and Air Pollution Study (CCAAPS), a long-term population-based study of more than 700 children from the Greater Cincinnati area. CCAAPS looked at the effects of environmental particles on childhood respiratory health and allergy development. Participants were identified during infancy as at high risk to develop allergies based on family medical history

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Tiina Reponen, James Lockey, David I. Bernstein, Stephen J. Vesper, Linda Levin, Gurjit K. Khurana Hershey, Shu Zheng, Patrick Ryan, Sergey A. Grinshpun, Manuel Villareal, Grace LeMasters. Infant origins of childhood asthma associated with specific molds. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 2012; DOI: 10.1016/j.jaci.2012.05.030

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/~3/3iyDU144HbQ/120802111502.htm

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Easy Products In Free Sms To Cuba ? StraightForward Advice ...

Author: Jayson K. C. Gutierrez ? Once, we relied in letters, telephones and also fax machines but now you favor speedier and occasionally less intrusive forms of communication like email or instant messenger. More popular, however, along with a phenomenon of communication experienced worldwide, is forwarding SMS text messages to each other thru cellphones (sometimes known since cell phones or cellular phones).

Abruptly Message Service (SMS) is the general name for the tech that enables people to dispatch and acquire text signals by way of cellphones (or mobile phones).

The GSM digital cellular telephone standard (popular in Europe, the center East, Asia, Africa and additionally some elements of North America) state that: ?Communications can generally be up to 160 characters of text in length?. CDMA systems enable higher message size and run in North & South America, Asia (China, India, Japan, South Korea, Unique Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong, etc).

(In actual reality, most modern cellphones using the GSM standard send communications much larger than 160 characters, however they do so by forwarding multiple messages of 160 characters. Which means as soon as you dispatch a message of 330 characters in length, you may have really sent two signals of 160 characters and additionally one message of 10 characters.)

SMS communications can include of statement, numbers or perhaps a particular alphanumeric combination; binary structure is even supported.

Theoretically communicating, SMS is a shop and also ahead provider. This means communications tend to be not sent straight from sender to recipient, but always by way of some kind of SMS center instead. You may have a limited time for you download or perhaps acquire the communications (this happens automatically when you change the cellphone on), alternatively the signals are removed from the SMS center worried.

Sending SMS is a great, fast way to communicate alongside pals and family. Different from sending email, though, forwarding SMS signals is often not free. Within the United Kingdom, for illustration, communications often price ?0.10 per message. And with people sending tens or perhaps hundreds of signals each day, fees can mount up.

So cell phone companies design payment plans that enable you to send a certain amount of text signals free monthly. Or, should you decide pay enough of a month-to-month fee (or perhaps top-up the pay-as-you-go cellphone frequently enough) you might even be granted to send a particular unlimited wide range of sms signals for free.

Yes, online are lots of, numerous websites which permit you to forward free SMS text communications using the internet. Just type in your own message at just that web site, then your cellphone number you wish to send a text message to, and also mouse click the dispatch button. Occasionally the signals are delivered immediately, or in the space of a hour or so. Furthermore, quite often there is no have to register to use the sms to cuba provider.

Source: http://www.monochrome-photo.com/?p=512

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Euro falls after ECB president disappoints

NEW YORK (AP) ? The euro fell against the dollar Thursday after the head of the European Central Bank didn't offer any concrete new measures to help Europe's economy.

Traders had expected the central bank's president, Mario Draghi, to announce some sort of plan after he said last week that he will do "whatever it takes" to save the euro.

Instead, Draghi said the ECB would make an effort to buy government bonds, but he didn't offer any specifics. Draghi made his comments Thursday at a press conference after the ECB met to set interest rates.

"This meeting has dealt a blow to Draghi's credibility, and the mixed market reaction shows that the ECB's communication skills may need some work," said Kathleen Brooks, a currency research director FOREX.com, in a note to clients.

The euro fell to $1.2176 in late trading Thursday from $1.2233 late Wednesday.

The British pound fell to $1.5506 from $1.5552. The dollar rose to 0.9866 Swiss franc from 0.9821 Swiss franc and to 1.0076 Canadian dollar from 1.0042 Canadian dollar.

The dollar fell to 78.25 Japanese yen from 78.47 yen.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/euro-falls-ecb-president-disappoints-202726877--finance.html

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Samsung Focus 2 Windows Phone Review

This is going to be a tricky review because I am not a gadget pro and definitely have no experience with Smartphones.? Winter last year I became the owner of my first ever, after owning a free phone my entire life?well 14 years to be precise.? My phone had me banging my head several times because I couldn?t figure out a lot of things and definitely had no clue about apps.? I soon figured it all out and love my phone.? I recently had the opportunity to check out the Samsung Focus 2 Windows Phone and even told you how this was a smart travel companion.? The Samsung Focus 2 is a Windows Phone that is a stylish glossy white phone with chrome accents that offers 4G LTE speeds and a fast 1.4GHZ processor for speed.? The front of the phone has three buttons; a back, start and search.? The touch screen allows you to slide, move and pin items.


The main start screen of the Samsung Focus 2 has established bookmarks and you can customize the look by pinning an item you wish to the start screen and moving them around.? Setting up social media and email was simple by going into settings with the swipe of the start screen and syncing accounts. ??The phone is installed with several apps including Xbox Live, AT&T Navigator, Yelp, Skype, Trip Advisor and AccuWeather.? I have actually never used the Yelp app and absolutely love it!? If you haven?t installed it I highly recommend doing so as it highlights places in the area you are to go to eat, grocery shop, banks, gas and more!? Another similar app is Local Scout.? This is useful app that searches local areas for food, places to see, and shopping.? Awesome if you are in an unknown area and scouting things to do, places to eat and more.? Gas Buddy is also valuable as it will list the cheapest gas places by city or just type in the zip code of where you are.? In my area Sam?s Club delivers the cheapest gas as it is .06 cheaper than the place we usually pump at. This is another app beneficial for those traveling!? There are many more apps available in the marketplace to search and download all your favorites.

The search button is a practical feature to search without installing an additional app.? Once you open the search there are buttons at the bottom to search music, scan bars codes and QR codes, or to use Bing for your search engine while browsing the web.? There is also a voice search there to search hands free!? I haven?t used the voice feature.

I really like the camera on this phone.? There is a front and rear facing option and with the touch of the screen your picture is taken, however there is a camera key on the side of the phone that you can partially hold for better focus, I still like touching the screen.? The photos are fairly clear although a bit pixelated with the option of 4 resolutions up to 5M.

There are three selections for flash; auto, on or off and 4x zoom.? With the use of +/- keys you can easily zoom in our out.? The phone is installed with a photo studio to edit and share photos.? The photo studio also has different modes to change the way your photos look. Thumba Cam is another neat app allowing you to edit and change the looks of photos.? I again love this app and the effects and how easy it is to use. I haven?t used the share options yet as I?m an addicted Instagram user. The phone also has video capabilities that capture them in 720p HD.

Then there are the basics such as Internet explorer as the web browser, text messaging, instant messenger, email, address book and being able to change the ringtone sounds.? The Focus 2 allows you to load your favorite media from your computer onto the phone.? This phone is installed with Zune.? There is also a radio that uses the included headphones as the antenna to be able to listen to the radio. The built in speaker sounds good but it isn?t loud.

Now onto technicalities.? The battery life isn?t the best especially if you use your phone a lot.? If you are just doing basics it states it has a talk time up to 6 hours. There is an internal memory of up to 8GB.? This is much smaller than my current Samsung phone (the Galaxy S II Skyrocket which has 16GB.)? The backlight display and keys are nice features and it is a fairly small phone that easily fits into pockets.? The size is 4.79 x 2.47 x 0.43 inches so slightly wider than my current phone and a bit heavier at 4.3 ounces.? An acceptable smartphone that gives you all the capabilities and features you need.? The screen is a bit smaller for many who have tried the phone in my home however overall I find this a great phone, that is attractive, user-friendly and it is affordable! With a 2 year AT&T contract you?ll pay just $49.99

For more information on the Samsung Focus 2 Windows Phone visit www.windowsphone.com

Disclosure: Windows Phone sent me the Samsung Focus 2 for review purposes, however all opinions 100% my own

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Nichol is a WAHM of two children, a son who is 9 and a daughter who is 5. She knows kids are expensive but shopping for them doesn?t have to be. That is why she features baby and kids deals and coupons for toys, clothing, baby gear and more. She enjoys giving her honest opinions on products and featuring new toys.

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