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david Text Messaging in Decline in 2010 - Subscribe

Entry remarks on the decline of text messaging in 2010 and how telecommunication companies plan on making that money back.

A CTA report says that texting only grew 8.7% in the second half of 2010. That's the smallest increase in a really long time. If people aren't texting what are telecommunication companies to do?

Will they just add data caps, and charge like crazy for that data? Will the make the consumer join a substadiesd plan? Would they introduce a data only plan that includes texting and increase rates? The answer is yes, yes, and yes. In fact you may already be
experiencing limitations like these. So what can you do? Try finding another provider, use an instant messenger! Bits are bits, and paying for texting is the most expensive data plan out there.

I have yet to experience texting outside of Google Voice, and refuse to pay for it. Guess I'm cheap like that.

2 Comments
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Music: This Week in Google

david Microsoft Windows 8 Developers to Code in HTML5 and JavaScript Jun 14th, 2011 7:01:00 pm - Subscribe

This entry states that Windows 8 Developers are to Code in HTML5 and JavaScript for a more graphically pleasing interface. Wow, this must really rub Windows developers the wrong way, but is it a time for WC3 standards? Let's discuses!

Microsoft has stated to developers if you wish to developer in a more immersive and Flashy front end, than you are going to have to code in HTML5 & JavaScript if you want those immersive apps that go full screen and stay in that experience you going to have to use HTML 5 and JavaScript.

Most of us are probably thinking right now. FINALLY! Microsoft is going to adopt standards into it's platform. But developers are saying, "we have decades of experience in .NET, Windows platforms, in Silverlight, and now you want us to throw away all of that? None of us have done scripting languages before!"

Microsofts rebuttal will probably be, HEY Developers! You can continue using .NET, Silverlight, etc, but everything else will be HTML5 and JavaScript coding for a more beautiful interface.

Your thoughts? I was so happy to hear about Microsoft going HTML5 to stay compliant, but now I understand all of those that are hurt by it. Is it time for a change? Does all software need HTML5 scripting? Who cares if the UI is pretty, I am more concerned with it working and functioning at 100%, but is this possible? I suppose we will have to wait for the Microsoft Build Conference in September for developers.

External Links:
Microsoft confirms its Windows developer conference is named BUILD

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david Nook Simple Touch Reader has a Web Browser Jun 14th, 2011 3:09:16 am - Subscribe

Did you have the latest Simple Touch Reader by Barnes and Noble? If so you might be interested in knowing that it has a web browser.

The Newest Nook, The Simple Touch Reader has a web browser in side of it's system, and you don't have to root it. Barnes and Noble does not list the browser has a feature. I do not have one but it is said you can navigate to websites using the search bar. Reviewers have been stating that the browser is a little buggy, so I suppose that is why Barnes and Noble does not list it as a feature.

But is this the reason to get the Nook Simple Touch Reader? Black and white screen, with a slow refresh rate at 1 frame per second? Is the Nook cheaper than Amazon, or the Apple Bookstore? I guess if you want a reader, and browser you should get an iPad or Android Tablet.

2 Comments
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Music: Funeral For A Friend - She Drove Me To Daytime Television

david Gmail Now Allows Pasting Images and Screenshots into Email Jun 14th, 2011 1:09:19 am - Subscribe

This morning Gmail Now Allows Pasting Images into Email.

So how does this work? Well first off you will need Google Chrome, so the idea is to simply copy the image from an email or from the web and paste it right into the message.

It is also said that you can even post screenshots. If you are on an Apple iOS device. simply hitting:

Apple iOS Devices
Command-Control-Shirt-4 will save the screenshot to your clipboard.

Windows Operating Systems
Print Screen, CTRL+C CTRL+V

Gmail states that while this currently only works in Google Chrome, they plan on releasing this features for other browsers. This is a great feature, and I can't wait to share it for others around the office.

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david How to Optimize Your Mobile Devices for Efficiency and Productivity Jun 12th, 2011 10:04:06 pm - Subscribe

This entry explains How to Optimize Your Mobile Devices (iPad, iPod, iPhone, and Android Devices) for Efficiency and Productivity.

The trick in doing this is limiting the amount of slides or pages on your mobile devices. The less you move around your mobile device, the more time you have to do other things, like typing up a correct TPS report.

To do this simply create folders or directories and name them properly. When organizing I always keep my names generic. The only exception are the apps the I use constantly. (eg: mail, settings, contacts, calendar, and all first slide items.

Slide one is reserved for those apps that I use constantly. When I turn on the devices, 9 times out of 10 I am choosing one of these apps. (This also includes the lower dock items.) Slide two is for all entertainment, productivity, and all other multimedia consumption apps, this includes but is not limited to Coms, Deals, Education, Entertainment, Finance, health, Lifestyle, Music, News, Photography, and so on. Finally the third slide is for games. Notice that the game folders that I have created are based on category, and not brand or games I play the most. The reason I do this is so I can find things easily with less hand gestures and eye movement.

Keep in mind that the iPad, iPod, and iPhone search feature is there, but that will not limit your hand movements. I mean, we do our best to to type on these devices only when necessary right?

To those of you like me who have more than one mobile device stay consistent! All slides should be the same and all directories should stay organized from one device to the other. This is how I effectively save time and increase my daily productivity at work and at home.

I hope this helps you.

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david Apple Game Center Friend Request Share Jun 9th, 2011 6:07:34 pm - Subscribe

Are you on iOS? Do you use Game Center, Plus+, or Open Feint? Well come share your username and give a list of games that you play, perhaps if we all share our usernames we can have a social group of friends playing Apple Game Center games.

Why don't we all share each others usernames / profiles so that we can share in the gaming iOS experience?

quote:
My Username on Game Center is:
davidpolancocom

My Username on Plus+ is:
davidpolanco

My Username on OpenFeint is:
davidpolanco

I have a great list of games that I play on a daily bases. Some of them include games such as:

1. We Rule
2. We City
3. Fruit Ninja
4. Infinity Blade

So what is your Game Center & Plus+ Username? I will be happy to add you to my friends list. Personally I believe this is a great way to play and interact with each other. If you play with in game gifts such as We Rule, expect more gifts. I don't know. I figured this would be a great way to share, and meet others in the gaming community. I don't mind being a guinnee pig since I live in public anyways. (being a blogger)

Please list your credentials as:
1. Game Center Username:
2. Plus+ Username
3. OpenFeint
4. Games that you play

I think if every one participates we can have a good list of gamers here.

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david Rovio to Release Angry Birds on the Roku Box Jun 8th, 2011 7:38:48 pm - Subscribe

Rovio to Release Angry Birds on the Roku Box? Yep, and it's coming sooner than you think.

In the later part of the summer Angry Birds is to be released on the Roku Box. Personally I can't imagine playing Roku on my TV, but I think it would be pretty cool as a family game. Now is this anything like the Nintendo Wii with out the body movement?

Well either way, I think if the game gets released it should be free, but will it be ad-supported? Lots of questions, not many answers...I suppose we will have to way and see.

If you have a Roku Box be sure to check out the Channel Store every now again for the release!

External Links:
Roku bringing Angry Birds to the TV!

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Music: This Week in Google

david How to Reset & Recover Google Chrome Cr-48 Laptop Jun 5th, 2011 11:53:03 pm - Subscribe

Recently I have experienced an issue with my Google Chrome Cr-48 Chromebook, and I feel that their may be others are experiencing this problem as well.

During the past 4 weeks or I set my Cr-48 down in replacement of my iPad 2. Keep in mind that I recieved my iPad 2 on the release date, but I continues using the Cr-48 for day to day use.

On one of these days I noticed after I authenticated myself in Google (logged in) on the Cr-48, and my tabs were loading, I was getting a message a few seconds later that stated.

quote:
Page(s) Unresponsive) - The following page(s) have become unresponsive. You can wait for them to becomse responsive or kill them.

Kill Pages or Wait were my options, and being the guy I am I decieded to wait. Well I waited for about 10 mins, and I recieved to log off my profile, and restart the Google Chrome Cr-48. After the 15 second reboot I logged back in to my profile, and I had the same issue. I tried another profile, (my daugthers) and I had the same problem, pages unresponsive. I logged off, and logged on as a guest, and what do you know. Pages unresponsive.

I decided to look around the Google Chrome Cr-48 forums and i found that I was not the only one experiencing these problems. Many of them (like myself) placed our Chromebooks in Dev Mode, but apparently this wasn't the issue.

A googler stated on the forums to disable the about:pages by simply entering about:pages in the address bar of the Google Chrome Cr-48, but this did'nt help either.

Others mention disabling flash, and other add-ons, but by then I was more interested in how to restet and recover my Google Chrome Cr-48 back to the day I received it.

How to Reset & Recover Google Chrome Cr-48 Laptop
1. Power down the laptop
2. Remove battery using the slide lock
3. Remove the small rectangular piece of black tape on the edge by the power prongs. (It's tuff to see, but it's there)
4. Once take is removed, slide the switch from the left to the right, then back to the left again.
5. Insert the battery that was removed from the Cr-48.
6. Now boot the Cr-48 Up

After that you should be good to go. The Cr-48 will reinstall it's self from it's partition and in a min or less you will be back to the welcome screen.

Here is a video to better help you with this, if you have any questions leave me a comment below and I will be happy to assist in any way that I can.

Reset & Recover Google Chrome Cr-48 Laptop Video Walkthrough

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david Twitters Official Imaging Service Release Jun 5th, 2011 7:27:39 pm - Subscribe

A brief entry regarding Twitters new imaging service.

All thing D has confirmed that Twitter will be releasing an official Twitter sharing service this week at the D9 Conference. Twitters image sharing service will compete with other image sharing services such as twitpic.com and yfrog.com.

So what can we expect? Perhaps an easier image uploading service, video, or even image and video manipulation? Kind of like picnik.com? I guess we will have to see, but I am thinking more shadow boxing like Facebook integrates photos / videos in their newsfeed.

Just a guess.

External Link:

AllThingsD - Before Twitter’s Native Photos Came Out, Twitpic Had 46 Percent Market Share

Oh, follow me @davidpolanco.

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Music: Reservoir Dogs - Super Sounds of the 70's

david GameStop Honoring Duke Nukem Forever Pre Orders Jun 2nd, 2011 3:13:30 pm - Subscribe

Finally Duke Nukem Forever is supposed to be released some time this summer. Actually, I have the release date as June 14, 2011 according to the official website .

Did you pre order Duke Nukem Forever at any time in the last 14 years. If so (with a reciept) Game Stop is honoring all pre orders so long as you still have a receipt. Gamestop owns other companies like, EB Games, Babbage's, and Funco Lands. So if you do have that receipt from long ago they will indeed honor the amount that you reserved the game for.

I do hope your receipt is not as faded to fail as mine is.

External Links:
Duke Nukem Forever Official Website

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david CPS Energy Alert System for System-wide Emergency Power Outages May 26th, 2011 6:31:58 pm - Subscribe

Today I received an email / voice mail from CPS Energy stating that they are testing a new system that will be used for system-wide emergency power outage notifications.

quote:
This is a test message for customers from the new CPS Energy Alert system.

There is no emergency at this time. This new system will be used for system-wide emergency power outage notifications only. This message was sent to the contact information listed for your account.

More information about the new system and customizing your alert contact information is available on cpsenergy.com.

The sender provided the following contact information.
Sender's Name: CPS Energy
Sender's Email: servicealert@alerts.cpsenergy.com
Sender's Contact Phone: 2103536079

I'm glad CPS Energy is stepping up the efforts on customer notifications. Hopefully we never will receive these types of notifications as consumers.

Voice Mail added below:

Transcription: (kinda funny)
Information This is a test message for customers from the new C P. S, Energy alert system. There is no emergency at this time this new system will be used for system wide emergency power outage notifications, only. This message was sent to the contact information listed for your account. More information about the new system and customizing your contact information is available on our website. Yo, center left the following contact information. Your phone number 210. Yeah 353. Yeah 6079 yeah if you thanks bye.

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david AT&T Caps DSL and U-Verse and Adds Overages May 1st, 2011 3:31:34 pm - Subscribe

I was listening to Leo Laporte today and the discussion was on AT&T Capping DSL and U-Verse and evening imposing overages. Below is the break down of the caps.

AT&T Caps DSL and U-Verse and Adds Overages

AT&T will be adding a 150GB monthly cap on landline DSL customers

AT&T will be adding a 250GB monthly cap on subscribers to U-Verse.

This all starts on May 2nd (Tomorrow), and overage fees start at an additional $10.00 for every 50GB that you exceed.

My recommendation is if you are an AT&T customer and are afraid of these overages when streaming movies, music, and viewing all other types of media...seek out another provider. There are smaller companies (ISP's) that offer internet services with no data caps.

A great community that I have been going to for years is dslreports.com | Go check them out.

As stated by AT&T:

quote:
We are committed to providing a great experience for all of our Internet customers. Less than 2 percent of our Internet customers could be impacted by this approach - those who are using a disproportionate amount of bandwidth. We will communicate early and often with these customers so they are well aware of their options before they incur any additional usage charges.

The top 2 percent of residential subscribers uses about 20 percent of the bandwidth on our network. Just one of these high-traffic users can utilize the same amount of data capacity as 19 typical households. Lopsided usage patterns can cause congestion at certain points in the network, which can slow Internet speeds and interfere with other customers' access to and use of the network. Our new plan addresses another concern: customers strongly believe that only those who use the most bandwidth should pay more than those who don't use as much. That's exactly what this does – and again, 98% of our customers will not be impacted by this.

Leave your thoughts below.

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Music: The Tech Guy at live.twit.tv

david Hard Boiled Egg Gone Wrong for Easter Holiday Apr 24th, 2011 5:17:05 pm - Subscribe

A friend on Facebook posted this image of an hardboiled egg over boiled. I thought it was only proper to post it for the Easter Holiday. This has nothing to do with tech, but a lot to do with science.

For more on this topic read at The Food Lab: Perfect Boiled Eggs At Serious Eats.

Elevations Approximate Temperature of boiling water

Sea Level 212 degrees F

2,000 feet 208 degrees F

5,000 feet 203 degrees F

7,500 feet 198 degrees F

10,000 feet 194 degrees F

Happy Egg Boiling, on this Easter Sunday.

External Links:

Boil an Egg

How to cook a hard boiled egg – really its not that difficult

Happy holidays!

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Music: Imogen Heap - Hide and Seek

david When to Use PNG Images and Not JPEG Apr 24th, 2011 2:11:29 pm - Subscribe

This article explains when and when not to use JPEG in comparison to a PNG file. I personally use JPEG only because speed to me is more important than the pretty of an image. (only for serving this blog to my users)

When to Use PNG and not JPEG:

Use PNG for Illustrations

Use PNG for Screenshots

Use PNG for Text

Use PNG for WebComics where bright graphics are impordent

Use PNG on Graphs

Use PNG on Logos

Use JPEG only when you are displaying an image that was NOT created by a computer program. Eg: Photoshop, Illustrator, Gimp, etc. So what is an image that was not created by a computer program? Well, for the most part a digital camera, scanned photos, and other portrait type images. Keep in mind that PNG files are usually larger in disk size, and should not be used to replace JPEG for digital photos.

Many thanks to dailycupoftech.com for the illustration.

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Music: They Tech Guy - Live

david We Rule People Turn into Rabbits for Easter Holiday Apr 24th, 2011 1:33:25 pm - Subscribe

ngmoco:) today turned the We Rule People Turn into Rabbits for Easter.

This is not the first time we have seen something like this by ngmoco:) on We Rule. Previously we have seen ngmoco:) display the people on We Rule as frogs on April 1st for April Fools. Though I have only had the iPad since the day of the release and never played We Rule, I have yet to see any other Easter Eggs from ngmoco:).

Has anyone else? Oh by the way should you want to you can feel free to add me as a friend on Plus+. My username is davidpolanco.

Have a wonderful Easter Holiday!

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Music: Tech News Today 227: We Need More Boatloads

david Sony PSP Go Looks Like Eric Cartman Apr 24th, 2011 12:22:07 pm - Subscribe

This entry is simply something I over heard on Tech News Today. The Sony PSP Go Looks Like Eric Cartman.

It's true! The Sony Playstation PSP Go does look like Eric Cartman from South Park on Comedy Central. For those of you who can see it, its hard to never see it again, and for those of you who can't see it. Look a little harder.

Well it was also said on Tech News Today (Episode 225) that the Sony PSP Go will no longer be offered by Sony. Sony has pulled the plug on the PSP Go, but will still offer bug fixes and firmware updates.

The Sony PSP Go is gone.

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Music: Tech News Today 225: Dont Get A Bug On VD Day

david Time Warner Cable iPad App Adds 10 New Channels Apr 16th, 2011 1:24:16 pm - Subscribe

Just added late yesterday afternoon, Time Warner Cable Adds 10 Channels to Apple iPad App.

As stated Time Warner Cable has added 10 channels to its TWCable TV™ iPad™ App, including:

Fox News

Animal Planet

Sundance Channel

National Geographic

Wedding Central

Discovery Channel

Lifetime Real Women

TLC

Military History Channel

You can see the full lineup of over 50 channels here.

And you can get more information on the iPad App at www.IWantMyTWCableTVApp.com or www.TWCableUntangled.com.

Remember that you'll have access only to video channels in the tier to which you subscribe. Not available in Hawaii. Standard Cable TV req'd. WiFi connection to 1.5Mbps Road Runner Broadband or Earthlink Cable connection req'd. Parental controls not yet available.

iPad with iOS 4 is required. Apple, the Apple logo and iTunes are trademarks of Apple Inc.,registered in the U.S. and other countries. iPad™ is a trademark of Apple Inc. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc. Content purchased from the iTunes Store is for personal lawful use only.

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david Time Warner Cable iPad App Adds 7 New Channels Apr 7th, 2011 5:59:21 pm - Subscribe

I received a notice from Time Warner stating that they would be releasing more channels to their Time Warner iPad Application.

As of April 7th, we're adding 7 new channels to the TWCable TV™ App for iPad™:

Oxygen

History en Español

Lifetime

Crime & Investigation Network

History International

Reelz Channel

The Biography Channel

This brings the total number of channels now available to over 50, and we're working hard every day to add more channels to this unique application. You can see the full lineup here.

We'll keep you updated as more channels and features are added, and you can keep up-to-date on the latest information at www.IWantMyTWCableTVApp.com or www.TWCableUntangled.com.

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david Time Warner Extreme Ubee Modem and Networking Problems Fix Apr 6th, 2011 7:59:43 pm - Subscribe

* Updated 04.08.11 5:38 CST

This entry explains the issues that I have with the Time Warner Extreme Ubee Modem and the Networking Problems that are now resolved.

Recently I subscribed to the Time Warner Road Runner Extreme cable service. I was told that I would be able to have service 1 day later so I scheduled a tech to come out. I took time off and the Time Warner Cable Technician came out to install my new Extreme Service.

While he was here him and I discussed my current configuration and I mentioned to him how I would like to continue to utilize my current network setup.

My network setup before Time Warner consisted of a issued Moterola Modem (not wireless) and my own Linksys WRT54G.

Him and I navigated directly to the modem at http://192.168.0.1| and we disabled the wireless capabilities of the Ubee. Boom my the modem then defaulted to my Linksys WRT54G for wireless. I didn't think much after that, being that the internet was up and having the false satisfaction that my network would be as well.

Until...
At work I tried to access my homes network configuration through VPN, and I had no luck. I tried remote services, and it did not work. I tried to ping my hosted No-IP / DNS and nothing. What the heck?!

Today I contacted Time Warner Cable and spoke to a gentleman named Barry. He said that he would see if he could issue me another modem with out wireless internet like the Ubee DDW3611 that was issued to me. When he came back on the line he stated that. "No sir, this is all that we have for Time Warner Extreme, currently all you can do is down grade your service to Time Warner Turbo.".

I talked with my friend Jim Worthen and he stated that in my router we could by pass the Ubee's Firewall by doing the following.

Disable Ubee Modem's Networking Capability

Navigate to: http://192.168.0.1(Ubee Modem)

Click on Gateway

Under Basic Gateway Setup

Click DMZ Host

You will be presented with Advanced Gateway - DMZ Host (Exposed Host)

Ping the Networks WAN

Enter the last subnet digit(s)

Apply

After that was done I restarted my router, and my network was all setup up. The Ubee Modem is now a Modem, and NOT the default wireless router. All ports are properly forwarded, Open DNS is in charge of my DNS, and Wireless settings are in charge.

Here is a question that was emailed to me:

quote:
David- Read your great post about your experience with Time Warner and the Ubee Modem/Router. Was hoping you may be able to give me a little more detailed instructions

Need better instructions below
# You will be presented with Advanced Gateway - DMZ Host (Exposed Host)
# Ping the Networks WAN
# Enter the last subnet digit(s)
# Apply
I've been in Ubee Hell the past few days. I'm ready to go back to my 'turbo' connection.

Have you gathered anymore information since your post? I was looking at other DOCSIS 3.0 modems but wasn\'t sure if they would work with TW

Thanks,
Steve Widmann
Temple, Texas

Response from Jim Worthen
I am the one who assisted David with this. I would be happy to help you out. The goal here is to make the DMZ pass through to another router (which you should have). The DMZ port on the modem basically says, "Pass all traffic, unhindered to this item" which would then allow your preferred router (non-ubee) to handle the traffic.

I am not sure of how your setup is, but if you reply with what your goal is, IE Ubee -> Router (let me know what your router type is). I would be more then happy to help you get the setup up and running.

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david How Page Speed & Load Time Effects SEO Apr 6th, 2011 3:46:43 pm - Subscribe

Article contains information on how page speed load times can effect SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

Well many of us who design for the web would not obviously think that our web page speed would play a role in Search Engine Optimization, but it does. For those of you who already know this please bare with me.

How Page Speed Effects SEO
Google recently released page speed in the efforts that webmasters and developers optimize thier web pages for the best user experience. Why is this impordent to Google? Well think about it, if you go to a website and the page takes 15 seconds to fully load what are the chances that you will view it's content? Not likely.

It's important to Google to give you the best, fastest, most relative content first and foremost before all others. Google's algorithm only that judges page rank and SERP only constitutes for a small bit of SEO, but that small bit can place you above your competitors, and at the end of the day...isn't that what we all want?

So what can I do to improve my page speed and lower your page load times for your users? Well it's best that I list them out.

Optimize your CSS code

Optimize your images for speed

Optimize your javascript code

Optimize your web server (apache mod_pagespeed)

Get rid of un-needed line breaks

GZIP your website's pages.

Use images sparingly

Use flash content sparingly per page

Stay aware from slow loading ad servers (if you have ads you our pages)

It is said that Google expects that all pages (especially ecommerce domains) Optimize their web pages to 15k. Yes, that's right 15 kilobytes! Pretty crazy huh?

As always if you have any comments feel free to comment and I will do my best to respond to your questions.

Tool's to improve your Page Speed

Google Page Speed Online Labs

Google Page Speed Extension for Chrome

Google Page Speed Extension for Fire Fox

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