7 Strategic Ways to Seek Startup PR | Business 2 Community

? by picturing_it

It feels great to be covered by the media, but unless there?s a business goal for getting press, it often doesn?t lead to any useful outcome ? aside from allaying your parents? fears that you don?t have a real job.

Often, the goal of PR for startups is not for the obvious reasons. Here are the 7 objectives I?ve seen startups reach using PR ? and how you can apply them to your strategy.

Goal #1: User or customer acquisition

This is the most common reason startups seek press, but it?s often misguided, or entrepreneurs? expectations are set too high. Viral and word-of-mouth marketing are usually more powerful channels for startups, but press is a great way to get the loop going. Every virus needs a patient zero.

Jason M. Lemkin, the CEO and founder of EchoSign wrote that press, ?mainly TechCrunch? along with networking, ?over time generated perhaps 25 percent of our first $100k [in annualized revenue] directly or indirectly.? After about a year, EchoSign?s top source of new revenue was viral.

Where to target: Whatever your perspective customers or users read. A tool for small business might pitch Inc., while a sports app could target ESPN.

Goal #2: Boosting SEO rankings

If you know anything about search engines post-AltaVista, you know your site will be ranked more highly based on how many credible sites link to it. Getting wide press coverage across a verity of press outlets is a great way to build links. If this is your goal, make sure the press outlet actually links to your company. If they don?t, email the journalist after the article is published and politely ask them add a link to their mention.

It?s even better if you can get linked to from articles that have SEO friendly-titles. Muck Rack still gets a lot of traffic from a 2009 article on Journalistics titled ?Where to Stalk Journalists on Twitter? since people keep discovering it for the first time via search.

Where to target: Focus on low-hanging fruit to build a lot of links. It?s often easier to get a quick hit in a publication?s online-only blog rather than its print or TV arms.

Goal #3: Building credibility and trust

Companies including Kickstarter and Mint list the press outlets that have covered them on their front page. Even Temple Run, one of the most popular iPhone games with over a million user ratings, lists press quotes on its App Store page. If they still need a credibility boost despite their tremendous scale, your tiny startup might too.

Where to target: Go for big names. It?s doubtful NPR is anywhere near the top traffic referrer for Kickstarter, but it?s the perfect endorsement for the crowd they?re targeting.

Goal #4: Attracting advertisers

If you?re a programmer building an ad-supported business, you?ll soon learn that media buyers don?t read Hacker News to learn how to do their job better like you do. They read their own set of ?ad rags? aimed at the mad men and women of today, and get ideas about which new companies to call up about their next ad buy. Even ubiquitous companies like Facebook and Twitter with little to gain in general notoriety from media will put a tremendous amount of effort to getting the right kind of coverage in Ad Age.

Where to target: Ad Age, Adweek and Digiday.

Goal #5: Raising money

Many venture capitalists and angel investors spend a tremendous about of time reading news about the industries they invest in. Union Square Venture?s Fred Wilson wrote, ?I do read news pretty much non stop throughout the day.? Prominent angel investor Chris Dixon went further and said, ?A person mentioning news that I didn?t know about, that is relevant to me, is a failure in my newsreading methods.?

A story can be aimed at investors perhaps by mentioning impressive usage metrics or key hires. VC associates who don?t have decision-making power may then reach out to you, so you?ll usually be better off getting introduced to a partner, but having well-timed press can generate more excitement as your meetings are happening.

Where to target: TechCrunch, PandoDaily, GigaOm and the Wall Street Journal.

Goal #6: Hiring strategies

Similar to investors, potential employees will want to get involved with companies they hear good things about. People actively looking for their next job will start reading almost as much as VCs.

Zendesk provided Business Insider with a tour of their office, which inevitably got turned into a slideshow with an impressive 70,000+ views. Potential customers won?t care much about Zendesk?s two fully-stocked kitchens, but it?s surely a nice recruiting tool.

Where to target: Whatever your potential employees read. If you?re hiring developers, aim for the sources that get quoted a lot in Hacker News and Techmeme.

Goal #7: Testing out a new idea

I recently met with the managing director of an accelerator that strives to adhere to the lean startup?s minimum viable product (MVP) philosophy. He lamented that the whole point of the MVP is to validate an idea or learn from users and customers, but many startups only get the products out to their friends and family for feedback. Without a bunch of users, and for consumer apps a wide variety of users, how can you know if your MVP?s right for the market? Imagine if Pinterest had relied only on their techie friends for feedback rather than getting it out more broadly across the country.

We?ve been able to use press coverage to quickly learn from users how to improve good products, and also to learn quickly if a product is a dud and needs to be completely rethought. The faster you get users the more quickly you can learn.

Where to target: Blogs that cover new product launches like The Next Web, BetaKit and Mashable.

PR?s not the answer to everything, and I?m not advocating you necessarily use PR for any of these functions since it depends on the dynamics of your startup.

But if you are going to use PR as many startups have done very effectively, it?s essential you know what you want to accomplish with it ? so that you get more than a Google Alert out of it.

Gregory Galant is the Co-Founder of Muck Rack, a social network for journalists and companies seeking press, and the executive producer of the Shorty Awards. To help fellow entrepreneurs, he also created Venture Voice, a podcast with the founders of Twitter, LinkedIn, The Vanguard Group and more. He is a mentor for TechStars NY. BusinessWeek named him one of the ?Best Young Tech Entrepreneurs of 2010.?

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only nonprofit organization comprised of the world?s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.

Source: http://www.business2community.com/public-relations/7-strategic-ways-to-seek-startup-pr-0361857

buckyballs buckyballs awake mario batali lone ranger aaron brooks dave matthews band

Super-Tasting Science: Find Out if You're a Supertaster!

A taste test from Science Buddies

By Science Buddies

To supertasters, the flavors of foods are much stronger than to average tasters. Image: flickr/veteze.com

• 

  How does a Venus flytrap know when to snap shut? Can it actually feel an insect?s tiny, spindly legs? And how do cherry blossoms know when to bloom? Can they...

  Read More??

Introduction
Have you ever noticed that some people are a lot pickier about the food they eat than other people are? They might be more selective because they are supertasters! To supertasters, the flavors of foods are much stronger than to average tasters. Whether or not someone is a supertaster comes down to the taste buds on his or her tongue, and you can actually investigate a person's supertaster status by looking at this. Are you a supertaster? Find out with this tongue-based activity!
??
Background
Do you hate the taste of broccoli? Or think that grapefruit is extremely bitter? If so, you may be able to blame it on your taste buds! Taste buds, located on small bumps on the tongue called fungiform papillae, are each made up of about 50 to 150 taste receptor cells. On the surface of these cells are receptors that bind to small molecules related to flavor. Each receptor is best at sensing a single flavor: sweet, salty, bitter, sour, or umami. The sum total of these sensations is the "taste" of the food.

The number of taste buds varies from person to person. People who have relatively more taste buds are called supertasters. To supertasters, foods may have much stronger flavors, which often leads to supertasters having very strong likes and dislikes for different foods. Supertasters often report that foods like broccoli, cabbage, spinach, grapefruit and coffee taste very bitter. The opposite of supertasters are non-tasters. Non-tasters have very few taste buds and, to them, most food may seem bland and unexciting. The people in the middle are average tasters. Which kind of taster do you think you are? What about your friends and family?

Materials

• Paper-hole reinforcers (one for each volunteer)?or clean wax paper, a standard hole puncher and scissors (instructions below)
• Water and soap
• At least five volunteers (such as friends and family)
• Blue food coloring
• One glass of water for each volunteer
• Magnifying glass
• A bright light or flashlight
• Scrap of paper and a pen or pencil

Preparation

• If you do not have paper-hole reinforcers, wash your hands with soap, take a clean piece of wax paper, and punch one hole in it for each volunteer. Cut out each hole so that you have at least five, small wax paper "rings."

Procedure

• Wash your hands thoroughly with soap.
• Have the first volunteer open his or her mouth. Place a drop of blue food coloring on the tip of his or her tongue. Do not let the tip of the food coloring tube touch the volunteer's tongue.
• Have the volunteer take a mouthful of water, swish it around in his or her mouth, and then spit it out.
• Ask the volunteer to make his or her tongue relatively dry by swallowing a couple of times. The remaining dye should stain all of the tongue blue except for the fungiform papillae, which will look like relatively large, lighter blue or pink bumps (in a sea of dark blue). These papillae are where the taste buds are.
• Put a wax paper ring (that you prepared) or a paper-hole reinforcer on the tip of the volunteer's tongue, in the area that has been dyed.
• Using a magnifying glass under bright light, count the number of papillae within the hole. How many papillae are within the hole? Write this number down along with the volunteer's name. Tip: Don't count the really tiny bumps ? just count the larger ones.
• Your volunteer can now remove the paper ring or paper-hole reinforcer from his or her tongue.
• Repeat the entire procedure with at least four more volunteers. Before testing each volunteer, wash your hands thoroughly with soap, and use a new cup with fresh water for each person. If you want to try this on yourself, have someone else count your papillae, or count them in a mirror.
• How many papillae did most people have? Did people have different amounts of papillae, with some having a lot more than others? Knowing that if a person has more than 30 papillae they are considered a supertaster, were there any supertasters in your volunteer group? If so, how many?
• Extra: Repeat this activity with at least 25 more volunteers, for a total of at least 30 people. What percentage of people in this larger group turns out to be supertasters? What percentage are non-tasters, having fewer than 15 papillae? What percentage has between 15 and 30 papillae, and are average tasters?
• Extra: Try this activity again but this time use an equal number of male and female volunteers, with at least 15 of each. Do males and females have the same likelihood of being a supertaster?
• Extra: Look into how different foods, like spinach and chili peppers, taste to the different types of tasters. Based on this, can you make a taste-test to figure out who is a supertaster? Check how accurate your taste-test is by also counting the papillae for each person.
• Extra: You can use a person's body mass index (BMI, formulas for which can be found online) and their results from this activity to try to figure out if there is a correlation between people's weight and the type of taster they are (supertaster, non-taster, or average taster). Do you find a correlation? Are supertasters more likely to be underweight, average, or above weight?

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=26b2ce15e9c30cc1d961ff33fe2c2ffa

independent spirit awards 2012 jan brewer independent spirit awards 2012 oscar predictions jim jones tony stewart kurt busch

Concrete Patio Designs | Home Improvement | Patio Design Ideas

A good placement concrete patios can turn into extremely appealing areas of a certain landscape. If you achieve it correctly, concrete patio designs could possibly be very economic but attractive. Considering that concrete is actually long lasting, it?ll be capable to resist significant forces of weather. Home owners will enjoy this concrete patio plenty of years. Today?s, concrete is actually one of the most multipurpose building resources for patios, considering that most of the outdoor routines ? particularly in your backyards, get well carried out on concrete and you?ll effortlessly purchase it. Repairs and maintenance of the concrete is pretty simple as you have to do is wash and clean frequently.

There are many of well-known concrete patio designs where you could possibly choose to create your own design and style. You may use a smooth surface to the patio; you only need to make it softer by using a bit of acid etching and sandblast. A mix of both can produce good quality concrete patio flooring. Regardless of this, imprinting is another alternative to create concrete patio floor. It can be actually a method to produce a customized look over imprinting. Between the most commonly used imprinting recommendations are generally stones, plain/decorative tiles, wood or bricks. There is a way to adding permanent color towards the concrete is giving a bit of color in to the blend just before pouring it. There are lots of color choices; still smooth and also all-natural colors generally appear excellent to handle with concrete improving patio. Various other wonderful options might be shades among light grey or cream-colored and smooth peach.

We will consider the staining alternative right now. Many folks discover concrete staining a good choice for toning his or her concrete or wood floor appear completely new, great-looking and also making an matured seem greatly quite like all natural stones. Furthermore, staining may possibly also shield the concrete from numerous severity of rough weather. Stain coats sometimes need to be put on the concrete to shield from sunlight, rainfall, or any other bad weather which usually decrease the colors that are being used. Some individuals discover ?scoring? valuable. It?s all around producing designs of elegant squares and is thus an alternative idea between stunning concrete patio designs. Squares could possibly be designed with many different shapes or dimensions.

Recommended suggestion is to begin with square designs ranging among eighteen and twenty four inches. To prevent your concrete becoming cracked all the construction hinge or joints it must be combined with each other within the scoring design. Doing this way, the structuring process can mix properly with bigger ranges of landscape design patios and also decks with swimming pool. Stamped concrete is one more option. Almost, people discover this kind of design attractive, because these patterns tend to be easily reachable. It?s all around pouring the piece concrete to the patio and after that impressing different of designs or texture ahead of things become tough and also dried out.

Today?s, almost all of the folks are considering using concrete for improving and decorating their house. The best factor regarding concrete is that you could set a variety of shapes, colors and also textures which can be very easy to design. This can get quite tough as well as simple to manage giving you have correctly used the procedure. Make use of your creativity to create the perfect appearance concrete patio designs.

Posts related to Concrete Patio Designs

Concrete Paint

Many homeowners report that their concrete does not look good for that first, and indeed some concrete looks lost and become cracked and dimples and ...

The Benefit of Using Polished Concrete as Flooring

In a country, as the business man growing, the economy will also growing, thus the building of company or trade building is also growing. So, ...

Paver Patio Designs

What choices have you got regarding paver patio designs? Patio pavers actually would be the rocks which give consumer with a smooth beauty for landscape ...

A Concrete Way To Raise Your Home's Profile

Increasingly, home owners looking for cheap ways to make their homes more livable and increase curb appeal with eye toward resale is embracing the national ...

Wooden Houses

A house is the abode of the human kind. A house is a place where people unwind after a hard day of work, relax and ...

Learn more about Patio Design Ideas

Patio design ideas is a term that homeowner always looking for when it comes to redesign or construct the patio?s. Construction outdoor patios offer numerous ...

Source: http://www.atarimdesign.com/concrete-patio-designs.html

Allyson Felix Kourtney Kardashian Baby Girl Ashton Eaton London 2012 basketball London 2012 Slalom Canoe Alex Morgan Misty May Treanor

CAR rebels say they don't intend to seize capital

BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) ? A leader for the rebels seizing towns across Central African Republic said Wednesday that his fighters do not intend to advance on the capital and remain open to dialogue with the government.

The announcement comes as fear grows in Bangui, a city of about 600,000 people, that government forces could face off against rebels here.

While the rebels have taken hold of at least 10 towns, the closest one is still 385 kilometers (240 miles) away.

Rebel Col. Djouma Narkoyo said Wednesday that his forces have continued taking towns in recent days because government forces are attacking their positions.

"Our intention is not to take Bangui," he said, when reached by phone. "We still remain open to dialogue."

There is unease, though, in the capital of Bangui. Residents here say they're skeptical about the claim the rebels don't intend to try and seize this city.

"We are afraid by what we see happening in our country right now," said Leon Modomale, a civil servant in the capital. "It's as if the rebels are going to arrive in Bangui any moment now because there are too many contradictions in their language."

Protesters gathered outside the French and U.S. embassies in Bangui on Wednesday, calling on the countries to help halt the rebel advance.

The rebel advance began earlier this month, with a push by the Union for the Democratic Forces for Unity, known by its French acronym of UFDR in this former French colony.

The group signed an April 13, 2007 peace accord, which paved the way for the fighters to join the regular army, an accord that the group's leaders say was never properly implemented.

Central African Republic is a desperately poor, landlocked country that has suffered numerous rebellions since independence from France.

Despite the nation's wealth of gold, diamonds, timber and uranium, the government remains perpetually cash-strapped.

U.S. special forces troops have deployed to Central African Republic among other countries in the region in the hunt for Joseph Kony, the fugitive rebel leader of the notorious Lord's Resistance Army.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/car-rebels-dont-intend-seize-capital-151130464.html

breaking bad breaking bad food network star British Open 2012 bane Aurora Colorado Rajesh Khanna

France: Protecting interests, not regime in CAR

BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) ? French President Francois Hollande said Thursday that France wants to protect its interests in Central African Republic and not a regime, casting doubt that the former colonial power will come to the aid of the government facing a rapid rebel offensive.

The rebels already have seized at least 10 towns across the sparsely populated north of this deeply impoverished country, and residents in the capital of 600,000 people now fear the insurgents could attack at any time.

On Wednesday, protesters threw rocks at the French Embassy in Bangui, the capital, criticizing France for failing to do more.

About 200 French soldiers are already in the country, providing technical and logistical support and helping to train the local army, according to the French defense ministry.

France, though, is focusing its efforts for the time being on encouraging peace talks.

"France is calling on all parties in the Central African Republic to negotiate in good faith at the talks that will begin shortly in Libreville (Gabon)," the French foreign ministry said Thursday.

Central African Republic has suffered decades of army revolts, coups and rebellions since it gained independence in 1960. The rebels behind the most recent instability signed a 2007 peace accord, allowing them to join the regular army, but the group's leaders say the deal wasn't fully implemented.

The rebel Union for the Democratic Forces for Unity, known by its French acronym of UFDR, claims its attacks are justified in light of the "thirst for justice, for peace, for security and for economic development of the people of Central African Republic."

Among their demands is that the government make payments to ex-combatants, suggesting that their motives may also be for personal financial gain.

Rebel Col. Djouma Narkoyo insisted Wednesday that "our intention is not to take Bangui. We still remain open to dialogue."

Bangui residents, though, are skeptical.

"We are afraid by what we see happening in our country right now," said Leon Modomale, a civil servant in the capital. "It's as if the rebels are going to arrive in Bangui any moment now because there are too many contradictions in their language."

President Francois Bozize, a former military commander, came to power in a 2003 rebel war that ousted his predecessor, Ange-Felix Patasse.

Despite the nation's wealth of gold, diamonds, timber and uranium, the government remains perpetually cash-strapped.

U.S. special forces troops have deployed to Central African Republic among other countries in the region to assist in the hunt for Joseph Kony, the fugitive rebel leader of the notorious Lord's Resistance Army.

___

Associated Press writers Lori Hinnant in Paris and Krista Larson in Dakar, Senegal contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/france-protecting-interests-not-regime-car-091633565.html

aaliyah Empire State Building shooting Republican National Convention Karlie Redd guild wars 2 adrian gonzalez Jerry Nelson

Iraq: New protests break out in Sunni heartland

RAMADI, Iraq (AP) ? Thousands of Iraqi demonstrators massed in a Sunni-dominated province west of Baghdad Wednesday, determined to keep up the pressure on a Shiite-led government that many accuse of trying to marginalize them.

It was the third major protest in less than a week in Anbar, Iraq's largest province, once the heart of the deadly Sunni insurgency that erupted after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

The unrest is part of a larger picture of sectarian conflicts that threaten the stability of the country, a year after the last U.S. troops left.

The demonstrations follow the arrest last week of 10 bodyguards assigned to Finance Minister Rafia al-Issawi, who comes from Anbar and is one of the central government's most senior Sunni officials. The case is exacerbating tensions with Iraq's Sunnis, who see the detentions as politically motivated.

Protesters turned out Wednesday near the provincial capital Ramadi, 115 kilometers (70 miles) west of Baghdad. The city and nearby Fallujah were the scenes of some of the deadliest fighting between U.S. troops and Iraqi insurgents.

Demonstrators gathered along a highway linking Baghdad with neighboring Jordan and Syria. They held banners demanding that Sunni rights be respected and calling for the release of Sunni prisoners in Iraqi jails. "We warn the government not to draw the country into sectarian conflict," read one. Another declared: "We are not a minority."

Al-Issawi made an appearance at the rally, arriving in a long convoy of black SUVs protected by heavily armed bodyguards. He condemned last week's raid on his office and rattled off a list of grievances aimed at Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government.

"Injustice, marginalization, discrimination and double standards, as well as the politicization of the judiciary system and a lack of respect for partnership, law and constitution ... have all turned our neighborhoods in Baghdad into huge prisons surrounded by concrete blocks," he declared.

Iraq's majority Shiites rose to power following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated regime, though the country's minority Sunni Arabs and Kurds do hold some posts in the government.

Many Sunnis see the arrest of the finance minister's guards as the latest in a series of moves by the Shiite prime minister against their sect and other perceived political opponents. Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, one of the country's highest-ranking Sunni politicians, is now living in exile in Turkey after being handed multiple death sentences for allegedly running death squads ? a charge he dismisses as politically motivated.

"This sit-in will remain open-ended until the demonstrators' demands are met, and until the injustice against ends," cleric Hamid al-Issawi told The Associated Press at the protest. He accused al-Maliki's government of trying to create rifts between Sunnis and Shiites.

"These practices are aimed at drawing the country into a sectarian conflict again by creating crisis and targeting prominent national figures," the cleric said.

Al-Maliki has defended the arrests of the finance minister's guards as legal and based on warrants issued by judicial authorities. He also recently warned against a return to sectarian strife in criticizing the responses of prominent Sunni officials to the detentions.

In a recent statement, the prime minister dismissed the rhetoric as political posturing ahead of provincial elections scheduled for April and warned his opponents not to forget the dark days of sectarian fighting "when we used to collect bodies and chopped heads from the streets."

The political tensions are rising at a sensitive time. Iraq's ailing President Jalal Talabani is incapacitated following a serious stroke last week and is being treated in a German hospital. The 79-year-old president, an ethnic Kurd, is widely seen as a unifying figure with the clout to mediate among the country's ethnic and sectarian groups.

Also Wednesday, the United Nations mission to Iraq said its monitors have determined that a hospital that treated a member of an Iranian exile group who died this week at a refugee camp near Baghdad did not consider his health condition serious enough to warrant hospitalization when he arrived for treatment in November.

An organization representing the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq exile group on Monday accused Iraqi authorities of preventing 56-year-old Behrooz Rahimian from being hospitalized, and alleged that the U.N. failed to take sufficient steps to intervene. Iraq considers the MEK a terrorist group and wants its members out of the country.

The U.N. mission in Baghdad said in a statement Wednesday that it "does not have any indication so far that treatment was obstructed by the Iraqi authorities." It noted that representatives for the refugee residents told U.N. monitors that Rahimian "appeared to be in good condition until the time of his death."

___

Associated Press writers Adam Schreck and Sinan Salaheddin contributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iraq-protests-break-sunni-heartland-094604805.html

pfizer signing day 2012 football gasland college football recruiting bjork national signing day 2012 landon collins

Toyota seeks to settle acceleration cases for $1.1 billion

DETROIT (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp plans to spend $1.1 billion to resolve sweeping U.S. class-action litigation over claims that millions of its vehicles accelerate unintentionally, as the Japanese automaker looks to turn the page on the biggest safety crisis in its history.

About 16 million Toyota, Lexus and Scion vehicles sold in the United States spanning the model years 1998 to 2010 are covered by the action, according to court filings made public on Wednesday. Thirty nameplates are affected, including the top-selling Toyota Camry midsize sedan and Corolla compact car.

Toyota, the No. 3 automaker in the U.S. market, admitted no fault in proposing the settlement, one of the largest of U.S. mass class-action litigation in the automotive sector. Investors snapped up shares of Toyota and its stock rose 2 percent in early trading.

"This was a difficult decision, especially since reliable scientific evidence and multiple independent evaluations have confirmed the safety of Toyota's electronic throttle control systems," Christopher Reynolds, general counsel for Toyota Motor Sales, USA, said in a statement.

"However, we concluded that turning the page on this legacy legal issue through the positive steps we are taking is in the best interests of the company, our employees, our dealers and, most of all, our customers."

The figure eclipses other settlements in the auto industry including Bridgestone Corp's $240 million payout to Ford Motor Co in 2005 over Ford's massive Firestone tire safety recall in 2001. Ford replaced 13 million Firestone tires, installed mostly as original equipment on the company's popular Explorer SUV, in one of the biggest recalls in U.S. history.

Toyota said it would take a one-time pretax charge of $1.1 billion to cover the costs. The company said it plans to book the charge as operating expenses in its October-December third quarter.

Hagens Berman, the law firm representing Toyota owners who brought the lawsuit in 2010, issued a statement saying that the settlement was valued between $1.2 billion and $1.4 billion. In a memo filed in court, the lawyers said the settlement was "a landmark, if not a record, settlement in automobile defect class action litigation in the United States."

Toyota's recall of more than 10 million vehicles between 2009 and 2011 hurt the company's reputation for reliability and safety. Toyota faces an estimated $10 billion in potential civil liability in U.S. courts, for consumer fraud, personal injury and wrongful death claims stemming from acceleration complaints.

Wednesday's $1.1. billion settlement does not cover the wrongful death or injury claims.

LINGERING EFFECTS

The effect of the recalls on sales and loyalty remains "difficult to isolate," IHS Automotive analyst Rebecca Lindland said.

"A lot of their growth through the early 2000s were first-time Toyota buyers," she said. "Those are the people that were most vulnerable to saying, 'I'll never own a Toyota again.' The long term effects won't fully be realized until all of the cars that have been impacted by the recall have been retired."

The biggest safety crisis in Toyota's history began to get public notice in August 2009 when an off-duty California Highway Patrol officer Mark Saylor and three members of his family were killed in a Lexus ES 350 that crashed at a high speed.

A separate lawsuit over the death of the Saylor family was settled out of court. A handful of wrongful death and personal injury cases are still pending, but the vast majority of the litigation over this issue will be finished if the proposed settlement is approved, said a person with knowledge of the remaining lawsuits who wished to remain anonymous.

Within a half year of the Saylor family crash, Toyota President Akio Toyoda and other company executives were questioned in a high-profile U.S. Congressional hearing, and Toyoda made a public apology.

Toyota maintained all along that its electronic throttle control system was not at fault. It reiterated that on Wednesday.

A study by U.S. safety regulator the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and NASA found no link between the reports of unintended acceleration and Toyota's electronic throttle control system.

INCREASINGLY COMMON

The settlement, which must be approved by a California federal judge, includes direct payments to customers as well as the installation of a brake override system in more than 2.7 million vehicles, according to the settlement agreement filed in court.

The terms include a $250 million fund for former Toyota owners who sold vehicles at reduced prices and a separate $250 million fund for owners not eligible for the brake override system.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs are slated to receive up to $200 million in fees and $27 million in costs, according to court documents.

Richard Cupp, a professor at Pepperdine University School of Law, said the settlement was large for the automotive sector but was dwarfed by other litigation involving economic loss claims. State cases against the tobacco industry, for instance, amounted to more than $200 billion.

"That could mean that lawsuits like these could become increasingly common, even where there is not provable physical injury on large scale," Cupp said.

The case is In re: Toyota Motor Corp. Unintended Acceleration Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, U.S. District Court, Central District of California, No. 10-ml-02151.

(Reporting by Deepa Seetharaman and Bernie Woodall; Additional reporting by Dan Levine and Jonathan Stempel, and Yoko Kubota in Tokyo; Editing by Dan Grebler, Cynthia Osterman and Chris Gallagher)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/toyota-seeks-settle-acceleration-cases-1-1-billion-010149158--finance.html

nevada caucus ufc 143 what time does the super bowl start super bowl 2012 josephine baker ben gazzara nfl hall of fame 2012