Liberty Newsprint Jan-04-10 Edition

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03/01/10 - 04/01/10

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Bomb plot thrusts Obama into political storm By David Morgan (Front Row Washington)

on terror,” DeMint said. “But in the last few days, he seems to have come around to the Submitted at 1/4/2010 7:36:08 AM idea that there are people in President Barack Obama is Yemen and other places who are weathering a political storm over intent on hurting Americans,” the last month’s suspected al Qaeda lawmaker added. plot to bomb a Detroit-bound A completely different picture p l a n e , p a r t i c u l a r l y f r o m comes from Bob Woodward, the Republicans who say he dropped Pulitzer-winning journalist who the ball on security while chronicled Republican George pursuing healthcare and climate W. Bush’s response to the Sept. r e f o r m s . B u t h o w m u c h 11 attacks. substance there is behind the “The new administration is allegations may depend on who’s taking a very aggressive stance talking. on these matters and perhaps Republican Sen. Jim DeMint of e v e n m o r e t h a n t h e B u s h South Carolina told NBC’s administration, doing more about Today show that he believes the al Qaeda sanctuaries in places Obama just woke up to the like Yemen,” Woodward told gravity of the al Qaeda threat. ABC’s Good Morning America. “A lot of us have been concerned That view comes from reporting over the last year that the Woodward says he is doing for a president did seem to downplay new book on the Obama White the threat of terror. He doesn’t House. use the word anymore. He Meanwhile, DeMint says he hesitates to say that there is a war wants to eliminate politics from

the security debate. That means not blaming Obama or members of the president’s team for security lapses, at least not for now. It also means retaining his hold on the Senate confirmation of Erroll Southers, Obama’s nominee for the Transportation Security Administration. DeMint blocked that nomination out of concern that Southers would unionize the TSA. “What I’ve asked for is just some debate and a recorded vote,” he

Five New Year's resolutions for Google By Tom Krazit (Webware.com) Submitted at 1/4/2010 4:00:00 AM

Stakes are high at Google entering 2010, as it attempts to maintain one of the Internet's greatest cash machines while

pushing into new and risky markets. Originally posted at Relevant Results

told NBC. “This is all about politics and not security. What I want is a few hours of debate on Mr. Southers to help focus the nation back on security and get this politics, particularly union politics, out of our security apparatus.” TSA’s job is to protect all modes of transportation, not just air travel. That breadth of responsibility could be important now that the Detroit bomb plot has put all the focus on airport security. “Al Qaeda has capabilities to do other things. How about trains? How about buses?” Woodward said. “You can’t fight the last terrorist attack.” Photo Credit: Reuters/Hugh Gentry (Obama) Click here for more Reuters political coverage

New Touchless Mobile Interface Could Eliminate Fingerprint Smudging Forever [Displays] By Sean Fallon (Gizmodo) Submitted at 1/4/2010 10:10:00 AM

Tokyo University had developed a touchless interface that can register 3D motion of a human finger using a single camera. Think of it like Project Natal, only with cellphones. The camera requires video capture at 154 fps—so the handful of cellphones out there with forward-facing cameras will not be able to handle the technology. However, it is certainly plausible down the line. The question is, will anyone want it? I mean, fingerprint smudging is a pain in the ass and everything, but I don't want to be the guy walking down the street wildly flailing my fingers in the air like some sort of lunatic. Plus, it seems like it would be difficult to use in general. [ Gigazine via Intomobile via Geek]

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Counting population: Census road tour begins By Tabassum Zakaria (Front Row Washington) Submitted at 1/4/2010 10:25:57 AM

Road trip! The Census Bureau on Monday launched the “2010 Census Portrait of America Road Tour” to reach out and convince everyone living in the United States to be counted in its once-adecade population survey, which can alter political districts and affect where billions of dollars in federal funds are spent. The tour set off from New York City and will include 13 vehicles visiting about 800 events around the country over four months, including the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras. Vehicle updates can be followed on Twitter@2010Portrait and on Facebook, MySpace, Flickr and YouTube. The 10-question survey will be mailed to every home in America in March with a return deadline of April 1, regardless of the resident’s citizenship. If the questionnaire is not mailed back by late April, then Census Bureau surveyors start knocking on doors to try to get the information face-to-face. “That’s a very expensive thing for us to do,” Census Bureau Director Robert Groves told Reuters in a telephone interview. For every one percentage point

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Alastair Campbell to appear before Chilcot inquiry (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk) Submitted at 1/4/2010 10:14:53 AM

Tony Blair's former head of communications to answer questions next week about run-up to war in Iraq Tony Blair's former head of communications, Alastair Campbell, is to appear before the Iraq inquiry next week, it was announced today. Campbell will give evidence to of the population that returns the what it’s become, what it looks the inquiry, chaired by the retired survey, the government saves like, how it’s changed,” he said. senior civil servant Sir John about $85 million, he said. “So “And it sets up a discussion Chilcot, on 12 January. Public hearings resume it’s really important to turn that every decade in this society about in, if you’re worried about the what we’re becoming, how tomorrow at the Queen Elizabeth federal deficit and things like we’ve changed, what the future I I c o n f e r e n c e c e n t r e i n that.” might bear. And that’s a good Westminster after the Christmas The effort is aimed at producing thing for the country to do every break. a population count, as required once in a while, and the Census Mr Campbell is likely to face by the U.S. Constitution, by the allows it to happen,” Groves said. questions about his role in end of the year to determine The Census Bureau website compiling the government's representation in the U.S. House includes guidance on filling out of Representatives for each state. the survey in 59 languages. Population also determines how For more Reuters political news, much money different areas click here receive from some federal Photo credit: Reuters/Lucas programs. “The distribution of J a c k s o n ( N e w Y e a r ’ s E v e By Stephen Shankland $400 billion a year is determined celebration in New York’s Times (Webware.com) by Census count,” Groves said. Square), Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi Submitted at 1/4/2010 5:58:00 AM The less tangible reasons are (reveler wearing 2010 glasses IE and Firefox slip in usage from also important. “After every New Year’s Eve) November to December, while Census the society is reminded of

dossier on Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction. As one of Mr Blair's closest advisers throughout that period, he is also likely to be asked more generally about the government's attitude in the build-up to war. Mr Blair himself is one of a number of ministers, past and present, due to give evidence over the coming weeks. Sir John has decided that Gordon Brown will not be called to give evidence until after the general election. • Alastair Campbell • Iraq • Tony Blair • Politics and Iraq guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Chrome passes Safari in browser usage Chrome's growth outpaces Safari's. Still, Chrome 4.0 might not get out of beta as soon as planned. Originally posted at Deep Tech

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First Lady proposes coup as Obama family finishes Hawaii vacation By Jeff Mason (Front Row Washington) Submitted at 1/3/2010 10:21:53 PM

All good things must come to an end, including presidential vacations. After several golf games, beach days and dinners out, President Barack Obama and his family are leaving Hawaii to head back to

Washington and the waiting White House. Unless First Lady Michelle Obama has anything to say about it, that is. “I’m trying to mount a coup,” Mrs. Obama joked to reporters about staying in the sunny island state. “Are we all in?” The president may wish that coup had succeeded when he gets

back to Washington on Monday. A debate about U.S. national security in the wake of the attempted bombing of a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day awaits him upon his return. The president spent about 11 days in Hawaii, the state where he grew up, mixing family time with work time. On Friday he took his girls,

Sasha and Malia, for “shave ice” — a kind of snow cone that is a local trademark. (For those who were wondering, Obama does not take his shave ice with beans at the bottom — that is an option — but does take a scoop of ice cream.) Sunday he started the day off with a golf game and ended it with a visit to the zoo, where

Mrs. Obama announced her proposed coup. The family arrives in wintry Washington on Monday. Photo credit: Reuters/Hugh Gentry (sun rises over Kailua Bay near where Obama stayed in Hawaii)

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Brown condemns 'abhorrent' Islamist Wootton Bassett protest plan By Steven Morris (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

attracted more than 120,000 members. Downing Street intervened in the growing controversy with a Submitted at 1/4/2010 10:22:45 AM statement from the prime Islam4UK says it will try to win m i n i s t e r s a y i n g h e w a s people round to idea of parade on " p e r s o n a l l y a p p a l l e d " . same route used to return troops' Brown said: "I believe that we as bodies from Afghanistan a nation should honour those G o r d o n B r o w n t o n i g h t brave servicemen and women condemned as "abhorrent and who have made the ultimate o f f e n s i v e " p l a n s b y a sacrifice for our country. controversial Islamist group to "Wootton Bassett has a special stage a march through Wootton significance for us all at this Bassett. time, as it has been the scene of In a statement, the prime the repatriation of many members minister said the Wiltshire town of our armed forces who have h a d a s s u m e d a " s p e c i a l tragically fallen. significance" in the life of the "Any attempt to use this location n a t i o n , w h i c h s h o u l d b e to cause further distress and respected. suffering to those who have lost The leader of Islam4UK has said loved ones would be abhorrent he will try to persuade people in and offensive." Wootton Bassett to back an anti- Choudary said Wootton Bassett war parade along the main street had been chosen because it – the same route used to bring would attract huge publicity and home the bodies of troops from that he had not yet spoken to the Afghanistan. police, who would have to Anjem Choudary , whose group approve the parade. He also had is an offshoot of the radical al- no date in mind, leaving him Muhajiroun movement, has open to the accusation that the caused anger by calling for idea is a publicity stunt. members to parade through the Choudary said he would try to Wiltshire town carrying up to win the support of local people 500 coffins symbolising the by engaging with them over the Muslim dead from the invasion coming weeks. He insisted he did and occupation of Afghanistan. not want to upset residents or Local politicians have asked f a m i l i e s o f d e a d s e r v i c e Choudary to abandon the protest p e r s o n n e l . and a Facebook site dedicated to In an open letter on Islam4UK's preventing the march quickly website, Choudary denies the

march is "merely an act of incitement or provocation". In the letter, addressed "to the families of British soldiers who have fallen", Choudary writes: "It is worth reminding those who are still not blinded by the media propaganda that Afghanistan is not a British town near Wootton Bassett but rather Muslim land which no one has the right to occupy, with a Muslim population who do not deserve their innocent men, women and children to be killed for political mileage and for the greedy interests of the oppressive US and UK regimes. "The procession in Wootton Bassett is therefore an attempt to engage the British public's minds on the real reasons why their soldiers are returning home in body bags and the real cost of the war." Hundreds or thousands of people line the market town's high street regularly to watch coffins carrying the bodies of service personnel being driven to a hospital in Oxford after landing at nearby RAF Lyneham. The former mayor and councillor Chris Wannell said of the idea: "We don't do what we do at Wootton Bassett for any political reason at all, but to pay our respects to those who have given their lives for our freedom. "We are a Christian country and a traditional old English market

town who honour very much our Queen and country. We obey the law and pay respects to our servicemen who protect our freedom. "If this man has any decency about him he will not hold a march through Wootton Bassett." The town is finding it increasingly difficult to keep politics at bay. The BNP leader, Nick Griffin, turned up for a recent parade and the BBC filmed Question Time there last month. The North Wiltshire MP, James Gray, said local people would not be drawn into political conflict with the group. "They will say these are foolish people making a silly point – we'll get on with our ordinary lives thank you. "This also misunderstands the nature of what the people of Wootton Bassett do. They are not blood-thirstily in favour of the war. Most people would say they were not qualified to comment on the rightness or wrongness. "The people of Wootton Bassett are decent, quiet, pragmatic people and they'll stay at home instead [of reacting to the march]." The secretary of the Wootton Bassett British Legion, Anne Bevis, urged the group to think "long and hard" before marching. The Facebook group that opposes the march states: "This group can march anywhere it

wishes in the country but have chosen to cause outrage and offence." Some postings suggest blocking the roads or writing to councillors, while others take a more strident line. One contributor says: "I want my England back." A spokesman for rightwing group the English Defence League said if the march took place it would "descend" on the home address of Anjem Choudary and demonstrate outside two mosques he frequented. Tom Robinson said the group had discussed organising a counter-march in Wootton Bassett but felt the best way to register its objections would be to protest outside addresses connected to Choudary. He said he did not believe the march would actually take place in Wootton Bassett. The EDL has organised demonstrations in a number of cities in England and its Welsh arm, the Welsh Defence League, has done the same in Wales. The EDL marches have caused community tension and some of the demonstrations have led to clashes with anti-fascist activists. • Protest • Freedom of Speech • Military BROWN page 5

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John Major rewrites history | Denis MacShane By Denis MacShane (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk) Submitted at 1/4/2010 10:15:31 AM

While criticising Tony Blair, the former prime minister forgot his own dismal record on big money and the Bosnian war Suddenly it all came back. Listening to the unctuous Sir John Major on the Today programme last weekend, in surely the most unchallenging interview of a politician in the programme's history, one heard the authentic voice of the Bourbon Conservativism that learnt nothing and forgotten nothing. Major opined on parliament as if his era as whip, minister and prime minister was a golden chapter in the history of the Commons. Yet the wretched allowances and expenses system that has caused such damage and justifiable anger was put in place in his time. There was an attempt to link an MP's salary to that of a middle-rank civil service grade. That way, it was thought, the media hype every time MPs' pay went up might be avoided. But under Major's premiership the first pay rise based on this link was proposed and blocked to avoid one day's nasty headlines. His whips pottered around the tea room soothing angry backbenchers. "Don't worry, chaps, we'll bump up allowances and expenses instead," they said.

For Major, who presided for seven years over exactly the same system that now causes outrage, to pose as a moralist on MPs' pay is outright hypocrisy. At least Shirley Williams, who was guest-editing the programme, had the decency to point out that up to the early 1990s, an MP earned roughly the same as a GP, but that GP and other public sector professional salaries have soared ahead. Major was not asked about the brutal treatment of independent Tory MPs under his reign, nor why he promoted Jonathan Aitken or allowed the cash-forquestions scandal to grow under his leadership. No mention of the Pergau Dam or the political party fund-raising by cabinet ministers on overseas trips. David Cameron has Lord Ashcroft and the Tory front bench is so stuffed with millionaires that the problem of MPs' pay and allowances is for other people, not the shadow cabinet. But under John Major the fusion between Tory politics and big money and the transformation of underpaid MPs into cash-forquestions and outside earners helped devalue transparent democratic politics. On the Iraq intervention, Sir John is now a revisionist. He supported the 2003 invasion but now the chance to undermine his successor, Tony Blair, whose humiliating defeat of Major clearly still rankles, was too

great. He boasted that he always told the truth about conflict. Tell that to the families of eight Fusiliers who were killed by US friendly fire in the first Iraq war. Month after month, the Major government told lies to the grieving parents. Major himself wrote long letters full of dishonest obfuscation about what really happened. It required a campaign helped by the human rights QC Geoffrey Robertson and a coroner who would not be silenced by Whitehall to uncover the truth with the help of America's Freedom of Information Act. Major left the families swinging in the wind of his refusal to tell them the truth. Or take the massacre of Srebrenica. 8,000 European men were taken out one by one in 1995 and shot dead in a manner Europe has not seen since the killings at Katyn where Polish officers, public servants and professors were killed in cold blood by Russians acting on Stalin's orders. Major equivocated and did nothing to intervene to deal with the murderous activity of Milosevic, which inflamed Muslim public opinion in Britain and helped create the jihadist politics amongst young Muslims here and elsewhere in Europe. If Tony Blair is guilty of removing Saddam Hussein, John Major is guilty of allowing Slobodan Milosevic to stay in power for a decade until Robin

Cook and Tony Blair summoned up the political courage and energy to put together the coalition that finally stopped the mass murders in a region of Europe two hours' flying time from London. Major, by contrast, did as much to stop Milosevic as his isolationist predecessor, Neville Chamberlain, did to stop fascism in Spain or central Europe from unleashing its murderous horrors. Perhaps retired prime ministers should not face hard questions. Perhaps the Today political team believes that today's issues – from MPs' pay to whether we should pull out of Afghanistan – are brand new and have no roots in the recent past. But the next time Major decides to unburden himself of his views on current political topics it would be useful if someone researched the cuttings so that proper questions can be asked of the worst prime minister of the 20th century. • Tony Blair • Iraq • Conservatives • MPs' expenses • House of Commons

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BROWN continued from page 4

• Islam • Religion • Afghanistan Steven Morris guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

The Lightsaber MP3 Player Is Missing One Critical Component [Mp3] By Mark Wilson (Gizmodo) Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:00:00 AM

Denis MacShane guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

PSA: Until the Lightsaber MP3 Player actually emits a highly contained tube of deadly light, $24 can only buy you a Lightsaber Hilt MP3 Player. [ NCSX via anythingbutipod]

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Prejudiced Danes provoke fanaticism | Nancy Graham Holm By Nancy Graham Holm (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk) Submitted at 1/4/2010 10:22:12 AM

Publishing Kurt Westergaard's cartoons was an aggressive act born of Denmark's reluctance to respect religious belief On New Year's Day, Kurt Westergaard and his granddaughter came close to losing their lives when an axewielding fanatic forced his way into their house. It was the latest in a string of attempted attacks that can be traced directly to the offence caused by Westergaard's cartoons for Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in 2005. One of these cartoons depicted the prophet Muhammad in a turban with a stick of dynamite protruding from the top. Muslims failed to see Westergaard's cartoon as satire. Instead, they saw in it a defamatory and humiliating message: Muslims are terrorists. Humiliation is a devastating feeling. But most people who are insulted will accept an apology. If an apology been forthcoming, that probably

would have been the end to it – but none came, and the humiliation was compounded. Three months later several imams packed their briefcases and laptops and booked flights to the Middle East. They carried with them a 43-page document, created by a group of Danish Muslim clerics from multiple organisations. This so-called Akkari-Laban dossier was designed to present their case and solicit support for their outrage. Denmark became an "enemy of Islam" and this resulted in the nation's worst foreign policy crisis since the second world war. Why did the editors of JyllandsPosten want to mock Islam in this way? Some of us believed it was in bad taste and also cruel. Intentional humiliation is an aggressive act. As a journalist now living in the same town as Westergaard, I thought some at Jyllands-Posten had acted like petulant adolescents. Danes fail to perceive the fact that they have developed a society deeply suspicious of religion. This is the real issue between Denmark and Muslim extremists, not freedom of speech. The free society

precept is merely an attempt to give the perpetrators the moral high ground when actually it is a smokescreen for a deeply rooted prejudice, not against Muslims, but against religion per se. Muslims are in love with their faith. And many Danes are suspicious of anyone who loves religion. On the last day of the American Society for Muslim Advancement's conference in 2006, Flemming Rose, JyllandsPosten's cultural editor, who commissioned the Muhammad cartoons, agreed to meet the delegates and took more than an hour of questions. I witnessed this exchange and admired his honesty. "Are you not at all religious?" someone asked him. "No. Most Danes are not religious," he responded. "Well then … can't you at least respect religious people?" "No, not really," Rose answered candidly. "Generally speaking, I think Danes are a little suspicious of religious people." Danes are no more racist than any other western nation but many of them, especially

intellectuals, have serious issues with religious believers. Westergaard has been visiting America and giving talks about his role in the 2005 Muhammad cartoon crisis. In New York on 30 September he told the audience that Muslims need to develop a sense of humour and an appreciation of satire. They need to understand that they are not " free of being mocked or being offended". Watching the nightly news in February 2006 was a shocking affair for most Danes. They watched their flag burning in the streets of Damascus, Beirut and Tehran. They cringed as demonstrators screamed violent slogans and rioters attacked their embassies. Police fired on the crowds, resulting in more than 100 deaths. Now the Danes won't back down and the few but fatally insane radical extremists will continue the fight. The first major reaction came in January 2008 when Danish police arrested a cell of extremists that were accused of planning Westergaard's assassination. There are 87 men in Denmark with the name Kurt

Westergaard and all of them now have police protection. Four months later, suicide bombers attacked the Danish embassy in Islamabad, injuring 30 and killing six. Al-Qaida took credit for the attack, claiming it was retaliation for the cartoons and the 700 Danish troops in Afghanistan. In October 2008, two men were convicted in Danish courts of preparing a terrorist attack. This time, Westergaard's attacker was caught – but someone else is out there waiting for an opportunity to strike again. • Muhammad cartoons row 2006 • Denmark • Global terrorism • Islam • Religion • Freedom of Speech Nancy Graham Holm guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Video: iPhone hacked to support the Magic Mouse By Greg Kumparak (CrunchGear) Submitted at 1/4/2010 10:10:42 AM

Those gifted gents over at the

BTStack might just be too clever for their own good. First they blow our minds by sneaking Wiimote support onto the iPhone, and then tickle our productivity- loving souls by hacking in

Bluetooth keyboard support. It's a bit awkward to be typing away on a keyboard then have to reach over and poke the screen whenever you want to do

something - wouldn't it be nice to be able to use a mouse instead? Yes, yes it would. And the BTStack guys agree.

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Jacob Zuma weds his third first lady By David Smith (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

The Madiba family presented Zuma with a chest of drawers as a wedding gift. Overcast skies in Nkandla failed Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:24:43 AM to dull the spirits of villagers – South African president slips dressed in animal skins and and falls during solo dance after African prints – who walked marrying Tobeka Madiba in along muddy trails to the Zulu traditional Zulu ceremony ceremony, known as udwendwe. Jacob Zuma, the president of The media were kept away from South Africa, married his third the proceedings, but buses wife today in a traditional Zulu transporting the guests were seen ceremony – but not without a outside Zuma's house, where hitch. three big tents were erected. Zuma, 67, reportedly slipped and Several sheep, goats and cows fell during a traditional solo were slaughtered for the wedding dance at the wedding at his feast. homestead in Nkandla, KwaZuluThe Zulu tribe, the biggest Natal province. ethnic group in South Africa, Zuma and Tobeka Madiba, the practises polygamy by tradition. republic's third first lady, were Zuma once told an interviewer: presented to society as husband "There are plenty of politicians and wife for the first time during who have mistresses and children their ceremony, South Africa's that they hide so as to pretend Eyewitness News reported. they're monogamous. I prefer to Accompanied by an entourage of be open. I love my wives and I'm men dressed in leopard skins, proud of my children." Zuma sang and danced, the Madiba joins Sizakele Khumalonetwork said. Madiba was then Zuma, whom Zuma has known presented with her own entourage for 50 years and married in 1973, of young Zulu men and women. and Nompumelelo Ntuli-Zuma, T h e p r e s i d e n t d i d a s o l o whom he married two years ago. traditional dance but slipped and There were two further wives. fell backwards in the process, He divorced Nkosazana Dlaminiaccording to Eyewitness News. Z u m a , n o w h o m e a f f a i r s There was no indication that he minister, in 1998. Kate Mantsho had been hurt. Zuma killed herself in 2000, after

describing her marriage to him as "24 years of hell". Zuma is said to have more than 10 children, and possibly as many as 19. Zuma has paid lobolo(bride price) to the family of Madiba, described as a socialite from Durban, as custom demands. She has attended official events with the president but it appears the wedding had been postponed until now because of Zuma's work commitments. He was elected president in April. Zuma is also reportedly preparing for a sixth wedding. Gloria Bongi Ngema is understood to have presented umbondo(gifts) to the Zuma family last week, customarily a precursor to marriage. Originally from Durban, Ngema works for IBM in Johannesburg and has a son with Zuma named Sinqumo. Zuma has also been linked to a Swazi princess, but has given no clear indication that he plans to wed her. South African law recognises multiple marriages, although fewer young South Africans are entering into them because they are seen as expensive and oldfashioned. The cultural practices of Zulus and other groups are protected by the constitution.

Our five favorite redesigns of 2009 By Josh Lowensohn (Webware.com) Submitted at 1/4/2010 4:00:00 AM

A new look can mean a lot for Originally posted at Web big sites. We highlight five that Crawler underwent big changes in 2009, as well as some runners-up.

Zuma played up his Zulu heritage during the election campaign and spent Christmas at his homestead in Nkandla. He relaxed by shooting birds with a slingshot, drinking umqombothi(traditional beer) and taking part in a chess tournament. It emerged this month that a reported R65m (£5.3m) expansion of the Nkandla residence is under way with new houses being built to accommodate Zuma's three wives. Jeremy Gordin, Zuma's biographer, said he was surprised how little attention Zuma's latest wedding had received. "I find it interesting that there were all kinds of people making belligerent comments on his polygamy, but that died down after the election." He added: "Zuma is adamant about polygamy. It's his right as a Zulu. But he only took one wife to Italy to meet the pope." • Jacob Zuma • South Africa David Smith guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

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Top Picks for 2010: Powershares US Dollar Bullish (UUP) By Steven Halpern (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 1/4/2010 12:00:00 PM

Filed under: International markets, ETF Investing, Japan, best stocks for 2010 This post is part of a special report, Top Picks for 2010, the 27th annual survey in which TheStockAdvisors.com asks the nation's leading advisors for their single favorite stock for the new year. See all 80 stocks listed here. "When extreme valuations are accompanied by unbridled optimism or abject pessimism, it virtually always marks a turning point -- and an opportunity; and this is no exception," says Alex Green, referring to the U.S. dollar. Here, the senior investment advisor to The Oxford Club and Investment U looks to PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish ETF ( UUP) as a favorite idea for the coming year. Continue reading Top Picks for 2010: Powershares US Dollar Bullish (UUP) Top Picks for 2010: Powershares US Dollar Bullish (UUP) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Burj Dubai is the height of architecture – just don't look down By Steve Rose (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

101, which it exceeds by more than 300 metres. But, beyond height, is there anything to celebrate here? From Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:03:14 AM our current perspective, the Burj The world's tallest building may Dubai symbolises catastrophic be a triumph of beauty and excess – of money, confidence, a m b i t i o n , b u t t h e s o u l l e s s ambition, energy consumption. cityscape surrounding it is And the fact that it will most another matter likely stand empty for years to We're going to need a new word. come has been noted with great The Burj Dubai doesn't scrape satisfaction here in the west. But the sky; it pierces it, like a isn't this how we've responded to slender silver needle, half a mile every tall structure of note, from high. It's only because Dubai Babel onwards? And even its never has any clouds that we can many critics have to admit the even see the tower's top. And, tower is a rather stunning piece judging by the images released so of architecture. Chiefly designed far, the view is more like looking by Adrian Smith, formerly of out of a plane than a building. It skyscraper specialists SOM, and has made reality a little less real. e n g i n e e r B i l l B a k e r , i t i s The facts and figures about the beautifully sleek and elegant, tower are equally surreal – like rising in a graceful series of the one about how it could be silver tubes of different heights. eight degrees cooler at the top It looks less like a single tower than at the bottom, or the one than a cluster of towers, an about how you could watch the organic formation rather than a sunset at the bottom, then take a self-consciously iconic object. lift up to the top and watch it all This is surely the best-looking over again. It's a new order of tall building since New York's tallness, even compared to its Chrysler and the Empire State in nearest rival, Taiwan's Taipei the 1930s.

In environmental terms, the Burj Dubai is way too tall to justify itself, but there is at least some structural efficiency to the form. Its Y-shaped plan – three wings extending from a central core, like the roots of a tree – "confuses the wind", in the architects' words, while the core stops the wings from twisting (which would give top-floor occupants nausea). For super-tall buildings – and surely there will be more, one day – this "buttressed core" design is likely to become the prevailing form. More worrying than the tower itself, however, is what's around it. In 1956, Frank Lloyd Wright unveiled a scheme for an elegantly preposterous mile-high skyscraper for Chicago, safe in the knowledge that he'd never have to figure out how to build it. It was undoubtedly an influence on the Burj Dubai. It even had a similar triangular structure. But Wright's intentions with his milehigh skyscraper were to create a concentrated human habitat, the better to halt Chicago's unstoppable urban sprawl, and

Seesmic buying Ping.fm social update service By Rafe Needleman (Webware.com) Submitted at 1/4/2010 8:00:00 AM

Twitter and Facebook client company Seesmic acquiring write-once, post-anywhere service Ping.fm. But why?

Originally posted at Rafe's Radar

free up ground space for parks, nature and leisure. The Burj Dubai, by contrast, has become the tentpole for several more acres of anonymous, soulless, energy-hungry cityscape. You can apparently see for 60 miles from the top, but when you look down, the immediate landscape is the same schematic real-estate tat you see everywhere else in Dubai: vast shopping malls, bland office towers, sprawling residential developments semi-themed to resemble "traditional" Arabian villages, outsized ornamental fountains. The Burj Dubai might be a triumph vertically, but what about the horizontal? • Burj Dubai • Architecture • Design • Dubai Steve Rose guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

WebOS Getting Doom, Quake, OpenGL, and Native SDK [Palm] By Rosa Golijan (Gizmodo) Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:31:37 AM

With some elbow grease, we've been able to play Doom on our WebOS devices for a while, but now we can do so without any messy terminal commands. Oh, and there's a playable version of Quake, too. The folks of the webOS Internals global team have been throwing new things at us each day lately. At first Quake was only an unplayable demo, but now it plays just as well as the previously released version of Doom. These won't be the last games we'll see on the Pre though, because the same team has discovered demoed an OpenGL application and a "method for installing and running native Linux applications without the need for add-on services like webOSInternals' own Upstart Manager Service." All of this is great news for homebrewers, Pre owners, and smartphone gamers, but tell me, what are you most eager to see next? [ PreCentral]

World/ Politics/ Gadgets/

E-reader News Edition

9

Ireland's finance minister to continue in role during cancer treatment By Henry McDonald (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

most famous political dynasties with his father Brian serving as deputy prime minister in the 1980s, while his brother Conor Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:56:11 AM was minister for integration • Brian Lenihan will undergo under Bertie Ahern. chemotherapy for pancreatic The minister's health has been cancer the subject of intense speculation • Minister intends to 'fulfil the since his cancer diagnosis was essential functions' of his office reported last week. Having Ireland's finance minister spoken with his doctors and insisted he will continue to try to Ireland's prime minister, Brian g u i d e t h e r e p u b l i c o u t o f Cowen, Lenihan said he will recession while being treated for continue in the finance portfolio pancreatic cancer. and "fulfil the essential functions Brian Lenihan confirmed today of my office". that he will be undergoing " I a m w e l l a w a r e o f t h e chemotherapy this week. In a importance of the office I hold. personal statement the minister My doctors have advised that I said he underwent tests before am fit to continue to fulfil my Christmas, which identified a duties. If that position were to blockage at the entrance to his change in the course of my pancreas. He said cancerous treatment, I would be the first to tissue was identified in the recognise it," he said in his material that had caused the statement. blockage, and he intends to begin The minister said he was treatment for cancer this week. "feeling fit and well" but would But he insisted he would remain not be accepting invitations for in his ministerial post. speaking engagements in the next Lenihan is 50 years old and the few months. Lenihan revealed father of two teenage children. that he contacted his opposite He comes from one of Ireland's numbers in the rival parties in the

Dail and asked them not to treat him any differently in parliamentary exchanges just because he is battling cancer. "I will continue to fulfil the essential functions of my office. I will supervise the work of my Department and meet delegations relevant to this work. I will prepare for and attend government meetings. I will make myself accountable to Dáil Éireann and carry out my parliamentary duties. I will convene and attend any meetings required for the implementation of government policy," he said. During the last few months, Lenihan has had to deal with the republic's banking crisis using billions of taxpayers' money to rescue Irish banks, and draw up one of the harshest cost-cutting budgets in the country's history. In his statement today, Lenihan expressed his gratitude to people all over the country who have been sending him messages of goodwill since reports of his illhealth became public. "I have been overwhelmed by the goodwill shown to my family and

myself from all sides. I am aware that many have remembered me in their thoughts and prayers. I thank them for it. I hope I can repay this goodwill by continuing to serve to the best of my ability as I undergo treatment for my medical condition," he said. His aunt, Fianna Fáil TD Mary O'Rourke, said earlier today the minister would continue in the position. "He told me he had a long talk with the Taoiseach. They, the two of them, decided he would stay on and do his, as he referred to it himself quaintly, his constitutional duty," she told Midlands Radio. She also revealed her nephew would begin medical treatment for his illness on Thursday. • Ireland Henry McDonald guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Outrageous Outrage of the Day! (Little Green Footballs) Submitted at 1/3/2010 5:17:37 PM

Of all the incredibly idiotic outrages over which the right wing blogosphere has

hyperventilated (and there were hundreds last year) this has to be the flat out dumbest one yet. From Ed Morrissey, who specializes in outrageous outrages: Hot Air » Blog Archive

» Picture of the Day. nontroversies. And it’s not just Morrissey; UPDATE at 1/3/10 9:20:11 pm: Glenn Reynolds is also engaging Since turnabout is fair play, you in political analysis via Flickr. too can Analyze Glenn Reynolds’ And Ann Althouse, too! Body Language! The trifecta of silly wingnut

Samsung sold 2.6 million LED LCD TVs in 2009, expects 10 million in 2010 By Matt Burns (CrunchGear) Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:00:18 AM

If you read the headline, then you already know that Samsung pushed out 2.6 million LED LCD TVs in 2009. That’s nearly equal to the population of San Diego. But the company also expects 2010 to be bigger — a lot bigger. Samsung plans on moving 10 million LED LCD TVs in 2010, which would be one to every person living in Beijing. That’s a lot, folks. We’ll get a closer look at Samsung’s 2010 HDTV lineup with week at CES. It will likely include LED-backlit HDTVs in smaller sizes, which will help the company reach the lofty 10mil goal. Previously, the LED technology was mainly a top-tier feature, reserved for larger models with high price tags. But like everything, the technology is flowing down-market and into models that were previously lit with CFLs.

10

World/ Finance/

E-reader News Edition

Now, We Have Life By Field Notes (LWI News Center) Submitted at 1/4/2010 6:44:35 AM

NAMIBIA – Sharakwe Village, Rundu GPS: 18 02.143 S, 19 45.684 E Meet Sofia. She’s a deacon in the Full Gospel Church here in Sharakwe. Sofia found us while we were drilling a well at another church in a nearby village. She came to us pleading for help. “Without clean water, our children and our herds are dying,” she told us. Children in Sharakwe Village were suffering from cholera, dysentery, and typhoid because of the dirty water they had to drink. “Our cattle and goats get sick from the bad water. Without our cattle and goats, we have no income to provide for our children.” We explained to Sofia that we understood her situation, but the waiting list for people wanting wells was long. But Sofia was persistent. Her desperate tears led us to change our agenda for the week, and we headed to Sharakwe to drill a well.

Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades and Initiations: BA, BMY, EAT, INTC, MS, UNH, WYNN ... By Eric Buscemi (BloggingStocks)

As clean water flowed from the new pump, Sofia was close by, watching. Kids gathered around the well, shouting and smiling, running their hands under the clear, cool water. With a smile of her own, Sofia thanked us saying, “Now, we have clean water. Now, we have life.” Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

company will benefit from a sector rotation into Managed Care in 2010. The firm raised its Submitted at 1/4/2010 11:45:00 AM price target on shares to $39 from Filed under: Analyst reports, $30. A n a l y s t u p g r a d e s a n d • UBS upgraded Morgan Stanley d o w n g r a d e s , I n t e l ( I N T C ) , ( MS) to buy from neutral based Boeing Co (BA), Bristol-Myers on strong capital and liquidity Squibb (BMY), Morgan Stanley positions, building investment (MS), Analyst initiations banking pipelines, and Analyst Upgrades expectations for a turn in EPS/ROE, among other reasons. • Baird upgraded Intel ( INTC) • Deutsche Bank upgraded the to outperform from neutral and U.S. Refining group as it believes has a $26 target on the stock. The d e m a n d i s i m p r o v i n g a n d firm's checks indicate tier-one PC margins could expand in 2010. OEMs have raised their 1H10 The firm raised its rating on procurement forecasts, which Sunoco ( SUN) to hold from sell c o u l d l e a d t o I n t e l and its target on shares to $25 outperformance. from $18, and upgraded Tesoro ( • C i t i g r o u p u p g r a d e d TSO) and Frontier Oil ( FTO) to UnitedHealth ( UNH) to buy buy from hold. from hold on expectations the • Boeing ( BA) was raised to

overweight from equal weight at Barclays. • Wynn Resorts ( WYNN) was upgraded at UBS to buy from neutral. • Investors Bancorp ( ISBC) was upgraded to buy from neutral at Janney Montgomery. Continue reading Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades and Initiations: BA, BMY, EAT, INTC, MS, UNH, WYNN ... Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades and Initiations: BA, BMY, EAT, INTC, MS, UNH, WYNN ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 11:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

The Tablet PC Market Won't Materialize -- Except for Apple By Brian White (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 1/4/2010 12:15:00 PM

Filed under: Products and services, Industry, Apple Inc (AAPL) The first part of every year is marked by tradeshows and

product releases. For the gadget crowd (that is, most Americans), all the cool products are announced sometime in January and released sometime in the year. Although consumer electronics giant Apple ( AAPL) will not announce a tablet-like computer confirm that it's planning to

at the CES tradeshow, many other companies that believe they compete with Apple are expected to have their own versions of a tablet ready to leap off PowerPoint screens soon. Continue reading The Tablet PC Market Won't Materialize -Except for Apple

The Tablet PC Market Won't Materialize -- Except for Apple originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

Finance/ Gadgets/ Politics/

E-reader News Edition

Ben Bernanke: Weak Regulation Caused Economic Crisis

CVS, Walgreen: PullBacks Are Buy Opportunities

By Mark Fightmaster (BloggingStocks)

By Joseph Lazzaro (BloggingStocks)

Submitted at 1/4/2010 12:30:00 PM

Submitted at 1/4/2010 12:45:00 PM

Filed under: Columns, Federal Reserve, Recession Big Ben Bernanke is letting his opinions be known early in 2010, and he is pointing the finger of blame for the economic crisis right at weak regulation. Bernanke is waiting for confirmation of his second term as Fed chair and he is looking for greater regulatory authority from Congress. Bernanke told the American Economic Association that "Stronger regulation and supervision aimed at problems with underwriting practices and lenders' risk management would have been a more effective and surgical approach to constraining the housing bubble than a general increase in interest rates." This statement was part of Bernanke's

Filed under: Walgreen Co (WAG), CVS Corp (CVS), Stocks to Buy I'm reiterating my buy ratings the nation's two premier drug response to accusations that the store chains: CVS Caremark ( Fed was a major contributor to CVS), first recommended on the financial crisis. The Fed head February 16, 2009, at a price of believes that the interest rates set $27.30; and Walgreen ( WAG), by the Federal Reserve from first recommended on February 2002 to 2006 were appropriate. 17, 2009, at a price of $25.46. If Continue reading Ben Bernanke: you bought CVS in February, W e a k R e g u l a t i o n C a u s e d you're up 25%; WAG, up about Economic Crisis 40%. Ben Bernanke: Weak Regulation As expected, each has performed C a u s e d E c o n o m i c C r i s i s well on increased store traffic o r i g i n a l l y a p p e a r e d o n stemming from the H1N1 flu BloggingStocks on Mon, 04 Jan virus (trips to purchase hand 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see sanitizers, other disinfecting our terms for use of feeds. i t e m s , a n d f l u s y m p t o m Permalink| Email this| Comments

11

Shocka! Right Wingers Speak Out Against Glenn Beck! (Little Green Footballs) Submitted at 1/3/2010 7:39:57 PM

Finally! A group of right wingers is calling for a telephone campaign against Glenn Beck! I’ve been waiting for this to happen … Oh, wait. They’re angry at Beck for not pushing the birth certificate issue. I should have known. Never mind. (Hat tip: Mich-again.)

comforts), which has offset reduced traffic for other drug store trips, due to the U.S. recession. Continue reading CVS, Walgreen: Pull-Backs Are Buy Opportunities CVS, Walgreen: Pull-Backs Are Buy Opportunities originally (Little Green Footballs) appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:45:00 EST. Submitted at 1/3/2010 5:48:46 PM Please see our terms for use of Because I’ve lived this feeds. Permalink| Email this| nightmare too many times: How Comments a Web Design Goes Straight to Hell.

Why I Don't Do Web Design Work Any More

RCA’s 2010 HDTV lineup By Matt Burns (CrunchGear)

but a few stand out from the rest with with modern specs, Energy Star 4.0 ratings and presumably The RCA brand is still around low prices. thanks to TTE Corportation and The F11 series all feature a new is ready for 2010 with a full-scale slim profile and down-firing HDTV assault. Most of the nine speakers that allows the TV to upcoming models are a snozefest, maintain its sleek look. The 24Submitted at 1/4/2010 8:30:10 AM

inch, 26-inch, and 32-inch are all

1366×768 panels and are equipped with the usual HDMI and component inputs. The 40inch (L40FHD2XF11) and 46inch (L46FHD2XF11) however are 1080p sets with 120Hz support. All the sets besides the 24-inch already have the

necessary specs to meet the Energy Star 4.0 specs when they are enacted on May 1st, 2010. Prices for these sets haven’t been released yet, but it’s probably safe to assume that they will be on the lower scale of things.

12

Finance/ Gadgets/ Politics/ Tech News/

E-reader News Edition

Lloyd's Amps Up Super Bowl Ads: Only Insurance and Reinsurance Three Left! Capacity This Year By Tom Johansmeyer (BloggingStocks)

By Tom Johansmeyer (BloggingStocks)

Submitted at 1/4/2010 1:00:00 PM

Filed under: Coca-Cola (KO), Submitted at 1/4/2010 11:30:00 AM PepsiCo (PEP), General Motors (GM), CBS Corp 'B' (CBS), Filed under: Forecasts, Industry, Gannett Co (GCI) Competitive strategy Despite the media slump that's Lloyd's of London is poised to been running alongside the take some risks in 2010. In fact, it's ready to put more than $36 pound relative to stronger worldwide recession, CBS ( billion into the insurance and currencies, such as the U.S. CBS) isn't having any trouble moving ad space for the Super reinsurance world, according to dollar. a n a l y s t s a t r e i n s u r a n c e Continue reading Lloyd's Amps Bowl. intermediary Guy Carpenter, a Up Insurance and Reinsurance The event is still more than a month from now, but the network division of Marsh & McLennan ( Capacity This Year MMC). Lloyd's Amps Up Insurance and reports having only a few The year-over-year increase Reinsurance Capacity This Year commercial slots left for the big c o u l d b e a s h i g h a s 2 7 % o r i g i n a l l y a p p e a r e d o n game. In fact, 95% of its 62 slots compared to 2009, with the BloggingStocks on Mon, 04 Jan have moved, even with two of additional capacity coming from 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see the most committed Super Bowl lower risk-transfer rates for some our terms for use of feeds. advertisers -- Pepsi ( PEP) and lines of business, though much of Permalink| Email this| Comments it is being offered to compensate for the weakness of the British

ABC News: August Saudi Assassination Attempt Used Same Undie Bomb Method (Little Green Footballs) Submitted at 1/3/2010 10:59:11 AM

Umar Farouq Abdulmutallab was not the first Al Qaeda terrorist to use a PETN bomb hidden in his underwear; the terrorist who tried (and failed) to assassinate Saudi prince Mohammed bin Nayef in August used the same method.

General Motors ( GRM) -bowing out of the action. The first half is already sold out completely. Jan. 4: Braille, Pitman Continue reading Super Bowl Birthdays Celebrate Ads: Only Three Left! Super Bowl Ads: Only Three New Ways to Write Left! originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 04 Jan By Randy Alfred (Wired Top 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see Stories) our terms for use of feeds. Submitted at 1/3/2010 9:00:00 PM Permalink| Email this| Comments Louis Braille and Isaac Pitman share a birthday, four years apart. Each is known for a new system of writing. Coincidence?

Hitachi’s develops brain signal-powered remote control By Serkan Toto (CrunchGear)

commercialize it within three to four years. The technology is being We all knew this would come developed not for lazy couch one day, especially since the potatoes but for something that basic technology has been around actually makes a lot of sense: for some time, and now we have Hitachi says they would like to it: A brain activity-powered see physically handicapped remote control that can be used people using the remote control without you having to lift a in the future (think about how All that users need to do is to finger. The Hitachi device is many times a day you push think about changing channels or unfortunately just a prototype, buttons on your remote when control the volume on a TV to but at least they’re planning to watching TV). Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:30:15 AM

make that happen (the technology can naturally be used for other appliances as well). A headset scans the user’s brain with nearinfrared rays, measuring changes in blood flow (which indicate activity) in the brain. It then sends the brain signals to the remote control through optical fiber, making the remote beam infrared signals to the appliance in question. Hitachi’s brain-machine

interface system weighs just 1kg. The company says similar systems are as large as a fridge. (My apologies for the small picture, which is the only one available at this point.) Via Nikkei[registration required, paid subscription]

Gadgets/

E-reader News Edition

13

The Skiff Reader is 11.5-inches of pure ebook hotness By Matt Burns (CrunchGear) Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:57:30 AM

CES is bound to be full of slate computers and e-book readers. But the Skiff Reader might stick out from the rest thanks to its huge 11.5-inch display and very thin bezel. That’s nearly two inches bigger than the Kindle DX, but yet the whole device is only .25-inches thick. Nice, eh? Oh, and it uses Sprint’s 3G network. The screen is not only large and high-res at 1200 x 1600, but it’s also a next-gen e-paper type based on a thin, flexible sheet of stainless-steel foil. The company claims that’s it’s a lot more durable than the glass kind used in other devices. Sprint is providing the wireless connectivity and a retail outlet for the reader. It will be available in more than 1,000 Sprint retail locations later this year. Pricing and exact availability wasn’t mentioned in the presser, but hopefully we can nail something down at CES. Too bad we don’t know yet what content will be featured. Having 3G wireless is a major feature, so it’s probably safe to assume that Skiff has worked out some sort of distribution deal. But with who? SKIFF AND SPRINT TO PREVIEW FIRST SKIFF READER AT 2010 I N T E R N A T I O N A L CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW

Skiff Service to Deliver Newspapers, Magazines & Books to e-Reader with Thinnest Form Factor, Largest e-Paper Display and Full Touchscreen, via Sprint 3G Wireless Network Device Is First to Feature “Metal Foil” e-Paper Technology from LG Display, Enhancing Durability by Eliminating the Fragility of a

Glass Display NEW YORK, January 4th, 2010 — Skiff, LLC and Sprint (NYSE: S) today announced that they will preview the Skiff Reader, the first e-reader optimized for newspaper and magazine content, at the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas later this week. The Skiff Reader, the initial

dedicated device to integrate the upcoming Skiff e-reading service, is remarkably sleek and easy to use. At just over a quarter -inch in overall height, the device is the thinnest e-reader announced to date. It features the largest and highest-resolution electronic-paper display yet unveiled in a consumer device, at 11.5 in size (measured

diagonally) and a resolution of 1200 x 1600 pixels (UXGA). A full touchscreen enables users to intuitively navigate and engage with the newspapers, magazines, books and other digital content they purchase through the Skiff Store, as well as personal and work documents. The device SKIFF page 14

14

Politics/

E-reader News Edition

SKIFF continued from page 13

weighs just over one pound and lasts over a week of average use between charges. “The Skiff Reader’s big screen will showcase print media in compelling new ways,” said Gilbert Fuchsberg, president of Skiff, LLC. “This is consistent with Skiff’s focus on delivering enhanced reading experiences that engage consumers, publishers and advertisers.” The Skiff Reader is designed not just for sleekness but also for durability. It is the first consumer product to feature the nextgeneration of e-paper display – one based on a thin, flexible sheet of stainless-steel foil. This contrasts with the fragile glass that is the foundation of almost every electronic screen – and a primary source of vulnerability and breakage risk in the devices that incorporate them. Skiff has worked closely with LG Display (NYSE: LPL), one of the world’s leading display manufacturers and the innovator of the foildisplay technology, to optimize and implement this first-of-itskind non-glass display uniquely for the Skiff Reader. Skiff has signed a multi-year agreement with Sprint (NYSE:S) to provide 3G connectivity for Skiff’s dedicated e-reading devices in the United States. Plans are underway to have the

Tower (Little Green Footballs)

Skiff Reader available for purchase later this year in more than 1,000 Sprint retail locations across the U.S., as well as online at www.sprint.com. Availability, pricing, additional distribution channels and other details will be disclosed at a later date. “The forthcoming launch of the Skiff Reader is an exciting development for consumers who are looking for more and more choice in the arena of embedded devices,” said Dan Dooley, president wholesale solutions, Sprint. “We have witnessed a strong demand for e-readers in recent years and now Sprint is showing its commitment to Skiff by making this new device available on the 3G network and for sale in Sprint retail stores.” In October 2009, Sprint announced the formation of its Emerging Solutions Business that focuses exclusively on the rapid delivery of machine-to-machine and mobile computing solutions to businesses and consumers. Sprint’s partnership with Skiff builds on more than 10 years of experience in working with vendors to provision non-Sprintbranded devices to operate on its networks, as well as extensive expertise in operating multiple platforms and assets. In addition to 3G, the Skiff Reader will also support wireless

connectivity via WiFi. The Skiff Reader will feature the Skiff service and digital store, allowing consumers to wirelessly purchase and access a wide variety of newspapers, magazines, books, blogs and other content from multiple publishers. Newspaper and magazine content delivered by Skiff will feature visually appealing layouts, highresolution graphics, rich typography and dynamic updates, supporting key design qualities that help publications differentiate themselves and attract subscribers and advertisers. Besides the Skiff Reader, Skiff is working with major consumer electronics manufacturers to integrate Skiff’s service, digital store and client software into a range of innovative devices. By supporting a variety of devices from multiple manufacturers, and through complementary applications for major smart phone platforms, Skiff will make it easier for publishers to distribute content and advertising across a range of devices and form factors, an increasingly important goal as the e-reading market continues to grow. About Skiff Skiff provides a complete ereading solution that includes the

Skiff Service platform, Skiff Store and Skiff-enabled devices. Skiff will sell and distribute newspapers, magazines, books, blogs and other content. Skiff gives periodical publishers tools to maintain their distinct visual identities, build and extend relationships with subscribers, and wirelessly deliver dynamic content and advertising to both dedicated e-readers and multipurpose devices. Skiff will also make it easier for consumers to access content from multiple publishers across a range of devices. Skiff is headquartered in New York City and also has offices in Palo Alto, Calif. Visit Skiff at www.Skiff.com. About Sprint Nextel Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including two wireless networks serving more than 48 million customers at the end of the third quarter of 2009 and the first and only 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; industry-leading mobile data services; instant national and

international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. The company’s customer-focused strategy has led to improved first call resolution and customer care satisfaction scores. For more information, visit www.sprint.com. About LG Display LG Display Co., Ltd. [NYSE: LPL, KRX: 034220] is a leading manufacturer and supplier of thin -film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panels, OLEDs and flexible displays. The company provides TFT-LCD panels in a wide range of sizes and specifications for use in TVs, monitors, notebook PCs, mobile products and other various applications. LG Display currently operates eight fabrication facilities and five back-end assembly facilities in Korea, China and Poland. The company has a total of 30,000 employees operating worldwide. Please visit www.lgdisplay.com for more information. ### Skiff™ is a trademark of Skiff, LLC.

Gadgets/

E-reader News Edition

15

Skiff Reader: The Largest Yet Thinnest eBook Reader to Date [Skiff] By Mark Wilson (Gizmodo) Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:32:37 AM

It's bigger than any Kindle or device from B&N. Optimized for magazines and newspapers, the Skiff Reader offers a durable 11.5-inch (1600 x 1200) "Metal Foil" touchscreen display, but it's still just a quarter of an inch thick. Connecting to the upcoming Skiff digital store via Wi-Fi and Sprint's 3G network, the Skiff Reader will support yet unannounced content partnerships including books, specially focusing on large format print like abovementioned magazines and newspapers—including "visually appealing layouts, highresolution graphics, rich typography and dynamic updates." And with a screen that's nearly two inches larger and significantly sharper than even a Kindle DX, the Skiff Reader certainly seems well-positioned for this role—even though it's still just black and white. There's no word on price or availability (more specific than 2010) just yet, but when the Skiff Reader is available, you'll be picking one up from Sprint. NEW YORK, January 4th, 2010 - Skiff, LLC and Sprint (NYSE: S) today announced that they will preview the Skiff Reader, the first e-reader optimized for

newspaper and magazine content, at the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas later this week. The Skiff Reader, the initial

dedicated device to integrate the upcoming Skiff e-reading service, is remarkably sleek and easy to use. At just over a quarter -inch in overall height, the device

is the thinnest e-reader announced to date. It features the largest and highest-resolution electronic-paper display yet unveiled in a consumer device, at

11.5" in size (measured diagonally) and a resolution of 1600 x 1200 pixels (UXGA). A full touchscreen enables users to intuitively navigate and engage with the newspapers, magazines, books and other digital content they purchase through the Skiff Store, as well as personal and work documents. The device weighs just over one pound and lasts over a week of average use between charges. "The Skiff Reader's big screen will showcase print media in compelling new ways," said Gilbert Fuchsberg, president of Skiff, LLC. "This is consistent with Skiff's focus on delivering enhanced reading experiences that engage consumers, publishers and advertisers." The Skiff Reader is designed not just for sleekness but also for durability. It is the first consumer product to feature the nextgeneration of e-paper display – one based on a thin, flexible sheet of stainless-steel foil. This contrasts with the fragile glass that is the foundation of almost every electronic screen – and a primary source of vulnerability and breakage risk in the devices that incorporate them. Skiff has worked closely with LG Display (NYSE: LPL), one of the world's leading display manufacturers and the innovator of the foilSKIFF page 16

16

Gadgets/ Tech Tips/

E-reader News Edition

SKIFF continued from page 15

display technology, to optimize and implement this first-of-itskind non-glass display uniquely for the Skiff Reader. Skiff has signed a multi-year agreement with Sprint (NYSE:S) to provide 3G connectivity for Skiff's dedicated e-reading devices in the United States. Plans are underway to have the Skiff Reader available for purchase later this year in more than 1,000 Sprint retail locations across the U.S., as well as online at www.sprint.com. Availability, pricing, additional distribution channels and other details will be disclosed at a later date. "The forthcoming launch of the Skiff Reader is an exciting development for consumers who are looking for more and more choice in the arena of embedded devices," said Dan Dooley, president wholesale solutions, Sprint. "We have witnessed a strong demand for e-readers in recent years and now Sprint is showing its commitment to Skiff by making this new device

available on the 3G network and for sale in Sprint retail stores." In October 2009, Sprint announced the formation of its Emerging Solutions Business that focuses exclusively on the rapid delivery of machine-to-machine and mobile computing solutions to businesses and consumers. Sprint's partnership with Skiff builds on more than 10 years of experience in working with vendors to provision non-Sprintbranded devices to operate on its networks, as well as extensive expertise in operating multiple platforms and assets. In addition to 3G, the Skiff Reader will also support wireless connectivity via WiFi. The Skiff Reader will feature the Skiff service and digital store, allowing consumers to wirelessly purchase and access a wide variety of newspapers, magazines, books, blogs and other content from multiple publishers. Newspaper and magazine content delivered by Skiff will feature visually

appealing layouts, highresolution graphics, rich typography and dynamic updates, supporting key design qualities that help publications differentiate themselves and attract subscribers and advertisers. Besides the Skiff Reader, Skiff is working with major consumer electronics manufacturers to integrate Skiff's service, digital store and client software into a range of innovative devices. By supporting a variety of devices from multiple manufacturers, and through complementary applications for major smart phone platforms, Skiff will make i t e a s i e r f o r p u b l i s h e r s t o By Tim Stevens (Engadget) distribute content and advertising Submitted at 1/4/2010 1:01:00 PM across a range of devices and form factors, an increasingly If money were no issue we'd all important goal as the e-reading be rocking slinky notebooks with terabytes of flash-based storage, market continues to grow. but alas this recession means a more budget-conscious approach is warranted. BenQ's solution is to offer a bit of both with its latest Joybook Lite, the U103, offering a large (500GB max) HDD paired with an optional 32GB SSD. Install your OS and critical apps on the SSD, dump everything else to platter, and make the most of what the creator goes out of his way to cite company advertises will be an the Readability bookmarklet eight hour battery. That the precursor, but for those with laptop packs what is advertised Instapaper accounts, or just as "Intel's new Atom" processor looking for a new view of longer- (surely the N450) is a good sign reading web articles, it's a handy tool. [ Instapaper]

Get an Instapaper Text View of Any Web Article [Bookmarklets] By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker) Submitted at 1/4/2010 7:30:00 AM

Fan of article-saving, readerfriendly webapp Instapaper? You can now convert any article you come across on the web to Instapaper's very clean and clear

standards with the Instapaper Text bookmarklet. Instapaper's

BenQ's Joybook Lite U103 packs an SSD for when you're feeling frisky, HDD for when you're not that battery life will indeed be good, something that should also be helped by a 10-inch, LEDbacklit display of indeterminate resolution. Also on the docket is pseudo-3D sound from the two integrated speakers courtesy of SRS TruSound HD, a multitouch trackpad, and a weight of just 2.4lbs. No price yet, but that should change soon enough. BenQ's Joybook Lite U103 packs an SSD for when you're feeling frisky, HDD for when you're not originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 13:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Fareastgizmos.com| BenQ| Email this| Comments

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Vegas-bound! What to expect from CES By John Biggs (CrunchGear) Submitted at 1/4/2010 10:25:38 AM

All of us at CrunchGear are prepping for the pain-fest we all know as the Consumer Electronics Show. For those not aware, every January, just after they’ve waddled away from the all-you-can-eat buffet called the Holidays, journalists, bloggers, and big box electronics buyers all head to Las Vegas for more of the same. This year we’re doing a few cool things including a full live stream of our coverage right on the site thanks to our friends at LiveStream. We’ll be running the stream 24/7 and we’ll try to grab just about every major meeting and event we attend. However, I’ve just been going over our sources and have a few basic predictions for you on CES. Watch live streaming video from crunchgear at livestream.com • This is the year of 3D. Although I doubt 3D will truly become mass market in 2010, Avatar will definitely encourage a slight uptick in Blu-Ray sales.• E-readers galore.. In fact, Sprint just announcing something called the Skiff. There may also be a no

-name few e-readers, but don’t expect anyone to break Kindle hegemony this CES. They can’t even ship Nooks until February and the rest of the e-readers will be also rans until popular demand ramps up in the e-reader space.• Tablets? What tablets? I doubt we’re going to see much in the way of “media tablets” at CES. If Apple launches anything at the end of January, no one wants to be the doofus with a tablet “coming in Spring 2010 while Apple rolls over the industry like the Juggernaut.• There will be no October Surprise. This one is getting me down. As far as we can tell there will be no amazing surprises at CES. Motorola will have about five upcoming Android phones, Samsung is dumping out some Android phones (but not at CES), and Palm, well, hopefully they’ll release something nice to buoy

the spirits. Otherwise in terms of embargoed releases we’ve seen and the leaked stuff so far, I can’t imagine there will be much to amaze us.• This is the year of recovery. Cynicism aside, CES will be big this year. Companies are coming out of the funk of the recession and by all indications they’re ready to start launching product. Interestingly, however, they’re not launching loads of product all at once this week and are instead waiting for other events to blow their wad. Otherwise, look for a healthy – but not overly heady – mix of froth and substance. You can read all of our CES coverage right here.

Court to Cops: Stop Tasing People Into Cooperation By David Hambling (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 1/4/2010 7:38:00 AM

Tasers are becoming a ubiquitous "non-lethal" tool for law enforcement, but a federal appeals court rules that they can’t

be used simply to force a nonviolent person to bend to an officer’s will.

Alereon announces wireless USB NoWire laptop to HDTV extender By Donald Melanson (Engadget)

is that the extender can also take advantage of some software and drivers for Windows for some Submitted at 1/4/2010 1:22:00 PM more advanced functionality. No Looking to keep your computer- word on a price just yet, but it to-TV extender setup as basic as looks like the extender will be possible? Then you might just available sometime in March. want to consider Alereon's new Head on past the break for a NoWire wireless USB extender, quick video overview. which does away with the need Continue reading Alereon for any software or drivers along announces wireless USB NoWire with the wires. As you might laptop to HDTV extender have suspected, however, that Alereon announces wireless means it simply uses the wireless USB NoWire laptop to HDTV USB dongle to mirror your extender originally appeared on laptop display on your TV, which Engadget on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 itself must be outfitted with a 13:22:00 EST. Please see our shark fin receiver that connects terms for use of feeds. Permalink| via HDMI or VGA (with some Wireless USB Blog| Email this| help form a 3.5mm audio jack). Comments That obviously limits your options a bit, but the good news

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Gadgets/ Tech News/

E-reader News Edition

Android To Take Over Your Washer Dryer and Microwave Oven [Kitchen]

Playlist: Mighty Mouse's 'New Adventures,' Flashsticks, SoulPancake

By Jesus Diaz (Gizmodo)

By Wired Magazine (Wired Top Stories)

Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:30:38 AM

Phones, GPS, computers... Do we really want to give Android the power to control our washerdryers and ovens and printers too? Would someone hack them to microwave your underpants, wash your soup, and dry your pizza? It probably doesn't matter. I do it all the time. But better get used to it, because this is what we are getting soon: This is the NIM1000, an capacitive touch-sensitive Android-based module that is designed to control all kinds of appliances. It has the necessary connections to plug into anything, from kitchen appliances, to printers, and

enterprise desktop phones. You can't buy it, however: It's designed for manufacturers of these products. Made by Touch Revolution, the NIM1000 module will be demonstrated at CES in these appliances and gadgets, showing

what features they can get. The washer dryer has slide touchscreen controls, stain guides, and a way to interpret the extraterrestrial symbols that come printed in clothe's labels. The microwave, according to Touch Revolution, "doubles a

kitchen control center," with widgets to play Pandora, show a photo of your dog, read the news, a web browser, and timers for both the oven and the burners. Do you need your microwave to be a kitchen command center while I play music and watch pictures of my dog in it all day, while posting for Gizmodo through the web browser? I don't know about you, but I'll be there like shareware. Wouldn't you? Yes, this reminds me a bit of the old dot.com era, when everyone and their dogs put Java or Windows CE in every single thing out there. And we all know how that ended.

Submitted at 1/3/2010 9:00:00 PM

Get your fill of what's Wired this month, from praise for intrinsic rewards in the workplace to the eclectic funk of RJD2 and a rewriting of history through images. Is that Batman at a Fidel Castro press conference?

Skiff Reader is largest yet, will be hitting a Sprint Store near you By Tim Stevens (Engadget) Submitted at 1/4/2010 12:46:00 PM

Amazon's Kindle DX may be big, but it's not the biggest any more. The Skiff Reader is here to take that crown -- despite being a mere quarter inch thick. It packs a 1600 x 1200 11.5-inch touchscreen (finger and stylus) that, as you can see from the

above screenshot, should do much better justice to magazine and newspaper layouts than we've yet seen from an e-inkbased reader. That's exactly the sort of advance Hearst was promising when it first mentioned the device last month. Skiff includes 4GB of on-board card expansion, and there's a s t o r a g e ( j u s t o v e r 3 G B i s 3.5mm headphone jack for tunes available for content) with SD

and, hopefully, text-to-speech. Content can be side-loaded over a mini USB jack or delivered via WiFi but, more importantly, 3G is also on offer thanks to Sprint, who will also dedicate some space in its retail stores to sell the thing when it launches sometime this year. Price? That we don't know. Gallery: Skiff Reader press shots

Skiff Reader is largest yet, will be hitting a Sprint Store near you originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Skiff Reader| Email this| Comments

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Can Microwave Technology be Used to Make Food Cold? [Microwaves] By Popular Science (Gizmodo) Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:02:12 AM

Microwaves can transform a frozen pizza into hot, melted goodness in four minutes flat, but they can't rescue your melted icecream sundae. Or can they? To cook food, a microwave oven converts voltage into highfrequency electromagnetic microwaves. The molecules in food-especially water and fatabsorb this energy and wiggle at high speeds, causing them to heat rapidly and warm the surrounding food. Although quickly turning leftovers cold would be handy, this is a oneway operation, explains David Pozar, a professor and microwave expert at the

a couple hundred degrees Fahrenheit-much colder than anything you'd want to put in your mouth-in less than a second. But because it works most efficiently on low-density gases of atoms of a single element, physicist Mark Raizen of the University of Texas doesn't think it will be useful for cooling food anytime soon: "Not unless you can subsist on a thousand sodium atoms." Popular Science is your wormhole to the future. University of Massachusetts. emit them every which way, Reporting on what's new and Microwaves can only speed up causing the atom to hold nearly what's next in science and atoms, not slow them down. still. Placing an atom at the technology, we deliver the future Scientists do have a high-tech junction of multiple beams can now. method for slowing atoms, s l o w i t s m o m e n t u m i n a l l however: lasers. Shoot a moving directions, decreasing its energy atom with a laser, and it will and cooling it. absorb the laser's photons and re- This drops an atom's temperature

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Photo Gallery: Top 10 Sci-Fi Weapons That Actually Exist By Aaron Rowe (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 1/3/2010 9:00:00 PM

All the laser weapons, robots, sonic blasters and puke rays pictured here are real. Really. Some of them, in fact, are already in use.

Give Us Your Pick for Car of the Decade By Chuck Squatriglia (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 1/4/2010 7:52:00 AM

Last week we laid out our 10 best cars of the decade. Now it’s your turn.

Interead expands COOL-ER e-reader line-up, announces additional content By Donald Melanson (Engadget)

While details on it are still a bit light, the reader will apparently boast a touchscreen of some sort, Submitted at 1/4/2010 12:18:00 PM weigh just 5.8 ounces, and be Interead already let out some available sometime this Spring early word about its COOL-ER (the COOL-ER 3G will follow in 3G e-book reader with a little "mid-2010"). What's more, help from AT&T, but it's now Interead has also now announced made things doubly official, and a new range of content offerings more than 1,400 newspapers, though, it seems). Still nothing in also take the opportunity to for its e-book readers, including along with "select websites," and the way of pricing, but we're announce a new WiFi-equipped the Coolermatic application, even Twitter feeds (no posting hoping Interead will have more C O O L - E R C o n n e c t m o d e l . which will give users access to

to say about that once CES fully gets underway. Interead expands COOL-ER ereader line-up, announces additional content originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| COOL-ER ereaders, Coolermatic| Email this| Comments

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Toshiba mini NB305 adds Atom N450 to a successful formula (hands-on) By Paul Miller (Engadget) Submitted at 1/4/2010 12:24:00 PM

Toshiba hasn't strayed far from its NB205 series of 10-inch netbooks with the all-new mini NB305, but the few tweaks made are welcome. Obviously the Atom N450 processor is the central attraction, but tweaks like a 250GB hard drive, less protrusive 6-cell battery (which clocks in a purported 11 hours of battery life), and a slightly lighter finished product (2.6 pounds) all

add up to a compelling offering. The regular version of the laptop with "true" chiclet keys goes for $400, while a black version with a less impressive keyboard takes the entry spot at $350. We got a few moments to play with the netbooks, and came away pretty impressed. It might not be quite the bang-for-buck on offer from other manufacturers, and the lack of a higher-end graphics option is a little offputting, but as for simple build quality and usability (we're

particular fans of the oversized trackpad), the NB305 might be hard to beat. Toshiba's also pursuing the software angle here

with a Media Controller app to expose some of Windows 7's media streaming abilities, along with a visual search app called

RealTime and a fridge-style Bulletin Board. Gallery: Toshiba mini NB305 press shots Gallery: Toshiba mini NB305 hands-on Toshiba mini NB305 adds Atom N450 to a successful formula (hands-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| | Email this| Comments

CinemaNow 2.0: 3D, 1080p, Android & WinMo get a taste of online movie distribution By Richard Lawler (Engadget) Submitted at 1/4/2010 12:39:00 PM

Thought digital delivery would get left behind in the jump to 3D? Roxio's CinemaNow 2.0 platform is ready to build on the success of its predecessor-- already embedded in many devices and powering the online stores for Blockbuster, Best Buy and Zip.ca

-- and flip the switch bringing streamed or downloaded 1080p or 3D, plus the ability to add additional background info on each movie or previously discexclusive extras like multiple audio tracks, subtitles and more. Also new for 2.0 are plans for all you can eat subscriptions or a ask about that, and whether the access on Android and Windows disc tie-in is the logical next step, new features will be backwards Mobile devices. We're still but we'll wait for a CES demo to compatible on old hardware. thinking a combo of lower prices,

Wired Science's Top Space Stories for Age of Solar System Needs to Be 2009 Recalculated By Betsy Mason (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 1/4/2010 2:30:00 AM

Wired Science readers love

space, a lot. Here are the space stories they loved the most in 2009.

By Lisa Grossman (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 1/3/2010 9:01:00 PM

New measurements show that

the trusted equation used to determine the age of the solar system is wrong.

CinemaNow 2.0: 3D, 1080p, Android & WinMo get a taste of online movie distribution originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| CinemaNow| Email this| Comments

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Avatar has made more than $1 billion. That’s a lot of dollars.

Change the Channel WIth Your iPhone and the L5 Remote IR Adapter [IPhone]

By Nicholas Deleon (CrunchGear) Submitted at 1/4/2010 10:15:58 AM

Pretty sure none of us here ever said that Avatar would tank at the box office, but did we think it’d make a billion dollars in just a few days? I sure didn’t! (To be fair, I never really gave the topic much thought.) But yes, wipe the look of shock off your face as it’s now revealed that the James Cameron film made $1.02 billion in three weeks. That includes international receipts, too. That’s a nice chunk of change. As it stands, the movie is well on track to become the second highest grossing film of all time. (Presumably this list doesn’t take inflation into account.) Given the positive word-of-mouth reaction, and with the Twitter echochamber having given the film its blessing, it’s probably going to hover around the top of the weekly money charts for a little while yet. That’s unlike the

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By Mark Wilson (Gizmodo) Submitted at 1/4/2010 8:27:02 AM

For every million or so pointless, sacrificial iPhone accessories, we get one good one. And the L5 Remote infrared adapter may just be that one accessory. The idea couldn't be simpler: You plug the L5 Remote adapter into your iPhone's dock connector, it draws from the iPhone's battery to blast IR, and By Tim Stevens (Engadget) and even let you take them, with the addition of bundled typical popcorn movie that has a acting like a disconnected universal remote app, your big opening weekend then falls Submitted at 1/4/2010 11:56:00 AM speakerphone. Appropriately, the iPhone can suddenly change the off the face of the Earth. Missing cellphones are a fact of poker chip-sized device will be channel on pretty much any TV, None of us (at least the east life for forgetful folks, and while on display at CES this week, cable/sat box or Front Row coast morning crew) have seen the 'ol "call yourself and hunt the where there will surely be no compatible device up to 30 feet the movie, so we can’t give our feeble ringtone" technique works shortage of misplaced handsets of away. We've seen iPhone remote Highly Important thoughts on it. most of the time, some need a all shapes and sizes kicking solutions before, but nothing has At least the 3D version looks little bit more. There are plenty around. neat, I think. of software solutions out there, ZOMM uses Bluetooth to tether been nearly this elegant. Priced at but ZOMM could be the perfect you to your phone, your phone to $50 whenever it's actually hardware option for any handset you originally appeared on available, the L5 remote could that supports Bluetooth. It's a Engadget on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 finally give us one remote to keyring that tethers wirelessly to 11:56:00 EST. Please see our control them all. [ L5 Tech via your celly like a headset, starting terms for use of feeds. Permalink The Loop via Silicon Alley t o b u z z , b l i n k , a n d c h i m e technabob| ZOMM| Email this| Insider via DVICE] whenever you leave the phone -- Comments or the ZOMM -- behind. It will also alert you to incoming calls

ZOMM uses Bluetooth to tether you to your phone, your phone to you

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E-reader News Edition

Singapore Court Rules That Online DVR Is Infringing... While Noting How Copyright Law Isn't Really Set Up For This By Mike Masnick (Techdirt) Submitted at 1/4/2010 8:10:00 AM

As copyright-watchers are well aware, recently there was an important case that went through the US court system over whether or not cable company Cablevision could provide a remote DVR service. Effectively, Cablevision was setting up a bank of TiVo-like devices at its own datacenter, and allowing users to record and playback shows as if they were recording them on a DVR settop box sitting under their television. The only real difference is where the box is (or, you might say, how long the wire is between the TV and the DVR). Since it's already well established that time -shifting is perfectly legal it was difficult to see how anyone could make the argument that Cablevision's setup was infringing. The only difference was the length of the wire. But, of course, the TV guys objected strenuously with bizarre analogies that didn't make much sense. The appeals court sided with Cablevision, saying that such a service doesn't infringe, and the Supreme Court chose not to hear the appeal, so this ruling stands, at least in the Second Circuit, for the time being. But what was most telling about the actual appeals court ruling was how the

judges had to contort themselves into all sorts of odd ways to make such a ruling make sense under the law. The conclusion clearly made sense. Copyright law wouldn't make any sense at all if the length of a wire could change something from infringing to non -infringing. And yet, there were ways to read copyright law that would have found in favor of the networks. The issue is really twofold. First, technology advances faster than copyright law, and the conditions that were in place when the law was written aren't the same as what happens later. Second, to deal with this our esteemed elected officials simply apply duct tapelike patches to copyright law, adding new definitions and categories, that didn't exist before. But, then when new technologies come along, the question is what categories do the resulting outputs fall into, and the arguments are often about who gets to categorize the output to their benefit. It appears that the US is not the only country going through this sort of debate. I've been alerted to a recent ruling in Singapore that actually comes to a different conclusion and finds infringing behavior on the part of the service provider. The story here is slightly different. In this case, the company is RecordTV -- a separate service, rather than

provided by the cable company itself. Also, it's a web-based service, rather than a TV-based one. Users log in and can designate which shows (only from Singaporean channels that broadcast over-the-air) they want to record, and the service will record those shows and make them accessible to that user only for a limited amount of time. There is one other complicating factor, in that the way RecordTV works has shifted over time. Initially it would record a show once and allow anyone who requested that recording to access the single file. But later it switched to keeping a separate recording of each show that someone requested, which seems massively inefficient in terms of storage. What's stunning again, however, as you read through the ruling is how conflicted the judge appears to be. There's a ridiculous amount of "on the one hand, on the other hand, but on the other other hand"-type reasoning found throughout the ruling, which you can see below: It's also interesting to see that, despite this ruling being in Singapore, under Singaporean rule, the discussion spends a lot of time looking at the Cablevision case in the US (and some other US and UK cases as well). So, why does the judge come to a different conclusion? Well, it

almost feels like it depended on which eventual flip of the coin came up which way. The judge agrees with the basic ruling in Cablevision that it is not the service provider who is liable for direct infringement. As in the Cablevision case, it's the end users who "pushes the button" and thus is actually responsible for the action. All good. But, the lawsuit also focused on a secondary level of infringement, and here the court found that RecordTV, while not liable for the actual recording, could be found liable of secondary infringement in the later transmission of the content. This seems like a total headscratcher. So a user is responsible for recording the file, but not responsible for then accessing it (recognize that the user accessing the file is the same as the service provider transmitting it)? How does that make sense? There is a second issue also, which is that the court had trouble with the fact that RecordTV meant to be a commercial enterprise in which it would make money by having ads. It used this issue as one of a few factors that removed a "fair dealing/fair use" defense by the company. Again, though, there's a lot of "on the one hand, on the other hand" type debates in the ruling until the judge basically

says that under the law, as it stands, the site is guilty of infringement. But even it seems really troubled by what this means from a practical perspective: I leave open the possibility that such a DVR or VCR product or service, operating remotely or locally, digitally or via analog means, could amount to fair dealing under our Copyright Act only for the non-commercial facilitation of end-users' time shifting. As we have seen earlier... it is inconsistent that the VCR is permitted to be sold at a price (in stores) but the [remote] DVR (through advertising revenue) is not, but until the occasion requires, I shall not make any pronouncements on this anomaly. And there you are. Even the judge seems to recognize that it's silly to find one service infringing and the other not, but basically says that with the way copyright law is set up, that's the ruling that makes sense. Finally, this should be worrisome on all sorts of levels for a variety of online services that seek to replicate perfectly legal analog equivalents. The fact that where a storage device is stored or how long a wire is could totally change the legality of a product should suggest that something is seriously wrong SINGAPORE page 25

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Bono: We Should Use China's Censorship As An Example Of How To Stop Piracy By Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

against it because he was too rich, and people would point that out. I t ' s n o s e c r e t t h a t P a u l Apparently he forgot that part. McGuinness, U2's longtime As pretty much all of you are manager, has been making sending in, Bono has posted his bizarre and easily refuted claims regular NY Times column, about that everyone but the music 10 big things that are important industry is at fault for not making for the next 10 years and U2 even richer than it is. And a p p a r e n t l y , p r o t e c t i n g h i s t h a t ' s b e c a u s e t h e y ' r e a l l royalties... I mean... stomping out conspiring to bring piracy to the piracy makes it to number two on world, which is destroying music t h e l i s t . It's the same revenue while pumping up the McGuinness blather, of course. r e v e n u e o f l o t s o f o t h e r Apparently, piracy is really all companies. Of course, none of the ISPs' fault: A decade's worth that is true. Music-based of music file-sharing and swiping revenues continue to climb quite has made clear that the people it nicely, and the revenue that ISPs hurts are the creators -- in this and Google and others are case, the young, fledgling making from "piracy" is barely songwriters who can't live off worth mentioning. Does anyone ticket and T-shirt sales like the really think that broadband least sympathetic among us -would have noticeably fewer and the people this reverse Robin customers without music piracy Hooding benefits are rich service going around? providers, whose swollen profits Still, there had been some perfectly mirror the lost receipts questions about where U2's of the music business. Hmm. So, outspoken frontman, Bono, felt apparently all the money that about these issues. Back in 2008, people used to spend on music, he did say that he mostly agreed they now spend on internet with McGuinness that somehow connections? If only there were ISPs were to blame for all of this. some evidence to back that up. Then, in early 2009, there was an But, as we noted, the music amusing interview where he business has been growing, just basically said that piracy is bad, n o t t h e s a l e s o f C D s . but he couldn't really speak out Considering how much U2 made Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:23:00 AM

on its last tour, you would think that Bono would be aware of this. As for his claim that the internet is harming the up-and-coming songwriters, again, all this shows is how incredibly out of touch Bono is. In the past, the "young, fledgling songwriter" couldn't live off ticket or t-shirt sales either. He had to hope that he got the lucky golden ticket from a record label and that they didn't then crush his spirit and originality before discarding him as an unrecouped has-been. Today, however, the opportunities for the young, fledgling songwriter to build a following, build a business model and make a living has grown tremendously. Ask Jonathon Coulton. Or Corey Smith. Or Matthew Ebel. Or Moto Boy. Or any one of thousands of other songwriters who didn't go the major label route, but have figured out ways to make a living (or better) that simply would not have been possible just a few years ago. So what's Bono's solution to this non-problem? Apparently it's for ISPs to spy on what everyone does and to fork over money they get to the musicians (well, he says musicians, but what he really means is the major record

labels): But we know from America's noble effort to stop child pornography, not to mention China's ignoble effort to suppress online dissent, that it's perfectly possible to track content. Now, Bono is technically (beyond his role with U2) a venture partner at the venture capital firm Elevation Partners, and you would think that would require some basic level of technological knowhow. But, you get the feeling Elevation brought him on for his star power, rather than his keen technology insights, or he might realize that neither America's efforts to stop child pornography, nor China's efforts to suppress online dissent have worked very well. Neither has shown that it's "perfectly possible to track content." In fact, they've shown the reverse. They've shown that the further you try to track people, the further underground they go. And is Bono really (really?) suggesting that we force ISPs to use the same tactics used to try to silence dissent in China to protect his royalties? Yikes. Perhaps movie moguls will succeed where musicians and their moguls have failed so far, and rally America to defend the most

Video: Project Runway returns to NYC; Season 7 Premiere on Lifetime January 14 By Robert Seidman (TVbytheNumbers)

Five Filters featured article: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: Term Extraction.

creative economy in the world, where music, film, TV and video games help to account for nearly 4 percent of gross domestic product. The problem here is that, again, Bono seems to equate file sharing with a loss of money or decrease in output from the wider creative industries. He's flat out wrong. The overall industries continue to grow. It's just a small group of the more powerful middlemen, who have refused to adapt and change with the times, who are stuck in the past. And it's because of their own unwillingness to adapt, that they may be losing some money. But the creative output, and the economic impact of those overall industries continue to grow, no matter how confused some rockstar on a crusade might be about them. So if we're looking for big trends over the next ten years, how about we learn to stop listening to out of touch rockstars who insist they know stuff they are clearly uninformed about (or, rather, informed by a few biased and factually-challenged parties)? Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

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Acer Aspire Netbook sports new Atom chip (CNET News.com)

• Acer InviLink Nplify 802.11b/g/Draft-N Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Acer Aspire One • 10/100 Fast Ethernet LAN (RJAO532h(Credit: Acer) 45) Acer has unveiled the latest • Built-in Webcam entry to its hot Aspire One • Two Built-in Stereo Speakers Netbook line--this one powered • Multi-Gesture Touchpad by Intel's new N450 Atom • 3 - USB 2.0 Ports processor. • 6-cell Li-ion Battery (4400 The newly-launched Acer Aspire is 93 percent standard size, mAh) One AO532h, driven by Intel's according to Acer, so it should be • 2.76 lbs. | 1.25 kg next-gen N450 chip, is designed less cramped than many other • 10.17" (W) x7.28" (D) x .99" to offer better performance and Netbook keyboards. (H) L i k e m o s t N e t b o o k s , t h e • Windows 7 Starter longer battery life than older Netbooks. Acer claims the new AO532h comes with Windows 7 • Three stylish colors: Onyx machine can last up to 8 hours Starter Edition, which is the Blue, Garnet Red and Silver with the standard 6-cell Li-ion lowest cost but least robust Matrix (4400 mAh) battery or 10 hours edition of Windows 7. Starting at • MSRP: $299.99 with a high-density 6-cell (5600 $299, the AO532h is expected to be available sometime this Acer now joins the ranks of mAh) battery. The N450 processor frees up month. several other Netbook makers by space by integrating the graphics The full specs listed by Acer for unveiling new machines running processor onto the CPU, so the Aspire One AO532h: the N450 Atom. In December, Netbooks can be smaller and Asus debuted its Eee PC 1005PE. thinner. The Aspire One AO532h • Intel Atom Processor N450 HP's "unannounced" Mini 210 comes in just under an inch thick (1.66GHz, 512KB L2 cache, Netbook then hit the news, and weighs a bit over 2.5 pounds 667MHz FSB) followed by models from 1 0 . 1 " W S V G A A c e r Toshiba and Gateway. Many of while sporting a 10.1-inch • screen, according to Acer's specs. CrystalBrite LED-backlit Display these companies will be showing The new Netbook comes with • Mobile Intel NM10 Express off their latest N450-powered 1GB of DDR2 RAM, a 160GB Chipset Netbooks when CES launches in SATA hard drive, a 10/100 • Integrated Intel Graphics Las Vegas this week. Ethernet port, 802.11b/g/Draft-N Media Accelerator 3150 Five Filters featured article: Wi-Fi, a media card reader, and a • 1024MB DDR2 667MHz Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: Webcam. Acer also includes a Memory PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, multi-gesture touch pad that lets • 160GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Term Extraction. you use glide, pinch, and swirl Drive your fingers to more easily move • Multi-in-1 Digital Media Card around the screen. The keyboard Reader Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:23:53 AM

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Social network nixes users who 'let themselves go' (CNET News.com) Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:38:00 AM

BeautifulPeople.com, a socialnetworking and dating site for "attractive people," announced on Monday that it has removed 5,000 members from around the world for putting on too much weight over the holiday season. According to the site, "many members posted photos of themselves celebrating Christmas and the New Year--revealing that they have let themselves go. Vigilant members, who take pride in the standards demanded by the site, called for action." Greg Hodge, the site's managing director, said in a statement that the service "responded to complaints by moving the newly chubby members back to the rating stage. This is the same as having them re-apply. Their reapplications were reviewed by existing members and only a few hundred were voted back in. Over 5,000 were rejected." The United States led the list of ousted members with 1,520 people being told to leave the social network. The site also let go of 832 people from the U.K. and 533 from Canada. Russia lost the fewest people with just 88 being told to find a new social

network. "Every year we see that some of our members from western cultures eat and drink to excess over the holidays and clearly their looks suffer," Hodge said in a statement. "The USA has been grossly over-indulging since Thanksgiving--it's no wonder that so many members have been expelled from the network. We hope they will be back after shedding the festive pounds." "As a business, we mourn the loss of any member, but the fact remains that our members demand the high standard of beauty be upheld," BeautifulPeople.com founder Robert Hintze said in a statement. He went on to say that allowing those members to stay on the site "is a direct threat to [the company's] business model and the very concept for which BeautifulPeople.com was founded." Now it's time to hear from you. Did BeautifulPeople go overboard? Is the site itself troubling, since users are judged by their looks? Let us know in the comments below. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Venture-backed companies see year- Tough To Punish Those end surge Who File Bogus DMCA Takedowns (CNET News.com)

expect the IPO window will reopen in the coming year." The $7.3 billion raised by Battery maker A123 Systems in mergers and acquisitions in the late September scored the biggest fourth quarter was a 49 percent IPO among venture-backed jump from the $4.9 billion seen companies in 2009, helping boost in the same quarter in 2008. the overall value of such initial Still, 2009 overall was a down public offerings markedly from year for mergers, acquisitions, the preceding year. and IPOs of venture capitalAmazon's acquisition of Zappos, backed companies in the U.S. For which closed in November, was the year, only $16.2 billion was the biggest takeover of a venture- generated from 326 mergers and backed company in 2009. acquisitions, a 37 percent drop That economic activity from the from the $25.6 billion raised final months of the year is t h r o u g h 3 8 0 m e r g e r s a n d grounds for optimism about acquisitions in 2008, according to 2010, according to industry Dow Jones VentureSource. tracker Dow J o n e s The largest acquisition for both VentureSource. the year and the final quarter was "The fourth quarter has set the that of Zappos, an online shoe stage for an active year in M&As and clothing seller, which was [mergers and acquisitions] in scooped up by Amazon for $847 2010," Jessica Canning, director million. of global research for Dow Jones Eight new IPOs, meanwhile, VentureSource, said Monday in a managed to raise $904 million in statement recapping 2009's 2009, a 64 percent jump from the activity in private markets. "As $551 million generated by seven the economy improves, acquirers IPOs in 2008. The year's largest are gaining confidence in their IPO was in the green-tech sector, own financial situation and as Massachusetts-based A123 r e t u r n i n g t o s t r a t e g i c Systems, a maker of rechargeable acquisitions. At the same time, lithium ion batteries, raised $371 the steady trickle of public million. The largest IPO in the offerings is teasing investors who fourth quarter was the $80 Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:10:07 AM

SINGAPORE continued from page 22

with copyright law. Permalink| Comments| Email

This Story

million generated by Chicagobased Echo Global Logistics, which provides technology to companies in the transportation industry. Prices paid for start-ups backed by venture capitalists also grew in the fourth quarter, according to VentureSource. For the first time since 2000, the median price paid for a venture-backed firm shot past $100 million, hitting $145 million, almost eight times higher than the $19 million median paid during 2008's final quarter. But the $27 million median price for 2009 overall was 18 percent less than for the previous year. "Several large deals spurred a dramatic increase in the median amount acquirers paid for a company during the fourth quarter," Canning said in a statement. "But the median amount paid throughout 2009 was still below the levels seen in 2007, a positive sign for acquirers looking to purchase companies at reasonable prices." Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

By Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

websites (and, at one point, were used to try to take down the entire ISP). The details are a bit We all know that it's quite convoluted, but basically, a c o m m o n f o r t h e D M C A group of people critical of what takedown process to be abused to was being said on a website suppress content that the issued a series of DMCA takedown sender did not hold the takedowns to keep the site down right to, or which was clearly every time it came back up covered by fair use. Technically, following a counternotice. This the DMCA has section (f) which seems like a perfect case where makes the notice issuer liable for the takedown issuers should be misrepresentations, and could hit with sanctions of some sort, force them to pay legal fees. But but the case was dismissed on it's difficult to think of many procedural grounds instead, cases where this has been which seem to be based on a actually used successfully. misunderstanding of the DMCA Often, those caught abusing the itself. DMCA just say "sorry, it was a But, more important is how this mistake" and get away with it. case demonstrates how the Funny, of course, that the same DMCA is abused not to prevent d o e s n ' t w o r k i n t h e o t h e r copyright infringement, but to try d i r e c t i o n f o r t h o s e c a u g h t to silence speech that someone infringing on copyrights under doesn't like. We've had plenty of the DMCA. Say "sorry, it was a discussions about the conflicts mistake" and you still might owe between the First Amendment thousands of dollars. and copyright law, but here is a Eric Goldman highlights a case case where Congress has made a where an ISP tried to use section law that is all too often used to (f) to go after a bunch of folks stifle speech. who issued questionable DMCA Permalink| Comments| Email takedowns that were clearly This Story designed to harass a couple of Submitted at 1/4/2010 6:40:07 AM

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Cisco Realizes It's A Waste Of Time Apple's "renaissance" is To Focus On Patent Quantity under way By Mike Masnick (Techdirt) Submitted at 1/4/2010 4:38:52 AM

A few weeks back, we noted how some were freaking out over the fact that patent applications were down, without bothering to look behind the numbers at why. Instead, they jumped to the conclusion that innovation in the US was dropping. johnjac points us to an article where folks at Cisco suggests that it might just be tech companies realizing that patenting everything is a waste of time and money. In fact, the story states that Cisco recently changed its patent strategy from trying to patent everything to trying to focus on things that it believes is really innovative, rather than everything it can possibly get a patent on. I can already hear the usual crowd of patent holders in our comments. They hate Cisco and pretty much any big company. They'll interpret this statement as meaning that Cisco has become less inventive and is more focused on "stealing" inventions. Of course, what's amusing is that they'll never present any

evidence for those accusations (though, I'm sure they'll accuse me of being on the take for Cisco even though we've never done any business with Cisco in any way whatsoever). That said, I do find some of the comments from Cisco odd and somewhat unsupportable:"The arms race approach doesn't pay off," he says. "It doesn't do you a lot of good to have a lot of patents." Why? The patent landscape has changed dramatically. Patents often land companies in court as they fight over who invented the idea first. Lawsuits still might involve competitors, but increasingly Cisco finds it is battling what Chandler calls "non -practicing entities." These are companies that exist only to acquire patents and then seek to extract money from big companies for infringing on them. The more patents you hold, the more likely one of these companies will sue you. The first part is true. Lots of companies find themselves being sued by non-practicing entities, but it's not because of the number of

patents they hold. The NPEs (patent trolls, patent hoarders, whatever you want to call them) aren't suing those who have the most patents. They're suing whoever has (1) products on the market and (2) a large bank account. Cisco could have no patents at all, and it would still be getting sued just as much by NPEs. So, frankly, I don't buy the claim that the more patents you have, the more likely you are to get sued. Instead, my guess, is that Cisco has realized that getting patents (especially in such large numbers) is an expensive process, for little benefit. It may help in some lawsuits against competitors (when Cisco can threaten to counter sue over other patents), but you only need so many patents for that. So, it looks like Cisco is building up a stable of defensive patents, and has realized that you don't need the largest number. That's a good thing, but the claim that more patents makes you more of a target just doesn't make sense. Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

Submitted at 1/4/2010 8:23:41 AM

Total in $2.25bn gas deal with

Chesapeake By Carola Hoyos, Chief energy correspondent Published: January 4 2010 16:23 | Last updated: January 4 2010

Submitted at 1/4/2010 11:00:00 AM

Filed under: Switchers, Cult of Mac A few months ago, I walked into a Paradise Bakery & Café in Phoenix -- a place known for its excellent food and free Wi-Fi. Like a lot of places with free Internet access, there were plenty of laptop users. What stood out to me was that all but one of the computers was either a MacBook or MacBook Pro. It's not just me looking through at the world with an Apple-tinged bias. The more places I go, the more I see people using Macs, or at least considering them. The Apple stores in Phoenix are still nearly elbow to elbow with people every time I visit, however the lone Microsoft store in Scottsdale was pretty empty the one time I visited. There's now data to back up these observations. Macsimum News reports that iMacs were the top-selling desktop for the month of October 2009 according to the NPD Group. After the proverbial jaw-dropping moment, there was quickly speculation as to why Macs finally outpaced PCs when 16:23 Five Filters featured article: it came to desktops. According to Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: The Daily Gleaner, the NPD PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Total in $2.25bn gas deal with Chesapeake (Financial Times - US homepage)

By Megan Lavey (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

Group stated that PC sales were down as a result of the impending launch of Windows 7. Or, it could also be indicative that Windows users are finally getting fed up. "If Microsoft Windows is seen as a buggier, less-secure product that is slower, harder to use and ultimately raises costs for everybody, that opens up the market for Apple to gain that high-end segment. . . ," Harvard Business School's David Yoffie said in The Daily Gleaner. "If Windows 7 is not seen as more of an improvement (over Vista) then I think you'll see more erosion at the high end." TUAW Apple's "renaissance" is under way originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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HTC and other OEMs prepared to challenge the iSlate

Seesmic Acquires Ping.fm

By Steven Sande (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

By Jennifer Van Grove (Mashable!)

Submitted at 1/4/2010 12:00:00 PM

Filed under: Hardware, Rumors, Apple The Apple tablet, whether you want to call it the iSlate, the iTablet, or "Betty," hasn't even been verified to exist at this point. However, that's not keeping other manufacturers from coming out with their own competition to the mythical device. At this year's Consumer Electronics Show, which runs from Thursday, January 7th through Sunday, January 10th, several vendors may be showing devices to compete with an Apple design that hasn't even been leaked, cheesy specs notwithstanding. Mobile handset heavyweight HTC, the same company that will debut the new Google Nexus One Android phone on January 5th, is expected to have a tablet ready to show at CES. HTC is an OEM, so it's not likely that a tablet will appear under the HTC label. Instead, traditional PC sellers such as ASUS, HP, and Dell will probably announce devices that

Microsoft could get into the CES tablet action by having CEO Steve Ballmer demonstrate the Courier device. The announcements are sure to place some price pressure on Apple: Freescale's design is intended for retail prices in the $200 range, much less than the $600 - $1,000 expected for Apple's device. Of course, Apple is all about the design, have been designed and built by functionality, and user experience of their devices and software, and HTC or other OEMs. HTC isn't the only company the capabilities of the tablet will jumping into the tablet fray; need to show perceived value to Freescale Semiconductor will be potential customers. One thing is showing a "tablet reference for sure -- tablets have sparked design" at CES as well. The the imagination of the public and Freescale device (at right) has a manufacturers, and we're going 7" display and is designed to take to hear a lot about them in the up about one-third the volume of upcoming year. a current netbook. Freescale's [via Smarthouse, I4U] tablet will be shown running both TUAW HTC and other OEMs Google Android OS and some prepared to challenge the iSlate variety of Linux, and is rumored originally appeared on The to have "all day" battery life and U n o f f i c i a l A p p l e W e b l o g (TUAW) on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 instant-on functionality. While the HTC and Freescale 12:00:00 EST. Please see our tablets are designed for sale by terms for use of feeds. other companies, an Indian Read| Read| Permalink| Email startup called Notion Ink will be this| Comments showing a 10.1" touchscreen device at CES that they have designed and will build. Even

Submitted at 1/4/2010 8:01:16 AM

Seesmic, maker of popular desktop and mobile Twitter clients, has just acquired Ping.fm— a service that lets users post to 50 social networks with a single status update — for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition includes both talent and technology, so Ping.fm co-founders Adam Duffy and Sean McCullough are now Seesmic shareholders and key members of the management team. They will begin immediately integrating Ping.fm technology into Seesmic applications. Sometime in January you can expect updates to Seesmic’s Blackberry, Android, web, Windows and OSX (via Air) apps. Each will add advanced Ping.fm integration, supporting the ability to post to 50 social networks with a single update, special Ping.fm triggers to specify posting to specific social sites, and the option of using Ping.fm’s e-mail, SMS and chat functionality.

Two Cops Shot in Vegas Courthouse [Crime] By Hamilton Nolan (Gawker) Submitted at 1/4/2010 10:23:18 AM

A US marshal and a court security officer were shot inside a Las Vegas courthouse this

morning, and the shooting suspect was then shot and killed by police. Downtown Las Vegas

27

is currently a mess. [ LVRJ]

Ping.fm currently boasts 200,000 updates a day from its 500,000 registered members. More than 100 applications already use the Ping.fm API for cross-posting purposes, and although Seesmic will assume full control of the platform, they’re committed to maintaining it and supporting the developer community. The maneuver no doubt means that Seesmic is now infringing upon TweetDeck’s territory and mission with ambitions to be much more than just a Twitter client. Ultimately, Seesmic aims to be your primary gateway to the social web and to serve 1,000,000 updates per day in 2010. Tags: ping.fm, seesmic, social media, trending

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Tech/ TV/

E-reader News Edition

Nokia: We will match Apple, RIM (CNET News.com)

mail for everyone." By 2011, Simonson predicted, Nokia's "efforts will start A new Nokia device to lead the producing results, as we will be way in 2010?(Credit: Nokia) at par with Apple and RIM in Nokia is a rather interesting smartphones." company. The firm is still a Nokia plans to do so by making major player in the mobile space, its e-mail platform more holding on to the largest share of appealing, while increasing the the market. But 2009 was a value of its software through difficult year for Nokia as its grip extras, like music and on the space continued to slip. entertainment. Worst of all, Apple's iPhone and However, Simonson didn't make RIM's BlackBerry models have a single mention of the fact that made Nokia devices look old and many people are happy with obsolete. RIM's e-mail service. Others are Perhaps that's why the content with the iPhone's e-mail company's new mobile chief, program. He also failed to Rick Simonson, decided to spoke mention how Nokia will fight with the India Times on Monday Apple's App Store, which is to clear the air. Simonson becoming an increasingly bigger acknowledges that things aren't and the stabilization of the positioned in North America, threat to the competition than great, but he's not willing to Symbian operating system, which is a huge market." RIM or Nokia want to admit. throw in the towel. Regardless, Simonson expects which by the way, continues to But his company has a plan. "Yes, we have lost ground in the be the platform for the largest According to Simonson, Nokia that Nokia can match Apple and smartphone space over the past n u m b e r o f s m a r t p h o n e s , w i l l s t a r t " f o c u s i n g o n RIM. Do you believe him? 18 months, but the decline has g l o b a l l y . " 'messaging' in a very big way." Five Filters featured article: stopped and stablized in the Simonson went on to say that He added that "the likes of RIM Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: second and third quarters of Nokia shipped over 200 million are known for their success in PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, 2009," Simonson told the India smartphones in 2009. The main high quality, very expensive e- Term Extraction. Times. "The new year will see problem for Nokia, Simonson mail solution, [but] Nokia's [our] recovery in smartphones said, is that it's "not well strategy is to bring inexpensive with the introduction of Maemo Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:11:00 AM

What You Missed Last Night: It's 1984 on The Cleveland Show By Bob Sassone (TV Squad) Submitted at 1/4/2010 11:01:00 AM

I don't laugh much at The Cleveland Show, but I laughed at this from last night's episode. It opened with a flashback to 1984, and the show riffed on shows and movies that do everything they can do make us understand what year it is, from having songs from that year on the soundtrack, references to things in the news, and the clothes that the characters are wearing. I ain't 'fraid of no ghost! Wallace should be carrying a Mac though. [Watch clips and episodes of The Cleveland Show and other shows at SlashControl.] Filed under: Video, Animation, Watercooler Talk, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

Google doodle animates Newton's apples (CNET News.com)

even. And now, ever more animated. This heartwarming piece comes Google's business side is as the world organizes parties becoming ever more robust, and beneath apple trees to celebrate ever more, well, business-like. the birth of Sir Isaac Newton. Sir But its doodles are becoming Isaac, one of the developers of ever more charming, whimsical differential calculus and, you Submitted at 1/4/2010 8:25:00 AM

know, the first Apple tablet, would have been 367 years old on January 4, 2010. So Google, at its heart an engineering concern, not only offers us the branches of an apple tree, but, if you wait, an apple gently falls from it, like the latest

bright idea from a Google engineer's cranium. I cannot remember too many Google doodles springing into action. So for all those searching for something to enliven themselves as the world of work begins to churn into another year,

little could be more inspiring than this lovely piece of animation. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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GoToMyPC now includes Mac compatibility By Mel Martin (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

Mac from either a PC or Mac. LogMeIn Ignition for iPhone provides remote control from an Submitted at 1/3/2010 7:30:00 PM sells for $69.95 per year for iPhone (or iPod touch) to a PC Filed under: Software, Odds and access to 1 PC or Mac, and running Free or Pro, or a Mac ends After a long beta period, higher priced versions allow Mac running Free. It is a one-time GoToMyPC is now offering a access from an iPhone app. Our purchase from the iTunes app full Mac release version of the readers also point out there is store and not an additional popular remote access software. also a free version that allows subscription fee. The cheapest option for the only screen sharing. Our latest product for Macs, now software and service, which is GoToMyPC generally gets good in beta is LogMeIn Pro2 for Mac. called "GoToMyPC for Mac," reviews, and I would like it a lot It introduces premium remote allows you to access one other better if the company would let Mac access, including remote computer (Mac or PC) and costs up on the obnoxious and constant p r i n t i n g , s o u n d a n d f i l e US$19.95 per month after a 30 r a d i o p r o m o t i o n s f o r t h e transfer/folder synch). It is day free trial. The Mac version software. The advertising has available for free trial at this requires Safari 3.0 or newer, or probably worked for them, link.. Firefox 2.0 or newer, Mac OS X though, because GoToMyPC is a TUAW GoToMyPC now 10.4 or later, and either a big seller to both corporations includes Mac compatibility PowerPC G4/G5 or an Intel and individuals. originally appeared on The based Mac. GoToMyPC for Mac is available U n o f f i c i a l A p p l e W e b l o g There are other somewhat now. Wouldn't it be nice if they (TUAW) on Sun, 03 Jan 2010 similar solutions, including would just call it GoToMyMac? 19:30:00 EST. Please see our Apple's Back to My Mac(if you Update- These comments from terms for use of feeds. get get it working on your the LogMeIn folks: Read| Permalink| Email this| router), and LogMeIn. Back to LogMeIn has had a Mac version Comments my Mac only works Mac to Mac, of our Free product - LogMeIn so if there is a PC in the mix Free - for quite some time, which you're out of luck. LogMeIn Pro provides full remote control of a

Apple gains control of "i -phone" trademark in China By Dave Caolo (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 1/4/2010 1:00:00 PM

Filed under: Apple Corporate, Hardware, iPhone Back in 2002, Apple applied to register the iPhone trademark in China, but that application was limited to computer hardware and software, not mobile phones. A year later (three years before the iPhone's introduction), Chinese manufacturer Hanwang Technology applied for the trademark "i-phone" for a device they briefly sold. I Since then, Apple has been working to acquire the trademark "i-phone," and this week they finally succeeded. According to Macworld, the record for the trademark now shows Apple's name where it used to list Hanwang Technology. On Monday a Hanwang representative stated that Apple has indeed acquired the trademark, but refused to give any details.

Brit Hume has some advice for Tiger Woods By Bob Sassone (TV Squad) Submitted at 1/4/2010 11:27:00 AM

Fox News Channel's Brit Hume gave Tiger Woods a little bit of

advice yesterday. It wasn't about his golf swing or what media strategy to embrace to get back on the good side of the public or even just a general "hey, keep it

in your pants, pal." Hume said that the only way that Woods can be truly forgiven is if he changes his religion. Let the controversy begin!

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[via TV Newser] Filed under: News, Video, Celebrities, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

The iPhone's performance in China has been interesting, as the government's communication restrictions, a bustling black market and cheaper competition in Hong Kong got things off to a slow start. Just last week, China Unicom reported that they had sold 300,000 iPhones, which tripled claims of only 100,000 units sold by the start of December. TUAW Apple gains control of "i -phone" trademark in China originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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AppMakr Makes iPhone App Creation a Snap By Christina Warren (Mashable!) Submitted at 1/4/2010 8:54:57 AM

Having your own iPhone app for your website or blog is becoming an increasingly common way to promote and extend your brand. However, actually creating that application and getting it into the App Store can be a lengthy and expensive process, especially if you have little development experience. Today PointAbout is launching a new product called AppMakr, which is designed to make creating your own iPhone app simple and inexpensive. AppMakr is a streamlined system that creates a native iPhone application out of your existing RSS feeds. You can customize elements of the app and the artwork and then submit it directly to the App Store. You can even embed ads from places like AdMob directly into the app. AppMakr made this demo video

showing off how fast it was to create an app for Mac|Life. Paint-by-Numbers iPhone Apps We’ve covered some other paint -by-numbers iPhone app services in the past — like Swep Apps and MobBase— and while this sort of approach doesn’t make sense in all cases, it is especially attractive for businesses and sites with existing content, but without the time or budget to commission a custom app. What we like about AppMakr is that the content it displays can be stored offline (so this isn’t just an App Store wrapper on a mobile website) and it has the ability to integrate lots of different types of

feeds into the mix. Pricing and Special Mashable Launch Discount AppMakr has two pricing options, $199 for AppMakr to publish your app — which means you don’t have to have your own Apple Developer Account (AppMakr gets credit in the app’s opening splash screen) or $499 if you want to use your own Apple Developer Account, but still have AppMakr take care of the provisioning and management features. However, from 1/4/2010 (today) through 1/6/2010, you can take $150 off the $199 option by using the code “ MASHABLE” at checkout. Have you created an iPhone app for your website or blog? Did you do it yourself or use an outside service or company? Let us know! Tags: app store, appmakr, iphone

Find Available Domains and Twitter Names with Tweexchange By Stan Schroeder (Mashable!) Submitted at 1/4/2010 6:44:50 AM

Remember Tweexchange? It used to be a Twitter username marketplace, which seemed like a solid (or, better put, inevitable) idea, but it obviously didn’t last very long, since the site has been purchased by Blast Applications and now hosts a completely different service. The new Tweexchange lets you quickly find available Twitter usernames and web domain names (through GoDaddy) at the same time. The results appear fairly quickly, as you type the name in the search box, which gives you a nice side-by-side comparison of available names. If you like, Tweexchange can

notify you when a domain that is pending removal will be removed. You can also back order taken web domain names, and bid for domains that are for sale directly from the service. In a world where a Twitter username is almost equally as important as a web domain name (or a Facebook name, for that matter), Tweexchange makes it really simple and fast to find a name that’s available on both fronts. Tags: social networking, tweexchange, twitter, web

Web Analytics Firm Quantcast Raises $27.5 Million By Adam Ostrow (Mashable!)

others. The company, whose competitors include services like Compete and Alexa, says it will Quantcast, a service that lets use the funding primarily to anyone check stats and audience expand its ad platform. information about websites, As for why that’s of interest to announced this morning that it the increasingly diverse Cisco, has raised $27.5 million in fresh the SVP and general manager of Group Dan Scheinman said in a funding from Cisco Systems and the company’s Media Solutions statement that “Quantcast’s Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:14:24 AM

approach and technology for delivering high-value, targeted advertising aligns with the needs of Cisco’s customers, from service providers to media companies and ultimately consumers.” The round was co-led by Polaris Venture Partners. Founders Fund

and Revolution Ventures also participated. Tags: analytics, compete, money, Quantcast, venture capital

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Dating Site Expels 5,000 “Fatties” Over Holiday Weight Gain By Jennifer Van Grove (Mashable!)

members. Each is said to have received an email encouraging them to re-apply when they are Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:44:01 AM back to looking their best. They Put on a few extra pounds this have also been sent details of holiday season? Don’t expect a recommended boot camps.” welcome mat from If you’re keeping count, the BeautifulPeople.com, a dating United States was the most site who recently made like a overindulgent group of the high school bully: belittling and actions and have been notifying bunch, with 1,520 members booting members for weight former members via e-mail of getting the boot. The United gain. their expulsion. Of course, all is Kingdom was a distant second According to the Guardian, the not lost; should those same with 832 members ousted, and site has just expelled 5,000 members get fit again, they can Canada took home the bronze members for packing on the reapply for membership. medal. pounds. To add insult to injury, The report details: The disturbing news is no doubt the site’s founder, Robert Hintze, “The site’s managing director, a big publicity stunt, but one of stated, “Letting fatties roam the Greg Hodge, pointed out that the the worst variety. I’d hate to be site is a direct threat to our fate of the exiled ‘chubby one of those members waking up business model and the very m e m b e r s ’ h a d b e e n to an e-mail informing me that concept for w h i c h democratically decided. ‘Their re I’m too fat for a social network. B e a u t i f u l P e o p l e . c o m w a s -applications were reviewed by That’s rejection of the worst founded.” existing members and only a few kind. Apparently decisions were made hundred were voted back in,’ he [ i m g c r e d i t : C i m m e r i a n , based on photos posted to the said. ‘Over 5,000 were rejected.’ i S t o c k p h o t o ] dating site. Those holding the According to the site, however, Tags: Food, social media, weight reins blame members’ holiday managers have been kind in overindulgences for their harsh breaking the news to former

More Indie Movie Makers Realizing The Benefits Of Releasing Movies Free Online By Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

successes like Avatar. But, of course, that's the wrong comparison. These are indie There really isn't that much new filmmakers, and the comparison in this recent article in Time should be to where they would Magazine about indie film likely be right now if they had makers releasing their movies for not released the film for free free online. The article covers online. In most cases, it seems some of the more well-known quite clear that they would have a cases of filmmakers doing so. lot less attention, a lot fewer But what's interesting is to see people having seen the movie, this in such a mainstream a n d - - f o r t h o s e w h o publication like Time. Now, implemented smart business since we've already discussed models to go with the free release most of the examples used in the -- would have made a lot less article, I know what the critics money. will say immediately: that none Permalink| Comments| Email of these count because they This Story weren't huge multi-million dollar Submitted at 1/4/2010 1:41:54 AM

'Twilight' Star vs. 'Real Housewife': Celebs Sparkle in Identical Dresses (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 1/4/2010 8:20:00 AM

Nirvana + Lady GaGa = Epic Mashup [VIDEO] By Brenna Ehrlich (Mashable!) Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:29:47 AM

The bizarre pop princess recently got a coolness upgrade when “Poker Face” met Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” in one of the best

mashups of the recently deceased year. Yes, Lady GaGa has been a little… shall we say, overplayed this year (being Last.fm’s official Fame Monster as well as one of Twitter’s most influential topics of 2009). Still, this vid is worth a serious look. It almost makes

“Poker Face” seem semi-fresh. And if you’re so inclined, you

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It's a fashion face-off for stylesavvy celebs! From 'Twilight' can click here for even more actress Ashley Greene and "The masterful mashups from 2009. Real Housewives of Orange County" star Gretchen Rossi's [via Buzzfeed] Tags: Lady Gaga, Last.FM, shimmery styles, to 'Sex and the nirvana, twitter, viral video City' actress Sarah Jessica Parker and news anchor Paula Zahn's green get-ups, see which stars are stepping out in a similar fashion.

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MarketWatch: Keep your eye on Apple in 2010 By Dave Caolo (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

promised and, from an outsider's perspective at least, is back to business as usual. As Cioffi Submitted at 1/4/2010 10:00:00 AM pointed out, what happened in Filed under: Apple Corporate, Steve's absence is even more Apple Financial, Steve Jobs In an important for Apple's future: The article on MarketWatch, Frank stock continued to climb despite Cioffi explains why he believes rumors of his rapidly-declining Apple will deserve the investor's health and Apple demonstrated a attention in 2010. First off is strong bullpen of talent beyond continued strong iPod sales, and Jobs. we've got to agree. After Cioffi goes on to list strong Mac sustaining a rate at or above 10 sales, the App Store's million units sold per quarter, performance and the ever-present you've got to wonder, "Doesn't tablet rumors as additional points last year. Also, there are rumors of note, so go and read the rest of everyone have one already?" But seriously, the annual updates about that Apple is pursuing a the article. Here's to a prosperous are compelling enough to prompt subscription model with the 2010! people to upgrade (iPod touch, m a j o r t e l e v i s i o n n e t w o r k s . [Via AppleInsider] nano with video) or cheap Expect to hear more from the TUAW MarketWatch: Keep enough to warrant a second unit Apple TV team in 2010. your eye on Apple in 2010 (iPod shuffle). Apple knows how Additionally, Cioffi focused on originally appeared on The to sell iPods and the trend should Steve Jobs himself. Unofficial Apple Weblog "...Jobs' determination is as (TUAW) on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 continue in the new year. A l s o n o t a b l e i s A p p l e ' s extraordinary as his ability to 10:00:00 EST. Please see our seemingly renewed commitment create compelling products." terms for use of feeds. to the Apple TV. Once described After missing half of the year to Read| Permalink| Email this| as a " hobby," Apple released recover from a liver transplant, Comments version 3.0 of its software late Steve returned to work in June as

UberTwitter Adds Support for Lists, Retweets and Location on BlackBerry By Adam Ostrow (Mashable!) Submitted at 1/4/2010 7:30:23 AM

Third-party Twitter apps have been in a race to keep up with the onslaught of new Twitter functionality, and today popular BlackBerry app UberTwitter is out with support for a number of the microblogging service’s major new features. UberTwitter Beta 6 adds Twitter’s new retweet functionality (with the option to use the old style RTs too), Twitter lists and the ability to geotag your tweets. Previously, UberTwitter had its own geolocation features that attached a link to a map with your whereabouts to your tweets, but now this is combined with

If you can make fun of this breast exercise ad, you're a better man than I or a woman By Danny Gallagher (TV Squad) Submitted at 1/4/2010 10:29:00 AM

I really want to make fun of this

exercise machine ad. I honestly do. But when the ad in question features attractive women working on their "bust line" by stroking a retractable exercise

Twitter’s native geolocation capabilities. There are more than a dozen significant new features in all, which you can read more about on the UberTwitter’s site. The download is available here. What’s your favorite Twitter app for BlackBerry? Let us know in the comments. Tags: blackberry, Mobile 2.0, twitter, ubertwitter

Standing Stones By Kevin Collins (Flickr Blog) Submitted at 1/3/2010 9:56:31 PM

• About Flickr Flickr is a revolution in photo storage, sharing and organization, making photo management an easy, natural and collaborative bar, well you do the math Dr. F i l e d u n d e r : V i d e o , process. Get comments, notes, Freud. C o m m e r c i a l s , R e a l i t y - F r e e and tags on your photos, post to Wait, I think I feel a joke P e r m a l i n k | E m a i l t h i s | | any blog, share and more! Five Filters featured article: coming in. Yes...oh wait, that's C o m m e n t s Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: not a joke. PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Apple tops "Best of" 2009 lists By Michael Grothaus (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:00:00 AM

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Sunday Night Music: Randy Newman, 'God's Song (That's Why I Love Mankind)' (Little Green Footballs)

Filed under: Steve Jobs, Apple The end of the year brings the inevitable "best/worst of" lists, and 2009 was no different. We reported earlier that Apple nabbed four of Engadget's "10 Gadgets of the Decade" list, but what may be surprising is just how many other "best of" lists Apple was part of. Philip ElmerDeWitt over at Apple 2.0 has compiled a list (surprise!) of all the "best of" lists Apple made in 2009. The lists that he found • "Get a Mac": Campaign of the Apple or Steve Jobs on included: Decade. Adweek's Best of the 2000s. • S teve Jobs: CEO of the • Apple Releases iPhone: Top 10 Decade. Fortune magazine. Tech Stories of the Decade. • Steve Jobs: Best Performing CNN.com. CEO in the World. Harvard • Apple: Company of the Business Review. Decade. Om Malik. • Steve Jobs: Person of the Decade. Wall Street Journal. There's more in the complete list • Apple: Brand of the Decade. over at Apple 2.0. Oddly enough, Adweek's Best of the 2000s. Apple's "There's an app for that" • S teve Jobs: Marketer of the iPhone ad campaign slogan also Decade. Adweek's Best of the made it into the 2009 edition of 2000s.

That’s why I love mankind” The Christians and the Jews were having a jamboree There’s a great version of this The Buddhists and the Hindus cynically on-target song on The joined on satellite TV Randy Newman Songbook, Vol. They picked their four greatest 1.(Here it is at the iTunes priests Store.)[Video] And they began to speak Cain slew Abel, Seth knew not They said “Lord the plague is on why the world If the children of Israel were Lord no man is free supposed to multiply The temples that we built to you Then why must any of the Have tumbled into the sea children die? Lord, if you won’t take care of us The Yale Book of Quotations, So he asked the Lord Won’t you please please let us which, Yale states,"is the most And the Lord said: c o m p l e t e , u p - t o - d a t e , a n d “Man means nothing, he means be?” And the Lord said authoritative quotation dictionary less to me than the lowliest cactus flower And the Lord said ever compiled." “I burn down your cities — how TUAW Apple tops "Best of" or the humblest yucca tree blind you must be 2009 lists originally appeared on he chases round this desert The Unofficial Apple Weblog cause he thinks that’s where I’ll I take from you your children and you say how blessed are we (TUAW) on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 be You all must be crazy to put 09:00:00 EST. Please see our that’s why I love mankind I recoil in horror from the your faith in me terms for use of feeds. That’s why I love mankind Read| Permalink| Email this| foulness of thee from the squalor and the filth You really need me Comments and the misery That’s why I love mankind” How we laugh up here in heaven at the prayers you offer me Submitted at 1/3/2010 6:27:10 PM

Brooke Shields Gets 'Skanky' on 'The Middle' (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 1/4/2010 3:14:00 AM

Brooke Shields goes trashy -sporting a mullet, a tattoo, a cold sore and drinking beer -- but it's all in fun for an episode of "The

Middle," in which she plays Frankie's ( Patricia Heaton) tacky neighbor. "I met her a long time ago in an elevator and she was so lovely and gracious, so when I heard she was coming on the show, I was

just so excited," Patty tells ET, "especially because she's playing completely against type, which is very brave of her. She is playing our horrible, skanky neighbor, who has four really nasty boys who terrorize the neighborhood."

In this episode of "The Middle," always one neighbor that no one Frankie fears a confrontation else gets along with. with Rita (Shields) when Frankie's daughter Sue ( Eden Sher) has a run in with the boys. And Brooke says she can relate to her role, because there is

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Wallpaper Juggler Downloads and Rotates Fresh Wallpaper [Downloads] By Jason Fitzpatrick (Lifehacker) Submitted at 1/4/2010 10:00:00 AM

Windows: Whether you've already got a folder full of wallpaper or you'd like to find some new images for your desktop, Wallpaper Juggler can rotate and keep your backgrounds fresh. Wallpaper Juggler is a small application that does two things: it rotates existing wallpaper in your wallpaper directory on a schedule of your choosing and it downloads new wallpaper from both Interfacelift—the winner of our Wallpaper-centered Hive comments! Five—and Wallpaper Stock. TUAW iSlate specs "revealed." Between the rotation of your We also have a bridge to sell you. already collected wallpaper and originally appeared on The the infusion of new wallpaper in U n o f f i c i a l A p p l e W e b l o g the size you specify from the (TUAW) on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 aforementioned sites, you'll never 07:30:00 EST. Please see our have to stare at a bland desktop terms for use of feeds. again. Read| Permalink| Email this| Have a favorite tool for keeping Comments your desktop fresh? Let's hear about it in the comments. Wallpaper Juggler[via Download Squad]

iSlate specs "revealed." We also have a bridge to sell you. By Michael Grothaus (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

document "reveals" that the iSlate will run "Mac OS X Clouded Leopard" on a 7.1-inch multitouch display with Submitted at 1/4/2010 7:30:00 AM fingerprint-resistant coating, Filed under: Rumors 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo processor, We are publishing this purely for 2GB DDR3 RAM, 120GB hard the sake of community interest. drive, and... a built-in projector. PhoneArena.com has published PhoneArena admits they don't p h o t o s o f " i n t e r n a l A p p l e know if the document is real or documents" that claim to list the not, but I'll tell you the top two specifications of the impending reasons why it's a fake: Apple iSlate. The two-page • The document is still up. If it

were real, Apple legal would be on them like a bear on honey. • After just refining OS X 10.5 "Leopard" with 10.6 "Snow Leopard", Apple is not going to confuse customers with another OS X called "Clouded Leopard" Read over the document yourself. What do you guys and gals think of the specs? Are the documents fake, really fake, or really really fake? Tell us in the

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American Evangelicals Enabled Uganda's Death Penalty for Gays

Ashley Tisdale Graduates from 'High School' into Producer Role

(Little Green Footballs)

(ETonline - Breaking News)

Submitted at 1/4/2010 10:07:11 AM

Here’s the disgusting religious right story of the day, as the New York Times reports on a visit by three US evangelical leaders to Uganda that helped trigger the full scale persecution of homosexuals: After Americans Visit, Uganda Weighs Death for Gays. KAMPALA, Uganda — Last March, three American evangelical Christians, whose teachings about “curing” homosexuals have been widely discredited in the United States, arrived here in Uganda’s capital to give a series of talks. The theme of the event, according to Stephen Langa, its Ugandan organizer, was “the gay agenda — that whole hidden and dark agenda” — and the threat homosexuals posed to Biblebased values and the traditional African family. For three days, according to participants and audio recordings, thousands of Ugandans, including police officers, teachers and national politicians, listened raptly to the Americans, who were presented as experts on homosexuality. The visitors discussed how to make gay

people straight, how gay men often sodomized teenage boys and how “the gay movement is an evil institution” whose goal is “to defeat the marriage-based society and replace it with a culture of sexual promiscuity.” Now the three Americans are finding themselves on the defensive, saying they had no intention of helping stoke the kind of anger that could lead to what came next: a bill to impose a death sentence for homosexual behavior. One month after the conference, a previously unknown Ugandan politician, who boasts of having evangelical friends in the American government, introduced the AntiHomosexuality Bill of 2009, which threatens to hang homosexuals, and, as a result, has put Uganda on a collision course with Western nations. Donor countries, including the United States, are demanding that Uganda’s government drop the proposed law, saying it violates human rights, though Uganda’s minister of ethics and integrity (who previously tried to ban miniskirts) recently said, “Homosexuals can forget about human rights.” These morons are now

complaining that they feel “duped.” The three Americans who spoke at the conference — Scott Lively, a missionary who has written several books against homosexuality, including “7 Steps to Recruit-Proof Your Child”; Caleb Lee Brundidge, a self-described former gay man who leads “healing seminars”; and Don Schmierer, a board member of Exodus International, whose mission is “mobilizing the body of Christ to minister grace and truth to a world impacted by homosexuality” — are now trying to distance themselves from the bill. “I feel duped,” Mr. Schmierer said, arguing that he had been invited to speak on “parenting skills” for families with gay children. He acknowledged telling audiences how homosexuals could be converted into heterosexuals, but he said he had no idea some Ugandans were contemplating the death penalty for homosexuality. “That’s horrible, absolutely horrible,” he said. “Some of the nicest people I have ever met are gay people.” What a shock — preaching hatred leads to hatred. Who could ever have guessed?

Just appalling. This is where the rhetoric of the religious right leads, and don’t fool yourself — there are many people on the right who support Uganda’s persecution of gays, and would like to see the US do the same thing. Just read through the comments at any right wing site that covers this story; for example, here’s a typical thread at Free Republic, the first one that popped up in a search for “Uganda,” about Republican Senators who are opposed to the Ugandan legislation: Republicans Condemn Uganda’s Anti-Gay Bill. One of many similar comments: This is simply cowardice and people stating things that they don’t really believe in order to be politically correct. Bunch of wimps. These Republican cowards deserve to be gang raped by a horde of gay Hell’s Angels. And Uganda should be commended for taking a stand against the gay gestapo. 12 posted on December 22, 2009 6:15:58 PM PST by MGMSwordsman It’s easy to find thousands of comments like this one at Free Republic, Fox Nation, Hot Air, etc.

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Submitted at 1/4/2010 3:12:00 AM

Ashley Tisdale's production company, Blondie Girl Productions, has entered into a producing deal with RelativityReal, the reality and alternative programming branch of Relativity Media, according to Variety. The actress of 'High School Musical' fame will have the opportunity to create, develop, and executive produce series for broadcast and cable networks. RelativityReal CEO Tom Forman called the young star "the very definition of a multitalented artist with unique insight into young demographics," says Variety. Aside from acting and producing, Tisdale has found success as a recording artist. RelativityReal is stocking up on the star power. The company also teamed with Wilmer Valderrama last May. With the conclusion of the 'High School Musical' franchise, Tisdale lends her voice to Disney's animated series "Phineas and Ferb." She also starred in the Disney Channel's "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody" alongside Dylan and Cole Sprouse and Brenda Song.

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Resolved: Keep Your PC Clean, Safe, and Backed Up in 2010 [Maintenance] By The How-To Geek (Lifehacker)

software that you really shouldn't be installing—cluttered up dries from too many junk apps is the Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:00:00 AM single biggest reason why people It's the start of a new decade, and reinstall Windows on a regular while you're busy making basis when they shouldn't need resolutions for yourself, you to. shouldn't forget about your PC. It's not only questionable We suggest making a resolution software sources that you need to to keep your PC clean, safe, and watch out for, however—you backed up for 2010. Here's how need to be careful when installing to make it easy. any piece of software to always Image remixed from use a Custom install, and viagallery.com. Keep Your PC carefully read every option. Too Backed Up Automatically many people just hit the Next There's one thing that most users button through the install neglect or procrastinate on rather process, and end up installing than actually doing, and it's also toolbars, startup system tray the most important system apps, and other crapware maintenance task you really need components, even with popular to do: Keep your PC backed up. software like Digsby (an app that, The thing is, this doesn't need to earlier this year, was taking be a time-consuming task; in fact, advantage of people that don't your best bet is to spend a small system, you should strongly first place. Lifehacker's own Belvedere to know any better). amount of time configuring consider making a full image of If you're already using Windows automate your self-cleaning PC. If you need to install a bunch of automatic backups of your hard your hard drive so you can 7 or Vista, your PC automatically For less specific and more wide- software at once, you should drive and just leave it alone. restore more easily in case of a keeps your drives defragmented, ranging cleanouts of system files, check out Ninite, which bulkA handful of great backup tools failure. You've got a number of but Windows XP users can check your best bet is to setup CCleaner installs freeware applications are available to choose from, but tools to choose from, but if you out our guide to setting up a self- t o r u n a u t o m a t i c a l l y o n a while avoiding any of the it doesn't really matter which one want step-by-step instructions, repairing hard drive and setup a schedule, keeping your PC nice o p t i o n a l t o o l b a r s t h a t y o u you use, as long as you make we've got a full guide to hot s c h e d u l e d t a s k t o r u n t h e and tidy without any action on wouldn't want. Make Sure Your sure you're backing up your data imaging your hard drive with cleaning automatically in the your part. If you want to be able PC is Safe and Secure t h e r i g h t w a y . T h e m o s t DriveImageXML. Setup Your background. to trigger it manually, you can Even if you carefully choose important factor is that all your PC to Clean Itself K e e p i n g y o u r d r i v e s always setup a shortcut to run what you install, backup your PC data exists in more than one Now that your data is safe, defragmented isn't nearly as CCleaner silently. Be Smarter regularly, and keep your system place—you can't backup to secure, and backups are totally useful if your PC is completely About What You Install clean, you still need to make sure second drive, get rid of the automated, you should use some cluttered with temporary files and With your data backed up and that you don't get hit with the original files, and consider more automation to set your PC other junk that needs to be y o u r P C c l e a n i n g i t s e l f latest security hole. Make sure yourself backed up. Redundancy to keep itself clean, keep your cleaned out on a regular basis. If automatically, the next step is to that you keep Windows PC is key. hard drives healthy, and prevent you just want to keep your user keep Windows running as fast as RESOLVED: page 37 While you're backing up your problems from happening in the folders organized, you can use p o s s i b l e b y a v o i d i n g j u n k

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Flexamail Helps You Social Network and Browse From Behind a Firewall [Firewall] By Jason Fitzpatrick (Lifehacker) Submitted at 1/4/2010 8:30:00 AM

If you're bent on updating your social network status or checking out a new web site, firewalls be damned, Flexamail can help you update your accounts and receive web sites via email. Rather than engage in a complicated game of cat and mouse involving proxies, tunneling, and other maneuvers, Flexamail goes for an out-in-theopen approach to helping you update your social networks when the corporate firewall you're behind won't allow you to access the actual sites—email.

The chances of email being blocked at your workplace are extremely slim, so you'll always have a way to sneak out status changes, pictures, and other updates through the Flexamail server. If you're not as interested

in social networking as you are in just getting access to sites from behind a firewall, you can also use Flexamail to serve up sites via email. You sign up for an account, register an email with Flexamail,

won't take our recommendation of Microsoft Security Essentials, you've got a bunch of free utilities you can choose from. Just remember, you really should stop paying for Windows security. You can't talk about security without mentioning passwords, and you should make sure to choose and remember a great password, use a password manager for those really complicated passwords, and up your savvy to avoid getting scammed online with a phishing

attack. So what about you? Do you have any New Year's resolutions for your PC? Let's hear about 'em in the comments. The How-To Geek likes to automate tedious tasks like backups so they don't end up forgotten. His geeky articles can be found daily here on Lifehacker, How-To Geek, and Twitter.

and then begin accessing the internet through your Flexamail account by sending commands to Flexamail by using special email addresses and subject line commands. Check out the service in action by watching the video below: Check out the full site for additional information, including more video guides here and a how-it-works guide here. Have your own favorite way of getting your fix of the wide-openinternet behind a firewall? Let's hear about it in the comments. Flexamail[via Devil's Workshop]

RESOLVED: continued from page 36

patched and updated, install important Firefox updates as soon as they come out, install Flashblock(not everyone would suggest this, but Flash is often the source of browser security holes), and get rid of Adobe Reader in favor of a better alternative. Once you've done that, you'll be a lot safer—but be sure to read our full guide to protecting your PC from a driveby browser attack. It should go without saying that you probably want to have an antivirus app installed, and if you

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Kiefer Sutherland on '24' in NYC: 'Fear is the Dominant Emotion' (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 1/4/2010 3:13:00 AM

"24" is back in action Sunday, January 17 on FOX, and Kiefer Sutherland's spilling secrets about the upcoming eighth season that sees the show moving to New York! "It's absolutely a character in the piece," says Kiefer about using the Big Apple as the setting for the new season. "We didn't feel that there was another city in the United States that would suit the energy of '24' more than New York." In the shadows of the Statue of Liberty and the United Nations, Day Eight unfolds as President Allison Taylor ( Cherry Jones), alongside new chief of staff Rob Weiss ( Chris Diamantopoulos), negotiates international security with Omar Hassan ( Anil Kapoor), a determined Middle Eastern leader visiting the U.S. on a peacemaking mission. What could go wrong? Good thing Jack Bauer's in town…

2 guards shot in Las Vegas federal building (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News) Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:25:36 AM

MANHATTANBABE buzzed up: Cable TV standoffs threaten viewing costs, choices (AP) 20 seconds ago 2010-01-

04T10:11:23-08:00 Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Sushi Huh Grabs Linux Packages for Offline Installation [Downloads] By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker) Submitted at 1/4/2010 7:00:00 AM

Windows/Linux: If you're planning a re-install of your Linux system that might involve being offline, free utility "Sushi Huh?" (actual name) can grab your software, and all the nagging dependencies, for easy installation without internet access. The Sushi Huh? package is a noinstallation-needed package that opens a new tab in your browser, asking for your distribution, version, and 32- or 64-bit platform specs. After that, you check off the official repositories you want it to search through, and then check the packages you want to grab and download. They'll automatically appear in the folder you're running Sushi H u h ? f r o m (inside/src/downloads), though

you can run the app as an administrator to have it automatically search your package manager and grab whatever you've got installed. The packages Sushi Huh downloads are ready to install without any dependencies or other requirements. While Sushi Huh? is helpful enough for Linux geeks looking

to save themselves a download later, it's really helpful as a tool you can run from Windows, especially if you need to grab the right wireless drivers for your By Jason Fitzpatrick Linux installation. Sushi Huh? is (Lifehacker) a free download, runs on Linux Submitted at 1/4/2010 6:30:00 AM or Windows systems. Sushi, Huh?[via Web Upd8] If you need to make diagrams, wire frames, network charts, and more but you don't have much experience with graphic design, Cacoo makes chart creation as simple as drag and drop. Cacoo has a huge library of icons you can drag and drop to create site maps, flow charts, commercial pilot quite the hunk, really good beef barley stew. You mind maps, and more. You can but he can also cook! And Jake know on days when it is really easily align them to each other, tells ET that he likes to cook for cold -- maybe a Sunday after you connect them with lines and women, because going out to g e t b a c k f r o m c h u r c h o r arrows, and easily rearrange dinner all the time gets old. something like that -- it takes all them. Caccoo supports multiple "My most romantic meal would day to cook and then around four users, you can edit your creation probably be either a lemon or five in the afternoon, it is pepper chicken or chicken perfect," Jake says. piccata. Or, I can actually do a

Jake Pavelka Gives ET a Private Tour of His 'Bachelor' Pad (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 1/4/2010 3:15:00 AM

Just in time for the season premiere of "The Bachelor: On the Wings of Love," ET gets a private tour of Jake Pavelka's Texas bachelor pad! Not only is the 31-year-old

Cacoo Makes Diagram Creation and Collaboration Simple [Diagrams] in real time with other team members. You can also export your creations or embed them into your blog or wiki—edits you make to the original will be reflected in the embedded item. Check out the video below to see Cacoo in action. Want to try out other online chart-creation tools? Check out previously reviewed Gliffy, Lovely Charts, and Creately for other ways to create charts and diagrams. Have a favorite tool of your own to share? Let's hear about it in the comments. Cacoo[via MakeUseOf]

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Delete Giant Email Chains to Speed ComScore Ups the Ante Up Gmail Mobile Webapp [Mobile in Mobile Analytics Apps] By Mike Melanson (ReadWriteWeb)

By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker) Submitted at 1/4/2010 8:00:00 AM

Gmail's iPhone/Androidoptimized webapp is nearly as good as a mail client, but not if you keep multi-multi-message threads near the top of your queue. One blogger saw a nearly 7-second decrease in loading time after killing one seemingly endless chain. The Just Another iPhone Blog saw his webapp refreshes crawl to an average of about 10 seconds from the 2-3 second norm he was used to over 3G service. The culprit? A really long email chain (40 messages) about various post drafts. Once I archived that conversation my Gmail web app was back to being spry and

Submitted at 1/4/2010 8:01:00 AM

ComScore, a leading Web statistics provider, has joined with Flurry Analytics to provide a more complete picture on the who, what, when, where and how of our use of mobile media. Founded just over a year ago, Flurry has grown immensely and this move will only serve to boost its popularity. Flurry announced the partnership on the heels of its reactive, with a renewed refresh wondering why their speeds merger with Pinch Media last rate of about two seconds. So I seem so different from day to month. The service boasts a guess the moral of the story for day. My iPhone Gmail web app nearly ubiquitous presence in the heavy Gmail users is to clear was insanely slow – it turns out mobile market and will add a your inbox of huge e-mails…or one convo was too big -[Just h o s t o f r e a l - t i m e d a t a t o maybe just don't talk so bloody Another iPhone Blog] comScore's reports. much under the same subject Sponsor header. ;) Flurry collects mobile Sage advice in any email client, application data from but very relevant for mobile users approximately two out of every three iPhone and Android devices. Each month, the company aggregates application usage data from over 1 billion end-user sessions across more than 50 million unique handsets known as a particularly natty from more than 200 countries. dresser, when he is dressed. Over 10,000 developers have Barack Obama and Carla Bruni chosen to integrate Flurry top the best lists, with Michael A n a l y t i c s w i t h i n t h e i r Moore and Sarah Silverman(?) a p p l i c a t i o n s . operative and dirty trickster and heading up the worsts. sex partier has always been

GOP Operative Endorses Obama's Suits [Huh] By Pareene (Gawker) Submitted at 1/4/2010 10:26:48 AM

Roger Stone—yes, that Roger Stone—has published his apparently annual best- and worst -dressed lists! The 57-year-old political

That's 9,700 developers more than the company started with just a year ago. Using Flurry's data, comScore will add "real-time consumption data, including frequency of use, length of use, user geographic location, new vs. repeat usage and Wi-Fi vs. carrier network usage" to its mobile application data. Flurry provides a variety of information including what types of applications users are most likely to continue using over time and return to frequently, as shown in the following graphic. This data can then be used by companies to lure potential advertisers or by advertisers looking for potential targets. In a market that's only going to see growth, some, like Om Malik, are already predicting Flurry's acquisition by a big-time player in the near future. Analytics remains hot, as evidenced further by this morning's news of a $27.5 million investment in comScorecompetitor Quantcast by Cisco and Polaris Ventures. Discuss

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Seesmic Looks Beyond Twitter Acquires Ping.fm By Frederic Lardinois (ReadWriteWeb)

day. Seesmic's own Twhirl has offered support for Ping.fm since early 2009. Seesmic Wants to be Submitted at 1/4/2010 8:00:00 AM a Lot More Than Just a Twitter Seesmic has acquired Ping.fm, a confirmed that this acquisition Client status update service that allows now makes him an investor in Given Seesmic's vision, it users to update posts on over 50 Seesmic. doesn't come as a surprise that social networks through SMS, Seesmic's founder Loic Le Meur the company is interested in mobile apps, IM services and 3rd notes that he hopes that this broadening its scope beyond party apps that support the a c q u i s i t i o n w i l l a l l o w t h e Twitter. The acquisition of s e r v i c e . S e e s m i c p l a n s t o company to speed up "its vision Ping.fm gives Seesmic all the integrate Ping.fm into all of its o f b e c o m i n g y o u r d e f a u l t necessary infrastructure like SMS applications in the near future. In application to stay in touch with and IM gateways to execute this addition, Seesmic's users will be your friends and constantly vision. Ping.fm offers it's own able to send updates to their managing your online social URL shortener and gives users favorite social networks through presence." Through Ping.fm, access to detailed statistics about Ping.fm's email, SMS and IM Seesmic's users will soon be able how these links were used. gateways. Ping.fm's founders to easily update their status on a One of the most interesting A d a m D u f f y a n d S e a n wide variety of social networks aspects of the company's recently McCullough will join Seesmic as l i k e N i n g , Y a h o o M e m e , announced native Windows full-time employees and continue Yammer and Status.net. Seesmic client, for example, is that it to work on Ping.fm. already offered built-in support includes support for a plugin Sponsor for Facebook, Linkedin and architecture. This will allow Neither Seesmic nor Ping.fm MySpace. developers to integrate support disclosed the terms of the According to Le Meur, Ping.fm for virtually any social network acquisition. It's worth noting, currently has over 500,000 into Seesmic. In the near future, however, that both Creative registered users, though the Seesmic plans to expand this Commons CEO Joi Ito and number of active users is likely feature to all of its clients. LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman far smaller. In total, Ping.fm Discuss invested in Ping.fm in December posts about 200,000 updates per 2008. Update: Joi Ito just

Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:33:15 AM

David buzzed up: Obama ends Hawaiian holiday, returns to

A Startup Movie: Never Mind the Valley, Here's Boulder By Jolie O'Dell (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 1/3/2010 2:00:00 PM

It's no secret that we at ReadWriteWeb have a lot of love for startups that make their homes outside Silicon Valley and the Bay Area. Over the last year, we decided to make a few videos spotlighting some unique, unexpected locations where startups thrive, where tech scenes are vibrant, where cooperation outstrips competition, and where creativity runs rampant. One of the first cities we'd like to introduce you to is home to between 150 and 170 startups as well as a thriving entrepreneurial and creative community. Welcome to Boulder, Colorado. Sponsor Editor's note: This story is part of a series we call Redux, where we'll re-publish some of our best posts of 2009. As we look back at the year - and ahead to what next year holds - we think these are the stories that deserve a second glance. It's not just a bestof list, it's also a collection of posts that examine the Washington (AP) PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, fundamental issues that continue 16 seconds ago 2010-01- Term Extraction. to shape the Web. We hope you 04T10:15:01-08:00 enjoy reading them again and we Five Filters featured article: look forward to bringing you Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: more Web products and trends

Houston mayor calls swearing-in a gay milestone (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News)

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analysis in 2010. Happy holidays from Team ReadWriteWeb! With the startup accelerator program at TechStars acting as a lightning rod, this area has grown from an earthy university town to a true hotbed of innovation. In certain parts of downtown, you can't throw a rock without hitting some startup's offices, and I could barely walk three blocks without bumping into at least one entrepreneur, developer, or designer working at a company such as Threadless or AOL. We interviewed a couple of local startup advisors and one startup team about the culture and community in Boulder. Watch and listen to what they have to say; there are more than a few reasons tech-minded residents love this gorgeous mountain town. Discuss

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More Smartphone Users Now Use Their Phones to Shop Online By Frederic Lardinois (ReadWriteWeb)

scanning a barcode - will only drive these numbers up in the coming months. Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:24:34 AM The second most popular smartphone owners who tried to Smartphone users are becoming buy something from their phone shopping-related activity for increasingly comfortable with were simply unable to do so. smartphone owners is finding using their phones to shop online. Sponsor consumer reviews. 39% of all According to new data from Most Popular Shopping-Related iPhone users and 31% of all C o m p e t e , a b o u t 3 7 % o f Activities: Price Comparison and Android users use their devices smartphone users have purchased Finding Reviews for this. something with their handset in Researching products is still the Big-Ticket Items the last 6 months. Among the most popular shopping-related Only 9% of all iPhone users and most popular items that these activity on the smartphones. 11% of all Android users said users bought are music, books, According to Compete's survey, that they would buy big-ticket DVDs, video games and movie 41% of iPhone users and 43% of items over $500 from their tickets. At the same time, though, Android owners check sale prices phone. In general, the majority of C o m p e t e a l s o f o u n d t h a t while they are shopping. Surely, smartphone owners is most likely smartphone users are very likely the popularity of mobile apps like to buy lower-priced items under to abandon shopping sites that ShopSavvy and RedLaser- which $10. haven't been optimized for make checking prices as easy as Discuss mobile usage. Almost 8% of

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'The Bachelor' Premieres Tonight! Meet Jake Pavelka's New Bachelorettes! (ETonline - Breaking News)

Dallas with the new "Bachelor" Jake Pavelka, when "The Bachelor: On the Wings of The wait is over! "The Bachelor: Love," the 14th edition of ABC's On the Wings of Love" is finally popular romance reality series, here! premieres Monday, January 4 at What do an NBA dancer, a 8 p.m. ET has a first look at the corporate flight attendant, a 25 women who hope to win mortgage loan officer and a J a k e ' s h e a r t a n d h a n d i n captain in the Air National Guard m a r r i a g e . have in common? They all have their sights set on moving to Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:48:00 AM

Clonezilla Makes Quick Work of Hard Drive Data Restoration By Lisa Hoover (TheAppleBlog) Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:45:10 AM

We all know the importance of backing up the data on our hard drive but, honestly, restoring all your stuff after a catastrophic hard drive failure can be a real pain. Clonezilla is a free, open source app that burns a mirror image of your drive’s data so you

can reinstall everything in just a few clicks. Clonezilla supports Intel-based Macs and comes in two versions: Live, for a single machine and SE for managing as many as 40 computers. As if that’s not handy enough, you have your choice of storage and reinstallation methods — CD, USB flash drive, software onto a media storage or USB hard drive. device, boot it into the machine Once you’ve shoehorned the you want to clone and let the app

work its magic. There are several tutorials on Clonezilla’s website that walk you through the process of saving and restoring images, creating recovery CDs, and more. There are plenty of ways to create backups of your data, but most are complicated or prohibitively expensive. If you’re looking for a great — and cheap — way to keep your data safe, then Clonezilla might be just the

ticket. What are your tips for easy and inexpensive data backup? In Q3, Uncle Sam was the green IT king maker. Read the, " Green IT Q3 Wrap-up."

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Upon Further Review: How I Spent My Money in 2009 By Mark Crump (TheAppleBlog) Submitted at 1/4/2010 7:25:57 AM

One of my end of the year rituals is looking back on what I dropped my hard-earned coin on over the year. This is a reckoning on software I thought would be a grand idea at the time and how I feel about the purchase at the end of the year. Hardware 13” MacBook Pro: It was time to retire my cira-2006 WhiteBook and I chose the low-end Pro model. I debated upgrading to the higher-end 13” or the 15”, but, since I had a 500GB drive I would be transferring, I decided on the low-end model. It’s a fantastic machine I don’t want to picture life without. No regrets. Logitech Wave Keyboard: I’ve never been a big fan of Apple’s keyboards. The clear white model feels too squishy, and the aluminum one feels too firm. I got the Logitech Wave on an impulse buy at BJs Warehouse one day and I like it. My only complaint is it’s not bluetooth, and with the laptop I’ve stopped using it because I don’t want to lose the dongle or tie up a USB port. No regrets. OS X Software Snow Leopard: I upgraded day one and haven’t looked back. I love the new Automator, Stacks, and Expose. I can’t think of any major hiccups I’ve had. No regrets. Parallels Desktop 4.0 Upgrade: I hadn’t planned on getting this — version 3 was doing fine for me.

However, at some point the Version 4 trial got my system in a state where I couldn’t easily downgrade from it and preserve my virtuals and I ended up saying, “screw it” and upgraded to 4.0. I still use it heavily as there are Windows apps I need to use. It gets used enough I’ll likely be upgrading to Version 5 next year. No regrets. Things: I’m constantly struggling with managing my todo list. Until I got Things, no system worked for me. I tried Moleskine notebooks, Google Tasks, Evernote, having my wife remind me, iCal alerts — you name it. I got Things because of its iPhone integration (more on that in the iPhone section) and I love it. I was the site lead for an ISO audit and it was incredibly helpful managing the project. No regrets. The Sims 3: The Sims franchise and I go way back; I’ve played all of them. Once I got the new Macbook and could actually run games, I grabbed the Sims 3. Overall, I like it. I was hoping it’d let me run without the CD like Spore does, and that’s probably the biggest reason I don’t play it much — I thought it’d be a perfect on the train game, but I tend to forget to grab the CD. Slight regret, only because I don’t play it as much as I’d like. LaunchBar 5: I had to upgrade when I went to Snow Leopard. I use this tool every day and still barely scratch the surface on its

features. As an aside, check out ScreenCast Online’s excellent LaunchBar tutorials. No regrets. iLife 09: Granted, it came with my new MacBook, but I had also purchased a license on my old laptop. I only really use iPhoto and it’s been a mixed bag. The Faces feature thought my wife was both a booth babe from E3 and a bearded game developer. I like the Flickr and Facebook exports, but I’m disappointed it doesn’t sync photos I’ve uploaded to non-iPhoto created sets. However, I like having a central photo storage that I can get to from any application (using the new Services in Snow Leopard). Slight regret. iWork 09: I’ve been waffling between iWork and Office for most of the year. Each have their advantages, but I’m finding how well iWork integrates with Snow Leopard’s Services has resulted in me using it more. Keynote simply rocks; I used it for every presentation I had to give this year. No regrets. iPhone Apps I started going through my iTunes receipts to give an accurate list of everything I bought … and rapidly decided that list was too long to bore you with, so instead I’m just going to mention the high and low points. There’s also a few I bought just because there was a great deal on them, so I’ll ignore them for now, too. Games Hero of Sparta and NFL 2010: I

got each of these as part of a Thanksgiving sale for a buck a piece. I like both of them: Hero is a nice God of War clone and NFL 2010 is a serviceable football game. No regrets. Myst: I got this trying to relive my gaming youth. While it’s an amazing technical accomplishment — it’s the entire Myst game, right there on your iPhone — I’ve been disappointed; I just don’t think it scales down well to the iPhone screen. This one is a regret. Flight Contro l: Holy cow, is this game addictive or what? Not only do I regret getting this game, I think my boss regrets me getting it too — when he got an iPhone and asked for a game recommendation, it was the immediate choice and we’re both infatuated with it. Seriously, though, no regrets. Peggle: This is a game that’s hard to describe; it’s like an inverted version of Blockout merged with pinball. The idea is to make these colored blocks go away by aiming a canon of sorts at them. It’s a fun game, but my one big issue is being color blind, I have a hard time telling the difference between some of the blocks. Productivity Quickoffice and DocsToGo: I bought them in a hope that my iPhone would become a netbook of sorts, and it didn’t quite work out that way. It’s not a fault of either program (they are both good) but my own work habits.

While it’s rare I’ll attempt to do work on these, the few times I’ve had to use them puts them in the no regrets column. Things: I’ve covered this already, but the iPhone app is a perfect companion to the desktop; I tend to use the iPhone app more than the desktop version. I only have two complaints: I can’t define Areas of Responsibility on the iPhone, and the data sync doesn’t happen via the cloud, but they seem to be working on that. AutoStitch: I wrote about this one here, but suffice to say, I use it enough to instantly make it a no regret. Byline: I float between Byline and the Google Reader web app. I frequently use Byline more because it’s a stand-alone app and syncs very well with Google Reader. However, both of them expose a limitation of the iPhone OS that drives me nuts: because apps can’t talk to each other, I can’t “send to Evernote” as I can when viewing Reader in a traditional browser. No regrets. Simplenote: This is a handy Notes app that also has a web client, so, unlike the iPhone’s Notes app you sync over the cloud. It makes me wish I could delete the built-in Notes app. Wooji Presentation Remote and Apple’s Keynote Remote: This was the year where I had to give a few presentations, and, being the geek that I am felt I needed UPON page 44

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Apple Misses Windows 7 Bootcamp Deadline, Apparently Everyone Except Me Really Cares By Liam Cassidy (TheAppleBlog)

software update to Boot Camp. The rest of the note was just a list of the nine older models of Submitted at 1/4/2010 10:24:35 AM iMac and MacBook that I have a confession to make. I wouldn’t support the Boot Camp don’t dual boot. I don’t use update. Windows on my Mac. I don’t AppleInsider reached out to need to. There’s not a single bit Apple for comment last week, as of software I need that is 2009 drew to a close. An Apple Windows-only. And even though employee responsible for dealing I have Office:Mac 2008, I open with Bootcamp enquiries told Word and Excel documents in them: Pages and Numbers. (I don’t hate …it was very unlikely that the Office, I just find iWork to be a update would surface in the next more rewarding experience!) 24 hours, adding that a release But, apparently, I’m in a sometime early next year would minority, and every other Mac be a safer bet. owner on Earth is simply aching MacWorld UK writes a little to run Windows 7 on their Apple more dramatically about the h a r d w a r e . W e l l , y o u ’ d b e missed deadline: forgiven for thinking as much, On the same day in October that given the articles doing the r i v a l M i c r o s o f t l a u n c h e d rounds on tech sites this past Windows 7 , Apple promised that weekend, most of them tersely i t w o u l d r e v i s e B o o t reporting how Apple has missed Camp… Apple has still not its own deadline for providing released a Boot Camp revision to o f f i c i a l B o o t C a m p d r i v e r its Software Update service. support for Microsoft’s latest Although Microsoft officially version of Windows. unveiled Windows 7 in late Here’s what Apple had to say in October, the company first a (very short) support note provided developers with early published in October last year: builds a year before that, and Apple will support Microsoft began offering previews to the Windows 7 (Home Premium, general public in February 2009. Professional, and Ultimate) with Apple did not elaborate on why Boot Camp in Mac OS X Snow t h e y w o u l d n o t s u p p o r t Leopard before the end of the Microsoft’s newest operating year. This support will require a system.

I’m not sure a missed deadline is the same as Apple demonstrating they unequivocally ‘would not’ support Windows 7, but the drama doesn’t end there. Here’s Paul Thurrott’s take, from a blog post entitled “Shame on Apple for not Providing Windows 7 Drivers by Now”: Previously, Apple promised to provide Windows 7 drivers through its Boot Camp utility […] by the end of 2009. So they’re late. But these drivers can and should have been delivered to customers when Windows 7 shipped, in October. I guess the company was too busy fixing a widely-reported user data deletion issue in Snow Leopard to bother supporting a competing system that just works. So thanks for nothing Apple. We know you’re scared of Windows 7, but come on.

I might offer a less florid possibility; could it possibly be just a delay? Y’know, like Microsoft experienced when it delayed the release of Windows 95. And Windows 98. And Windows… oh, you get the point. Look, software delays happen and they don’t have to mean anything! Thurrott’s Apple-fan-baiting aside, I have a serious question; am I so completely out of touch that I’m the only Mac user in the world who doesn’t dual boot? OK, I played with some virtualization tools a while back out of sheer curiosity, and the half-hearted belief that I really might need Microsoft Office (note: I didn’t) but it wasn’t long before they were removed. A Tad Silly Mac OS X, iLife and iWork have most my bases covered for personal creativity and productivity. And while I do a lot of online collaboration with a wide circle of colleagues and friends, most of whom are on Windows machines, I’m not exaggerating when I say — it’s simply not an issue. Honestly, there isn’t a single thing I’ve come across in 18 months that absolutely demanded I use Windows. But apparently, that’s unusual,

and most Mac owners in the world not only use Windows, they need Windows and, more than any other version, they absolutely must have Windows 7, so Apple’s missed deadline is nothing short of scandalous. True? Because if that’s not true, all of that breathless reporting over the weekend about missed deadlines and Apple’s ‘fears’ would prove a tad silly, wouldn’t it? Actually, I have had one issue since switching to the Mac; my friends don’t use iChat. They’re stuck with Skype or — horror of horrors –Windows Live Messenger for video conferencing and collaboration. I pity them. It’s the one thing I wish Apple would release for Windows. The world would be a better place then, I’m sure. So, tell me, Mac Majority, is Boot Camp’s (temporarily) absent Windows 7 support really the Big Deal the tech press have made it out to be? Am I truly in some peculiar Mac Minority who don’t install Windows on their Apple hardware? Am I, in fact, missing a far bigger point? Please enlighten me. Growing mobile data use turned up heat on carriers in Q3. Read the, " Mobile Q3 Wrap-up."

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Rumor Has It: Are These the Specs for the Apple Tablet? By Darrell Etherington (TheAppleBlog) Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:57:56 AM

File this one under “seriously not likely,” but for what it’s worth, a site called PhoneArena.com is showing off images it says are of a leaked document that details the hardware specifications of Apple’s upcoming tablet. The iSlate moniker is used, but there are a number of elements that suggest you might not want to bet the farm on the credibility of this particular source. The specs themselves aren’t all that suspect, and in fact could be quite representative of what the actual hardware will look like when it is eventually released, though it’s not quite as impressive as video. But there are a couple odd usages of terms and some specs that seem outdated, which alone could just mean the document itself is rather old, but taken with the other oddities seem much more suspect. The hardware details of the tablet read more like an entrylevel MacBook than an upgraded

iPod touch, and include a 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and support for up to 8GB of RAM, with 2GB built-in to the base configuration. There’s also a 120GB 4200 RPM SATA HDD, which strikes me as a particularly odd choice for what is presumably meant to be a thin and light portable device. Other hardware niceties include two USB 2.0 ports, an SD card slot, built-in speakers and mic a n d a c o m b i n e d digital/headphone out and line in

Submitted at 1/4/2010 10:23:31 AM

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an app on the iPhone to control Keynote. It was a disaster, Since it uses a Wi-Fi connection to the something which has been laptop the iPhone battery drained making the rounds recently. too fast and I felt myself looking Maybe most interesting of all, down at the iPhone for my cues, and possibly most damning, is falling into the dreaded “staring the news that the new tablet will at the index cards” presentation r u n “ M a c O S X C l o u d e d method. I ended up going back to Leopard,” a modified version of the Apple physical remote and S n o w L e o p a r d d e s i g n e d using my Macbook and Keynote specifically for the platform that in presentation mode. uses widgets and can download In 2008 it felt like I had more and run App Store software. regrets than 2009. Perhaps that Also, this is minor, but there’s a was a case of the App Store missing period at the end of one launching and just going nuts of the bullet points on the buying it, or this year I was more document describing “Clouded discerning about my purchases. Leopard,” and in another one the How about you? What purchases words “Up” and “to” aren’t did you make in 2009 you liked separated by a space. Could just or regret? like that found on the newest be bad proofing or the document What was the big news that MacBook Pros. The screen is is an early draft, but it’s enough happened in your sector in Q3? Catch up with GigaOM Pro's, " listed as 7.1 inches and boasts the to raise my suspicion level. same oleophobic coating found What are your thoughts? Do you Quarterly Wrap-ups." on the iPhone 3GS. think Apple will go this way with But here’s where it gets weird. its new wonder device, or stick to In addition to the built-in iSight more of a iPod touch/iPhone (not weird), there’s a built-in hardware format? projector listed too (very weird). As Q4 begins, online video is And the Airport Extreme is said now mainstream. Read the, " to be based on the 802.11n draft Connected Consumer Q3 Wrapspecification, when we all know up." that specification was finalized in September. Also, no mention is made of 3G connectivity,

An American Tourist — [Pullquote] By Gabriel Snyder (Gawker)

UPON

who bumped into New York Post columnist Cindy Adams while she was in Santiago, Chile, according to the gossipeuse's

recap of her holiday vacation.

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TV Ratings: Sunday Night Football Finishes On Top; Simpsons, Housewives Return Up By Bill Gorman (TVbytheNumbers) Submitted at 1/4/2010 8:44:03 AM

Due to the nature of live sports programming the ratings for NBC (Sunday Night Football), CBS and FOX (NFL overruns) are approximate and subject to significant revisions in the final numbers. See below for more information on these Fast Affiliate Ratings. Of course the final Sunday Night Football game lifted NBC to the ratings win for the night, but a lopsided game, a Fox football overrun and CBS repeats gave both Fox and ABC a chance for an up night with their new episodes. Compared to their last original airings on 12/13/09 the early Fox lineup was all up. The Simpsons tallied a 4.0 rating for adults 1849, up 25%. The Cleveland Show was up 10% to a 3.3 rating, and Family Guy was up 3% to a 3.9 rating. Only American Dad was down, falling 10% to a 2.8 rating. ABC had it’s best Sunday night overall this season and its best rated Sunday night since November 2008. America’s Funniest Home Videos tied its best adults 18-49 rating (2.7) since 2/8/09. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition increased 6% (compared to its last original on 12/13) to a 3.3 rating. Desperate Housewives was up 6%

(compared to 12/6) to a 5.2 rating. If that holds up in the final ratings, that would be a season high for Housewives, its previous high was a 5.0 rating. Only Brothers & Sisters fell, down 3% (vs. 12/6) to a 3.6 rating. NBC’s Sunday Night Football Game 17: Bengals vs. Jets delivered a 5.5 adults 18-49 rating from 830-11p, down from last week’s Game 16 (Redskins vs. Cowboys) which posted a 6.0 rating in the Fast Nationals

before rising to a 6.9 rating from 8:32-11:09p in the Finals. You can see TV ratings from other recent Overnight ratings reports here. Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2009 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved. Definitions: Fast Affiliate Ratings: These first national ratings, including demographics, are available at approximately 11 AM (ET) the

for local coverage or other programming. Fast Affiliate ratings are not as useful for live programs and are likely to differ significantly from the final results, because the data reflect normal broadcast feed patterns. For example, with a World Series game, Fast Affiliate Ratings would include whatever aired from 8-11PM on affiliates in the Pacific Time Zone, following the live football game, but not game coverage that begins at 5PM PT. The same would be true of Presidential debates as well as live award shows and breaking news reports. Rating: Estimated percentage of the universe of TV households (or other specified group) tuned to a program in the average minute. Ratings are expressed as a percent. Share (of Audience): The percent of households (or persons) using television who are day after telecast, and are tuned to a specific program, released to subscribing customers station or network in a specific daily. These data, from the area at a specific time. (See also, National People Meter sample, Rating, which represents tuning a r e s t r i c t l y t i m e - p e r i o d or viewing as a percent of the information, based on the normal e n t i r e p o p u l a t i o n b e i n g broadcast network feed, and m e a s u r e d . ) include all programming on the Time Shifted Viewing– Program affiliated stations, sometimes ratings for national sources are including network programming, produced in three streams of data sometimes not. The figures may – Live, Live+Same include stations that did not air Day(Live+SD) and Live+7 Day. the entire network feed, as well as local news breaks or cutaways RATINGS: page 47

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NBC Announces Celebrity Apprentice Lineup including Cyndi Lauper, Bret Michaels, Sharon Osbourne, Sinbad and Rod Blagojevich By Robert Seidman (TVbytheNumbers) Submitted at 1/4/2010 7:43:09 AM

It seems like a lot of this info was release several months ago, and I remember reading about Blogojevich getting court approval to participate (after not being allowed to fly to Costa Rica to participate on “I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here.” But with the season premiere still more than a couple of months away, I guess they figured now was a good time to make it official. Via NBC: NBC ANNOUNCES THE 14 ALL-STAR CELEBRITIES TAKING ON DONALD T R U M P I N T H E BOARDROOM FOR THE THIRD SEASON OF ‘THE CELEBRITY APPRENTICE’ PREMIERING SUNDAY, MARCH 14 (9-11 p.m. ET/PT) Darryl Strawberry, Cyndi Lauper, Bret Michaels, Sharon Osbourne, Michael Johnson, Holly Robinson Peete, Goldberg, Carol Leifer, Sinbad, Summer Sanders, Rod Blagojevich (left), Maria Kanellis, Curtis Stone and

Selita Ebanks Will All be competing for Charity NEW YORK – Monday, January 4, 2010 – NBC and Donald Trump announced today the all-star celebrity cast for the third season of “The Celebrity Apprentice” premiering on Sunday, March 14 (9-11 p.m. ET/PT). Over the course of the celebrity seasons, over $3.5 million has been donated to charities worldwide in addition to money raised from the awareness and exposure on the show. Now 14 new celebrities will rise to the challenge once again it will be men versus women. All the celebrities will be vying for the coveted title as they fight for their respective causes close to their hearts. Donald Trump said “This season of ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ is going to be fantastic. The list of celebrities we have this season is outstanding and the show will really resonate with our core viewers and fans. I expect this season of ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ to be the best one yet.” The celebrities will compete in business-driven tasks around

making for entertaining surprise visits by some of the world’s biggest stars along the way. Trump and his advisors in the boardroom will judge all of the tasks. Returning back to the boardroom are Trump’s children (and colleagues) Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr., alongside longtime Trump Organization employee and “Apprentice” advisor George Ross. The boardroom will again feature a “rotating seat,” allowing a variety of famous business leaders and industry legends to join Trump in spirited judgment on each task. As with last season, the winning celebrity teams will relish the opportunity to watch the losing team squirm in the boardroom from the comfort of their own war rooms. When all is said and done, 13 celebrities will be New York City using their fame, h o u r s , g r u e l i n g m e n t a l famously fired and only one will rolodexes and their business challenges, personality clashes emerge to become The Celebrity acumen to win weekly tasks and and intense scrutiny — all Apprentice. money to donate to their favorite without the help of their regular Five Filters featured article: c h a r i t i e s , w h i l e u l t i m a t e l y s u p p o r t s y s t e m o f a g e n t s , Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: battling with each other to stay managers and personal assistants. PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, out of the boardroom and avoid Certain tasks encourage the Term Extraction. hearing those dreaded words contestants to reach out to their “You’re Fired!” network of celebrity contacts for They’ll be subjected to long assistance or donations —

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Despite Blowouts, NFL Doubleheader featuring Giants vs. Vikings and Eagles vs. Cowboys Scores for FOX

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Time shifted figures account for incremental viewing that takes place with DVRs which are currently in approximately 24.4% of all U.S. TV households. Live+Same Day(Live+SD) By Robert Seidman were decided by scores of 44-7 game on CBS. That 11.7/22 ties include viewing during the same (TVbytheNumbers) (Giants at Vikings) and 24-0 as the NFL on FOX’s second- broadcast day as the original ( E a g l e s a t C o w b o y s ) . best Regional rating of the year, telecast, with a cut-off of Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:09:24 AM Yesterday’s 14.0/26 is +16% behind only the Vikings-Steelers 3:00AM local time when meters via FOX Sports: better than last year’s 12.1/24 for game in Week 7 (13.0/28). transmit daily viewing to Nielsen NFL WEEK 17 OVERNIGHTS a W e e k 1 7 D o u b l e h e a d e r , F O X c o n c l u d e s t h e 2 0 0 9 for processing. Live+7 Day SCORE FOR FOX coincidentally anchored both REGULAR SEASON with a ratings include incremental Doubleheader +16%; National year’s the same games (Giants- 12.7/25 average for Sunday Game +14% V i k i n g s e a r l y a n d E a g l e s - games in the metered markets, The 2009 NFL ON FOX regular C o w b o y s l a t e ) . F O X ’ s +6% better than both last year’s -season concluded yesterday with NATIONAL GAME earned a 12.0/24 on FOX and CBS’s By Fiona Miller (Flickr Blog) an excellent 14.0/26 average 16.3/29, a +14% bump over last 12.0/24 this year and tied NBC’s Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:46:26 AM household rating/share for a year’s 14.3/27 with 79% of the prime time package (12.7/20). WEEK 17 DOUBLEHEADER, US seeing Eagles-Cowboys. The Five Filters featured article: • About Flickr according to metered overnight REGIONAL GAME earned an Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: Flickr is a revolution in photo figures released by Nielsen media 11.7/22, a stunning rating for a PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, storage, sharing and organization, making photo management an research. The strong showing is game in which 60% saw the Term Extraction. easy, natural and collaborative somewhat surprising for a twin- Vikings rout the Giants opposite bill in which the two lead games a meaningful Steelers-Dolphins

viewing that takes place during the 7 days following a telecast. For more information see Numbers 101 and Numbers 102. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Your Best Shot 2009: Bubbles process. Get comments, notes, and tags on your photos, post to any blog, share and more! Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

What's On Tonight: Bachelor, Good Eats, Secret Life, Hoarders By Bob Sassone (TV Squad)

Christian. • PBS has a new Antiques Submitted at 1/4/2010 12:16:00 PM Roadshow at 8. • ABC Family has the season • At 8, ABC has the season premiere of Secret Life of the premiere of The Bachelor, American Teenager at 8, then the followed by Conveyor Belt of season premiere of Make It or Love. Break It. • NBC has a new two-hour • Food Network has a new Good Heroes at 8, then a new Jay Leno Eats at 8. Show. • TLC has a new Little People, TNA Wrestling. • FOX has the Tostitos Fiesta Big World at 8. Bowl at 8, Boise State vs. Texas • Also at 8: Spike has a new • At 9, USA has a new Monday

Night RAW. • TLC has a new Cake Boss at 9. • E! has a new Bank of Hollywood at 9. • There's a new Unwrapped on Food Network at 9. • At 10, TNT has a new Men of a Certain Age. • A&E has a new Hoarders at 10. • Bravo has a new Chef Academy at 10. Check your local TV listings for

more. After the jump, the late night talk shows. Continue reading What's On Tonight: Bachelor, Good Eats, Secret Life, Hoarders Filed under: Late Night, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

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Allstate Sugar Bowl Audience Sweet; New Year’s Night Audience Up +67%

Review: The Simpsons Thursdays with Abie

By Robert Seidman (TVbytheNumbers)

(S21E09) You can always count on The Simpsons for a timely reference. Why it was only back in 1997 that Mitch Albom's Tuesdays with Morrie book came out, so it's high time we riff on it. Wait, that TV movie with Hank Azaria they referenced? That's more recent. 1999 recent! 449 episodes later, The Simpsons may no longer be the source for the most cutting edge humor, but at least they've reclaimed a lot of the heart this season that was missing early on. Next week is the big 450th episode celebration, which not-so -coincidentally is the week FOX has opted to celebrate officially the 20th anniversary of the stalwart comedy. For those tired of Seth MacFarlane dominating the Sunday lineup, next week, it's a reversal of fortunes, as The Simpsons is joined by an hour-

Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:16:04 AM

via FOX Sports: ALLSTATE SUGAR BOWL AUDIENCE SWEET New Year’s Night Audience Up +67% The University of Florida’s rout of the University of Cincinnati in the 2010 ALLSTATE SUGAR BOWL on Jan. 1 resulted in an 8.5/15 average household rating/share and 15.5 million viewers according to fast national ratings issued by Nielsen Media Research. That’s up +57% in rating and +67% in audience over last year’s New Year’s night FedEx Orange Bowl (5.4/9 – 9.3 mill for Va Tech-Cincinnati), and up +9% in rating and +16% compared to last year’s Allstate Sugar Bowl (7.8/13, 13.4 mill for Utah-Alabama) on Friday, Jan. 2. Despite the blowout score, the Allstate Sugar Bowl projects to

deliver FOX a dominant win for the night. Based on metered market ratings, FOX not only won the night but beat the combined delivery of the second and third-place networks. FOX ranked first for the night with an 8.7/15 from 8-11pm. ABC was a distant second with a 4.8/8 for a night that included a Rose Bowl overrun. CBS and NBC were further back at a 3.2/5 and 2.3/4 respectively.

Cincinnati topped all metered markets with a 27.1/42 for the Allstate Sugar Bowl. Jacksonville was next with a 26.5/42 followed by Birmingham (25.2/38), a Florida Gator rival. Rounding out the top five were Tampa (23.3/39) and Orlando (20.4/33). Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

By Jason Hughes (TV Squad) Submitted at 1/4/2010 12:30:00 PM

President Barack Obama & First Lady Return to White House Following Hawaiian Holiday (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 1/4/2010 8:55:00 AM

Back to work! After celebrating

the holidays and the New Year in Hawaii with his daughters Sasha and Malia, President Barack Obama joined his wife Michelle

on Air Force One as they returned to Washington D.C. ET has the pics of the first family's island getaway!

long special and the only MacFarlane show to make the grade is his own version of a "traditional" family sitcom: The Cleveland Show. Continue reading Review: The Simpsons - Thursdays with Abie Filed under: OpEd, The Simpsons, Animation, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

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How will Benjamin Bratt do on Modern Family? By Allison Waldman (TV Squad)

Kate Major Makes It to the Big Time of PA Celeb Boxing Circuit [Celebrity Science]

Submitted at 1/4/2010 10:05:00 AM

Sundays with Seth: A horse is a horse, uness it's The Rock By Jason Hughes (TV Squad)

any modification to the intro sequence at all, or spotlight it in any self-aware way. I still wish Between The Rock's bizarre last week's epic could have been guest appearance on Family Guy, in widescreen, but with Family a n d S t a n ' s d i r t y d e e d o n Guy now the only holdout on American Dad, it was a strange Animation Domination, the week in the twisted mind of Seth whole thing feels a little weird. MacFarlane. But in a twist M. Shouldn't the marquee show for Night Shyamalan would be proud S e t h M a c F a r l a n e b e i n of, it was Family Guy's Meg widescreen before its offspring? G r i f f i n w h o h a d t h e m o s t Continue reading Sundays with memorable stand-out moment of Seth: A horse is a horse, uness the night. Uncomfortable, but it's The Rock memorable. Filed under: Other Comedy We also got the first episode of S h o w s , O p E d , A n i m a t i o n , American Dad in the 16:9 Episode Reviews, Reality-Free widescreen ratio for the first Permalink| Email this| | time, and they didn't take C o m m e n t s advantage of the change to make Submitted at 1/4/2010 1:03:00 PM

Last night there was a fresh, new episode of Brothers & Sisters on ABC. I was so elated that I nearly jumped from my chair to see a non-rerun. Well, this week were sorta/kinda back from vacation as a bunch of shows will be airing new shows. For that, I say, "Hooray!" One I'm really looking forward to seeing is Wednesday's Modern Family with Benjamin Bratt guesting as Manny's father. The reason for my anticipation is this: I haven't liked any of the guest turns on Modern Family thus far this year. I thought Shelley Long was over-the-top as Jay's ex-wife, the mother of Claire and Mitchell; Fred Willard was

By Hamilton Nolan (Gawker) Submitted at 1/4/2010 10:11:01 AM

basically a cameo as Phil's dad; and in one episode, Elizabeth Banks and Ed Norton embarassed themselves as bizarre characters. Continue reading How will Benjamin Bratt do on Modern Family? Filed under: OpEd, Celebrities, Casting, Reality-Free, Modern Family Permalink| Email this| | Comments

US manufacturing activity strongest since 2006 (Financial Times - US homepage)

commerce department said that construction spending fell to the lowest level since 2003 in Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:17:32 AM November as residential US manufacturing activity homebuilding investment waned. climbed to the highest level in Five Filters featured article: more than three years last month, Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: a s a s u r g e i n n e w o r d e r s PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, continued to fuel factory output. Term Extraction. Separately on Monday, the

When Star reporter Kate Major quit "journalism" in order to pursue love with Jon Gosselin, some questioned whether the move was wise. Well, the haters can quiet down: Kate's made it. To celebrity boxing (refereeing). Straight from the press release: Who: Meet Kate Major for her first public event since the Jon Gosselin Saga as she will referee the female Celebrity Boxing match between Model Hanna Pearce and Actress Michelle Shuster and several of the Male actors on the undercard. And Michael Lohan will be there that night too! See you Jan. 6 at the Della Pollas Tavern in Milmont Park, PA!

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ALM in 2010: Furloughs, But Maybe a Raise [Internal Memos] By Hamilton Nolan (Gawker)

You have my thanks for all you have done to help us through the storm. This memo just went out to The Road Ahead employees of B-to-B publisher Looking ahead, as I mentioned ALM( formerly Incisive Media), on my blog a few weeks ago, my updating them on the year to long-term view of the business is come. Furloughs are back, but optimistic even though I think the the outlook is slightly less dire challenges of 2009 will carry than last year. The full memo: through for at least the first half Welcome back. I hope you had of the new year. I am very an enjoyable break for the confident that our decision to holidays and took the time to invest in product development celebrate with your family and o p p o r t u n i t i e s i n t h e friends. research/information services As we begin the New Year, I s e c t o r a s w e l l a s t h e thought a few words about what reorganization of our national 2010 looks like from my desk advertising sales team will leave and how we'll proceed would be us poised for success when the in order. It has been, as you economy rebounds. But since we know, a challenging 15 months at do not expect to see that growth ALM and in the media industry for many months we will need to since the downfall of Lehman e x e r c i s e t h e s a m e f i s c a l Brothers and the downturn in discipline in 2010 as we did in both the general economy and, 2009. That means keeping our particularly, the markets we expenses low, our spending serve. Nonetheless, through a conservative and our investments great deal of sacrifice and focused on areas that will lead to creativity, we managed our way significant revenue growth in the through the crisis and remained coming years. Unfortunately it true to our mission – providing also means that we will once h i g h v a l u e c o n t e n t t o o u r again be asking employees to sophisticated audiences while take 5 days of unpaid furlough in finding creative ways to meet the 2010. We did not come to this needs of marketers seeking to decision lightly but given our reach those same audiences. And short term revenue predictions we did so while maintaining the and the significant savings that confidence of our investors and the furlough provides we simply lenders, no small feat in the can't afford to eliminate it at this current financial environment. time. Or, put another way, we Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:54:38 AM

would rather keep a larger staff employed for 51 weeks, than a smaller staff employed for 52 weeks. We think that's a better choice for all of us and for our customers. This year's furloughs will work much like last year's with many employees taking their days during the last week of the year when much of the Company will be closed. To help answer your furlough questions, the HR Department will be distributing detailed furlough guidelines later today. Our hope is that by aggressively managing our expenses through furloughs and the other initiatives mentioned below we will be able to avoid the type of large scale lay-offs we experienced last year. Compensation Adjustments The good news is that we have designated a portion of this year's budget for potential mid-year compensation adjustments. But utilization of those funds is contingent on meeting our financial targets for the first half of the year. If approved, I would assume that increases will primarily be given on a merit basis or where market conditions absolutely require salary adjustments. I will have a better sense of how this process will work as the summer approaches and will update you at that time. Voluntary Unpaid Vacation and

Reduced Work Week In 2010 we will continue allowing employees, on a voluntary basis and with management approval, to take up to one week of additional unpaid vacation time and/or to request a reduced work week schedule. Unlike the furlough which employees must take, the additional unpaid vacation and reduced work week programs are completely voluntary. The Human Resources Department will be distributing detailed guidelines about these programs later today. No Vacation Carry-Over As we did in 2009 and per our Vacation Policy, employees must use all of their vacation days in the year in which they are earned. Travel and Entertainment We will continue with the guidelines developed last year for all travel and entertainment expenses. Tuition Assistance The Tuition Assistance Program which was temporarily suspended in 2009 will be reimplemented in the second half of 2010. Employees who are interested in participating in the program should refer to the Educational Assistance Policy in the Policies and Guidelines section of InHouse. Bonuses We are working with our Board

of Directors to create a bonus pool for over-budget performance by the company as a whole (somewhat akin to a profit -sharing plan). Our intent would be to use that pool to provide merit bonuses at year-end for both staff and management. 401K Plan With respect to our US employees, we are not planning to make any changes to our 401K plan in 2010 which means we will continue providing participants an employer match of 25% of the first 4% of contributions. US employees who are not yet enrolled in the 401k should consider doing so at this time. We are also pleased to announce that beginning this year employees in Canada will be eligible for Company RRSP contributions. Additional details about these contributions will be sent to employees shortly. Staff members in the U.K. and Hong Kong are covered by local benefits plans, which will be addressed separately as appropriate. If you have any questions about these programs please contact [redacted]. Once again, thank you for all you have done over the past year for ALM and its customers. Regards, Bill

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The New York Post 's Col Allan Decade [Leadership] By John Cook (Gawker)

Daily News," which is odd because it's not coming from the Daily News—then it appears that If New York Post editor Col his abject failure to contribute Allan is indeed contemplating one dime to Murdoch's coffers in "retirement" at the ripe old age of decade may have finally caught 57, as New York's Gabriel up with him. The Post's annual Sherman reports, his departure loss has been estimated at would cap off a decade of anywhere from $10 million to colossal editorial and business $50 million over the past decade, embarrassments for the paper. but Sherman reports that the How Allan has retained his job paper is expected to finish out f o r t h i s l o n g h a s b e e n a n 2010 a whopping $70 million in enduring mystery for anyone the red. That number is one who follows the rather substantial r e a s o n M u r d o c h t o o k t h e and ongoing parade of evidence extraordinary step of reaching out t h a t h e i s a d i c k o f e p i c to his archrival, Daily News proportions. You could chalk it owner Mort Zuckerman, to up to Rupert Murdoch's loyalty, d i s c u s s a j o i n t o p e r a t i n g b u t e v e r y o n e k n o w s t h a t agreement under which both M u r d o c h i s l o y a l o n l y t o papers would share back-end money—indeed, here's how resources and a printing plant. Allan described his boss' thinking The talks fizzled several months to Lloyd Grove in a 2007 profile: ago, Sherman reports. I'll get fired not because Rupert Money aside, the argument for doesn't like the stories I put in the Allan's ouster is, as they say in paper. I'll get fired because we p s y c h i a t r i c circles, don't sell newspapers. And that overdetermined. Here is the bill judgment is made not by Rupert, of particulars: but by the market, and by the He Hates Black People and audience. And I think that's Women pretty democratic. I like that deal. A flurry of lawsuits from all the I f S h e r m a n ' s s o u r c e s a r e nonwhite editorial staffers Allan r i g h t — A l l a n , t h r o u g h a fired in recent months contain spokesman, calls the retirement allegations that he " rubbed his rumor "wishful thinking at the penis up against" a female Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:49:13 AM

employee at an office party, dismissed protesters against Sean Delonas' racist cartoon depicting Barack Obama as a dead chimpanzee because "most of them are minorities," and likes to show female staffers pornography for kicks. He Published This Cartoon He Published This Front Page He Takes Foreign Dignitaries to Strip Clubs, Where He Looks at Boobies For Free In 2003, Allan showed Australian MP Kevin Rudd around New York by taking him to Scores to see some naked ladies gyrate. Revelation of the trip caused something of a scandal in Australia when Rudd, who fancies himself a good Christan, ran successfully for prime minister in 2007. According to bitter former Page

Six staffer (and, for that matter, bitter former Gawker writer) Ian Spiegelman, Allan managed to parlay his status as editor of the city's most powerful tabloid into free, um, services at the strip club. He Let His Gossip Columnists Shake Down Just About Anybody They Wanted To Page Six writer Jared Paul Stern lost his job over his attempt to extort Ron Burkle out of a quarter-million dollars, but Allan let top Page Sixer Richard Johnson stick around even though he admitted accepting a $1,000 cash "Christmas present" from restaurateur Nello Balan in 1997. (That was before the Col era at the Post, but the bribe came to light in 2007.) He Threatened to "Take a Blunt Axe" to the Central Park Jogger According to Grove, after the Daily News scooped the Post with the identity of Trisha Meili—the previously anonymous "Central Park Jogger" who was raped and nearly beaten to death in 1989 and revealed herself in a 2003 memoir—Allan sent an e-mail to Meili's agent threatening to either destroy Meili's reputation or ignore the book in retaliation:

Street Chic: New York By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 1/4/2010 4:00:00 AM

An animal-print scarf lends

warmth—and a funky edge. Photo: Kelly Stuart Think you are Street Chic? Email us your photo and you could appear in ELLE.com's Street

Follow ELLE on Twitter. Become our Facebook fan! Chic Daily.

"After seeing today's daily news I am contemplating two courses of action: taking a blunt axe to the jogger—we know a lot about her—or taking the view this book was never written. not a sentence, not a word shared with our 2.2 million readers. Which of these two options would you recommend?" He Royally Screwed Up the Post's Attempt to Raise Its Cover Price Allan was cocky enough with the Post's rising circulation in 2007 to double its cover price from 25 cents to 50 cents. But the Daily News got tipped to the change and cut its cover price in half on the same day, resulting in a humiliating fiasco—the Post had to reverse itself 10 days later and now trails the Daily News in circulation by 36,000 weekday copies. That last bit is, according to Allan, what Murdoch cares about more than anything. It's our sincere hope that after a decade of Bushesque hubris, incompetence, and fratboy carousing, Allan has finally found something to get fired over. Lord knows he's tried.

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In Defense of Jersey Shore : Trashy for Trashy's Sake [Shore Thing] By Brian Moylan (Gawker) Submitted at 1/4/2010 10:05:49 AM

This weekend, the New York Times tried to find redeeming value in MTV's Jersey Shore, the most important sociological artifact of our time. Sorry, but trying to find any good in this show is missing the point entirely. Yes, Jersey Shore is irredeemably trashy—which we learned is the opposite of "classy," which is what all good guidos and guidettes aspire to be—so Neil Genzlinger's gambit to find anything good in it is entirely misguided. He tries to cover up the alcohol-fueled Jacuzzi romps, wanton acts of aggression, and general stupidity of the eight seven castmembers with the little bits of goodwill that the show is doing humanity. His listicle includes that they made the Jersey Shore (like the actual geographical location) interesting again, that they might kill the Kardashians (heavens, no!), that they are good negative examples for children, and they show us which institutions need to be fixed so we never get kids like the JS crew again. These are all stupid reasons. Everyone is always trying to explain, relegate, or ironically detach themselves from Jersey Shore's utter grossness like they're trying to run away from

Brit Hume Thinks Tiger Can Find Salvation in Christianity By Ryan Wilson (Fanhouse Main) Submitted at 1/4/2010 2:30:00 AM

the stench of a garbage truck. The problem is they're staring at the truck the whole time, trying to avoid being struck by it and turned into an orange-hued, bighaired, juiced-out freak of their own. Guess what, everyone, it is time to enjoy this stink for what it is. What makes this show brilliant is that the kids don't care about their trashiness. In fact, it is the goal of their existence. They all place a high value on clothes that we find tacky, hairdos we find outdated, behavior we find atrocious, skin color we find garish, and sexual encounters we

find dangerous. They exist without malice or guile and are unashamed of their exploits, so we shouldn't feel ashamed for watching. Like Genzlinger says, no one actually wants to be like ShamWOWW, The Situation, Snooki, or Sammi Quiznos, but haven't we all been a little bit like them at one point in our lives? These are people in their 20s getting drunk and screwing around on vacation. Who isn't guilty of that? Now most of us have grown out of the phase without ever being punched in the face, thrown out of a club

called Karma, or having sex on national television with a hulking mass of muscle, but isn't it fun to watch people who haven't learned their lesson yet (and probably never will)? These are our media avatars, acting in irresponsible ways that we could only dream about, and allowing us to feel the concurrently joys of vicarious scuzziness and utter superiority. There is nothing guilty about this pleasure, it is unmitigated bliss. Pic via

Filed under: Sports Media, Current Events, Golf Brit Hume retired from Fox News in 2008, although he regularly appears on the network as a political analyst. The new title allows him to do more than just report the news in a fair and balanced manner; it allows him to actually weigh in with opinion. And that's exactly what happened this weekend when Hume, appearing on Fox News Sunday, offered Tiger Woods, who had been out of the news for 15 minutes, this advice: "Turn to the Christian faith."

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NFL Playoff Teams Get Second Chance in Next Week’s Rematches (WSJ.com: The Daily Fix)

Vikings have, but they have just about everything else you could possibly want heading into the The NFL playoff picture is set at playoffs,” Vaccaro writes. “A last after Week 17. Said picture few weeks ago, that seemed wasn’t big enough to contain destined to be the looming several of Sunday’s winners, but t r a g e d y o f t h i s s e a s o n , a too-little-too-laters such as the capitalized WHAT-IF to last all Pittsburgh Steelers and Houston through the offseason. Now it is Texans are nothing new in the an opportunity to scare the hell NFL. No, what makes this out of a few folks.” playoff picture different from If the presence of the Jets in the those of years past is the fact that playoffs is something of a it looks uncannily like Week 17: surprise, the absence of several Three of the NFL’s four first- bold-face names is perhaps a round playoff matchups next bigger one. The New England week are reruns of Week 17 Patriots will be without ace games. As playoff pictures go, receiver Wes Welker for their this one is the equivalent of game next weekend against experimental video art. European Baltimore — a rematch from Pressphoto Agency The Jets hope Week 4 rather than Week 17 — Brad Smith saved some tricks for and the Packers will may be next week’s rematch with the missing cornerback Charles Bengals. Woodson when they meet At Fanhouse, Dave Goldberg Arizona again next Sunday. addresses the anomalousness of Welker and Woodson both were the NFL’s impending week of injured in relatively unimportant reruns. Week 17 games for their teams None of the three looming — only playoff seeding was at rematches — Philadelphia- stake. In the Journal, Jason Gay Dallas, Green Bay-Arizona and indulges his inner Monday New York Jets-Cincinnati — Morning Quarterback on the were terribly close in Week 17, subject of sitting stars. In the but the New York Post’s Mike Indianapolis Star, Bob Kravitz Vaccaro argues that the Jets’s 37- r e m a i n s o u t r a g e d b y t h e 0 domination of the Bengals in Indianapolis Colts’s use/misuse particular may augur well for of their stars and backups over Gang Green. “The Jets are the last two weeks, which m i s s i n g t h e l e a d i n g - m a n brought two losses to AFC East quarterback that the Colts and the foes. Saints and the Pats and the And from the Department of I Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:23:44 AM

ranked going into the game, but both played entertaining, all-out football right up until the last play of overtime — which happened to be “Heater,” a fake field goal set-piece that Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald described as “a Thought That Happened Already: modern-day fumblerooskie” and After a 4-12 campaign, the which left the Wildcats two yards Washington Redskins fired coach short of the goal line and on the Jim Zorn, who spent the second wrong end of a 38-35 score. In half of the season redefining the the Chicago Sun-Times, Herb t e r m “ l a m e d u c k . ” I n t h e Gould tells the story behind W a s h i n g t o n P o s t , M i c h a e l “Heater,” and Bleacher Report’s Wilbon bemoans the way Zorn’s Jonathan Hodges dissects the extended professional deathwatch play itself. At ESPN, Eric Adelson takes a was handled.* * * As is the custom, seemingly look at Northwestern senior innumerable college-football quarterback Mike Kafka, whose games were played in various career concluded in a career day bowls with varying degrees of that saw him set numerous national renown during the days Outback Bowl records, but around the New Year. Many of without the ending he had in these, such as the lopsided wins mind. In the Huntsville Times, by Florida (51-24 over Cincinnati Evan Woodbery applauds the in the Sugar Bowl) and Nebraska strides Auburn made under first(33-0 over Arizona in the year coach Gene Chizik. Holiday Bowl), are worthy of Texas Tech was also a winner on mention only because of the big- New Year’s Day, but the Red name programs involved. But Raiders’s Alamo Bowl victory others were worth watching. over Michigan State did little to College football’s biggest bowl diminish the controversy that games are yet to come, but those surrounds last week’s stunning vaunted upcoming clashes of dismissal of head coach and undefeated teams will be hard- certified offensive master-builder pressed to measure up to the Mike Leach. Garey did an o u t r a g e o u s l y e n t e r t a i n i n g excellent job summarizing that Outback Bowl matchup between story last Thursday, but after a New York Times report on Northwestern and Auburn. Neither team was nationally Friday that seemed to exonerate

Leach somewhat, the focus has shifted from the coach to his accusers. At CBS Sports, Dennis Dodd bemoans the role played by ESPN analyst Craig James — the father of Leach’s accuser, Adam James — in the whole sordid saga. “I thought from the beginning it was borderline unethical that friends and coworkers of James were reporting this story,” Dodd writes. “It had that ‘railroad’ smell to it from the beginning with James being portrayed as the protective parent. There is definitely another side to this, a side that ESPN hasn’t reported.” At Yahoo, Matt Hinton notes the strange disjunction between sport -pundits and Tech fans — who have both turned James into a villain and Leach into a martyr — and the players themselves, who seem to see things the other way around.* * * Injuries, bad luck and bad performances from a few supporting players led to a lost season in ‘08-09, but the Washington Wizards seemed ready for a playoff run as this season began. Instead, the Wiz look more lost than ever, thanks to an embarrassing story allegedly involving (and just put “alleged” or “allegedly” before everything to follow in this NFL page 58

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Washington Redskins fire Jim Zorn fired after two seasons: 'Status quo not acceptable' By Adam Schefter (ESPN.com)

Snyder bought the team in 1999, a span in which they've made three playoff appearances, won a Submitted at 1/4/2010 8:20:20 AM division title and had six head Shanahan Favorite For Redskins coaches: Job Shanahan Favorite For Bruce Allen, Washington's new R e d s k i n s J o b V I D E O executive vice president and PLAYLIST general manager, said Zorn was • S h a n a h a n F a v o r i t e F o r informed of the decision shortly Redskins Job Shanahan Favorite after the team returned from San For Redskins Job Diego. • SportsCenter Right Now " T h e s t a t u s q u o i s n o t SportsCenter Right Now acceptable," Allen said in a statement. "I felt it was necessary Jim Zorn has been fired as the to not waste a moment of time to head coach of the Washington begin building this team into a Redskins, the team announced winner." Monday morning. Zorn left team headquarters with The Redskins were 4-12 this a security escort around 4:45 a.m. season, capped by a 23-20 loss to without commenting, according the San Diego Chargers on to The Washington Post. Sunday. It was the team's worst "Bruce Allen spent many hours record in 15 years. Zorn was 12- e x a m i n i n g t h e f o o t b a l l 20 in two seasons in Washington. operations, and we are both "No one in the organization is determined to do whatever it satisfied with our record over the takes to build a championship last two years," Redskins owner team," Snyder said. "That process Dan Snyder said in a statement begins today." released by the team. "And I am The Redskins were expected to sure that Jim would concur with hold a news conference around that statement. It has been painful noon ET to announce what had for him, too. I certainly accept been speculated about and responsibility for mistakes that I rumored on for months, ever have made. I am hopeful that our since Washington lost to Detroit fans will accept my commitment in Week 3. Zorn later was and pledge to deliver a franchise stripped of his play-calling that can compete in the NFC East responsibilities prior to an Oct. every season." 26 game against Philadelphia. At The Helm, Or On Parade? One Redskins player said the The Redskins are 80-96 (.455) in team has called a team meeting the 11 seasons since Daniel for 11:30 a.m. Monday, at which

time the players are expected to be debriefed about Zorn's dismissal and in which direction the franchise will go. With Zorn out of the picture, the focus will shift to whether Snyder can do enough to lure former Broncos coach Mike Shanahan to Washington. It is no secret that Snyder admires Shanahan. The two men have known each other since the late 1990s, when they attended the same Pro Bowl, stayed in the same hotel in Hawaii, and wound up having dinner together one night. Since then, the two men have remained in contact and have had a friendly relationship. Shanahan would represent a higher-profile coach than Zorn, who was hired as the Redskins' offensive coordinator before being promoted before he had coached an NFL game. Mosley: Zorn Held His Own Jim Zorn displayed an uncommon affability during his coaching tenure with the Redskins -- despite the results, writes ESPN.com's Matt Mosley. Blog Zorn was peppered with questions after Washington lost its regular-season finale to San Diego. Asked about the reports that he would be fired Monday, Zorn responded: "I would not even comment on that. There are a lot of things, I'm sure, out there as

far as stories. There already has been. So I get that. I'm working on our team meeting, our offseason schedule, and until I'm told that I'm on any other effort, I'm getting ready." He also said: "I'm still reeling from this loss. Anything that I say about my future here would just be babbling along. I'm going to be forthright and ask and get things moving, but I certainly want to be the head coach here." Zorn started 6-2 as a rookie head coach last season, but Washington struggled down the stretch and finished 8-8. This year's team has been dogged by numerous injuries, a lack of depth and off-the-field distractions, but also by an inability of Zorn's West Coast offense to consistently find the end zone. Zorn appeared to be on the brink of being fired in October, when play-calling responsibilities were taken from him after a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs dropped the Redskins to 2-4. Mike and Mike in the Morning ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter talks about what's next for the Redskins after firing Jim Zorn and what other coaches could be on their way out. Schefter also says that it's very unlikely that Brandon Marshall returns to Denver next season. More Podcasts » Those responsibilities were

given to consultant Sherman Lewis, who had been retired and was calling bingo games at a senior center and delivering Meals on Wheels two weeks earlier. At the time, Zorn stopped short of saying he was given an ultimatum, but said he would comply with the request "because I want to stay here and win." Days later, then-executive vice president of football operations Vinny Cerrato said Zorn would finish out the season. Cerrato abruptly resigned last month. Zorn, formerly a quarterbacks coach with the Seattle Seahawks, joined the Redskins as an offensive coordinator in 2008. Two weeks later, he found himself the team's head coach after the team had interviewed coaching candidates for a month. He had never been a coordinator for an NFL team before the Redskins hired him and wasn't even on Snyder's list of candidates when Joe Gibbs retired at the end of the 2007 season. NFL Insider Adam Schefter Check out Schefter's Insider blog for more NFL coverage and analysis. • Blog network: NFL Nation Whoever follows Zorn will be the seventh coach hired by the Redskins since Snyder bought WASHINGTON page 57

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Tom Brady says the New England Patriots are 'going to evolve' without Wes Welker By ESPNBoston.com (ESPN.com)

playoff game against Baltimore. “ Nobody loves Wes [Welker] Submitted at 1/4/2010 8:51:36 AM more than me. Going through a Patriots Dealing With Injuries knee injury last year was a hard Patriots Dealing With Injuries thing for me but in ways it was a VIDEO PLAYLIST good thing for me. It taught me a • Patriots Dealing With Injuries lot and I think for Wes it's going Patriots Dealing With Injuries to do the same thing. He's as hard • Patriots enter playoffs without a worker as anyone I've been Welker Patriots enter playoffs around and he's everything you without Welker ask for.”-- Patriots quarterback Tom Brady N e w E n g l a n d P a t r i o t s "You can't replace him, there's no quarterback Tom Brady spoke doubt about that," Brady said Monday morning for the first Monday in an interview on time about receiver Wes Welker's Boston sports radio station knee injury, saying the team WEEI. "There's nobody that can "can't replace him" and would substitute in for Wes and think have to "evolve a little bit" on that they're going to be Wes. He offense without its leading is everything you ask for. receiver. "We've got to move on and we've Welker suffered a devastating got to go out there and play, and knee injury while making a cut in everyone I think in different the first quarter of Sunday's areas has to pick it up. I have to regular-season-ending loss to the play better, Julian [Edelman] has Houston Texans. Initial tests to play better, Randy [Moss] has showed he tore both the anterior to play better, the offensive line, cruciate ligament and medial running backs, tight ends, we all collateral ligament in his left have to do more. I think that's the knee, but he is scheduled to commitment we have to make to undergo more testing Monday, a one another." source close to the situation told Welker broke his own franchise E S P N N F L I n s i d e r A d a m record with 123 catches this Schefter. season and piled up 1,348 yards Should the diagnosis hold up, and four touchdowns despite Welker's season would be over missing the first two games of and he would face a long the season and most of Sunday's recovery period. Meanwhile, the l o s s . B r a d y ' s c o m p l e t i o n P a t r i o t s a r e b e g i n n i n g percentage with Welker in the preparations for Sunday's home lineup is more than 11 points

higher this season (68) than it is without him (56.3). Still, Brady thinks the Patriots can use Welker's absence as a strategic advantage Sunday in their wildcard game against the Ravens. "We're going to evolve a little bit as an offense now," Brady said on WEEI. "It was a very Wes Welker-oriented offense. Maybe part of the advantage is Baltimore doesn't really know what they're going to see from us now. We're going to have shift focus and they're really not sure where that focus is going to go. "In some ways that's an advantage for us. There's a lot of things we've done with Wes that we don't do with anybody else. We're going to find other areas to exploit and use the talents of Julian and Sam [Aiken] and Randy and Chris Baker and Kevin [Faulk] and Laurence [Maroney] and Fred [Taylor] and Sammy [Morris], ands all those other really great players we have on offense to be able to move the ball." The player likely to be called upon most to step up in Welker's absence will be Edelman, who had 10 catches and 103 yards receiving Sunday in Welker's absence. "He has a different skill set than Wes," Brady said of Edelman. "There are things that you do differently with Julian and things that you do differently with Wes.

... You're not going to be able to make him into Wes Welker. You're just going to have to allow him to do the things that he does well." On a personal level, it was clear Brady felt for Welker, who was seen in tears on the sideline after the injury and was carted off the field with a towel covering his head. Having suffered a similar injury to Welker's in the first game of the 2008 season, Brady knows the challenges his teammate is facing. Reiss: Devastating loss The Patriots seemed to be gaining momentum heading into the playoffs. Then they lost Wes Welker to a knee injury. Welker's season is likely over; is the Pats', too? Story » • ESPNBoston.com "Nobody loves Wes more than me," Brady said. "Going through a knee injury last year was a hard thing for me but in ways it was a good thing for me. It taught me a lot and I think for Wes it's going to do the same thing. He's as hard a worker as anyone I've been around and he's everything you ask for." It's unclear how much time Welker will miss, but others with similar knee injuries have needed six to 12 months to recover. While acknowledging that Welker's recovery will be different than his because of the position he plays, Brady said he

was confident Welker would return to the Patriots the same caliber of player he is now. "Everyone goes through it a little bit differently, everyone's got different knees," Brady said. "Him being a receiver is a little bit different than it was for me. I can afford to wear the knee brace the whole time in the game and I'm sure he's not going to want to do that. ... "For Wes it's just about going through the process. He's as hard a worker as anyone on our team, anyone I've ever seen. He's going to work just as hard through this as he would through the regular offseason program. He'll be back at some point better than ever. I know that." Brady also touched on reports that he has been playing recently with broken ribs and a broken finger on his throwing hand. "What's the injury report say?" Brady joked when asked if he could confirm the validity of the reports. "I'm feeling really good. Everyone breaks bones over the course of the year. I'm feeling pretty good. It's the best I've felt in a while." Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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USC Trojans impose postseason ban, forfeit wins on NCAA rules violations By ESPN.com news services (ESPN.com)

most highly-sought prep recruits at the time. When asked Sunday if Mayo Submitted at 1/4/2010 8:26:35 AM would provide a comment USC has imposed sanctions on regarding USC's self-imposed its men's basketball program for sanctions, Grizzlies director of NCAA rules violations, including media relations Dustin Krugel a ban on postseason competition referred all inquiries to Mayo's at the end of this season, a agent, LaPoe Smith. When reduction of scholarships and reached by phone, Smith told vacating all of its wins from 2007 ESPN's Kelly Naqi that Mayo -08. "will have no comment at all" on The university said the self- USC's sanctions. imposed sanctions resulted from Reached Monday, Floyd told an internal investigation that Naqi "because of the pending found NCAA rules violations NCAA case, I can't comment." related to O.J. Mayo, who played Floyd, now an assistant with the for the Trojans during the 2007- New Orleans Hornets, has never 2008 season under former coach a d d r e s s e d t h e a l l e g a t i o n s Tim Floyd. Mayo is now with the i n v o l v i n g M a y o . NBA's Memphis Grizzlies. Johnson, who told Naqi on The sanctions are connected to Sunday that he had no comment Mayo's involvement with Rodney on his role in sanctions, did say Guillory, who under NCAA rules he was not surprised by the became a USC booster due to his school's decision. role in Mayo's recruitment. "I hope the NCAA doesn't come In 2008, on ESPN's "Outside down harder than this. I feel bad The Lines," Louis Johnson, a for the [current players] and former associate of Mayo and everyone who is going to have to Guillory, accused Guillory of go through this difficult period providing Mayo with improper for their basketball program. It benefits while the guard played was never my intention to bring for USC. down the USC basketball Floyd abruptly quit in June p r o g r a m , " J o h n s o n s a i d . following allegations that he gave "[Current USC head coach $1,000 in cash to Guillory, who Kevin] O'Neill and the guys got helped steer Mayo to the Trojans. t h e p r o g r a m b a c k t o Mayo was one of the nation's respectability when no one

thought they had a chance to be respectable." O'Neill told Naqi he first learned of the sanctions from USC athletic director Michael Garrett after Saturday night's game against Arizona State. O'Neill says he met with the USC players Sunday morning and called his recruits afterward. The players were "stunned, shocked, disappointed" to learn of the sanctions, O'Neill said. The Trojans are 10-4 overall and 2-0 in the Pac-10 as of Sunday and have won eight straight games. "[I] told them what the situation was and it was our expectation that they do the best job they can in the classroom and on the court moving forward," O'Neill said. "Nothing changes in our daily lives; it's just unfortunate that our last game is March 6th. "The only real emotional part of this, this team has won eight in a row, has battled adversity all year long. It will test our mettle but I'm convinced they'll respond very well ... or as well as you could." USC said it will vacate all wins during the 2007-08 regular season, which was when Mayo competed while ineligible. It will also return the money it received through the Pac-10 for taking

part in the 2008 NCAA tournament. The Trojans went 21 -12 (11-7 Pac-10) in 2007-08, Mayo's only year at USC, and reached the first round of the NCAA tournament, losing to Kansas State. New Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott said the league has been working closely with USC and the NCAA in independent investigations of the Trojans' basketball program. "USC's decision to self-impose aggressive penalties on itself is clear recognition of how seriously the university takes this matter and the sincere commitment of the athletic department, university leadership and new coach Kevin O'Neill to correct mistakes that were made in the past and to set the program on a track to maintain the highest standards expected of every institution in the Pac-10 and the NCAA," Scott said in the statement. The sanctions affect only the men's basketball program. The university's football program is also under investigation for allegations that Heisman Trophywinning running back Reggie Bush received improper benefits while he played at the school. "USC takes allegations of NCAA rules violations very seriously,"

Garrett said. "When allegations were made regarding our men's basketball program we immediately began an investigation and worked closely with the NCAA and the Pac-10 in an attempt to ascertain the truth. When we've done something wrong, we have an obligation to do something about it and that is exactly what we are doing here." The self-imposed sanctions include: • No postseason play in 2009-10, including the Pac-10 conference tournament. • A reduction of one scholarship for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 academic years. • Reducing the number of coaches permitted to recruit offcampus by one during the summer of 2010. • Reducing the number of recruiting days for the 2010-11 academic year to 110 from 130. Information from ESPN's Kelly Naqi and The Associated Press was used in this report. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Mediator to weigh Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather Jr. beef

WASHINGTON

By Dan Rafael (ESPN.com) Submitted at 1/4/2010 10:01:52 AM

With time running out to save a potential March 13 megafight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr., the camps are heading to mediation on Tuesday in an effort to work out their differences. Mediator Daniel Weinstein will preside over the meeting in Santa Monica, Calif. Weinstein, a retired federal judge, also mediated the acrimonious dispute that kept Top Rank, Pacquiao's promoter, and Golden Boy, which represents Mayweather, from doing fights together for almost two years. "We're going into mediation," Top Rank chairman Bob Arum, Pacquiao's promoter, told ESPN.com. "This guy was successful resolving our nutty problem before and hopefully he can be successful this time. He's a guy who is a big fight fan and loves the sport, and I found him last time to be a delight to deal with. Everybody did." At the time of the previous mediation, the companies had several ongoing lawsuits,

including the one at the center of the bad blood: ownership of the promotional rights to Pacquiao, who had signed contracts with both companies before eventually pledging his loyalty to Top Rank. When the disputes were settled in June 2007, Arum and Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer both credited Weinstein's steady hand for getting them to reach an accord. Under the global settlement, Top Rank retained Pacquiao's promotional rights with Golden Boy receiving a percentage of Top Rank's profit from his future bouts. The hope is that Weinstein can once again help the sides see their way through what has become an increasingly nasty battle in an effort to finalize the bout between welterweight titlist Pacquiao and Mayweather, the two best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, in a fight many believe will break the payper-view record of 2.44 million buys. Mayweather's 2007 fight with Golden Boy president Oscar De La Hoya set the record. AOL Fanhouse first reported the mediation plans Sunday night. Top Rank and Golden Boy have

agreed on all points on the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight except for one: The protocol for drug testing. Even though the Nevada State Athletic Commission, which would oversee the bout at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, doesn't require blood testing, Mayweather has insisted on random blood testing. Both sides have already agreed to unlimited random urine testing. Pacquiao has refused training camp-long random blood testing, agreeing only to three tests, one during the week of the kickoff news conference, which would take place in the next week or so if they finalize the fight, one random test to be conducted no later than 30 days before the fight and a final test in his dressing room after the fight. Mayweather would be subject to the same testing procedures. One issue sure to be discussed in front of the mediator is the impact of the defamation lawsuit Pacquiao filed last week in Nevada U.S. District Court against Mayweather Jr., Schaefer, De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather Sr., Roger Mayweather and

Third western embassy closes in Yemen (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 1/4/2010 6:38:25 AM

Third western embassy closes in

Yemen By Andrew England in Sana’a and Jean Eaglesham in London Published: January 3 2010 11:00 | Last updated: January 4 2010

14:38 Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Mayweather Promotions. In the suit, Pacquiao alleges they made false and defamatory statements and sullied his reputation by accusing him of taking performance-enhancing drugs. Pacquiao denies he has ever used PEDs and has never failed a drug test. If mediation fails, and the fight does not get made, Arum said he will match Pacquiao with junior middleweight titlist Yuri Foreman, whom he also promotes, on March 20 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas so Pacquiao could attempt to win a title in a record eighth weight division. Mayweather could still fight on March 13 at the MGM and potentially face former junior welterweight titlist Paulie Malignaggi. Dan Rafael in the boxing writer for ESPN.com. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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the team in 1999. Snyder has interviewed assistant coach Jerry Gray for the job, according to the Fritz Pollard Alliance, which monitors minority hiring in the NFL. Gray's interview was an effort to comply with the Rooney Rule, which requires teams to consider a minority candidate for its headcoach position. With the Rooney Rule satisfied, the Redskins are free to act quickly to hire a replacement for Zorn. "I don't know what to expect. Nobody does," Gray said after Sunday's game. "Bruce is going to evaluate everybody." Asked if he would like the job, Gray said: "Well, if it's open and they call me, of course I do." Adam Schefter is ESPN's NFL Insider. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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NFL continued from page 53

sentence, please) high-stakes clubhouse gambling and a pair of the team’s guards — backup Javaris Crittenton and franchise player/beloved NBA joker Gilbert Arenas — brandishing firearms at each other in said clubhouse. Arenas faces what could be some very serious consequences, thanks both to D.C.’s ultra-stringent handgun laws and the image-conscious and very displeased NBA. “It’s clear Arenas will try to use his charm and clownish antics as the cornerstone of his defense,” Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski writes. “Whatever legal issues could arise with the strict gun laws in D.C., there’s still the matter of [commissioner David] Stern’s punishment.” Arenas took to Twitter to defend himself, issuing the sort of stream-of-consciousness monologue — in 140-character increments, naturally — that the medium demands. In the

Washington Post, Dan Steinberg examines the idiosyncratic way in which Arenas uses Twitter, and wonders just what Agent Zero is talking about.* * * Kim Clijsters did it first, but there was something more dramatic about fellow Belgian women’s tennis star Justine Henin’s retirement from the tour. Henin was ranked first in the world when she retired, for one thing, and was retiring not because she wanted to become a mother — Clijsters’s reason — but because the relentless grind of the tour had worn her down. Now, like Clijsters — who came back to win the U.S. Open last year — Henin has returned to action at the Brisbane International in impressive form, notching a 7-5, 7-5 victory in the first round over second-seeded Nadia Petrova. In the Sydney Morning Herald, Linda Pearce was very impressed by Henin’s showing. “It had been almost 20

months since Henin played her last match but, on yesterday’s evidence at the Queensland Tennis Centre, Kim Clijsters might not be the only Belgian woman capable of winning a grand slam title just three tournaments after returning to the game,” Pearce writes. In the Daily Telegraph of London, Mark Hodgkinson contrasts the two un-retiring Belgians and warns the tennis scene to make room for the returning champ. — Tip of the Fix cap to fellow Fixer Garey Ris. Found a good column from the world of sports? Don’t keep it to yourself — write to us at [email protected] and we’ll consider your find for inclusion in the Daily Fix. You can email David at [email protected].

Merger news boosts European and US markets (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 1/4/2010 8:44:18 AM

16:45 GMT. The “Teens” opened with a bang as the first trading day of the decade delivered a $50bn healthcare deal

and surveys showed the global manufacturing sector continued to rebound. Investors had been fearing there might be a hangover from Wall Street’s sudden, late 1 per cent dip on New Year’s eve, but news that Swiss-based drugs group

Novartis was buying a majority stake in Alcon of the US gave an early boost to trading. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Reports: Buffalo Bills fire interim coach Perry Fewell, entire staff By ESPN.com news services (ESPN.com)

capping a decade in which they enjoyed only one winning season -- a 9-7 finish in 2004. Submitted at 1/4/2010 10:02:17 AM Fewell, the team's defensive ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- The coordinator, finished with a 3-4 Buffalo Bills have fired interim record as interim head coach. coach Perry Fewell and the rest Except for highly respected of his staff, according to multiple special teams coordinator Bobby r e p o r t s . F e w e l l w i l l s t i l l April, most of the Bills assistants, interview for the vacant coaching including Fewell, had been hired job. by Jauron. The decisions came a day after The timing of the changes comes the Bills beat Indianapolis 30-7 as the Bills embark on their fifth to end their season at 6-10. coaching search since Hall of AFC East blog Famer Marv Levy retired after ESPN.com's Tim Graham writes the 1997 season. about all things AFC East in his Former Steelers coach Bill division blog. Cowher has been mentioned as a • Blog network: NFL Nation candidate. Several media outlets, The Bills are in the midst of a including ESPN and The Buffalo major shakeup. Coach Dick News, have reported the Bills Jauron was fired in November. have spoken to Cowher. Last week, national scout Buddy Information from The Nix was promoted to general Associated Press was used in this manager. report. FoxSports.com first reported the Five Filters featured article: firings. Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: The Bills closed their 50th PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, season by missing the playoffs Term Extraction. for a 10th straight year, and

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Jim Zorn Fired by Redskins By Will Brinson (Fanhouse Main)

statement about the personnel moves: "This has been an extremely Submitted at 1/4/2010 12:30:00 AM difficult season for our Filed under: Redskins, NFL organization and for the fans. Coaching Jim Zorn has, finally Bruce Allen spent many hours and/or officially, been fired by examining the football the Redskins. In a move that operations, and we are both surprises no one, GM Bruce determined to do whatever it Allen announced that the team takes to build a championship would be going in a different team. That process begins today. direction next season. Zorn was "No one in the organization is given the news at a 4 a.m. satisfied with our record over the meeting upon the team's return that they have a deal already in last two years, and I am sure that from San Diego. place with Mike Shanahan and Jim would concur with that " T h e s t a t u s q u o i s n o t have circumvented the Rooney statement. It has been painful for acceptable," Allen said in a Rule by interviewing Zorn him too. I certainly accept statement. "I felt it was necessary assistant Jerry Gray a month ago. responsibility for mistakes that I to not waste a moment of time to Allen has scheduled a 12:30 have made. I am hopeful that our begin building this team into a press conference to discuss his fans will accept my commitment winner." and pledge to deliver a franchise decision. Zorn has been on the hot seat for Share In his two years as that can compete in the NFC East several months -- and more or Redskins head coach, Zorn every season. less considered all but fired for produced a 12-20 record and was "Finally, I am mindful that this is the last few weeks -- and the 6-18 in his last 24 games. a tough day for Jim and his Redskins are now free to pursue Washington finished the 2009 family, and I do want to wish the available candidates out season with a 4-12 record. him success in his next there. Update:'Skins owner Daniel e n d e a v o r . " It's widely rumored -- and Snyder released the following believed by plenty of people --

Let's Hear It for Rex in the City By Jay Mariotti (Fanhouse Main) Submitted at 1/3/2010 4:32:00 PM

Filed under: NFL EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- In the frozen, tailgating-trashed parking lots outside Giants Stadium, the drinkers and stoners renamed the place. "FINAL GAME AT JETS STADIUM,'' read their T-shirts, worn by folks who have felt like second-class bums for 26 years in the structure named for New York's blueblood NFL team. Other than the Los Angeles Clippers, no franchise in sports has dealt with a civic inferiority complex quite like the Jets, who are to the Giants what a street vendor is to a Fifth Avenue jeweler and whose crazier fans have passed time with stunts such as encouraging women to bare their breasts, which some actually do. But on Sunday night, Gang Green won its revenge. While the Giants crashed in one of their worst finishing stretches ever, the Jets closed down their Meadowlands co-share by

Novartis seeks to complete Alcon buy-out (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 1/4/2010 7:07:07 AM

Novartis surprised investors on Monday by saying it would buy

out minority shareholders in Alcon, the US eyecare company, for the equivalent of $11.2bn in equity. The move came alongside a widely expected decision by the

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Swiss pharmaceuticals group to Five Filters featured article: purchase the remaining 52 per Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: cent of Alcon still held by Nestlé, PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, in the second stage of a two- Term Extraction. phase $38.5bn transaction agreed almost two years ago.

clinching their first postseason berth since 2006. Wisely, the team decided not to sell beer at stadium concession stands, citing the late start and unique circumstances. "We feel it is not prudent to serve alcohol,'' a team spokesman said. There is no critical need for beer or breastflashing, of course, when the fans have an entertaining coach, a monster defense, a power running game, a rookie quarterback who has learned to stay out of the way and a former quarterback who's a serious weapon in the Wildcat offense.

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Revis KOs Ochocinco, Awaits Rematch

Reports: Bills Fire 'Entire Coaching Staff'

By Dan Graziano (Fanhouse Main)

By Will Brinson (Fanhouse Main)

Submitted at 1/3/2010 5:12:00 PM

Submitted at 1/4/2010 3:45:00 AM

Filed under: Bengals, Jets, NFL Playoffs EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Chad Ochocinco said his Sunday night matchup with Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis would be like Pacquiao-Mayweather. But it turned out to be more like Tyson-Spinks. And Ocho wasn't Tyson. The Jets dominated the Bengals Sunday night, and Revis dominated Ochocinco, who caught zero balls for zero yards and left the game at halftime with a knee injury he suffered during warmups. The disappointing night for Ochocinco capped a week in which he bragged (good-

Filed under: Bills, NFL Coaching The Bills have fired their entire coaching staff, according to Fox Sports' Jay Glazer on Twitter(the Buffalo News also reported the news), meaning that Black Monday is off to a rip-roaring start. It also means that the most recent over/under on coaching firings was incorrect, because it failed to take Buffalo into account. Perry Fewell's dismissal -- and the subsequent termination of all coaches -- should be no surprise, though. Fewell did a good enough job as interim head coach after replacing Dick Jauron, but if Buffalo wants to bring in a big name like Bill Cowher, whom

naturedly -- he and Revis are friends) on Twitter and in a conference call with New York reporters that Revis couldn't cover him and promised to celebrate in a Bengals fire helmet when he scored a touchdown. "He'll be fine," Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said when asked about Ocho's injury. "His pride got bruised."

EA pulling plug on older sports games' servers By Justin McElroy (Joystiq) Submitted at 1/4/2010 10:35:00 AM

It's a new year, and the hammer must fall once more on the EA they're rumored to have met with games that the company has last week, then they need to clean deemed "unfit" to play. But the house ASAP. server shutdowns (which are Additionally, the promotion of traditionally closer to the middle Buddy Nix to general manager of the year) are earlier than ever over the holidays was a strong this time (beginning February 2), indication that Buffalo was so fans of Facebreaker, Fantasy headed in a drastically different Football 09, Fight Night Round 3 direction. on PS2, and many other soon-tobe retired online sports games have little time to achieve their last feats of glory. We've got the full list of server shutdowns -- courtesy of MCV-after the break. Let us know if you're still playing any of the appreciation for the way that the games getting the axe. Steelers conduct their business, Continue reading EA pulling and in an effort to follow that plug on older sports games' model, doesn't want to be a servers meddling owner that changes EA pulling plug on older sports coaches and philosophies every g a m e s ' s e r v e r s o r i g i n a l l y appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 04 few years. Jan 2010 10:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Texans Owner Says Gary Kubiak 'Definitely' Will Be Back By Stephanie Stradley (Fanhouse Main)

McClain noted that Kubiak may end up getting an extension, and that decision will be made at the Submitted at 1/4/2010 4:35:00 AM end of the month. Filed under: Texans, AFC South Though there was much As reported by John McClain in speculation about Kubiak's job, the Houston Chronicle, Texans those who follow the Texans owner Bob McNair said that head closely knew that McNair would coach Gary Kubiak definitely keep Kubiak unless there the likes and respect Kubiak -will return to coach in 2010 -- the t e a m s u f f e r e d a c o m p l e t e Houston's owner has expressed final year on his current contract. collapse this season. McNair on numerous occasions his deep

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Jets Roll Bengals, and Just Might Again By Dan Graziano (Fanhouse Main) Submitted at 1/3/2010 4:53:00 PM

Filed under: Bengals, Jets, NFL Playoffs, NFL Analysis EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Well, if that's all Cincinnati's got, it's no wonder the NFL wants to get the Jets-Bengals playoff game out of the way first. The Jets thrashed the Bengals thoroughly and convincingly here Sunday night, pasting the AFC North champs 37-0 in what's almost certainly the last game in the history of Giants Stadium and leaving us to wonder whether Saturday's playoff rematch will be a mismatch. Yes, these two teams meet again Saturday afternoon (in the

Bengals' building this time) in the first NFL playoff game of 2010. And while it's possible that the Bengals, who wrapped up their playoff spot last week, got waxed Sunday night because they had nothing to play for, it's also possible that they're out of gas, and that the Jets could go to Cincinnati and do this again.

Modern Warfare 2 leads UK game MediaDailyNews: eDiets sales for 8th straight week Names Mercury Media AOR By James Ransom-Wiley (Joystiq)

(MediaPost | Media News) Submitted at 1/4/2010 8:44:53 AM

Mercury Media has been named ad agency of record by eDiets.com. The agency is responsible for all aspects of direct response television advertising media buying for the online provider of personalized nutrition, fitness and weight-loss

five years ago. This week, Bayonetta gets her first shot at taking down the reigning champ. Submitted at 1/4/2010 10:59:00 AM Additionally, Assassin's Creed II Following another week of tepid continued its rebound up the new releases (er, were there any week's towering sales list, programs, including strategic releases at all?), and despite a 41- perched at the number two planning, media buying, results percent drop in sales, Modern position, followed by a trio of tracking and optimization. New Warfare 2 remained atop the UK casual Wii games. FIFA 10 TV spots will air on Hallmark all-formats sales chart for the dropped four spots into sixth Movie, MSNBC and Discovery week ending January 2. This place as weekly sales of the marked the eighth straight week soccer sim"footie fax" fell 61 Health networks. Five Filters featured article: that Modern Warfare 2 led UK percent. Finally, UbiGaga's Just Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: game sales, a feat unequaled Dance made a fevered surge up PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, since the gritty street sequel, to seventh on the chart, with New Need for Speed: Underground 2, Super Mario Bros., Mario Kart Term Extraction. captured the British imagination and Avatar rounding out the top

ten. Can we get a "TAROK MAKTO!"? Source- Call of Duty Ends the Year on a High [GFK ChartTrack] Source- Latest UK Software Charts [GFK Chart-Track] Modern Warfare 2 leads UK game sales for 8th straight week originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 10:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

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TwO Brothers' Climb to the Top of the Castle on consoles By Andrew Yoon (Joystiq)

question, considering the game's title, but, what exactly is the goal in Climb to the Top of the Tim, 23, and Orion Araya, 20, Castle? are the two brothers behind TwO The goal in the game is Bros. Games, recent winners of obviously to climb to the top of the 2BeeGames Indie Game the castle and die a lot! Competition for their submission The game is simplistic by Climb to the Top of the Castle. design, so what's its defining Like Auditorium and Storm attribute? before it, the siblings' game has As far as what makes the game earned a digital distribution stand out, besides the visuals, publishing deal through Zoo there just aren't many classic 2DGames. style games out there, it's kind of Joystiq recently exchanged like with Shadow Complex: the emails with the Arayas about game innovates with old ideas. their game and what to expect Name some inspirations for the from the upcoming console game's design. version: There where a lot of inspirations This might seem like a silly for Climb to the Top of the Submitted at 1/4/2010 11:59:00 AM

among others. And in indie games, Jonathan Blow is inspiring. As a whole, we think the indie game industry is pretty exciting right now. Continue reading TwO Brothers' Climb to the Top of the Castle on consoles TwO Brothers' Climb to the Top of the Castle on consoles originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 11:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Castle. I guess the main reason Braid, and Prince of Persia: Permalink| Email this| was the desire to make an old- Sands of Time. Comments school-style platformer with a As far as people we admire in persistent goal to reach. A few the industry, you have to start games that influenced the idea with Shigeru Miramoto, also were Super Mario Bros, Zelda, Peter Molyneux, Hideo Kojima,

Nintendo shuts down Zelda fan film, four years in the making By Griffin McElroy (Joystiq)

feature-length film's creation. Apparently, that's not the case -the movie's official site was A few weeks ago, the fruits of updated on New Years Day, four years of labor finally paid explaining that the studio had off for independent film studio come to an agreement with BMB Finishes when its Zelda- Nintendo to stop distributing the based movie, The Hero of Time, film online. w a s r e l e a s e d f o r p u b l i c The update sounds less miffed consumption over the internets. than you might imagine, stating, Reaction to the film was mixed, "we understand Nintendo's right but it seemed like everyone to protect its characters and appreciated the 1,460 days of trademarks and understand how hard work that went into the in order to keep their property Submitted at 1/4/2010 12:59:00 PM

unspoiled by fan's interpretation of the franchise, Nintendo needs to protect itself - even from fanworks with good intentions." The

would be ridiculous. Twilight Princess, on the other hand, seems like a logical choice. Nintendo shuts down Zelda fan film, four years in the making originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. missive jokingly ends by saying, Read| Permalink| Email this| "I'm sure our next project will be Comments right around the corner! No, it's not Majora's Mask." Yeah, that

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Independent Games Festival 2010 finalists announced By Griffin McElroy (Joystiq)

We find ourselves particularly invested in this year's awards show, as -- deep breath now-The contenders for the 12th AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAA Annual Independent Games AAA!!! -- A Reckless Disregard Festival awards have been For Gravity was nominated for announced today -- you can find Excellence in Design. We've got, the full list of finalists after the like, a million jokes we still want jump. In addition to the Seamus to make about that game title, but McNally Grand Prize (nominees w e ' r e r u n n i n g o u t o f for which include Joe Danger and o p p o r t u n i t i e s t o d o s o . Super Meat Boy), there are Continue reading Independent s p e c i a l i z e d c a t e g o r i e s Games Festival 2010 finalists recognizing excellence in art, announced design, audio, and technical Independent Games Festival achievement. There's also the 2 0 1 0 f i n a l i s t s a n n o u n c e d Nuovo Award, which honors originally appeared on Joystiq on " a b s t r a c t , s h o r t f o r m , a n d Mon, 04 Jan 2010 11:28:00 EST. u n c o n v e n t i o n a l g a m e Please see our terms for use of development." Previous winners feeds. of the Nuovo include N+ co- Read| Permalink| Email this| creator Mare Sheppard and Comments Passage developer Jason Rohrer. Submitted at 1/4/2010 11:28:00 AM

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NintendoWare Weekly: Fast Draw Showdown, Trajectile, Final Fight 3 By JC Fletcher (Joystiq) Submitted at 1/4/2010 10:05:00 AM

Red Alert 3 currently unplayable online through Steam By JC Fletcher (Joystiq)

current error, though the solution required the game to be redownloaded directly from EA Those who bought Red Alert 3 ( c o m p l e t e w i t h S e c u R O M during Steam's holiday sale are DRM). Still, EA's eventual f i n d i n g t h e m s e l v e s w i t h a intervention in Steam's Spore partially useless game purchased issue is a possible sign that these at an admittedly excellent price. R e d A l e r t 3 w o e s w i l l b e Steam users report that the alleviated in a more timely downloaded copies of Red Alert manner. 3 don't include serial numbers, [Thanks, Reid] which the game requires for Red Alert 3 currently unplayable online play. online through Steam originally A similar issue occurred recently appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 04 through Steam with the digital Jan 2010 12:29:00 EST. Please sale of Spore. That problem see our terms for use of feeds. seems to have been resolved, and Read| Permalink| Email this| at least one Red Alert 3 player Comments has been able to rectify the Submitted at 1/4/2010 12:29:00 PM

This week might be a bit lighter on the triple-A WiiWare content than last week(which saw the releases of Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth and The Magic Obelisk), but there are still numerous titles available for Wii and DSi owners. One of which is Final Fight 3! And one more of which, you lucky downloaders, is the promised Fast Draw Showdown, which means you can be shooting at full motion video-captured, Old West-types today. A "yeehaw" would seem appropriate right now. Gallery: Trajectile (DSiWare) Continue reading NintendoWare Weekly: Fast Draw Showdown, Trajectile, Final Fight 3 NintendoWare Weekly: Fast Draw Showdown, Trajectile, Final Fight 3 originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 10:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Give Back with Natalia Vodianova and Lutz & Patmos

2 Guards Shot Inside Las Vegas Federal Building

By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog)

(FOXNews.com)

Submitted at 1/4/2010 8:15:12 AM

Before Natalia Vodianova was a supermodel and a supermom to three children, she helped her mother sell fruit on the streets of Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. Later, with the help of a friend, she set up and ran her own fruit stand to help keep her mother and two half-sisters out of poverty. At 17, she was discovered and quickly soared to success on the catwalk. Though Vodianova’s home is now in the UK, through her and her husband’s (Justin Portman) charity, Naked Heart, she has made it possible for children growing up in her childhood hometown and other urban Russian cities to have access to

“a safe and inspiring environment” where they will not only play, but also grow. Vodianova collaborated with Lutz & Patmos on their prespring collection and designed a sleek Italian doubleknit and silk habotai two-way dress ($495)

believe that “play is a necessity, not a luxury.” This purchase is not just an investment for your closet but also for the little ones in Russia. If you’re looking for a lastminute gift that will keep on giving long after the holidays, then head on over to Barneys New York or visit lutzandpatmos.com to snatch up this limited-edition dress. For more on Vodianova’s Naked Heart Foundation, visit that can be worn as either a n a k e d h e a r t . o r g . strapless dress or funnel neck —Natasha Clark, Associate sheath. From each purchase, $50 Fashion Credits Editor will be donated to Naked Heart. Follow ELLE on Twitter. Since 2006, the Naked Heart Become our Facebook fan! Foundation has built 23 playgrounds and play parks in urban Russia and continues to

A deputy U.S. marshal and a court security officer were shot after gunfire broke out Monday inside the lobby of a federal courthouse in Las Vegas. Dave Oney, spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service, told Fox News that the marshal and guard were shot at approximately 8 a.m. local time inside the building's lobby. The FBI confirmed that the gunman, who confronted the two with a shotgun, was killed on the scene. Oney said he didn't have immediate information about the condition of the marshal and the guard. Police and federal agents swarmed the multi-story building that houses federal courts and offices for officials including U.S. Sens. Harry Reid and John —Violet Moon Gayn or Spring 2010 looks (clockwise Ensign. from left): Lauren Moffatt, Wren, All surrounding streets around Ever, Apiece Apart, Jean-Pierre the downtown courthouse were reportedly blocked off following Braganza, and Raquel Allegra the shooting. Follow ELLE on Twitter. "The courthouse is still being Become our Facebook fan! secured," Oney said. Click here to read more on this story from Fox5Vegas.com Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Spring 2010 Wishlist: Everyday Essentials By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 1/4/2010 7:10:51 AM

As the stack of spring look books piles up on my desk, I continue to compile my lust list for the new season. In the weareveryday department, I’m lusting after Lauren Moffat’s printed

jumpsuit and sleek pencil skirt with pockets (it comes in white and blue; I want both), Wren’s gold metallic mini, Ever’s denimon-denim pairing, Apiece Apart's hot creamsicle bustier, JeanPierre Braganza's strongshouldered tee and leather pants, What's on your spring 2010 and Raquel Allegra's backless wishlist? dress.

Submitted at 1/4/2010 8:48:10 AM

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Third Western Yemen embassy shuts (BBC News | Americas | World Edition)

countries, including those the US considers to be state-sponsors of terrorism - Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:59:36 AM Syria. France has become the third Yemen and Nigeria - through Western nation to shut its Yemen w h i c h t h e a l l e g e d b o m b e r embassy, after threats from an al- travelled - also face the new Qaeda offshoot, the foreign restrictions. ministry in Paris announced. Passengers flying from other The US and UK missions, which countries will be checked at closed on Sunday, remain shut. random. Reports that the closures were On Monday in Paris, French prompted by Yemeni security foreign ministry spokesman forces losing track of six trucks Bernard Valero told reporters full of arms were denied by their Yemen ambassador had British officials. decided the previous day to A l - Q a e d a i n t h e A r a b i a n suspend public access to the Peninsula last week said it was embassy. behind an alleged plot to bomb a French citizens in the country US airliner. had been warned to be vigilant It urged attacks on "crusaders" in and limit their movements, he embassies. added. US Secretary of State Hillary The US was the first to Clinton said Yemen was a threat announce the closure of its both regionally and globally. embassy on Sunday, citing Threats to US interests in Yemen "ongoing threats" by al-Qaeda in pre-dated the Christmas holiday the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), period, and the embassy would and the UK followed suit. b e r e - o p e n e d o n l y w h e n A US diplomat told the Reuters circumstances permitted, she said news agency on Monday: "The in Washington. embassy is still closed again From Monday all travellers today... We are continuing to flying to America are being make the security review." s u b j e c t e d t o n e w s e c u r i t y The Japanese foreign ministry measures, introduced by the US said consular services had been government. suspended at its embassy in Airport staff will now carry out Yemen but other business was extra screening of people from 14 continuing, AFP news agency

reported. The German foreign ministry confirmed security had been tightened at its mission but that the embassy remained open. An overt US military presence is politically impossible, as Yemen is a conservative tribal society where hostility to the US runs deep. Yemen is being torn apart by a tribal rebellion and a secessionist movement. This has been a bigger priority for the government than al-Qaeda. Government authority in much of the country is non-existent. Tribal chiefs run these areas, and are sometimes willing to accommodate al-Qaeda militants. Other issues include worsening poverty and unemployment, already the worst in the Arab world, and the jockeying for power among different factions as President Ali Abdallah Saleh ages. Spain restricted public access to its embassy. The Yemeni authorities have tightened security measures at Sanaa's airport, as well as around several other embassies. Yemeni security forces, meanwhile, shot dead two militants north of the capital, Sanaa, said officials. The US embassy was the target

of an attack in September 2008 in which 19 people died, including a young American woman. The attack was blamed on AQAP. On Sunday, the US deputy national security adviser for homeland security and counterterrorism said there were "indications that al-Qaeda is planning to carry out an attack against a target inside of Sanaa, possibly our embassy". John Brennan told ABC the group had "several hundred members" in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, and was posing an increasing threat. Last week, AQAP urged Muslims to help in "killing every crusader who works at their embassies or other places". The group also said it was behind an alleged failed attempt to destroy an Amsterdam-Detroit flight with nearly 300 people aboard on Christmas Day. Mr Brennan told CNN there were "indications" a radical US cleric of Yemeni origin had links both to the Nigerian charged with the bomb plot, and the man accused of November's shootings at a Texas military base. He said the preacher, Anwar alAwlaki, had had contact with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, while he was allegedly being trained by AQAP operatives last

year. It was clear, he said, that Mr Awlaki had also been in touch with Nidal Malik Hasan, the US Army major charged with shooting dead 13 people at Fort Hood. On Saturday, the head of US Central Command, Gen David Petraeus, visited Yemen's President Ali Abdallah Saleh to pledge support for its fight with al-Qaeda, after Washington doubled its counter-terrorism aid. Yemeni officials last week said they had sent more troops to hunt down al-Qaeda militants in the provinces of Abyan, Baida and Shabwa. Correspondents say the security situation in Yemen is complicated by an abundance of firearms, an insurgency in the north and a secessionist movement in the south. But the prospects of re-asserting central government authority over the lawless areas where alQaeda is based look, in the opinion of some analysts, remote - even with beefed-up American support. Print Sponsor Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Passengers on US-bound flights face more screening (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News)

final hour before landing. The official was not authorized to speak publicly and requested WASHINGTON – Some people anonymity. traveling to the United States TSA also said Sunday that all from or through Yemen, Nigeria, p a s s e n g e r s o n U . S . - b o u n d Saudi Arabia and 11 other international flights will be countries were subjected to extra subject to random screening and security screening, including full airports were directed to increase body pat-downs, Monday as U.S. "threat-based" screening of officials refined their response to passengers acting in a suspicious a failed terrorist attack in Detroit manner. on Christmas. People who are from or traveling The Transportation Security from or through these countries Administration outlined the new are supposed to have full-body rules in a directive sent to airlines pat-downs and have their carryon Sunday. They went into effect luggage checked: Cuba, Iran, Monday, but initial reports from Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, several European countries Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, indicated that they were still Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, s c r a m b l i n g t o d i g e s t a n d Somalia, and Yemen. i m p l e m e n t t h e n e w r u l e s . The U.S. has designated Cuba, Many other passengers who are Iran, Sudan and Syria to be state not from those 14 countries or sponsors of terrorism. The other traveling through them will 10 countries are considered "of c o n t i n u e t o s e e a d d i t i o n a l interest." People from there or screening measures, according to traveling through there could also a senior TSA official. For be subject to full-body scanning instance, in another refinement of a n d e x p l o s i v e d e t e c t i o n measures put in place after the technology as part of their Christmas incident, it is now up screening. to the plane's captain whether to The new security measures come require passengers to put away i n r e s p o n s e t o t h e f a i l e d electronic devices during the Christmas Day attempt to bomb a flight and to remain seated for the jetliner as it approached Detroit Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:16:41 AM

after a flight from Amsterdam. Witnesses said a 23-year-old Nigerian, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, ignited an explosive mixture but it failed to do serious damage to the Northwest jetliner or its passengers. He has told U.S. investigators he received training and instructions from al-Qaida operatives in Yemen. President Barack Obama, who returned to Washington from his Hawaiian vacation, was meeting with his homeland security adviser on Monday. The deputy homeland security secretary was traveling to London on Monday to meet with officials on international aviation security. TSA security directives are issued to the airlines to be carried out. David Castelveter, spokesman for the Air Transport Association, which represents major U.S. air carriers, said he would not discuss any new TSA measures because doing so might compromise security. "We are not having discussions about the measures or how they work or do not work," Castelveter said in an interview. He said the measures are being implemented with the

least amount of customer inconvenience possible. If the security measures are not followed, the TSA can penalize the airlines, according to another TSA official who was not authorized to speak about the enforcement rules. The penalties could include warnings, fines and recalcitrant airlines could ultimately be barred from flying to the U.S. A Saudi security official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, says there are more security personnel at the airport in Riyadh. He had no other details. A spokesman for Pakistan International Airline said the company has instituted new security standards for U.S.-bound passengers. Passengers are subjected to special screening, including full body searches, in a designated area of the departure lounge, said the spokesman, Sultan Hasan. The airline has run advertisements in newspapers to advise passengers of the steppedup security. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced Sunday that full body scanners would be

introduced in British airports and officials in Amsterdam said last week they would begin using the scanners on passengers bound for the U.S. In the Yemeni capital, security personnel at the San'a airport were ordered to apply strict measures, including careful baggage examinations and patting down travelers, especially those departing for the United States as the final destination, an official said. The security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to talk about security measures to the media, said the airport was expecting to receive some new equipment to provide better security. ___ Associated Press writers Joan Lowy in Washington and Ahmed Al-Haj in San'a, Yemen contributed to this report. ___ On the Net: TSA: http://www.tsa.gov Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

MediaDailyNews: NBC To Produce 18 Pilots In 2010 (MediaPost | Media News)

declines in ratings after moving Jay Leno to 10 p.m. The net plans to increase production of NBC wants to change is future, new shows to the most since since it's endured eight straight 2003 to reverse seven straight Submitted at 1/4/2010 8:15:41 AM

seasons of declining ratings, reports Bloomberg. The 18 pilots planned for the season starting in September 2010 compare with 11 that were made before the current

season. More new shows increase Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: the odds of developing hits, say PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Angela Bromstad, NBC prime- Term Extraction. time entertainment president. Five Filters featured article:

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Giant Amazon fish 'under threat' (BBC News | Americas | World Edition)

taxonomic review done over 160 years ago. Adults grow to almost 3m in Submitted at 1/4/2010 2:57:08 AM length and can weigh more than The arapaima, a giant species of 200kg, making the fish the fish that lurks in the Amazon largest with scales living in river, may be threatened by freshwater anywhere in the overfishing. world. Studies reveal that errors in the They are also air-breathers, classification of the species could coming to the surface every 5 to mean that it is being pushed 1 5 m i n u t e s t o g u l p a i r , a closer to the edge of extinction behaviour which allows them to than thought. colonise muddy oxygen-poor The arapaima is the largest rivers and lakes within the freshwater fish with scales in the Amazonian basin and prey on world. other fish that find it difficult to But there may actually be four move in such conditions. species rather than one, say However, in an ongoing study, scientists, and a lack of research Prof Stewart has analysed nearly and management may allow all preserved specimens of some to be fished to extinction. supposed arapaima available in The threat to the future of these museums in the world. fish has been revealed in research So far he has only found one c o n d u c t e d b y D r L e a n d r o specimen of Arapaima gigas. Castello of the Woods Hole The others are suspected to be Research Center in Falmouth, closely related species, including Massachusetts, US, and Professor some as yet unreported. Donald Stewart of the State "Our new analyses indicate that University of New York in there are at least four species of Syracuse, US. arapaima," says Dr Castello. They have reviewed what is "So, until further field surveys of known about populations of the appropriate areas are completed, arapaima, and conducted detailed we will not know if Arapaima investigations into the status of gigas is extinct or still swimming the fish in the wild. about." Previously, it was thought there Concern about the fish's was one species of arapaima ( numbers comes from other work Arapaima gigas), which also goes done by Dr Castello and Prof by the common names pirarucu Stewart. or paiche. That suggests that arapaima This perspective is based on a sexually mature relatively late,

and need very specific habitats to both live and reproduce. Their research also shows that populations of the fish are being put under severe pressure by fishermen. Because of the fish's huge size and habit of coming to the surface, it has long been a favoured fish to catch, with fisherman using harpoons and gill nets to land their prey. "They have the curse of being tasty and of having to breathe air," says Dr Castello. Fishermen have been catching large numbers of arapaima in this way since the 1800s. But now, while a few populations are increasing, others are being overfished, say the researchers, who have published a paper warning of the fish's fate in the Journal of Applied Ichthyology. And while Brazil implemented regulations to manage arapaima fisheries some 20 years ago, most fishermen do not follow the regulations, say the authors. "Arapaima can be viewed as badly overexploited and under some level of threat of extinction," says Dr Castello. One solution, they say, is to encourage community-based schemes for fisheries, and there is much need for additional action on the part of the government. For example, their research shows that fishermen who

specialise in hunting arapaima with harpoons can accurately count the fish, due to the fish's habit of breaching the surface for air. The fishermen can then select a sustainable proportion of the population to hunt. "Populations of arapaima managed with this system increased about 50% annually, while yielding increasing catches and hence economic profits to the fishermen," says Dr Castello. Around 100 such community schemes are in place, and some previously overexploited populations have recovered. "Such results are extremely rare in wildlife conservation, especially in tropical countries where wildlife conservation challenges are greater than elsewhere," says Dr Castello. But much more needs to be done to research these fish in more detail and prevent overfishing, the scientists warn. In particular, "the present situation may be one in which one species of arapaima is recovering in certain areas, while unrecognised species are going extinct," they say. Print Sponsor Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Woman Arrested for Punching Out McDonald's Window (FOXNews.com) Submitted at 1/4/2010 8:33:04 AM

TOLEDO, Ohio Police say an Ohio woman punched through a McDonald's drive-through window because she couldn't get Chicken McNuggets. Twenty-four-year-old Melodi Dushane has pleaded not guilty to a vandalism charge in Toledo. Police were called Friday to the restaurant where she allegedly became upset because chicken nuggets weren't available. Police say Dushane was treated for injuries, then jailed. She was released on a recognizance bond and ordered not to have contact with the restaurant. The phone number for her home address isn't listed. A manager at the McDonald's declined Monday to discuss the incident. A Fort Pierce, Fla., woman was cited last March on a charge of misusing 911 after calling three times to complain about not getting McNuggets she ordered. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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US toughens air screening rules (BBC News | Americas | World Edition) Submitted at 1/4/2010 12:13:08 AM

The US has introduced tougher screening rules for passengers arriving by air from 14 nations which the authorities deem to be a security risk. Travellers from Nigeria, Pakistan, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Yemen and Cuba will be among those facing body pat-down searches and carry-on baggage checks. It follows an alleged attempt to blow up a plane on Christmas Day. US President Barack Obama has been under pressure to make visible security improvements. He promised to act quickly to fix flaws in the security system, in the wake of the alleged bomb plot. The new security directives came into effect on Monday. But the BBC's Jane O'Brien in Washington says it is unclear whether a pat-down could have found the device investigators say the alleged would-be bomber, 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, had in his underwear. The Transportation Security Administration said in a statement the new rules apply to

travellers coming from or via countries on the US state department's sponsors of terrorism list - Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria. Random checks The other nations whose passengers face enhanced screening are Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen. As part of the new guidelines, passengers travelling from any other foreign country may also be checked at random. The main suspect in the alleged airliner plot is Nigerian, and Yemen-based militants have said they trained and equipped him. Hours after the measures were announced, there was an alert at Newark International Airport near New York City as a man entered a secure area without being screened. Terminal C was locked down and passengers were evacuated from the secure area, while some flights were grounded. The man was not found, but officials said every passenger was fully re-screened. Civil rights activists criticised the new measures. Nawar Shora, of the AmericanArab Anti-Discrimination Committee, told US media: "This

is extreme and very dangerous. "All of a sudden people are labelled as related to terrorism just because of the nation they are from." Earlier, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown gave the goahead for full body scanners to be introduced at Britain's airports. Embassies shut The machines are expected to be installed at London's Heathrow Airport and other hubs within weeks. Also on Sunday, both the US and Britain closed their embassies in Yemen, citing security threats. John Brennan, the US deputy national security adviser, said an al-Qaeda offshoot had "several hundred members" in Yemen. Last week, a Yemen-based group called al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula urged Muslims to help in "killing every crusader who works at their embassies or other places", as it claimed the alleged US plane bomb plot. The US mission in Sanaa was the target of an attack in September 2008 which was blamed on al-Qaeda and in which 19 people died, including a young American woman. On Saturday, Gen David

Petraeus, head of US military operations in the Middle East and Central Asia, visited Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Saleh to pledge US support for the fight against al-Qaeda. The visit came a day after the general announced that the US would more than double counterterrorism aid to Yemen this year. Have you arrived by air in the US today? Were you singled out for additional searches? Please send us your experiences and comments using the form below. A selection of your comments may be published, displaying your name and location unless you state otherwise in the box below. At no time should you endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks or infringe any laws. The BBC may edit your comments and not all emails will be published. Your comments may be published on any BBC media worldwide. Print Sponsor Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Promote use of ereaders in schools (AsiaOne) (Yahoo! News Search Results for e-readers) Submitted at 1/3/2010 8:37:14 PM

AS SINGAPORE rings in the new year and schools reopen, I hope that the Ministry of Education (MOE) would consider promoting the use of ereaders, especially in primary schools. Carrying fewer books and learning materials would mean that young children have a lighter load to bear. This also helps schools go green, as less paper will be used to produce learning materials. Amazon.com has sold more ebook downloads than physical books this Christmas season for the first time in its history. This indicates a growing trend. The MOE could take this opportunity to go green on a large scale and take advantage of the latest technology. Mr Colin Ong Tau Shien For more my paper stories click here. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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TSA: Man who caused breach at NJ airport soon left (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News)

introduced anything to the sterile area." Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:34:53 AM Authorities found nothing NEWARK, N.J. – A man who suspicious when they searched caused a security breach at the terminal after evacuating Newark Liberty International passengers. They are still trying Airport, forcing major delays and to determine the man's identity. grounding flights for six hours, Terminal C, where the security left about 20 minutes after he breach occurred, is used mostly walked the wrong way through a by Continental Airlines. Airline s e c u r i t y c h e c k p o i n t , t h e spokesman Susannah Thurston T r a n s p o r t a t i o n S e c u r i t y said the airline still had delays, Administration said Monday. particularly with flights that Someone picking up a passenger originated at Newark and are told an officer guarding the exit now running behind schedule at that he thought he saw a man other airports. enter through the doors Sunday, Sarah Kornblet, 29, of TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis W a s h i n g t o n , D . C . , w a s i n said. TSA reviewed surveillance Newark and just about to board video before sweeping the her Continental flight to Mumbai airport, she said. on Sunday when the security The video confirmed the man b r e a c h o c c u r r e d . S h e w a s had entered through the exit, and evacuated for about three hours officials made passengers leave and then had to go through the terminal and be rescreened. security again. The video also showed the man "Newark airport was a mess. Not leaving the terminal through one single announcement was another exit about 20 minutes made, with these thousands of later, Davis said, although it was people waiting for hours," unclear when authorities learned Kornblet said. "We learned about the man had left. it from watching CNN." "We have to operate under the Her flight was repeatedly assumption that he's still in the delayed. The latest estimate she sterile area," Davis said. "We heard was a departure of 4:45 have to ensure that he hadn't p.m. Monday.

Tom Hiletch, of New York City, was trying to get to St. Thomas on Monday with his wife and toddler. "When we got here this morning, there were thousands of people. Long, long lines, people delayed, people rerouted," he said. "It was pretty frustrating." But Emily Martin, who was traveling home to San Francisco on Monday with her husband and two small children, said the security breach the day before hadn't affected her family's flight. "It's been smooth sailing for us all the way," she said. At Oslo's Gardermoen airport, a Continental flight to Newark that was scheduled to leave at 11 a.m. local time Monday was delayed at least six hours. Passengers sat on suitcases and chatted among themselves as they waited in a check-in line that barely moved for one-and-a-half hours. Ragnhild Belbo, 26, of Trondheim, Norway, was traveling to St. Paul, Minn., with her 82-year-old grandmother to visit her brother, a student at St. Olaf College. She was disappointed to learn they would likely have to spend the night in Newark.

"It's a bit hard to lose one day when you have one week only, and there could also be more delays," Belbo said. Kristian Hoynes, 19, of Floro, Norway, worried about missing his second anniversary dinner with his girlfriend of two years, who was staying with her parents in Warrenton, Va. "We'd sort of planned a dinner," said Hoynes, a sophomore at the University of Charleston, W.V. "But now I don't know." Also Sunday, the TSA announced that passengers flying to the U.S. from nations regarded as state sponsors of terrorism and countries of interest would be subject to enhanced screening. ___ Associated Press writers Geoff Mulvihill in Haddonfield, N.J., Colleen Long and Kim Gamel in Newark, N.J., and Maria Sanminiatelli in Oslo contributed to this report. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Online Campaign Launched to Find Missing Utah Mom (FOXNews.com) Submitted at 1/4/2010 8:03:01 AM

Friends and family of Susan Powell launched a three-day social media blitz on Monday to help find the missing Utah mother of two who disappeared almost a month ago. Friends saturated social networking sites, like Facebook and Twitter, and organized a mass e-mail campaign to spread information about Powell through the Internet, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. Powell, 28, was last seen on Dec. 7, when her husband says he left their suburban home in West Valley City at about 12:30 a.m. to take their two boys, ages 2 and 4, camping in freezing conditions. Police have named her husband as a "person of interest" in their investigation. Kiirsi Hellewell, Powell's friend, posted a slideshow with pictures of the missing woman on YouTube and is hoping her disappearance will become a popular topic on Twitter, the Tribune reported. Organizers said there will also be a purple ribbon campaign to raise awareness of her disappearance and Facebook users are being asked to change their profile pictures to a purple ribbon. "We're hopping today that by ONLINE page 70

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Winter system drops record snow, chills the South (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News)

Vermont State Police cited a man after stopping him pulling a sled — with a rider in it — behind his MONTPELIER, Vt. – Snow car on Interstate 89 on Sunday. falling like New Year's confetti The driver was cited for driving joined forces with a chill that with a suspended license. dipped deep to the South on In upstate New York, it was a Monday to close schools, delay similar scene. So-called "lake commuters, threaten fruit farmers effect snow" blanketed parts of and shut down at least one the state with more than 3 feet. nuclear power plant. Fulton, in Oswego County, had A weekend snowstorm dumped received 42 inches since last an all-time record of more than Friday night, while Williamson, 33 inches on Burlington, the which is on Lake Ontario east of largest city in Vermont. That Rochester, got nearly 27 inches, broke a single-storm record of a c c o r d i n g t o t h e N a t i o n a l nearly 30 inches set in 1969. Weather Service. "It just dropped a tremendous The weather slowed commuters amount of snow," said Steve in western Pennsylvania and Goodkind, public works director caused hundreds of school for the city of Burlington, which delays. Ohio students got their had a dozen plows and nine holiday break extended Monday sidewalk snow removers out because of lake-effect storms that Monday. "It looks like mid- dumped a foot of snow over the January, after we'd have a bunch weekend and are threatening of smaller storms." another foot. Most Vermonters took it in Searchers in Maine were seeking stride. Others took it too far: an 18-year-old snowmobiler who Submitted at 1/4/2010 8:32:34 AM

disappeared shortly after the storm started Friday night. Unseasonably cold weather extended well to the south, where farmers in South Florida braced for a possible freeze Monday night. In Lower Alloways Creek, N.J., one nuclear power plant was shut down and another put on reduced power because of ice in the Delaware River. The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Salem Unit 2 was shut down around 8 a.m. Sunday because it was taking ice into its cooling mechanism. Salem Unit 1 was also reduced to 80 percent power for the same reason. It wasn't clear early Monday when the two plants would return to full power. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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giving everybody so many different options to become involved online that we can actually make this go viral and people can see Susan's face and here about her situation in every corner of the world," family spokeswoman Shelby Gifford said in an interview Monday with Fox News. Powell's husband, Joshua Powell, reported her as missing on the same day when she failed to show up for her stockbroker job at Wells Fargo and her children were not dropped off at day care. Police have seized several items from the family's home but have not charged Joshua Powell in connection to the disappearance. Authorities are seeking cell phone records, though police have declined to say whose phone records are being examined, the Tribune reported. Authorities are also trying to determine where her husband traveled in a rental car two days after his wife was reported missing. He reportedly logged hundreds of miles on the rental vehicle. Joshua Powell rented the car for

24 hours while police had his minivan in custody to process it for evidence. Powell has declined to speak again with police and local news crews were reportedly turned away from his father's house over the weekend. Friends of Powell's told the Deseret News that they have turned over to police e-mails that she sent them last year, in which she reportedly wrote that she feared her husband. They also said Powell kept a notebook at her work desk that detailed threats allegedly made by her husband in 2008, according to the newspaper. Click here for more from The Salt Lake Tribune Click here for more from Komonews.com The Associated Press contributed to this report. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Avatar smashes box office record (BBC News | Americas | World Edition) Submitted at 1/3/2010 10:07:09 PM

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Watch a scene from the blockbuster - Courtesy of 20th Century Fox Avatar has become the fastest movie ever to achieve $1bn (£625.6m) in ticket sales around the world. Distributors 20th Century Fox say it has earned more than $350m (£217m) in the US and more than $670m (£415m) in the rest of the world in only 17 days. The 3D science fiction blockbuster was directed by James Cameron, who also made Titanic, the best selling movie of all time. The latest figures make Avatar already the fourth-biggest film ever made. Ahead of it are Titanic ($1.8bn; £1.1bn), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ($1.12bn; £695m) and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest ($1.07bn; £664m). Avatar - about a disabled marine who infiltrates a race of giant

blue aliens - combines live action with digitally-enhanced performances. It was reportedly the most expensive film ever made, with a budget of at least $300m (£186m). Expensive tickets "This is like a freight train out of control," said 20th Century Fox distribution executive Bert Livingston. "It just keeps on going. "I think everybody has to see Avatar once, even people who

don't normally go to the movies, they've heard about it and are saying, 'I have to see it'," he said. "Then there are those people seeing it multiple times." Avatar has now reached most parts of the globe. It opened in China on Saturday and is due to reach Italy - its final market - on 15 January. The huge box office takings are partly down to the higher cost of tickets for 3D performances, says the BBC's Peter Bowes in Los Angeles.

But as Hollywood enters its traditional slow season, with few big films due for release, Avatar is likely to dominate the box office for several more weeks, he adds. Print Sponsor Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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US lifts HIV/Aids immigration ban (BBC News | Americas | World Edition)

disease at the end of the 1980s. It put the US in a group of just 12 countries, also including Submitted at 1/3/2010 9:06:37 PM Libya and Saudi Arabia, that The US has lifted a 22-year excluded anyone suffering from immigration ban which has HIV/Aids. stopped anyone with HIV/Aids The BBC's Charles Scanlon, in from entering the country. Miami, says that improving President Obama said the ban treatments and evolving public was not compatible with US perceptions have helped to bring plans to be a leader in the fight about the change. against the disease. Rachel Tiven, head of the The new rules come into force campaign group Immigration on Monday and the US plans to Equality, told the BBC that the host a bi-annual global HIV/Aids step was long overdue. summit for the first time in 2012. " T h e 2 0 1 2 W o r l d A i d s The ban was imposed at the Conference, due to be held in the height of a global panic about the United States, was in jeopardy as

a result of the restrictions. It's now likely to go ahead as planned," she said. In October, President Obama said the entry ban had been "rooted in fear rather than fact". He said: "We lead the world when it comes to helping stem the Aids pandemic - yet we are one of only a dozen countries that still bar people with HIV from entering our own country." Print Sponsor Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Japan Airlines: A broken resolution (The Economist: News analysis) Submitted at 1/3/2010 11:40:43 PM

Japan Airlines Jan 4th 2010 | TOKYO From Economist.com The government should let the courts decide the fate of Japan’s flagship airline THE run-up to New Year is a time to tidy up loose ends in Japan so that in January everything starts afresh. For a fleeting moment, it looked as if

the government was doing just that when, after months of indecisiveness, it hinted on December 30th that Japan Airlines might be headed for bankruptcy. But after the shares slumped by 24% to an all-time low on the same day, ministers lost their nerve over sanctioning what could be one of Japan’s biggest corporate failures. Despite strong differences of opinion within the JAPAN page 73

TV Watch: Feels Like 1980: Media Companies Aim To Sell Paid Content Model Again (MediaPost | Media News) Submitted at 1/4/2010 7:47:30 AM

The big test for media companies in 2010 will be how to get consumers to pay for content -- perhaps on a monthly basis. Does this sound familiar? It should. Media companies are publicly throwing down the gauntlet because revenue keeps dropping as consumers look to spend money elsewhere for their entertainment and information -or, in their dreams, not at all. While the recession has a great deal to do with consumers looking for that cheap or free

ride, entertainment business executives are saying the buck stop here. Perhaps in 2010 free, advertising-supported content by itself won't be the future TV model of the future. News Corp. has been thinking this way- along with Hulu.com (of which News Corp. is onethird owner) and Variety.com; even YouTube is considering dipping its toe in the pay-for-fee waters. If this strategy fails, industry pundits might look to it as media companies' biggest blunder. Then again, no media company wants to miss the next big boat, wherever it sails.

Decades ago the one big craft that did sneak out of the harbor, and cruise the high seas, was cable. About 30 years ago the gamble was that people would pay a monthly or regular fee to get content, after years of getting TV programs for free. Turns out, this wasn't a problem. The cable industry gave consumers more content and better connections - or at least the perception of those benefits. Now comes the hard part: How to work the same trick again. How to persuade consumers that paying for content again, in a different way, means getting much more than they currently

get for free (sans that broadband access fee). Media companies will fail if the sales line is: "We owned the content; and now you pay for it." Just ask the music industry how this marketing premise has worked for them. Even with iTunes, there are still massive piracy issues. All this requires a strong marketing campaign -- or at least a perception that a free "Desperate Housewives" episode you watched last night on your laptop (or through your laptop onto your big screen TV) is now worth 50 cents, or 99 cents, or $1.50 tomorrow.

Consumers are a keen lot - and as the U.S. economy still teeters, perhaps through 2011, they'll be throwing more stuff overboard, all to lighten their load. You want consumers to pay again? More so than in 1980, media companies will have to come up with some really good reasons to keep their boats afloat. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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government a new support package was cobbled together over the holiday weekend, doubling the state-run Development Bank of Japan’s credit line to JAL, as the airline is called, to 200 billion yen ($2.2 billion). That led to a 31% rally in JAL’s share price on January 4th, a huge jump even by the airline’s bumpy standards. It is unlikely to be the end of the rough ride for JAL’s investors, however, because for many reasons the future of Asia’s largest airline remains uncertain. Firstly, the government is divided over the merits of bankruptcy (even when it is softened euphemistically to “court-backed rehabilitation”). The hawkish view of the deputy prime minister, Naoto Kan, and the finance minister, Hirohisa Fuji, is that there is no money in Japan’s already strained budget for the government to rescue corporate behemoths. Such bailouts recall the cosy ties between government and business that voters rejected when electing the Democratic Party of Japan for the first time in August. But Seiji Maehara, the transport minister, is less keen to throw an airline that accounts for more than 60% of air traffic in Japan to the mercy of the courts. His view

appears to have prevailed for now because of the fear that if JAL is put into administration, its suppliers, from oil companies to snack providers, might baulk at doing business with it. Shareholders are also opposed to bankruptcy because JAL, with about 800 billion yen of debt, has negative net worth so it is unlikely they would salvage anything, says Makoto Murayama, an analyst at Nomura Securities. Creditors also prefer a government-backed rescue, he says, because in that case only the largest are likely to take significant haircuts on their loans. Predictably, management of JAL also wants the state to bail it out—as it already has on several occasions in recent years. In an interview published on January 3rd in the Asahi Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper, Haruka Nishimatsu, JAL’s president, took issue with the state-backed Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp, the body charged with overseeing debt-ridden firms, which has floated the idea of bankruptcy. Instead, he appears to be pinning his hopes on fresh public funds, a recovery in flights to and from Asia, and either a new partnership with the SkyTeam alliance including Delta Air

Lines or a strengthened one with American Airlines and the Oneworld alliance. The prospects from a closer relationship with JAL for either American carrier has improved thanks to an openskies agreement between the two countries that was signed last month, which liberalises air traffic and would allow partners to co-operate on prices and scheduling almost as if they were one airline. Each airline has separately offered to inject funds into JAL to cement a partnership, but a long stint in bankruptcy might cool their interest. There are two big factors that should weigh heavily against continued public support for JAL, however. The first is that its problems are largely of its own making. Analysts say that despite the September 11th 2001 terror attacks it continued to fly large, long-haul aircraft, which hurt profitability when for reasons of disease, war or economic slump, people flew less. Its domestic rival, All Nippon Airways (ANA), flew smaller planes with higher-paying passengers and has withstood the traffic downturns better. It also has much leaner staffing costs. JAL’s unions are a big part of its problem. What’s more, even if JAL were to go into bankruptcy it would not stop flying. Air traffic in

Japan would not be crippled. As it is, Japan has too many routes, largely as a result of the scores of useless airports built to provide cushy administrative jobs to retiring bureaucrats. Letting JAL go bankrupt would send a strong signal that the new government was curbing the long -standing practice in Japan of throwing good money after bad. That would reassure voters. However, the ruling Democratic Party is also keen to win upperhouse elections this summer, and unions—eight of which are involved with JAL—are important supporters. The bottom line is that the government will add its own complicated political interests to those of the airline’s customers, investors and creditors. Bankruptcy would be a neater and ideologically sounder solution. Back to top ^^ Readers' comments The Economist welcomes your views. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Research Brief: Green Marketing More of a Trend Than a Fad (MediaPost | Media News) Submitted at 1/4/2010 5:16:01 AM

Environmental Leader and MediaBuyerPlanner partnered to study Green Marketing through the audiences of five industry publications to help determine if it's a staple or a fad. The report found that 33% of respondents said green marketing was more effective than their normal marketing efforts, with just 7% saying it was less effective. The remainder either did not detect a difference between their regular marketing efforts and their green efforts, or did not know which was more effective. Additional information from the Executive Summary is included for your perusal, and purchase information is available from a link at the conclusion of this Brief. Companies that view themselves as the most green spend the most on green marketing, observes the report, while those that see themselves as least green spend just a fraction of their marketing budgets on such tactics. Marketers are backing up their beliefs of the company's level of "greenness" with marketing campaigns, rather than creating green campaigns to be part of the trend. The research suggests that management first buys RESEARCH page 74

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into "greenness" and, later, green marketing, rather than beginning green marketing efforts simply out of a desire to appear green. 71% of firms indicated that they were in the "somewhat green" to "very green" categories, but they tended to believe their customer base thinks them less green than they really arr. This belief is persistent among the respondents, and may indicate why green marketing is on the rise. Here are some of the key findings explained in the study: 82% of respondents indicated they expect to spend more on green marketing in the future. Among manufacturers, that number is significantly higher. At least half, if not more, of respondents plan to engage in online marketing efforts in the future. 28% of marketers themselves think green marketing is more effective than other marketing messages, compared to 6% of marketers who think it is less effective. Management is even more optimistic, with 46% of them indicating a belief that green marketing is more efficacious. Just 23% of those in operations think green marketing is more effective. Companies with smaller

marketing budgets tend to spend more on green marketing. Firms with a marketing budget of under $250,000 spend just over 26% on green marketing, while those with budgets of more than $50 million spend 6% on green marketing. The most popular medium for green marketing was the internet, with • 74.2% of respondents having spent money online, followed by • Print (49.8% • Direct (40%) • Outdoor (7%) • Radio and TV (7%) • Mobile (6%) 29% of marketers with budgets between $10 million and $50 million, and 25% of those with budgets of more than $50 million, used outdoor, compared to 7.3% for all marketers. Mobile was also a popular medium for marketers with the highest budgets: • 14% of those in the $10 million to $50 million budget category spent money on mobile • 16% in the more than $50 million budget category spent money on mobile • Compared to 6% for all marketers

Those firms that used the most trackable media are also those that said green marketing worked better than the average marketing message. • 48% of respondents who employed direct marketing in their media mix said that it was more or much more effective, much like those who used internet (43%) • That contrasts with those respondents who had employed TV, 25% of whom said it was more effective than average, indicating that green marketing works better than those who don't or can't measure results think it does. Direct-oriented media showed the more positive results when asked if customers would pay more for green products or to a green company: • Of the people who used the two least trackable media, TV and outdoor, only 29% and 25% respectively indicated that customers would pay more • That compares to 44%, 42% and 46% for internet, print and direct respectively Larger companies are more likely to target employees rather than customers:

• Companies with media budgets of more than $10 million annually showed a much higher proclivity to have their own employees as their target audience, with customers being targeted in only 70% of their efforts • Firms with budgets less than $250,000 were about 80% more likely to target customers directly, and only about half targeted their own staff 50% of marketers themselves indicate they have complete or consultative control of green marketing, while 57% of PR folks say that have control of the sustainability program. Sales and operations, on the other hand, are skeptical that marketers have so much control of the sustainability programs, with just 41% and 21% respectively saying control lies in the hands of marketers. However, those in management tended to agree that control of the sustainability program is in the hands of marketers, at 50%. About half of companies reported that they are consciously taking steps to become more green. The most popular actions are: • Conserving energy in operations, at 59%

• Changing products to reflect greener values (such as changing ingredients, packaging or intended use), at 54% And the Executive Summary observes that nearly half of respondents said the decisionmakers at their companies hold green marketing in high regard, compared to just 15% who hold it in low regard. Companies with decision-makers who have a low regard for green marketing tend to be those with the larger marketing budgets between $10 million and $50 million per year, where more than a quarter indicated that their decision-makers held green marketing in low regard. Smaller companies, concludes the report, may believe green marketing to be more effective than larger companies do. To read a brief summary, visit mediabuyerplanner here, or to purchase your copy of the report or acquire a data license, please visit here. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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MediaDailyNews: Good High-tech industry optimistic about New: Sinclair 4Q Revs 2010 (Houston Chronicle) Rise, Beat Forecast (Yahoo! News Search Results for e-readers)

(MediaPost | Media News)

manufacturers. The company also noted the auto category will be down by A s l i g h t l y i m p r o v i n g T V approximately 4.0% in the fourth business will benefit of one of quarter versus its prior estimate the nation's large TV stations for auto to be down by high groups. teens. Sinclair Broadcast Group, which In addition, Sinclair announced operates 58 television stations in affiliation agreements with the 35 markets, covering 22% of ABC Network for nine stations it U.S. television households, said owns and/or operates have been its fourth quarter revenues will extended for one month while the now be at $153.8 million, up two sides continue to negotiate. from a forecast of $143.3 million. T h e n e t w o r k a f f i l i a t i o n The station's group revenues will agreements were due to expire on now be 6.5% lower than in 2008, Dec. 31, 2009. when it was $164.4 million. Actual fourth quarter results will Perhaps one of the best pieces of be reported Feb. 17. news comes from automotive Five Filters featured article: advertising, which Sinclair said Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: rose during the period. Increased PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, business came from both auto Term Extraction. dealers and domestic Submitted at 1/4/2010 8:41:13 AM

8 tech trends to watch this week at CES (CNN) (Yahoo! News Search Results for e-readers) Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:27:01 AM

(CNN)-- If you like bold predictions, here's one, courtesy of the president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association, which hosts the massive Consumer Electronics

Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, this week: "In my 28 years of attending the CES and participating in it and being a part of it and running it for most of that time, I can honestly say there will be more innovation at this show than any TECH page 76

turnaround in 2010 and is hoping to ride a wide array of devices — from e-readers and tablets to 3-D Submitted at 1/3/2010 6:30:21 PM displays and Internet-connected Last year, with the economy cars — to success. tearing into the tech industry, the A record 330 new vendors will Consumer Electronics Show in be exhibiting at CES, with Las Vegas felt like a party … on bookings for show floor space the Titanic. increasing through the last Attendance fell by 20 percent to month. 1 1 3 , 0 0 0 , w h i l e a n x i o u s “Last year, companies were companies pulled their booths coming in with a lot inventory on from the exhibition floor at the the shelves and they were trying last second, leaving 5,000 square to manage something that was feet of empty space. Many of changing very rapidly,” said C E S ' f a m o u s s o i r e e s w e r e Karen Chupka, senior vice c a n c e l e d o r d o w n s i z e d . president for the CEA. “Now, Executives exchanged grim looks people have already come in and wondered aloud how bad leaner and they're ready to do 2009 could be. business and push the envelope.” It turned out to be a very bad Some of the hottest areas of year, with consumer electronics interest will be in devices that fill revenues falling by 7.8 percent, in the gaps between smart phones according to the Consumer and laptops. E-book readers will Electronics Association. get their first dedicated tech zone In 2010, the annual gadget fest at the show with 23 companies — the largest in the world — exhibiting. resumes with the economy still Plastic Logic of Mountain View, recovering. The CEA, which Calif., will be unveiling its Que e hosts CES, is predicting a slight -reader at the show alongside decline in attendance to 110,000 other readers like the Skiff reader and a drop in overall square from Hearst and the Entourage footage from 1.7 million to 1.4 Edge. million square feet. A robust cousin to the e-reader, But the industry feels more the Internet tablet, will also optimistic about the prospects for dominate the spotlight with new

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devices expected from Dell, Innovative Converged Devices and Notion Ink. Chip maker Nvidia is hosting a media event, where it should be showing off tablets from partners using its Tegra processors. “The time is right for the tablet form factor. There will be a lot of activity around tablets at CES and Tegra will be in the thick of it all,” said Neil Trevett, Nvidia vice president of mobile content. Another emerging product: smartbooks, super-thin notebooks built with cell phone processors. The devices take netbooks one step further, delivering a simple Web-browsing experience using svelte hardware that can start up quickly and stay in use all day like a smart phone. Jean-Laurent Poitou, managing director of electronics and high technology for consulting firm Accenture, said one size doesn't fit all in the gadget market. “It won't be one device winning it all, it will be a flurry of different ones,” he said. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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one in history," Gary Shapiro said. This from the head of the yearly show that has launched such big tech ideas as compact disc players, high-definition television and Blu-ray. CES is the year's largest consumer technology trade show and one of the best chances to see new technologies before they hit the market. Despite Shapiro's enthusiasm, though, this week's CES buzz may be dampened by the lingering economic recession and the fact that big announcements from Google and Apple are likely to bookend the show this month. On Tuesday, Google is expected to launch its own mobile phone called Nexus One, and rumors are flying that Apple will unveil a touch-screen tablet computer January 26. Neither of the tech giants is scheduled to exhibit at CES, although Google said in an e-mail to CNN that it will attend a CES media event. Watch a video about what to expect from CES Attendance at CES 2009 plunged 20 percent compared with 2008 numbers, largely because of the economic recession, Shapiro said. The number of people at CES this week is estimated to hold flat at about 110,000 people. Still, after a slump in 2009, some market analysts predict a brighter future for consumer electronics this year -- and the innovative CES that Shapiro predicts could blossom from this preliminary

optimism. Here is our take on eight of the hottest consumer tech trends to watch at CES. Add your ideas in the comments below. And reply to this CNN iReport assignment with questions you would like CNN to answer at CES this week or cool gadgets you want to see. We will do our best to report back with answers. Tablets and midsize screens Size is everything in computing these days. Netbooks -- those 8to 10-inch dumbed-down laptops -- were big news in 2009. This year, they may be eclipsed by an abundance of other midsize computing devices. "There's the large screen, which is the television. There's the small screen, which is the wireless phone or the smartphone," Shapiro said. "Then there's a middle category, where there's a tremendous opportunity for growth. "That's the netbook, the smartbook, the dualbook, the nettop, the desktop, the laptop -tablets. There's a lot going on in that middle screen-size space." Toteable "tablet" computers ditch keyboards in favor of touch -screen interfaces. Apple's rumored tablet is getting all of the buzz from tech blogs, but Shapiro said CES will debut tablet computers that run on the Android operating system that Google produces. Bloggers expect Dell to be among the companies introducing an Android tablet. E-books and e-readers

Heard of the Amazon Kindle? The Barnes & Noble Nook? The Sony Reader? All of these e-readers -- portable devices that let readers consume digital books without the eye strain caused by computer monitors -- will face new competition at CES this year. Look for an ultralight e-reader from Plastic Logic that's big enough to display a standard sheet of letter paper. It's called the QUE. What do you want to see at CES? Tell CNN iReport Futurist Ray Kurzweil tells Wired magazine that he will debut a color e-reader interface at CES called Blio. The software is expected to work on a number of devices, from e-readers to tablets and phones. Look for new e-readers with color screens at CES as well. TV + Internet, or "Smart TV" TVs will continue to morph into living room-based computers in 2010. The industry calls the new generation of televisions "Smart TVs" or "Connected TVs," and they do things like download Netflix films, stream Pandora music, check e-mail and communicate with other electronic devices in the home. The idea isn't especially new, but the interfaces are changing. Plus, Shapiro said, Internet-connected TVs stand to shake up the cable industry. "You may need the cable company to get broadband, but you may not need it to get cable services" when more TVs

connect to the Internet, he said. One spinoff trend to watch: Several new services, like Boxee, offer interfaces to help couch potatoes surf Internet video without having to jump from one TV network's Web site to another. The software side of Internetenabled-television trend is likely to be hot at CES as well. Boxee is expected to offer hardware that connects TVs to Internet content, too. Mobile TV In June, the U.S. switched from analog to digital television (goodbye, rabbit ears!). A quiet side effect of that change: U.S. television signals now can be viewed on mobile devices like smartphones and portable media players. Shapiro said mobile television will be a major focus of CES, and products that play live TV on the go should hit the market in 2010. Cydle, a South Korean company, says it will debut mobile TV products for cars. And iMovee announced that it will unveil several mobile TV products. Look for South Korean mobile phone and electronics maker LG to get in the U.S. mobile TV market as well, as is rumored by tech blogs. 3-D TV, games and laptops In the wake of hit 3-D movies like "Avatar" and "Up," several TV makers including Sony and Panasonic have announced plans to sell 3-D television to consumers in 2010. Most of the

products demonstrated so far require viewers to wear clunky 3D glasses in order for images to jump off of the screen. New at CES, Shapiro said, will be 3-D technology from 3M that does not require glasses for viewing -- as well as laptops and video games that display threedimensional images. AMD and Blu-ray also say they will demonstrate high-definition 3-D home entertainment at CES. In December, Blu-ray announced that it had arrived at a technology standard for producing content in three dimensions. Connected cars Cars are turning into computers. Ford and other automakers have announced in-car wireless Internet. Ford will offer one of the keynote addresses at CES, which emphasizes the growing importance of the in-car technology industry, Shapiro said. "We expect them to say something fairly significant," he said, adding: "They are also positioning themselves as a tech company rather than a car company." The emergence of mobile television also probably means live TV will come to automobile consoles and headrests soon. Once that happens, Shapiro said, a whole new avenue for the advertising industry will open up. A family watching TV in their car while driving through North Dakota, for instance, might see TECH page 78

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E-readers (Times News) (Yahoo! News Search Results for e-readers)

The E-readers have the potential to revolutionize publishing. Randy Bennett, of the Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:28:34 AM Newspaper Association of Will books go the way of the America, feels that there may not rotary telephone? be an immediate mass market, (Yahoo! News Search Results support music, video, e-books YouTube videos on a larger The old saying "turning the but there is a segment of the for e-readers) and iPhone apps. The price is screen? Some analysts believe page" – as in turning the page on population that will be looking rumored to be around $800. that by cutting content deals, Submitted at 1/4/2010 12:11:20 AM The iSlate is exciting not just Apple could make its tablet a a n e w y e a r – c o u l d s o o n for that kind of platform for their For the first time, Apple won't Apple "fanboys" but also Wall must-have device. "The driver disappear faster than you can say news and information. A number of other editors and be at the annual Macworld trade Street. Apple's stock has reached behind it will be content," said 8-track tape. That phrase, which conjures up writers feel that we've already show, scheduled this year for unknown heights in recent weeks Kathryn Huberty, a Morgan visions of books with real leather passed the tipping point and that Feb. 9-13. But CEO Steve Jobs as the rumor mills started going Stanley analyst and his team will still make the crazy. The stock price has risen A Financial Times story reported bindings, is destined to go the it's just a matter of time before Enext few months interesting. from $192 on Dec. 18 to about that Apple is in talks with CBS way of rotary telephones, vinyl b o o k p u b l i s h i n g b e c o m e s Apple has scheduled a press $211 on New Year's Eve, giving a n d D i s n e y a b o u t a n e w records and manual typewriters – accepted among a mass audience. briefing for Jan. 26 in San t h e c o m p a n y a m a r k e t subscription-based service to things that many of us grew up It was nearly six centuries ago Francisco, and Apple watchers capitalization of $190 billion. watch television shows over the with but which today draw blank that a goldsmith named Johannes are salivating at the prospect of a Is Content King? Internet. While Apple sells many s t a r e s f r o m t h e y o u n g e r Gutenberg set this planet on a course to literacy with the tablet computer that looks like an There are also rumors that Apple TV shows for download and g e n e r a t i o n s . According to Craig Berman, vice invention of his mechanical iPhone on steroids. is cutting content deals with other services like Hulu.com A MacInsider report that Apple publishers, broadcasters and allow viewers to watch shows on p r e s i d e n t o f g l o b a l behemoth called the printing registered the domain name movie studios, suggesting Apple a computer, no "killer app" for communications at Amazon.com, press. islate.com at least as far back as intends its device to be a Kindle Internet TV has emerged. The the best-selling, most-wished for So, fellow page-turners, as we've 2007 fueled rumors that the tablet killer. An influential review in Apple tablet could be the right and most-gifted product among now entered a new decade, brace may be named iSlate. While The New Yorker magazine form factor -- much bigger than its millions of products the online yourselves! Apple has steadfastly refused to panned Amazon's Kindle e-book an iPhone and much more mobile company offers has been the This technology train is a fastcomment on the rumors, there is reader and said reading books on than a laptop-- to help online TV- Amazon Kindle, or wireless E- mover. reader. The Barnes and Noble By Jim Zbick a consensus among the Apple the iPod touch was a superior watching take off.(continued...) cognoscenti that the device will experience. Five Filters featured article: version of E-reader is called The [email protected] Five Filters featured article: be a 10-inch-wide tablet, not I s t h e c r a z e d e n t h u s i a s m Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: Nook. Essentially, these hand-held Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: much thicker than an iPhone, appropriate? Will consumers PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, devices become your virtual PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, feature the same multi-touch really flock to Apple stores to Term Extraction. library, having the capacity to Term Extraction. screen as the iPhone and iPod pay close to $1,000 -- far more hold as many as 1,500 books. touch, be keyboard-free, and than a Kindle -- just to watch

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TV ads about local attractions and eateries. A trip to New York might yield entirely different ads. Android everywhere Despite the recession, smartphones -- those mobile devices like the BlackBerry and iPhone that work almost like computers -- were hot buys in 2009. Expect a fair bit of mobile-phone buzz at CES, although Google's rumored announcement of its Android phone on Tuesday -- and the absence of Apple, maker of the iPhone -- could dampen some of the intrigue. But Shapiro said new phones using the Android platform will be unveiled at CES.

The Android platform, which runs on phones like the Droid and myTouch, also is expected to extend its reach from smartphones into other electronics like televisions. Apps and accessories With consumer spending down, cheap buys like mobile phone applications and accessory electronics may take center stage at CES. Apple's iPhone is the dominant device for using mobile applications. The iTunes app store has sold more than 2 billion apps since it opened in July 2008. An iLounge at CES will feature 100 exhibitors with Apple-related products, including new mobile

phone applications, Shapiro said. Expect that to be a big draw as iPhone owners look for the next big games and app functions. In addition to the apps, touchscreen cameras, a third generation of USB data cables and GPS add-ons for phones all could be big CES finds. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

With Dramatic Fireworks, Burj Dubai Opens For Business By Jeremy Hsu (Popular Science - New Technology, Science News, The Future Now)

and soars far above former titleholder Taipei 101 at just 1,670 feet tall. The Wall Street Journal notes that one-bedroom apartments in the megaSubmitted at 1/4/2010 8:45:55 AM skyscraper sold at $2,776 per The world's tallest building square foot at the height of surpasses former skyscraper king Dubai's property boom -- one of Taipei 101 with a height of 2,684 the most expensive apartments at feet the time sold for more than $3.5 Dubai is looking forward to million. better times. What better way to Building the best manmade ring in the New Year than by rooms with a view requires some claiming the world's tallest tricky engineering to withstand building? 120-mph winds, as we noted The 160-story Burj Dubai, now early on during the building's renamed the Burj Khalifa, stands construction. at an estimated 2,684 feet tall, The surprisingly thin tower

contains a six-sided concrete and steel core supported by more concrete walls holding up the three wings of the Y-shaped skyscraper, according to the

Chicago Tribune. That design came courtesy of Chicago architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, as well as former design partner Adrian Smith.

Dubai is banking on the $1.5 billion tower and a related $20 billion development to help resurrect its status as a commercial megapolis that can host the biggest and best events around, including a huge airshow. Whether or not the gamble pays off, the Burj Dubai has already succeeded in providing some of the scariest and shakiest YouTube footage to date at its pinnacle. [via Chicago Tribune and Wall Street Journal

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Russia Wants to Launch Armageddon-Style Mission to Deflect Asteroid By Jeremy Hsu (Popular Science - New Technology, Science News, The Future Now) Submitted at 1/4/2010 10:19:58 AM

The head of Russia's space agency says such a mission would save lives, but U.S. astronomers strongly differ Leave it to Russia to jumpstart the long-debated idea of deflecting killer asteroids that might threaten Earth. A top Russian space official announced just prior to the New Year that he wants to put together a mission for heading off the space rock Apophis, which represents a poster child of sorts for the risk of Near-Earth Objects (NEOs). But NASA astronomers caution that a failed deflection attempt could simply make matters worse. Anatoly Perminov, head of Russia's Federal Space Agency, told Golos Rossi radio that he had heard from a scientist of a possible Apophis collision with Earth in 2036. NASA currently puts the Apophis collision risk during that swingby at just a three-in-a-million chance, or about 1-in-333,000. "People's lives are at stake," Perminov said. "We should pay several hundred million dollars and build a system that would

Synthetic Alcohol Gives Drinkers a Buzz Minus the Hangover, Addiction By Clay Dillow (Popular Science - New Technology, Science News, The Future Now) Submitted at 1/4/2010 9:30:37 AM

Still feeling the sting of New Year's Eve all these days later? A synthetic alcohol substitute developed from chemicals similar in composition to Valium allow us to prevent a collision, NASA's Near-Earth Object that flattened a Siberian forest could give users the pleasant rather than sit and wait for it to Program Office saw Russia's was 10 times smaller. feelings of tipsiness without happen and kill hundreds of interest as a good sign, even as it At least Russia's comment may affecting the parts of the brain thousands of people." e m p h a s i z e d t h a t A p o p h i s s p a r k s o m e i n t e r n a t i o n a l that lead to barroom brawls, Perminov did not provide details presents very little risk. But Paul discussion about how to tackle crippling addiction, and sleeping about how a spacecraft might Chodas, a member of that NASA dangerous space rocks. Putting in your car. nudge the 900-foot-long asteroid office and an astronomer at some more cash into the sky- Unlike all those bunk point-ofaside, but did say that Russia N A S A ' s J e t P r o p u l s i o n watch coffers might not hurt, sale hangover remedies, this w o u l d n o t u s e n u k e s ( a n d Laboratory, told SPACE.com either, given the current lack of headache-eluding synthetic is presumably also wouldn't enlist a that an attempted deflection funding for NASA to track being developed by some serious o i l r i g c r e w f o r t h e j o b ) . carries its own risks -- failure potentially threatening space brainpower at Imperial College Scientists and NASA astronauts might push the space rock into a rocks. London. Professor David Nutt, alike have proposed various more dangerous path. [via SPACE.com] one of Britain's top drug experts, schemes, such as gravity tractors, NASA itself once considered a was recently relieved of his for protecting Earth against an mission to better track Apophis, position as a government advisor Armageddon or Deep Impact which is larger than two football for comments about cannabis and threat. fields. The Tunguska meteoroid MDMA. Now, he's trying to change the way Britons think, SYNTHETIC page 80

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and feel, about getting drunk. By harnessing benzodiazepines like diazepam, the chief ingredient in anti-anxiety med Valium, Nutt sees a future of drinking without becoming addicted, belligerent or -- and here's the kicker -- intoxicated. Using one of thousands of possible benzos, researchers are working to tailor a colorless, tasteless synthetic that could eventually replace the alcohol content in beer, wine and liquor. Drinkers could toss back as many glasses of the swill as they want but would remain only mildly drunk from first drink to

last, keeping good-timers within legal limits whether they like it or not. If one did find the buzz too intense for a particular task -say, driving home after a long night at the pub -- those warm feelings of inebriation could be instantly turned off with a simple antidote pill that mutes the synthetic's effects on brain receptors. The skeptics (and delinquents) among us wonder exactly why Nutt and company think that people who enjoy getting roaring drunk would voluntarily switch to a tipple that lacks the knockdown power of authentic alcohol,

but as a matter of public health it's not such a far-fetched idea. After all, alcohol has been both a bringer of good cheer and destroyer of lives for thousands of years now, and a 21st-century update to an ancient favorite could be in order. In the meantime, we're sticking with scotch. [ Telegraph]

Can Microwave Technology be Used to Make Food Cold? By Sandeep Ravindran (Popular Science - New Technology, Science News, The Future Now) Submitted at 1/4/2010 7:27:26 AM

Microwaves can transform a frozen pizza into hot, melted goodness in four minutes flat, but they can’t rescue your melted ice -cream sundae. To cook food, a microwave oven converts voltage into high-frequency electromagnetic microwaves. The molecules in food—especially

water and fat—absorb this energy and wiggle at high speeds, causing them to heat rapidly and warm the surrounding food. Although quickly turning leftovers cold would be handy, this is a one-way operation, explains David Pozar, a professor and microwave expert at the University of Massachusetts. Microwaves can only speed up atoms, not slow them down. Scientists do have a high-tech method for slowing atoms, however: lasers. Shoot a moving

atom with a laser, and it will absorb the laser’s photons and reemit them every which way, causing the atom to hold nearly

still. Placing an atom at the junction of multiple beams can slow its momentum in all directions, decreasing its energy

and cooling it. This drops an atom’s temperature a couple hundred degrees Fahrenheit—much colder than anything you’d want to put in your mouth—in less than a second. But because it works most efficiently on low-density gases of atoms of a single element, physicist Mark Raizen of the University of Texas doesn’t think it will be useful for cooling food anytime soon: “Not unless you can subsist on a thousand sodium atoms.”

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Photographed: RatchetLike Cell Mechanism that Pulls Wounds Shut By Sandeep Ravindran (Popular Science - New Technology, Science News, The Future Now)

Heidelberg, Germany, however, showed that contractions bringing epithelial cells into the gap were generated by a different set of cells “acting like a Submitted at 1/4/2010 7:47:00 AM primitive muscle.” One of the steps in fruit-fly By taking more microscope development is similar to the p i c t u r e s p e r m i n u t e a n d h e a l i n g o f w o u n d s . U n t i l combining these with computer recently, scientists believed that simulations, the researchers when fruit-fly bodies take form showed that after the quasiduring a process called dorsal muscle cells contract, the actin closure, long strings of the cable around them prevents the protein actin behaved like the epithelial cells from moving drawstring of a purse, pulling back, acting like the locking together the epithelial cells that mechanism in a ratchet. This eventually form the fly’s skin. insight may help scientists find Damian Brunner’s research ways to improve wound-healing group at the European Molecular in humans. Biology Laboratory in

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