Liberty Newsprint Oct-22-09 Edition

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21/10/09 - 22/10/09

LibertyNewsprint.com U.S. Edition

Time for Obama to act on Afghanistan - Cheney
By JoAnne Allen (Front Row Washington)
Submitted at 10/21/2009 6:26:28 PM

Former Vice President Dick Cheney tonight joins a chorus of critics who say President Barack Obama is taking way too long to decide whether to send another 40,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan. Cheney, no fan of any of the current administration’s foreign policy initiatives, prodded the White House to fulfill the president’s promise to give the U.S. armed forces a clear mission in Afghanistan and to do it now. “It’s time for President Obama to make good on his promise. The White House must stop dithering while America’s armed forces are in danger, ” Cheney said in remarks prepared for delivery at the Center for Security Policy, a Washington think-tank. “Having announced his Afghanistan strategy last March, President Obama now seems afraid to make a decision, and

unable to provide his commander on the ground with the troops he needs to complete his mission,” Cheney said. Cheney also refuted what he said was a complaint by White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel that “the Obama administration had to start from scratch to put together a strategy.”

they embraced. It’s time for President Obama to do what it takes to win a war he has repeatedly and rightly called a war of necessity,” he added. Earlier in the day, Obama said he could reach a decision on a new strategy before the outcome of Afghanistan’s presidential runoff on Nov. 7 And he pushed back against critics who accuse him of vacillating. “We are going to take the time to get this right,” Obama told MSNBC. “We’re not going to drag it out because there is a sense that the sooner we get a sound approach in place and personnel in place, the better off we’re going to be. But “ T h e n e w s t r a t e g y t h e y we also want to make sure that we embraced in March, with a focus don’t put resources ahead of on counterinsurgency and an strategy.” increase in the numbers of troops, For more Reuters political bears a striking resemblance to coverage click here. the strategy we passed to them,” Photo credit:Reuters/Joshua Cheney said. Roberts (Cheney speaking on “Now they seem to be pulling national security in May) back and blaming others for their failure to implement the strategy

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(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 10:00:00 AM

Google Maps with Layers is now available for BlackBerry (it’s must -have download)
By Matt Burns (CrunchGear)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 7:01:29 AM

The fall of the Berlin Wall
By Rebecca Lovell, Francesca Panetta, Christian Bennett (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
In the fourth of five films, Francesca Panetta Christian Berliners remember the night in Bennett November 1989 when the barrier between two ideologies was breached Rebecca Lovell

Google Maps is the best BlackBerry mapping solution I’ve found and it just got a whole lot cooler. The Layers function will overlay different information sets on the the current map few. For instance, you can overlay a location-aware Wikipedia screen. Or Latitude. Or even make your own favorite locations and travel itinerary in a function called My Maps. You really should watch the demo video to see it in action. It’s killer. Update your B l a c k B e r r y a t m.google.com/maps.

A Hovercraft for the Land (and Water) Down Under
By Keith Barry (Wired Top Stories)
Australia looks to hovercraft to augment trains in two port cities.

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UPS delivers lower Q3 earnings
By Mark Fightmaster (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 9:20:00 AM

Filed under: Earnings reports, United Parcel'B' (UPS) Speedy delivery service United Parcel Service(NYSE: UPS) delivered a mixed bag of thirdquarter results on Thursday. The company reported earnings of 55 cents per share, topping the consensus estimate by two cents per share. While these results By Deborah Charles (Front into Karzai’s ear on Tuesday was endorsing the vote. requested by his top military were better than the consensus estimate, they are a far cry from Row Washington) splashed across the major U.S. Now Kerry has a chance to give commander there. newspapers on Wednesday and advice and his impressions to The poll showed 47 percent in the 96 cents per share earned in Submitted at 10/21/2009 6:29:29 AM news programs gave detailed Obama, who has been meeting favor of a troop buildup in the same quarter a year ago. Quarterly sales came in at Senator John Kerry, who once reports on Kerry’s behind-the- with his war council to make a Afghanistan while 49 percent aspired to host meetings in the scenes shuttle diplomacy. decision on whether to send more oppose it. The survey also found a $11.15 billion, short of the Oval Office, will be visiting ABC news said over the last troops to Afghanistan. Obama large majority of Americans consensus estimate of $11.17 President Barack Obama in that five days in Afghanistan, Kerry administration officials have believe the administration lacks a billion and last year's $13.1 room Wednesday to talk about his acted more like a secretary of stressed that a credible and clear plan for dealing with the billion. Continue reading UPS delivers recent trip to Afghanistan. state than a senator as he played a legitimate government in Kabul is problems in Afghanistan. Kerry, chairman of the Senate central role in brokering the essential for Washington to be For more Reuters political news, lower Q3 earnings UPS delivers lower Q3 earnings Foreign Relations Committee, agreement with Karzai and his able to succeed in Afghanistan. click here. was credited with playing a key main rival Abdullah Abdullah. A new Washington Post-ABC Photo credit: Reuters/Ahmad o r i g i n a l l y a p p e a r e d o n role in convincing Afghan In Kabul on Tuesday after hours News public opinion poll showed Masood (Kerry and Karzai at BloggingStocks on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:20:00 EST. Please see President Hamid Karzai to agree of talks with Karzai, Kerry said that Americans are evenly and news conference in Kabul) our terms for use of feeds. to a second round of voting in a the Nov. 7 run-off would be deeply divided over whether Permalink| Email this| Comments disputed national election. difficult and made a point to Obama should send 40,000 more A picture of him whispering praise the Afghan leader for t r o o p s t o A f g h a n i s t a n , a s

The First Draft: Kerry reports in after Kabul visit

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U.S. Senator promotes education equivalent of fuel-efficient car
By Thomas Ferraro (Front Row Washington)
Submitted at 10/21/2009 1:34:52 PM

U.S. Commerce Secretary doesn’t like ring of Shanghai Silicon Valley
By Tabassum Zakaria (Front Row Washington)
Submitted at 10/21/2009 11:13:19 AM

If cars can be fuel-efficient, why can't education be time-efficient? That's the premise that Republican U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander is promoting. Alexander served as U.S. education secretary in the administration of the first President George Bush and also as president of the University of Tennessee. Speaking at the Reuters Washington Summit, Alexander suggested that more colleges take a look at allowing at least some students to obtain an undergraduate degree in three years rather than the normal four. "It's one way to attract students," he said. How does he expect colleges to respond? "Skeptically," Alexander said. "Colleges don't change easily." He said that the idea has been tried and worked on a limited basis -- and that the marketplace will likely determine how widespread a three-year degree becomes. The United States has the best universities in the world, and they

have been key to developing competitive advantages that help Americans produce 25 percent of all the world's wealth, he said. But Alexander said tuition has soared, leaving students with unprecedented debt. Writing in the Oct. 17 issue of Newsweek magazine, Alexander noted that Hartwick College, a small liberal arts school in upstate New York, offers three-year degrees to "well preparedstudents" -- providing them the opportunity to save $43,000, the amount of one-year's tuition and fees.

He said a number of other "innovative colleges" are making the offer, too. "The three-year degree could become the higher-education equivalent of the fuel-efficient car," wrote Alexander. "And that's both an opportunity and a warning for the best higher-education system in the world." For more Reuters Washington Summit news, click here. Photo credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst (Senator Lamar Alexander at Reuters Washington Summit)

The Windows 7 Burger King Whooper is gross
By Matt Burns (CrunchGear)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 6:00:52 AM

Look at that monster burger. It’s five inches tall and of course is made with seven beef patties in honor of Windows 7. What’s the message here? Eat this burger to

feel as slow and bloated as Windows? I don’t get it. I also

hope that none of our Japanese readers actually buys the ¥777 ($8.50) burger. But if someone out there does, send us a pic. I would love to see how disguising the burger looks in real life. [via Electronista]

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke says one thing he doesn't want to see is a Shanghai Silicon Valley develop from China's investment in clean energy. He warned that if the United States doesn't move forward on clean energy, it risks falling behind China where the government is spending almost $100 billion a year to support renewable energy and clean energy efficiency. And China is not doing it just to address climate change issues, but because it sees an economic opportunity. "They're really focusing investing in the clean energy field to serve the needs of the world," Locke said at the Reuters Washington Summit. "And so that's why it's very important that we pass clean energy legislation because there's so many investors, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists who are sitting on the sidelines waiting for that certainty," he said. "They just want to know what the rules of the game are, what the tax incentives are, what the tax rules and regulations are before they commit." The longer the U.S. government takes to pass comprehensive

energy legislation, "the farther ahead the Chinese will be and we certainly do not want 10 years from now Shanghai and other parts of China to be the Silicon Valley of the clean energy field," Locke said. He agreed with President Barack Obama's equation. "The president has said that the country that leads in the clean energy sector will lead the world economy, I believe that's true," Locke said. For more news from the Reuters Washington Summit, click here. Photo credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst (Commerce Secretary Gary Locke at Reuters Washington Summit)

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Senator McCain: Republicans in search of message to woo angry voters
By Tabassum Zakaria (Front Row Washington)
Submitted at 10/21/2009 3:27:09 PM

Militants kill Pakistan brigadier
(World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 3:21:10 AM

Gunmen on motorbike attack army jeep, shooting dead senior The Republican Party is in army officer and soldier search of a message to attract Suspected militants on a voters who are angry with just motorbike shot and killed a senior about everything -- healthcare, the army officer and a soldier in the U.S. deficit, Wall Street bonuses, Pakistani capital today, striking at increased unemployment and security forces as they pressed home foreclosures to mention a ahead with an anti-Taliban few. offensive in the north-west. "There's a lot of anger out there The assault in Islamabad and there's a lot of frustration," showed the insurgents were able said Republican Senator John to hit the heart of the country, McCain, who was defeated by despite increased security, and Democrat Barack Obama for deploy diverse tactics. In recent president last year. weeks, suicide bombings and Thousands of people are turning attacks on a range of targets have up at townhall meetings and "tea Many have swung into the return to a formula that worked killed more than 170 people. p a r t y " p r o t e s t s a g a i n s t Independent category -- "They're when Republicans took control of In today's attack, two gunmen government policies, he noted. leaving the Democrats but they're the House and Senate for the first fired on an army jeep in a "So there's something going on not coming home to Republicans" time in 40 years -- "Something residential area of Islamabad. A out there. And I'd love to sit here -- because of the deficit increases like the Contract with America soldier and a brigadier – a highand tell you that we Republicans during the previous 8 years of a that we gave them in 1994, ranking army officer – were are attracting all of those unhappy Republican (George W. Bush) portray a far more positive agenda killed, while the driver was people but we're not, we're not," White House, McCain said. for America," McCain said. wounded, authorities said. McCain said at a Reuters "So they are not finding a Photo credit: Reuters/Jonathan "Terrorists and extremists are Washington Summit. message from the Republican Ernst (Senator McCain at Reuters behind this," Islamabad's top "They're out there kind of in the Party that resonates with them, Washington Summit) police officer, Syed Kalim Imam, middle and they haven't found a and so I think we're in one of the said. home. And in fact they haven't most interesting times politically The offensive in South even channeled their anger yet," in Amercia," he said. Waziristan, seen as a likely hiding he said. One possible answer would be a place for the al-Qaida leader, Osama bin Laden, is considered a Bing Partners With Twitter and Facebook for Real-Time Search critical test of Pakistan's campaign By Ryan Singel (Wired Top has struck a deal with Facebook search results in order to make against Islamist extremists. The Stories) and the hot micro-messaging Google look like a lumbering military is advancing on multiple fronts, and in the past few days service Twitter, a brash attempt to dinosaur. Submitted at 10/21/2009 11:56:00 AM has been fighting for the add real-time web updates to its Microsoft’s search engine Bing hometown of the Pakistani Taliban chief, Hakimullah

Mehsud. Kotkai is strategically important because it lies on the route to the militant base of Sararogha. The army said yesterday that forces were engaged in "intense encounters" in hills surrounding Kotkai and had secured an area to its east. A spokesman, Major General Athar Abbas, said there was no significant fighting inside the town yet. The army believes Mehsud and his deputy, Qari Hussain, are still in the region. The army reported three more soldiers had been killed, bringing its death toll to 16, and the militant death toll had risen by 15 to 105. It is impossible to independently verify information coming from South Waziristan because the army has closed all roads to the region. Analysts say both sides have exaggerated successes and played down losses in the past. Two suicide bombings at a university in Islamabad on Tuesday prompted the closure of schools and universities across the country until at least the end of the week. An interior ministry committee is to review security and determine when they can reopen. • Pakistan • Taliban • Global terrorism guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

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The Geithner approach: make the best of bad choices
By Tabassum Zakaria (Front Row Washington)
Submitted at 10/21/2009 8:00:38 AM

Public Passion Drives Pay Czar to Arbitrarily Slash 175 Top Salaries
(Financial Sector and Stocks Analysis from Seeking Alpha)

Ever wonder how the U.S. Treasury Secretary gets through some of the most economically stressful times this country has seen in a while -- does he go for long runs? Sleep two hours a night? Timothy Geithner has been in the job less than a year, and came in after the economy had slumped into recession. Now unemployment is approaching 10 percent, he's had to navigate through an economic stimulus package, and on top of all that the weakness of the U.S. dollar has other countries questioning whether it should still be the reserve currency. Enough problems, we imagine, to give anyone a big giant headache and more than a few sleepless nights. So what does Geithner do under the weight of it all? "I've been in the middle of this for quite a long time," he said in an interview at the Reuters Washington Summit on Tuesday.

Microsoft’s Online Store Gets A Revamp, Now Sells Windows 7 PCs Too
By Robin Wauters (CrunchGear)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 5:45:58 AM

Coinciding with the worldwide debut of Windows 7 and the launch of physical retail stores throughout the world, Microsoft has revamped its online store as well. The news comes from

Salary cuts are meted out as a sort of punishment, and to quell public anger, yet their future effects are Submitted at 10/22/2009 5:42:28 AM not considered. It's not about Kenneth Feinberg, the American whether or not some of these pay czar, is slashing cash salaries people made horrible mistakes in for top employees in companies the past, but whether or not you'll like Citi ( C), Bank of America ( attract the right people going BAC), and AIG by 90% on forward for these companies. If I average, according to the WSJ. were a Citi shareholder for This will make these firms far less example, I'd be angry at this appealing to future talent, and one decision. Capping salaries makes has to imagine that a lot of these the company less competitive. top people must be polishing their It's also a sad state when resumes. A 90% cut means you business leaders are increasingly can make 10x more, in terms of r e q u i r e d t o b u d d y u p i n (Remember, before this job, going to debate when there's a cash salary, somewhere else. (To Washington, lest they fall victim Geithner was president of the problem anymore, we're not going be fair, note that Mr. Feinberg is to a rather arbitrary decision from New York Federal Reserve to like hope it takes care of itself, shifting compensation towards this single man, Mr. Feinberg. Still, there are a few good things Bank). we're going to commit to fix it," other forms such as locked up His general approach, Geithner Geithner said. "And we're going s t o c k o p t i o n s , t h u s t o t a l coming out of the pay czar's compensation isn't technically actions - though these are issues said, is to "focus on trying to to do what it takes to fix it." that can be solved in far less make sure you're making the best For more news from the Reuters being cut 90%) The problem here is that these authoritarian ways: of a bunch of bad choices." Washington Summit, click here. Mr. Feinberg will also demand a And to make sure "you are Photo credit: Reuters/Jonathan cuts are clearly driven by public helping the president make E r n s t ( G e i t h n e r a t R e u t e r s passions, not by economic logic. series of corporate governance Salaries aren't threatening the changes at the firms, including sensible decisions," he said. W a s h i n g t o n S u m m i t ) stability of these companies - splitting the chairman and CEO "I think the basic imperative in p r o p e r m a n a g e m e n t g o i n g positions, requiring boards of these things is just to make sure forward is. Sure, much of top d i r e c t o r s t o c r e a t e " r i s k " people understand that we're not management has been asleep at c o m m i t t e e s a n d e l i m i n a t e the wheel, but if you only offer staggered board elections, which tiny salaries going forward (on a critics charge inhibit change. relative basis to what these guys This content has passed through online storefront features some can make), then don't expect the fivefilters.org. n e w c a t e g o r i e s ( i n c l u d i n g best and the brightest. This is rear-view mirror driving. ‘Computers’!), so you can now go there to buy Windows 7 PCs as well as accessories and even third -party software like Adobe Photoshop and Nero 9. Trevin Chow, Senior Lead Program Manager for Microsoft Store. Big surprise: the revamped

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Islamists and army fight insurgents
By Declan Walsh (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
mountain fortress is surrounded. But the army's new friends are making Pakistan's western allies uncomfortable. Some are big Submitted at 10/21/2009 6:51:55 PM figures in the Taliban insurgency The 'good' Taliban are clustered- in Afghanistan, sending fighters in a dusty frontier city close to the across the porous border to attack mountain battleground of South western soldiers; others harbour al Waziristan -Qaida operatives suspected of The "good" Taliban were plotting attacks on the west, clustered- outside a tall gate down perhaps even Osama bin Laden. a dusty back street in Dera Ismail The army states that it has little Khan, a troubled frontier city choice but to engage in such c l o s e t o t h e m o u n t a i n "unsavoury alliances", arguing battleground of South Waziristan. that the threat from the TTP, As Taliban go, they looked like which has rocked Pakistan with a the real deal – lanky young men string of audacious attacks in with shoulder-length hair, bullet- recent weeks, has become too filled bandoliers and well-worn great. AK-47 rifles. Some wore white Suicide attackers have struck basketball boots, the fighting UN offices, police buildings and footwear of choice for tribal army headquarters in Rawalpindi. gunmen. Today schools and universities These Islamist militants were a c r o s s t h e c o u n t r y c l o s e d not fighting against Pakistan's following yesterday's blast at an embattled government, however, Islamic university in Islamabad. but for it. "We are proud The army's militant ally in Dera P a k i s t a n i s , " d e c l a r e d t h e i r Ismail Khan, the city on the spokesman, a tall man wearing a s o u t h e r n f l a n k o f S o u t h prayer cap. "We are with the army Waziristan where thousands of in their fight against the brutal war-displaced villagers are terrorists." arriving, is the Abdullah Mehsud As part of its huge assault on the group, a faction of the Mehsud Taliban stronghold of South tribe. A gleaming new pick-up Waziristan, Pakistan's army has w a s p a r k e d o u t s i d e t h e struck controversial agreements organisation's headquarters – a with four Islamist outfits – sign of the support the militia has Taliban in all but name – to boost reportedly received. Inside, the its chances of crushing the main two-story house resembled a Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) student digs inhabited by Islamist group. fighters. Bedding was strewn on Since last weekend the army has the floor and dirty teacups stacked b e e n e n g a g e d i n a b l o o d y in a corner. One young fighter offensive pitting 30,000 soldiers said his prayers while bending against an estimated 10,000 over a gleaming pistol. Others Taliban and al-Qaida fighters. joshed loudly and wrestled with T h a n k s t o w h a t t h e a r m y each other. describes as "understandings" Outside, a teenager clutching a with rival groups, mostly Mehsud r i f l e m a n n e d a t h o r n - b u s h t r i b a l e n e m i e s , t h e T T P ' s barricade at the end of the street. Security was tight, with good reason. Last June the group's leader, Qari Zainuddin Mehsud, a charismatic young leader who had dared oppose the TTP, was gunned down in his bedroom by one of his own guards. The killer was in the pay of the TTP's leader, Baitullah Mehsud, who in turn was killed in a US drone strike six weeks later. The new leader of the Abdullah Mehsud Group, Zainuddin's brother Misbahuddin, welcomed the Guardian into his office – a cramped bedroom where he sat on the bed. He offered soda in steel goblets and parried calls on a phone with a loud Qur'anic ring tone. But after pleasantries he declined to be interviewed. "First you must convert to Islam," he said, apparently only halfjokingly, and referred all questions to a spokesman, Saifullah Mehsud. The group's role, Saifullah said, was to assist the army in sealing off the southern borders of South Waziristan and prevent Taliban fighters from escaping from the area. He predicted a bitter fight in the coming weeks. "The Taliban have built caves and bunkers. And they are very mobile, they don't stay in one place," he said. Once the army gave the order the group, he said, would wade into the action. "We are just waiting for the government to give us the go-ahead." He claimed that 80% of the Mehsud tribe was behind them. "Everyone is against the brutality of Hakimullah," he said, referring to the ruthless commander who took over after Baitullah. Local politicians and tribal journalists suggest the group's support is much smaller than it claims. But in recent weeks, they say, it has played a vital role in the arrest of dozens of suspected Taliban sympathisers and sectarian extremists in Dera Ismail Khan and Tank, a town near South Waziristan. Some subjects, at this interview, were off-limits. Saifullah said he would not discuss America, alQaida or the war in Afghanistan. The group's views on these issues are an embarrassment to their government sponsors. In previous interviews Misbahuddin had voiced support for the violence against western troops in Afghanistan, and embraced alQaida's vision of a global Islamic caliphate. The contradictions highlight the clashing priorities of Pakistan and its western allies in the swelling war in the tribal belt. While western countries want to eliminate Taliban and al-Qaida safe havens, Pakistan's priority is to stop violence at home while maintaining links with a crossborder insurgency that keeps the influence of its arch-rival, India, at bay. But for now, western countries have muted their criticism of the alliances, fearful of the consequences if nuclear-armed Pakistan is not stabilised quickly. Earlier this week a state department spokesman said it was a matter for Pakistan to decide upon. The greater danger is that the Taliban deal-making could backfire. There is a precedent. Between 2004 and 2006 the army struck three peace deals with the Taliban in Waziristan that failed and allowed the militant movement to grow. A separate agreement with the Taliban in Swat last February collapsed within weeks, presaging a sweeping summer offensive by the military. Yet this time, the government "has no option" but to make deals, according to Riffat Hussain, a lecturer in defence studies at Islamabad's Quaid-i-Azam university. The danger, he warned, was that one of the powerful Taliban players, such as Bahadur or Nazir, could switch sides again, and instantly expose the army to a much bigger battle in Waziristan. "That is the nightmare scenario," he concluded. Waziristan who's who Although Hakimullah Mehsud's Tehrik-I-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is the most notorious Taliban outfit in Waziristan, several other groups are equally important to the west. The non-Mehsud areas of South Waziristan are controlled by Maulvi Nazir, a rugged jihadi veteran from the rival Wazir tribe. Nazir holds key territory including the main town, Wana. He is a major source of militants crossing into Afghanistan to attack western soldiers. US drone strikes have frequently targeted his network. The major figure in North Waziristan is Hafiz Gul Bahadur, said to be a descendant of the Faqir of Ipi, a cleric who fought the British in the 1940s. From the minority Daur tribe, Bahadur is allied with the feared Afghan warlord Sirajuddin Haqqani. Senior al-Qaida figures are sheltering on his turf. Although previously allied with the TTP, ISLAMISTS page 7

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Tunisia's 23rd year of democracy
By Ian Black (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
Opposition candidate Néjib Chebbi of the Democratic Progressive party dropped out of the race because of "the absence Submitted at 10/22/2009 6:40:25 AM of minimal conditions of freedom, President Zine El Abidine Ben of honesty and transparency". Ali assured of winning fifth term Ben Ali has been in power since this weekend as Tunisia cements 1987 when President Habib reputation for stability – and Bourguiba, leader of the struggle repression against French colonialism, was Tunisians who dare to publicly declared senile and unfit to rule. criticise their veteran president, One of his first statements after Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, often entering office was to pledge that quip that he should really be he would never be a president for named Ben "à vie" – for life – l i f e . T h e c o n s t i t u t i o n w a s because after 22 years he looks rewritten in 2002 to allow him to like staying in power for as long begin a fourth term, which he won as he possibly can. with an impressive 94% of the This Sunday's presidential vote in 2004. election is set to give the former Ben Ali is now 73, so unless he soldier a fifth five-year term in tweaks the constitution again, this office and bolster his ranking should be his final term, as the among Arab leaders – including upper age limit is 75. Unlike with Maghreb neighbours Muammar Mubarak and Gadafy, direct Gaddafi in Libya (40 years) and dynastic succession does not seem Egypt's Hosni Mubarak (a mere to be an option, though the 28). president's second wife, the Europeans tend to see Tunisia as shopaholic Leila Trabelsi, and his a l a n d o f g o l d e n b e a c h e s , son-in-law, Mohamed Sakhr couscous and Roman ruins. It is Matri, both play significant politically and economically political roles. stable, secular and boasts high Maghreb region expert George levels of equality between men Joffe describes Tunisia on the eve and women. Its much-vaunted of the election as "the most d e m o c r a c y t h o u g h , i s moderate and modernist state circumscribed. Even in the Arab within the north African region, world, where there is no shortage [ w h i c h ] h a s m o v e d f r o m of repression, it is considered one c h a r i s m a t i c p r e s i d e n t i a l of the most repressive regimes of l e a d e r s h i p t o a f o r m o f them all: internet and other media bureaucratic autocracy which controls are especially strict. seems to be increasingly marked Virtually all observers agree by corruption." Exiled opposition that the elections, for parliament journalist Taoufik Ben Brik likens as well as the presidency, can be Ben Ali more bluntly to a Mafia no more than a hollow exercise. godfather. Tunisia does have aspects of pluralism. Nine parties are competing in the parliamentary election, six of them progovernment. But the system is structured to guarantee the hegemony of Ben Ali's Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD). Rules governing presidential candidates similarly give an appearance of choice. But the reality is that there is only one serious challenger, Ahmed Brahim, of the Renewal Movement, the former Tunisian Communist party. Brahim calls for "a break from authoritarianism, nepotism, and inequalities in the division of wealth". But the party's newspaper has been confiscated and campaign workers harassed, while Brahim has been ignored by the audio-visual media, which is monopolised by the state. Ben Ali has been lucky in his neighbours. Libya (coming in from the cold) and Algeria (gas and oil, legacy of the civil war, alQaida) attract far more attention from the US and Europe, for whom in all cases stability is considered preferable to the uncertainties of a more genuine democracy. Apart from in France, with which Tunisia has a special (and protective) relationship, the western media pays it lamentably little attention. Intimidation of the press is normal. The Le Monde correspondent sent to cover the election was turned back at the airport this week. Official heated debate, editors from the magazine discuss the story behind the story. Tunisian media have been campaigning against al-Jazeera TV since it aired interviews with leading dissidents. Last month the democratically elected journalists' union faced a court-backed takeover. Human-rights activists are the target of constant government repression, detained without charge, subjected to travel restrictions and surveillance. As with Mubarak and even Gadafy, part of Ben Ali's dubious appeal is that he has proved a bulwark against Islamists and been an ally in the US "war on terror". The Tunisian was the first Arab leader to visit Washington after President Bush's "forward strategy of freedom" speech after the Iraq war but he flew home to business as usual. Barack Obama's clarion call for change in his Cairo speech in June has been ignored in Tunis. But neither has there been any pressure from Washington to encourage it to behave any differently. So will this election be Ben Ali's last hurrah? "I would like to do better than Bourguiba," Ben Brik has him saying in a spoof interview."He managed 32 years and I'm only in my 22nd." • Tunisia • Middle East Ian Black guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

ISLAMISTS continued from page 6
both Nazir and Bahadur have agreed to allow Pakistani supply convoys pass unimpeded through their territory for now. The army's third ally in the region is Turkistan Bhittani, a small-time warlord with a grudge against the TTP leadership. • Pakistan • Taliban • Afghanistan Declan Walsh guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Three Mile Pilot's SciFi Art-Rock Readies for Relaunch
By Scott Thill (Wired Top Stories)
Submitted at 10/21/2009 2:09:00 PM

Pinback, Systems Officer and The Black Heart Procession rose from the ashes of the ambitious '90s band. Now the members of Three Mile Pilot are joining forces once again to continue their musical experiment.

5 Things That Make Us Want Barnes & Noble's Nook E-Reader
By Priya Ganapati (Wired Top Stories)
Submitted at 10/21/2009 2:02:00 PM

Storyboard: Get Inside the 'Epidemic of Fear' About Vaccines
By Mario Aguilar (Wired Top Stories)
As Wired's November cover story about anti-vaccination conspiracy theories stirs up a

We list five features that makes us want Barnes & Noble's newly launched $260 Nook e-reader more than its competitors.

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US jails former junior IRA man
By Henry McDonald (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 3:43:01 AM

Seán O'Neill concealed former republican membership for almost 30 years as he amassed $13m fortune An Irish multi-millionaire businessman has been sentenced to 18 months in prison in the US for tax and immigration fraud after his secret republican past caught up with him. For almost three decades Seán O'Neill concealed his former membership of the junior IRA – Fianna Éireann – when he settled in Philadelphia and established a business empire. In 1977 O'Neill was convicted of membership of the IRA's youth wing but fled to the US, where he lied about his past terrorist links. But the County Tyrone man's past caught up with him in 2006 when American police raided his house after his 17-year-old son accidentally shot dead a friend during an underage party. They uncovered evidence that O'Neill had lied to authorities so he could stay in the US. They also discovered that he possessed an illegal gun silencer and had committed tax fraud. In April, he reached a plea agreement with prosecutors that saw him admit five counts

relating to the offences. In a sentencing memo this week, prosecutors argued that O'Neill lived in the US illegally for many years and amassed a fortune of $13m (£7m) that enabled him to buy 17 properties, a personal helicopter and a number of top-range sports cars. His past only came to light in 2006 when, while he and his wife, Eileen, were away, his son Seán Jnr threw a party. A drunken shooting game resulted in the accidental death of one of his friends and a subsequent police raid on the house. While awaiting trial, another of O'Neill's children got in trouble with the law. His daughter Róisín, 23, was charged with drinkdriving after an incident in which a 63-year-old woman was killed. She pleaded guilty and is due to be sentenced in November. O'Neill's lawyers portray their client as a loving father and a philanthropic community member. They claimed that banishment to Northern Ireland would be a sufficient penalty. But prosecutors argued that O'Neill displayed a "disregard for the laws of this country and an arrogance about his entitlement to be exempt from those laws". In a sentencing memo, they claimed: "He built his life here in the United States on a series of

critical lies, and his pattern of lying continued throughout his life. "The defendant entered into a sham marriage in order to obtain his green card and also lied about his numerous prior arrests, claiming he had never been arrested before. "He has amassed a fortune here, possessing assets over $13m, yet for many years he has failed to pay his fair share of taxes in the country which allowed him this opportunity to succeed. "The defendant, who has wealth beyond the wildest dreams of most people, did not pay his fair share, and in so doing, caused others to likewise cheat." Following sentencing, O'Neill was ordered to report to prison on 5 January. In addition to the prison term, district judge William Yohn ordered the millionaire to pay $392,593 in back tax, a fine of $60,000 and a $500 special assessment fee. • United States • Northern Ireland • Immigration and asylum Henry McDonald guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

U.K. Banking Row: Brown vs. King
(Financial Sector and Stocks Analysis from Seeking Alpha)
The Prime Minister added that "the cause of the problem is that banks have been insufficiently Submitted at 10/22/2009 6:20:38 AM regulated at a global level." Gee, you'd think that, having ... brought the late, great U.K. Governments in the UK and US housing bubble back to life, Prime have tacitly ruled out splitting up Minister Gordon Brown and Bank the biggest banks and opted of England Governor Mervyn instead to scrutinise them more King would be patting each other actively. on the back. Apparently not. In a speech in Edinburgh, the Here's Mervyn King in a Governor said "It is in our sobering speech from Tuesday collective interest to reduce the night where he rails against "too d e p e n d e n c e o f s o m a n y big to fail" and the dangerous mix households and businesses on so o f c o m m e r c i a l b a n k s a n d few institutions that engage in so investment banks under the same many risky activities. The case for roof. a serious review of how the King describes the basic banking industry is structured and problem as"Never in the field of regulated is strong." financial endeavor has so much George Osborne, the shadow money been owed by so few to so chancellor, described Mr King's many", a condition that also exists a n a l y s i s a s " p o w e r f u l a n d in the U.S. persuasive”. Mr. King has an ally Gordon Brown doesn't seem to in Paul Volcker. However, neither see things the same way in a seems to be having much success dangerous, Larry Summers sort of spurring legislators to action, way as detailed in this story in the outgunned by lobbyists, on this Telegraph. side of the Atlantic at least. Mr Brown told MPs that"the This content has passed through difference between having a retail fivefilters.org. and investment bank is not the cause of the problem."

Open ye 27-inch iMacs while ye may
By John Biggs (CrunchGear)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 7:29:24 AM

Obviously the biggest issue here is removing the massive piece of glass on the front, a process that iFixit has torn up the new iMac requires a spunger, suction cups, to reveal the delicate inner and a sense that life is futile and workings of both the machine and electronics should be destroyed on audience. its attendant Magic Mouse. camera for the edification of an The Magic Mouse teardown

shows us that the mouse is covered in one big touchscreen – not huge news – but it also seems that the case is translucent. The iMac teardown is equally exciting with pictures of the iMac spread out against a lightbox like

a patient etherized on a table. Fun stuff.

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Karadzic threatens to boycott trial
(World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
maximum sentence of life imprisonment if convicted. In his six-page letter, Karadzic tells judges assigned to his trial he Submitted at 10/22/2009 3:19:28 AM is not ready and "therefore I shall Former Bosnian Serb leader tells not appear before you on that judges at UN court he's not ready date". for 'most important' case ever Karadzic is defending himself. before Hague tribunal If he refuses to attend his trial, the R a d o v a n K a r a d z i c h a s judges may appoint a defence threatened to boycott his genocide lawyer – something Karadzic is trial at the Yugoslav war crimes unlikely to accept. tribunal, saying in a letter released A spokeswoman for the today that he needs more time to p r o s e c u t i o n , O l g a K a v r a n , prepare. declined to speculate on what may The former Bosnian Serb leader happen next. said in the letter to judges at the "It is up to the judges to UN court he should have been determine what to do," Kavran given two years to get ready for said. "The prosecution is ready for the "gigantic" case. the trial." "The biggest, most complex, Nerma Jelacic, a spokeswoman important and sensitive case ever for the court's registry, said in a before this tribunal is about to statement that "at the moment b e g i n w i t h o u t p r o p e r there is no indication that the p r e p a r a t i o n , " h e w r o t e . procedure will not go ahead as Karadzic is scheduled to go on scheduled". trial on Monday on 11 counts of Jelacic said it is possible for the genocide and war crimes for trial to go ahead on Monday even masterminding Serb atrocities if Karadzic remains in his cell at during the 1992-95 Bosnian war the court's detention unit in a when an estimated 100,000 seaside neighbourhood of The people were killed. Hague. Prosecutors are scheduled He is accused of orchestrating to make opening statements for c r i m e s i n c l u d i n g t h e 1 9 9 5 the first two days of the case. massacre of 8,000 Muslim men in The 64-year-old was arrested in the UN-protected Srebrenica July last year on a Belgrade bus enclave and the deadly campaign while disguised as a new age of shelling and sniping during the healer. siege of Sarajevo. He faces a He has repeatedly requested more time to prepare, accusing prosecutors of burying him under an avalanche of documents and other evidence. However, judges say he has had enough time, and the court's appeals chamber agreed earlier this month, clearing the way for his trial to start. Prosecutors say they will take about a year to present their case and Karadzic has been given the same amount of time to mount his defence. Karadzic would not be the first former leader to boycott the start of his war crimes trial. In June 2007, former Liberian president Charles Taylor stayed in his cell and fired his attorneys on the opening day of his trial on charges of allegedly orchestrating atrocities in neighbouring Sierra Leone. Taylor's trial was held up for months before resuming with Taylor present and a new lawyer leading his defence. • Radovan Karadzic • War crimes • United Nations • Bosnia and Herzegovina • Serbia guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Cramer on BloggingStocks: Great stocks at better prices
By Jim Cramer (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 10:00:00 AM

Canon's S90 Sports Pro-Level Features Aimed at Serious Shooters
By Mark McClusky (Wired Top Stories)
Submitted at 10/21/2009 2:00:00 PM

shoot cam we've seen all year? Try an extremely fast lens, totalitarian control over your shots and an innovative control ring.

Filed under: 3M Corporation (MMM), S and P 500, DJIA, Cramer on BloggingStocks, Travelers Companies Inc. (TRV) TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says that as long as we're trapped in a commoditized stock market, use the futures to go bargainhunting. What if individual stocks want to go up, but the market wants to go down? Don't laugh. In 1982, when The Kansas City Board of Trade started trading Value Line futures (before there were S&P futures), we used to kick around in securities classes what would happen if eventually stocks became so commoditized that individual companies couldn't be removed from the gravitational pull. For example, we know today looks like a terrible day, with Europe down horribly and our futures real soggy. But then we look and see that J. Crew(NYSE: JCG) ( Cramer's Take), one of the best retailers, is not just saying that the fall season is good; it is saying it is blowout beyond imagination. The big Dow stock 3M(NYSE: MMM) ( Cramer's Take) is not just saying that things

are getting better; it is showing that business is very strong. The monster insurer and fellow Dow stock Travelers(NYSE: TRV) ( Cramer's Take) is boosting the dividend and showing you how a responsible financial can behave. Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Great stocks at better prices Cramer on BloggingStocks: Great stocks at better prices originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

What makes the best point-and-

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The Truth in Lessig's Critique of Transparency
(Financial Sector and Stocks Analysis from Seeking Alpha)
help the public better judge his or her actions? Does it encourage the politician to behave more justly, Submitted at 10/22/2009 5:40:13 AM knowing others will see his or her Lawrence Lessig's recent breakfast meeting took two hours thought-provoking article in the instead of one last Thursday? New Republic challenges the Lessig worries that more assumption that more sunlight is information disclosure can have always a better disinfectant for t h e p e r n i c i o u s u n i n t e n d e d corruption and bad behavior than consequence of making market less. actors believe that they don't have Although his primary focus is t o w o r r y a b o u t p a r t i c u l a r on how more transparency doesn't problems because they have been always lead to better political disclosed. outcomes, there are obvious Yet, more of a data dump implications of his argument to doesn't mean that the data will be the world of corporate governance p r o c e s s e d a n d a c t e d u p o n and executive compensation. correctly. In fact, more data The critique, entitled "Against dumps -- especially in areas like Transparency: The perils of corporate governance that aren't openness in government," offers a well-understood -- probably make partial explanation of why, even it less likely that bad behavior will after Enron and Worldcom when be singled out than many would everyone agreed that corporate assume. boards screwed up in overseeing Lessig is not arguing against their companies, boards failed transparency in favor of us again in the recent mortgage returning to the crony capitalism bubble. It also suggests what must world of back-room deals and change now to finally improve Russia-style payoffs. He is c o r p o r a t e g o v e r n a n c e a n d arguing against a Pollyanna-ish executive compensation. view of the benefits of "naked Lessig's argument is that it's transparency." Anyone in favor of become accepted wisdom on both better corporate governance and sides of the political aisle in aligned executive compensation r e c e n t y e a r s t h a t m o r e with performance would be an transparency is always better. ostrich not to critically review And, in an age of super-computers Lessig's article and think about its and ubiquitous access of the Web, implications. it has become easier than ever to The world of corporate make data available. governance is not well-understood The assumption many make is by the public or general business that making information available journalists. Who but general will curb bad behavior before it counsels and governance wonks happens, because the actors will really understand how corporate know they are subject to being by-laws, board selection, and called out. governance-related disclosures in Lessig challenges this by using SEC filings work? the example of publishing a There are relatively few people politician's calendar online. Does around to actually challenge this level of information really governance matters in companies -- and a majority of them are already working as general counsels at companies protecting them from criticism. In terms of more data not always being better, think of the Securities and Exchange Commission's landmark decision in the early 1990s to require companies to disclose executive compensation. As Lessig points out, instead of resulting in shame keeping a tamper on things, more transparency has inspired jealousy and creativity from compensation consultants and tax attorneys, further accelerating the stratospheric climb of executive compensation. You can't put toothpaste back in the tube. Transparency and disclosure are here to stay and they certainly do help keep bad behavior in check. But, clearly, some changes need to occur as bad corporate behavior continues apace. If you think general business journalists will save us, keep waiting. Lessig points out that one of the effects of the decline of mainstream media's traditional revenue sources has been the elimination of investigative reporting. Less than 10% of large U.S. newspapers employ four or more investigative reporters -- and of those, it's likely scant few of those reporters have any background in corporate governance or executive compensation to be able to take on this topic. Forty percent of large newspapers have no investigative reporters. If not journalists, who could challenge corporate governance and executive compensation transgressions? Institutional shareholders will only speak to companies privately and on a limited basis. Retail shareholders don't have the time, inclination, or expertise to do this regularly. Research analysts want to curry favor with management. Employees want to keep their jobs. I actually believe it is the proxy advisory firms (like RiskMetrics( RMG), Proxy Governance and Glass Lewis) and credit ratings agencies (like Moody's( MCO) and Standard & Poor's, a subsidiary of McGraw Hill( MHP) that are best positioned to play this role. However, to do so effectively, they would have to eliminate conflicts of interest in their own firms. RiskMetrics, formerly ISS, is the market leader in the proxy advisory space. Many institutional investors use RiskMetrics or other proxy advisory firms as cover for how they vote their proxies. If the pensioners for XYZ pension fund ever raised hell that their fund voted in favor of re-electing a board of directors for a future Enron or Lehman, the fund can blame RiskMetrics for telling them to do so. RiskMetrics happily accepts these fees for being investors' most preferred scapegoat. The problem here is that RiskMetrics has its fingers in too many pies. They sell consulting services to public companies to tell them how to improve their internal practices (and presumably be viewed in a better light at proxy voting time). They also have started selling corporate governance ratings tools to companies and investors to better understand how to improve their corporate governance practices. Companies will sometimes tout in press releases how the RiskMetrics Corporate Governance Quotient tool assigned them a 95% rating on corporate governance. They'll later complain if the proxy advisory side of RiskMetrics recommends against some or all of the board at a future meeting. Others have complained that RiskMetrics' unchallenged clout leads to unfair judgments. One activist investor involved in a battle at a small-cap Canadian company recounted how he was given 15 minutes to brief a 20something analyst from RiskMetrics at 4:30 p.m. on a Friday before a long weekend. RiskMetrics came out the next week in favor of the incumbent board, despite many good reasons for withholding votes. On the other side, one corporate director recently complained to me that Glass Lewis had recommended against his reelection based on his age and that he served on too many boards -even though the majority of his other boards were subsidiaries of his main board. He claimed that they didn't require substantial additional time demands of him. "I was never contacted by them before they made their recommendation and I have no idea who I call to complain now," he said. The simple solution here for the proxy advisors is to break up the consulting services from the ratings services, so there is no conflict. Ensuring there is sufficient competition will also help them keep their quality up. The problems of credit ratings agencies' poor ratings and a payTRUTH page 12

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Commercial Real Estate: The Gathering Storm
(Financial Sector and Stocks Analysis from Seeking Alpha)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 6:21:22 AM

Commercial real estate is a house a cards about to collapse on multiple fronts for deeply structural reasons. Correspondent Thomas H.submitted this fascinating story:'Pop-up' stores are becoming an overnight sensation.( Los Angeles Times) The basic idea is that retailers are not signing 5year leases anymore--they're signing 20-day leases for 'pop-up' stores which have the lifespan of an insect and low costs for retailers seeking to unload discounted inventory in a hurry. The model has been wellestablished with "holiday theme stores"--retail operations which sell goods aimed at a specific holiday such as Halloween for a few weeks prior to the holiday. (Never mind that the Halloween frippery is massively overpriced-doesn't anyone make their own costumes any more?) The real surprise is major retailers such as The Gap ( GPS) and Toys R Us are using the "popup" model: These quickie retail operations - known as pop-ups -- are showing up throughout Southern California and around the nation, filling in the gaps at recessionbattered shopping centers for a fraction of the regular rents. Once limited to seasonal shops and dusty liquidation centers, pop -up stores are now being opened by some of the nation's biggest retailers. It's a trend that could reshape the nation's retail landscape if it continues, diminishing the power of commercial landlords and

making it easier for merchants to test new locations and products with little commitment. Gap Inc. recently opened a popup shop on trendy Robertson Boulevard to promote its new premium denim line; celebrities including Halle Berry and Ashlee Simpson-Wentz turned out to the

shop's launch party. Toys R Us Inc. is setting up about 80 temporary toy shops nationwide, including several at upscale malls previously unavailable to the chain. J.C. Penney Co. touted its back-to-school offerings through interactive pop-up displays in half a dozen Southern California

malls. The end of the recession, he predicted, would not necessarily bring an end to the model. Uh, what "end of the recession"? Just in case retailers didn't get the message: Mad as hell, consumers dump credit cards; Balances tumble as fury

toward issuers swells. Credit-card debt dropped the most, falling 13.1%, or $9.91 billion, to $899.41 billion. It was the 11th uninterrupted month of declines, the longest on record. See full story. With unemployment at a 26year high of 9.8%, many consumers have no choice but to tighten their belts. But more and more, consumers are closing their own accounts and choosing not to use credit cards because they're just plain angry. "There's an enormous amount of backlash against the banks," said Dennis Moroney, research director at Tower Group. "It's like in the movie 'Network,' people are saying, 'I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore.'" Credit-card holders are so irritated that 32% of them told Consumer Reports in a recent survey that they have paid off or closed a card in the last 18 months. Half of those who canceled did so because they were peeved by recent actions creditcard issuers took, such as cutting limits, hiking interest rates, jacking up fees or imposing new charges. At the risk of being tiresome, let's go over the foundation of the U.S. economy once more: • Consumer spending is 70% of GDP. • Expanding credit and borrowing are the lifeblood of consumer spending. • Consumer collateral (housing, income, stock portfolios, etc.) has been gutted, greatly diminishing the foundation of future borrowing. • Banks are functionally COMMERCIAL page 13

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Julian Robertson Likes Mastercard, Visa, Intel and Google Stock
(Financial Sector and Stocks Analysis from Seeking Alpha)
on massive money printing and an inflationary environment. Robertson believes the Fed’s Submitted at 10/22/2009 6:38:43 AM money printing is likely to cause Julian Robertson is the former rampant inflation and could head of Tiger Management Corp., eventually force the Chinese and one of the first hedge funds. He is Japanese to stop purchasing longbest known for turning $8MM in dated treasuries. He thinks interest seed capital into $22B at the peak rates could skyrocket as high as of his company’s existence in 15-20%. 1998. Ironically, his refusal to buy As of late last year Robertson into the tech bubble proved to be h a d i m p l e m e n t e d a c u r v e the cause of his downfall. He was steepener trade to benefit from of course, ultimately proven right. falling short-term rates and rising Today, he spends his billions in long-term rates, but has recently philanthropic efforts. switched to a curve caps trade as Robertson made waves in a late short-term rates obviously can’t 2007 when he called for a “doozy fall any further. Without getting of a recession”. At the time, it into the gory details, Robertson is seemed like a rather shocking essentially buying puts on long statement as the slow-down in the bonds via swaps. Robertson economy appeared to be relatively details the transition: benign. We all know what The curve steepener was a happened next. Robertson had measurement of the differential shorted CDS and sub-prime between short and long term rates securities and made millions in and we figured short term rates the downturn. Robertson was would go down and long term unfazed by the downturn as he rates would go up. We didn’t do then turned bullish on certain well on the long term part, but the equities and was a dip buyer in short term part worked out so well late 2008 and early 2009. He has that actually we made a little proven prescient throughout his money on the trade. Short term career and the last few years are rates are nothing, so they can’t nothing more than the cherry on really go below nothing. We’ve top. shifted the curve steepeners, In a recent interview with the which are basically long-term puts Financial Times he outlined his on long-term bonds… highly current outlook. Roberton’s leveraged and they’re like puts in overall macro theme is not unlike that you know what your risk is, trades we highlighted in last it’s measured by what you paid week’s edition of the Guru for the put. I think (long term Outlook which were largely based rates) can go to 15, 20%…. Although he is effectively betting on inflation, Robertson, curiously, does not like gold. He recently referred to gold bugs as “crazy” and likes the bond short better than the gold long. Of course, David Einhorn and John Paulson would take issue with his stance. Robertson is highly critical of the current monetary policy: I ask anyone to give me an example of an economy beefed up by huge amounts of quantitative easing that did not inflate tremendously when or if the economy improved. I think what we’re doing now will either fail, or it will result in unbelievably high inflation – and tragically, maybe both. That would mean a depression and explosive inflation, which is frightening. At this week’s Value Investing Congress, Robertson highlighted some of his favorite positions. Robertson likes Mastercard ( MA) and Visa ( V) likely as a continued play on mounting U.S. private debt. He also likes certain tech names including Intel ( INTC) and Google ( GOOG) which he described as good value plays. He also detailed some other micro and macro positions in the FT interview (he does not necessarily own the following positions, however): Long: • Apple ( AAPL) • Gold Stocks • Goldman Sachs • Aussie Dollar Short: • $US Dollar • Copper As for the macro outlook – Robertson believes we have simply kicked the can down the road. He sees some relief in the economy in the medium term, but still believes we are bogged down by all of the same problems that caused the financial crisis to begin with: I really do think the recession is at least temporarily over. But we haven’t addressed so many of our problems and we are borrowing so much money that we can’t possibly pay it back, unless the Chinese and Japanese buy our bonds. Despite his mild bullishness on certain sectors and names Roberton’s long-term outlook is none too uplifting: we’ve got to face this problem of the major purchaser of our bonds maybe not being around later, maybe not being around to bail us out, and I think that’s something we have to look at seriously. And because there is such a serious problem for us, that causes me to probably be missing out on a lot of the profitability that is inherent in today’s stock market. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

TRUTH 10 continued from page
to-play business model are welldocumented. Yet, these groups have the infrastructure, reputations, and could build up the expertise in corporate governance to level judgments against companies. Like proxy advisory firms, market actors would pay attention to their views if they could get their house in order. Some will advocate for a government agency to bridge the gap here on being a domain expert overseer on topics like corporate governance and executive compensation. However, Ken Feinberg's tenure as pay czar -however well-intentioned -makes me skeptical that such a solution could really be effective in the long-run. Those of us in favor of better corporate governance and tighter links between executive pay and performance need to see the truth in Lessig's critique of transparency. More data dumps into the backs of SEC filings won't fix anything. We need domain experts looking at every board, every deal, and every potential transgression, rendering judgments. Fixing the proxy advisory and credit ratings firms is the best way of doing that. Disclosure: At the time of publication, Jackson did not have any positions in the equities mentioned. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Fierce Fashions: Black is the New Black at the 2009 Angel Ball!
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 3:02:00 AM

Black is back! Howard Stern, their best all-black ensembles for Blake Lively, Jennifer Hudson, Denise Rich's 2009 Angel Ball at Bar Refaeli and more all donned Cipriani Wall Street in NYC.

Take a look at the sizzlin' celebs who donned dark styles, as well as the other stars who dared to

break from the all-black trend!

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COMMERCIAL continued from page 11
insolvent and are not lending as they did during the bubble boom. • Millions of Baby Boomers have realized that their current assets and savings enable a retirement in: A. a sturdy cardboard box B. a camper/20-year old RV on "The Slabs" (or equivalent) C. Aunt Matilda's house if Auntie has the good grace to croak off fairly soon. Thus this is no "dip in consumer spending"--it is a generational sea change with no end in sight. Not only are consumers increasingly unable to borrow or unwilling to do so, but much of the overbuilt retail sector sells items which are superfluous (and that's the polite description). I have prepared a graphic depiction of the earthier truth: It's not just retail that is doomed, of course; the hotel/hospitality sector is massively overbuilt and overleveraged. Everyone, it seemed, was chasing the "luxury" and business traveler. Now that the cold wind of reality is rising, owners are discovering that the hotel they bought for $250 million with a $230 million mortgage is worth about half that amount--at best: Hawaii Hotels Face Fewer Visitors, More Debt. As for commercial office space-ponder this data point. It was recently announced that Internet darling Twitter leased more space in San Francisco as it was expanding its 30-person staff to maybe as high as--gasp!--100. Let's follow that to its conclusion: the "hot headline" tech companies have vanishingly few employees, and a significant majority of them can work partly from home or from some other remote location. They don't need a cubicle or a conference room or an office at all. Even mighty Google ( GOOG) employs about 16,000 people globally--perhaps a tenth of a major industrial company like GE and not much more than the student populace of a moderatesized state university. And many of these people can work remotely as well. The truth is you don't need huge office towers for the new economy. As for smaller space--please see End of Work, End of Affluence III: The Rise of Informal Businesses (December 10, 2008) and Trends for 2009: The Rise of Informal Work (December 30, 2008). Thousands of small businesses can be operated out of home offices and garages, and the work done at clients/customers' homes. We can summarize the commercial real estate market graphically: This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Microsoft now in bed with Twitter
By Tom Johansmeyer (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 9:00:00 AM

Filed under: Internet, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Media World, Technology It's tough to take on Google(NASDAQ: GOOG). The search engine behemoth owns 65% of the U.S. search market and has a commanding brand presence. Yet, the software maker up the coast isn't known to give up easily. Microsoft(NASDAQ: MSFT) has cut a deal with microblogging site Twitter that should give it an edge in the battle to harness data and make it easier to find. A new deal will feed all those tweets into Bing, the Microsoft search engine. Twitter is giving Microsoft full access to its data, in a deal

announced Wednesday. Bing will provide search functionality for Twitter that you won't find in Google, which seems to have been outbid for the rights to the "tweet-stream." Under the deal, Bing will be able to index and display the tweets almost immediately as they are posted. Continue reading Microsoft now in bed with Twitter Microsoft now in bed with Twitter originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

AMR: Q3 could have been worse; AirTran solid
By Tom Johansmeyer (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 9:40:00 AM

Filed under: Earnings reports, AMR Corp (AMR) American Airlines had yet another difficult quarter, not unexpected in what has become an incredibly deep travel slump. The carrier's parent company, AMR Corp.(NYSE: AMR), reported a third quarter loss of $359 million, largely because there aren't as many business

travelers taking to the skies. Corporate travel budgets in all industries are having an effect on all airlines, including AMR. Revenue plunged 20.2% yearover-year for the third quarter for the nation's second airline. The loss comes after a $31 million gain last year. This quarter's losses would have been slightly better if write-downs for sold or grounded aircraft were excluded - write-downs, revenue clocked in - the loss would have been $265 at $5.13 billion. Cheaper fuel million (93 cents a share) on made the quarter a little easier for revenue of $5.09 billion. With the

AMR to bear, as well, with this expense down 47% year-overyear. Continue reading AMR: Q3 could have been worse; AirTran solid AMR: Q3 could have been worse; AirTran solid originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

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eBay sees declines in profit and operating margin in Q3
By Steven Mallas (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 8:30:00 AM

Filed under: Earnings reports, Internet, Yahoo! (YHOO), eBay (EBAY), Amazon.com (AMZN), Technology Online auction giant eBay(NASDAQ: EBAY), a business that counts Amazon(NASDAQ: AMZN) and Yahoo!(NASDAQ: YHOO) as related companies, was not popular in Wednesday's afterhours session. The third-quarter report just didn't do it for Wall Street, so Wall Street decided to make some trouble and bring the per-share price of the stock down by 4.5%. Oh sure, the company beat earnings by the most famous amount there is -- the proverbial penny -- but, according to this Bloomberg piece, guidance was not so inspiring. The top line was actually pretty cool. Net sales saw an increase of

Ballmer on the Smartphone Race: "It Doesn't Matter What the Critics Say" [Ballmer Interview]
6%. Unfortunately, the bottom line couldn't take advantage of such growth. On an adjusted basis, net income dropped 16% to 38 cents per diluted share. And, as I just said, that was one penny ahead of the analysts. Continue reading eBay sees declines in profit and operating margin in Q3 eBay sees declines in profit and operating margin in Q3 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

By Wilson Rothman (Gizmodo)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 7:00:00 AM

(running 6.5) can do now. And faced with competition of iPhone, BlackBerry and others, he In this segment of my exclusive contends it's currently "kind of a interview series with Microsoft horse race." The only clear leader, boss Steve Ballmer, I brought up market-share wise, is Nokia, and the sore subject of Windows they're losing ground. When I said Mobile 6.5. After defending it, he that Nokia was another developer cited another product that did well currently lambasted by reviewers, but suffers mounting criticism: Ballmer replied: Nokia smartphones. At the end of the day, it doesn't As you can see in the video, really matter what the critics say, B a l l m e r a c k n o w l e d g e s t h a t it matters what the customers say. Windows Mobile 6.5 is receiving Perhaps given the power of negative reviews, but I never get advertising (still mighty, even if him to actually admit that the it's on the decline), there may still platform still needs work. He be a way for a product to get says, "reviews aside," he's happy positive sales despite negative with what Windows Phones reviews. But the internet has

changed that landscape, and the lines between critic and customer blur more every day. We all share knowledge in order to make better choices. So who, in the end, is this customer, who is so different from the critic? Not anyone who reads Gizmodo, that's for sure. Stay tuned for more exciting Ballmer moments (and facial expressions) over the next day, and then the full uncut interview video on Friday. Steve Ballmer Exclusive Interview Series: Part 1: Ballmer Talks Natal, Says Blu-ray Add-On for Xbox Coming

Panasonic's 1-inch thick Z1 plasma reviewed: playing with perfection
By Darren Murph (Engadget)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 9:56:00 AM

The plasma may be a dying breed, but the ones that are left are undoubtedly some of the best the world has ever seen. Take Panasonic's 54-inch TC-P54Z1 for example, which wowed audiences (us included) when it was first unveiled way back at CES. The HD Guru recently had

an opportunity to take this very screen into his abode for review, and after a labor-intensive (around "one hour") setup process, the gazing was officially on. Panny's engineers were able to slim the set down to an inch by requiring that a dedicated (wireless) set-top-box be used for tuning OTA channels and managing connections, and north of five large really buys in the result was nothing less than an HDTV these days, wonder no elegant. If you're wondering what

more -- the set was deemed darn near perfect, with "outstanding" color, contrast and deep black levels. Potentially best of all, there were no motion artifacts to speak of, and anyone with a 120Hz / 240Hz set can testify to just how annoying those things are. Hit the read link for a detailed unboxing, setup and review, but don't even bother if you're looking for someone to talk you out of

what you're about to do. Filed under: Displays, HDTV Panasonic's 1-inch thick Z1 plasma reviewed: playing with perfection originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Microsoft online store now featuring third party hardware and software
By Joseph L. Flatley (Engadget)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 9:31:00 AM

Samsung and TeliaSonera Microsoft Starts Peddling bringing LTE to vikings in Other Companies' PCs, Software Online [Microsoft] 2010 Savov (Engadget) By Vladislav
By John Herrman (Gizmodo)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 6:09:40 AM

portables all making appearances—basically, a similar lineup to what you'd see at any Sorry Scottsdale, the prize for Best Buy. the first Microsoft store location This makes a lot of sense for to open its doors goes to... the Microsoft, who's watched Apple internet? Moving beyond their do pretty, pretty well with a own branded products, Microsoft broad, inclusive online store, but h a s s t a r t e d h a w k i n g o t h e r who couldn't cash in on a similar companies' Windows-friendly c o n c e p t w i t h o u t t h e i r o w n wares online, from laptops to hardware as an anchor. It's the Photoshop to PC accessories. same direction they're taking with This is effectively an extension Windows Phone: In liew of of their brick-and-mortar retail Microsoft hardware, they're just push(or is it the other way d r a w i n g o t h e r s u n d e r t h e around?) which will also include Microsoft tent with blanket third-party hardware, software, branding and Microsoft-centric and accessories compatible with marketing. In other words, to the W i n d o w s , a n d p a r t i c u l a r l y customer, it may as well be Windows 7. The first round of Microsoft hardware. [ Beyond hardware for sale is heavy on Binary] laptops and netbooks, with Dell, Sony, Lenovo, HP and Acer

Submitted at 10/22/2009 9:06:00 AM

Scandinavian folks tend to be a pretty cheerful bunch during the summer, and now Swedes and Norwegians will have reason to smile through the cold dark winters as well, with Samsung announcing an agreement to provide TeliaSonera with "mobile broadband devices for commercial service next year." This agreement relates to Sammy's Kalmia 4G USB modem and adds to the Swedish operator's LTE push, which already counts Ericsson and Huawei among the contracted hardware providers. So that's 100Mbps mobile broadband, coming to a snowcovered nation near you within

Disappointed that you can't make it to Scottsdale for the opening of the big Microsoft retail store? Since you've given up on real life in lieu of a completely wired existence anyways, perhaps a more meaningful experience would be to mosey over to the company's online shop and check out all the new PCs and third party software that's been added the next dozen months or so. All to the catalog. No longer just the we would ask of our viking fine purveyors of Office products friends now is that they remember and"Bill Gates is my homeboy" ttheir world-conquering ways of shirts, this is your newest online the past and start spreading that destination for Sony netbooks and goodness globally. Come on, it's Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing our right! Full press release after software -- as well as that the break. operating system you've been Continue reading Samsung and longing to get your hands on. One TeliaSonera bringing LTE to thing they don't have? Manic vikings in 2010 Panic hair dye. Well, not yet Filed under: Cellphones, anyways. Wireless [Via CNET] Samsung and TeliaSonera Continue reading Microsoft bringing LTE to vikings in 2010 online store now featuring third originally appeared on Engadget party hardware and software on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:06:00 Filed under: Misc. Gadgets EST. Please see our terms for use Microsoft online store now of feeds. Permalink| Email this| featuring third party hardware and Comments software originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Dynario: Toshiba finally commercializes fuel cell for mobile devices
By Serkan Toto (CrunchGear)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 6:40:55 AM

Toyota's FT-EV II concept sports steampunk interior, joystick controls
By Tim Stevens (Engadget)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 8:45:00 AM

Toyota's FT-EV concept was tiny, quirky, electric powered -and honestly a bit predictable. Its successor, the FT-EV II, takes that staid design and sends it way out there, leaving the exterior unchanged (some gold detailing adds a touch of flash) but dialing up the intrigue on the inside. The traditional wheel and pedal controls have been replaced by a gilded mechanical joystick contraption that would look appropriate on a Victorian-era rocket ship (had any such thing actually existed) leaving more legroom and what looks to be a

Toshiba has been announcing fuel cells for home use for ages now, but it seems the announcement[press release in English] they made today is really serious. The company has unveiled the Dynario today, a mini fuel cell that can charge By Vladislav Savov (Engadget) the smallprint and noted that in m o b i l e d e v i c e s o n t h e g o . m o r e e r g o n o m i c d r i v i n g Submitted at 10/22/2009 8:22:00 AM fact only the first 30 customers Japanese mobile gadget geeks can experience. It's a control scheme each day will get the Win 7 already order the fuel cell on the company used previously on Confirming our belief that Japan Whopper at ¥777, with the rest T o s h i b a J a p a n ’ s o n l i n e its i-Real concept... chair... thing, is at once among the coolest and shelling out a cool ¥1,450 s t o r e ( w h e r e i t ’ s a v a i l a b l e but this is the first Toyota with craziest places on this planet we ($17.10) for the privilege. Way to e x c l u s i v e l y ) . Buyers get a methanol fuel cell doors to rock it. Will those sticks all call home is Burger King's break with the number 7 theme, that’s fairly large (size: and all that brushed metal and exclusive Windows 7 Whopper. guys. faux-ivory still be there when this Seven stacked beef patties extend Continue reading Burger King 150×21x74.5mm), heavy (280g car releases? Not a chance, sadly. your usual Whopper to over five selling a Windows 7 Whopper in without fuel) and holds 14ml of fuel. Cartridges, which have to be [Via Slashdot; image courtesy of inches in height and the whole Japan Autoblog] thing costs an appropriate ¥777 Burger King selling a Windows bought separately, cost $32 for a Filed under: Transportation (or $8.55). It'll be available for 7 Whopper in Japan originally set of five and hold 50ml each. Toyota's FT-EV II concept one week only -- or seven days, appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 T h e r e a c t i o n b e t w e e n t h e sports steampunk interior, joystick get it? Join us past the break to Oct 2009 08:22:00 EST. Please methanol and ambient oxgyen controls originally appeared on see the full towering size of this see our terms for use of feeds. triggers a chemical reaction, Engadget on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 meaty monstrosity. Read| Permalink| Email this| w h i c h t h e n r e s u l t s i n t h e production of electricity. 08:45:00 EST. Please see our [Via Electronista] Comments Shipping will start on October terms for use of feeds. Read| Update: Andy Yang, our 29. The new technology comes at Permalink| Email this| Comments Engadget Chinese editor, has read a high price though: Be ready to spend $320 for the fuel cell. Toshiba hasn’t said yet whether it will ever be sold outside Japan, but my guess is the company will see how sales go in Japan first.

Burger King selling a Windows 7 Whopper in Japan

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Netgear's EVA2000 Digital Entertainer Live gets reviewed: decent, but lacking
By Darren Murph (Engadget)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 10:17:00 AM

Netgear's EVA2000 Digital Entertainer Live came packin' a lot of promise for just $150, but according to a critique over at TrustedReviews, those into a thing dubbed "high-definition" may want to keep on saving and pass over this one. You see, the only 720p content it's capable of playing back is MPEG-2; other than that, you're stuck watching SD material or upscaled-to-720p SD material. To the box's credit, it did manage to play back content satisfactorily, and the built-in PlayOn software was indeed a

boon to the device's overall utility. In the world of media streamers, though, you've got oodles of options, and it seems as if one from WD or ASUS just might be a better overall value. Tap the read link to decide for yourself. Filed under: Home Entertainment Netgear's EVA2000 Digital Entertainer Live gets reviewed: decent, but lacking originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Wu-Tang Clan's RZA: Proud to Be a Geek [Hip Hop]
By Danny Allen (Gizmodo)
few. So RZA proudly admitting his geekdom isn't a surprise to Submitted at 10/22/2009 5:34:51 AM me—he's a great producer. My In this video interview with favorite quote from the video: "I'd True/Slant, RZA says hip hop and rather raise nerds than raise "geekism" go hand in hand when gangsters." it comes to using new technology. The interview was for his new "We geeks man, we geeks!" He autobiographical/philosophical also talks about video game book, The Tao of Wu, and took addiction…and busts out a place at Manhattan's USA Shaolin roundhouse kick! Temple. Fitting, because the As someone who dabbles in interviewer dared RZA to show music production on the side, I've him some martial arts skills. The long been a fan of producers who result below: [ True/Slant via p u s h t e c h n o l o g y : H e r b i e BoingBoing] Hancock, Prince, Aphex Twin, and Richie Hawtin to name but a

HP Compaq's 21-inch Multitouch L2105tm Screen Costs $300 [Monitors]
By Mark Wilson (Gizmodo)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 6:32:28 AM

iMac Teardown Reveals What Apple Hides Behind Its Logo [Apple]
By Mark Wilson (Gizmodo)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 5:27:31 AM

Chalk up two major manufacturers who have multitouch displays on the market. HP Compaq's L2105tm, which we previewed a while back, goes on sale today for $300. Fully certified for Windows 7, the L2105tm features 1920x1080 resolution, 1000:1 contrast, 5ms response, and VGA, DVI-D with HDCP connections. You'll only be able to use two-finger multitouch (or single-point stylus), but if you're buying a monitor anyway, it's smart that manufacturers are keeping the touch price premiums low...well...attainable. [ SlashGear]

The new iMac uses the Apple logo on the back for a very specific purpose. Can you guess? Hint: It's one of the few parts of the body that's plastic. The Apple logo integrates the AirPort antenna. Metal impedes

wireless signals, which is one reason the plastic white MacBook has historically had a better Wi-Fi range than the unibodies. Beyond that point, iFixit's teardown reveals that in order to cool the desktop-sized processor, the CPU and GPU were placed on complete opposite ends of the own heats inks. The entire system computers and fitted with their includes "six temperature sensors,

three fans, and two gigantic heat sinks." And one piece of disappointment: the iMac's mini DisplayPort is run through its logic board, meaning the computer needs to be on if you want the iMac to serve as a second monitor. [ iFixit]

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Costco: Upgrade three computers to Windows 7 Home Premium for $135
By Doug Aamoth (CrunchGear)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 6:30:00 AM

When Even Comedy Shows Are Mocking Attempts At Stronger Copyright Law...
By Mike Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 4:22:26 AM

If you have a Costco membership and three computers that you want to upgrade to Windows 7, then you can get a giant wooden palette of operating systems for $135 – this same three -pack is priced elsewhere at $150 while a single version of the upgrade runs $120. I’ll let you do the math on this one but needless to say, it ends up being a pretty good deal for a multi-computer household. You may also consider getting the three-pack from Staples and using one of the store’s relatively ubiquitous “$30 off a purchase of $150 or more” coupons if you happen to have one of them in

your possession. That’s an even better deal, although you’ll need to track down the coupon of course. Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade Family Pack 3PCs[Costco.com via FatWallet]

Xbox 360 on Two Wheels [Bikes]
By Jesus Diaz (Gizmodo)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 6:41:04 AM

This is what the Xbox 360 would look like if it was made out of aircraft-grade aluminum, had two wheels, and electric motor, and was just a little quieter: The Yamaha EC-f scooter. Veehee

Via Michael Geist comes a link to this segment on the Canadian sketch comedy/political satire show This Hour has 22 Minutes, where it totally mocks the claims that file sharing is killing the music business by highlighting the previous "copying technologies" (home taping, VCR, photocopier) that the industry insisted was killing content providers: While I actually think the bit could be funnier, it's pretty striking to see that sort of thing on a mainstream television program. More and more people are purrty indeed. T h e Y a m a h a E C - f w a s realizing that copyright industry presented at the Tokyo Motor claims have little support in Show. It uses a lithium-ion reality, and that concept is starting battery, which can be plugged into to go mainstream. Permalink| Comments| Email a regular socket for recharging. They are not making these soon This Story enough. [ Dvice]

Rock Band on iPhone is a hit
By Mike Schramm (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))
release this week, is actually a more unlikely hit than you think. For one thing, it sold at a price of $9.99 only -- no free versions, no Submitted at 10/21/2009 10:00:00 PM trials, no pricing sales or schemes Filed under: Gaming, iPhone, that have become the rule rather A p p S t o r e , i P o d t o u c h than the exception on the App Disgruntled TUAW commenters, Store lately. And for another I'll save you some time: "OMG thing, it had a comparable Mike of course a game powered competitor in Tap Tap Revenge 3, by EA and one of the most selling for just 99 cents. TTR3 is a popular franchises of all time is a hit as well -- it's topping the list of hit. Try reporting some real paid apps that Rock Band is on -news!" But not so fast -- Rock b u t m a n y p e o p l e f i g u r e d In short, even though, yes, Rock Band, which hit the App Store top consumers would pass on the $10 Band has EA's power behind it 1 0 a n d c o n q u e r e d t h e T o p app for the 99 cent one, and many and it's based on an already Grossing list just days after its people were wrong. popular game, it actually has bucked what we've seen so far: prices racing to the bottom, and tough chances of making a hit game, much less a profitable one, at the $9.99 price point. We don't yet know whether the game is profitable (or how either Rock Band's or TTR3's microtransaction models will do in the future), as it's just too soon. But Rock Band is already seen as a game that stands as a shining example of what many were thinking wasn't true: big publishers with big name titles can put out big games at (relatively -- $10 is still cheap when you're talking about Rock Band at large) high price points and see them sell. TUAW Rock Band on iPhone is a hit originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Q&A: Eric Schmidt wants Google in your office
By Stephen Shankland (Webware.com)
Submitted at 10/21/2009 6:48:00 PM

ORLANDO, Fla.--Watch out, business technology managers, because Google has its eyes on your domain. If Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt gets his way, the line that separates the computing services used by businesses from those used by consumers will fade fast. And Google, through services such as Google Apps and the new Google Wave, hopes to accelerate the change. CNET News Poll When should your company switch to Gmail? Gmail is the main appeal to Google Apps subscriptions today. How soon would you like to see it at your company? Now. I want search and Web access. 2010 for a graceful transition. 2014, when it stops crashing. When hell freezes over. View results The company has done well so far with services that appeal chiefly to consumers, but Schmidt said at the Gartner Symposium here that Google likes services that become part people's lives regardless of whether they are doing work. And because the company covers its costs by charging enterprise accounts $50 per person per year for those services at work, he said it's just a matter of attaining scale before the business becomes "very profitable" for Google. I spoke to Schmidt after a Gartner Symposium talk in which he said the enterprise market is Google's next billion-dollar revenue opportunity. Here's an edited transcript of the interview.

CNET News: You have a lot of enterprise information technology (IT) background. You were chief technology officer at Sun Microsystems and CEO of Novell. What did you have to learn--and what did you have to unlearn--when you came to Google? Schmidt: Google was not founded with an enterprise bias, and I came with an enterprise bias. I can remember during the first couple years, I would describe at length the XML architecture and the data architecture corporations used. Larry (Page) and Sergey (Brin, Google's two co-founders) found that humorous: why would you need this? Of course there are reasons why you need it, but they're so specialized. To me the key breakthrough was understanding the browser can be both enterprise- and consumercapable. The architecture is driven from the browser. That that is the story of enterprise IT today. So what did I learn? Consumer stuff is as hard or harder than enterprise stuff. When I was growing up, I thought enterprise was the hardest. Consumers are both very fickle and timesensitive. (Services) have to be always there. The architectural assumptions of IT in the 1990s are not the assumptions going forward today. You are big advocates of cloud computing. I've run into a lot of skepticism here at the show chiefly because of trust issues. What do you need to do to make your cloud-based services trustworthy enough and secure enough that a lot of big businesses will embrace them? Schmidt: There are some

businesses that will never embrace them. For purposes of argument that will be 1 percent. They'll conclude they want absolute control and are willing to pay a premium for that. What is that? Their own data centers, their own security architecture, their own risk management, and so forth. The vast majority, for purposes of argument 99 percent, will conclude that the analogy about the ATM machine is correct. Eventually the convenience of using ATM machines and the bank outweighs carrying the money around with you. Initially you think, "How do I trust the bank?" You work out the problems and (eventually) people have enough experience to know even if there is a problem it will be fixed. In our case, the uptime of our servers and services appears to be higher than that of corporate services. When you study the reliability, we're trying to get to four nines (99.99 percent availability). Most corporate IT departments are not at that level. Google CEO Eric Schmidt(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET) With a lot of people I talk to about this, their analysis is in absolute terms rather than relative terms: something bad might happen, as opposed to the likelihood something bad will happen in the cloud versus their own IT. Schmidt: This is a race where we just have to be better. Our pricing and flexibility is so much better already. The message here is it's coming. I think smart people will come depending where they are in the adoption curve. Are they an early

adopter, late adopter, in the middle? The sales model is different (for selling enterprise services). So is the support model. You need more people to get customers to sign on to services, and you need more people to hold hands when things go wrong. I've seen a lot of complaints that there's nobody at Google they can call. Do you need more faces and people out there and an actual phone line to do this? Schmidt: Be careful to distinguish between paying customer and free customers. Their service levels are quite different. So if you're a paying customer you don't need to just send an email or fill out a Web form, you can talk to a human being? Schmidt: That's part of what we sell. If you're the CIO and you're going to take your e-mail system and throw it out, are you going to send an e-mail to somebody you don't know (when something goes wrong)? That's not a credible sale. The first thing a CIO is going to say is, "where is that person and how do I wring their neck?" You're going to have to provide high-quality service or people are going to pay for it. When you saw the iPhone, the first version was really interesting. But where it got more interesting was the arrival of connectivity with Exchange servers. Schmidt: And also the App Store. They were simultaneous and both important, though the App Store was not populated initially. Speaking as a former board member, Apple executed extremely well.

For me the App Store is really nice, but the Exchange connection is mandatory. Do you think Android (Google's mobile phone operating system) needs that, or are you going to rely on third parties to supply? Schmidt: I don't want to talk about product features. The simple answer is we have to solve the problem for the exact same reason the iPhone was able to solve it so well. If you think about it, Android is on its way to being a very, very high-volume smartphone for enterprise use. We need very powerful integration with things like BlackBerry services. You can go through the list. Google Voice is an interesting service. It has some nice features for consumers, but I think as a business case it's got a lot more merit. Schmidt: We've been having this debate. How do we turbocharge Google Voice? It's obviously incredibly useful to a CIO. We could take a couple paths. One would be to get more connected into PBXs (private branch exchanges, or corporate phone networks). Another would be to adopt more voice over Internet services (VoIP). All those are possible within the enterprise. When you talk about launching more VoIP services for Google Voice... Schmidt: You can think of Google Voice as a launching pad for telephony. The more you cross -integrate the stack, the more efficiency there can be. With your higher-touch sales and support model for enterprise customers, is that totally offset by Q&A: page 23

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Windows 7 born from Vista's frustrations
(CNET News.com)
Microsoft shared its earliest plans, sought input, and held regular meetings with the PC makers. In NEW YORK--If consumers like addition, it dedicated engineering the new Windows 7 operating teams to work with each of the system, they'll have the much- biggest computer makers to help maligned Windows Vista to them work through any issues thank. specific to their designs. In part, that's because Windows The result, which goes on sale 7 actually builds on the under-the- T h u r s d a y , i s W i n d o w s 7 . hood changes that came with Although its changes are more Vista. But, it also turns out that modest than those made in the vast headaches created by Windows Vista, the product has Vista were just what the PC been both on time and well industry needed to improve their received by testers and reviewers cooperation. alike. Close cooperation with the With consumers lukewarm to PC makers has resulted in a Vista and many businesses product that adds few blockbuster s h u n n i n g i t e n t i r e l y , b o t h features but is roundly praised for Microsoft and the computer making everyday computing tasks makers realized that the standard simpler and more elegant. way of business just wasn't Many of the new features, such cutting it, particularly with Apple as support for iPhone-style touch coming on strong. interfaces, have been heavily Windows 7's 'XP Mode' is influenced by the work with PC among the features that evolved manufacturers. Among the first from close communications things Sinofsky did upon taking between Redmond and the PC t h e r e i n s o f W i n d o w s makers.(Credit: Microsoft) development in 2006 was to study Redmond, in particular, was what happened to Windows when humbled by the response to Vista. the bits left Redmond and made When it came time to planning the their way onto new PCs. next version, newly installed When finally asked for their Windows development chief early input, computer makers S t e v e n S i n o f s k y t o o k t h e were not shy with their ideas for company's earliest ideas and met how Microsoft could do better. with PC makers. Indeed, the computer makers' That marked a huge change fingerprints can be found all over from past releases, where, as the product from the way it some PC makers described it, supports touch input to which Microsoft would just develop features are included in which windows in secret and then versions of the product. "throw it over the wall." "I think I was hated in "Until Vista, Microsoft was fully Redmond," said Sony senior t h i n k i n g o n t h e i r o w n a n d manager Xavier Lauwaert. "I just implementing their own ideas and spoke out every time." then releasing it," said Gianpiero Among the changes that came Morbello, a vice president for directly from the computer Taiwanese PC maker Acer. makers was the about-face that This time around, though, Microsoft did with regards to
Submitted at 10/22/2009 4:00:00 AM

or is this just trying to appease frustration," McKinney recalls thinking. "It quickly proved out that Microsoft was serious." That said, McKinney noted that neither HP nor the other PC makers got exactly what they wanted. "It wasn't like Microsoft just sat there and took up every piece of feedback," he said. "There was give and take." Microsoft also had harsh messages for the PC companies. The vast amounts of preinstalled software that they were shipping on consumer machines, so-called "crapware" were slowing down systems and hurting the PC's Windows 7 Starter--the entry- marketing for Toshiba's PC unit, image. level version of the product aimed s a i d t h e r e m a y b e s o m e The computer makers and primarily at Netbooks. Initially, businesses that never even use the Microsoft began looking at each Microsoft wanted to impose a virtualization option, but will be piece of software, whether it came limit of three open applications at more comfortable moving by from the PC manufacturers or a a time, in part to distinguish the knowing that they have the third party, and measuring its version from higher-end editions. virtualization option to fall back impact on the system. Those that PC makers complained loudly t o s h o u l d t h e y e n c o u n t e r were bogging things down were that the restriction was too p r o b l e m s . told to fix their software or else onerous--and might tempt Tami Reller, the VP in charge of got pulled from new PCs. consumers to stick with the older the business side of Windows, The result is that Windows 7, in and less secure Windows XP. s a i d t h a t M i c r o s o f t ' s n o w - many cases, can boot up more Microsoft eventually relented and, bendable ear really is a different quickly and go in and out of sleep though it has maintained other way of doing business. "We have in a matter of seconds. Consumers l i m i t a t i o n s , N e t b o o k s w i t h become very good listeners over will also notice they get systems Windows 7 Starter can run as the past several years," Reller that are a lot less cluttered, in many applications as their limited said. "We are imperfect human some cases with nothing more memory will allow. beings, but we have become very than a recycle bin on their desktop Another feature that grew out of good listeners." when they first boot their PC. discussions with computer makers Phil McKinney, CTO of Another big influence was and business customers is the Hewlett-Packard's PC unit, filled Apple's recent success and, in addition of an " XP Mode"--an i n f o r h i s b o s s a t o n e o f particular, the benefits it was option that allows Windows 7 Microsoft's regular meetings with getting by linking its software and users to run a free, virtualized computer makers in 2007. hardware. copy of Windows XP to run older "I walked out of there going "I think there was a recognition applications that aren't compatible 'This is a different Microsoft. This by PC (makers) and Microsoft with newer operating systems. In is a different relationship," he that, for the best experience, the some cases, one incompatible said. software and the hardware really program was keeping businesses M c K i n n e y n o t e d t h a t need to work hand and hand," from even considering a move off Microsoft's initial overtures to the Osako said. Windows XP. computer makers were met with a Phil Osako, director of product fair bit of skepticism. "Is this legit WINDOWS page 29

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Windows 7 default user account control worries experts
(CNET News.com)
A Sophos white paper from September says: "Another issue with these default (UAC) settings Corporate IT departments should is that malware could bypass the be pleased with new security system by injecting itself into a measures in Windows 7, but trusted application and running consumers are still at risk of from there. Indeed, some malware getting hit by malware despite has been observed spoofing UACchanges in the User Account style prompts to obtain user Control (UAC) feature designed p e r m i s s i o n t o o p e r a t e to help people be smarter when u n i m p e d e d . " using applications, security Chester Wisniewski, a senior experts say. security adviser at Sophos, Probably the most talked about reiterated points made in the security change in Windows 7, white paper and said Microsoft scheduled for public release on should also drop its practice of Thursday, are modifications to the hiding file extensions by default, UAC, which was introduced in which makes it easy for users to Vista. The UAC was designed to be duped by malware. prevent unauthorized execution of "The changes to Windows 7 code by displaying a pop-up UAC have made it easy for warning every time a change was malware writers to turn UAC off being made to the system, entirely without the user's whether by the operating system k n o w l e d g e . M i c r o s o f t or a third-party application. recommends keeping UAC turned Vista users complained that they on and yet allows malware to turn were bombarded with the it off without the user's warnings and security experts k n o w l e d g e , " w r i t e s R a y speculated that as a result, many Dickenson, chief technology people were just ignoring them or officer at Authentium, in a recent turning them off. blog post. With Windows 7, users can "If malware is on the computer, choose how often they want to be hasn't the game already been lost? notified and the default is set to Why worry about UAC if a notify only when a third-party password-stealing Trojan is on application is making a change, as your computer?" Dickenson well as when a change is being writes. "The answer lies in the made to the UAC itself. difficulties inherent in identifying However, an attacker could use a p r o g r a m a s g o o d w a r e o r code injection and exploit several m a l w a r e . " components in Windows 7 that Jon DeVaan, senior vice auto-elevate to bypass UAC and president of the Windows Core get full access to the machine, Operating System Division, experts have warned. attempted to address the concerns
Submitted at 10/22/2009 4:00:00 AM

in a blog post from February: "We know that the recent feedback does not represent a security vulnerability because malicious software would already need to be running on the system. We know that Windows 7 and IE8 together provide improved protection for users to prevent malware from making it onto their machines... and we know that UAC is not 100 percent effective at stopping malware once it is running." In a study of two groups of "regular people" testers, one group using the default setting and the other using the "Always Notify" setting, there was "no meaningful difference in malware infestation rates between the two groups," DeVaan wrote. However, that was a limited test and it doesn't rule out the possibility that malware will find its way onto systems and try to elevate privileges. David Sancho, a senior antivirus researcher at Trend Micro, noted that while the UAC changes in Windows 7 will improve the user experience by cutting back on the number of alerts, the operating system will be responsible for making more decisions about system changes, which won't always be good for the user. Going forward, the real test of security in the near future is the browser because so many attacks and malware infections are now coming from the Web, he added. "Internet Explorer 8 is lagging behind the rest of the browser vendors," Sancho said. "I see that

as a pain point in the future...that can hold up the security of the overall system." Asked to comment on the concerns, a Microsoft spokesman said in an e-mail: "Windows 7 is not designed to be a security boundary that prevents malware already on the system from making changes to a user's system. What it is designed to do is make users running with administrative rights, and software developers, more aware when software is attempting to perform an operation that requires full administrative rights...UAC is a security feature only in so far as it helps an increasing number of home and corporate users run in standard user accounts." For enterprises, Windows 7 offers several interesting security boosts, experts said. First off, the new operating system addresses an issue that has created headaches for administrators at corporations affected by Conficker and even the U.S. Department of Defense-viruses that spread via USB drive. With Windows 7, most USB drives will not be able to automatically launch a program using a Windows feature known as AutoRun, also known as AutoPlay. However, some specialized USB flash drives present themselves as CD or DVD drives to the operating system and will still be able to use AutoRun. Because of that, Ronald Patrik, senior manager of security appear in ELLE.com's Street Chic Daily. Follow ELLE on Twitter.

research at Websense, said Microsoft should disable the feature entirely. "I don't think they went far enough," he wrote in an e -mail. And Windows 7 offers BitLocker to Go encryption support for USB drives for the Ultimate and Enterprise editions. It protects the data in case the USB drive is lost or stolen. The operating system also features an enhanced security controls interface called Windows Action Center that provides more "actionable advice around how to work with firewalls" and other security issues, Wisniewski said. To see screen shots from Windows Action Center visit this CNET Reviews slide show. Meanwhile, several security vendors said that working with Microsoft on product support went well for Windows 7. For example, developers at Kaspersky Lab found it easier to provide support for Windows 7 than for previous versions of Windows because of the early availability of the beta version and the fact that there were relatively minor changes made in the operating system functionality during the beta testing process. "Microsoft did everything to help developers optimize their products for Windows 7," Kaspersky said in a statement. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Street Chic: New York
By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 4:00:00 AM

Neutrals combine for a strong statement. Photo: Kelly Stuart Think you are Street Chic? E-

mail us your photo and you could

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Flickr gets personal with people tagging
By Josh Lowensohn (Webware.com)
service and fill out one's profile. People tags look just the notes feature, except they double as Submitted at 10/21/2009 3:00:00 PM normal tags too.(Credit: Yahoo / Social photo-sharing site Flickr CNET) is adding a long overdue feature Privacy and notifications this week that lets users assign a Each time a user is added, they name tag to people in photos. get a notification through Flickr's While the service is overflowing inter-service messaging and via ew i t h p h o t o s o f s w e e p i n g mail. Their friends get notified landscapes and close-ups of bug too, although this happens in e y e b a l l s , t h e Y a h o o - o w n e d Flickr's user activity stream which company has noticed that many of each user sees whenever they go its users are simply using it to to Flickr's home screen. Users can share shots of friends and family, a l s o s e e a l l t h e p h o t o s o f and that the existing tag tools themselves on Flickr in one were not made with people in central location, including on their mind. profile--just like on Facebook and The new system has been MySpace. designed as a hybrid of the Of course users won't original tagging tools and Flickr's n e c e s s a r i l y b e a b l e t o a d d notes feature, all wrapped up into themselves, or others to every one. Users can tag a Flickr friend shot, and that's by design. In a call or contact in the shot, as well as with CNET News on Wednesday draw a box around them, which Matthew Rothenberg, who is looks and acts just like it does Flickr's head of product strategy when creating a note so that when and management, said that the users mouse over a photo, they privacy controls protect all three can see who a person is by what parties: the person who shot the box they're in. photo, the person in the photo, An identical system was and the person who added the introduced by rival photo service photo to Flickr. And for anyone to Photobucket back in late 2007, tag another user in a shot, their but there's a big difference permissions have to line up with between the two: Flickr's system the wishes of the two others. is designed for the Flickr Feel like de-tagging yourself c o m m u n i t y a l o n e w h e r e a s from every photo you've ever Photobucket's would let users link been tagged in on Flickr? There's a people tag to any social- a big red button for that.(Credit: networking profile of their CNET) choosing. Flickr's implementation On top of this three-way might be a little more limiting, but permission control system, there's it makes a better case to join the also a way to globally set whether people can add you to shots, and what kind of relationship they need to have with you to do it. This includes an ejector seat-like button that can de-tag you from every photo you've been tagged in all at once, as well as a security measure that won't let anyone tag you in a photo once you've already de-tagged yourself. Workflow and facial recognition potential When adding someone to a shot, Flickr's people-tagging tool offers up suggestions from your contact list as you type.(Credit: Yahoo / CNET) A major difference between Flickr's people-tagging system compared to Facebook's is that there isn't an engine built in that can remember and suggest the last few people you were tagging in any given photo set. Rothenberg says this could be added later on, but that Flickr's auto-complete is fast enough for it not to be an issue when users are looking up a friend's add to name it. In most cases you simply need to type just two letters to narrow it down to a shortlist of the person you're looking for. The system has also been set up so that you don't need to enter any special people-tagging mode to start tagging friends--you can just double click on someone in the shot for it to come up with the people-tagging option. Power users are not left out either. If you don't want to go through photos one at a time, you Nuys Police Station told ET, "The damage was minor and there were no injuries. A report was taken and it's under investigation. It was can just skip to Flickr's batch organization tool. This isn't automated like some of the facial recognition software tools we've recently looked at, which can give you suggestions of people it thinks might be in your photos. But it makes it a whole lot easier to go back and people tag (or detag) hundreds of your old photos all at once. This can be useful if you're trying to convert a photo set with one person into a batch of name tags. Speaking of facial recognition, to be clear, it's not a part of Flickr's people-tagging system (yet). But just because it's not, doesn't mean third-party programs won't be able to tap into Flickr to do it. Rothenberg said that like any Flickr feature, people tags are being added into the API, and should be deployed for application makers to use in just a few weeks. That could be good news for sites like Face.com and Polar Rose, which will be able to do some of the people-tagging magic they've done for Facebook using Flickr's community instead. The new people-tagging feature could be arriving for some as soon as Wednesday, but like with other new Flickr features it may take up to a day or two to migrate through Flickr's servers. Originally posted at Web Crawler

If Per Byte Pricing Is 'Only Fair' Why Have Telcos Ditched It For Mobile Data Plans?
By Mike Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 10/21/2009 7:19:00 PM

For the past couple of years, telcos and cable companies have been pushing for metered broadband, usually with the bogus claim that "it's not fair" for a light user to be subsidizing a heavy user. This is a neat little disingenuous trick that implies "light users" would see their bills decrease under metered billing plans. However, the same telcos pushing for metered broadband on connections are the same telcos who have wireless operators as well... and for mobile users, they're doing away with the metered billing option at the lower end, forcing everyone into a much higher priced all-you-caneat model. Oops. Metered billing has nothing to do with fairness. It's an attempt by telcos to squeeze more money out of customers in a market where they often have little in the way of competitive options. Because, as we've seen, when there's real competition, it's a lot more difficult for providers to offer such plans. Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

Jackson Family Vehicle in Accident with Photog
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 4:20:00 AM

ET has confirmed that a Jackson

family vehicle was involved in a car accident with a member of the paparazzi on Wednesday. Sgt. Ann Pickering of the Van

a hit-and-run. There have been no arrests regarding this case." According to People, the vehicle was not carrying Michael

Jackson's three children.

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Q&A: page 19 continued from
$50 per user per year? Or is this a lower-profit business than your present, more consumer-facing business? Schmidt: It's certainly lower for gross margin. The text-ad business has very high gross margins. We don't do the math the way you ask. We try to say, does it cover our costs? The answer is sure. The price was set, to be very honest, arbitrarily. Because it's such a scale business, whatever number we set will be the perfect number because we'll grow into it. It'll be a very profitable business at scale. I see a lot of interest in Gmail but not nearly as much interest in Google Docs--spreadsheet, word processor--and I'd put calendar in between. In the future, are those going to reach parity, or is Docs just going to be this bonus feature? Schmidt: The way it plays out tactically is almost every sale is email, calendar, and instant messaging. It doesn't start with Google Docs. They're playing with it, but fundamentally it's about e-mail and calendar. That's a pretty good project for a year for a significant company. They have to do a trial, convert the existing system, train users and support people. When you talk to those customers, they will tell you they will use Google Docs in conjunction with the e-mail accounts that they're already putting in place. That's how it plays out. It's first an e-mail sale, but once you have that, then you get the benefit of Google Docs. The nontechnical press describe it as Microsoft Office versus Google Docs. They're not comparable. This year. Schmidt: This year. The reason they're not comparable is Microsoft Office is expensive and ours is free or cheap. The other thing is there are an awful lot of workflow features in Microsoft Office we don't have today. What we're doing is adding appropriate functions to Google Docs from the bottom. We're adding the common cases. We're not trying to build a full copy of Microsoft Office. I don't think that's good use of our time. What will happen is a corporation will end up having both around for awhile. I personally think the spreadsheets are much more compelling. As a data capture mechanism built into the document (through online forms that fill spreadsheet entries) it's quite powerful. It mediates against sharing. It's the perfect enterprise solution. You just throw the thing up there, it takes three seconds, and this interesting experience occurs. The object is that if you add insight, you will have a new way of thinking about workflow and collaboration. That ultimately may relate to Google Wave and other things. You can think of the Microsoft Office model as the incumbent. Ours is a different way of solving the same problems. You guys like to build your own servers, your own software, your own networks. Why not use offthe-shelf technology? Are the companies that do use off-theshelf technology misguided? Schmidt: Give me an example of off-the-shelf technology. Servers from various companies. Schmidt: Everybody thinks we use PCs. What we really do is build supercomputers. The supercomputers we build are made out of PC parts. They're highly specialized to the data architecture Google uses. It's a very pragmatic cost-benefit analysis. So are other companies misguided? Schmidt: I would never criticize another company. The Google model is sufficiently specialized that I don't think you can even compare. There have been a series companies created to build the Google architecture as a generalized rack server. I don't know how well they're doing. Google is unique in many ways, but the general trajectory of very large data centers with a lot of x86 servers and reliability at a higher level rather than individual server level--that's a general trend. Maybe the rest of the market will intercept you at some point. Schmidt: Maybe we are the specialized solution the generalized solution learns from. In many markets there's an iconic solution so that's so overengineered, but there's this trickle-down of ideas. I have lots friends in the venture industry working with start-ups with products. I say, "Ship us one and we'll beat the crap out of it. We'll tell you very precisely whether your claims are any good or not. OK, to wrap it up, when people talk about Microsoft or Oracle, they understand what their enterprise strategy is. How would you sum up Google's enterprise strategy? Schmidt: We're trying to build to bring the benefits of the consumer architecture of the Internet to all the people using enterprise services today with the same or better level of security and control. And in terms of the actual services you offer? Schmidt: I describe it as horizontal--those that will effect everybody in the organization. The ones everybody uses. We try to avoid specialized business logic like enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. It's very interesting, but it's highly unlikely Google will be interested. Originally posted at Deep Tech

CSIRO Taxes Innovators To Fund Innovators?
By Mike Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 10/21/2009 9:07:00 PM

A few years back, the Australian tech research agency CSIRO was awarded a patent with several claims over basic concepts used in WiFi. While we have tremendous problems with the idea of any government agency patenting anything, CSIRO wielded this patent and aggressively fought against a bunch of large tech companies, and it recently convinced them to pay a $200 million settlement. At some point, tech firms realize it's often just cheaper to pay up than to keep fighting a bogus patent claim. So now it's interesting to see CSIRO claim that it's taking $150 million of the $200 million and investing it in innovation (found via Slashdot). So... basically, it sued the companies that actually innovated (brought working products to market) and got them to cough up money that CSIRO is going to invest in innovation? Why not just leave the original innovators with their money to keep innovating? Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

MySpace’s Tom Joins Facebook [PIC]
By Adam Ostrow (Mashable!)
Submitted at 10/21/2009 7:50:50 PM

to millions of the site’s members. However, he’s now poking around the social network that Tom might have been officially supplanted his own as top dog: removed from power at MySpace, Facebook. At least in the world of but he’s still officially a “friend” satirical Facebook profiles.

Complete with pokes from

Rupert Murdoch, wall comments from Mark Zuckerberg, and astute observations about the differences between Facebook and MySpace, Comedy.com[click for full img] has done a stellar job at this one:

Reviews: Facebook, MySpace Tags: facebook, myspace

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Live blog: Windows 7 debuts in New York
(CNET News.com)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 4:00:00 AM

. Hmmmm Bah Humbug.... As THE actual inventor of the term "Crapware" - about Microsoft Products of course... THE best thing I ever did was migrate across to Linux..... I think Microsoft is like buying a lemon car with a great (?) paint job........ I mean I can't just drive it, Nooooooooooooo I have to spend hours under the hood every day, day in and day out, just "looking after it" so it will keep on running.... The MS operating systems that require "going for a drive" not only with a boot load of spares, but also a tow truck and a van full of service technicians..... "OH yay! MS rocks ----- NOT. And MS's security (anything) is not worth 2 dogs rooting in a blizzard.... Copy-pasted from the M$ $tore: Microsoft Signature PCs come with full versions of the software you need, pre-configured and ready to run.* Included are: Internet Explorer 8 Surf the Internet faster, safer, and more easily than ever before Windows Media Center Preconfigured home entertainment shell allowing users to watch/record TV and download videos/shows on PC, manage pictures, movies, music, play

stored media from TV and handset; additional configuration included Internet TV Update for Media Center Software update which enables TV playback on PC Playready PC Runtime (for WMC) Allows access to playready content Microsoft Security Essentials Automatically updated software that protects against malware, spyware, virus, worms, and other threats to your security Microsoft Silverlight Software for delivering rich Web applications similar to Adobe Flash; Web application run -time Adobe Flash Player for IE Software for viewing Shockwave Flash (SWF) animations and movies using Internet Explorer Adobe Acrobat Reader Software for viewing PDF documents Bing 3D Maps 3D mapping program for Bing Maps Zune 4.0 Music, video, FM radio, and podcast player; provides access to Zune marketplace for music and TV shows Auto Collage 2009 Touch Program for converting photographs into collages Live ID Sign-in Assistant Software utility to link Windows account with Live ID

LiveUpload for Facebook (for Photo Gallery) Allows user to upload photos from Live Photo Gallery directly to www.facebook.com Windows Live Essentials Windows Live Call Allows users to make PC-to-PC and PC-to-phone voice and video calls Windows Live Family Safety Software for controlling and monitoring online activities of children Windows Live Mail E-mail client successor to outlook and windows mail; includes Calendar, Contacts, Feeds, Newsgroups Windows Live Messenger Instant Messaging, calling, and video chat program Windows Live Photo Gallery Photo-management software Windows Live Writer Blog-publishing software Microsoft Office Live Add-In Software allowing MS office programs to save files to and access files from a shared online workspace Windows Live Sync File-synchronization program Windows Live Movie Maker Movie-making software Windows Live Toolbar Web browser toolbar to facilitate connection with Windows Live That's the spec list.....??????????????? I am now so thrilled with MS's

offerings, or is that droppings, I think I have to get off line for a while and cry lest I feel overwhelmed with the urge to make a necklace of bricks and go swimming off a bridge...... Microsoft makes me feel suicidal...... Corporate Moron ******** to the Max. Thankyou everyone who ever contributed in anyway towards making LINUX and all it's offerings so good..... Thankyou that I don't ever have to go back to Microsoft EVER again..... Microsoft Orifice 07? AFTER having tried it hard for a few days ??? - I wouldn't use it if I had a FREE version of it with hassle free upgrades for the rest of my life...... In fact if I was given a pirated version it would go in the bin...... All I can say is "I am SO grateful that there is Linux Ubuntu Linux, and Open Office etc.... I am SOOOO pleased that I can escape from the cash cow for idiots by idiots..... I am looking forward to the release of Windoze 07, as much as I am for dog terds to be made into corn flakes.... Microsoft software and operating systems? PASS. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Windows 7 jilting Vista upgrades
(CNET News.com)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 6:52:56 AM

Some businesses midway through upgrades to Vista are asking for Windows 7 instead, a Microsoft executive said at Thursday's launch event in London. "This is the first time that we have had customers talking about slipstreaming the deployment of one OS into another version," said John Curran, who until recently headed the Windows client group in the U.K. About 15 percent of business computers in the U.K. have Vista installed. Ten large companies in the U.K. have already begun deploying Windows 7 on a total of 300,000 machines, according to Microsoft. "In terms of the numbers of seats being deployed at launch, we are well ahead of where we were from a Vista perspective," Curran said. Read more of " Vista jilted for Windows 7 midway through upgrades" at Silicon.com. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

No 'Doubt' - Viola Davis' Star Rising in Hollywood
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 3:35:00 AM

'Doubt' star and Oscar nominee Viola Davis continues her streak

as one of Hollywood's hottest items. The actress has been cast in yet two more films -- 'Trust' and 'It's Kind of a Funny Story' -according to Variety.

Davis will join Clive Owen and Catherine Keener on screen in ' Trust.' The movie, directed by "Friends" star David Schwimmer, follows parents who find out their

14-year-old daughter has been victimized by a sexual predator on the internet. The predator poses as a teenager in a chat room. In 'Funny Story,' Davis will play

a psychiatrist who helps a clinically depressed 15-year-old boy work through his anxieties in an adult psychiatric ward.

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Disney’s Going Digital: Buy Once, Watch Anywhere
By Christina Warren (Mashable!)
computer. The advantage is that the content can be easy to access from multiple devices from the Submitted at 10/21/2009 6:27:26 PM user, but the content provider The Wall Street Journal reports ultimately has control over who that the Walt Disney Company is gets to watch the content (making close to unveiling new technology piracy much more difficult). to allow entertainment companies Even content purchased on to distribute media to consumers physical media, like Blu-ray or using computers and cell phones, DVD could still work with the rather than on DVD and Keyset system, because a television. customer could either type in (or The technology is code-named in the case of Blu-ray, have the Keychest and sounds like its the key transmitted over the Internet) for-pay web service that Disney a code that would then “unlock” CEO Bob Iger announced back in viewing options for that product July. The service would basically o n d i f f e r e n t d e v i c e s . F o r let consumers pay one price for consumers, this would be like the permanent access to content from iPod friendly digital downloads a number of different devices — that now come packaged with like set-top boxes and mobile many DVDs or Blu-ray discs. phones. Only instead of a download, you As the WSJ points out, this type could access the content over the of system could really bring the cloud. idea of movie downloads to the Of course, all of this content mainstream — because content seems to be based on the idea of would be stored and accessed ubiquitous connectivity. How from the cloud on your different consumers would (or if they devices, rather than downloaded could) access content when not and then stored for playback. online (say you’re on a trip or in Digital Media Served From the the car) hasn’t been discussed. Cloud Competing Digital Solutions Think of the service kind of like Although Disney hopes to to Microsoft’s Zune Marketplace — bring other studios and content content you buy via your set-top providers into their system, box would also show-up on your a n o t h e r c o m p e t i n g d i g i t a l m o b i l e p h o n e o r o n y o u r initiative is underway, called the foray into the digital-content distribution market. In 2003, Disney licensed some of its Buena -Vista and Miramax films to online video-on-demand service Movielink (Movielink has since been acquired by Blockbuster and no longer exists as a separate project), later that same year, they partnered with CinemaNow, DECE (Digital Entertainment which also offered PC video-onContent Ecosystem). Its partners demand rental or purchasing include Sony, Comcast, Intel and options. CinemaNow is also now five of the six major film studios. part of Blockbuster, though it still Disney and Apple are not part of operates as its own entity. The company also tried the DECE (Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple is also Disney’s largest unsuccessfully to launch its shareholder), which attempts to MovieBeam service, which was solve the digital distribution basically a set-top box that could problem from the opposite end. deliver Disney content, for a fee Rather than creating or licensing of course, for 24-hours. It will be interesting to see how compatible devices that work with already existing digital file all of this plays out, and Disney formats, the DECE would create a plans on unveiling the technology new set of standards and formats next month. What do you think of that would be then licensed to t h e i d e a o f c o n t e n t b e i n g purchased, delivered and stored in new devices. Disney doesn’t see the two the cloud? Is this something you groups as being unable to work would like to see in the future? together, but the very fact that it Let us know! (Photo Courtesy of Lock & hasn’t signed on with the DECE makes it look like a format war Alarm) Reviews: Blu Tags: cloud content, DECE, might be brewing. Only this time, it would be in the digital cloud digital video, disney, hulu content space. Disney’s History With Digital Media This is hardly Disney’s first

OnStar Used To Stop Carjacked Car
By Mike Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 10/21/2009 11:11:00 PM

Way back in 2003, there was some discussion around the idea of having a "remote stop" feature on car telematics systems, in case a car gets stolen. There were some serious worries about how this could make things dangerous for other drivers on the road, but two years ago, OnStar enabled just such a service, and now we've heard about it being used on a carjacked car. OnStar "disabled the gas pedal," remotely, thus forcing the car to slow down, and allowing the cops to catch the carjacker (after he fell into a pool while running from the cops). While effective in helping to catch this guy, you still have to wonder about the safety of remotely stopping a car like that. Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

USPS Mobile Tracks Packages from Your Phone [Snail Mail]
By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 6:00:00 AM

The U.S. Postal Service has launched a mobile-sized version of its web site, with only the most useful links out front: package

tracking, post office location, and two-way ZIP code look-up. The site works from any mobile phone that heads to m.usps.com, though it seems sized for the Android/iPhone/Pre browser. The similarly pared-down and mobilelinks leading off the page are sized, with simple text input

boxes and search buttons. One than a little helpful. USPS.com request we'd make of USPS' Mobile[via Resource Shelf] webmasters? Consider including location-aware post office and ZIP code searching on devices that support GPS and Wi-Fi location—that would be more

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Facebook's Gift Shop gets down to business
By Caroline McCarthy (Webware.com)
Facebook's few non-advertising revenue streams (though many of the virtual goods in the "gift shop" Submitted at 10/21/2009 3:40:00 PM are licensed or sponsored)--even The revamped Facebook gift though in a talk on Wednesday at shop.(Credit: Facebook) the Web 2.0 Summit in San It's not just music as rumored: Francisco, Chief Operating Facebook announced on Officer Sheryl Sandberg Wednesday a major overhaul to downplayed rumors that the its "gift shop" feature, meaning company would be making big that the social network just moves into bringing commerce became an even bigger player in and payment transactions to its the burgeoning virtual-goods developer platform. industry. Music files, as rumored, will be "We now are unveiling a newly sold through a partnership with stocked and redesigned Gift Shop, Lala. Right now, they are only with new categories of gifts and available to Facebook users in the additional gifts for charity, music, U.S.--less than a quarter of its and sports from developers," a t o t a l m e m b e r s h i p . F o r o n e post on the company blog by Facebook "credit" (10 cents U.S., Facebook's Will Chen read. With and currently available for so many gifts available, we also purchase in 15 currencies from introduced a new design to make around the world), members can it easier for you to browse and buy one another songs that can be purchase gifts with different gift played online. For 10 credits (a categories." It'll be rolling out d o l l a r ) , t h e y c a n g i f t over the next few weeks, he downloadable MP3 files. "Other added. people who are able to see the Needless to say, this is a huge music gift (in that member's d e a l f o r t h e v i r t u a l - g o o d s profile) will only be able to play industry, which some estimate is the song in full once, after which now a billion-dollar business. they will be able to play a 30It also beefs up one of second clip," Chen's post added. This is a big move on Facebook's part for another reason: iLike, which powers the extremely popular "Music" app on the social network, and which allowed members to gift songs to one another through the thirdparty application, was acquired by Facebook rival MySpace this summer. Instead, it's partnered with Lala-which is also one of the partners in the music initiative that Google is slated to launch next week. But music isn't all that's new in Facebook's revamped Gift Shop. There are also sports gifts officially licensed by teams-branded virtual goods from a number of college sports teams as well as the National Basketball Association and U.S. Major League Soccer. Also rolled in have been the non-profit gifts that Facebook first debuted this summer. In addition to existing partners like Kiva and Project Red, virtual charity gifts will also be sold by popular third-party Facebook app Causes. And images posted to the Facebook blog show additional categories--e-cards, which are pretty self-explanatory, and "real gifts," which bundle a physical gift sent in the mail along with the virtual gift. These have all been tested in a limited scope by Facebook over the past few months. Leaked screenshots of a document that Facebook distributed to advertisers earlier this month revealed that an upcoming design modification to Facebook's home page will make birthday alerts--which also encourage members to buy gifts for one another--more prominent. Facebook hasn't disclosed any financials related to how much advertisers pay for sponsored gifts, or how any revenue-sharing logistics pan out. Other social-networking services are trying to get in on the action, too. Social-site creator Ning, for one, launched a gifts platform earlier this week. More to come...last updated at 4:01 p.m. PT. Originally posted at The Social

Nicole Kidman Slaps Hollywood for Violence Against Women
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 10/21/2009 11:05:00 PM

Nicole Kidman testified before a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Wednesday saying that she feels Hollywood has probably contributed to violence against women. She said women are portrayed as weak sex objects in the movies, according to the Associated Press. The actress does not sign on to play those sorts of demeaning roles, according to the AP, saying, "I can't be responsible for all of Hollywood, but I can certainly be responsible for my own career." Kidman promoted the International Violence Against Women Act in her role as a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). This legislation is being sponsored by Rep. Bill Delahunt, D-Mass who plans to reintroduce the legislation soon, since it has been stalled in the past.

Windows 7 Officially Released Today
By Stan Schroeder (Mashable!)
better: Windows 7. As we wrote earlier, the interest for the new OS from Microsoft Submitted at 10/22/2009 12:56:18 AM has been huge, making Windows It’s been an eventful day: among 7 the biggest pre-order item in the all the breaking news about history of Amazon UK and a Microsoft signing a search deal perpetual trending topic on with Facebook and Twitter, Twitter. The reactions from users Google doing the same with and reviewers have been mostly Twitter and later announcing positive, but after the lukewarm social search, one can easily it’s-ok-but-why-should-I-switchforget that today is the day that from-WinXP attempt that was Vista gets replaced by something Vista, the fact that people can’t more responsive (although it really isn’t that much faster when you actually measure it (for example, boot time on both wait to get their hands on systems is pretty much the same Windows 7 is hardly a surprise. on my computer), but it feels that And, for the most part, it’s true. way, and that’s all that matters, Annoying security features such compatibility issues have been as UAC have been fixed in fixed. In short, it’s more of a W i n d o w s 7 ( y o u c a n n o w really, really good service pack manually set its annoyance level), for Vista than a new OS, but it’s the system feels speedier and definitely enough to switch from the eight year old Windows XP. If you’re interested in making the switch, the price is $319 for Windows 7 Ultimate, and $299 for the Professional version ($219 and $199 for the upgrade, respectively). Windows 7 Home Premium will set you back $199, and an upgrade from either Vista or XP will cost you $119. Tags: microsoft, Windows 7

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Social Monitoring Console: Advanced Moderation For Your Facebook Page [INVITES]
By Jennifer Van Grove (Mashable!)
Submitted at 10/21/2009 6:25:14 PM

There’s no question about it, brands are on Facebook. From small businesses to the biggest corporate names, chances are that if there’s a consumer-facing product, there’s a Facebook Page to go with it. The tools that Facebook provides brand managers and Page admins is rather limited. When you combine that oversight with the abundance of brands on Facebook, a new need emerges: Facebook Page moderation that scales. ContextOptional has just launched their solution to the problem: the Social Monitoring Console for Facebook Pages. Moderation Console Overview The new premium tool allows brand managers to manage multiple Pages, locate new comments on old posts, like and reply from within the console, mark Page comments for review, and receive email notification for designated bad words. The idea is to eliminate nightmare situations that can develop quickly on Facebook, and make it easier to maintain a clean community. After registering with ContextOptional, you’ll be able to use Facebook Connect to grant access to your Facebook Pages, which will enable you to use the moderation console. The console

is divided in six different areas: Dashboard, Pages, Issues, History, Reports, and Account. From the Pages tab you’ll be able to get a quick view of fan status per page, and have the option to click “Moderate Page.” Once in moderation mode, you can view, like, escalate, reply, remove, or go to each post on your Page. Issue Management Should you choose to escalate a post, you’re essentially marking it to be reviewed by your support team. Additionally, you can provide a specific reason and action recommendation to clearly identify why you escalated the post. Once completed, the comment/post will now appear in the Issues tab of the console, where users can then send the marked items to email recipients. Perhaps the most useful features are the auto-deletion and bad word alerts. You can automatically configure the system to flag and/or remove comments based on bad words, as well as send out automatic email alerts for the bad words as they happen.

A few additional features include: - All pages are consolidated into one place for easy review. - All new comments appear in chronological order. - Once reviewed, comments are removed from the dashboard. - All deleted comments are archived for reporting and tracking. - A history of all moderation actions performed are recorded for auditing. - Comment workow manages process. - Autodelete feature immediately removes undesirable comments. - Email notification of comments containing specic words. Try it Free The moderation console normally runs $500 to $2000 p/mo, but ContextOptional is giving 100 Mashable readers with Facebook Pages a free trial of their product. To receive the free trial be one of the first 100 people to retweet this post, but make sure to include a link to a Facebook Page you want to moderate, and follow ContextOptional on Twitter. They’ll direct message you with the necessary details. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Irocha_T. Reviews: Facebook, Mashable, Twitter, iStockphoto Tags: brands, contextoptional, facebook, Pages

AP Convinces Newspaper That Watermark Will Stop Mythical Evil Copiers
By Mike Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 1:49:54 AM

Someone anonymous sent in an explanation by the Town News for its decision to use the Associated Press' hNews "watermarking" system which is the AP's silly and meaningless attempt to stop copying of AP content. The General Manager of Town News, Marc Wilson, explains why they signed up for the program using the totally unsubstantiated scare tactic, claiming that there are these awful content thieves out there stealing content: Probably the biggest issue within the newspaper/Internet world is controlling the re-use of content posted on the World Wide Web. Actually, I'd say that the biggest issue is figuring out a business model that works. If you're trying to control the use of content you put online, you're doing it wrong. And, oops, the hNews format doesn't do much to stop content reuse due to the magic of the world's worst copyright infringement tool: cut-and-paste. Honestly, I'm still trying to

figure out who believes this myth that copying news content is some massive problem. Sure, there are some spam sites out there, but they get no meaningful traffic. There are some claims that they cause search engine trouble, but that's overblown as well. Google and others are pretty good at sussing out where the content originated. But, according to Wilson, this is a huge problem: But what they don't like the rise of the many companies that copy or scrape content off of newspaper Web sites -- and end up competing with the sites that originated the content. Again, where are these mythical content copiers? There are spam sites, but they get no traffic and they go away pretty quickly. Besides, if you can't compete against a spam site scraping your content, you're definitely doing something wrong. If your brand and your community management is so weak that a spam site can compete with you, you don't deserve to be in business. Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

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Google strikes a Twitter search deal, Gamers Rejoice! too Legendary Civilization Is Coming to Facebook
By Caroline McCarthy, Tom Krazit (Webware.com)
have not gone live like Microsoft's have on Bing. Reports started to surface earlier this Submitted at 10/21/2009 2:30:00 PM month that Twitter was in Updated 4:30 p.m. PDT with separate talks with both Google additional details from Google. and Microsoft--which also has a It was indeed a nonexclusive deal with Facebook that will be deal: Google is going to be launching down the road. indexing real-time Twitter Google plans to turn on the messages in search results, in a service "soon," said Johnna deal announced just hours after Wright, product manager for Microsoft debuted integration of Google Search, declining to "tweets" into its own search provide further details. The engine, Bing. company has been working on A post on the official Google this "complicated" problem for blog by Vice President of Search some time, she said; Mayer said Marissa Mayer explained it: "We e a r l i e r t h i s y e a r t h a t believe that our search results and microblogging search was a user experience will greatly priority for Google in 2009. benefit from the inclusion of this It's just way too difficult to up-to-the-minute data, and we manually crawl Twitter for look forward to having a product tweets, said Jack Menzel, group that showcases how tweets can product manager for Google make search better in the coming Search. Google would have to months," the post read. "That b o m b a r d T w i t t e r ' s s e r v e r s way, the next time you search for constantly via its public API, and something that can be aided by a the result wouldn't be pretty for real-time observation, say, snow anyone. So, instead Google and conditions at your favorite ski Twitter have cut a deal where resort, you'll find tweets from Google is essentially licensing a other users who are there and data feed from Twitter to get that sharing the latest and greatest information in search results. information." How will it be presented? Google has "reached an Google isn't ready to talk about agreement," but the search results that yet in detail, but Wright said tweets would be presented within regular search results. "Relevancy is paramount," Menzel said, but it's also tricky: sometimes you might want the result from the guy with only 30 followers who knows what's happening on a given street corner, sometimes you might want the industry expert's quick take on a product announcement. So will Facebook strike a Google deal, too? Onstage at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco on Wednesday afternoon, Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said that Facebook has "nothing to announce" regarding rumors of a search deal with Google. Google wants to work with lots of different companies that are providing this type of information, Menzel said, although he declined to comment on any specific company. Following Google's announcement regarding Twitter, it announced a Google Labs product called Social Search for organizing streams of status updates and news feeds. Originally posted at The Social

By Stan Schroeder (Mashable!)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 4:48:58 AM

John Travolta Extortion Case Heads to Retrial
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 4:30:00 AM

against ambulance driver Tarino Lightbourne and his lawyer Pleasant Bridgewater for The Bahamian judge presiding attempting to extort $25 million over the John Travolta extortion from the Golden Globe winning c a s e h a s o r d e r e d a r e t r i a l , actor after the passing of his son according to the Associated Press, Jett. Both defendants pled not citing possible juror misconduct. guilty. In the case, charges were filed Local politician Picewell Forbes

delivered a speech to the media saying that a defendant was acquitted after the month long court case. This incident led Judge Anita Allen to issue the order for a retrial "in the interest of justice." Forbes said Bridgewater was "a free woman."

One of the best known video game franchises of all time, Sid Meier’s Civilization, will get a Facebook version under the name Civilization Network. Originally released back in 1991, Civilization is a turn based strategy game so fun and addictive that players kept playing its various iterations (by the way, am I the only one who preferred Colonization?) for decades. Sometime in 2010, we’ll also be able to play it on Facebook. Here’s what Sid Meier wrote on the official Civilization Facebook Page: “I wanted to let you know we’ll soon be looking for beta testers to help us develop a unique new way to play Civilization. Ever since we finished Civilization® Revolution™ last year, I’ve been looking at ways of expanding the Civ gameplay experience to include solo, competitive and cooperative play to take advantage of the uniqueness of social networks. We’re calling this project Civilization® Network™ and the full game will be available next year on Facebook.” Details on what the game will look like are sparse, but Meier

says you’ll be able to do almost everything you can do on the standard version. Most importantly, it’ll be free: “You can coordinate your strategy to win great battles, share your technology to jump ahead of your rivals, lobby your family and friends to form your own government and win vital elections, manage and grow your cities to maximize production and happiness, spy on your enemies, and work with your friends to create the great Wonders of the World. The game will offer everything you enjoy in Civ in a fully persistent environment – you can play as much as you like, whenever you like, and it’ll be free to play.” A closed beta should be coming soon, if we get access, we’ll make sure to let you know how we like it. Reviews: Facebook Tags: Civilization Network, facebook, Sid Meier

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Microsoft starts selling PCs online
(CNET News.com)
Software for delivering rich Web applications similar to Submitted at 10/22/2009 1:42:00 AM Adobe Flash; Web application run Can I say junkware? Copy- -time pasted from the M$ $tore: Adobe Flash Player for IE Microsoft Signature PCs come Software for viewing with full versions of the software S h o c k w a v e F l a s h ( S W F ) you need, pre-configured and animations and movies using ready to run.* Included are: Internet Explorer Internet Explorer 8 Adobe Acrobat Reader Surf the Internet faster, safer, Software for viewing PDF and more easily than ever before documents Windows Media Center Bing 3D Maps Preconfigured home 3D mapping program for Bing entertainment shell allowing users Maps to watch/record TV and download Zune 4.0 videos/shows on PC, manage Music, video, FM radio, and pictures, movies, music, play podcast player; provides access to stored media from TV and Zune marketplace for music and handset; additional configuration TV shows included Auto Collage 2009 Touch Internet TV Update for Media Program for converting Center photographs into collages Software update which enables Live ID Sign-in Assistant TV playback on PC Software utility to link Playready PC Runtime (for Windows account with Live ID WMC) Allows access to playLiveUpload for Facebook (for ready content Photo Gallery) Microsoft Security Essentials Allows user to upload photos Automatically updated software from Live Photo Gallery directly that protects against malware, to www.facebook.com spyware, virus, worms, and other Windows Live Essentials threats to your security Windows Live Call Microsoft Silverlight Allows users to make PC-to-PC and PC-to-phone voice and video calls Windows Live Family Safety Software for controlling and monitoring online activities of children Windows Live Mail E-mail client successor to outlook and windows mail; includes Calendar, Contacts, Feeds, Newsgroups Windows Live Messenger Instant Messaging, calling, and video chat program Windows Live Photo Gallery Photo-management software Windows Live Writer Blog-publishing software Microsoft Office Live Add-In Software allowing MS office programs to save files to and access files from a shared online workspace Windows Live Sync File-synchronization program Windows Live Movie Maker Movie-making software Windows Live Toolbar Web browser toolbar to facilitate connection with Windows Live This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

WINDOWS continued from page 20
At its best, McKinney said that things felt more like a hardware and software division working together than it did a collaboration between different companies. There are still examples of Microsoft and PC makers each deciding they can do things better. Even though Microsoft has a new taskbar, for example, Dell is carrying over the dock it built to help launch Vista applications. The result is that some PCs still feature multiple interfaces, each trying to accomplish a similar tasik. Microsoft, too, still has room for improvement, PC makers said. Acer's Morbello noted that Microsoft is trying to transform itself from a nearly "obsolete" engineering-driven approach that adds features simply because they are possible to one that focuses on what customers actually want. "These changes are a transformation of the company," Morbello said. The task is critical for Microsoft, which depends on Windows for a huge chunk of both sales and profits. At the high end, it faces never-ending challenges from Apple, which now has significantly more resources to invest in the Mac. At the low-end, meanwhile, Google is preparing its Chrome OS, which makes the case that people really just need a fast and efficient browsing experience to handle most computing tasks. For her part, Reller promised that Microsoft plans to continue seeking PC makers' input as it builds the successor to Windows 7. "This is the new Windows," Reller said. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Coming to Google Labs: Social search results
By Caroline McCarthy (Webware.com)
Submitted at 10/21/2009 4:20:00 PM

SAN FRANCISCO--Google Vice President Marissa Mayer made a surprise announcement at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco on Wednesday: "Social Search," a new Google Labs experiment that will bring in

search results from a member's social-network contact circle. It'll be launching as an opt-in project in the next few weeks. Then, you'll need to have a Google account and set up a Google Profile to fill in information about the social networks that you use. Google first launched Profiles about a year ago.

"What we've done here is inserted, on the bottom of the page, content written by people in your social network," Mayer said, adding that Google hopes this will "really improve the overall relevance, comprehensiveness, and quality" of search results. A search for a local restaurant, for example, could bring up your friends' Yelp reviews for the same

establishment. A search for travel destinations could bring up a post from a friend's blog. This comes on the same day that Google announced that it had entered into an agreement with Twitter to bring real-time "tweets" to search results. That's another product that has yet to actually launch. "The idea is for...these fast-rising

queries, where there's a period of time (when there are) actually tweets about that topic, and the definitive news source hasn't been written yet," Mayer said of the Twitter partnership, declining to disclose its financial terms. This post was updated at 4:25 p.m. PT. Originally posted at The Social

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Facebook COO: No PayPal killer, ad Mickey Mouse + Magic network--yet Mouse = Mighty Steve
By Caroline McCarthy (Webware.com)
monetization." Then there are the reports that Facebook will be launching a Submitted at 10/21/2009 3:03:00 PM PayPal-like transaction system or Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg large-scale virtual currency, a speaks with John Battelle at the rumor that's been floating around Web 2.0 Summit about features literally for years. "There's a lot of we can expect from the social- speculation on payments, and networking site.(Credit: James (we) don't want to fuel the Martin/CNET) speculation," Sandberg said in her SAN FRANCISCO--Two of the talk on Wednesday. She did say b i g g e s t r u m o r s a b o u t b i g , that Facebook processes payments upcoming Facebook products--an internally for advertisers buying ad network and a payment up inventory ("We needed people transaction platform--won't be t o b e a b l e t o b u y a d s making a big splash anytime soon, internationally," she explained) chief operating officer Sheryl and that it's playing around with Sandberg said in a talk on the "credits" system that it uses in Wednesday afternoon at the Web its " gift shop" feature. 2.0 Summit. "We are doing some testing with "We're asked it all the time," a couple of developers to see if Sandberg said on the question of they can use credits in apps they whether Facebook would be have," Sandberg said. "That's all launching an ad network for we're talking about right now. external Web sites using the We're in a learning phase." Facebook Connect universal-login Some potential customers have product. "We focus on building hinted that Facebook may have products for users and we think already gotten too big to deploy about the monetization later. And such a product. When asked about I'm not saying that in a cute way, the idea of a Facebook payment because we are very focused on system, John Cahill, the CEO of teen virtual-world Meez, told CNET News earlier this week that he's skeptical about its potential. "The bigger the social network, the harder it is for a currency," Cahill said. "I've spent some time in the payments space and the real -world currency space, and rolling out a payment system that can be used by millions of people is very, very difficult. If you get it wrong, you can destroy your community." But Facebook is dipping one toe after another into the virtualgoods pool. Earlier on Wednesday, the New York Times broke the story that Facebook would be letting members gift songs to one another through a partnership with music service Lala. This would be the first concrete result of yet another longstanding rumor of a "Facebook music service." Additionally, Facebook has partnered with a number of nonprofits for charity-focused virtual gifts. Originally posted at The Social

By Ken Ray (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))
Submitted at 10/21/2009 3:00:00 PM

Filed under: Apple Financial, Steve Jobs Is it better to have a lot of something good or a little of something great? If Apple CEO Steve Jobs is any indication, it's better to have both. In September, Alpha Steve had an estimated personal net worth of $5.1 billion, enough to end up the 43rd richest person in the U.S. according to Forbes' list of the 400 richest people in the states. This week he's up to at least $5.4 billion. If you think that's because of the tear on which Apple's stock has gone over the past few weeks, you're only a little over half right. According to filings by Apple( AAPL), Jobs owns 5.426 million shares of Apple stock. As of Tuesday night, Apple's stock had picked up 26.39 points since Forbes' counted the 400 "haves." Jobs shares had gained $146 million in value. Not bad. Disney( DIS) filings say Jobs owns 138 million shares of the happiest company on Earth. Those shares have not had nearly

the run enjoyed by Apple shares over the last few weeks, gaining only 99 cents as of Tuesday night. Still, Jobs has so many of them that they've increased in value by $136 million. Not bad either. Apple's meteoric rise plus Disney's incremental rise equals $282 million more for Apple's CEO and Disney's largest private shareholder. It's better to have both. [via Fortune] TUAW Mickey Mouse + Magic Mouse = Mighty Steve originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Podcasting advice for the amateur or expert
By Tim Wasson (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))
difficult to figure out exactly what equipment is best for you. Well, lucky for you Dan Benjamin at Submitted at 10/21/2009 2:00:00 PM Hivelogic has written a very Filed under: Audio, Podcasting thorough article on the best There's no shortage of podcasting equipment in every price range. It equipment out there for amateurs covers all bases, from the person or professionals. These audio who has never recorded before to devices can range from a few the person making the leap into quality. bucks to a few thousand bucks, the "pro" category and ready to As an amateur podcaster myself w h i c h s o m e t i m e s m a k e s i t drop a grand to improve audio I was a little surprised that my beloved Ubercaster and Blue Snowball were left out in the cold, but the article is still very helpful to people looking for the best hardware and software at different price points. If you've been considering buying or upgrading your gear, this is the article to read. TUAW Podcasting advice for the amateur or expert originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Kijubi Helps Find “What Could You Be Doing” on Vacation
By Christina Warren (Mashable!)
real potential. How do you book and plan for activities when you go on Submitted at 10/21/2009 6:23:45 PM vacation? Let us know in the This post is part of Mashable’s comments! Spark of Genius Spark of Genius series, which Series Sponsored by Microsoft highlights a unique feature of BizSpark startups. If you would like to have BizSpark is a startup program your startup considered for that gives you three-year access to inclusion, please see the details the latest Microsoft development here. The series is made possible California, Florida and Nevada tools, as well as connecting you to by Microsoft BizSpark. and catalogs more than 80 a nationwide network of investors Name: Kijubi different types of activities from and incubators. There are no Quick Pitch: Kijubi is a new snorkeling, to water-skiing, to hot upfront costs, so if your business type of travel planning site that -air ballooning (if you want to is privately owned, less than three helps you discover “What Kijubi have a“Balloon Boy” adventure of years old, and generates less than Doing” on your next vacation. your own — you know, minus the U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, Genius Idea: Thanks to the huge media hoax). you can sign up today. Internet, planning trips online has Entrepreneurs can take You can search by price, become much, much easier. Not whether or not children are advantage of the Azure Services only can you book your flight, allowed (or encouraged), and platform for their website hosting hotel and car rentals online, you check for user reviews and and storage needs. Microsoft can compare prices and features. booking coupons. recently announced the“new The one aspect of trip planning I really like the idea of using a CloudApp()” contest– use the that hasn’t come completely website rather than sifting through Azure Services Platform for online though is that of local hotel brochures — many of which hosting your .NET or PHP app, activities. Plenty of places have are either out of date or only and you could be the lucky winner online sites, but coagulating that aimed at certain types of events. of a USD 5000* ( please see information during the planning Plus, being able to book what you website for official rules and stages of your trip still isn’t as want to do before you arrive at guidelines).” Reviews: PHP easy as it could be. That’s what your destination can reduce your Tags: kijubi, trip planning, Kijubi aims to do — help you find stress and make a vacation that vacation planning and plan the stuff you want to much more relaxing. I hope while you are on vacation. Kijubi expands to other cities and Right now, Kijubi covers locations — because the idea has

Prosecutors Subpoena Tons Of Info On Student Journalists Who Provided Information To Reopen Murder Case
By Mike Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 6:19:09 AM

Illinois are now subpoenaing all sorts of excess information on the students themselves, including Northwestern University's their grades, the grading criteria, Medill Innocence Project is a very student evaluations, and private cool program for journalism notes and and off-the-record s t u d e n t s , t e a c h i n g t h e m interviews that were used in investigative reporting techniques g a t h e r i n g t h e i n f o r m a t i o n in the real world, by having them necessary for the case. While the investigate potential wrongful state's attorney Anita Alvarez is convictions. As the program's defending this overreaching website notes, it's helped free 11 subpoena effort, it has many wrongfully convicted individuals, concerned that this is really just five of whom had been on death an attempt to intimidate the row. However, some prosecutors students and create a serious don't really like being proven chilling effect on this type of incorrect. In one of its latest investigative research. It's difficult projects, the Innocence Project to see how the student's grades has provided enough evidence to make any difference at all in reopen the case of Anthony whether or not McKinney is McKinney, who has been in jail innocent or guilty. for 31 years for allegedly killing a Permalink| Comments| Email security guard. This Story However, state's attorneys in

Access a Windows 7 Installation in Mac OS X with VirtualBox [Windows 7]
By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 4:30:00 AM

Tech thinker Anil Dash gets "uncharacteristically nerdy" and breaks down the process he used to install Windows 7 in Boot Camp—and then get access to it

from OS X, without rebooting, using the free virtualization software VirtualBox. This isn't installing Windows 7 by itself into a new VirtualBox image/appliance—it's taking the hard disk installation made with accessible from VirtualBox in OS Boot Camp and making it X. It's only two terminal

commands on top of the standard VirtualBox setup and startup, and it's a pretty handy tool for quickly opening a Windows 7 program you need or testing out a web site in a Windows-only browser. Hit the link for Dash's quick runthrough, and tell us if you've got

any additional VirtualBox-onMac tips in the comments. How to run Windows 7 under Mac OS X 10.6 for free[Anil Dash]

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Book Review: "The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs"
By Sang Tang (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))
Submitted at 10/21/2009 4:00:00 PM

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Steve Jobs, TUAW Bookshelf In " The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs," Carmine Gallo provides a framework for you to deliver a keynote like Steve does. The book provides both an Al Michaels and John Madden perspective of Jobs's keynotes: a play-by-play account of events married with analytical insight. While rich in detailing the stylistics of Jobs's presentations and the empirical evidence supporting it -- for example, limiting bullet points on slides, using simple language, and using the rule of threes to enhance a narrative -- the most captivating portion of the book is how it details Steve Jobs's preparation for his keynotes. Yes, even Steve Jobs, like the rest of us, must prepare for his preparations. And prepare he does, which is evident in the stories of Paul Vais. An executive at Jobs's former company NeXT(that Apple later acquired, which brought Jobs back into the Apple fold), Vais

recalled that "every slide was written like a piece of poetry...[and that] Steve would labor over the presentation. We'd try to orchestrate and choreograph everything and make it more alive than it really is." However, Gallo says that "making your presentation 'more alive' takes practice. Once you accept this simple principle, your presentations will stand out in a sea of mediocrity."

Gallo's book follows many of the "Jobsian" presentation mantras he preaches. Like a Steve Jobs keynote, the book is simple to read and provides an easy-tofollow roadmap for a referenceminded reader. The one thing that most readers will walk away with is that Steve Jobs's on-stage presence evinces a style similar to that of Apple's products when they're on the stage of the showroom floor or marketed on Apple's website. As a result, as much as it serves as a Steve Jobs presentation guidebook, "The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs" in many ways is a Steve Jobs biography. "The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs" is available at many booksellers, including Borders, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble. TUAW Book Review: "The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs" originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

AAPL hits all-time high
By Mike Schramm (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))
January, though that may have been more of a sign of the economy at large than Apple's fortunes specifically. Submitted at 10/22/2009 10:00:00 AM Boy, it would have been nice to Filed under: Odds and ends, buy back then, wouldn't it have? Apple Financial, Steve Jobs, $5,000 of Apple's shares in Apple Steve Jobs' Disney stocks January would be worth $13,000 aren't the only thing making him yesterday. Just goes to show you rich -- AAPL has hit an all time can't keep a good fruit down. high, according to MacRumors, You can track all the AAPL thanks to the big announcements financial news on our sister sites earlier this week, both on the Blogging Stocks and Daily online store and during the Finance. conference call. Before opening TUAW AAPL hits all-time high this morning, it was at 204.72, but originally appeared on The the high yesterday was a Unofficial Apple Weblog whopping 208.71, the best the (TUAW) on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 company's ever seen, beating the 10:00:00 EST. Please see our previous high of 199.83, set in terms for use of feeds. December of 2007. And it's been Read| Permalink| Email this| a heck of a year: the stock was Comments trading in the mid 80s this past

Dollhouse to skip November sweeps
By Brad Trechak (TV Squad)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 8:33:00 AM

The upside is that December will have Dollhouse go double-long as two episodes will be shown backIn a portent of things to come, to-back on Friday nights. Dollhouse is being shoved aside At least Fox is living up to its by Fox during November sweeps. promise to show all 13 episodes T h e p o p u l a r r u m o r i s t h a t of the second season. Granted, November will see a repeat of Dollhouse has not been Whedon's been kind to the show what with House shown on Friday nights. best effort, but Fox hasn't exactly

relegating it to Friday nights. This is just an example of how outdated the current ratings system is. I'm sure if DVRs or Internet downloads were taken into account, Dollhouse's ratings would be much better than they are on paper. Sadly, we live in an unfair world (with an unfair

Nielsen Ratings system) so it's likely we're looking at the last season of the show. Filed under: Programming, OpEd, Reality-Free, Dollhouse, Joss Whedon Permalink| Email this| | Comments

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Ihnatko says Apple tablet could play hero to comic books
By Ken Ray (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))
Submitted at 10/21/2009 8:30:00 PM

Filed under: Rumors, Apple Speculation based on rumor can be frustrating. But when the rumor is of Apple's fabled tablet, and the speculation is of a new golden age for comics, the 13year-old kid in me comes alive. Writing for the Chicago SunTimes, Andy Ihnatko says there are hints that Apple is getting into the digital comic book market, a statement he likens to saying "Apple is helping to create the digital comic book market." Digital comics today, he argues, are where digital music was in 2002. Legitimate businesses are so fractured, clumsy, and behind the times that pirated comics (online illegally one day after hitting store shelves) provide the best user experience. Enter LongBox, a company that has made the rounds at comic book conventions this year pitching an iTunes-like store for buying and selling digital comic books. Ihnatko talked with LongBox CEO Rantz Hoseley,

Flickr Adds People Tagging à la Facebook [Digital Photos]
By Adam Pash (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 10/21/2009 6:00:00 PM

peppering him with questions and looking for reasons that LongBox was doomed to failure. What he found instead was a company that respects the comic book as a medium, that has made publishing to the LongBox format (.LBX) as simple as adding a plug-in to the software publishers already use, and that has plans for outfits as big as Marvel or DC all the way down to the lone artists publishing on their own.

Continue reading Ihnatko says Apple tablet could play hero to comic books TUAW Ihnatko says Apple tablet could play hero to comic books originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

Not sure you like the idea? You can set your preferences for who can add you to photos and One of the better features in who can add people to photos Facebook (and now both Picasa you've shared. You can even a n d i P h o t o ) i s p e o p l e - determine on a photo-by-photo t a g g i n g — a l l o w i n g u s e r s t o basis if you'd like to be featured identify who's in a picture by after all, everyone has a bad hair mousing over the image. Starting day now and then. If you do today, Flickr's joined in the fun. remove yourself from a photo, Using this feature, you can now only you will be able to add add any Flickr member to a photo, yourself back in. If you decide find photos of friends, and keep that People in Photos isn't your an eye on photos you're in. All thing, you can remove yourself you've got to do to add a contact entirely. to one of your photos is click the Seems like a nice update for new Add a person link under the Flickr users, and one long People in this photo header on the overdue. Flickr! It's made of right, then type in the username, people![Flickr] actual name, or email address of the Flickr contact you want to tag.

More Vampire Diaries to be forthcoming
By Brad Trechak (TV Squad)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 8:02:00 AM

that frequent Hot Topic can rejoice because the CW has ordered a full season of the This vampire thing could be freshman series The Vampire g e t t i n g t o t h e p o i n t o f Diaries. This is opposed to the oversaturation. Bram Stoker is to still-struggling revamp of Melrose blame for inventing the concept. Place which has only had five However, vampire fans and those additional episodes requested of

it.

Between True Blood, The Vampire Diaries and the everimmortal Buffy the Vampire Slayer(which I still count despite being long off the air), you'd think television has had enough of our fanged friends. Perhaps other series should start involving

vampires in order to boost ratings. Continue reading More Vampire Diaries to be forthcoming Filed under: OpEd, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free, Vampire Diaries Permalink| Email this| | Comments

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Can Music Save MySpace?
By Sarah Perez (ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 7:50:51 AM

Yesterday, amid all the news of Twitter's arrival into both Microsoft's Bing and the Google search engine, another major announcement was being made. MySpace is giving up on trying to be a major social network. According to MySpace CEO, Owen Van Natta, Facebook is no longer their competition. "We're focused on a different space," he says. That "different space," as it turns out, is music...and it really isn't all that different, especially considering MySpace's roots. If anything, this major overhaul of the social network is an attempt to return the site to becoming the popular entertainment hub it once was. Sponsor MySpace: Remember When it Was "A Place for Music?" When MySpace hit the scene back in 2003, local bands especially indie rock bands - were among the first to create profiles on the social network. Their presence immediately began to attract a young, hip crowd of users who were interested in following pop culture, and, in particular, the up-and-coming artists they discovered while browsing through the network. Only eight months after its launch, MySpace began to experience exponential growth, as its users created profiles and friended others who would then, in turn, invite more users to join the social network. Thanks to the " network effect," MySpace soon became the place to be online. Everyone was there.

But at the same time that MySpace was having its heyday, another social networking site was being created. Although still in its infancy in 2004, a Harvard student named Mark Zuckerberg began writing the code for what would eventually become Facebook, now the world's largest social network. Over recent months, we've seen the mass exodus from MySpace to the more popular - and more populated - Facebook. Studies have shown that those left actively engaging on MySpace now tend to be younger, lowerincome users. Researcher Danah Boyd pointed out, somewhat controversially, that the differences between the two networks, MySpace and Facebook, went further than age and income - they involved your "social class," too. Tired of being compared to Facebook in this way and certainly tired of hemorrhaging its users, MySpace CEO Van Natta has plans to turn the sinking ship around. After taking over the company six months ago, he's been busy arranging new partnerships for the one-time king of social networks. These partnerships aim to bring the focus back to music, and less on socializing. New Music Initiatives: iLike, Videos, Artist Dashboards One of the most notable new initiatives involves MySpace's iLike integration. After being acquired by MySpace in August, many wondered why iLike wasn't becoming a part of the MySpace network. Actually it was, but Van Natta didn't want to disclose that information at the time. But now, the iLike acquisition is

Is it Enough? The question that remains, of course, is whether or not MySpace's re-branding efforts beginning to make sense. Through will be enough to keep the site iLike music video widgets, now from going under. Although popular installations on other MySpace still had a healthy 64 social networks like Facebook and million users in August of this Orkut, the videos - and, most year, that number is 12 million importantly, their ads - can be fewer than it did at the same time streamed on other sites while the last year. Meanwhile, Facebook revenue generated returns to climbed to 300 million worldwide MySpace. Even though many of that same month. the users watching these videos Can MySpace entice people to now may be lost forever to come back to the network through MySpace, they're helping the its new music-based initiatives? company regain its footing It's too soon to tell at the moment through their streams. whether the strategy will work or MySpace's entire music video n o t , b u t i t ' s d e f i n i t e l y t h e vault, one of the most popular n e t w o r k ' s b e s t s h o t . B y features on the social network, has capitalizing on what remains the also been integrated with iLike. In most popular activity on MySpace August, comScore reported 45 to date (music and video), the million people watched 340 company hopes to become more million videos during the course of a niche site for socializing of the month. It only makes sense around music instead of a site for for MySpace to capitalize on that just socializing. The newly a c t i v i t y , w h i c h i s w h y t h e launched features are just a part of company has now launched the company's overall efforts in MySpace Music Videos, an online this direction, too. Still to come video archive where users can not a r e c o n c e r t t i c k e t a n d only watch videos from their merchandise sales, although no favorite artists, but with a click, details or launch dates have been purchase the song or ringtone given for those features as of yet. from Amazon or iTunes. While these efforts may not ever Meanwhile, pre-roll, post-roll, and allow MySpace to reclaim its overlay ads help to monetize the status as the number one social content. network - that ship seems to have In addition, to cater to the sailed - they could definitely help musicians, bands, and labels who the network maintain profitability. make MySpace their home, the And at the end of the day, that's network has also launched "Artist all that's really needed. It's not D a s h b o a r d s . " T h e s e o n l i n e about how many users you have, analytical tools track the fans' it's about how much money you d e m o g r a p h i c s b y a g e a n d can make off of those that you do. location, the total number of plays Discuss per song, profile views and more. Every artist with a MySpace profile is given free access to these tools.

Photo Fakeout Hotel Reviews Compare Promotional Images to Reality [Travel]
By Adam Pash (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 10/21/2009 5:00:00 PM

Online hotel review service Oyster features a Photo Fakeout category in their blog that gives a reality check to hotel reviews, pitting a hotel's promotional images with actual photographs. The only disappointing thing about Oyster's Photo Fakeouts is that there aren't more of them—and that this isn't the dedicated feature of any site we can find. Popular travel planning and review site TripAdvisor allows for user-submitted photo uploads, which are nice, and I've sometimes had good luck searching Flickr for the name of hotels, but it'd be great to see something like these Photo Fakeouts in an easily searchable database. As weblog Of Zen and Computer points out, it's worth noting that pictures can be manipulated to look bad in much the same way as they can to look good. That said, sometimes the difference is clear and egregious, and it's nice to get a reality check before you book. If you've got your own methods for searching out the reality of your hotel before you book, let's hear your tips in the comments. Photo Fakeouts[Oyster Blog via Of Zen and Computing]

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Web 2.0 Panel: Humans as Sensors
By Richard MacManus (ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 10/21/2009 7:44:02 PM

This post is sponsored by IBM's A Smarter Planet blog. Today at the Web 2.0 Summit, Brady Forrest of O'Reilly Media ran a panel called Humans As Sensors. With him were four organizations doing innovative applications using sensors: Markus Tripp (Mobilizy), Deborah Estrin (Computer Science Department, UCLA), Sharon Biggar (Path Intelligence), Di-Ann Eisnor (Waze). Each of the speakers started by explaining what they do. Sponsor Waze is a real-time crowd sourcing and live mapping application. It works on iPhone, Windows Mobile, Symbian and Android. Di-Ann Eisnor explained that their service does "transactional cartography." It was initially launched in Israel, then launched in the U.S. just a few months ago. Eisnor said that Waze aimes to take sensor data from "entertainment to action." It started out being used to map objects, then people, now processes. Path Intelligence is bringing online innovation to the real world, according to co-founder and the Chief Operating Officer Sharon Biggar. They are targeting the retail market - specifically shops in malls. She said that the online world is good at collecting data on user experience, but the local mall doesn't have that data.

What Path Intelligence is doing is analogous to Google Analytics, said Biggar. It works by collecting sensor datas and anonymous pings from cellphones - it doesn't require downloads. Biggar said that what they are measuring is real-time behavior, "right now." One of their current aims is to help the offline retail industry cope with recession. At mall sites they respond directly to the way shoppers are behaving. They do this by installing sensors and accurately locating mobile phones indoors. They use that data to help businesses improve in the real world and in real time. Mobilizy makes the AR browser Wikitude, which we have covered extensively here on ReadWriteWeb. It works on mobile phones that have GPS and a compass. As we've explained before, Wikitude is overlaid information on the real world. What's next for the product? Mobilizy manager business development Markus Tripp said that they plan to open it for the public, so people can create content for AR. It will be in the same format as Google Earth. Deborah Estrin from the Computer Science Department at UCLA was on next. She explained that they are doing a lot of research into "participatory sensing." They are taking it from aggregators to personal apps. The use cases include specific civic and citizen data campaigns. She suggested that what they do is "twitter with a purpose," although she admitted that this was a cynical thing to say.

Deborah Estrin from UCLA remarked that as you get more data, you get more value. Brady asked the magical Web 2.0 question: how do you all plan on making money? Example apps include Sharon Biggar from Path whatsinvasive.com- enabling Intelligence explained that their users to provide data on what business model is built into what plants are invasive (weeds etc) - they do: retail. She said that and Biketastic. Discussion retailers will pay for the data they The panel then had a discussion provide. However she noted that on where sensor and mobile- these companies "need to get the generated data is headed on the sensors out there, somehow" Web. which is a cost to those Brady asked the panel about b u s i n e s s e s . how users can trust the data, Di-Ann Eisnor from Waze said whether it be implict or explicit. that the "navigable data market" is Estrin from UCLA said that worth $4B and is dominated by giving people visibility back into the big map data companies like the data is key. Let people have Navteq. Waze sells their data at legible feedback on the data. She low cost, but she noted that also remarked that they always Google is trying to disrupt the have "eyes on the process" - in market. She admitted that this is other words, humans in the loop. shaking things up for Waze, but So what they do is not entirely she thinks that location based automated. services are coming into their own Waze has learned from web 2.0 (which they are indeed, according that you need to apply different to Morgan Stanley). weighting for different people. Markus Tripp from Mobilizy Brady asked next: what type of said that they are a very new critical mass of people is needed business, but he said they are for these kinds of apps? generating revenue. He said that Di-Ann Eisnor from Waze said the main goal with Wikitude is to that it really depends on the app get reach and as much content as and its goals. She noted that for possible into its system. them Israel was an incubator / test Brady asked as a final question: bed. So they shot for half a is Twitter the ultimate sensor? percent of the market. Sharon Biggar from Path Sharon Biggar from Path Intelligence said that Twitter data Intelligence agreed that it depends is "another indicator of interest" on the app and what you're trying another piece of data to add to the to achieve. For them their focus is equation. Discuss retail, so their comparison point (in terms of data) is what users had before they came along.

Review: Eastwick - Mooning and Crooning
By Jane Boursaw (TV Squad)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 5:07:00 AM

(S01E05) "The inner animals of our citizenry will be released." Darryl As some of us have said on previous Eastwick reviews and comments, the show seems to be moving along at a snail's pace. But -- as some of you have also said -- that's not always a bad thing. Let things simmer. Let the plot slowly unwind itself. Let the characters evolve organically. Let's just hope it doesn't simmer too long. But we definitely got lots of simmer with this episode, especially the scene with the redhot Jaime Ray Newman as sultry Kat atop the piano. I kept thinking about how Darryl's blonde attorney was talking down to Kat, saying her hair was lifeless and such. There was nothing lifeless about her on that piano. Continue reading Review: Eastwick - Mooning and Crooning Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

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Sponsor Post: Microsoft Retail Store
By RWW Sponsor (ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 6:00:33 AM

Editor's note: we offer our longterm sponsors the opportunity to write 'Sponsor Posts' and tell their story. These posts are clearly marked as written by sponsors, but we also want them to be useful and interesting to our readers. We hope you like the posts and we encourage you to support our sponsors by trying out their products. Coming soon to a mall near you: the Microsoft Retail Store. Yes, that's right: Redmond, Washington's favorite son wants a closer, snugglier relationship with you, the consumer. Sponsor Given Microsoft's relative lack of retail experience, and the fact that it plans to locate near its nemesis (well, one of its nemeses), the Apple Store, we wanted to help. So we came up with a list of ideas to help the big MS make its stores a hit. Warning: some of these are serious, others not so much. Which is which? You be the judge. • Hold star-powered store opening events. Announce that Microsoft will celebrate all store openings with live skits featuring goofy bosom buddies Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld. • Hire the very best people to run the stores. You only get one chance to make a good first

impression, so make sure your people have the track record to pull this off. • Offer diagnostic and repair services. If Geniuses can fix or replace any Apple-branded electronics still under warranty, then Microsoft's retail staff can do the same for stuff that sports stickers claiming things like "Windows Vista Capable." • Build alliances with computer manufacturers to staff the Guru Bars. And why not? The big names have plenty riding on the launch of Windows 7. Besides, they've built up plenty of customer service expertise in places like Texas, California and Hyderabad. (Note: certain fine computer builders, like Bob & Doug's Corner Computer Emporium, might not get a seat at the Bar.) • Train all staff to maintain the highest level of professionalism. For instance, make sure associates smile politely when a customer walks up, grins, says "Hello, I'm a Mac" and elbows them in the ribs. • Display Windows-based hardware for people to try. Show how Windows runs on computers, smartphones and whatever else Microsoft wants to convince people to buy. • Promote fan clubs to celebrate previous Microsoft consumer successes. Start with enthusiasts for Microsoft Surface, Windows Tablet Edition, Passport, Vista and Sidekick. • Run workshops for business white ensemble a stylish jolt. Photo: Kelly Stuart Think you are Street Chic? Email us your photo and you could

forums for answers to other problems; and, when all else fails, reinstall Windows and all other software from the ground up. • Create an X-Box gaming area. Preview the latest games, hold instore tournaments and otherwise build excitement around Microsoft's gaming platform. Contain this area in a soundproof room away from workshops, ideally in the mall display window so that everyone can see how rockin' Microsoft is. users. Exploit current holes in • Guerilla marketing (offense). software available for the Mac. Every day, send people to nearby For instance, bring in experts to Apple Stores to pose as shoppers, explain how to set up popular whine about how expensive Macs accounting packages and, for are, then proclaim loudly, " l a w y e r s , l e g a l p r a c t i c e Maybe we should go PC." management systems. • Guerilla marketing (defense). • Run workshops for creative Prepare a list of canned answers users. Run workshops showing to anticipated questions from how Windows computer users can Apple operatives. Of particular start their artsy projects (photo importance, be ready to explain books, websites, music videos) how Microsoft's operating system right out of the box. Have the is not a copy of Apple's. workshops led by cute little girls • Offer kids play area. Create a who end each seminar by saying " low "play table" where kids can I'm a PC and I'm four and a half." sit down and show their parents • R u n s a f e c o m p u t i n g how easily they can figure out a workshops. Teach users the Windows computer. basics, like not opening all • Store closing. To tell shoppers attachments, not clicking links in the store is closing for the day in a spam email and so forth. way they're sure to understand, • Run basic Windows repair have the giant video wall display workshops. Teach computer users the Windows Blue Screen of how to: remove pre-loaded trial Death. software; replace faulty .dlls; What do you want from make changes in the Windows Microsoft Retail Stores? Please registry; manually uninstall tell us in the comments below. software when Windows botches Discuss the job; effectively scan online Daily. Follow ELLE on Twitter. appear in ELLE.com's Street Chic

Review: Nip/Tuck Enigma
By Jonathan Toomey (TV Squad)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 9:28:00 AM

( S06E02)"Watching them bleed makes me feel less... alone." Vivian Despite being depressing as hell, "Enigma" was still a refreshing episode when compared to last week's lighthearted pseudo-documentary take on Sean and Christian's financial troubles. Nip/Tuck doesn't always focus solely on one of the main characters, but when the show does take that angle, it's often quite good. This episode could have just as easily been called "Sean McNamara II." (The first Sean-centric ep was back in season two.) Continue reading Review: Nip/Tuck - Enigma Filed under: OpEd, Nip/Tuck, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

Street Chic: Milan
By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog)
Submitted at 10/21/2009 4:00:00 AM

Scarlet sandals give a black-and-

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OfficeMedium: Intranet for the Small Business User
By Alex Williams (ReadWriteWeb)
activity stream. We'd also like to see rich media integration. Services like Submitted at 10/22/2009 12:58:45 AM business where keeping people in the loop is often mission critical. OfficeMedium can be fertile We write a lot about the battles This front page has a clean UI places for training and sharing for the enterprise, the merits of with clear demarcation for recent marketing materials that may Sharepoint and Google's pitches c o n t e n t a d d e d o r u p d a t e d ; include videos. To have a place into the corporate world. c o m m e n t s ; a c a l e n d a r ; a for them on the service would be But it's always good to watch "shoutbox," for quick messages quite handy. the new players who use existing and a basic activity stream. But on a basic level open-source software to build OfficeMedium works. Perhaps . something pretty quickly that The profiles we looked at have what we suggest is beyond what people can use. OfficeMedium is just a few fields for web sites but the small business user is looking a service that is a fit for the small included a blog, personal and for in an intranet. But overall, business user with just enough miscellaneous sites that the user they do a good job of covering the social features to give it a decent may include. We'd add several basics. Here's a summary of what c h a n c e o f w i n n i n g o v e r more fields to this section to they offer: companies looking to establish a reflect the real media presence of • Task and Event Management community platform for their the user. • Personal and Group Calendars users. • File Sharing, Storage, and The blog environment has built Sponsor in notifications that may be sent to Organization OfficeMedium is a web-based, users. Comments can be turned • Contact Management i n t r a n e t a n d c o l l a b o r a t i o n on, off or set to read-only. • Archiving software. It's developed on the Further, the service provides the Overall, the social features are Drupal platform so you know it pretty decent but could use some ability to integrate external parties h a s e v e r y p o s s i b l e m o d u l e improvement. For instance it's with controls so the outside user available to it for adding on if difficult to find tags that are can only see what is intended for needed. associated with the user or the them. That's a big plus as more Overall, OfficeMedium is a company. A nice, robust cloud tag often than before, users work clean, easy to use intranet would be excellent to have front pretty closely online with outside software. In the new world of the and center on every page. The parties. enterprise, every employee will navigation down the right column OfficeMedium is $8 per user per c r e a t e t h e i r o w n m e d i a . clearly identifies what the system month and $1 ore gigabyte. The O f f i c e M e d i u m p r o v i d e s a n can do but we wonder if this first 512 megabytes are free. environment to fit with this could be consolidated in some Discuss emerging trend but with enough manner to provide a richer hooks to satisfy the needs of a

OpenDNS Deluxe Adds Deeper Controls and Email Support [DNS]
By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 5:30:00 AM

China growth underlines rapid rebound
(Financial Times - US homepage)
Submitted at 10/21/2009 10:14:49 PM

China’s recovery accelerated in the third quarter as a result of the government’s massive lending

programme with the economy growing at 8.9 per cent compared with the same period last year. The National Statistics Bureau on Thursday said that the increase in investment and retail sales had also accelerated in September,

underlining the rapid rebound in the economy that has taken place in recent months. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

whitelist/blacklist slots, a year's worth of surfing and net use logs, a password-protected way around We've written many times about your own "block page," and the benefits of pointing your more—then Deluxe is probably router to OpenDNS instead of worth the Super Value Meal with your ISP's ad-shoving re-direct Shake cost of $9.95/year. service. OpenDNS now offers a Even if you're not an OpenDNS $10-per-year Deluxe version that super-user, the Deluxe package offers whitelist-only surfing, gets you tech support over email customized block pages, and one during Pacific time business year of surfing stats. hours, and it removes all We dig the free version of advertising from your page-notOpenDNS because it speeds up found results. There's also an surfing, filters naughty content for Enterprise edition, but we're kids, and protects against notable guessing you're not the one who malware. If you're a fan who makes the $2,000/year call on that wants a little more leeway than kind of package. Use OpenDNS the free version provides—more

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Google's New Social Search Is A Big Chess Move Against Facebook
By Marshall Kirkpatrick (ReadWriteWeb)
Right now Twitter search is probably much bigger than Facebook (unless you're Facebook Submitted at 10/21/2009 7:18:32 PM serving logged-in users), because Web search, real-time search and only a tiny portion of the much social search. That's a pretty larger number of Facebook users compelling combination and it's more. have opted-in to making their what both Google and Facebook Google's new Social Search will Facebook activity public. But put on the table today in a head-to allow users to opt-in to having Facebook has an explicit agenda -head competiton. Google's search results from content to change that. One reason for that Marissa Mayer did a short, created by their friends on social is that more public Facebook s u r p r i s e d e m o t o d a y o f a n networks around the web included activity makes deals like the one it experimental Google feature in Google search results. Those made with Bing today much more called Social Search but don't friend connections could come valuable. m i s t a k e t h e u n d e r s t a t e d from any number of sites that you More now than ever, Google announcement to mean this was a and your friends have listed in needs Twitter data to combat small move. The Web 2.0 Summit your Google Profiles - but it won't Facebook's social dominance today has been jam packed with include Facebook. That means it Facebook is five to ten times as very big search moves. won't include very much, unless big as Twitter today. Both companies are hoping Twitter and Google Profiles Microsoft would rather you did you'll come to their sites to search become a lot more integrated. all your searching from Bing but for what you're looking for, what Microsoft announced today that it does own a meaningful portion people are saying about that topic Facebook status messages and of Facebook. You can bet it and what your friends think. other content from Facebook wishes it owned more. Microsoft is very much in the users with public profiles will No one is set to be the clear game, too. Here are some things soon appear in Bing search winner here, but with far more to consider in this search war. It's results. That's a huge change for social activity and a multi-layered a new fight - now including the Facebook. Bing also announced partnership with the first qualified real-time, social web! Twitter search integration, which web-search challenger to Google Sponsor is live now. in years (Bing) Facebook may in The following is our attempt to Google announced a deal with fact have the strongest hand. piece all of this together, but the Twitter today as well. So Bing has It's going to be a wild ride and war rooms of each of these Facebook and Twitter. Facebook big moves are being made right companies are no doubt buzzing has Bing-powered web search. now. Discuss t r y i n g t o p u t t o g e t h e r a n d Google just has Twitter, no understand the same details and Facebook search.

Cameron Mathison would be perfect for Good Morning, America
By Allison Waldman (TV Squad)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 9:02:00 AM

With Diane Sawyer moving from Good Morning, America to World News Tonight, ABC is reportedly hunting around for just the right person to become the new GMA host. The names bandied about include George Stephanopoulos, Bill Weir, Chris Cuomo, David Muir and Cameron Mathison. I am telling you right now, Cameron Mathison would be perfect for Good Morning, America. While the other men mentioned are all involved in news, Cameron is on All My Children. He's an actor. But he's also an attractive performer and an ABC talent on the rise. He was a contestant on Dancing with the Stars, and even though he didn't win, he won over a lot of non-soap viewers who'd never seen him before.

Continue reading Cameron Mathison would be perfect for Good Morning, America Filed under: OpEd, Daytime, Celebrities, Talk Show, RealityFree Permalink| Email this| | Comments

ESPN Analyst Steve Phillips Takes Leave of Absence After Reported Sex Scandal
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 7:05:00 AM

ESPN analyst and former general manager of the New York Mets Steve Phillips has taken a

leave of absence following reports made by the New York Post that he was romantically involved with a female ESPN employee. Phillips is married and lives with his wife and four children, in

Wilton, Connecticut. ESPN posted a statement from Phillips regarding the reports on their Web site: "I am deeply sorry that I have put my family and colleagues through this. It is a

personal matter that I will not the balance of the baseball comment on further. I have, playoffs." however, asked for a leave of absence to address this with my family and to avoid any unnecessary distractions through

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U.S. Navy CIO: Social Media Should Be Part of Military IT Standard
By Jolie O'Dell (ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 10/21/2009 10:00:56 PM

In a blog post this week, U.S. Navy CIO Rob Carey wrote that social media is a resource for the American military that should be used to build trust and collaborate, both within and outside the organization. In attempts to balance communication, transparency, and operational security, the military has encountered both practical obstacles and general criticism. In a recent podcast, Carey, he said, "Most social networking tools come with no rules of the road. As the Internet moves towards usergenerated content, we thought there was a void we could fill... to mitigate some of the security risks associated with social media." Sponsor Beyond risk management, Carey said, "Social media has a powerful collaboration engine associated with it." Generally, military organizations have the options to reach out directly to large IT companies to configure customized security profiles and inherent OPSEC protection for personnel; traditionally, however, social networks such as Facebook

inherent part of the toolbox for members of the millennial workforce, while baby boomers are just adopting it. Social media tools should become the standard by which we can share and collaborate on information inside and outside the network boundaries." He also highlighted green initiatives, mobile working, and and Twitter have not been the use of modern technological particularly receptive to working tools in recruitment efforts. within that type of culture or To see the Carey's office's framework. From the sharing-and- Policy and Guidelines for Secure access social media pole to the Use of Social Media by Federal security/military pole, both sides Departments and Agencies, click a r e r e s i s t a n t t o d i f f e r e n t here for a full PDF. approaches to shared and social While Carey's optimism is to be information. Still, Carey is an applauded, one wonders what our advocate for the usefulness of military-minded friends will have these tools, even behind a military to say about OPSEC vis-a-vis firewall. social media. The battlefield isn't "We must remain a learning really Foursquare-compatible, and organization. As the Internet the military might actually have evolves, so must our workforce the last plausible use case for and its associated skills. To that censorship. Every servicemember end, we must be able to embrace is probably aware of existing change," Carey wrote in his blog regulations for Internet and social post. "Many of our processes are media use; how do you think rooted in the Industrial Age and Carey's goals and statements will will need to move toward the affect the state of affairs on the Information Age to remain ground, and do you feel such a relevant in the coming years." shift is needed or welcomed? Let With specific regard to social us know your opinions in the media and the American military, comments. Discuss Carey stated, "Social media is an

Battlestar's Katee Sackhoff to visit Big Bang Theory (and, um, she might get naked!)
By Mike Moody (TV Squad)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 10:03:00 AM

The geek-friendly guest stars just keep rolling into Big Bang Theory central ... Battlestar Galactica's Katee Sackhoff will appear in the Nov. 23 episode of the CBS comedy. This news comes less than a week after former Squadder Wil Wheaton showed up to crush Sheldon's spirit and help boost the show's ratings. Sackhoff will play herself in the episode, but don't expect her role to be as big as Wheaton's or Summer Glau's last season. The former Starbuck is only dropping by for a cameo, says the Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan, but that won't stop Wolowitz from stalking her, and I doubt it'll stop her fans from tuning in and boosting the show's ratings again. Continue reading Battlestar's Katee Sackhoff to visit Big Bang Theory (and, um, she might get

naked!) Filed under: Battlestar Galactica, Celebrities, Casting, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory Permalink| Email this| | Comments

Phillies dump Dodgers for World Series return
By Associated Press (ESPN.com)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 5:11:12 AM

Fast Facts • The Phillies advanced to their second straight World Series

(seventh overall), taking the NLCS in five games from the Dodgers. • The last team to reach the World Series after winning it the prior year was the 2001 Yankees, who lost to the Diamondbacks in

seven games. The last NL World Series champion to return was the 1996 Braves, who lost in six games to the Yankees. • Philadelphia became the first NL team to win 16 postseason games in a 20-game stretch. The

Yankees are the only AL club to do it, accomplishing the feat four times. • Jayson Werth hit a pair of homers, giving him a franchiserecord seven postseason homers with the Phillies.

• The Dodgers lost in the NLCS to the Phillies for the second straight season. -- ESPN Stats & Information This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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Tech Tips/ Apple/ Economy/

Internet News Record

Tintii Gives a Colorful Boost to People and Objects in Your Photos [Downloads]
By Jason Fitzpatrick (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 6:30:00 AM

Wall St set for mixed start amid earnings deluge
(Financial Times - US homepage)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 6:11:57 AM

Windows/Mac/Linux: If you're a fan of photos that are desaturated save for a an interesting burst of color left behind—often a vibrant one like a yellow flower or red carpet—Tintii makes it easy to play with the technique. Source photo by O Palsson. Tintii is available as a standalone tool, the one we're reviewing here, and as a plugin for Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro. The stand-alone version is free to try out the application, activating

the plugins costs $16. For casual use however the stand-alone version is more than adequate for tinkering and experimenting with your photos. The sample photo in the

screenshot above only took a matter of seconds to tinker with before we arrived at a pleasing outcome. Tintii has a host of settings which are probably best played with to see their full

effects. You can adjust the decay and edge parameters for both saturation and hue, increase the number of color detections—it starts with the basic primary colors but you can increase from there activating and deactivating colors within the photo's palette. Finally you can play with the channel mixer to further push and tweak the colors. Tintii is available as a free stand -alone tool, registering the plugins is $16. Tintii is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Tintii[via MakeUseOf]

US equity index futures were mixed early on Thursday, as investors digested a slew of earnings and guidance from companies. Some analysts and money managers expect further gains for the broad market as earnings season continues to exceed expectations. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

ReelDirector: Full-featured Video Editing Comes to the iPhone
By Darrell Etherington (TheAppleBlog)
First of all, let me tell you right off the bat: This isn’t just a warmed-over version of the builtSubmitted at 10/21/2009 11:49:18 AM in Camera app, like so many Despite some predictions to the photo effect apps tend to be. It not c o n t r a r y , t h e i P h o n e 3 G S only allows you to stitch different launched without a portable clips from your device together, it version of iMovie for editing of also allows you to use 27 different clips. Yes, you can scrub and trim t r a n s i t i o n s b e t w e e n t h e m , video you shoot on the device in including various wipes and the native Camera app, but fades. beyond that, you can’t do much. You can also add text to your New app ReelDirector changes all clips, including opening and that, for the relatively low price of closing credits and titles, and $7.99. provide transitions for both. Only It sounds like a decent deal, but four font styles currently exist, but I decided to download the app and you change position to achieve find out just what the first real different visual effects. Hopefully video editing app for the iPhone more styles will be added in later was capable of. Might I be able to updates, or maybe as in-app become the next film ingenue purchases down the line. Interface sensation with only my 3GS? and Usability Features The interface for ReelDirector that while the app automatically switches to landscape view, which could be useful, there’s no toggle to prevent that from occurring, something I think every app should provide, including Apple’s own. As for usability, ReelDirector generally performs well, but with a few issues that really prevent it from being an absolutely problem -free experience. For example, when you insert a video clip into your movie project, you have the option of trimming it, but once it’s in, you can’t go back and reedit the clip itself. All you can really do at that point is change the transitions between clips. You also can’t live preview your movie in its entirety until you “Create” it, which can be a timeconsuming process. The good news is, you can still go back and make changes after you output your movie. Conclusion It isn’t a replacement for iMovie by any stretch of the imagination, but ReelDirector is the first real movie editing solution for the iPhone 3GS, and for a pioneer, it actually works remarkably well. You probably won’t be taking home any awards at Cannes, since the app still lacks pretty basic elements like audio editing capabilities, but for home movies that look as good or better than the ones your uncle used to edit on his hulking early model DV cam, ReelDirector is more than capable. In Q3, Uncle Sam was the green IT king maker. Read the, " Green IT Q3 Wrap-up."

isn’t going to win any design awards, but it is simple, fairly clean, and well-suited to its purpose. My main complaint is

Internet News Record

Apple/ Sports/

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Condé Nast Brings Titles to iPhone, Keeps Eyes On the iTablet
By Liam Cassidy (TheAppleBlog)
counterpart, but cost appreciably less. It might also offer compelling extra content and rich Submitted at 10/21/2009 10:00:56 AM media at (and this is so very Newspapers and magazines — important to publishers) little-tothe entire news print industry to no extra cost. After all, an be honest — have been suffering e m b e d d e d v i d e o i s a n a long and torturous decline for i m p o s s i b i l i t y i n a p r i n t e d much of the last decade as more magazine, and a digital edition of us turn to the Internet and offers unlimited virtual columne l e c t r o n i c d e v i c e s t o g e t inches for expanded editorial. (increasingly personalized) news Condé hasn’t completely a n d o t h e r c o n t e n t . W h i l e abandoned its old methods for publishers have generally been generating profits. Indeed, it’s slow to adapt to shifting delivery relying on the fact its digital platforms, change is — finally — issues will be counted as paid afoot. Publishing supergiant e d i t i o n s b e c a u s e p r i n t a d s Condé Nast is now taking its first command higher rates than online tentative steps to embracing the ads. Size Matters digital realm with a series of So, will you buy GQ on your iPhone apps designed to deliver iPhone? I suspect there won’t be i t s m o s t p o p u l a r t i t l e s too many people who do. electronically. Seasoned iPhone users are keenly Adage reports that the first title aware that the device’s form will be GQ magazine, released factor makes for a dissatisfying this December in the app store reading experience of even and priced at $2.99 (the regular modest duration. The iPhone is print edition of the magazine costs hardly the most comfortable as much as $4.99). platform for reading anything Adage’s Nat Ives writes: more than email. Sure, apps like The new app platform could Stanza and Instapaper make h e l p t h e c o m p a n y s q u e e z e reading on the iPhone far more circulation and real ad revenue fluid and tolerable than, say, from digital. Because the apps reading lengthy web pages in will include all the editorial and Safari. But they can’t change the ads that the print editions do, the fact that you’re still peering at Audit Bureau of Circulations will tiny text on a 3.5 inch screen. consider the apps to be paid Only the most dedicated of circulation just like newsstand readers will suffer such eye-strain sales and subscriber copies. -inducing limitations, all the while T h a t ’ s i m p o r t a n t b e c a u s e dreaming of something just as advertisers only want to pay for light, just as thin, but much larger. ad space in issues that the audit Y’know… a tablet. bureau defines as paid. This is something Condé Nast So the digital edition of GQ will u n d e r s t a n d s v e r y w e l l . I t s be identical to its dead-tree upcoming app isn’t about bringing its various print publications to the iPhone — it’s about the timely positioning of its product to take advantage of the upcoming tablet. Says Sarah Chubb, President of Condé Nast Digital: This iPhone is just one platform. We plan to be, and generally try to be, anywhere our consumers are. We think that the minute Apple is ready, if they ever are, to announce that they’re going forward with a tablet, that we’ll be ahead of everybody. I can’t say I’m a GQ reader, but that’s not meant as a judgement against that particular title. I just don’t buy newspapers or magazines. Practically no one I know my age (or younger) does. It’s not hard to see why; these days, most people enjoy regular, inexpensive access to the Internet. Services like Twitter and RSS feeds ensure we get only the news and content we want to read, when we want to read it — and what’s more, it’s usually free. $2.99 is too much for a magazine that exists only as pixels on a (small) screen. 99 cents seems far more appealing and most likely would shift more (virtual) copies. It’s more appropriate, too, since the traditional resource, print and distribution costs associated with a dead-tree publication don’t apply in the digital realm. Perhaps when Condé Nast’s printed magazines have finally gone the way of the Dodo, its digital issues will hit that magic sub-dollar price. In the meantime, I’m excited Condé is doing this. No, not because I’m about to start buying GQ. I’m excited because I know it’s only a matter of time before other big print titles start appearing on digital devices. (And not just watered-down content portals like the New York Times.) It’s already happening, albeit quietly, behind closed doors. A few months ago word got out that Time was in talks with other publishers, collaborating on ereader standards. Around the same time, it was reported Apple was negotiating content deals with several media companies “rooted in print.” And while we’re still waiting for Apple’s tablet to arrive, e-readers are cropping up all over the place, jostling for a position in what is sure to become a massive new market. Print is dead. But, at long last, Digital Print is here to replace it, and it’s just around the corner. That’s welcome news for an ailing publishing industry finally starting to take electronic platforms seriously. Tell us in the comments if the new age of digital publishing is going to get you reading newspapers, and whether you think Apple’s gonna object to some of GQ’s more, um, “adult” front covers! Growing mobile data use turned up heat on carriers in Q3. Read the, " Mobile Q3 Wrap-up."

Video Killed the Officiating Star
By Kevin Blackistone (FanHouse)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 12:30:00 AM

by Kevin Blackistone Filed under: MLB The best thing that ever happened to sports was television -- unless you officiate sports. Ask the umpiring team that is handling the American League Championship Series and blew two calls in Game 4 on Tuesday night. Ask the SEC football officials who were suspended on Wednesday. The crew was punished after the conference determined the crew was mistaken on Saturday in flagging an Arkansas player for a late hit on a Florida player. The call allowed Florida to continue its final touchdown drive in a game it won 23-20. Video Killed the Officiating Star originally appeared on Fanhouse - Kevin Blackistone on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments

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Apple/ Sports/

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Snow Leopard Still a Better Ride Than Windows 7, Even for the Not-Rich
By Charles Moore (TheAppleBlog)
and having no interest in producing mass-market PCs, which is fair comment I suppose. Submitted at 10/21/2009 8:00:57 AM However I’m constrained to ChannelWeb’s Steven Burke observe that as Forbes’ Brian says that in the manifold Caulfield pointed out last comparisons of Windows 7 with weekend, over the past year, Snow Leopard burning up the banks have collapsed, PC sales Web, what all the reviewers and have plummeted, unemployment pundits seem to be forgetting is has soared, and Steve Jobs went that it’s not about the operating on mysterious medical leave for a system, which he maintains is liver transplant, but meanwhile simply the engine that runs the Apple has thrived through all this PC. As Burke puts it, you don’t with sales and earnings down less go into a car dealership and buy than everyone else in the industry an engine. You buy a car, and in and actually up year-over-year — his opinion, starting October 22, o n M o n d a y r e p o r t i n g t h e there will be no better ride company’s best quarter ever and a available for the money than net quarterly profit of $1.67 Windows 7. billion on revenues of $9.87 Burke leans heavily on the billion. Consequently the question initial purchase price angle, is begged as to who is and is not noting that an Apple Mac Pro considering economic reality. desktop he cites as an example is N e t b o o k S a l e s S o a r B u t nearly four times the price of an P r o f i t a b i l i t y F i z z l e s HP Pavilion, asking rhetorically NPD Group’s DisplaySearch Q2 whether anyone really believes ‘09 PC shipment data released last the Mac is four times better than week estimated that netbook sales the HP Pavilion? I think some of soared a whopping 264 percent us would argue that the value is year-over-year in the quarter, t h e r e u n d e r t h e r i g h t accounting for 22.2 percent of circumstances, but it would’ve overall PC sales, but woefully for been more relevant to compare a P C m a n u f a c t u r e r s a n d f o r mainstream Mac model such as Microsoft — only 11.7 percent of the iMac or MacBook to their still revenues. Overall PC laptop sales admittedly cheaper, but not so (excluding netbooks) declined 14 d r a m a t i c a l l y s o , W i n d o w s percent and PC laptop average competition. Apple Ignoring selling prices dropped to $688 in “Economic Reality?” Q2 2009 from $704 in Q1 2009 Burke accuses Apple and and from $849 in Q2 2008. company CEO Steve Jobs of not Apple, on the other hand, eased considering “economic reality,” prices somewhat on entry level MacBook Pro models in all three sizes while holding the $999 price point for its price leader white MacBook, and is still enjoying healthy sales and profits on its laptops. Even the most substantial MacBook Pro price cut — $400 on the base 15 model — was partly compensated by substituting an SD Card slot for the preceding model’s ExpressCard slot, and leaving out the discrete NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT graphics processor unit with its 256MB of dedicated VRAM in the new price-leader model, so I doubt that Apple has taken a major profitability hit. It’s more about marketing refocus. Burke says Jobs wants to build “Rolls Royces,” not “Fords” and for him it was never about putting a PC on every desktop, while Microsoft has always had more of a Henry Ford style mass production bent. Again, partially true I suppose, although it doesn’t hold up particularly well in the iPod and iPhone context, and I don’t think Mr. Jobs has anything against growing market share provided he can do it without compromising quality standards or profitability, as his “there are some markets Apple doesn’t choose to serve” comment a year ago attests. Simplistic Fixation On Initial Purchase Cost I don’t gainsay that Windows Vista was a gift to Apple that just kept on giving, or that Windows 7 will prove much stiffer competition for OS X, but I think Burke is overstating his case in contending that Apple’s market share gains over the past several years are now destined to evaporate. To borrow his own analogy, it’s the whole car, not just the engine, and many of us perceive the Mac as being not only a smoother, better-handling ride, but also a better value in a whole raft of contexts that transcend simplistic fixation on initial purchase cost. CNET’s Dong Ngo reports that Snow Leopard consistently beats Windows 7 in many general performance areas including boot up time and battery charge life in laptops, for example. Burke says PCs running Windows 7 are for “the masses” while Macs running OS X are for “the rich.” I’m not rich by the wildest stretch and neither are most of the other Mac-users I know. I do like to think that I appreciate value, a superior user experience, lower total cost of ownership, and elegance of form and execution, and that while Windows 7 will narrow the gap somewhat, it will fall well short of closing it. In Q3, NewNet focus turns to business models and search. Read the, " NewNet Q3 Wrap-up."

One Half of Clash of Titans Is in Place
By Ed Price (FanHouse)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 3:00:00 AM

by Ed Price Filed under: Dodgers, Phillies, National League Championship Series PHILADELPHIA -- As the Phillies celebrated the NL's first repeat championship in 12 years Wednesday, a fan at Citizens Bank Park held up a sign: "Bring On The Bronx." Oh yeah. Asked about a potential Yankees-Phillies World Series, Philadelphia shortstop Jimmy Rollins whistled. "Two big boys," he said. Game 5: Phillies 10, Dodgers 4| Box Score| Series Home One Half of Clash of Titans Is in Place originally appeared on Fanhouse MLB Blog on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 03:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments

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Facebook 3.1 Highlights All That’s Wrong With Push Notifications
By Liam Cassidy (TheAppleBlog)
Submitted at 10/21/2009 7:13:00 AM

In a tweet on Monday, Joe Hewitt, developer of the iPhone Facebook app, announced that the next major update (version 3.1 to be precise) will finally bring Push Notifications to the popular application. Facebook is easily one of the most popular free apps available in the iTunes App Store. I think you’d be hard pressed to find an iPhone without it. Version 3.0 was a mammoth update to earlier, functionally limited releases, and was eagerly anticipated and reported widely in the tech press. And yet, the lack of support for Apple’s Push Notification Services was, and remains, conspicuous. Adding Push Notifications is the no-brainer icing on the cake function for endusers who don’t spend every second in the app but value being kept in-the-loop with timely updates. It’s also the last major hurdle to making the social networking app practically perfect. (Probably.) However, TechCrunch’s MG Siegler has suggested that the long-awaited introduction of Push Notifications in the Facebook app will also make it the unwitting

poster child for illustrating all that is wrong with Push, and more directly, how Notifications are handled on the iPhone. Siegler writes: The Push Notification management system beyond a certain threshold is basically useless. That is to say, when you’re getting a large number of Push Notifications on your iPhone, it’s almost laughable how bad the built-in system is for trying to figure out what you just

got notified about beyond the most recent message. If you’re an iPhone owner you probably already know exactly what this is about. Let’s say your iPhone is locked. You receive an important SMS. That familiar blue pop-up box appears on the screen. A moment later, you also receive a Push Notification from one of your apps. The blue box is replaced with another. The next time you hit the Sleep/wake button and look at

What Siegler is saying – and many iPhone owners are likely to agree – is that the iPhone needs a more sophisticated notification system. He adds, The Push system is such a mess right now, that many of the most popular developers are letting others deal with it. Loren Brichter, the guy behind the excellent Twitter app Tweetie, tells us that he’s tabled Push Notifications for the time being, letting others like Boxcar handle it, because it’s a potential headache. To date, applications are forbidden to run as background processes on the iPhone. It’s important to remember that Push was created to provide application developers with an elegant solution to the challenges they faced due to that functional your screen (just look, don’t limitation. Even so, I find agree unlock) you’ll see only the latest with Siegler – the iPhone OS notification. You’ll have no way d e s p e r a t e l y n e e d s a m o r e of knowing that important SMS is sophisticated way to handle l u r k i n g i n t h e b a c k g r o u n d , multiple unread notifications, waiting for your attention, unless because if nothing changes, the you unlock and check for that advent of Facebook 3.1 (not to little red notification badge on the mention the growing number of Messages icon. If you’re in a other push-enabled apps) brings hurry (or in a meeting) and can’t with it a future filled with those spend more time on the phone little blue popup boxes. than is absolutely necessary, In Q3, Uncle Sam was the green you’re not going to see that IT king maker. Read the, " Green important SMS until much later. IT Q3 Wrap-up."

Fall Fur: Real or Faux?
By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 7:07:44 AM

When it comes to fur, designer Pamela Love’s philosophy is

vintage-only. Her favorite fur piece is a mink coat from the '50s. A chic alternative to the real thing is to go faux. Here, my favorite styles starting at $98. —Violet Moon Gaynor

Top row (left to right): Kate

Moss wearing a jacket she Georgie vest with clutch clasp; designed for Topshop; Rebecca Juicy Couture cropped jacket Taylor vest; Arden B. zip-front jacket Bottom row (left to right): Vena Cava vest with chain closure;

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Apple/ Sports/ Economy/

Internet News Record

Apple Europe VP Talks Macs, iPhones, iPods and Surprises
By Charles Jade (TheAppleBlog)
Submitted at 10/21/2009 9:26:03 AM

Unlike Dodgers' Dope on a Rope, Phillies Have Heart
By Jay Mariotti (FanHouse)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 2:15:00 AM

Pascal Cagni, Apple vice president and general manager for Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa, did in an interview with Katie Allen of the Guardian. Speaking after Apple’s earnings report for the fourth fiscal quarter, Cagni was optimistic on the Mac in Europe, guarded about the iPod, and enigmatic about “surprises” in the future. Questioned on Apple’s success in Europe during the recession, Cagni responded that the Mac is “typically above 20-25 [percent] market share in each of the countries.” That’s about twice the market share in the U.S., and you have to wonder how the numbers add up to worldwide figures that put the Mac under 5 percent. Still, at Monday’s conference call, it was noted that Mac growth was around 40 percent in Spain, Germany and France, so the Mac is doing very well indeed in Europe. Less so, the iPod. On declining sales, Cagni stated that Apple needs “to carry the message out there much better” regarding the new iPod nano, and that the decline has not yet hit Europe. Again, this is in keeping

with comments from the conference call, in which it was stated that the iPod is gaining market share year over year in nearly every country tracked. While Apple does not break out iPod sales by geographic region, 40 percent of all revenue comes from North America, so it would seem then that the decline is largely in the U.S. It’s possible the iPod has hit a saturation point, though another possibility would be cannibalization of iPod sales by the iPhone. As for the iPhone, the question was whether multiple carriers in the UK will affect pricing in the future. Again, the response lined up with the conference call. Apple does not “dictate” price. Personally, I wonder if AT&T feels that way.

Dollar gains respite in weak equity market
(Financial Times - US homepage)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 2:42:20 AM

The dollar received some respite on Thursday, recovering from a 14-month low on a trade-weighted basis as weakness on global

equity markets dented risk appetite. This supported the dollar, encouraging haven demand for the beleaguered US currency. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

by Jay Mariotti Filed under: MLB PHILADELPHIA -- They wear red for a reason. The Phillies have become the lifeblood of successive Octobers, a team with a heart bigger than Rocky Balboa, a gang with an edge like south Besides a non-response to the Philly, a cause that doesn't crack Beatles for Christmas at the like the Liberty Bell or Donovan iTunes Store — “nothing to McNabb, all managed by a announce” — the most interesting country savant who sounds a bit comment was another oblique l i k e R i c k y B o b b y . B r u c e reference to new products in Springsteen played across the 2010. While Apple executives street the other night, and when routinely talk about the great and the folks discovered that Dodgers mysterious “product pipeline,” manager Joe Torre was watching chief Steve Jobs elevated that a fellow sixty-something rock the hype in Apple’s press release for house, they busted into a "Beat the fourth fiscal quarter. Cagni L.A.!" chant that could have echoed that in the interview: drowned out Jungleland. And guess what, as Steve stated, There is much to love in we are going to continue to Citizens Bank Park, a warm and surprise you in the year to come. cozy yard in a hard, crusty town. It doesn’t take 20 questions to There was much less to admire in get to the tablet, the only question t h e N a t i o n a l L e a g u e now is when? Championship Series about the In Q3, Uncle Sam was the green Dodgers, feeding directly into IT king maker. Read the, " Green why the Phillies completed a 4IT Q3 Wrap-up." games-to-1 romp Wednesday night, this while rowdies tried to climb greased lightpoles and frothed to finally resolve a lifelong inferiority complex against New York in the World Series. All you need to know

about the Phillies is that every player crowded on the top step of the dugout when it mattered most, symbolizing the unity and camaraderie of the first team to win a repeat NL pennant in 13 years. "We have one more step," said Ryan Howard, the series MVP. "Then we got action." Unlike Dodgers' Dope on a Rope, Phillies Have Heart originally appeared on Fanhouse Jay Mariotti on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 02:15:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments

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Sports/

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Yankees 10, Angels 1, Umpires 0
(WSJ.com: The Daily Fix)
are simply no words for the ruling, other to say that one of the five other umpires should’ve The New York Yankees’ 10-1 offered his assistance, McClelland defeat of the Los Angeles Angels shouldn’t ump another game in o n T u e s d a y n i g h t o f f e r e d this series and that it’s time for everything but drama. There were Bud Selig to stop being stubborn transcendent performances from and expand the use of instant the locked-in CC Sabathia and replay in baseball past disputed Alex Rodriguez. There were a few home run calls,” Yahoo’s Kevin more howlers courtesy of the Kaduk writes. “Simply put, this snakebitten umpiring crew. There shouldn’t be happening,” was the restored sense that the The Philadelphia Phillies enjoy Yankees’ return to the World a 3-1 advantage in their own Series is inevitable. There just series, and could punch their was never any doubt about the World Series ticket with a win at Yankees’ winning it, and the home against the Dodgers on series now stands at three games Wednesday night. While it’s not to one in New York’s favor. Getty hard to remember the Phils’ Images Derek Jeter appears to be World Series run last year, Danny in the vicinity of second base as Knobler of CBS Sports writes that he forces Erick Aybar out at the franchise’s many losses — second during the fifth inning of Philadelphia is the only bigGame 4. league club with 10,000 career At ESPN, Eric Neel points out defeats — and the way it has that the narrative surrounding bounced back from that long line Alex Rodriguez has shifted during of lean years is what defines the his dominant postseason. A-Rod NL’s toughest club. “Losses now has homered in three straight m a t t e r h e r e . L o s s e s a r e and has five homers and 11 RBIs remembered, right along with the i n n i n e p o s t s e a s o n g a m e s . wins,” Knobler writes. “So when “Rodriguez is no longer the you ask when the Phillies became fragile psyche who has somehow the Phillies, when they went from learned not to press on the big being the franchise that never stage,” Neel writes. “He’s not the wins to one that is a win away g u y w h o l a b o r e d u n d e r from a second straight World expectations and finally got off Series, naturally they mention the the schneid. And he ain’t the losses.” cerebral hitter figuring out how to In the Journal, Matthew let it flow, either. He’s a thing Futterman suggests that the unleashed.” Phillies seem poised to become With some exceptions, the the first pro sports dynasty in umpiring has been as bad as A- Philadelphia’s star-crossed sports Rod has been great during this history.* * * postseason. But Tim Even those who don’t follow McClelland’s baffling blown call international soccer very closely on a strange should’ve-been are most likely familiar with Angels double play Tuesday may Spanish uber-juggernaut FC have been the worst and weirdest Barcelona and such big-name missed call of the playoffs. “There Barca stars as Lionel Messi,
Submitted at 10/21/2009 8:59:09 AM

Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Xavi Hernandez. FK Rubin Kazan, on the other hand, is a name that many ardent soccer fans are hearing for the first time. It’s a team, not a player, and it’s the little-known Russian side that scored a stunning upset win against the defending Champions League champs, at Barca’s Camp Nou no less, by the score of 2-1. Rubin Kazan aren’t exactly the Bad News Bears — they tied Italy’s Inter in Champions League play last week. But the unheralded club from the predominantly Muslim Tatarstan region were can’t-even-see-them-from-here longshots against Barca. “At home Kazan lead the Russian league, but their shock Champions League win had neutrals scrambling for their atlases to locate Tatarstan,” the BBC’s Mike Henson writes. In the New York Times, Rob Hughes sees Kazan’s stunning win as the fruit of UEFA president Michel Platini’s plan to diversify the Champions League with more national champs from more countries. “The former French star who rose to become president of the European Union of soccer nations had pledged that there would be more places in the UEFA tournaments for national champions, fewer for a closed community to the very rich,” Hughes writes. “We need to draw breath, to get out our gazetteer, to

look afresh on the sport we take for granted.”* * * After tough-guying the referees union and threatening to begin the 2009-10 NBA season with replacement officials, the NBA may wind up settling with its embattled refs in time for opening night after all. This is almost certainly good news, but whichever refs find themselves with whistles in their mouths this winter will have a new rule to remember. Well, sort of new. The NBA has belatedly amended the rulebook to replace the old, nevercalled two-step walk with a new, three-step traveling rule. At CBS Sports, Ray Ratto offers some qualified praise for the NBA’s attempt to bring the rules in line with on-court reality. “If we thought the new crop of officials could hold the line on two steps, maybe this would be a triumph for truth, justice and the American way,” Ratto writes. “Only the book isn’t reality, and it never has been, because the threesecond rule isn’t really three seconds, either, and the handcheck isn’t really a hand-check, and the goaltend isn’t really a goaltend. Basketball, more than any other sport, operates under the rules set by its best players — they establish the outer envelope, and their inferiors operate within those parameters.”* * * H.G. “Buzz” Bissinger wrote the all-time sportswriting classic “ Friday Night Lights,” which is to his credit. But he has, for his own reasons, rebranded himself as a seething proto-curmudgeon and sportswriting conservative. Bissinger’s rage for order — and against goofy frat-blog Deadspin and internet-based sportswriting in general — famously earned

him a measure of infamy back in 2008. His most recent attack on the non-establishment comes in The New Republic, where he penned a strange, strawman-laden diatribe against the data-oriented, sabermetric-friendly “Moneyball” style of baseball team management. It’s a tidy irony, then, that Bissinger’s piece receives a thorough, measured and decidedly internet-y dissection from Patrick Hayes, a blogger at MLive.com. “Bissinger is obviously a protector of the old-guard in baseball. He likes the romanticism of an old scout chewing tobacco and discovering some farm kid hurling 95 MPH at a tire swing out in the sticks,” Hayes writes. “Unfortunately, even in the most old-fashioned front offices, things rarely happen like that anymore. The legacy of ‘Moneyball’ is not that [Oakland GM Billy] Beane discovered a long-lasting way to beat an unfair system, he obviously didn’t. The book, however, has lasting relevance because it caused all front offices in baseball to start paying attention to better statistical measurements and to stop using flawed stats.”* * * Pretty much everyone with an opinion on the matter — from the U.S. Geological Survey to weekend anglers and boaters — agrees that the invasive, planktongobbling silver carp does not belong in the Illinois River. The indigenous-to-Asia carp’s voracious appetite has nearly destroyed other fish stocks in the river. In the New York Times, James Card describes the ingenious response of one Chris YANKEES page 47

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Terrelle Pryor of Ohio State Buckeyes getting advice from LeBron James
By Associated Press (ESPN.com)
really help him get through a lot of situations which he's never seen before but now he's seeing Submitted at 10/22/2009 6:43:19 AM and understanding." COLUMBUS, Ohio -- LeBron Pryor has been under fire from James is helping Ohio State Ohio State fans after throwing quarterback Terrelle Pryor learn two interceptions and losing two how to handle everything that fumbles in the then-No. 7 ranked comes with being a celebrity Buckeyes' stunning 26-18 loss at athlete. Purdue last week. They tumbled "[I'm] trying to mentor him and to No. 18 this week, and meet get him through 'life in the Minnesota on Saturday. spotlight,' which I've been Adding to the pressure through," James said after a surrounding Pryor, his high preseason game in Columbus on school coach in Jeannette, Pa., Wednesday night. said this week that Ohio State's “ offense is not maximizing Pryor's Sometimes it can be very abilities. In a story which first difficult on [a young athlete]. I'm appeared on ESPN.com, Ray trying to be that guy who can Reitz said his former charge looks really help him get through a lot like "a robot" in Ohio State's of situations which he's never offense. seen before but now he's seeing Reitz even said Rich and understanding.”-- LeBron Rodriguez's spread offense at James rival Michigan would have been a James said he has been speaking much better fit for Pryor, who to Pryor on the phone in recent chose the Buckeyes over the weeks to try to help him deal with Wolverines. celebrity at a young age. James “ knows something about that, since I think maybe that [the loss to he appeared on the cover of Purdue] was the best thing to Sports Illustrated under the happen to us last week. Maybe headline "The Chosen One" while we'll learn from it. We're having he was still in high school in real good practices, and we're just Akron, Ohio. trying to get the fans back on our "Being that No. 1 guy, how do side.”-- Terrelle Pryor you adjust to it and how do you Pryor made a surprise get through it and still perform at appearance before reporters on a h i g h l e v e l ? " J a m e s s a i d . Wednesday night and appeared "Sometimes it can be very more relaxed than he had in difficult on [a young athlete]. I'm interviews previously. He readily trying to be that guy who can answered questions and spoke with conviction about the problems he has encountered. "I came here to be a quarterback, and for the rest of the season, we're going to be pretty darn good," the 20-year-old said. "I don't know why [Reitz] would say something like that. I wouldn't trade where I'm at right now." Another Cleveland Cavaliers star, center Shaquille O'Neal, also had words of encouragement for Pryor after Cleveland lost to the Boston Celtics in an exhibition game on Wednesday night. Talking about his first visit to Columbus, O'Neal said, "It's a very energetic crowd. I'm familiar with Ohio State football, of course. I know they're always up there [in the rankings]. I just want to tell the quarterback to keep his head up. I saw that they're getting on him the last two games. Keep your head up, young man, and try to get this football team back on track." The Buckeyes (5-2, 3-1 Big Ten) have had difficulty moving the ball most of the season. That problem has been particularly evident in the last two games. Ohio State had only one sustained drive two weeks ago, but was saved in a 31-13 victory over Wisconsin because the defense returned two interceptions for touchdowns and the Buckeyes also benefited from a kickoff return for a score. Last week against Purdue, Ohio State scored early on a Pryor run but then could not move the ball for most of the rest of the game. The Boilermakers, twotouchdown underdogs who came in having won just one of their first six games, built a big lead and held on for the upset. Pryor has 11 turnovers so far this year -- eight interceptions and three fumbles -- almost double the number he had a year ago when he was handed the starting job by head coach Jim Tressel. The Buckeyes went on to win eight of the next 10 games with Pryor playing most of the time, but even then Pryor and the offense played in fits and starts. Pryor said the bad game at Purdue had helped open his eyes. "That opened me up to the world and opened me up to myself and who I am as a person," Pryor said. "I think maybe that was the best thing to happen to us last week. Maybe we'll learn from it. We're having real good practices, and we're just trying to get the fans back on our side." James said someone asked him to speak with Pryor. "Well, I've known him for a few years, but our relationship started maybe a few months ago, when I was contacted on if it was possible for me to reach out to the kid," James said. "It was a nobrainer of course. Our relationship has grown within the last couple of months. I try to keep up on him on game days. I wish him luck and throughout the week." Now 24, James is in his seventh season in the NBA. He was one of the most acclaimed high school athletes of all time, then became an icon through both his abilities on the court and his marketing acumen. James has made few missteps in his professional and business careers. He said that when he speaks to Pryor, he speaks from experience. "At the end of the day, there's a lot more than just football and basketball," he said. "Because I know. I've seen it all. From a prep kid, I was very high [in terms of celebrity], and then I was a professional. So I've seen it all." Reitz said the Buckeyes coaching staff -- Tressel oversees the offense -- is restricting Pryor too much. He also said that Ohio State had assured Pryor he would be taught how to run a pro-style offense but instead has been handed an offense that doesn't fit his abilities. Pryor said he has been affected by all the attention he has gotten. "Let's be real. If any of us were the quarterback at Ohio State, and you've got all these people around you, you're sort of like a superstar," he said. "And you start maybe thinking too much maybe of yourself and losing your head a little bit and losing focus." Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia in October
(WSJ.com: The Daily Fix)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 7:03:52 AM

The Philadelphia Phillies’ history is littered with failure. Longtime fans still lament the team’s late-season collapse that cost it the National League pennant in 1964. And then there’s the embarrassment of being the first professional team to lose 10,000 games. But suddenly the Phillies are a model franchise standing four wins from repeating as World Series champions. Reuters Like a savvy veteran, Pedro Martinez leads with his non -pitching arm in spraying Ryan Howard with Champagne. For the second straight year, the Phillies ousted the Los Angeles Dodgers with ease and in five games. The Dodgers went down without much fight Wednesday night, 10-4. The Phillies likely will face the New York Yankees, who hold a 3-1 lead over the Los Angeles Angels heading into Game 5 Thursday night. If the Yanks do advance, the Phillies’ task won’t be easy. “The team that will be standing between the Phillies and their third World Series title ain’t the Tampa Bay Rays this year,” Bob Ford writes in the Philadelphia Inquirer. “If the New York Yankees can finish off the Los Angeles Angels tonight, the Phillies will need to do more than just score runs in the next round. They are going to have to pitch a

whole lot better than they have thus far, and the scary part is they enter the World Series with only one consistent starter in the postseason.” ESPN’s Jayson Stark marvels at the transformation of the Phillies franchise in the past two years. “Before last October, this team had won only four postseason series in the history of the franchise. And now it’s won five series in a row,” Stark writes. “It wasn’t so long ago that this franchise had played in two World Series in its first 100 seasons of existence. And now it’s about to play in its second World Series in 12 months.” The Phillies’ preferred opponent? The Yankees, of course, Jeff Passan writes at Yahoo Sports. In the New York Daily News, John Harper says general manager Brian Cashman deserves much credit for the Yanks’ success. For the Dodgers, where to start? The pitching was horrendous and the hitting was feeble. In five games the Phillies outscored them, 35-16. This did not look like the same team that had the National League’s best record in 2009. The big unknown is how they’ll respond after consecutive, crushing losses to Philadelphia in each of the past two years’ NLCS. “For some groups, like the Phillies, a few October disappointments help forge a championship character,” Ramona

Department to investigate the BCS. Earlier this week, the Journal’s Washington Wire blog noted that politicians have created a “Playoff PAC,” which will strive to get pro-reform candidates elected to Congress. Still with college football, Yahoo Sports columnist Dan Shelburne writes in the Los Wetzel says it’s folly for top-tier Angeles Daily News. “For others, p r o g r a m s t o s c h e d u l e n o n too many bitter autumn aftertastes conference behemoths. Doing so mark the beginning of the end. A can have disastrous consequences. downward spiral it takes years to Oklahoma’s title aspirations all undo. Which group will these b u t e n d e d w h e n S o o n e r s quarterback Sam Bradford hurt Dodgers become?” In the Los Angeles Times, T.J. his shoulder playing BYU. USC’s Simers laments everything that were damaged when quarterback went wrong for the Dodgers. The Matt Barkley had to sit out a Press-Enterprise’s Jim Alexander game because of an injury says the Dodgers won’t improve suffered against Ohio State; without an ace at the front of the without him the next week, the Trojans lost to a conference staff.* * * Until college football gets a opponent. “If you’re a big-name playoff system, there will be program, it’s foolish to prove endless debates over who really is yourself outside of the mandated the national champion, especially league games,” Wetzel writes. “A when conferences not part of the monster showdown might be fun Bowl Championship Series field t o p l a y i n , b u t i t i s n ’ t an exceptionally strong team that proportionately rewarded by isn’t given a berth in the title either the voters or the computers. game. Last year, undefeated Utah All it does is open you up to a of the Mountain West Conference loss, an injury or an emotional didn’t play for the national title letdown. You’re best served staying home and playing despite strong credentials. Politicians continue to stand at p a t s i e s . ” The Ohio football team making the front of the chorus of football fans grousing about college the most noise this season isn’t football’s lack of a playoff. On the normally powerhouse Ohio Wednesday, Utah senator Orrin State Buckeyes — they’re ranked Hatch called for the Justice only 19th — but the fifth-ranked Cincinnati Bearcats, the Journal’s

Darren Everson and David Biderman report. Finally, ESPN’s Ivan Maisel looks ahead to the second half of the season.* * * By now, football fans outside Washington, D.C., are aware of the sorry state of the Redskins. Talk has again surfaced about getting the team to change its nickname, which some consider racist. In the Washington Post, Courtland Milloy makes the case for retiring Chief Zee, Washington’s unofficial mascot, and getting a new team nickname, too.* * * Women’s sports have a tough time getting noticed in the U.S. — even top-notch tennis and golf. The WNBA, which recently crowned the Phoenix Mercury as champions, isn’t on the sports radar even with the heft of the NBA behind it. Last year, fourtime champion Houston folded and this week the Detroit Shock announced it was moving to Tulsa. At Slate, Josh Levin tries to find a business model that would work in the WNBA. – Tip of the Fix cap to reader Don Hartline and Fixer emeritus Carl Bialik. 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 Garey at [email protected].

YANKEES continued from page 45
Brackett to the river’s silver-carp problem. That would be “extreme aerial bowfishing,” in which fishermen with compound bows seek to nail airborne carp during their frequent leaps from the water. It’s a fascinating article, if perhaps inevitably overshadowed by the awesome video piece that accompanies it. — Tip of the Fix cap to fellow Fixer Garey Ris and Fixer emeritus Carl Bialik. 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

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Washington Redskins working on figuring out 'unsettling' play-calling duties
By Associated Press (ESPN.com)
conscious of what's going on. I'm not naive about what's going on, and yet I have to just hold back on Submitted at 10/22/2009 7:11:02 AM any feelings and make the ASHBURN, Va. -- Jason decisions." Campbell knows there could be Zorn revealed a few details some mini-moments of chaos with about the team's awkward new Sherm Lewis calling the plays. arrangement. The plan remains "There'll probably be a couple of for Lewis to sit in the coaches' plays I have in my head," the box calling plays, but it will now Washington Redskins quarterback be offensive coordinator Sherman said, "just in case if some reason Smith -- instead of Zorn -- who it doesn't get in on time."“ relays the play to Campbell. Zorn "It is unsettling. I've never gone will be listening on his own through this before. I've never had headset. a play caller get changed in the Lewis will read the plays off a middle of the season.”-- Redskins sheet, although it's unclear quarterback Todd Collins whether he'll completely The Redskins spent Wednesday understand what he's saying. trying to get a feel for their new W h i l e L e w i s h a s a b a s i c front office-mandated play caller. knowledge of the scheme from his Lewis, who still carries the title of decades of experience in the West "offensive consultant" and has Coast offense with other teams, been out of retirement for only Zorn said Lewis "doesn't know two weeks, stood before the the protections" and "doesn't offense's morning meeting for the know the blitz schemes." first time and went over the Yet he'll be in charge come third passing game. -and-5 on Monday night when the For coach Jim Zorn, who had R e d s k i n s ( 2 - 4 ) h o s t t h e his play-calling duties stripped by P h i l a d e l p h i a E a g l e s ( 3 - 2 ) . team management following NFC East blog Sunday's loss to Kansas City, the ESPN.com's Matt Mosley writes exercise required some major about all things NFC East in his pride-swallowing. division blog. "I need to have composure," • Blog network: NFL Nation Zorn said. "I need to understand "It is unsettling," backup what the reality of the situation is, quarterback Todd Collins said. and I think our players expect me "I've never gone through this to rise up. We expect them to play before. I've never had a play caller under adverse conditions. We get changed in the middle of the expect them to risk it all. ... I'm season." And certainly not like this. While Lewis was a respected offensive assistant for several successful teams over his 22 years in the NFL, he received mixed reviews during the three seasons he actually got to call plays -with the 1999 Green Bay Packers and the 2000-01 Minnesota Vikings. Lewis retired after the 2004 season. The Redskins have kept him away from the media since his first full day on the job, when he infamously revealed he had been passing his time by calling Bingo games at a senior center. He was escorted by public relations staff past waiting reporters after practice Wednesday and declined a request to speak. "I know he's been studying last year's game against the Eagles and seems to have a pretty good idea how he wants to call the game this week," Collins said. "It's the same plays. He might coach them a little differently or highlight some different areas, but the offense hasn't gone under an overhaul or anything like that." The whole thing has a chance to look ugly against a heavily favored opponent on prime-time television. Then again, maybe it'll work. "All he has to do is sit there and look at a book and call the plays," receiver Santana Moss said. "He really doesn't have to memorize it. We have to do the memorizing." While the play caller is new, the starting quarterback stays the same. Campbell was benched for the first time in his career at halftime of the loss to the Chiefs, but Collins failed to provide much spark in relief. Now Campbell gets another shot. He attributed his lackluster performance against Kansas City - 9 for 16 for 89 yards and an interception -- in part because he was "distracted" by the team's multiple changes along the offensive line. "I felt like I had to make quicker decisions than usual," Campbell said. "And sometimes that gets you in trouble." The same front office, consisting of owner Dan Snyder and personnel chief Vinny Cerrato, that stripped Zorn of play calling also tried to replace Campbell as quarterback during the offseason. That fact led to one of the lighter moments of the day, when Campbell was asked if he feels he's now on a shorter leash after Sunday's benching. He answered with a broad smile. "I've been on a shorter leash since March," he said. Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

THQ announces 'Metro 2033,' a post -apocalyptic FPS
By JC Fletcher (Joystiq)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 9:28:00 AM

THQ searched high and low, and found a license that will allow the publisher to bring something new and unique to the gaming scene: a post-apocalyptic FPS. Metro 2033 is in development for PC and Xbox 360 and based on the novel of the same name by Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky. Ukrainian developer 4A Games' Metro 2033 is set in the subways of a ruined Moscow. You play Artyorn, a young man who has never ventured outside of the Vault"Metro Station-City" to which he is loyal. His adventure takes him around the Metro system, home of other factions (some of which are hostile), and to the inhospitable above-ground world. According to Amazon, a new English printing of the novel will be released in February. While we aren't certain that provides a time frame in which to expect THQ's version (currently slated for "2010"), it does mean that readers will be able to totally spoil the events of the game. THQ announces 'Metro 2033,' a post-apocalyptic FPS originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Source: Oklahoma quarterback Sam Cloud Over Pitino, Bradford to have surgery on ailing Program Inescapable shoulder
By Lisa Olson (FanHouse)
Submitted at 10/21/2009 9:40:00 PM

By ESPN.com news services (ESPN.com)

expected" to make a decision about the NFL draft, the source told Schad. Submitted at 10/22/2009 6:05:50 AM Bradford was coming off of one Bradford Likely Done For The of the most prolific passing Season Bradford Likely Done For seasons in NCAA history when he The Season VIDEO PLAYLIST opted to come back for his junior • Bradford Likely Done For The year instead of entering the NFL Season Bradford Likely Done For draft this year. He was considered The Season a top quarterback prospect after • Bradford's Draft Stock throwing for 4,720 yards and 50 Bradford's Draft Stock touchdowns last season. There is a "very good chance" Bradford was initially hurt just Oklahoma quarterback Sam before halftime in the season Bradford will announce he is opener against BYU and returned having season-ending surgery on to play one full game before being his shoulder, a source told ESPN's re-injured during Oklahoma's Joe Schad on Wednesday. second drive in a 16-13 loss to Bradford, who won the Heisman No. 3 Texas on Saturday. Trophy last season, was to address Bradford said after the game his plans in a news conference that he wouldn't make a decision Wednesday night. He is now about his long-term plans until expected to speak Thursday. after the season. He said before re Coach Bob Stoops said -injuring the shoulder that surgery Bradford needed to gather more remained a treatment option. He information before choosing what was initially diagnosed with a to do about his injured right, Grade 3 sprain of his AC joint, throwing shoulder. and Stoops said X-rays and MRIs "He just wasn't ready to fully have shown no new damage. answer everything that'll want to "Sam's whole situation, he'll be asked and for sure what he have something to say when he wants to do just yet, until he has a knows what his path will be, and few more people to visit with," that isn't right now," Stoops said. Stoops said after the Sooners' "I'm not the one to answer it. He practice. "That's it. I won't say will. And I will once he feels he's another word about it." ready to and knows for sure what Even if he decides to have he wants to do." surgery, Bradford is "not Bradford's primary reason for

returning to Oklahoma was to pursue the national championship that he narrowly missed out on last season, when the Sooners lost to Florida in the BCS championship game. An Oklahoma City native, Bradford has also spoken about how Oklahoma football was practically a pro sport to him as he was growing up. "I think it's extremely difficult for him, coming back for all the right reasons, wanting to have an opportunity to go compete on the football field, compete for championships and then having all those things taken away from you," quarterbacks coach Josh Heupel said. "There's a lot of hard work that goes into it and when you invest that much, it's going to be extremely disappointing. It's not an easy situation for him, certainly." The Sooners (3-3, 1-1 Big 12) have fallen out of the national championship race with three early losses by a combined five points against ranked opponents, all away from home. Joe Schad is a college football reporter for ESPN. The Associated Press contributed to this report. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

by Lisa Olson Filed under: NCAA Basketball NEW YORK -- Rick Pitino would like you to know one thing: His tawdry sex affair with a woman who faces federal charges of extortion and lying to the FBI is not going to have the slightest impact on his Louisville basketball team. There are still plenty of legal hurdles to overcome and motions to be made before the case goes to trial and Pitino is summoned to the witness stand, where presumably his testimony against Karen Sypher will reveal even more salacious details about their romp in a Louisville restaurant, and the subsequent fallout that has engulfed the university's athletic department. Beyond Pitino, the scandal has scarred Tim Sypher, who is now the operations director of the Cardinals' new gym and who was the team's equipment manager. Tim married Karen (they are now divorced) after she either had consensual sex with Pitino or was assaulted by him against her will - it's a complicated connection that perhaps the trial will help unravel. The scandal has also greatly impacted Pitino's wife of

33 years, his five children, his extended New York family, Louisville's Catholic community where Pitino worships and pretty much anyone who has a rooting interest in the Cardinals. More Coverage: Pitino Preaches 'Blinders' at Media Day Cloud Over Pitino, Program Inescapable originally appeared on Fanhouse - Lisa Olson on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:40:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments

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Dallas Cowboys receiver Patrick Crayton calls out coaches
By Tim MacMahon (ESPN.com)
Crayton had been informed about the change during a meeting. Phillips, who finally Submitted at 10/22/2009 6:12:57 AM acknowledged Wednesday IRVING, Texas -- Patrick afternoon that Austin would start, Crayton is willing to say what the left open the possibility of a oneD a l l a s C o w b o y s c o a c h e s on-one meeting with Crayton. wouldn't: He's been replaced in "When that comes up, we may the starting lineup by Miles do that," said Phillips, who Austin. pointed out Crayton could start Crayton just wishes somebody Sunday against the Atlanta would have told him that. He Falcons if Williams' rib injury figured it out Monday, when causes him to miss another game. Austin worked opposite Roy "We discussed it with him. I have Williams in two-wide receiver no doubt about that." sets. Crayton, who dealt with a Austin continued to get reps s i m i l a r d e m o t i o n a f t e r t h e w i t h t h e s t a r t e r s d u r i n g Cowboys traded for Williams in W e d n e s d a y ' s p r a c t i c e , b u t the middle of last season, isn't Crayton said none of the coaches pouting about becoming a No. 3 has explained the situation to him. receiver again. He considers his “ role "to help in whatever way I would have loved it. It would possible." He just feels that, as a have been real stand-up. That's six-year veteran, he deserves an not what happened. Oh, well.”-- explanation. Cowboys receiver Patrick Crayton "That way you're not in the dark on about why the change is made," not getting an explanation from Crayton said. coaches It's not as if Crayton didn't see it "I would have loved it," Crayton coming. He knew when Wade said of an explanation from head Phillips told the media last coach Wade Phillips or offensive Monday that Austin would play coordinator Jason Garrett. "It "50-something" snaps per game would have been real stand-up. on the heels of his franchiseThat's not what happened. Oh, record 250-yard performance. But well." Crayton wonders how much his Phillips, however, insisted that admittedly poor performance in Kansas City affected the decision. "I mean, it's obvious," Phillips said. "[Austin] had 250 yards receiving in one game. We said it all along -- it's hard to say that you're not going to play the guy. I think he deserves to start." More on the Cowboys Calvin Watkins and Tim MacMahon have the Cowboys blanketed for ESPNDallas.com. Check in with their constantly updated coverage. Blog. Based on production, one could make the case that Austin (15 catches, 331 yards, three touchdowns) and Crayton (15 catches, 243 yards, one touchdown) should be the starters with Williams (11 catches, 214 yards, one touchdown) relegated to the third receiver role. But, considering Williams' arrival in a blockbuster trade and $9 millionper-year salary, Crayton knew that wasn't a realistic scenario. "When you give up a first and third and a sixth and you pay a guy that much," Crayton said, "he's gotta play." Tim MacMahon covers the Cowboys for ESPNDallas.com. E -mail [email protected]. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Williams' Manager Rips Pavlik as Camp Pursues New Opponent
By Lem Satterfield (FanHouse)
Submitted at 10/21/2009 11:20:00 PM

by Lem Satterfield Filed under: WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO, HBO, FanHouse Exclusive, IBO Paul Williams is pursuing a fight with either WBO junior middleweight champion Sergiy Dzinziruk or Sergio Martinez on Dec. 5 in Atlantic City now that his scheduled bout for the same night, against Kelly Pavlik, has been canceled, his promoter, Dan Goossen, and his trainer and manager, George Peterson, told FanHouse. Pavlik (35-1, 31 KOs) has a staph infection in his left finger that has plagued him for months, having led to the second postponement of his WBO and WBC middleweight title defenses against Williams (37-1, 27 KOs), a two-time welterweight and onetime junior middleweight champion. More Coverage: Pavlik Scraps Title Bout With Williams

Williams' Manager Rips Pavlik as Camp Pursues New Opponent originally appeared on Fanhouse Boxing Blog on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:20:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments

AT&T’s profits boosted by iPhone demand
(Financial Times - US homepage)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 5:25:40 AM

AT&T’s wireless business lifted its third-quarter profits above

analysts’ expectations, but landline weakness continued to be a drag on the US telephone company. Net income at AT&T slipped by 1.2 per cent to $3.19bn, or 54

cents a share, in the third quarter, compared with $3.23bn, or 55 cents, a year earlier. The results beat Wall Street analysts’ expectations as the company reported record growth in its

wireless business, fuelled by demand for Apple’s popular iPhone device. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

The Count: Mark Sanchez Has Historically Bad Sunday
(WSJ.com: The Daily Fix) Submitted bad was New York Jets How at 10/21/2009 2:50:40 PM COUNT: page 51

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rookie Mark Sanchez Sunday, in the Jets’ 16-13 loss to the Buffalo Bills? Historically bad — so bad that he made The Count’s prior quarterback whipping boy, Oakland’s JaMarcus Russell, look good, and so bad that even his teammates’ remarkable running output couldn’t produce a win against a low-scoring opponent. Associated Press This sack of Mark Sanchez didn’t even factor into his abysmal quarterback rating. Pro Football Reference’s Chase Stuart enumerated some of the wacky numbers in the Jets loss. For one thing, Thomas Jones rushed for 210 yards for the Jets, making their loss just the second in 20 years for a team featuring a runner who gained that many yards. Jones’s output marked the most for a team that lost despite allowing 16 points or fewer. And the Jets had 318 yards rushing overall, the most in a losing effort in 65 years. Sanchez’s ineptitude was the main culprit. He completed 10 of 29 passes for 119 yards, no touchdowns and five interceptions. Pro Football Reference takes into account sack yards and the value of interceptions to come up with a figure it calls adjusted yards, and by that measure Sanchez cost the Jets 129 passing yards. Only four other quarterbacks who were given more than 25 pass attempts by their team have managed to lose more passing yards per attempt in a game. His passer rating, remarkably, wasn’t the lowest of the day, demonstrating flaws in the formula. His interception rate was off the charts, but that can’t be worth any less than 0 in the formula, and because Sanchez’s completion percentage and yards per attempt were slightly better than abysmal, he emerged with a rating of 8.3. Kerry Collins threw four fewer interceptions in 12 attempts for the Titans, but his 2 for 12 passing performance and minus-7 total yards — one of his passes somehow lost 22 yards — added up to a 4.7 rating. His opposing quarterback, Tom Brady, managed a rating of 152.8, which is 5.5 shy of the best possible ranking. How does one complete 29 of 34 passes for 380 yards with six touchdowns and no interceptions — in a 59-0 win, incidentally — yet not be deemed perfect? Brady needed to gain 45 more yards on his passes to achieve that. Russell, who’s never had a game as bad as Sanchez according to QB ratings, had his second straight respectable showing and finished with a rating of 68.2. (Neither one can yet claim to be approaching the realm of the should-be-immortal Ken Anderson, though.) His revival should remind Jets fans not to write off Sanchez yet — he’s been solid in four of the team’s six games, and Buffalo has one of the top-ranked passing defenses, albeit inflated by its stellar stats against one very overmatched QB on Sunday.

Granger Looks Lonely on the Pacers
By Tim Povtak (FanHouse)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 8:00:00 AM

by Tim Povtak Filed under: Pacers, NBA Preseason ORLANDO - Danny Granger has all the makings of a great player who may get lost for many years. Playing for the Indiana Pacers already makes him look like he's standing alone on an island -waiting to get rescued. "It doesn't matter how many points you score. If you don't win games, no one really cares,'' Granger told FanHouse Wednesday night before the Pacers played the Orlando Magic. "I've proven I can score. Now I have to prove we can win.'' Granger averaged 25.8 points last season when he won the NBA's Most Improved Player Award, becoming the first player in league history to raise his scoring average by at least five points in three consecutive

seasons. Granger Looks Lonely on the Pacers originally appeared on Fanhouse NBA Blog on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments

French dev bringing Toki back with HD remake
By Xav de Matos (Joystiq)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 3:00:00 AM

The classic shoot 'em up platformer Toki is getting the HD treatment, with an upcoming enhanced version from French developer Golgoth Studio. The studio -- which currently consists of six members -- intends on bringing the adventure back to life in with a "full 2D remixed version" based on the 1989 arcade

original. In Toki HD, players must rescue his princess Miho from the evil sorcerer Vokimeldo, and reclaim his human form. Toki HD producer Anthony De Sa Ferreira told Joystiq via email that -- while the game has no official platform as of yet -- the game has been submitted for approval for Games for Windows Live and Xbox Live Arcade. If its goal of resurrecting a classic arcade title isn't enough to get you

on its side, Golgoth's motto of Check out the first gameplay "2D refuses to die" might rope footage of Toki HD after the you in. Way to tug at our break. nostalgic heartstrings, guys. [Via GameSetWatch]

Continue reading French dev bringing Toki back with HD remake French dev bringing Toki back with HD remake originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 03:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Splitfish brings the Fragchuck back just in time for Modern Warfare
By JC Fletcher (Joystiq)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 6:00:00 AM

Tekken 6 launch tournament Dragon Age: Journeys bonus promises to 'be hype' items transfer to Origins By Griffin McElroy (Joystiq) developers.
By Griffin McElroy (Joystiq)
you play through it while logged into your EA account, you can Submitted at 10/22/2009 10:06:00 AM gain access to three items that will You may have scoffed at the transfer over to your Dragon Age: prospect of a flash-based, 2D Origins save file on Xbox 360, version of BioWare's upcoming PS3 or PC. No details were given RPG epic, Dragon Age: Origins. about the items in question, but "A browser game meant to we're imagining they'll either be simulate the deep, immersive used to help you slay dragons, or emotions that arise when one to help you become a more plays roles," you may have said, profound lover. mid-scoff. "Who would play Dragon Age: Journeys bonus something like that?" As it turns i t e m s t r a n s f e r t o O r i g i n s out, if you're looking forward to originally appeared on Joystiq on the full, three-dimensional version Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:06:00 EST. of Dragon Age, the answer to Please see our terms for use of your query is simply: You. feeds. A short Q&A on the Dragon Read| Permalink| Email this| Age: Journeys developers' blog Comments cultivated an enticing bit of info about the browser adventure: if
Submitted at 10/22/2009 1:30:00 AM

If you're a fighting game enthusiast living in Southern California -- or a really big fighting game enthusiast living in Northern California -- you might want to check out the Tekken 6 launch party that's being hosted by a number of local fighting game community sites in Hawthorne, CA. Attendees who shell out for the $10 entry fee will have the chance to play the brawler on comically large screens, win some swag (such as the drool-inducing wireless fightstick bundle) and schmooze with some Namco Bandai

You can be sure that we'll be in attendance -- we're going with the hopes of being able to shake the hand of the person responsible for the panda-booting screenshot above. That thing has brought so much joy into our lives, and we'd like to personally thank its progenitor. Gallery: Tekken 6 (6/22/09) Tekken 6 launch tournament promises to 'be hype' originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

US jobless claims climb more than projected
(Financial Times - US homepage)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 6:21:10 AM

The number of US workers claiming jobless benefits for the

first time climbed last week, as the labour market continues to signal that its recovery lag the overall economy. New jobless claims rose by 11,000 to 531,000, t he labour

department said on Thursday. The figures were worse than economists anticipated, although the less volatile four-week average showed that new claims have been waning in the last

month. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Despite having released a product called the " fragchuck" once, and (if there's any justice) being roundly humiliated for it, gimmicky peripheral maker SplitFish is releasing a new version of its PlayStation 3 FragFX controller, called the Dual SFX Frag Pro. In addition to the ... fragchuck... it features a 2000 dpi mouse, and loses the wire between the two halves. It'll be out at a cost of $90 on November 10, which, coincidentally, is also when Modern Warfare 2 comes out. If you like the Fragchuck but don't care for the mouse part, there's also this thing. The good news: the more people see the word "fragchuck," the worse they'll feel about using the outmoded, kind-of gross word "frag" in general. [Via Engadget] Splitfish brings the Fragchuck back just in time for Modern Warfare originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 06:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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My Top 5 Moments from ELLE's Women in Hollywood Event
By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog)
Submitted at 10/21/2009 11:10:34 AM

Capcom shambles to the Toronto Zombie Walk
By Richard Mitchell (Joystiq)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 4:30:00 AM

zombie bites. Capcom has also sponsored a series of rather disturbing ads for the event, one First: Toronto has an annual of which you will find after the Zombie Walk? How cool is that? break. Warning: It's gross. Any hway, in order to promote Continue reading Capcom Resident Evil: The Darkside shambles to the Toronto Zombie Chronicles, Capcom will have a Walk presence at this year's brainCapcom shambles to the munching jamboree, which takes Toronto Zombie Walk originally place on Saturday, October 24. appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 22 The company will have a tent at Oct 2009 04:30:00 EST. Please the event, giving people free see our terms for use of feeds. zombie makeovers. We presume Read| Permalink| Email this| Capcom will do this with makeup Comments and not by doling out actual

5. Beauty director Emily Dougherty telling Amber Rose in the bathroom how, during jury duty the previous month, all anyone wanted to ask her about was Amber's Kanye-styled fashion story in the October issue of ELLE. 4. Alec Baldwin's constant thank-yous (in Rachel Zoe voice) to Robbie Myers and L'Oreal Paris for gifting him an Infallible Never Fail lip color in Red Carpet Red. "Michael Mann and I so need these," he quipped. 3. Bill Nighy divulging that

Emily Blunt feigns vomiting in her hand every time he shows interest in another woman. 2. Zoe Saldana, tearing up in her acceptance speech, saying, "Without my mom and sisters, I wouldn't even know how to be a woman. And that's the truth." 1. Carol Burnett's story about how she and longtime "best chum" Julie Andrews decided to play a joke on director Mike Nichols one night in 1963 when they were all staying in the same DC hotel. As the director was on his way down to their floor for a late-night hot chocolate, Carol and Julie positioned themselves on a settee in front of the elevator

doors and pretended to make out. Unfortunately, before Mike could catch them in the act, Lady Bird Johnson walked off the elevator, flanked by secret service. The First Lady immediately recognized one of the women whose face was buried in the other's neck and asked, "Is that Carol Burnett?!" Mortified, Carol admitted yes, and then blurted: "And this is Mary Poppins!" Another favorite moment: Breaking it gently to Alec Baldwin on the red carpet that no, he may not borrow my Susan Woo leather tuxedo jacket Follow ELLE on Twitter.

More die amid Rio slum violence
(BBC News | Americas | World Edition)
gangs across several shantytowns in the north of Rio that began on Saturday seems to have started a Submitted at 10/22/2009 2:52:32 AM grim sequence of events that has Violence has continued to grip yet to reach a conclusion, says the several shantytowns in Rio de BBC's Brazil correspondent Gary Janeiro where at least 32 people Duffy. have been killed since Saturday, Hundreds of officers are Brazilian officials say. combing various shanty towns to The fighting erupted at the find those responsible for bringing weekend when a police helicopter down a police helicopter and was shot down by suspected drug causing the deaths of three traffickers. officers. Gun battles have since erupted Several people were reported to between drug gangs and hundreds have died in confrontations with of heavily armed police deployed the police on Wednesday. to find those behind the attack. However, the official version of The violence comes just weeks events is often challenged by local after Rio was chosen to stage the people, our correspondent notes. 2016 Olympics. The authorities insist the latest Feuding between rival drug violence should have no bearing on Rio's ability to stage the Olympic Games in 2016. Are you in Rio de Janeiro? Have you been affected by the violence or the increased police presence on the streets? What impact do you think it will have on the image of the city as it prepares to host the World Cup and the Olympics? Send us your comments using the form below. 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 This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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USA Celebrates New Series with Thomas Pink Shirts
By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog)
Caffrey, the world’s most fashionable ex-con, expert tailors from Thomas Pink and in-house Submitted at 10/21/2009 3:55:25 PM style consultants will measure and Hardly can a man want for more advise clients to select a “White than a perfect button-down shirt. Collar” shirt that reflects their Unless, that is, if it's free! Leading personal style. Guests will also up to the premiere of the new choose from a selection of collar, USA original series White Collar, cuff, and overall fit options USA Network has created the resulting in a shirt beautifully W h i t e C o l l a r S h i r t B a r i n suited to each person’s individual Rockefeller Center where lads and preferences. And what would any lasses can be fitted for their very good pop-up be without goodies? The White Collar Shirt Bar will own tailored Thomas Pink shirt. A sexy lounge will feature free be open to the public Thursday, Inspired by the style of White shoeshine and complimentary October 22 from 10am to 6pm Collar’s lead character, Neal coffee stations. and Friday, October 23 from 8am to 6pm at Rockefeller Center Channel Gardens, 5th Avenue between 47th and 48th Street. And, for anyone looking for a celebrity sighting, on Friday, White Collar cast members Matt Bomer, Tim DeKay and Tiffani Thiessen will be on hand to celebrate the launch of USA’s new series. — Seth Plattner, Men’s Market Editor Follow ELLE on Twitter.

My Dinner with Andre's Stars Reunite for an Evening
By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog)
Submitted at 10/21/2009 11:41:22 AM

It’s not every day that you get to revisit a classic film in the company of its talent. But that’s the idea behind the In-House Series, a program launched last year by producer Katrina Pavlos, which reunites actors and directors to offer an insider’s perspective on selections throughout the cinematic canon (in its first installment, Jeremy Irons hosted a London event celebrating A Heart in the Winter; its second was an L.A. presentation of All About Eve, with Kate Beckinsale). Last night’s outing featured a screening of 1981’s My Dinner

with Andre, introduced by titular character André Gregory and costar Wallace Shawn. Other attendees included Noah Baumbach, Rocco Dispirito, and Candice Bergen (wife of the late

Louis Malle, who directed Andre). At the Glenlivet cocktail party that followed, held in the library at Manhattan’s Soho House, I asked Bergen why the engrossing film, which follows nearly two hours of discussion between a Manhattan playwright and theater director, still resonates. “I hadn’t seen it since it was first released, so now I’m so much older, but it’s a brilliant, brilliant film,” she said. “It’s intelligent, it asks huge questions, and makes everybody think and laugh.” —Erin Clements Photo: Getty Images Follow ELLE on Twitter.

Around the Net In Media: InStore Ads Attract Women, Gen Y
(MediaPost | Media News)
marketers. Almost 70% of shoppers called the in-store experience a "make or break" In-store ads and marketing tend scenario. Brand decisions are still t o b e m o r e e f f e c t i v e t h a n being made at the store, according traditional ads, according to to 60% of respondents. recently released "The Elements "Understanding high potential R e p o r t , " c o n d u c t e d b y t h e shopper strike zones has become National Research Network. critical given the intense battle for Nearly one-third of the 999 consumer loyalty and share of s h o p p e r s s a y t h a t i n - s t o r e mind in-store," says D'Anna marketing is "very effective," Hawthorne, strategy director at compared to 27% who say that consultancy Miller Zell, which about ads living outside of the commissioned the survey. Among store. Overall, women and Gen Y all the retail channels, consumers consumers were most influenced a t d r u g s t o r e s w e r e m o s t by in-store marketing efforts. influenced by in-store signage. The report, which polled people This content has passed through online in March, found that the fivefilters.org. shopping experience is crucial for
Submitted at 10/21/2009 10:49:22 PM

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Mass. man accused of plot to kill shoppers, troops (AP)
(Yahoo! News: U.S. News)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 3:38:26 AM

BOSTON – Tarek Mehanna grew up in Boston's upscale suburbs, earned a doctorate in pharmacology, taught religion and math at a Muslim middle school and was considered a typical American kid by those who knew him. Yet Mehanna, who had Egyptian and U.S. citizenship, told a friend he felt out of place in America, according to documents filed in court. And prosecutors say he used his hostility toward this country in a plot to kill U.S. troops in Iraq, assassinate top politicians and shoot down shoppers in U.S. malls. Mehanna, 27, was arrested early Wednesday at his parents' home in Sudbury, an affluent town around 20 miles west of Boston. He was charged with conspiring with two others — Ahmad Abousamra, an American now in Syria, and an unidentified man who is cooperating with authorities — to support terrorism. Ultimately, the trio never came close to pulling off an attack. Authorities say they never got the terrorist training they sought. The men told friends they were turned down because of their nationality, ethnicity or inexperience, or that the people they'd hoped would get them into such camps were either in jail or on a religious

pilgrimage. They abandoned the mall attack plans after their weapons contact said he could find only handguns, not automatic weapons, authorities said. Mehanna's friends were shocked to see him depicted him as a would-be terrorist. "He's not going to go crazy in a mall. There's no way he would do something like that," said Rola Yaghmour, 20, of Shrewsbury. "I read it and I was laughing, and I was like, 'They have to be kidding.' Because there's no way he would do something like that. It makes no sense." Dr. Abdul Cader Asmal, a family friend who was president of the Islamic Center of Boston in Wayland when Mehanna was a middle school student attending weekly religious education classes, remembered him because they shared an interest in Superman. He said Mehanna would bring comics to show in class. "He looked like a fun-loving, ordinary, typical American kid," said Asmal, an internist at Massachusetts General Hospital. "Certainly there was no hint at all that there was anything at all that would go awry in his behavior at that point." Mehanna, who has taught math and religion at Alhuda Academy in Worcester, made a defiant appearance in federal court

Wednesday. He refused at first to stand when the charge of conspiring to support terrorism was read against him but finally stood — tossing his chair loudly to the floor — after his father urged him to do so. "This really, really is a show," said his father, Ahmed Mehanna, a professor at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, where his son earned a doctorate in 2008. When asked if he believed the charges after his son was led away in handcuffs, he said, "No, definitely not." According to authorities, a friend of Mehanna's who is cooperating with the investigation but is not accused of participating in the alleged plot said Mehanna told him it was "unfathomable" that the United States has military bases in the "heart of the Muslim world" and that the "land of Mohammad ... is being used as a military base to attack Muslims." Mehanna also told the friend that in the United States he feels "like a fish out of water," according to an affidavit filed in court. Prosecutors say Mehanna and his friends used code words such as "peanut butter and jelly" for fighting in Somalia and "culinary school" for terrorist camps, and talked extensively of their desire to "die on the battlefield." He was allegedly part of a conspiracy between 2001 and

2008 that intended to "kill, kidnap, maim or injure" soldiers and two politicians who were members of the executive branch but are no longer in office. Authorities refused to identify the politicians, who they said were never in danger. Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Loucks said the men justified the planned attacks on malls because U.S. civilians pay taxes to support the government and are "nonbelievers," Loucks said. He refused to identify the targeted malls. "I'm confident that the American people will put aside their fears and instead rely on the fairness guaranteed by our Constitution," said Mehanna's attorney, J.W. Carney Jr. "Mr. Mehanna is entitled to that." Mehanna first was arrested in November and charged with lying to the FBI in December 2006 when asked the whereabouts of Daniel Maldonado, who is now serving a 10-year prison sentence for training with al-Qaida to overthrow the Somali government. Authorities said Wednesday that Mehanna and the other alleged conspirators had contacted Maldonado about getting automatic weapons for their planned mall attacks, but he told them he could only get handguns. Court documents filed by the government say that in 2002,

Abousamra became frustrated after repeatedly being rejected to join terror groups in Pakistan— first Lashkar e Tayyiba, then the Taliban. "Because Abousamra was an Arab (not Pakistani) the LeT camp would not accept him, and because of Abousamra's lack of experience, the Taliban camp would not accept him," Williams wrote in the affidavit. Mehanna and Abousamra traveled to Yemen in 2004 in an attempt to join a terrorist training camp, according to court documents. Mehanna allegedly told a friend, the third conspirator who is now cooperating with authorities, that their trip was a failure because they were unable to reach people affiliated with the camps. Abousamra said a terror group rejected him when he sought training in Iraq because he was American, according to authorities. ___ Associated Press writers Jay Lindsay, Bob Salsberg and Russell Contreras in Boston, Eric Tucker in Sudbury, Mass., and Devlin Barrett in Washington contributed to this report from Boston. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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Friend: Balloon mom will 'go down with the ship' (AP)
(Yahoo! News: U.S. News)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 6:39:22 AM

Around the Net In Media: If Old Condand#233; Nast Is History, What's Next?
(MediaPost | Media News)
Submitted at 10/21/2009 10:53:12 PM

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – On an episode of ABC's "Wife Swap," Mayumi Heene pounds her fists and shouts in frustration because she believes her co-star isn't paying enough attention to one of his sons. Off-camera, the mother of Colorado "balloon boy" Falcon Heene is a stoic, hardworking woman who is loyal to her family and sometimes subservient to her husband, those who know her say. She now could face charges along with her husband in last week's runaway balloon spectacle, the latest twist in a 12-year marriage that has never been short on drama. Mayumi has been at her husband's side as they chased down tornadoes and hurricanes, looked for UFOs, launched rockets and pursued his dream of becoming a TV star. Friends say she emigrated from her native Japan — it's not clear when — and met Richard at an acting school in Hollywood. Public records show they married in October 1997 in Clark County, Nev., which includes Las Vegas. They soon started having children, with three boys now aged 10, 8 and 6. The couple ran a film-editing business in Los Angeles for a while, renting a house in 2006 and 2007 from Carrie Cavalier, a Burbank-based photographer who takes publicity headshots. "When they had their editing

business, she was doing all the work. She was in the back guest house doing editing and working on the footage all the time," Cavalier said. They moved to Fort Collins two years ago, making the city north of Denver their base for wide range of bizarre experiments that culminated with the balloon saga. Six-year-old Falcon Heene was reported trapped in the saucershaped balloon as it floated across the Colorado plains but was later found alive and well at the family home. Authorities say Falcon was a pawn in a hoax hatched by his parents to get publicity for a reality TV show. They say the parents could face criminal charges and be asked to pay restitution for the cost of the massive search-and-rescue operation. The couple have denied staging the incident. Richard Heene, 48, is the public face of the family, and his aspirations to become a reality TV star and television scientist are well known. Mayumi Heene, 45, has been mostly in the background. Barbara Slusser of Fort Collins, who worked with Richard Heene on a proposed TV show called "The Science Detectives" or "The Psyience Detectives," described Mayumi Heene as stoic, strong, intelligent and big-hearted. "But she also is totally subservient to Richard and the boys. Whatever they want, they get," Slusser said. She said Mayumi didn't have

much of a say in family matters but is devoted to what Slusser called their "unit." "She's devoted to the unit. She'll go down with the ship," Slusser said. The Heenes moved to Fort Collins by late 2007. Investigators say Richard Heene worked in construction, including installing tile. Neighbors say they often saw him working on a project in the driveway or fishing with his boys in a nearby creek but that Mayumi Heene rarely ventured out of the house. She did chat with neighbors at the community mailbox stand or wave as she loaded the children in a minivan for school. About the most neighbors and parents at her children's school heard from her was when she talked about the family's appearance on reality TV. The Heenes appeared on "Wife Swap" late last year and again in March, with Mayumi Heene trading places with a mother from a Connecticut family. The show described the other family as "safety-conscious" and the Heene household as "chaotic as a twister." "She had really enjoyed the other family," said neighbor Amy Dengler, who spoke to Mayumi Heene shortly afterward. Leilani Bishop, who lives in a house across a greenbelt behind the Heene home, said she has spoken to the couple on several occasions, once after she said one of the Heene boys urinated on her driveway.

Mayumi Heene was apologetic, she said, but Richard Heene was more aggressive and confrontational. Marc Friedland, who lives next to the Heenes, said he's never seen Richard Heene yell at his spouse. "I've heard him be upset, but in a minute he calms down," he said. Records show that a Larimer County deputy responded to the house in February and reported that he thought a fight may have taken place. But he concluded he didn't have probable cause to make an arrest. Last weekend, Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden said officials tried to persuade Mayumi Heene to go with her sons to a safe house, but she declined. Richard Heene's attorney, David Lane, called such talk by the sheriff "irresponsible." "Wife Swap" showed Richard Heene throwing a glass of milk at the Connecticut woman who traded places with Mayumi, who in turn berates her fake husband on the show as a "loser." But one of the Heenes' neighbors said she doesn't read too much into the antics on the show. "I can't really tell if he's a hot head or not," Molly Fiechtl said. "I don't want to use every thing I see on these shows to form my opinions. You can't tell how much of that is acting." This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Si Newhouse's Condé Nast has been all about big budgets, big splashy pictures and the best writers and editors with total creative control who became wealthy celebrities. No other publisher could compete. Can the empire be fabulous once again after the recession? The company insists it can, but that attitude poses a huge risk. CEO Chuck Townsend, a money guy, is the company's new star. But his solutions are all tactical, without an overarching strategy. Many hope that with a better economy "a new vision can assert itself that is not just about how Chuck thinks. At some point, the company will need a new visionary," writes John Koblin. So far the core belief of Newhouse's company -- even to this day -- is that print advertising will return, that everything will be O.K. For the famous pragmatic thinker who built the Condé Nast empire, that belief is his greatest risk yet. P> This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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Around the Net In Media: Ex-Murdoch Executives Shaping Comcast Strategy
(MediaPost | Media News)
Submitted at 10/21/2009 10:46:38 PM

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Woman in W.Va. torture case now says she lied (AP)
(Yahoo! News: U.S. News)
by Megan and the family, because of her mental condition," said the Submitted at 10/22/2009 4:24:14 AM Rev. Audie Murphy, president of COLUMBUS, Ohio – When a the group. black woman told West Virginia Williams had said her captors, authorities in 2007 that seven i n c l u d i n g b o y f r i e n d B o b b y white people had raped and Brewster, beat her, raped her, tortured her over several days in a forced her to drink urine and eat racially motivated attack, minority feces, poured hot wax on her and rights groups rallied to her taunted her with racial slurs in a support. the trailer of Brewster's mother in The Rev. Al Sharpton and Black a rural area of Logan County, L a w y e r s f o r J u s t i c e u r g e d about 50 miles from Charleston, prosecutors to pursue hate-crime W.Va. Williams was rescued after charges. The lawyers organized a a passer-by heard cries from the march on Megan Williams' shed where she was kept and an behalf. Sharpton addressed a rally a n o n y m o u s c a l l e r a l e r t e d in Charleston and donated $1,000 a u t h o r i t i e s . to Williams' family as a Christmas The suspects all confessed to gift. their actions and pleaded guilty. More than two years later, All but one were sent to prison. Williams, now 22 and living in But Williams made up the story Columbus, recanted her story on because she wanted to get revenge Wednesday, and the groups that against a boyfriend who had supported her stood at arm's beaten her, said her attorney, length from the woman whose Byron L. Potts. She recanted mother had described her as because she no longer wants to "slow." live a lie, he said. Sharpton has asked a prosecutor Potts said Williams has received to vindicate anyone wrongfully several anonymous phone calls convicted. from people threatening her life. The head of the National "She is recanting the entire Association for the Advancement incident. She says it did not of Colored People in Logan and happen, and she's scared," Potts Boone counties in West Virginia said. said the group didn't rush to Potts said Williams stabbed judgment two years ago, and herself with a straight razor to won't now. help embellish the story of being "We did have some concerns tortured. about what was being done at the "She told me the only thing not time and how it was carried out self-inflicted were the bruises on her face," Potts said. Prosecutors, who knew about the relationship during the case, dismissed Williams' new claim, and lawyers for the defendants would not discuss their plans. Potts urged prosecutors in West Virginia to re-evaluate the case and he said that Williams wants people convicted to be released from prison. Brian Abraham, the former Logan County prosecutor who pursued the cases, said authorities realized early in the investigation that they could not rely on statements from Williams, who tended to embellish and exaggerate details. Instead, he said, the seven defendants were convicted on their own statements and physical evidence. "If she's going to say that she made it all up, that's absurd," Abraham said. "This looks like another attempt to generate more publicity." Lawyers for the seven did not immediately return phone calls Wednesday or declined to comment. Abraham said none of the seven have appealed. Potts said he did not know why the defendants have pleaded guilty to something they did not do. He said Williams is aware that she could face legal consequences for fabricating the story and that he wants to have her psychologically evaluated. He said Williams told him certain people were controlling her and influencing her during the case. He did not elaborate. He said she now lives with a caregiver, but would not give further details. In a January interview with The Call & Post, a black newspaper in Cleveland, Williams acknowledged she had been mistreated but said her mother made her embellish the story for exposure and financial gain. Williams told the newspaper that she was afraid of her mother, who knew some of the defendants. Williams' mother, Carmen Williams, died in June. Potts said he did not know what role the mother might have had in fabricating the case. In a phone call to the AP on Wednesday, Sharpton said the matter should be handled delicately, citing "psychological issues" with Williams. "This isn't cut and dried either way," he said. "Right is right, but I have no idea if tomorrow her story will change back." ___ Tom Breen reported from Charleston, W.Va. Associated Press Writer Lawrence Messina in Logan County, W.Va., contributed to this report. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

At least five former News Corp. executives are involved in senior decision-making at Comcast. Tops is Peter Chernin, who recently stepped down as Rupert Murdoch's second-in-command. Chernin is consulting on Comcast's efforts to buy control of NBC Universal. Comcast is also being advised by Peter Liguori, the former head of Fox Broadcasting Co. who oversaw entertainment at that network, say insiders. Comcast's head of programming, Jeff Shell, arrived in May 2005 from News Corp.'s Fox cable networks, where he oversaw the FX, Fox Sports and National Geographic cable channels. Jamie Davis, the president of Versus, a Comcast sports network, was an 11-year News Corp. veteran prior to joining Comcast in 2005. Neal Tiles, the president of Comcast's G4 video-game channel, was senior VP of marketing at Fox Sports. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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US 'plans bail-out firm pay cut'
(BBC News | Americas | World Edition)
2007. If you're going to take taxpayer dollars, then the game has to change", she said. Submitted at 10/22/2009 5:31:40 AM There has been widespread Firms in the US which received outrage over the high level of billions of dollars of government bonuses paid by firms that had to aid in the financial crisis are to be appeal for government help. told to cut the pay of top The seven companies affected executives. would be Bank of America, The seven companies that American International Group received the most aid from the US (AIG), Citigroup, General Motors, Treasury will have to reduce the GMAC, Chrysler and Chrysler basic salaries of their 25 best-paid Financial. employees by up to 90%. Some companies, such as the The totals paid to each firm's Goldman Sachs Group and JP 125 top earners would be halved Morgan Chase, have already under the plan. repaid bailout money. Details of the plans were 'Offensive' confirmed ahead of schedule by The US is expected to ofically Elizabeth Warren, who heads the announce the salary cuts for top oversight panel. executives within the next few The US government is expected days. to announce the salary cuts for top Kenneth Feinberg, the Treasury executives within the next few official appointed to handle days. compensation issues as part of the 'Party's over' $700bn Troubled Asset Relief Speaking in an interview on Programme (Tarp), will be in CBS's The Early Show, Ms charge of the negotiations on Warren, from the government's s a l a r i e s w i t h e a c h o f t h e T r o u b l e d A s s e t R e l i e f companies. Programme, which has organised Officials close to Mr Feinberg the bail out of US banks, said say the plan, targeting the 25 top reports of pending reductions in earners at each of the seven executive salaries are "real". companies affected, will on She said those people being average cut total compensation by targeted had to take responsibility. about 50%. "Guys, you have to understand The plan will also change the that you can't party on like its form of the pay to align the personal interests of the executives with the longer-term financial health of their companies. The base salary of the executives will be cut on average by 90%, while the remainder will be replaced by stock that cannot be sold for years. Executives will also need permission to claim perks worth more than $25,000 per year including country club memberships and company cars. Until now, companies were only required to provide guidelines for the use of such luxuries. But it is still unclear exactly how much the executives will be allowed to earn, or how a figure will be determined by Mr Feinberg. Bonus 'outrage' President Barack Obama has been outspoken about the payment of bonuses - when the rest of the country is still suffering from the fall out of the global financial crisis. Earlier this year, the president said he was "outraged" by plans by bailed-out insurer AIG to pay $165m bonuses pledged to executives. And this week his senior aide, David Axlerod, called the payouts "offensive", telling the ABC that firms "ought to think through what they are doing and they ought to understand that a year ago lot of these institutions were teetering on the brink and the United States government and taxpayers came to their defence". Excessive pay and bonuses have been cited as one of the causes of the world economic downturn, with bankers accused of taking greater risks driven by potential rewards. The recent G20 summit wanted bonuses linked to long-term performance. However, the Pittsburgh meeting produced no plan for general caps on the amount banks could pay out - something that some European governments wanted. Do you think this plan is a good idea? Is it necessary? What impact do you think it will have? Send us your comments using the form below. 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 This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

NH man turns lottery losses into 1,500 wins (AP)
(Yahoo! News: U.S. News)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 12:08:52 AM

CONCORD, N.H. – He might be the New Hampshire Lottery's winningest loser. William Rudd, a 64-year-old retiree from Salem, has collected more than 1,500 prizes including food, gift certificates and other goodies under the state lottery's "Replay" program, which gives losing lottery tickets a second chance to win. Rudd, who retired five years ago from his job in a warehouse, says his friends and family now know him as the "lottery guy," because he spends so much time collecting losing tickets and entering the information online, which is how the Replay program works. They aren't big-money prizes, but for Rudd, they've added up. Here's just a sampling of his haul: four bottles of maple syrup, 20 pizzas, 33 ice cream cones, 86 cinnamon buns, 92 steakhouse gift certificates, 161 chicken sandwiches, and 484 cups of coffee to wash it all down. Oh, yeah. And a one-month

Around the Net In Media: Cox Cross Media Forms Unit for Local Solutions
(MediaPost | Media News)
Submitted at 10/21/2009 10:47:50 PM

Cox Cross Media is creating the Local Solutions Group to help advertisers with direct sales across the 350 TV stations and 950 Web

sites within parent company Cox Reps. Mary Barnas, formerly director of local broadcast for Carat, will take charge of the new unit starting Nov. 2. She will report to Steve Shaw, senior VP of Cox Cross Media.

Since the launch of Cox Cross Media in 2007, the number of Web sites repped by the group has grown to reach 60 million uniques and 2.5 billion page views a month. The TV stations repped by the group represent 40% of all

national spot advertising. "Our new approach [is designed to] reduce the multiple layers associated with buying spot television. Advertisers can move their products and services efficiently through one point of

contact on a targeted, local level," says Jim Monahan, president of Cox Reps. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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Investigators believe landfill body is Fla. girl (AP) Ex-NY police chief Kerik in jail
(Yahoo! News: U.S. News)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 7:15:48 AM

ORANGE PARK, Fla. – Authorities believe a body found under trash in a landfill is that of 7 -year-old Somer Thompson, a north Florida girl who disappeared on her walk home from school, the sheriff in charge of the case said Thursday. Clay County Sheriff Rick Beseler said the tentative identification was based on clothing and on a birthmark that matched the girl's. Detectives spotted the legs first and found the body partially covered by garbage Wednesday in a Georgia landfill near the Florida state line, after investigators followed garbage trucks leaving the neighborhood where the child disappeared Monday. Somer's father and other family members were "torn up" after hearing the news, aunt Laura Holt said. She hopes authorities will find her niece's killer. "I don't think they deserve to live," Holt said. "I don't think there's anything worse that a person can do — to kill a child

and dump her in the dump like a piece of trash?" Beseler wouldn't talk about what evidence police have recovered, or whether investigators believe the crime was committed by one or more people. He said police have questioned more than 70 registered sex offenders in the area, and that process was continuing. Florida Department of Law Enforcement records show 161 offenders live in a 5-mile radius of Somer's home. "I fear for our community until we bring this person in. This is a heinous crime that's been committed," Beseler said. "And we're going to work as hard as we can to make this community safe." The sheriff said he told the girl's mother to prepare for the worst, and called her after receiving the news Wednesday night. "Needless to say, she was absolutely devastated," he said. "It was the hardest phone call I've ever had to make in my life, and I hope I never have to make another one like that." Beseler credited one of his

detectives with suggesting on Tuesday that the landfill should be checked. Trucks were scheduled to pick up garbage in Orange Park on Tuesday morning. He said detectives were told to go through the debris looking for evidence as the trucks brought it in. "Had we not done that, tons of garbage would have been distributed over the top of the body, and it likely would have never been found," he told ABC's "Good Morning America." Two deputies stood guard at mother Diena Thompson's home early Thursday morning. It appeared to be full of supporters. An oak tree across the street was decorated with flowers, candles and pictures of Somer. "This has been so unreal for the neighborhood," said Sharon Galloway, who lives across the street from the Thompsons. "I just hope they get that son of a gun." An FBI forensic unit is helping process evidence from the landfill in Folkston, Ga., about 48 miles from where the girl disappeared. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation planned an autopsy

Thursday in Savannah. Somer vanished on her milelong walk home from school in Orange Park. She was squabbling with another child, and her sister told her to stop. The girl got upset, walked ahead of the group and wasn't seen again. Authorities launched a countywide search involving helicopters, dogs and volunteers walking arm-to-arm through wooded areas. Orange Park is a suburb of Jacksonville just south of Jacksonville Naval Air Station. The area where the girl disappeared is a heavily populated residential area with homes, apartment complexes and condominiums. The girl's father, Sam Thompson, lives in Graham, N.C. ___ Associated Press Writer Katrina Goggins contributed to this story from Columbia, S.C. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

(BBC News | Americas | World Edition)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 7:19:12 AM

Former New York City police chief Bernard Kerik has had his bail revoked before the start of a corruption trial. Mr Kerik, who was police commissioner at the time of the 9/11 attacks, was free on $500,000 (£303,000) bail. A judge sent him to prison for passing on secret pre-trial documents, saying Mr Kerik must not "influence witnesses or prospective jurors". Mr Kerik, who denies all charges, is accused of corruption, tax evasion and lying to White House officials. He faces 15 federal counts brought against him. If convicted, he could face up to 142 years in prison and $4.75m (£2.87m) in

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fitness club membership. "Sometimes I'll get a large stack of tickets and not win a single prize. Sometimes I win a lot," Rudd says. In fact, there were only nine weeks between June 2006 and June 2009 in which Rudd didn't win at least one prize, according to an Associated Press analysis of data compiled by the New Hampshire Lottery Commission. At his peak, he won 109 prizes in April 2008 alone, including appetizers at T.G.I. Friday's and Canobie Lake Park passes. But Rudd says he's no glutton, nor is he a gambling addict. He simply combines his own losing lottery tickets with those collected from a wide variety of friends and family members. And he's always on the lookout for tickets tossed on the ground outside grocery and convenience stores. "What I do is accumulate tickets from other people and give them the prizes. I share the wealth," says Rudd, who estimates he spends about $20 per week on lottery tickets. The 3-year-old program uses a points system that gives participants five points for each dollar's worth of tickets they enter. For example, a $5 scratch ticket is worth 25 points. The points are used to enter monthly and quarterly drawings. Monthly prizes include items such as $100 gas cards and theater tickets. The current quarterly prize is a two-night stay for up to 18 people at a White Mountains inn. Instant prizes also are awarded randomly — mostly gift certificates in the $5-$10 range. Winners of these prizes can choose to take the merchandise or exchange it for points that can be used to enter the monthly or quarterly drawings. As of Sept. 1, participants had played more than 45 million tickets worth $142 million, and more than 415,000 instant prizes (merchandise and points) were awarded. That's around 2.3 prizes for each of the 180,766 people registered, according to Griffin, York and Krause, a Manchester marketing company that designed the system and runs it for the state. Rudd won about four times the number of prizes than the next closest participant during the MAN page 60

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Retrial for Travolta Bahamas case
(BBC News | Americas | World Edition)
party's annual convention - which was being covered live on television and radio. Submitted at 10/22/2009 1:51:09 AM Supreme Court Justice Anita A mistrial has been declared in Allen said she was reluctant to the Bahamas in the case of two order a new trial but had to do so people accused of blackmailing "in the interest of justice". Hollywood actor John Travolta She said she was concerned over his son's death. about possible "communication" Pleasant Bridgewater and from the jury room - raising the Tarino Lightbourne are accused of possibility of jury misconduct. trying to extort $25m (£15m) Alex Storr, a PLP official, said from the star. Mr Forbes had misspoken and A retrial was ordered late on apologised on behalf of the party, Wednesday after an MP declared AP news agency reported. publicly that Ms Bridgewater had Travolta's son Jett died in the been cleared while the jury was Bahamas aged 16 in January still deliberating. following a seizure. The judge said she was The actor testified in the concerned that there could have original trial against the pair. been jury misconduct. His attorney, Michael Ossi, said Possible misconduct his client would fully co-operate Picewell Forbes, an MP for the with the prosecution and do Progressive Liberal Party (PLP), whatever was asked of him. made the announcement at his Ms Bridgewater, a former member of the Bahamian Senate, is accused of trying to negotiate a $25m (£15m) payout for Mr Lightbourne, a paramedic. It is claimed he threatened to sell stories suggesting Travolta was at fault over Jett's death. A form signed by Travolta after his son's death would have released the ambulance driver of liability had Jett been flown to the US from the Bahamas for treatment, as the actor had initially wanted. However, the 16-year-old ended up being taken to a local hospital where he died. Both Ms Bridgewater and Mr Lightbourne denied the original charges. Print Sponsor This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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program's first three years. But there's no way to tell who entered the most losing tickets because about 75 percent of instant-prize winners take the points instead of the prize, and their identities aren't public. In addition to the hundreds of food-related prizes he's won, Rudd has won museum passes, scratch tickets, ski area lift tickets, and salon gift certificates, which he passes along to his daughter. His grandchildren have gotten into the habit of finding tickets on the ground and giving them to him, and he rewards them by taking them to sporting events. He's won tickets to auto races, baseball games, hockey games and more. "My grandchildren love to go to those games," he says. ___ Associated Press writer Frank Bass contributed to this report. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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penalties. Contempt In a strongly worded judgement, Judge Stephen Robinson said he was sending Mr Kerik to the cells in an effort to stop him obstructing the course of justice. Judge Robinson described Mr Kerik as "a toxic combination of self-minded focus and arrogance" as he jailed him before the beginning of his first trial, on Monday. The judge acted after Mr Kerik allegedly passed confidential information to the former trustee of his legal defence fund, Anthony Modafferi. Mr Modafferi was accused by the judge of sharing that information with a national newspaper. The judge ruled that Mr Kerik was probably in contempt of court, saying: "Mr Kerik, if left to his own devices, will obstruct justice." Mr Kerik's lawyer Barry Berke said he planned to appeal against the ruling, although the judge EX-NY page 61

Mexican city sees record murders
(BBC News | Americas | World Edition)
deployed in Juarez and across Mexico since late 2006 to try to tackle the drug gangs. Submitted at 10/22/2009 2:04:12 AM The murder rate for 2009 in The murder rate in Ciudad Ciudad Juarez, a city of some 1.5 Juarez on the Mexico-US border million people, is averaging about has reached an all-time high amid seven a day. battles between rival drug cartels, So far this month there have Mexican officials say. been 195 killings alone, officials Up to mid-October, there were said. 1,986 killings in Juarez on the US The upsurge in murders in -Mexico border - 815 more than Juarez is a result of an escalating last year. turf war between the Sinaloa The drug cartels are fighting to cartel, run by Mexico's mostcontrol smuggling routes into the wanted man Joaquin "El Chapo" US but also the city's own drug Guzman and the Juarez cartel, market. according to Victor Valencia, the Thousands of troops have been public security secretary in the state of Chihuahua. Booming market Ciudad Juarez is located just over the border from El Paso, Texas, and has for years been one of the main transit points for cocaine passing from Mexico into the US. The city also has a booming market in domestic drug consumption, which the two drug gangs would like to control, says the BBC's Stephen Gibbs in Mexico City. Before the escalation in violence, Juarez had a murder rate of around 200 a year, comparable to El Paso. Now, our correspondent says, it is regarded as one of the most dangerous cities in the world. In late 2006, President Felipe Calderon began deploying extra security forces in attempt to take on the drug gangs. To date, some 45,000 troops and federal police have been sent to key areas. This includes Juarez, where earlier this year several thousand troops were deployed in a attempt to contain the fighting. Print Sponsor This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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denied a request to keep him out of jail before an appeal hearing. Tax issues Mr Kerik is accused of accepting a $250,000 payback in the form of apartment renovations from a company he gave a city contract to. In 2008 he pleaded guilty in a state court to accepting the work. Mr Kerik had been regaled as a national hero following the 9/11 terror attacks and in 2004 was nominated for the post of the head of the Department of Homeland Security in 2004. But he withdrew his name from consideration for the role after he was accused of failing to pay taxes, and of having extramarital affairs. According to the authorities, Mr Kerik failed to report more than $500,000 in taxable income between 1999 and 2004. He is also alleged to have made false statements to White House and other federal officials while being considered for the homeland security role. Print Sponsor This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

The IT business rebounds: Betting on bytes
(The Economist: News analysis)
Submitted at 10/21/2009 5:04:52 AM

The IT business rebounds Oct 21st 2009 | SAN FRANCISCO From Economist.com Optimism that tech firms will help kick-start economic recovery is overdone EVERY year, many leading lights of the internet world congregate at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. The

2009 event, which took place this week, included an evening reception thrown by a venture capital company at a swanky hotel and was dubbed “Web After Dark”. And evidence is growing to suggest that the darkness that has hung over the information technology (IT) industry for many months is lifting. Three of the sector’s heavyweights—IBM, Intel and Google—recently reported surprisingly robust profits. Even

Yahoo! did less badly than expected. On Monday October 19th Apple stunned even the most bullish investors by posting its best quarterly results ever: thirdquarter revenues came in at $9.9 billion—24% higher than the same period a year earlier. Then came the news that venture capital investments in America are growing again. And Windows 7, Microsoft’s new operating

Europe.view: Welcome home
(The Economist: Daily columns)
may not be quite as big as the Hungarian one, but it has its quirks too—such as playing Submitted at 10/22/2009 1:52:27 AM cricket. Europe.view Getting silly about all of this is Oct 22nd 2009 easy; finding a sensible rule is From Economist.com It is high more difficult. Size clearly time to abolish the concept of matters, but how small is too ethnic minorities small? Surely the smaller SHOULD the Polish ethnic minorities are the ones that most minority in Germany have the need protection. And the biggest same rights as the German ethnic ones (Mingrelians in Georgia, for minority in Poland? It sounds fair: example) are hardly minorities at Germans in Poland get schooling all. in the mother-tongue, street signs Another common but useless in both languages and guaranteed rule of thumb is history. If, as representation in parliament. s o m e m i g h t a r g u e , r e c e n t Poles in Germany get almost migrants do not deserve minority nothing. But why only the Poles? status, then what is “recent”? Go What about the Czechs and back far enough, and everyone Hungarians? Or the Turks? For m o v e d s o m e w h e r e f r o m that matter, what about the British s o m e w h e r e e l s e . N e i t h e r in Poland? They have their Hungarians nor Slavs are the cultural festivals (Last Night of o r i g i n a l i n h a b i t a n t s o f t h e the Proms in Cracow is already a C a r p a t h i a n b a s i n . major annual event). And why are Nor does it help much to look we talking only about in Poland? for degrees of difference from the The British minority in Slovakia “host” population. Most Irish speak English, but are sometimes treated as a minority in Britain. Scots don’t get that privilege. Status doesn’t count either. You can enjoy statutory protection as a persecuted underclass, or as a superior economic and political elite. The best answer would be to abandon the notion of ethnic minorities altogether. The whole idea of ethnicity is a spurious hangover from the past anyway. If it depends on DNA, then what about intermarriage and adoption? If it depends on ancestry, get out that copy of the Nuremberg laws. Cultural or linguistic definitions also fail: how many Roma speak Romani, for instance? Not only is the concept of an ethnic minority artificial, but the notion also engenders all sorts of bad attitudes and habits. It encourages clientilism, where self -appointed “community leaders” try to grab as much as possible from the public cake, in theory for their constituents, but in practice often for themselves. That encourages ill-feeling between the “minorities” and for the “majority” which feels left out. It leads to mis-spending of taxpayers’ money. Instead of dealing with specific problems (such as poverty, or dreadful schools) attention is diverted to a diffuse one (racism). Ethnic-minority privileges are a ratchet as well as a racket: given enough lobbying, they are introduced, but are then hard to removed, even if the original grievance has long since been ameliorated. The biggest complaints from many ethnic minorities are really about something else: bad behaviour by the authorities. Much better, therefore, to concentrate on solving that with a clean and responsive government, good laws and a good justice system. That kind of public administration makes special treatment for anyone much less necessary and encourages the social mobility that defuses all kinds of collective grievances, real or imagined. Some problems—such as the protection of small languages—are reasonable candidates for state intervention, for example in subsidising particular bits of the education system. But the demand for that should be assessed by politicians, preferably local ones, who are in turn judged by their electorate. If that leads to ghettoisation or other bad results, then national politicians may intervene: again, voters, not unelected monitors, will decide if they have done so rightly. Back to top ^^ Readers' comments The Economist welcomes your views. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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American banks: The pyramid principle
(The Economist: News analysis)
$2.6 billion profit, it announced this week (by press release) that it would start conducting conference Submitted at 10/21/2009 11:34:51 PM calls for investors and American banks stockmarket analysts from Oct 22nd 2009 January. From The Economist print Such gripes aside, there is a edition America’s big banks are clear sense that things are getting healthier. The small fry improving. The big banks seem to are not think that the provisioning cycle JUDGED by their giant for bad debts overall is at or near compensation bills, Wall Street’s a peak. Meanwhile they are banks are in fine fettle. But pay is writing up the value of some of one of the few numbers in their the toxic securities whose prices accounts it is easy to make sense have bounced along with almost of. The investment banks may be every other asset in the known booming but they remain black u n i v e r s e . T h e r e a r e s t i l l boxes. Both Goldman Sachs and minefields aplenty: the latest Morgan Stanley, which reported a Moody’s/REAL commercialthird-quarter profit of $498m on property price index showed W e d n e s d a y O c t o b e r 2 1 s t , another monthly decline, of 3%, continue to take high levels of in August, and credit cards remain trading risk. weak for most firms. But the The accounts of big, troubled optimism that has prompted bank banks—in particular Bank of shares to soar has a foundation. A m e r i c a ( B o f A ) a n d Better still, capital levels are C i t i g r o u p — a r e a w a s h w i t h improving as the biggest banks exceptional items, including tax retain their profits, sell assets and gains and changes in the value of exchange debt for common their own debt. After adjusting for equity. the funny stuff, those two firms’ Still, as a policymaker or a common shareholders still made taxpayer, it is hard to view the losses in the third quarter. banking system with anything Transparency did at least take a other than mild nausea. Most of small step forwards at Wells the queasiness stems from the Fargo, America’s fourth-biggest c o n t i n u e d a c c u m u l a t i o n o f bank by assets and its most bumper compensation packages. taciturn. As well as unveiling a The Treasury’s pay tsar is thought to be considering imposing deep pay cuts on the 25 most senior executives at firms it still owns shares in, including Citigroup and BofA. But since the bigwigs probably account for under 1% of the total compensation at those banks this would be a largely symbolic move. The chances of a more severe government response is nevertheless growing. Now the emergency is over, the full horror of a banking system that is too big to fail is becoming ever more apparent. Both Goldman’s and Morgan Stanley’s value-at-risk numbers, a statistical measure of worst-case-scenario losses, remain high. Neither bank’s balance-sheet is shrinking, although they do both have more safe assets like government bonds than a year ago. At the remaining two big banks with state ownership, things still look very messy. Citigroup has stuck its nastiest bits, including consumer loans and toxic securities, into a separate division, but the hard part lies ahead. At $617 billion this unit’s assets are about a third of Citi’s total, and winding it down will be difficult. At BofA, too, the residual pong of empire-building is hard to ignore. It continues to book more bad debts from Countrywide, a mortgage lender it bought last year. Yet if the investment banks and the two giant conglomerates present a big regulatory headache, as much concern should focus on those banks further down the scale. In the second quarter of this year America’s banking system overall slipped into the red as baddebt provisions mounted. There is likely to have been more pain in the third quarter. CreditSights, a research firm, reckons 600 to 1,100 of America’s 8,200 banks may need help from, or winding down by, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, compared with the 118 that have failed since the beginning of 2008. Right now America’s banking system resembles a pyramid. At the top, two or three firms are doing well. But beneath them are a handful of giant conglomerates that are struggling towards profits, a tier of middling banks with overexposure to risky assets, and a vast base of small banks in deep, deep trouble. Back to top ^^ Readers' comments The Economist welcomes your views. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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at which the industry will pull out of its slump. Forrester is both more bearish and more bullish. In late September it predicted that worldwide IT purchases will have fallen by 11.4% at the end of this year, to $1.5 trillion, but will grow by 4.9% in 2010. In a report released on Monday, Gartner put these numbers at 5.2%, 3.3% and $3.3 trillion respectively. There are good reasons to be conservative. For a start, several statistical effects that make the latest numbers look better than they actually are. After a steep downturn, growth numbers can seem equally dramatic. The volatile dollar muddles the picture as well. As long as the currency was relatively strong it weighed heavily on the results of American IT firms by devaluing foreign revenues. Now the dollar’s increasing weakness makes their numbers look far healthier. In addition, excellent results at Apple, Google and even Intel reflect increased demand from consumers. Apple has benefited from the boom in smart phones, Google from users clicking on more advertisements and Intel from the popularity of netbooks, or small laptops, many of which contain its chips. But companies

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system, launched on Thursday, is expected to drive demand for personal computers and related wares. The outlook for IT firms in other countries is also brighter. The OECD detected signs of a recovery as early as August, particularly in Asia. Countries such as South Korea and Taiwan, which boast many companies specialising in chips and hardware, had been hit particularly hard by the downturn, with production in some sectors dropping by as much as 40%. But now that inventories have been depleted, manufacturers there are cranking up production again. All this is more than welcome. But the wave of good news has already restarted the hype machine, for which the IT industry is well known. Once again, the sector is being trumpeted as the saviour of the economy. Some even predict that IT will pull the economy out of recession, with investment in technology giving a swift boost to productivity and job creation. Just how much of a boost IT can provide is a subject of some contention. Both Forrester and Gartner, the industry’s leading research firms, see the downturn bottoming out in the current quarter and predict that demand will rebound next year. But while both firms agree on the timing of a recovery, they differ on the severity of the recession in IT and, more importantly, the speed BUSINESS page 62

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still account for by far the biggest chunk of technology spending. IBM, which offers the entire range of corporate IT services, from powerful computers to consulting services, is therefore a much better proxy for the overall health of the IT industry. Although its profits were better than expected, its revenues fell by nearly 7% compared with the third quarter of last year. Yet more to the point, encouraging numbers or not, the technology sector is unlikely to lead the economy out of the recession. More likely, it is the economy, supported by cheap money and stimulus programmes, that is pushing IT. Ultimately, the IT industry will stage a real rebound—it will just take some time. Perhaps it is a result of the severity of the recession, but many are reacting to the first signs of an IT recovery as if it were the latest great thing. As with many new technologies, they overestimate the short-term impact, but underestimate what will happen in the longer run. Back to top ^^ Readers' comments The Economist welcomes your views. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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favourites, if you’ve been featured via People in Photos, you’ll see thumbnails of those pictures too. These FAQs will get you started — What is People in Photos?, How do I add a person to a photo?, Who can add me to a photo?, How can I remove myself from a photo? and, How will I know when I’m added to a photo? The complete People in Photos FAQs are available here. If you’ve feedback about People in Photos, or encounter bugs, please head over to our Help Forum. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Flickr! It’s made of people!
By Heather Champ (Flickr Blog)
People in Photos has been wired into your your Recent Activity, so you’ll always be up to date with Submitted at 10/21/2009 2:59:38 PM who’s added you to a photo or We’ve launched People in added other members to your Photos, a new feature that will photos. help put a face to the Flickrverse But maybe you’re thinking, “ and enable you to highlight Eep — me in a photo?” Don’t m e m b e r s t h a t y o u ’ v e fret. We’ve spent a lot of time photographed in a whole new weaving together a variety of way. People in Photos lets you preferences that will ensure add a member to a photo, find you’re only featured on Flickr in a photos of people you know, and way that you’re comfortable with. manage which photos you’re in. You can set your preferences for Huzzah! who can add you to photos and To add someone to a photo, you who can add people to photos can either type in the member’s you’ve shared. You can even name, much like you’d add a tag, determine on a photo-by-photo or you can draw a face boundary basis if you’d like to be featured on the photo, as with a note. — after all, everyone has a bad hair day now and then. If you do remove yourself from a photo, only you will be able to add yourself back in. If you decide that People in Photos isn’t your thing, you can remove yourself entirely. We also extend that same level of personal control to people who aren’t on Flickr. If you wish to add someone to a photo who’s not yet a member, that person needs to give their approval to be added. Profile updates Finally, you’ll see that your member profile is sporting a swanky new look. In addition to featuring a few of your recent FLICKR! page 63

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Research Brief: Behind The Scene With Newspaper Journalists
(MediaPost | Media News)
Submitted at 10/22/2009 6:15:15 AM

Vickey Williams, Stacy Lynch and Bob LeBailly, assembles profiles of six types of journalists According to a new report: "Life inhabiting the typical newspaper b e y o n d p r i n t : N e w s p a p e r newsroom in 2009. They range journalists' digital appetite" by the from the "Digitals" (12% of the Media Management Center, workforce) who spend a majority Northwestern University, almost of their efforts online today, to the h a l f o f t o d a y ' s n e w s p a p e r "Turn Back the Clock" contingent journalists think their newsroom's (6%), who long for the day when transition from print to digital is print was king. moving too slowly, as they have Fully half of newsroom workers no trouble envisioning a career wish to do "Moderately More" where news is delivered primarily online, arriving at something online and to mobile devices closer to an equal split with their instead of in print. print efforts, requiring a doubling MMC executive director of the effort they spend today. Michael P. Smith, says "For Those in the "Major Shift" profile several years we have heard that it (11%) would devote five times is the journalists' resistance to their current effort to online if c h a n g e t h a t w a s h o l d i n g given their druthers. newspapers back... this study Newspaper journalists still love shows that they are ready, and their jobs: Despite industry some are even impatient, for turmoil: change." • 77% of journalists are Now it appears that America's somewhat or very satisfied with j o u r n a l i s t s w a n t a q u i c k e r their current jobs transformation from print to • 67% think it somewhat or very digital delivery of the news, a likely they will be in the news study of almost 3,800 people in a business two years from now cross-section of newspaper • 59% think they'll likely be with newsrooms shows. Many of these their same newspaper journalists are heavily engaged in Online desire in the newsroom digital activities in their personal is not determined by age, years of lives and would like to devote j o u r n a l i s m e x p e r i e n c e , o r more effort to digital products at proximity to retirement. And work. But most of their time in youth is not a factor in predicting the newsroom is still spent on who in the newsroom wants to print responsibilities. Only 20% move into digital. Rather, the top of the workforce like things the two predictors of digital appetite way they are or yearn for the good are heavy Internet use outside old days. work and having knowledge of Life Beyond Print, a study by o n l i n e a u d i e n c e s a n d t h e i r

preferences. Previous Readership Institute research has proven the importance of customer knowledge as a first step in building media use, says the report. Real customer focus also includes acting on the results and letting customer needs drive internal decision-making. This study offers a new reason why knowing the audience is important... it helps stimulate a desire to transition to online work. Other predictors of digital appetite include: • Openness to change at work and adaptability • Proactive pursuit of the training necessary to learn online skills • Keeping up with companywide initiatives and industry developments The study creates these profiles of journalists: Digitals, about 12% of the workforce, spend most of their time working online. They're the youngest group, with an average age of 38, and 59% believe the digital transformation is taking too long in their newsroom. They follow big-picture trends, want to quicken the pace These journalists are most likely to be online editors or producers, but about 17% are reporters or writers. Overall, they're newer to journalism than any other group. Digitals score highly on factors that relate to adaptability - such as openness to change and work and career proactivity. They're similar

to leaders in this and many other respects. They're most apt to describe themselves as the first to try something new at work and as having career options. In a key finding, digital employees label themselves markedly more knowledgeable about consumers of digital, and at the same level of print reader knowledge as their print counterparts. Overall they are much more aware of customer behaviors and needs. Other findings: • More than half of the Digitals have undergraduate or graduate degrees in journalism • 23% have no post-secondary journalism training • 42% have been in the news business less than 10 years • 11% have been journalists for more than 30 years • The average age is the youngest for any segment Major Shift, at 11%, are the most dissatisfied with their current state, more pessimistic about staying in the business long -term and want the most pronounced change. This group roughly an equal mix of reporters, mid-level editors, copy editors, designers and videographers, most of whom have been in the business at least 15 years - would like to devote five times their current effort to online. They're deeply engaged online in their personal lives, but see a disconnect at work. They could help the newsroom adapt faster,

but need a sign they should stay in newspapers. Moderately More, the largest segment at 50% and encompassing many reporters and mid-level editors, want a roughly equal split between online and print work. Half the newsroom believes their newsroom transition has been too slow and would be comfortable seeing their job duties shift moderately more online. But by nearly a 2-1 margin, they believe the newsroom is headed in the right direction. Some of the Moderately More defining characteristics include: • Their ideal job would be divided about 50-50 between print and online effort, requiring a doubling of their digital effort today. • They tend to have been in the business more than 20 years • 43% are reporters and another 22% are mid-level editors • They would hire more reporters and editors, improve print content and improve the Web site design, in that order. The Status Quo segment, at 14%, believe the 30% of effort they currently devote to online is sufficient and expect little disruption to the way they work now. In newsrooms where improving digital performance is a top strategic priority, this group will need a wake-up call. These journalists believe the evolution RESEARCH page 65

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of newspapers has gone far enough. Just less than a third of their current effort centers online and they would prefer to see no change. Most of the Status Quos believe the pace of change to date has been "about right," whether in respect to their own job or newsroom-wide change. They forecast more moderate or minimal changes to come than the rest of the newsroom. This group is slightly older than the overall population. Nearly half are age 50 or older and 1-in-10 is 60 or older. If put in command, they would: • First hire more reporters and editors • Invest in improving print content • Support online investment, but third after print improvements and increasing manpower Turn Back the Clock segment represents 6% of journalists who wish it would all go away. This part of the staff would go more heavily into print if they could. They report about 30% of their current effort is spent online, nearly triple the amount they would prefer. This is a group that has tested the online environment and they don't like it. This group weighs toward reporters and photographers and they closely mirror the newsroom average for age and years until retirement. What particularly sets them apart from others is their low levels of adaptability. Asked to rate themselves on openness to change, how they approach change at work, and career resilience, they rated significantly lower than other print employees and dramatically lower than digital employees or senior managers. Individuals in this group report being less satisfied than their Status Quo colleagues. They also have the lowest opinion of leaders of all the groups and are least likely, in particular, to believe executives really understand what it takes to put out the newspaper. Leaders, at 5%, are publishers, editors and managing editors, most of whom have been in the news business more than 20 years. Most report their roles are primarily print-focused but want to shift to online. Like Digitals, they describe themselves as open to change and optimistic about their career options. • Publishers, editors and managing editors indicate they are spending about a quarter of their work effort on online matters, but believe the emphasis should shift to favor digital (53%) over print responsibilities • 28% of leaders think their job is changing too fast overall, which could reflect the lack of clarity around a business model to sustain digitally delivered journalism. • Leaders tend to be more than a decade older (49), and 77% have been in the news business more than 20 years, including 42% for more than 30 years. • Leaders are more confident in the overall direction of the newsroom, with nearly 70% saying the newsroom is on the right track, as compared to about 45% of Digitals. • This group reports somewhat greater Internet use outside work than other journalists. On the job, they use the Internet as a reporting or editing tool, but likely not for much else. Given their druthers, they would post more, plan more and link more online. The study concludes with challenge the leaders face: • Journalists' passion for the mission is there, but they need basic tools for reinvention and more engaged leadership. More than half of the journalists working primarily in print had no training in the previous year to equip them for a digital transition. One in four journalists reports having had no training at all • There are major gaps between how leaders think they are doing and how staff view them, in such areas as fostering collaboration, seeking out input from employees at all levels, and communicating strategy in a way that relates to employees' jobs In addition, there are differing expectations for leaders among the segments: • Digitals want leaders to be even more immersed in online trends and to sharpen the digital vision • Major Shifts want more risktaking • Status Quos generally like what leaders are doing and advocate staying the course. Please visit the Median Management Center here to read the more complete PDF version of the report. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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