Liberty Newspost Feb-09-10

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2012 may be an open door for Palin, but first comes 2010

by David Morgan (Front Row Washington)

scripted, especially the part about what she’d do if she were president.

Submitted at 2/8/2010 8:56:03 AM The appearance also kicked off Sarah Palin’s right. It would be a b u s y t r a v e l s c h e d u l e t o absurd for her not to consider a help candidates in this year’s White House bid in 2012, campaign. especially while Tea Partiers are On Super Bowl Sunday, she was chanting, “Run, Sarah, run!” in Texas helping Republican But first come this November’s Gov. Rick Perry with his March elections, which could help build gubernatorial primary contest Palin’s credibility if her high- a g a i n s t S e n . K a y B a i l e y profile public appearances (and Hutchison. Polling results show repeated attacks on President H u t c h i s o n t r a i l i n g t h e Barack Obama) actually help incumbent by 15 percentage conservative candidates get points and losing ground to a e l e c t e d t o C o n g r e s s a n d third candidate, Tea Party important state offices around activist Debra Medina. the country. If. Palin spent much of her time in Some political experts say the Lone Star State assailing Palin’s weekend keynote speech Washington, and by implication, at the big Tea party in Nashville Hutchison. She raised a huge was her best since the 2008 GOP cheer by pointing out in nonconvention — detailed, focused e s t a b l i s h m e n t f a s h i o n and high on energy. Lucrative, that Texans might like to secede. too, given the $100,000 But moving the national speaker’s fee, though the on- political applause needle to the stage interview seemed a bit r i g h t i n 2 0 1 0 c o u l d b e

The Point (Little Green Footballs)

Party conventioneers’ Tennessee.

In fact, his ratings were substantially above 50 percent in more than 30 states including many in the Southeast, the Midwest and the Southwest, regions where Palin might hope to do well on behalf of conservative Republicans.

Whether Obama’s numbers can translate into good news for Democrats in November is an much more difficult than rallying open question. And the doubts friendly audiences or using a are palpable. In Massachusetts, t a l k i n g h a n d t o b a s h t h a t where his 2009 approval rating “ c h a r i s m a t i c g u y w i t h a was 66.8 percent, Tea Partiers helped Republican Scott TelePrompTer.” A state-by-state analysis of Brown capture Teddy Kennedy’s Obama’s job approval ratings by Senate seat.

Photo credits: Reuters/Josh Gallup may offer a glimpse of (Palin); the voter sentiment A n d e r s o n challenge that Palin and her Reuters/Jonathan Ernst (U.S. conservative allies face this year. Capitol); Reuters/Jason Reed The data show the president’s ( C a n d i d a t e O b a m a a n d average approval for 2009 above Y o u n g s t e r ) 50 percent in 40 states including Click here for more political Gov. Perry’s Texas and the Tea coverage from Reuters

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The chilling effect of 'lawfare' litigation | Alan Dershowitz and Elizabeth Samson

by Alan Dershowitz, Elizabeth Samson (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

defamation, not with the intent to win the case, but with the hope of imposing an unaffordably high cost on criticism of their actions.

Submitted at 2/9/2010 7:40:58 AM A recent case is most Radical Islamic groups in the instructive: the American Civil US are intimidating the media L i b e r t i e s U n i o n s u e d t h e with the cost of defending government-funded Tarek ibn defamation suits in order to stifle Ziyad academy for allegedly criticism promoting Islam – a violation of Recognising that British courts church-state separation. TIZA have become a prime destination counter-sued for libel over the for "libel tourists", the House of ACLU's statement that it is a Lords has recently established a " t h e o c r a t i c s c h o o l " . O n 9 government panel to look into D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 9 t h e c o u r t the possibility of amending its dismissed TIZA's counterclaim laws to make it tougher for because, as a public school, it is foreigners to bring defamation r e q u i r e d t o s h o w t h a t t h e suits in Britain. The UK is ACLU's statement was false and notorious for its plaintiff-friendly that it was also made with actual libel laws which have been malice or a reckless disregard for accused of being "contemptuous the truth, which it was unable to of free speech" and making do. a"mockery of British justice" and How, in TIZA's estimation, because they silence writers would a libel lawsuit against the through expensive litigation. ACLU – one of the strongest But even as Britain attempts to defenders of Muslim civil prevent frivolous libel suits, the liberties in the wake of 9/11 – battle continues in the US. h a v e h a d a n y c h a n c e o f American courts are being succeeding? The fact is that this utilised by radical Islamic groups case is part of a pattern of t o s t i f l e w r i t e r s t h r o u g h defamation lawsuits brought to "lawfare" – the use of law as a silence critics of controversial weapon of warfare – a tactic that Islamic organisations due to has had a "chilling effect" on increased scrutiny post-9/11. The free speech. In contrast to the strategy, which has included British laws, American libel law actions such as libel tourism in favours defendants. However, the UK, often works. plaintiffs in the US have learned Though most defamation claims t o s u e t h e i r c r i t i c s f o r are deemed baseless by US

courts, the enormous cost a lawsuit imposes and the smear of bigotry it achieves has stifled legitimate discussion of some suspect behaviour. Litigation – and the threat of litigation – has prevented concerned citizens from speaking freely and stopped the publication of important information.

In 2003, the Council on American-Islamic Relations sued the National Review for publishing an allegedly defamatory statement. Though NR retracted the statement, CAIR pursued its suit aiming, in NR's view, to intimidate and punish the magazine. The court threw out the case for lack of merit, but NR still paid more than $50,000 in legal fees.

That is a fraction of what a libel defence can cost. In 2005, the Islamic Society of Boston sued the Boston Herald and nearly a dozen others for defamation. The ISB was building New England's largest Islamic centre and the defendants were raising legitimate questions about the ISB's connections to terrorist financing and hate speech.

Though the ISB dropped the lawsuit – just weeks before some of their leaders were to give sworn testimony – the defendants incurred close to $2m in legal costs.

The ISB lawsuit had even more damaging consequences. Howie

Carr, a columnist for the Boston Herald, said he "know[s] the ISB lawsuit has had a chilling effect on journalists in Boston". An analysis of the articles printed in the Herald from summer 2003 to winter 2007 supports Carr's statement. Between summer 2003 and winter 2005, the Herald published 19 articles mentioning the ISB's alleged connection with radical Islamic groups. After the lawsuit began in 2005 until winter 2007, the paper whitewashed its reporting and no longer mentioned radicalism in the 20 articles that covered the ISB's activities during that period.

Before 2001, there were five documented defamation cases relating to radical Islamic groups. After 2001, that number rose sharply. Though roughly 20 cases have been identified, the extent of the problem is difficult to determine since these cases are typically settled out of court.

Often, the plaintiffs have substantial resources and the defendants cannot afford the legal costs.

A 2004 survey by the American Society of Journalists and Authors found that about 70% of freelance writers earn less than $50,000 annually. It is not surprising then that some would silence themselves, calculating that the personal cost of a lawsuit outweighs the need to inform the

public. It is also impossible to know how many threats of a lawsuit have led to selfcensorship or inappropriate retractions by writers who fear that their writing, while protected as free speech, will land them in court.

The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Daily News, and Boston Herald have all been sued for libel for reporting about the plaintiffs' connections to radical Islam.

Large newspapers may be financially capable of putting up a defence, but may not want the hassle or expense, even when the truth is on their side. Perhaps most daunting is that the extent of the problem is hidden – one cannot know what editors under pressure deem not suitable to publish.

It seems that the UK is beginning to understand the danger that frivolous libel suits pose to free speech and is, therefore, considering the option to reform its laws to secure this most basic democratic value. But as Britain is trying to thwart libel tourism and stop lawsuits that unjustly attempt to prevent the publication of information, the rise in strategic "chilling effect" litigation is a growing concern in the US. Freedom of speech will continue to suffer as long as CHILLING page 5

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Chinese farms 'cause more pollution than factories'

by Jonathan Watts (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

organic compounds in water), 67% of phosphorus and 57% of nitrogen discharges.

At the launch of the paper, Submitted at 2/9/2010 7:46:30 AM Wang Yangliang of the ministry Groundbreaking government of agriculture recognised the fallsurvey pinpoints fertilisers and out from intensive farming pesticides as greater source of methods. water contamination "Fertilisers and pesticides have Farmers' fields are a far bigger played an important role in source of water contamination in enhancing productivity but in China than factory effluent, the certain areas improper use has Chinese government revealed had a grave impact on the today in its first census on environment," he said. "The fast pollution. development of livestock S e n i o r o f f i c i a l s s a i d t h e breeding and aquaculture has disclosure, after a two-year study produced a lot of food but they involving 570,000 people, would a r e a l s o m a j o r s o u r c e s o f require a partial realignment of p o l l u t i o n i n o u r l i v e s . " environmental policy from He said the ministry would smoke stacks to chicken coops, introduce measures to improve cow sheds and fruit orchards. the efficiency of pesticide and Despite the sharp upward fertiliser use, to expand biogas revision of figures on rural generation from animal waste, contamination, the government and to change agricultural suggested the country's pollution l i f e s t y l e s t o p r o t e c t t h e problem may be close to - or e n v i r o n m e n t . even past - a peak. That claim is While the high figure for rural likely to prompt scepticism pollution is partly explained by among environmental groups. the immense size of China's According to insiders, the agricultural sector, it also reflects release of the groundbreaking t h e c o u n t r y ' s m a s s i v e report was delayed by resistance dependency on artificial farm from the agriculture ministry, inputs such as fertilisers. which had previously insisted The government says this is that farms contributed only a tiny necessary because China uses fraction of pollution in China. only 7% of the world's land to The census disproves these f e e d 2 2 % o f t h e g l o b a l claims completely. According to population. An industrial lobby t h e s t u d y , a g r i c u l t u r e i s is pushing for even greater use of responsible for 43.7% of the chemicals. It includes the huge n a t i o n ' s c h e m i c a l o x y g e n power company CNOOC, which demand (the main measure of r u n s t h e c o u n t r y ' s l a r g e s t

nitrogen fertiliser factory in Hainan's Dongfang City.

But the returns on this chemical investment are poor. According to a recent Greenpeace report, the country consumes 35% of the world's nitrogen fertiliser, which wastes energy and other resources, while adding to water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

"Agricultural pollution has become one of China's gravest environmental crises," said Greenpeace campaign director Sze Pangcheung. "China needs to step up the fight against the overuse of fertilisers and pesticides and promote ecological agriculture which has obvious advantages for human heath, the environment, and sustainable development of agriculture."

Wen Tiejun, dean of the school of agriculture and rural development at Renmin university, said the survey should be used as a turning point. His research suggested that Chinese farmers used almost twice as much fertiliser as they needed.

"For almost all of China's 5,000year history, agriculture had given our country a carbonabsorbing economy but in the past 40 years, agriculture has become one of the top pollution sources," he said. "Experience shows that we don't have to rely on chemical farming to resolve the food security issue. The

government needs to foster lowpollution agriculture."

But in what appears to be a statistical sleight of hand, the government said the new agricultural data and other figures from the census would not be used to evaluate the success of its five-year plan to reduce pollution by 10%.

Zhang Lijun, the environmental protection vice-minister, claimed China was cleaning up its pollution problem far faster than other countries during their dirty stage of development.

"Because China follows a different pattern of development, it is very likely that pollution will peak when per capita income reaches US$3,000," he said, comparing this with the $8,000 he said was the norm in other nations.

If true, it would suggest the worst of China's pollution problems may already be over.

According to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, per capita incomes in China have already passed this point. If exchange rates and a low cost of living are factored in, Chinese incomes may be equivalent to more than $6,000.

But Zhang's claim is contestable. As countless pollution scandals have revealed, many industries and local governments routinely underreport emissions and waste.

Many harmful or controversial forms of pollution are either not

measured - as is the case for carbon dioxide and small particle emissions - or the data is not made public, as is the case for ozone.

Zheng said the government would expand its monitoring system in the next five-year plan.

Extracts from China's first pollution report (for 2007): • Sulphur dioxide emissions 23.2 million tonnes (91.3% from industry) • Nitrogen oxide emissions: 18 million tonnes (30% from vehicles) • Chemical oxygen demand discharges: 30.3 billion tonnes (44% from agriculture) • Soot: 11.7 million tonnes.

• Solid waste: 3.8 billion tonnes (of which 45.7m tonnes is hazardous) • Heavy metal discharges: 900 tonnes • Livestock faeces: 243 million tonnes.

• Livestock urine: 163 million tonnes • Plastic film on cropfields: 121,000 tonnes (80.3% recycled) • Farming • Pollution • Pesticides • Agriculture • China Jonathan Watts guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

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Tim Etchells on performance: Cambodia's art steps into the future

by Tim Etchells (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk) Submitted at 2/9/2010 7:57:34 AM

Can Cambodia begin to rebuild its shattered cultural heritage?

Tim Etchells wonders if the answer lies with a team of Khmer dancers ... and a specially modified laptop I've recently returned from two weeks in Cambodia, travelling with 18 other artists, dancers, choreographers and performance -makers at the invitation of Ong Keng Sen's Flying Circus Project. Based in Singapore, Keng Sen's Theatre Works outfit has been running these exchanges – predominantly Asian in focus, but with routes out in all directions – for something like 10 years. The intention varies with each incarnation, but the broad hope is for a two-way artistic exchange between invited and local artists, and between the invited artists themselves. To call this latter group diverse would be an understatement: our trip saw passports from Indonesia, Slovenia, Turkey, South Africa, India, UK, Lebanon, Singapore, USA and Austria, among others,

landing on the immigration desk in Phnom Penh.

Highly organised and efficient on one hand, Flying Circus also courts a creative openness that at times borders on chaos. The logic for Keng Sen is that the encounter must have its own energy, that the group itself must conjure something new from the situation. An approach like this takes time and nerve, but it undoubtedly pays off.

Looking back, it's hard to say what made the biggest impression on me. The country itself remains blighted by poverty, and still in recovery from the devastation of the Pol Pot era and subsequent years of civil war and instability.

Culturally, there's a determined attempt to recover what the Khmer Rouge tried to wipe out in its brutal five-year drive to Year Zero, which involved – alongside much else – killing intellectuals, artists, teachers and anyone who spoke French. For this reason, there's much talk of archives, of remembering and preserving. Around 300 feature films were made in Cambodia before 1975, of which as few as 30 now survive. They have been gathered in the last five years

and preserved along with other film, sound and photographic materials at the Bophana archive in Phnom Penh, our base for half of the workshops.

The situation is equally dire in the performing arts, since only a handful of classical Khmer dancers survived the killing fields. These old masters are now a precious resource, teaching new generations techniques that otherwise would have slipped away for good. Back home in England, I generally run a mile from people attempting to rescue traditional forms; but in Cambodia, the initiative made more sense – the difference, perhaps, between a past that is dying from irrelevance or lack of interest, and one that has only recently survived assassination.

What I sensed in the younger artists and dancers we worked with, though, was a desire to move forwards with the past, and not to retreat into it. These Cambodian twentysomethings are savvy and hungry, and well aware that their country is opening up, and that internationally financed redevelopment and tourism have been following the inflow of NGOs. They know that they'll

need new approaches in the arts, and new political voices to meet the challenges ahead.

I asked Keng Sen what he feared the most from his project. We talked about economic and political dangers (artists as the vanguard for property developers) and about the cultural dangers (Cambodians caught in retreading western postmodern art practice). Then we talked about the positives: the meetings, the collisions, the insistence on and the articulation of differences. There was one moment in the workshops that crystallised these possibilities for me. Tarek Atoui, Lebanese sound artist, ran a session with the Khmer participants that involved sounds collected by the dancers played out from a laptop and a complex array of homemade sensors, motion triggers and pressure pads. It was late in the afternoon when the dancers from Amrita Performing Arts, our hosts for half of the project, took to their feet and began to move in and around Atoui's machinery.

What happened was tentative at first, then suddenly too much. It was as if the dancers wanted to play the system, or make music

died at the age of 77, of complications following gall

bladder surgery. Our sympathies to his family.

RIP, Rep. John Murtha (Little Green Footballs)

The news is just coming out that Rep. John Murtha(D-PA) has

with it, rather than dance with it.

My heart sank. Then all at once they turned a corner and were dancing again – the turning wrists and fingers, lowered centres of gravity, eye contact, pantomime pauses and forward rolls all instantly recognisable from Khmer classical forms.

They weren't dancing for the electronics, nor were they dancing with them exactly; they were dancing with and against them, entering and refusing, insisting on and moving through.

There was tension in the dancing and music that afternoon, just as there should be on occasions of meeting. It was a privilege and an inspiration to be there.

• Dance • Theatre • Heritage • Cambodia Tim Etchells guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

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Nigerian vice-president to take over from absent premier

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CHILLING continued from page 2

lawfare is a threat, and the ultimate loser will not be the media – it will be the public.

by Mark Tran (World news presidency if he returns fit admitted to a hospital the next agreement between Nigeria's • Editor's note: The headline and and comment from the enough to lead the country of day and has remained there, Christian south and Muslim standfirst were altered on this Guardian | guardian.co.uk) 150 million people. But many leaving Nigeria in a political north. Jonathan, a Christian, article at 15:30 on 9 February think he is too ill to serve again, limbo. would be taking over from after the authors objected that the Submitted at 2/9/2010 8:23:06 AM casting doubt on the leadership A m i d r u m o u r s a b o u t t h e Yar'Adua, a Muslim, before the o r i g i n a l v e r s i o n s d i d n o t Senate votes to give power to of the ruling party in the run-up president's health – some reports president's appointed time was accurately represent the article's intended meaning. We agreed G o o d l u c k J o n a t h a n a s to next year's presidential said he was dead – his doctor up. speculation grows over health of election. released a statement saying he Until he took over as Nigeria's • Islam missing president T h e o p p o s i t i o n A c t i o n h a d a c u t e p e r i c a r d i t i s , a n p r e s i d e n t i n M a y 2 0 0 7 , • Religion The Nigerian parliament today Congress, which wants Yar'Adua i n f l a m m a t i o n o f t h e s a c Yar'Adua, 58, was governor of • United States voted to transfer power to removed completely, said the s u r r o u n d i n g t h e h e a r t . his northern Katsina home state • Law • Media law Goodluck Jonathan, the vice- decision in parliament took While the government says for eight years. president, in the prolonged Nigeria "closer to the abyss". Jonathan has been acting in He has given one interview • Newspapers & magazines absence of the president, Umaru "All hell has broken loose," said Yar'Adua's place, protesters have since being out of the country. In Alan Dershowitz Elizabeth Y a r ' A d u a , w h o h a s b e e n the party. "Jonathan should take taken to the street warning the January, he told the BBC he receiving hospital treatment in wise counsel and keep to the law. country would remain rudderless hoped to recover and return to Samson Saudi Arabia.

He should see this senate until the situation is clarified. In power. The senate's president, guardian.co.uk© Guardian The house of representatives and resolution as nothing but a Greek Yar'Adua's absence more than David Mark, said that telephone News & Media Limited 2010 | senate passed motions enabling gift designed to do him in."

300 people have died and i n t e r v i e w s e r v e d a s t h e Use of this content is subject to Jonathan to act as president and Pressure to transfer power to the thousands displaced in religious notification needed to allow our Terms & Conditions| More commander-in-chief of the vice-president has grown in violence between Christians and Jonathan to take power. "The Feeds armed forces until Yar'Adua, r e c e n t w e e k s . N i g e r i a ' s Muslims, a major kidnapping BBC interview is as good as the who left Nigeria last November influential state governors and a pipeline attack have l e t t e r e n v i s i o n e d b y t h e is fit enough to resume his backed plans last week for occurred in the oil-rich Niger c o n s t i t u t i o n , " M a r k s a i d . duties.

Jonathan to be appointed acting delta and a young Nigerian • Nigeria "The vice-president … shall president to fill the political attempted to bring down an h e n c e f o r t h d i s c h a r g e t h e vacuum and urged parliament to airliner over Detroit, prompting Mark Tran functions of the office of the act. the introduction of more guardian.co.uk© Guardian president, commander-in-chief of Yar'Adua, who has suffered stringent security regulations for News & Media Limited 2010 | t h e a r m e d f o r c e s o f t h e from kidney ailments, left the those travelling from Nigeria.

Use of this content is subject to federation, as acting president," country several times for what Giving power to the vice- our Terms & Conditions| More the senate's motion said. his advisers said were medical p r e s i d e n t c r e a t e s i t s o w n Feeds The motions would allow checkups before going to Saudi problems as it would disrupt an Y a r ' A d u a t o r e a s s u m e t h e Arabia in November. He was u n w r i t t e n p o w e r - s h a r i n g

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Sarath Fonseka's wife appeals for husband's freedom

by Jason Burke (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk) Submitted at 2/9/2010 8:12:35 AM

Wife of Sri Lanka's defeated presidential candidate says he was treated "like an animal" when arrested on sedition charges The wife of Sri Lanka's defeated presidential candidate and former army chief launched an emotional appeal for Sri Lankan "mothers, daughters and sisters" to "come together to do something" to free her husband who was arrested on charges of sedition yesterday.

Anoma Fonseka told a packed press conference that General Sarath Fonseka – the former four star general who helped defeat the Tamil Tiger rebels last year – had been treated "like an animal" when he was arrested during a meeting of opposition parties at his campaign headquarters in Colombo.

"Today it has happened to myself but tomorrow it will happen to you so we have to do something. Is this a democracy

in our country?" an emotional Mrs Fonseka said in images broadcast widely in the region.

The Sri Lankan government responded with a statement saying Fonseka – who stood against incumbent president Mahinda Rajapaksa in last month's elections – would be court-martialled on charges of conspiring against the president, describing the 59-year-old soldier turned politician as "hellbent on betraying the gallant armed forces of Sri Lanka".

A military spokesman, Major General Prasad Samarasinghe, denied that Fonseka was cut off from family or friends.

"Family members are allowed to see him and he has been allowed to obtain legal advice also," he said.

Rauff Hakeem, an opposition politician who witnessed the arrest, said Fonseka was physically carried from his office by military police yesterday afternoon. Around 20 of Fonseka's associates and allies are also reported to be in detention.

Though analysts expected a

closer result, Rajapaksa won the 26 January election by a 17% margin. Election observers said they had not seen evidence of significant fraud despite claims of rigging by the defeated candidate.

Opposition to Rajapaksa is fragmented. Fonseka, who has been accused of involvement in human rights abuses as commanding officer of a series of offensives against the Tamil Tiger insurgents, led a varied coalition which included ultranationalist Sinhalese Marxists and former Tamil separatists.

"The only thing that united the opposition was a common desire to get rid of Rajapaksa," said Alan Keenan, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group.

"Fonseka was a deeply flawed candidate but there is now no clear figurehead around whom people can rally."

One consequence of the arrest, Keenan said, was that the opposition would face greater difficulties in general parliamentary elections that have to be held by April.

Google Gmail press conference (live blog)

by Josh Lowensohn (Webware.com) Submitted at 2/9/2010 7:41:00 AM

We're heading to the

Googleplex to find out what's happening to Gmail. Earlier reports have pointed to Google taking on Twitter. Tune in to find out if that's true.

Originally posted at Web Crawler

A government minister, Keheliya Rambukwella, said Fonseka would be tried in a military court because the alleged offences had been committed while he was army chief.

"When he was the army commander and chief of defence staff and member of the security council, he had direct contact with opposition political parties, which under the military law can amount to conspiracy," Rambukwella said. It is understood that the general may face a second trial in civilian courts too.

Local reporters in Colombo said that the atmosphere in the Sri Lankan capital was "deeply uneasy".

• Sri Lanka Jason Burke guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Family Member: Ohio Doctor Admitted to Killing Wife (FOXNews.com) Submitted at 2/9/2010 6:11:48 AM

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CLEVELAND A family member who testified earlier that an Ohio doctor denied poisoning his wife now says the defendant admitted to the killing.

Firas Essa returned to the witness stand Monday in Cleveland and said his brother, Yazeed Essa, told him that he'd replaced his wife's calcium supplement tablets with cyanide.

Firas Essa said he decided to change his testimony to avoid the risk of perjury and obstruction charges and potential prison time. He said his brother's admission came in a 2006 conversation the two had in Cyprus, where Yazeed Essa was detained after fleeing the U.S. following his wife's death in 2005.

Yazeed Essa has pleaded not guilty to killing his wife, Rosemarie. His brother says he has recently been urging the defendant to plead guilty.

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At Last, a Flight Check-In System That Doesn't Suck

by Dan Morrell (Fast Company) Submitted at 2/9/2010 9:21:59 AM

Ho-Yeol Ryu A revolutionary software system could take some of the tech turbulence out of air travel.

The groans that follow a canceled flight announcement aren't just recognition of instant inconvenience but also anticipation of frustrations to come: waiting in line, watching ticket agents hammer keyboards, wondering why getting on the next flight has to be so difficult.

Don't aim your ire at the poor ticket agent. The problem, says ITA Software CEO Jeremy Wertheimer, is the system. If you were able to see things from the other side of the desk without causing a security incident, you'd understand that ticket agents are trying to pull answers from antiquated green-screen airline systems that can require weeks and weeks of training and blackbelt levels of keyboard dexterity.

"The airline IT platform was developed in the 1950s," says Wertheimer. "Almost all these programs are still running on mainframes."

Enter ITA, a Cambridge, Massachusetts, company that is set to introduce a new system that could revolutionize the business of flying you from point A to point B and make life easier not just for you but also for ticket agents and airline execs.

This summer, after five years of

development and testing, Air Canada is set to implement the first phase of the program, tentatively dubbed the Passenger Services System (PSS).

Chances are, you already use ITA's technology. Founded by Wertheimer and fellow MIT alums Dave Baggett and Carl de Marcken in the mid-1990s, the firm had its first hit in 2001, when it became the search backbone for Orbitz. Its software now powers two-thirds of all online flight sales in the United States and provides pricing info for leading travel sites including Kayak and Hotwire. "ITA uses really smart tech and algorithms to bring back fast and accurate data," says Krista Pappas, head of business development for travel at Microsoft's Bing,

another data partner. "It has a unique ability to put together results in a fast, efficient, and accurate way."

That's what the company has been trying to do for airlines with the new PSS. The key, says Wertheimer, is simply exploiting five decades of advances in computer science. Software is at the system's heart. The agents' Sputnik-era screens are replaced by a Weblike experience, and passengers arriving at departure gates to find their flight canceled need only to check their BlackBerry or iPhone for a message from their airline with flight alternatives and even credits added to their online frequent-flier account for the inconvenience.

The PSS automates potentially

complex tasks -- such as rebooking and rerouting passengers -- that were previously left to agents. That frees staff to focus on an increasingly important part of the airline business: selling customers ancillaries such as extra legroom, access to electrical outlets, and onboard food-and-drink credits -- pitches that can now be personalized based on detailed online profiles the system builds. "Other industries have been successful in understanding their customers," says Erin Daly, director of product development at ITA. "We're building a platform that allows airlines to do just that."

The building process has been long, even for the wonks at a

company that revels in challenges -- ITA famously advertises itself on Boston's trains with programming puzzles that job seekers must solve even to have a chance at an interview.

According to Wertheimer, the single biggest hurdle was making the system modular. ITA wanted airlines to be able to implement their reservation system one piece at a time, or mix and match different parts (say, just the shopping-related functions and the flight rebooking piece), which meant the company had to build separate components that would work both individually and in unison. Even the testing required heavy lifting: In order to run trials on the PSS, ITA had to LAST, page 10

8

Business/

E-reader News Edition

What Apple and Amazon Job Ads Reveal About the iPadKindle Battle Ahead

by Kit Eaton (Fast Company) Submitted at 2/9/2010 10:52:18 AM

Both Amazon and Apple have new advertisements for job openings at their companies that, if you read into the details just a little, give away many a detail on the upcoming Kindle versus iPad conflict. It's going to be very interesting.

First up, and most surprising if you're an e-ink fanatic, is that one of Amazon's new jobs is for a "hardware display manager."

That title isn't particularly revealing, but get this: The specific expertise Amazon's looking for--at a senior level--is in "the LCD business" where you must know the "key players in the market." There are also two different advertisements for experts in wireless technology.

And you know what that adds up to, particularly when you remember Amazon also just bought a touchscreen manufacturer? It means that much of what we suggested about the future design of the Kindle 3 may soon come true.

Amazon looks like it'll be giving the next Kindle proper WiFi, which implies better Net surfing powers, a touchscreen (finally ditching that awful keypad), and yes, you guessed it, an LCD

screen--probably in color. We've noted before that e-ink, in its current guise, may be great at displaying plain text, but it's appalling at the quick-change pixel rates needed for Web browsing, let alone video. And this suggests a radical transformation of the Kindle into more of a multi-function slate PC, which is clearly in response to the coming tide of tablet PCs of all shapes and sizes.

But mainly Amazon is reacting to the Apple iPad. And in that regard, here's something else to chew on: Apple itself is

advertising for a new employee.

It's specifically looking for a quality assurance expert to work in the iPad Media Systems team, and if you're interested in applying you'll have to demonstrate "knowledge of digital camera technology (still and video)" and "familiarity with and interest in photography, video as well as media file formats".

And given what we know about the suspicious camera space inside the iPad chassis, which almost perfectly fits the Webcam units currently used inside

MacBooks, this has us wondering whether the iPad really does have a camera--or it did have one that was removed at the last minute, or if Apple's now planning for the iPad 2.0 to have really advanced image collecting powers.

Clearly both companies have an eye on the near future development of their portable tech, and unlike more traditional media channels it's harder to hush-up what's revealed in job placements--which you also have to have in place way ahead of time if you're to successfully

recruit people at the right point in a product's development.

Amazon looks like it's not going to surrender the Kindle's crown without a fight, and upstart Apple is already looking at nextgen technology to include in its newest all-singing, all-dancing slate device. Regardless of what happens in the next few months when the iPad launches, how these two giants are going to slug it out is going to make for some very interesting news.

[Via Electronista, MacRumors]

Business/ Tech/

E-reader News Edition

9

Foursquare Steps Up its Location-Based Content With Zagat, HBO Deals

by Kit Eaton (Fast Company)

Bravo kicked off in January.

Zagat itself will get a boost, as its traditional stomping ground is Conscious of the advancing, i n v a d e d b y c r o w d - s o u r c e d diversifying competition to its review systems like Yelp, and location-based gaming/info you could almost argue the deal services, Foursquare is not with Foursquare is more of a "if sitting on it's laurels: It's you can't beat 'em..." maneuver announcing new partnerships than anything else. with some big-name media There's also other news that companies to add content to its Foursquare's about to enter into system. content deals with Warner Bros First up is a deal with Zagat, and HBO. Warner is promoting which'll add some named-quality the new movie "Valentine's Day" reviews to Foursquare and act as w h i l e H B O i s t r y i n g a a p r o m o t i o n a l v e h i c l e : promotional deal for "How to Foursquare players will be able Make It in America," and there's to earn a special "Foodie" badge word that the History Channel is if they check into the right still mid-negotiation. Locationeateries--a lot like the special based tie-ins like Bravo's, reward badges that the deal with Warner's and HBO's do make Submitted at 2/9/2010 10:19:23 AM

sense, of course, though they're effectively just the same kind of simple placement advertisements, designed to raise awareness of a new product, that have been used since advertising

began ... but you can imagine that the History Channel's tie-up with Foursquare could yield some much more interesting results.

What's all this going to do to the

Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades and Initiations: CAT, ERTS, FTNT, GME, PRSP, SAP, TWX ...

by Eric Buscemi (BloggingStocks)

Missouri-based First Bank. The firm has a $45 price target on shares.

Submitted at 2/9/2010 11:20:00 AM • JPMorgan upgraded Fortinet ( Filed under: Analyst Reports, FTNT) to overweight from A n a l y s t U p g r a d e s a n d neutral on valuation following Downgrades, Time Warner the recent pullback in shares.

(TWX), Analyst Initiations The firm has a $20 price target Analyst Upgrades on the stock.

• B. Riley upgraded Prosperity • Wells Fargo upgraded Lamar Bancshares ( PRSP) to buy from A d v e r t i s i n g ( L A M R ) t o neutral after the company o u t p e r f o r m f r o m m a r k e t acquired 19 Texas branches of perform. The firm believes the

stock's risk/reward ratio is compelling, as its checks indicate that advertising continues to accelerate in Q1.

• Caterpillar ( CAT) was upgraded to overweight from underweight at Morgan Stanley.

• SAP AG ( SAP) was upgraded to market perform from underperform at FBR Capital.

• BioMarin ( BMRN) was raised to buy from hold at Roth Capital.

Continue reading Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades and Initiations: CAT, ERTS, FTNT, GME, PRSP, SAP, TWX ...

Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades and Initiations: CAT, ERTS, FTNT, GME, PRSP, SAP, TWX ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Foursquare experience? At this point it's hard to tell, of course, but it is clear that Foursquare may have to tread a very careful line. If it goes in for this sort of extra content placements with too much gusto, it risks swamping the user-to-user mayorships competition that really drives the way it works at the moment. In this regard Foursquare is a little like Twitter, since they both lacked a way to tie their real-time status-updating tech to advertising--in Twitter's case this was a deliberate maneuver. [via New York Times, VentureBeat, AdAge]

1080p streaming not coming to Netflix this year

by Josh Lowensohn (Webware.com) Submitted at 2/8/2010 12:30:00 PM

After an earlier report, the popular DVD-by-mail and video -streaming company now says it does not plan to stream full HD content to its users later this year.

Originally posted at Web Crawler

10

Business/ Tech/

E-reader News Edition

Poster-Size Heroin Stamps Bring Awareness to Public Health Issues

by Ariel Schwartz (Fast Company) Submitted at 2/8/2010 7:30:13 PM

Heroin, like any product, relies on branding to tell its story.

GOOD Magazine alum Liza Vadnai has teamed with the Stamp Collective to gather photos of heroin stamps (branded stamp-sized bags of heroin), blow them up to poster size, and eventually show them in an exhibit entitled "Edge Markets: Heroin Use, Stamp Aesthetics, and HIV." According to the Collective: Blown up larger than life, these

beautiful, fascinating and unsettling images of the stamps hint at a complex chain from supplier to dealer, the dynamics of drug markets and the story of the marketing of addiction on the

LAST, continued from page 7

build simulators of all the other systems it would interface with, because there's no expectation images on the stamps mirror the that all of the world's 5,000-plus political and social climate of the airlines will soon implement it. moment, creating a fascinating But ITA certainly hopes that at least a handful of them will buy narrative.

The project still needs more soon. Longtime customer Air cash to get off the ground, Canada is the only one that has however. $1,171 has been raised signed on so far, but ITA says on microfunding site Kickstarter- that deals with other airlines are -$2000 is required before April 1 in the works. While the privately to make sure the exhibit has held company is doing fine e n o u g h f u n d i n g t o c o v e r financially -- it has barely production costs, an opening touched the $100 million in streets of NYC. Their disturbing night event, and educational venture funding it raised in 2006 beauty compels the viewer to materials. You can learn more -- it has also had to devote half consider addiction and some of about the project (and donate) of its workforce to building the PSS over the past five years. its preventable consequences here.

"Only occasionally do you get (e.g. HIV and HCV infections, [Via GOOD] the opportunity to do something mass incarceration). The graphic so crazy big," says Wertheimer.

"It's one of those projects where it's a millennium of work." Now he has to hope for an equivalent return on that investment.

Traders Are Net Short the Euro by $8 billion

by Connie Madon (BloggingStocks)

subtracting them you can get a sense of whether traders are net long or short. In the case of the Submitted at 2/9/2010 10:40:00 AM euro, traders are net short 40,000 Filed under: International contracts or nearly $8 billion.

Markets, Market Matters, Meanwhile, officials of Options struggling countries, Greece, During a crisis, never mind what Spain and Portugal are telling the t h e m e d i a o r g o v e r n m e n t media that they have things officials are saying, follow the under control. Elena Salgado, money.

Spanish finance minister and The Mercantile Exchange Jose Manuel Campo, her deputy (CME) posts open contracts for flew to London to meet with each currency traded -- both long bondholders, the Financial Times a n d s h o r t p o s i t i o n s . B y reports. They want to reassure

promises to cut Spain's budget deficit by 3% of GDP by 2013.

But then the treasury wants to raise 116.7 billion euros.

Continue reading Traders Are Net Short the Euro by $8 billion Traders Are Net Short the Euro by $8 billion originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:40:00 EST. Please by Stephen Shankland see our terms for use of feeds. (Webware.com) Read| Permalink| Email this| Submitted at 2/9/2010 3:34:00 AM Comments Dropping support for Tiger means Firefox could be better

Mozilla plans to drop Mac OS X 10.4 support optimized for newer Mac OS X versions, but Mozilla is meeting some resistance.

Originally posted at Deep Tech

Business/ Popular News/ Tech/

E-reader News Edition

Infographic of the Day: Your Computer Use, Visualized Like a Jackson Pollock

by Cliff Kuang (Fast Company) Submitted at 2/9/2010 8:40:41 AM

You spend all day clicking a mouse. What's that look like?

There are lots of heat maps of websites, showing where people's clicks and eyeballs go when they arrive at a page. But this is the first app we've seen that lets you build one for yourself. Designed by Anatoly Zenkov and available on a Mac or PC, it's dead simple: You just run the app, minimize the window, and go about your business. The tracks show your mouse path, and the circles show where your pointer lingered-stopping points where you were working on the keyboard, away

from the computer, or immersed in content.

You could almost use this as an ad-hoc tool for honing your site's UI, since it allows you to see exactly how people are interacting with a webpage or an app. If the app could track which activity you were involved in--and color code accordingly-it would be even cooler.

But the current version still paints a pretty picture of the way you use the web. As Flowing Data writes, "In the end, you get this image that looks something like a Pollock."

For more Infographics of the Day, click here.

[Via Feltron and Flowing Data]

11

Kenneth Feinberg Tries Desperately to Stay Relevant

Facebook Sends Lots Of Traffic To News Sites...

Will They Start Demanding To Be Paid?

by Zac Bissonnette (BloggingStocks)

With a new report coming out suggesting that Facebook sends more traffic to news sites than Google News, folks like Mathew Ingram are asking if Rupert Murdoch, the AP and others will be complaining about Facebook "stealing" their traffic and demanding to get paid. Given their reactions to Google, it does seem like a reasonable question.

Or will that only happen when Facebook is making much more money from its other lines of business, and those news execs get jealous?

Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

So what does he do to keep himself occupied? He chats on the phone with Goldman Sachs ( Submitted at 2/9/2010 10:20:00 AM GS) CEO Lloyd Blankfein about Filed under: Management, how that company can better Goldman Sachs Group (GS) If align pay for its executives, even y o u w e r e t o c a l c u l a t e a though he has no authority over headlines/efficacy ratio for - or interest in -- that company's g o v e r n m e n t a n d c o r p o r a t e policies. leaders, executive pay czar Continue reading Kenneth Kenneth Feinberg would have to Feinberg Tries Desperately to rank pretty high on the "most Stay Relevant press for least accomplished" Kenneth Feinberg Tries list.

Desperately to Stay Relevant Now that Bank of America ( o r i g i n a l l y a p p e a r e d o n BAC) and Citigroup ( C) are out BloggingStocks on Tue, 09 Feb from the somewhat watchful eye 2010 10:20:00 EST. Please see of Mr. Feinberg, he has only our terms for use of feeds. Read| American International Group ( P e r m a l i n k | E m a i l t h i s | AIG), the car companies, and C o m m e n t s GMAC to meddle with at little benefit to anyone.

by Mike Masnick (Techdirt) Submitted at 2/8/2010 10:59:00 PM

Big trouble in McItaly (Holy Kaw!) Submitted at 2/9/2010 1:06:50 AM

McDonald’s new sandwich, endorsed by the Italian government, is leaving a bad taste in food critics’ mouths.

Proud Italians rejected the unrepresentative of Italian McItaly as b e i n g culture. The government

responded by calling the critics “ignorant Stalinists” and claimed that these same critics rejected the Italian-ness of pizza. Do you think the McItaly will take root?

Read the full article at the BBC. More on Italy.

Photo credit: Fotolia Permalink| Leave a comment »

12

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MEMC CEO Forgoes First Lady tackles child obesity Bonus; Money Will Go to Retrain Workers (BBC News | Americas | World Edition)

by Mark Fightmaster (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 2/9/2010 11:00:00 AM

Filed under: Management, Employees Last Thursday, MEMC Electronic Materials ( WFR) announced that CEO Ahmad Chatila won't be accepting a $500,000 bonus for 2009. Instead, the money will go to retraining 450 workers that will be laid off from two plant closings. This story somehow has flown under the radar and did not get the attention it deserves.

Like many companies last year, MEMC did not meet its performance targets for 2009.

And still no different than many other companies, it, too, decided to award more than $600,000 in bonuses, using "discretionary authority." These bonuses were

increase their efforts in the area, she has said.

Parents will be encouraged to Submitted at 2/9/2010 6:40:19 AM enrol their children in extraMessage from fivefilters.org: If curricular sports and leisure you can, please donate to the full activities.

-text RSS service so we can Mrs Obama has herself continue developing it. performed a hula-hoop routine at US First Lady Michelle Obama the White House to try to has launched a nationwide increase the profile of exercise campaign to tackle child obesity. for children.

One in three children in the US On Tuesday she told USA is overweight or obese and Mrs Today: "I would move heaven awarded "in consideration of Obama says the issue threatens and earth to give my kids all the chance in the world for them to a c h i e v e m e n t o f i n d i v i d u a l America's future.

She is setting out an ambitious be at the top of their game in performance objectives."

Continue reading MEMC CEO plan to try to solve the childhood every way, shape and form."

In his budget proposal last Forgoes Bonus; Money Will Go o b e s i t y p r o b l e m w i t h i n a g e n e r a t i o n . week, President Barack Obama to Retrain Workers MEMC CEO Forgoes Bonus; The Let's Move campaign will called for an additional $1bn to Money Will Go to Retrain seek to raise the nutritional level fund child nutrition programmes.

Workers originally appeared on of school meals and improve In recent years US obesity rates BloggingStocks on Tue, 09 Feb access to healthier food in have stabilised, but they remain significantly higher than in most 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see deprived areas.

Budget pledge other developed countries. our terms for use of feeds.

Mrs Obama has stressed that the The BBC's Steve Kingstone in Permalink| Email this| campaign, launched on Tuesday, Washington says one in six Comments is not entirely hers. children in the US is considered She has enlisted the help of obese and today's children are politicians, entertainers and predicted to live shorter lives sports personalities to get the than their parents. message across.

Diet overhaul Parents, businesses, schools and But our correspondent says Mrs local government will need to Obama has been criticised for

How to succeed as a consultant (Holy Kaw!)

Madison, provides a list of ingredients for you to succeed in this endeavor: Thinking of going solo as a • Think Long Term consultant? Richard Greenwald, • Join a Network Caspersen School of Graduate • Have Your Own Space Studies at Drew University in • Think Like an Entrepreneur Submitted at 2/9/2010 7:43:00 AM

Full story at Wall Street Journal.

More small business tips and tricks.

Photo credit: Fotolia Permalink| Leave a comment »

publicly discussing the issue in relation to her two daughters.

She revealed how a doctor had raised concerns about the weight of her daughters - prompting the Obamas to cut down on sugary drinks and hamburgers in favour of fruit, vegetables and water.

The girls were also banned from sitting in front of the television during the week.

Critics suggested it was insensitive for the president's wife to comment publicly on her daughters' weight.

But by acknowledging the dietary challenge facing busy working families, our correspondent says, Mrs Obama believes she can influence others - especially poorer Americans.

She said last month that she wanted to make a difference.

"I want to leave something behind that we can say, because of this time that this person spent here, this thing has changed."

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13

Another major storm headed to snowy Mid-Atlantic (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News)

Washington had milk and some bread Tuesday, but many other items were picked over from the Message from fivefilters.org: If l a s t s t o r m . T h e r e w a s n o you can, please donate to the full shredded cheese, and people who -text RSS service so we can wanted Diet Coke or Brussels continue developing it. sprouts were out of luck.

WASHINGTON – Snow blew David Fiore, 49, a federal across the Midwest on Tuesday employee off for the second day, on track for the hard-hit Mid- left with two bags of groceries.

Atlantic region, where federal He had gone to four stores government offices were closed looking for milk the night before, for a second day and utility but they were either out of it or workers struggled to restore t o o c r o w d e d . B y T u e s d a y p o w e r k n o c k e d o u t b y a morning, Safeway had restocked, weekend blizzard. so he left with a gallon of milk, The storm hit the Midwest early, more than he usually buys. closing schools and greeting "It's that sort of hoarding commuters with slick, slushy instinct," he said. roads from Minneapolis and Greg Ten Eyck, a spokesman Chicago to Louisville, Ky. for Safeway Inc., said road H u n d r e d s o f f l i g h t s w e r e conditions were making it hard canceled at Chicago's airports as for many stores to restock the storm moved across Illinois, following the "epic" crowds where up to a foot of snow was before last week's storm. forecast.

On Capitol Hill, the House Powerful winds and snow were canceled all debate and votes expected to hit Mid-Atlantic scheduled for Tuesday. The states by the afternoon, and Senate postponed votes it had could leave as much as 20 inches planned for Monday evening, but of new snow in Washington and was set to convene at 2 p.m. and 18 inches near Philadelphia— a hold two votes later in the day.

Northeast travel hub — by Airlines that shut down flights Wednesday night. to Washington over the weekend Parts of the region were already warned that more would be buried under nearly 3 feet. canceled and that travelers who A Safeway grocery store in the didn't depart by Tuesday night D u p o n t C i r c l e a r e a o f were likely out of luck. In Submitted at 2/9/2010 7:48:51 AM

Chicago, Southwest Airlines canceled all of its flights at Midway International Airport through Wednesday morning.

In the East, people were filling their pantries in case they got stuck at home again.

"Getting around is a pain right now as it is, so slushy and sloppy," said Meghan Garaghan, 28, as she stocked up on staples and sweets at a supermarket in Philadelphia, which already had 27 inches of snow. "I don't want to think about what it's going to be like with another foot and a half of snow dumped on top of this mess."

The storm brought out the best in some: In Alexandria, Va., when word got out that a family living at the bottom of a hill on an unplowed street needed to get their teenage daughter whose cancer is in remission out to an important doctor's appointment, neighbors quickly converged.

The entire street was shoveled before many neighbors even had shoveled their own driveways.

Up the street, children tired of playing outside in the snow created craft items and had an impromptu sale to benefit victims of the earthquake in Haiti.

In West Virginia, where 40 counties were under winter storm

TweetDeck gets a few tweaks

by Seth Rosenblatt (Webware.com)

The latest version of TweetDeck is out, and although it's a minor update it also introduces some

useful changes worth noting.

Originally posted at The Download Blog

warnings, Gov. Joe Manchin urged people to make sure snow was cleared from roofs of public buildings to avoid a repeat of 1998, when cave-ins were blamed for at least three deaths.

Some spots, including parts of Maryland, had nearly 3 feet of snow from the earlier storm. One scientist said if all that fell on the East Coast were melted, it would fill 12 million Olympic swimming pools or 30,000 Empire State buildings.

Philadelphia and Washington each need about 9 more inches to give the cities their snowiest winters since 1884, the first year records were kept.

Jerry Bennett, manager of the Strosniders hardware store in Silver Spring, Md., said he sold 500 snow shovels in two hours Friday. Since then, customers have been stalking shipments.

"Every third question is, 'Do you have shovels?'" Bennett said.

"Every three hours, we can answer 'yes,' and then they're gone."

The storm that began Friday closed schools, and some 230,000 federal workers in Washington had Monday and Tuesday off. Power was still out for tens of thousands of homes and businesses, and utilities said deep snow was hindering some

crews trying to fix damaged power lines before the next storm hits.

A new wave of cold residents was checking into the Hilton in Silver Spring, including Bill and Ann Hilliard and their two elderly cats. Temperatures in their powerless home had dropped into the 40s and with another foot of snow forecast, they didn't want to stay home.

Ann Hilliard recently had part of her leg amputated and their neighbors helped them out of the neighborhood.

"There was no way to get her out otherwise," he said. ___ Associated Press writers Jessica Gresko, Laurie Kellman and Nafeesa Syeed in Washington; Sarah Karush in Falls Church, Va.; Brian Witte in Annapolis, Md.; Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pa.; Nancy Benac in Arlington, Va.; Tom Breen in Charleston, W.Va.; Joann Loviglio in Philadelphia and Sarah Brumfield and Stephanie Stoughton in Silver Spring, Md., contributed to this story.

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Jackson doctor out on bail, back for April hearing (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News)

demonstrate Murray's "gross negligence."

Murray is accused of giving Message from fivefilters.org: If Jackson a fatal dose of an you can, please donate to the full anesthetic to help him sleep.

-text RSS service so we can J a c k s o n d i e d J u n e 2 5 . I f continue developing it. convicted, the doctor could face LOS ANGELES – Michael up to four years in prison.

Jackson's doctor returns to court Schwartz told Murray he was in April to find out the date for r e s t r i c t i n g h i s p r a c t i c e o f the next major step in the case — medicine, barring him from a proceeding that will reveal for using any anesthetic agent, the first time the evidence the specifically the drug propofol prosecution believes will show that a coroner's report found was his "gross negligence" was the the cause of Jackson's death with direct cause of the pop star's other drugs as contributing death. factors.

Dr. Conrad Murray pleaded not "I don't want you sedating guilty Monday to a charge of people," the judge said. involuntary manslaughter and a Immediately after the hearing, judge released him on $75,000 L a T o y a J a c k s o n i s s u e d a bail. statement saying she believed Superior Court Judge Keith her brother had been murdered Schwartz ordered Murray to turn and that others besides Murray in his passport and said he could were involved in his death. travel within the U.S., but not to "I will continue to fight until all a n y f o r e i g n c o u n t r y . T h e of the proper individuals are prosecutor had suggested he brought forth and justice is might flee to his native Grenada served," LaToya said. She was in or to Trinidad where he has a c o u r t a l o n g w i t h s i b l i n g s child. including Jermaine, Tito, Jackie Murray was ordered to return and Randy.

April 5 to have another date set Her father, Joe Jackson, for his preliminary hearing. That e x p r e s s e d t h e s a m e v i e w s proceeding, a virtual minitrial, Monday night in an interview on will disclose the evidence "Larry King Live" and claimed p r o s e c u t o r s m a i n t a i n w i l l that his son believed he was Submitted at 2/9/2010 3:28:05 AM

going to be murdered. He did not elaborate.

As he left the courtroom, the family patriarch said, "We need justice."

Outside the Los Angeles airport area courthouse, about 50 Michael Jackson fans carried large photographs of the superstar and signs urging, "Justice for Michael." Many were the same fans who had stood vigil during the 2005 trial at which Jackson was acquitted of child molestation. Some shouted "murderer" when Murray was brought to court.

Murray recently reopened his office in Houston after months of waiting to be charged while his bills piled up.

A representative of the state attorney general's office said the California Medical Board would be filing a motion to revoke Murray's medical license to practice in California while he awaits trial.

Deputy District Attorney David Walgren tried to persuade the judge to impose a high bail of $300,000. He said in his motion that although Murray has no criminal record, he has violated court orders involving child support payments and "leads an irresponsible and financially

Adobe promises faster Flash on Macs

by Stephen Shankland (Webware.com) Submitted at 2/8/2010 12:43:00 PM

The Mac version of the widely used browser plug-in should catch up to the Windows version soon. Also: an apology for

mishandling a bug.

Originally posted at Deep Tech

unstable life."

Murray's lead lawyer, Ed Chernoff, objected that Murray should not be penalized for not having money. The judge said he believed $75,000 — triple the bail in ordinary cases of this nature — would be enough to ensure he does not flee. The bail was posted shortly after the hearing and Murray was released.

Jackson, 50, hired Murray in May to be his personal physician as he prepared for a strenuous series of comeback performances.

The single felony count of involuntary manslaughter alleges that Murray "did unlawfully and without malice, kill Michael Joseph Jackson."

To prove an involuntary manslaughter charge, prosecutors must either show that Jackson died while Murray was carrying out an unlawful act, or that his standard of care was so bad that it was grossly negligent.

The charge alleges he acted "without due caution and circumspection."

Known as "milk of amnesia," propofol is only supposed to be administered by an anesthesia professional in a medical setting because it depresses breathing

and heart rate while lowering blood pressure.

At the same time the charge was filed Monday, the coroner's office released its autopsy report on Jackson. The document, previously obtained by The Associated Press, found the singer was in relatively good health and died from acute propofol intoxication.

Dr. Selma Calmes, an anesthesiologist who reviewed the report at the coroner's request, said the level of propofol in Jackson's body was akin to what would be given for major surgery. After such a dose, a patient normally would have a tube inserted in the airway to help with breathing and be ventilated by an anesthesiologist.

"The standard of care for administering propofol was not met," she wrote. ___ Associated Press Writer Anthony McCartney contributed to this story.

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Pa. Dem Murtha remembered as military advocate (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News) Submitted at 2/9/2010 3:22:45 AM

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full -text RSS service so we can continue developing it.

HARRISBURG, Pa. – Rep. John Murtha, who said the Bush administration's handling of the war in Iraq was based on "flawed policy wrapped in illusion" and called for a withdrawal of U.S. troops there, is being remembered as an advocate on Capitol Hill for those serving in military uniform.

The Pennsylvania Democrat died Monday at a hospital after suffering complications from gallbladder surgery. He was 77.

Murtha's large intestine was damaged during the surgery at a hospital in Bethesda, Md., said longtime friend Rep. Bob Brady, D-Pa. An infection and fever led him to be admitted days later, on Jan. 31, to the Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, Va., where he died.

Murtha, a former Marine who became the de facto voice of veterans on Capitol Hill, was the first Vietnam veteran to serve in Congress and was "incredibly effective in his service in the House," said Rep. David Obey, a Democrat and chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.

"He understood the misery of

war," Obey said. "Every person who serves in the military has lost an advocate and a good friend today."

Murtha voted in 2002 to authorize President George W. Bush to use military force in Iraq, but his growing frustration over the administration's handling of the war prompted him in November 2005 to call for an immediate withdrawal of troops.

"The war in Iraq is not going as advertised," he said. "It is a flawed policy wrapped in illusion."

Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said that in part because of Murtha, "America is now on track to removing all combat troops from that country by this summer."

Murtha's opposition to the Iraq war rattled Washington, where he enjoyed bipartisan respect for his work on military issues. On Capitol Hill, he was seen as speaking for those in uniform when it came to military matters.

President Barack Obama called Murtha, who was known in his home state for helping bring money and projects to areas depressed by the decline of the coal and steel industries, "a steadfast advocate for the people of Pennsylvania for nearly 40 years" with a "tough-as-nails" reputation.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,

remembered Murtha as a tireless advocate for veterans and the military.

"From health care to weapons procurement, from shipbuilding to pay and benefits, no one understood the needs of our modern military better than he did," Mullen said in a statement.

"That we remain the greatest military in the history of the world is testament in no small part to his vigilance and stewardship."

In 1974, Murtha, then an officer in the Marine Reserves, became the first Vietnam War combat veteran elected to Congress.

Ethical questions often shadowed his congressional service, but he was best known for being among Congress' most hawkish Democrats. He wielded considerable clout for two decades as the ranking Democrat on the House subcommittee that oversees Pentagon spending.

Known for his seriousness, Murtha also had a lighter side.

Gov. Ed Rendell recalled Monday that "he was a funny guy, he always enjoyed a good laugh and he was somebody who was a great and loyal friend."

Rendell said he hadn't decided when to schedule a special election to replace Murtha.

Murtha was born June 17, 1932.

The former newspaper delivery boy left college in 1952 to join the Marines, where he rose

through the ranks to become a drill instructor at Parris Island, S.C., and later served in the 2nd Marine Division. He settled in Johnstown, then volunteered for Vietnam, where he served as an intelligence officer and earned a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts.

He was serving in the Pennsylvania House when he was elected to Congress in a special election. In 1990, he retired from the Marine Reserves as a colonel.

His criticism of the Iraq war intensified in 2006, when he accused Marines of murdering Iraqi civilians "in cold blood" at Haditha, after one Marine died and two were wounded by a roadside bomb.

Critics said Murtha unfairly held the Marines responsible before an investigation was concluded and fueled enemy retaliation. He said that the war couldn't be won militarily and that such incidents dimmed the prospect for a political solution.

Murtha died with his family at his bedside, the Virginia hospital said. ___ Kimberly Hefling contributed to this story from Washington.

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Man sets sword swallowing record (Holy Kaw!) Submitted at 2/9/2010 12:54:55 AM

An Australian man broke his own record for sword swallowing today, cramming 18 of the things down his throat.

How did he do it? “I stretch my throat with hoses and use a few different techniques to basically enable me to do what, until now, has been impossible.”

Read the full article at the BBC. Keep up with more of the headlines from the BBC. Photo credit: Fotolia Permalink| Leave a comment »

16

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Chavez declares energy emergency (BBC News | Americas | World Edition)

Under the decree, which will be in force initially for 60 days, energy users who consume more Submitted at 2/9/2010 3:44:30 AM than 500 kilowatt-hours per Message from fivefilters.org: If m o n t h , m u s t r e d u c e t h e i r you can, please donate to the full consumption by at least 10% or -text RSS service so we can face a 75% price rise. continue developing it.

If they cut consumption between Venezuelan President Hugo 10% and 20%, they will get a Chavez has signed a decree 25% discount on their bill. d e c l a r i n g a n " e l e c t r i c i t y Industrial users will also have to e m e r g e n c y " t o h e l p h i s cut their usage by 20% or face g o v e r n m e n t t a c k l e p o w e r sanctions. shortages.

Although Venezuela has big oil Speaking on his new radio show reserves, it is dependent on P r e s i d e n t C h a v e z s a i d hydro-electricity for some 70% Venezuela, which depends of its power. heavily on hydropower, was This is generated by the massive facing the worst drought in 100 Guri Dam complex on the years.

Orinoco River, which has fallen Heavy energy users will get a more than 9m (30ft) below discount if they cut consumption normal. but face price rises if their usage "Today it fell another 13cm does not fall.

(5in). It hasn't rained the whole Rolling blackouts are already in year; it's Venezuela's worst force in parts of Venezuela. drought in 100 years," Mr President Chavez announced on Chavez said.

Monday that he had signed a The government says the d e c r e e a u t h o r i s i n g E n e r g y drought coupled with increased Minister Ali Rodriguez to take demand has stretched resources. the necessary measures to Radio show guarantee the electricity supply. Energy and rationing is already "The truth is, it's an emergency," in place, except in the capital, he said.

Caracas, where the measures

were suspended amid protests.

Last month Mr Chavez announced that $1bn (£640m) would be invested in the energy sector.

Critics say poor management and the failure to invest in infrastructure over the years are to blame, a view rejected by Mr Rodriguez.

"It's not due to lack of investment, even if it's true that we've had some problems (and) delays with some projects," he said.

President Chavez's announcement came during the first broadcast of his new radio show, Suddenly with Chavez.

He said the programme would always be preceded by the sound of a harp playing folk music.

"When you hear the pluck of a harp on the radio, maybe Chavez is coming. It's suddenly, at any time, maybe midnight, maybe early morning."

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Monday Evening Music: Chris Thile and Mike Marshall, 'Fisher's Hornpipe' (Little Green Footballs) Submitted at 2/8/2010 4:03:58 PM

Insanely great mandolin

shredding by Chris Thile and Mike Marshall, playing “Fisher’s Hornpipe” from the album Into the Cauldron.(And here’s the

iTunes Store link.)[Video]

Super Bowl breaks ratings record (BBC News | Americas | World Edition)

The early viewing figures also drew some congratulations from Alan Alda, the star of Submitted at 2/9/2010 2:47:32 AM M*A*S*H. Message from fivefilters.org: If "If the *M*A*S*H audience was you can, please donate to the full eclipsed, it was probably due in -text RSS service so we can large part to the fact that the continue developing it. whole country is rooting for New The New Orleans Saints' Super Orleans to triumph in every way B o w l v i c t o r y o v e r t h e possible," he said.

Indianapolis Colts has become "I am, too, and I couldn't be the most-watched programme in happier for them. I love that US TV history, early figures city." show.

However, it may be hard to tell A record 106.5 million people, which programme was really watched the game last weekend, watched by more people because according to Nielsen media. of the margin for error in such The figure tops the 1983 finale numbers. of medical drama M*A*S*H Nielsen's estimate on Monday which drew 105.97 million was preliminary, and could viewers. change with a more thorough The previous Super Bowl record look at more figures due on was last year's game between Tuesday.

Pittsburgh and Arizona, watched Sunday's Super Bowl was by 98.7 million. viewed by more than double the There had been much interest in 48 million Americans who the game between The Colts - w a t c h e d P r e s i d e n t B a r a c k considered the favourites after Obama's State of the Union winning the title just three years address last year. ago - and The Saints who were An average 26.8 million people appearing in their first NFL title have tuned in to the latest series game. of American Idol, which is The Saints' resurgence had been currently the most-watched seen as a mirror of the ongoing series on US television. recovery of New Orleans after Print Sponsor the devastation of Hurricane Five Filters featured article: K a t r i n a i n 2 0 0 5 , a n d t h e Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: underdogs' story propelled PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, viewership.

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Margin of error

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Colombia mounts major drugs raids (BBC News | Americas | World Edition) Submitted at 2/9/2010 12:06:01 AM

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More than 20 people have been arrested in several Colombian cities, in what is being described as the biggest anti-drugs operation in a decade.

Colombian police say the arrests are the culmination of a two-year investigation, supported by US agents.

Half of the suspects are experienced pilots, accused of carrying cocaine to Central America and Mexico.

Police say some suspects are linked to Mexican cartels

responsible for most of the illegal drugs supplied to the US. One of the cartels, the Sinaloa, is led by Mexico's most wanted man, Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán.

Turning to Europe Colombian police chief Oscar Naranjo said the offensive was the largest against drugs traffickers since 1999.

Those arrested are being traced to a syndicate that link the Mexican drug cartels with Colombia's two most powerful drugs trafficking organisations, those of Daniel " The Madman" Barrera and the Rastrojos.

Investigations into the syndicate began in the city of Medellin where the organisation apparently had its roots.

The Colombian police were

supported by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as well as the attorney general's office in Dallas.

The BBC's Jeremy McDermott in Medellin says that in recent years the Mexican drug cartels have overtaken their Colombian counterparts in both power and brutality.

The Colombian cartels are now increasingly looking towards Europe, rather then the US, where prices are higher and the chances of extradition much lower.

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Fantastic photos of extraordinary creatures Submitted at 2/9/2010 12:52:00 AM

Fires Strike 2 More Texas Churches (FOXNews.com) Submitted at 2/9/2010 5:14:01 AM

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DALLAS A sheriff's dispatcher says fires have struck two more rural east Texas churches, just hours after investigators announced that a blaze last week marked the eighth arson against a house of

worship in the state this year.

A Smith County sheriff's dispatcher says fire struck a Baptist church near Tyler Monday night. Another hit a church about 3 miles away.

The fires come the same day the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives announced a blaze that happened last week was the seventh east Texas church fire of 2010 to be deliberately set.

Bureau agents in Houston say

Don’t ask me to translate this LiveJournal into English, but some of the most vivid images (beyond your imagination) of exotic creatures ever captured by camera are just a click away

arson also caused a fire that destroyed the sanctuary of a central Texas church last month.

There have been no reported injuries or arrests. Federal officials aren't saying if there's a connection.

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The Apple Store was down this morning. And since this is Apple, one of the high-tech

through the read link. I’ll let the images speak for themselves.

There’s more where these came from at Imposters’ LiveJournal.

More images and stories of our fascinating world.

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Apple Store Is Back Online. Little To See Here. universe's favorite parlor games began: What's really going on?!

As it turns out, not much, unless you're in the market for some new photo editing and organization software.

18

Popular News/ Tech/ Tech News/

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Found Footage: Charlie Rose hosts iPad chat club

by Michael Rose (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

Flirting school for women (Holy Kaw!) Submitted at 2/9/2010 12:47:52 AM

Amidst a surge in popularity for male “pick-up schools” rises a female flirt school. Led by Sue Ostler, a flirt coach and relationship manual author in London's West End, the school is an on-the-job training program

where women are taught the basics to exuding approachability and liveliness, in a real bar with real people. Although compared to “pick-up schools” based on the recent fad of Neil Strauss's memoir, The Game, Ostler's school has a much different focus. While the male versions aim to get a phone number or get

think people are going to love this." David Carr (who strongly evokes the actor Austin Pendleton for some reason) also Submitted at 2/9/2010 4:30:00 AM compared the Apple tablet to the Filed under: Found Footage, Kindle, with the Amazon device iPad coming out unfavorably: "Mr. In case you missed it last week, Jobs did say we stand on the PBS top gab guy Charlie Rose shoulders of Amazon, and he (no relation) hosted a roundtable was very professional and discussion about the latest gracious about that, but he left product from Steve & co. on his that picture of the Kindle up show, featuring the NYT's David there for two minutes... it looked Carr, 'Uncle' Walt Mossberg of like something Mennonites made the Wall Street Journal, and 150 years ago." Ow. TechCrunch founder/ would-be [ v i a iPhoneSavior& tablet impresario Michael T e c h C r u n c h ] Arrington. The segment is about TUAW Found Footage: Charlie 23 minutes long, but it's a good Rose hosts iPad chat club conversation. originally appeared on The Mossberg described the iPad as U n o f f i c i a l A p p l e W e b l o g "wicked fast" and praised the (TUAW) on Tue, 09 Feb 2010 software's grace notes and 04:30:00 EST. Please see our a girl into bed, the female sophistication, while noting that terms for use of feeds. version is learning to be liked, nobody has really succeeded at Read| Permalink| Email this| learning to flirt effectively. making a tablet that the market Comments Full story and real-world e m b r a c e d w h o l e h e a r t e d l y . experience at guardian.co.uk. Arrington said "Personally, I More tips and tricks for the ongoing quest for love.

Photo credit: Fotolia Permalink| Leave a comment »

Why the Army Doesn't Train on XBoxes

by Michael Peck (Wired Top Stories)

Right now, every military command post and every training center is packed with PCs. In the

future, many of those machines might be replaced with game consoles - if the armed forces

can ever work out their disagreements with the consolemakers.

Tech/ Tech News/

E-reader News Edition

Box.net for iPhone Adds Powerful Features for Business Users

by Christina Warren (Mashable!)

Submitted at 2/9/2010 6:49:41 AM

Back in September, cloud content management provider Box.net rolled out its OpenBox Mobile platform, thereby allowing developers — and users — to access and integrate Box.net’s cloud storage with their own files and applications.

Today the company is releasing a bunch of new updates that enhance mobile collaboration.

New iPhone App Box.net was one of the first collaboration companies to enter the iPhone space, back in October of 2008. Since that time, the company has been working hard to bring the Box.net experience to your pocket. The new version of the Box.net iPhone app adds a bunch of new features that go a long way to achieving that goal.

Box.net 2.0 adds in file preview (similar to the enhancements rolled out last month for the full site), the ability to comment and view comments on files or folders, the ability to share files or folders straight from the app, and the ability to view updates to an account or project.

In the last 18 months, we’ve watched as Box.net has transitioned from a cloud storage solution into an entire cloudbased content management system. At this point, Box.net is actively pitting itself against Microsoft’s SharePoint for small and large business users.

Quickoffice Integration This is where Box.net gets cool.

One of the long-touted benefits of the cloud is that it is location agnostic. So if I’m in Miami, San Francisco, New York or Atlanta, I can access my files — even if I’m not using the same computer at each location. When it comes to mobile solutions, however, while Google Docs is doing what it can — especially on the Android platform — to bring in the mobile editing experience to docs stored in the cloud, most of the existing solutions are tied to local files on your phone.

This is why it’s awesome that Box.net is integrating with the Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite. That means you can edit Word and Excel files on your Box.net account on your phone and save the changes back to your Box account, all within Quickoffice for the iPhone. This is a huge boon for business

expanding its developer APIs to add in more options for search, commenting, update notification and other ways to plug into the Box.net ecosystem.

Developers can check out Box.net/developers for more information and to access the OpenBox Mobile APIs. I think users. And when you think about that GTD and to-do apps that the power of something like this could integrate with Box.net w h e n p a i r e d w i t h A p p l e ’ s could be absolutely killer. Think upcoming iPad, the possibilities how great it would be if you become fantastic. could add in a link to a file on The Quickoffice app that offers your Box.net account when Box.net integration will be crafting a to-do or setting a available shortly in the App meeting agenda. Mobile Matters S t o r e . I f y o u a l r e a d y u s e The biggest benefits of cloudQuickoffice, check your updates based storage — and really cloud — it’s coming! New Mobile computing in general — isn’t APIs really visible at the end-user until One of the things I’ve always you leave the workstation and liked about Box.net has been its embrace being location agnostic.

OpenBox platform. This allows This is what mobile integration Box.net to plug into other web does. We expect more and more services like Salesforce.com. companies to follow in Box’s W h e n O p e n B o x M o b i l e footsteps and add mobile l a u n c h e d i n S e p t e m b e r , integration at the API level to developers were given the their cloud-based products. opportunity to add support for What do you think about mobile B o x . n e t s t o r a g e a n d f i l e computing paired with cloud integration into their own apps. storage? Let us know!

A number of applications have Tags: box.net, cloud computing, done just that — including my iphone, openbox mobile favorite PDF reader, GoodReader. Now Box.net is

Feb. 9, 1870: Feds Get on Top of the Weather

by Randy Alfred (Wired Top Stories)

President Grant signs the law creating what will become the Weather Bureau and eventually

the National Weather Service.

19

Research Shows Unauthorized Digital Books Leads To 'Significant Jump In Sales'

by Mike Masnick (Techdirt) Submitted at 2/9/2010 6:45:41 AM

We've seen this before, with individual authors like Paulo Coelho and David Pogue, who both found that as more people were able to get unauthorized copies of their ebooks, their sales actually increased. So, this shouldn't come as a surprise, but some new research looking at the impact on sales of unauthorized files getting out found a "significant jump in sales"(found via Michael Scott): Brian O'Leary discussed his firm's research on the effect on sales when a title finds its way into an unsanctioned online market. The findings -- a significant jump in sales -- have surprised many in the business. To be fair, he does go on to say this doesn't mean just "don't worry about" unauthorized access. Instead, he says it's important to figure out what kind of unauthorized access helps sales and what kind hurts -and that still needs to be studied.

But, the early results certainly suggest that the stuff that helps quite often outweighs the stuff that hurts (sometimes by quite a bit).

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Kevin Smith May Try Crowdfunding Horror Film, Red State, After Fans Offer To Do So

by Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

about more than just fan funding this one film: Our plan is to put anything we make into a fund We've already pointed out how that would, in turn, finance other director/writer/filmmaker/enterta (cost-sensible) flicks fans want iner Kevin Smith is a great to see. And from that? Build a example of a filmmaker People's Studio. Simply have any embracing the model of interested/frustrated/desperate connecting with fans and giving party put their script on our them a reason to buy, even to the website, open for all to read, point of saying that unauthorized during a "pilot season" of sorts. file sharing is just a way to get Script that gets the most votes, more fans he can "convert." gets the loot. That flick gets Apparently, he may take things stepped up:"I think an interesting sure we can do it, but if that's the Still, it highlights, yet again, made and sold, all the loot goes to another level, by following a thing that may happen with it is-- case, I would be into it, and I'll what a lie it is to claim that "fans back into fund for next round. If crowdfunding effort similar to I was on Twitter and people are match it. Whatever you raise on just want everything for free." there's enough loot from RED what we've seen with some asking about Red State, and then line, like fuck it, you put it up, And it shows that content not yet STATE sale to do so, idea would a dude tweeted 'hey man, what if I'll put it up." Of course, doing it created is a scarcity people will be to fund two low budget flicks musicians and authors.

The twist here is that it wasn't we pay for it?' And all of a from scratch may raise some pay for. It's still early (and a year. Ultimate dream: Indie his idea. The fans came to him sudden, a bunch of people were issues, and I'd imagine he'd be Smith is focused on another Movement, v.3. Even though a and made it clear they wanted to like 'Seriously, why not?'" Smith better off if he weren't trying to movie first), but it could be one lot of the talk around these parts fund the project. If you are a fan has said that if he does this, he'd sell "shares" in the film, since of the most high profile movies has been about music industry of Smith (as I am), you know match every dollar donated. that's where things get really made using this technique. business models, in the last year But the further this moves or so, I've really been amazed at he's been talking about various They're working on a website for tricky, but focusing on selling projects he's been thinking about, it, but there have been some something else (credit in the along, the more interesting it the number of indie filmmakers and last year talked a lot about a logistical issues:"We're kind of film, access to screenings, meet gets. After a bunch of people who have been really digging in rather different kind of movie, a creating this website. We're & greet with Kevin, etc.), with misinterpreted the original on new business models, with a "political horror film" called Red seeing if it works to set up and the proceeds going to fund the interview Smith gave, he wrote strong willingness to experiment State. Of course, that's definitely collect donations. It becomes a film. But there are lots of out a more detailed explanation and adapt. It's very encouraging a big step away from Smith's weird tax nightmare, though... It platforms like Kickstarter or of his thinking, which is clearly to see. usual comic-fare, and finding sounded like such an easy thing Biracy that he might want to still in the very initial planning Permalink| Comments| Email financing for it was initially online... but now there's lots of look into, since they've worked stage (i.e., they don't even know This Story if it's possible), but it looks to be proving difficult. But, the fans checks and balances to make out a lot of the legal issues.

Submitted at 2/9/2010 8:08:00 AM

Stunningly Preserved 165-Million-Year Old Spider Fossil Found

by Tia Ghose (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 2/9/2010 5:50:00 AM

Paleontologists have uncovered fossils in China from a family of spiders that has never been found there before. And the amazingly

detailed specimens are 120 million years older than any others from the family.

Tech/ Tech News/

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21

Apple's Aperture 3 adds face recognition, GPS (CNET News.com) Submitted at 2/9/2010 8:01:00 AM

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full -text RSS service so we can continue developing it.

Apple released on Tuesday the next generation of its professional photography workflow software, Aperture 3.

Among more than 200 new features is the addition of face recognition and GPS location for photos.

Faces and Places are popular features introduced with the consumer-oriented iPhoto '09, but it didn't take long before Aperture users wanted the same functionality in the professional software too. While the basics are the same, Kirk Paulsen, Apple's senior director of photo apps product marketing, said the features have been enhanced for Aperture.

Paulsen told CNET that Apple took the Faces feature and applied it to individual projects within Aperture. This allows people to search for faces within a small segment of their photo library, instead of the entire library like iPhoto does.

Aperture 3's Faces feature allows you to create of library of

your photo subjects.(Credit: Apple) Aperture 3 also supports Places and enhances the use of GPS data by supporting GPS logs. For example, if you were taking pictures in New York City, you could drop one of the photos onto a map, and Aperture's Places function would then drop the rest of the photos in the correct place automatically, using the GPS data.

Another major feature of this

release is the introduction of nondestructive brushes. This allows you to paint effects onto certain parts of an image. If you wanted to add polarization to the sky of a photo, you could choose that effect, adjust the size of a brush, and paint the effect on the sky.

Part of the problem with applying effects like this is making sure they don't bleed to other parts of the image. Paulsen said that Aperture 3 now

Austrian iPad Will Be Subsidized With Contract

by Charlie Sorrel (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 2/9/2010 6:19:00 AM

According to iPhone blog TamsIJungle, Hutchison Telecom in Austria will be selling the iPad at a steep

discount if you sign up for a two year contract.

features to a professional-level application.

"The focus of this release is about combining pro performance with iPhoto simplicity," he said.

Apple has been working with several professional photographers over the last few months, getting their feedback and making adjustments to the software before its release. They include National Geographic photographer Jim Richardson, Sports Illustrated photographer Bill Frakes, and commercial photographer Chase Jarvis.

Jarvis told CNET that the full multimedia support was among his favorite new features, especially for his workflow that combines photos and video. "If a piece of software is really good, automatically detects the edges it just becomes a part of your in photos, so the effects will only day," said Jarvis. "Aperture gets go where you want them. a glowing two-thumbs up."

Aperture 3 also supports HD Aperture 3 costs $199, or $99 video, which has become a for an upgrade. A 30-day trial bigger part of a photographer's version is available from Apple's workflow in recent years. Using Web site. the same engine found in iPhoto, Five Filters featured article: Aperture can now use photos, Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: audio, text, and video to build PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, slideshows, according to Term Extraction.

Paulsen.

Overall, Paulsen said, Aperture 3 brings a lot of easy-to-use

22

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Understanding What's Scarce And What's Not...

by Mike Masnick (Techdirt) Submitted at 2/9/2010 4:49:51 AM

A bunch of folks sent over Jeff Jarvis' recent blog post entitled stop selling scarcity, which I actually think is slightly misleading. If you read the details, he's actually saying that you should very much sell scarcities -- but that you should avoid pretending that you're selling a scarcity when you're really selling something that it infinitely available: If you are selling a scarcity -- an inventory -- of any nonphysical goods today, stop, turn around, and start selling value -- outcomes -instead. Or you're screwed.

Apply this rule to many enterprises: advertising, media, content, information, education, consultation, and to some extent, performance. I have to admit, while I get what he's saying, I'm not sure it's particularly useful to most people, because they've

always thought they were selling "outcomes" in the first place. I think that a similar post by filmmaker Ross Pruden may actually be a lot more useful, in that he talks about selling experiences, which is something that's scarce: You think you sell a movie--you do not.

You think you sell a book--you do not.

You think you sell a song--you do not.

You sell an experience, something communicated, something elusive and ephemeral. Something mystical and transformative and inspiring.

All these abstract things simply come in the shape of a movie, a book, or a song.

Never before has it been possible to strip away these experiences from the product... until now, the Digital Age. The Digital Age lets us duplicate products infinitely.

And, for the first time in human

history, creators are not deprived of their original copy. From that he points out the simple problem that many folks who were used to the old way are facing:...now we can read a novel without buying a book. ...now we can watch a movie without buying a movie ticket. ...now we can listen to a song without buying a record. From there, he lists out a bunch of different scarcities that come up with you separate the experience from the physical product, and notes that this is how things have always worked in reality, it's just that conceptually we merged the experience with the scarce physical product, which is why it's often so difficult to separate them conceptually now that they've become untied in reality.

The key to the Digital Age is to recognize that many existing products already embed intangibles, which is why those products are still being bought.

However, once those tangibles stop being offered, or a competitor offers better intangibles, the customer will go elsewhere.

Creators can sustain. They will sustain. The market wants to sustain creators. Yet only the ones who realize that they don't sell products, but experiences.

Only those creators are the ones worthy of survival in the Digital Age. This is a great point, and more eloquent than my own post from a few years back on how every "product" was really a mix of scarce and infinite goods. To understand what the technology allows, and how to embrace it in a way that's sustainable, you need to be able to break out the components, and properly figure out what's really scarce, and what isn't.

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Kate Gosselin's New Book Features Excerpts From Her Journal (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 2/9/2010 7:14:00 AM

Mom-of-eight Kate Gosselin is getting personal in her new book, featuring excerpts from her journal, personal prayers and eight individual letters written for each of her children.

"Each day the thought crosses my mind that when they get older, my kids are going to look back and think about how they were raised," Gosselin told People.com.

"I know they will have a lot of questions about things that may not make sense because they were raised so unconventionally.

I don’t want them to grow up and wonder; I want them to know without a shadow of a doubt how much I love them and how much every sacrifice made was worth it for them."

Navigon GPS iPhone App Gets Twitter and Facebook Support

by Stan Schroeder (Mashable!)

Apple’s smartphone.

The latest version of the app (available here) has an option to Submitted at 2/9/2010 7:11:51 AM alert your buddies to your Navigon’s MobileNavigator, current location via Facebook or one of the first iPhone apps to Twitter. It also adds an option offer real turn-by-turn GPS called MyRoutes, which enables navigation, has established itself you to create custom routes a s o n e o f t h e b e s t s u c h according to your needs and a p p l i c a t i o n s a v a i l a b l e f o r habits. Finally, Panorama View

The price of the app itself is currently $20 cheaper than before: $69.99. However, if you want live traffic information that’ll cost you an extra $19.99 (promotional price, applies only until the 15th of February), and the Panorama View 3D will cost 3D gives you a 3D terrain view, you an additional $9.99. Put all based on NASA’s data. that together, and it’s 100 bucks;

not exactly cheap, but it’ll definitely buy you a full-featured navigation package on your iPhone.

Tags: facebook, iphone, Mobile 2.0, Navigon, twitter

Tech/ Entertainment/

E-reader News Edition

23

EA losses drop, but sales and outlook Google Gmail press decline conference (live blog) (CNET News.com)

mostly by a few new games, such as Dragon Age: Origins, Left 4 Dead 2, and NBA Live.

Message from fivefilters.org: If But older standbys FIFA 10, you can, please donate to the full Madden NFL 10, and The Sims -text RSS service so we can 3 helped too. continue developing it.

The poor results didn't surprise Despite job layoffs and other analysts as Electronic Arts had cost cuts, Electronic Arts is still already announced in January struggling to dig out of its that its fiscal-third quarter would current financial hole. be weaker than expected. But the The game maker reported company also warned Monday Monday that its fiscal third- that the current quarter's revenue quarter net loss narrowed to $82 will likely be lower--between million, down from a loss of $925 million and $1 billion--than $641 million in the year-ago had been anticipated. The news q u a r t e r . I t s q u a r t e r e n d e d sent its stock down around 9 December 31. percent in Tuesday morning EA was on a tear last year to trading. slash expenses--laying off staff, Despite the weak outlook, EA is closing down studios, and pinning some hope on lesstrimming its product line. But traditional business markets and sluggish game sales, especially a couple of new game titles. in Europe, took their toll on "EA is growing share in our fiscal third-quarter revenue, packaged goods business, and which fell 25 percent to $1.24 our digital businesses continue to billion from $1.65 billion in the grow rapidly," Chief Executive year-ago quarter.

Officer John Riccitiello said in a Revenue was also affected by a statement. "Mass Effect 2 is the smaller number of titles released first blockbuster of 2010 and we for the 2009 holiday-shopping are looking forward to the launch season compared with 2008, the of Dante's Inferno and Battlefield company said. Sales were driven Bad Company 2."

Submitted at 2/9/2010 7:22:23 AM

In particular, the company is eyeing the online game market as a potential source of more revenue. In its third quarter, EA's online game subscribers reached 1.9 million. As players buy fewer CDs in stores and increasingly hop onto the Internet for their game fix, Electronic Arts is trying to capitalize on that trend.

The company noted that its Playfish social gaming unit, which it bought in November, scored two of the top 10 Facebook games for the quarter.

Reports have also surfaced that EA will launch a Facebook version of its popular Madden NFL franchise.

Still, many analysts remain pessimistic about Electronic Arts' near-term future, noting that the cost cuts aren't doing enough to turn the company around.

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

(CNET News.com) Submitted at 2/9/2010 7:41:55 AM

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full -text RSS service so we can continue developing it. Report offensive content: If you believe this comment is offensive or violates the CNET's Site Terms of Use, you can report it below (this will not automatically remove the comment). Once reported, our staff will be notified and the comment will be reviewed.

Select type of offense:

Offensive: Sexually explicit or offensive language Spam: Advertisements or commercial links Disruptive posting: Flaming or offending other users Illegal activities: Promote cracked software, or other illegal content Comments(optional): Report Cancel Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Fierce Fashions Through the Years: Rihanna's Rockin' Style Transformation!

(ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 2/9/2010 3:00:00 AM

Changing from blue jeans, bare midriffs and killer minidresses to feathered creations, futuristic finds and thigh-high leather leggings, Rihanna has had a style evolution since her early days as a recording artist. Chopping off her long locks and trading them in for a cropped 'do, Rihanna

turns heads wherever she goes with her high-fashion, eyecatching style.

The Grammy Award-winner is adept at spicing together the hard and soft and the naughty and nice to create a sensational, impossible-to-copy look. Get an eyeful of the Barbados-born beauty's devilishly good fashion sense!

24

Tech/ Politics/

E-reader News Edition

9 Odd But Awesome Tumblr Blogs

by Brenna Ehrlich (Mashable!)

else to make me lunch…)

Clients From Hell Yeah, bosses can be a drag, but In honor of the grueling work what about the people who are days in the immediate future and supposed to be “always right”?

Tom Selleck’s glorious ’stache, This blog has some real gems… we thought it prudent to offer up The Daily What a list of single-serving Tumblr This pop culture aggregator has blogs that are sure to provide you Get a daily dose of idiocy and everything — weird news, with a much-needed helping of rare lyrical clarity here. videos and ephemera galore. So entertainment. many time wasting diversions, so Unhappy Hipsters T h i s l i s t i s f a r f r o m OK, so it’s no longer a Tumblr little, well, time. comprehensive, seeing as how and those aren’t really hipsters (via The Daily What, via Delete there’s scores of Tumblrs on the ( “ y u p p y ” w o u l d b e m o r e Yourself) Slaughterhouse 90201 web — with more popping up accurate), but this blog is Page meets primetime with this every day — but it does contain h i l a r i o u s . I f d e c o r a t i n g photo blog, which combines both staff and popular favorites. magazines generally put you to literary quotes with photos from We know we’ll probably miss a sleep, this blog will stir your popular TV shows. few that you have bookmarked, ventricles back into wakefulness. F*ck Yeah Indie Boys! so please feel free to post them in Animals With Casts OK, a list of entertaining sites the comments. Selleck Waterfall wouldn’t be complete with a Come on, if the title alone Sandwich little eye candy (and one of the doesn’t melt your heart, you are This blog is basically self- obviously made of granite and denizens of the “F*ck Yeah!” explanatory, which isn’t really sitting in a courtyard, pigeons meme), and seeing as how we explaining much. It will leave roosting peacefully on your covered Sports Illustrated models you oddly hungry — whether it’s shoulders. last week, I thought we needed a for Selleck or the sandwiches is Lunch Bag Art little something for the ladies. up to you.

This dad pimps out his kids’ Incidentally, there’s a version for Awesome YouTube Comments lunch bags every day with the gents as well.

Of all the trolls in the land, those awesome art. Um, can I get a Tags: blog, pop culture, tumblr who frequent YouTube are by parental upgrade? (And someone far the most amusing/horrible.

Submitted at 2/9/2010 7:21:27 AM

The Apple Store is back online

by Mike Schramm (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

might actually be on the roads and/or in the air when it happens, but we'll update as soon as we can. Stay tuned.

Submitted at 2/9/2010 8:24:00 AM Update: It's back up, and it Filed under: Apple Yes, as appears the new hotness is... expected, the Apple Store is Aperture 3. d o w n f o r t h e m o r n i n g , Thanks to all who sent this in! presumably to update us with TUAW The Apple Store is back brand new MacBook Pros and online originally appeared on whatever else Apple has cooked The Unofficial Apple Weblog up for a release.

(TUAW) on Tue, 09 Feb 2010 We'll keep an eye on the website 08:24:00 EST. Please see our along with you readers, and terms for use of feeds. w h e n w e s e e w h a t ' s b e e n Read| Permalink| Email this| updated, we'll let you know. Do Comments be patient -- as many of us are traveling to Macworld today, we

Meghan McCain Blasts Tom Tancredo's 'Innate Racism' (Little Green Footballs) Submitted at 2/8/2010 1:28:45 PM

On “The View” today, Meghan McCain called out Tom Tancredo for his shocking dog whistle racism speech at the Tea

Party Convention in Nashville.

McCain: Congressman Tancredo went on TV and he was the first opening speaker and he said, ‘People who could not even spell the word vote or say it in English put a committed

socialist ideologue in the White House whose name is Barack Hussein Obama.’ And then he went on to say that people at the convention should have to pass literacy tests in order to be able to vote in this country, which is

the same thing that happened in the 50’s to prevent African Americans from voting. It’s innate racism and I think it’s why young people are turned off by this movement. And I’m sorry, but revolutions start with

young people, not with 65-yearold people talking about literacy tests and people who can’t say the word ‘vote’ in English.

Tech/

E-reader News Edition

Photographer Thrilled That Apple Using His Photo As Default iPad Background, Despite No Official Agreement

by Mike Masnick (Techdirt) Submitted at 2/9/2010 2:49:37 AM

In my experience, there is a group of photographers who are even more extreme in their copyright views than groups like the RIAA and MPAA. It's certainly not all (or, perhaps, even most) professional photographers who are like this, but there is a group of very, very adamant photographers who absolutely freak out about any use of their works without compensation. They even get upset if they feel that another photographer isn't getting enough compensation for every single use of a photograph.

Since they tend to be independent, they don't have the clout of a large organization like the RIAA, but they make up for it in aggressiveness. We've see it in the discussions that have compared microstock photo websites to drug dealers and even in response to our recent post about a misguided takedown of a guy who was promoting stock photo images on his blog --

25

Mashable Launches TED Channel

by Pete Cashmore (Mashable!)

Submitted at 2/9/2010 7:59:17 AM

TED, the Technology Entertainment Design conference, is renowned for bringing together the world’s smartest and most creative people. TED 2010 starts today in Long Beach, California, and we’ll be bringing you coverage where some photographers were for a while, the company only since there is a contract on the of the event all week. quick to call us idiots. Yes, how came to him days before the way, but he doesn't know what To help you track the most dare we suggest that such a use launch to ask to use the image, the terms are, and he doesn't insightful presentations and news of stock photography is fair use, and no agreement had been s e e m t o c a r e t h a t m u c h , at TED, we’re launching a d e s p i t e l e g a l p r e c e d e n t worked out by the time the recognizing that this is good no dedicated TED channel today at suggesting a decent chance that product launched with the photo matter what. And the same thing mashable.com/ted. Don’t forget such a blog was legal. Since there. But unlike some, Misrach is true of blogs, like the one we to check out the TED channel – their response doesn't go beyond didn't freak out. He still thinks discussed above, whose sole or bookmark it – to see what the calling us all "idiots," it's it's cool, and knows that it'll purpose was to promote stock world’s most influential people difficult to judge the reason, work out:"The funny thing is that images and direct people back to are saying about technology and other than they just don't like it. I don't even have a contract with the site to purchase the rights to social media innovation.

Given all that, I found this story them yet, so they must have those images.

If you’re new to TED, check out about the photographer, Richard decided on it at the eleventh Permalink| Comments| Email 5 Insightful TED Talks on Social Misrach, whose photograph was hour," Misrach says. "I'm sure This Story Media to get started. chosen by Apple to be the they'll send me one quickly now.

Special thanks to Nokia for default wallpaper for the iPad, But I'm very happy, I'm sure it's sponsoring the TED channel, quite interesting. That's because, fine, and the terms are good." which will be featured on while he's been talking to Apple Now, yes, this is a bit different, Mashable for the next week.

Tags: TED, ted 2010

26

Tech/ Politics/ Entertainment/

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Aperture 3 Hits the Apple Store

by Christina Warren (Mashable!)

You can create a JPEG from a frame, create multimedia slideshows and edit clips. I just Submitted at 2/9/2010 8:27:12 AM got my fiance a Panasonic GF1 Earlier this morning, the Apple micro four-thirds camera that Store was down for a protracted shoots AVCHD Lite. Not having amount of time. That almost to use different programs to always means one thing: import footage from the card will Something new was added to the be a great time-saver. store. This time, it was Aperture automatically detect people in Even my favorite feature of your photographs, allowing you Aperture — Photo Books — got 3.

Aperture is Apple’s photo to add tags and identify people an upgrade. You can now order m a n a g e m e n t a n d e d i t i n g — which makes exports to extra-large 13×10 books, and software for professionals or Facebook and Flickr pretty Apple added some new book users who just want more power simple. The Places feature uses themes. I don’t think I’ve ever than Apple’s iPhoto can offer. In GPS data embedded in your given my parents a better gift many ways, you could call photographs to add location- than the Photo Book that I Aperture iPhoto Pro — and that related data to the photo. This is c r e a t e d w i t h A p e r t u r e f o r looks like it’s an even more apt really cool if you’re on a trip and Mother’s Day 2008. The print description in the latest version. want to create a supplementary quality was astounding and my The software — which is $199 map of all the places you visited parents still keep the book on the for new users and $99 to upgrade and took pictures. coffee table. from a previous version of The other big new feature with Are you a photog or photog in Aperture — lets you organize, Aperture 3: It supports video. training? What is your favorite edit and export or print all of Photos are still the main focus, photo editing software tool? Let but as more and more digital us know! your photographs.

Aperture 3 adds a bunch of new cameras start to feature video Tags: aperture, aperture 3, features, including the Faces and and HD video, it makes sense to a p p l e , m a c , p h o t o g r a p h y , Places features first introduced in be able to import all the same s o f t w a r e iPhoto ‘09. This feature will data alongside your photographs.

Angelina Jolie Goes on Goodwill Mission (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 2/9/2010 3:41:00 AM

Angelina Jolie is embarking on another field mission for The UN Refugee Agency.

UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic told the Associated

Press that the star is spreading her motherly love to the devastated country of Haiti today. Due to security concerns related to the high profile star, no further details were released.

After taking in the Super Bowl in Miami with Brad Pitt and son

Maddox on Sunday, Jolie traveled to the Dominican Republic to visit hospitalized Haitian earthquake victims, a rep told the AP.

Charles Taylor: Pat Robertson Was My Man in Washington (Little Green Footballs)

of former President Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

Under cross-examination, Testifying at his war crimes trial Taylor said that Robertson had in the Hague last week, former volunteered to make Liberia’s Liberian President Charles case before U.S. administration Taylor said (paraphrasing), “ Pat officials, and had spoken directly Robertson was my man in to President Bush about Taylor.

Washington.”

He also confirmed that The revelations came in the Robertson’s company, Freedom midst of a U.N.-backed trial of G o l d L i m i t e d , s i g n e d a n Taylor at The Hague on 11 agreement to exploit gold in counts of war crimes and crimes southeastern Liberia, but that it against humanity during Sierra never generated any profit.

Leone’s 1990s civil war. Taylor “Mr. Taylor, indeed at one point is accused of directing a Sierra you said that you can count on Leone rebel group, the United Pat Robertson to get Washington Revolutionary Front (RUF), in a on your side,” he was asked by campaign aimed at securing the lead prosecution counsel, access to the country’s diamond Col. Brenda Hollis, a former mines. The rebel movement U.S. Air Force officer. Taylor stands accused of committing replied: “I don’t recall the exact mass atrocities in the late 1990s words, but something to that in the West African country, effect.” including the mutilation of A spokesman for Robertson, thousands of civilians.

Chris Roslan, confirmed that The international prosecutors Robertson was awarded a gold contend that Taylor offered exploration concession by the c o n c e s s i o n s t o W e s t e r n Liberian government during the individuals in exchange for 1990s. But he said that there was l o b b y i n g w o r k a i m e d a t “no quid pro quo” to provide the enhancing his image in the government with anything in United States. The prosecution return. Roslan said the company, maintains that Taylor also spent Freedom Gold, is no longer in $2.6 million on lobbying firms operation and has never found and public relations outfits in the any gold. hopes of influencing the policies Submitted at 2/8/2010 6:08:53 PM

Tech/ Politics/

E-reader News Edition

Navigon adds some unique features to GPS app

by Mel Martin (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

Alabama Senator Releases Holds On Obama Nominees

Submitted at 2/9/2010 6:30:00 AM

(Newsmax - Politics)

Filed under: Software, Odds and ends, iPhone, iPod touch Navigon has been very aggressive about keeping its highly rated MobileNavigator app [ iTunes link] up to date.

Now, new features are putting it even further ahead of a lot of the competition.

The update adds three innovative features: in-app connection to Facebook and Twitter, Panorama View 3D with 3D terrain views powered from NASA data, and personalized route delivery via NAVIGON MyRoutes, an intelligent direction provider.

For Facebook and Twitter connectivity, a simple icon tap posts the user's current position, destination, and ETA without navigation interruption -- handy for advising family of your expected arrival or updating other travelers with your location if you stopped for a break.

The MyRoutes feature analyzes driving habits, patterns, location, time/day and provides up to three routes clearly displayed in-map with ETA, distance and driving times for each.

The 3D views enable intuitive

Submitted at 2/8/2010 11:33:36 PM

orientation of the surrounding environment, and show you what lies ahead with digital landscape elevations, shadows, and geographic images. Panorama View 3D is integrated in-map, independent from the phone's data connection. The Panorama View 3D feature will be available via an in-app purchase.

There is a special Macworld promotion of the current version of MobileNavigator for US$69.99 and one time in-app purchase of Traffic Live for $19.99 (regularly $24.99) from February 5-15. All the new features except Panorama View are free updates for existing owners of the app. The Panorama View feature will be

$9.99. All the new announced features are expected to be available this spring.

Besides being available for the iPhone 3G and 3GS, the NAVIGON app also runs on the first-generation iPhone or an iPod touch. Additional accessories are required for GPS navigation on these devices.

TUAW Navigon adds some unique features to GPS app originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 09 Feb 2010 06:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

27

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Friday, "If you needed one example of what's Message from fivefilters.org: If wrong with this town, it might be you can, please donate to the full that one senator can hold up 70 -text RSS service so we can qualified individuals to make continue developing it. government better because he Republican Sen. Richard Shelby didn't get his earmarks." of Alabama has released the Senate Majority Leader Harry "holds" he had placed on every Reid, D-Nev., said last week that one of President Barack Obama's Shelby's move was holding up n o m i n e e s , h i s o f f i c e s a i d about 70 appointments, including Monday. a critical top Defense " T h e p u r p o s e o f p l a c i n g Department position overseeing numerous holds was to get the deployments to the war in White House's attention on two Afghanistan. issues that are critical to our A senior member of the national security — the Air Appropriations Committee, Force's aerial refueling tanker Shelby has built his career on a c q u i s i t i o n a n d t h e F B I ' s steering spending "earmarks" to Terrorist Device Analytical Alabama.

Center," Shelby spokesman Shelby can't single-handedly Jonathan Graffeo said in a defeat Obama's nominations. But statement released to news by forcing time-consuming votes organizations Monday night. on each one, he can delay them Shelby wants the tanker and the indefinitely. new FBI explosives center to be Š C o p y r i g h t 2 0 1 0 T h e built in Alabama. Senators Associated Press. All rights frequently block individual reserved. This material may not appointments, but Shelby's b e p u b l i s h e d , b r o a d c a s t , blanket hold was unusual. r e w r i t t e n o r r e d i s t r i b u t e d .

Now that he has gotten Obama's Five Filters featured article: attention, Graffeo said, "Sen. Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: Shelby has decided to release his PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, holds on all but a few nominees Term Extraction. directly related to the Air Force tanker acquisition."

28

Tech/ Entertainment/

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The tweet that made Steve Jobs furious

by Dave Caolo (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

writers in New York including Wall Street Journal editor Alan Murray, who sent the following Submitted at 2/8/2010 9:00:00 PM Tweet: Filed under: Apple Corporate, "This tweet sent from an iPad. Rumors, Steve Jobs Does it look cool?"

Apple doesn't have a huge social According to Vallyewag, the media presence. There's an tweet infuriated Steve Jobs and iTunes Facebook page and what w a s s o o n d e l e t e d . W h e n c a n a r g u a b l y b e c a l l e d a Valleywag followed up with MobileMe blog, but that's about Alan to ask about the incident, he it. However, they do monitor the replied by simply saying that he likes of Twitter, like any self- can't discuss it. respecting company would, and Apple is notorious for great a recent tweet reportedly ticked design, extreme secrecy and off Steve Jobs but good. what many have called paranoia.

While publicizing the iPad, Teams working on unreleased Steve met with a number of tech products are kept under a " cone

of silence," and Steve has reportedly gone off on highprofile members of the press who had written disagreeable reviews of Apple products. This

seems like another example.

Lest you think Steve is just a big meanie, he gets it as much as he dishes it out. In rather not-safefor-work terms, Steve shared

TUAW Giveaway: Win a BearExtender n3

by David Winograd (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

• You may enter only once.

• Five winners will be selected in a random drawing.

• Prize: One BearExtender n3 (Value: US$49.97) • Click Here for complete Official Rules.

Submitted at 2/9/2010 8:00:00 AM

Filed under: Accessories, Hardware Last month, we highly recommended the BearExtender n3[US $44.97] as a great way to extend a Wi-Fi network to reach those pesky dead spots. In my testing, I found that it's possible to get around three times as much range as from an Airport device.

Now the nice people at Rokland Technologies have given us five units to give to you. If you're having weak signal problems, you want one of these. I bought the unit they sent me to review

and have been overjoyed and amazed at it performing exactly as advertised.

The details of the giveaway are as follows: • Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who are 18

and older.

• To enter, leave a comment telling us what what problem you would solve with a BearExtender n3.

• The comment must be left before February 13, 11:59PM Eastern Standard Time.

with the panel of journalists the flavor of some of the angry emails he's received from disgruntled fans after product announcements. We'll let you read that on your own.

[Via MacRumors page 2] TUAW The tweet that made Steve Jobs furious originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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David Letterman Crew Member Asks for Jay Leno (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 2/9/2010 3:25:00 AM

He was a little too late. A crew member from "The Late Show with David Letterman" tried to Best of luck to everyone TUAW TUAW Giveaway: Win make a pitch to Jay Leno. a BearExtender n3 originally Interrupting David;s monologue appeared on The Unofficial on Monday, stage manager Biff Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, Henderson walked on stage with 09 Feb 2010 08:00:00 EST. a newspaper in hand asking, "Is Please see our terms for use of Jay Leno still here?"

Dave responded with a laugh, feeds.

"No, no, he left several days Read| Permalink| Email this| ago." Dave apologized to Biff Comments who wanted to give Jay a "hilarious headline" for his weekly featured segment.

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29

Saint and Sinner

by Michael Scammell (The New Republic - All Feed)

Silone made some mollifying remarks and claimed to be mystified by the outburst, but he Submitted at 2/8/2010 8:50:00 PM was probably bluffing. Taciturn Message from fivefilters.org: If and even morose by inclination, you can, please donate to the full and an uncharismatic speaker, he -text RSS service so we can had the satisfaction of having continue developing it. just bested the loquacious Bitter Spring: A Life of Ignazio K o e s t l e r i n t h e i r p u b l i c Silone discussion about policy, while

By Stanislao Pugliese Koestler’s volubility reflected his (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 426 own frustration at having lost the pp., $35) argument. The dispute had been In June 1950, Ignazio Silone about how best to respond to and Arthur Koestler, two of the Soviet propaganda. Koestler most prominent anti-communist advocated fighting fire with fire writers of that era, attended a and carrying the propaganda war convivial dinner party in West to the enemy by means of radio Berlin. They had gathered with stations beamed at the satellite several other intellectuals to countries and the publication of celebrate the founding books, magazines, and conference of the Congress for newspapers aimed at the Soviet Cultural Freedom, an American- b l o c . S i l o n e u r g e d a l e s s sponsored riposte to the Soviet c o n f r o n t a t i o n a l p o l i c y o f C o m i n f o r m ’ s “ p e a c e promoting social and political conferences” of the preceding reforms at home and merely year. Those were the early days showcasing Western cultural of the Cold War, and more than a achievements abroad, so as to hundred Western writers, critics, teach by example. a n d c u l t u r a l f i g u r e s h a d Their differences reflected a converged on the blockaded city gathering split in the antio f B e r l i n t o d e m o n s t r a t e communist left in Europe (and to solidarity with its people and to a lesser extent in America) that resist the Soviet cultural and would persist for the next political offensive. According to twentyfive years. The question Koestler’s wife, Mamaine, was how to straddle the divisions K o e s t l e r g o t d r u n k a n d between left and right in the repeatedly accused Silone of W e s t i n o p p o s i n g S o v i e t ignoring Koestler’s fraternal expansionism and the political feelings for him. Silone was pressure from the East. Koestler behaving, said Koestler, “as if he maintained that progressives were a broad-bottomed Abruzzi should hold their noses (if need p e a s a n t ” a n d K o e s t l e r “ a be) and join an alliance between cosmopolitan gigolo.” left and right to fight the greater

evil of Stalinism. Silone, out of an instinctive anti-Americanism and lingering nostalgia for his communist past, disagreed. In his native region of Italy, he argued, “half the Abruzzi peasants” were communists and the other half were not, but since both were “fighting against Prince Torlonia,” you could not ask the non-communists to oppose the communists. (Prince Torlonia was the largest landowner and political leader of the region where Silone spent his childhood.) Stalinism and the threat that it posed was trumped, for Silone, by the more ancient struggle between the left and the right in Europe, and the left could never accept an alliance with reactionary forces.

“Silone always comes back sooner or later to the Abruzzi peasants and Prince Torlonia,” commented Mamaine when reporting these conversations, and she was right. Silone’s deep attachment to his roots was well known. As Stanislao G. Pugliese, Silone’s first biographer in English, writes in his new book, an understanding of those roots is crucial to understanding Silone’s works. Pugliese cites Silone’s autobiographical essay, “Emergency Exit,” written shortly before the Berlin conference, in support of this claim: “Everything I have written up to now,” Silone asserted, “and probably everything I will write in the future, even though I have

traveled and lived abroad for many years, refers only to that part of the country which can be seen from the house where I was born—no more than twenty or thirty miles in any direction.”

Silone was born in 1900 in a part of southeastern Italy known as the Abruzzo, a land of howling wolves and rugged mountains, in Pugliese’s words, and of “saints and stonecutters,” in Silone’s. In the years of Silone’s youth it was still a remote and benighted region, dominated by a small and powerful aristocracy (led by Prince Torlonia) and populated for the most part by cafoni, downtrodden peasants barely able to read or write or eke out a living from the unforgiving soil.

Silone, born Secondo Tranquilli, was the son of a small landowner, and so not quite a peasant himself, but he identified with the cafoni out of sympathy for their poverty, and as the result of a difficult and haunted childhood. By the age of eleven he had seen four brothers and sisters die of illness (an older sister had perished before he was born), and in his twelfth year he saw his struggling father die, too.

His impoverished mother, left with two sons to care for, tried to make a living as a weaver, but she herself perished, in 1915, in a terrible earthquake that leveled the family’s hometown of Pescina and devastated the entire region, killing over thirty thousand people and leaving

Secondo, who was fourteen, and his younger brother Romolo, who was eleven, to be raised by their maternal grandmother.

Pugliese describes the earthquake as having inflicted a trauma on Silone comparable to the shock inflicted on Dostoyevsky by his pretended execution. The young boy never forgot the sight of his dead mother being pulled from the ruins of their toppled house, and he associated it in his mind with the sufferings of the poor peasants around him. Observing the vast divide between the luxurious lives of the aristocracy and the bitter struggle for survival of the cafoni in and around Pescina, and influenced by “burning rage against all forms of injustice inherited from his father,” he developed socialist leanings early. Later, after arriving at a school in Rome to continue his education, and confronted by the greed and corruption fostered by the distribution of earthquake relief, he joined the Young Socialists, rising quickly to become their leader. In 1921, he became a founding member of the clandestine Italian Communist Party.

A year later the still-young Tranquilli entered into what was to become the defining struggle of his life, against the Italian fascist regime led by Benito SAINT page 31

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Something Much Darker

by Leon Wieseltier (The New Republic - All Feed)

his thinking of the friendship and the teaching of Reinhold Niebuhr, Ursula’s very Submitted at 2/8/2010 8:50:00 PM remarkable husband. The Message from fivefilters.org: If Cochrane piece, which barely you can, please donate to the full mentions Cochrane at all, is a -text RSS service so we can fine example of Auden at his continue developing it. most philosophically grandiose I. and amateurish. “The distinctive “Trying to explain the doctrine mark of classical thought is that of the Trinity to readers of The it gives no positive value to New Republic is not easy.” On freedom and identifies the divine June 2, 1944, W.H. Auden with the necessary or the legal.” penned that sentence in a letter to “A monolithic monotheism is Ursula Niebuhr. On January 26, always a doctrine of God as 2010, Andrew Sullivan posted it either manic-depressive Power or as the “quote for the day” on his schizophrenic Truth.” And so on. blog. Displaced and unglossed O n m e t a p h y s i c a l t h e m e s , quotations are always in some Auden’s original formulations way mordant, and bristle smugly c o u l d s o m e t i m e s b e v e r y with implications. Let us see obscure. Perhaps that was why what this one implies. my predecessor at this magazine Auden was at Swarthmore when held the article for many months, he wrote his letter to his friend. until late September. “At last, He began by thanking her for her The New Republic has printed admiration of a piece about my now months’ old piece on Kierkegaard’s Either/Or that he Cochrane’s book,” Auden wrote had recently published in The to Ursula in October, “—they’ve New Republic, and then reported cut it about a bit but I’m really that he had just finished, “after quite pleased with it.” writing it four times,” a review The striking thing about for the magazine of Charles Auden’s discussion of the Trinity Norris Cochrane’s book i n h i s p i e c e i s t h a t , C h r i s t i a n i t y a n d C l a s s i c a l notwithstanding his complaint Culture, which had in fact about the difficulty of explaining appeared four years earlier. His it, he fails to explain it. Instead trouble in completing the piece h e c o n c e d e s t h a t i t i s to his satisfaction was what inexplicable. “The formula,” he p r o m p t e d t h e r e m a r k t h a t declares, is “a foolishness to the Sullivan finds so pleasing and reason,” because reason is repercussive. Auden’s intense convinced only “by logical and idiosyncratic theology was necessity, like the timeless truths flourishing in those years, not of geometry,” and so could not least owing to the impact upon “grasp … the doctrine of three

persons” in God. Auden is not be chided for his failure. He followed in a long line of Christian intellectuals who despaired of explanations for this belief. That line included some of the greatest thinkers in the Christian tradition. Augustine, whose treatment of the Trinity was discussed by Cochrane in his book and by Auden in his review, began his influential treatise on the subject by declaring that the aim of his work was “to guard against the sophistries of those who disdain to begin with faith and are deceived by a crude and perverse love of reason.” Aquinas, in the first part of the Summa Theologica, was more direct: “It is impossible to attain to the knowledge of the Trinity by natural reason.” For this reason, he asserted, “we must not attempt to prove what is of faith, except by authority alone, to those who receive the authority; while as regards others, it suffices to prove that what faith teaches is not impossible.”

Indeed, the despair of explanation goes all the way back to the Fathers of the Church, who afflicted themselves with the most extraordinary mental contortions–hypostasis, ousia, and the rest–to make the idea of the Trinity seem plausible. They were right, finally, to call it a mystery. To regard a concept as a mystery may be a spiritual triumph, but it is an intellectual

defeat.

I wish to confirm Auden’s–and Sullivan’s–suspicion that New Republic people cannot comprehend the Trinity; or at least those New Republic people who are not (in Aquinas’s terms) among “those who receive the authority,” but are the logically minded “others”; or at least this New Republic person. The idea of plurality in the deity, like the idea of corporeality in the deity (Auden would not have had an easier time with the Incarnation!), represents nothing less than a retraction of the monotheistic revolution in thinking about God, a reversal of God’s sublimity, a regress to polytheistic crudity. It is completely inconsistent with everything that my mind instructs me to believe about God’s essence. (I leave aside what my mind instructs me to believe about God’s existence.

We are in the realm of theology here, not the realm of philosophy.)

Of course, my stiff-necked opinion about this central tenet of the Christian faith is not only rational, it is also Jewish. The electrifying history of JewishChristian disputations in the Middle Ages amply documents the scrupulously argued Jewish refusal to entertain anything but a perfect unity in the conception of God. In the words of an early modern Jewish writer, whose polemical work survives in an unattributed Hebrew manuscript

at the Jewish Theological Seminary, “I do not understand this and you will not be able to explain it to me.” That is not a report of a prejudice. It is a report of a view with rationally defensible grounds. The respect one must have for believers one need not have for beliefs.

When Auden joked to Niebuhr that the Trinity could hardly be understood in The New Republic, he was lightly lamenting the spiritual shallowness of the liberalism of his day. He was not alone in this lament, to be sure. The 1940s were the years of the inner deepening of American liberalism, under the influence of Niebuhr, and Schlesinger, and Trilling. Perhaps Sullivan is posting his “quote for the day” to make the same point–except that in his present incarnation he is himself a bizarre kind of liberal, and The New Republic today, a liberal magazine, is not known only, or in some quarters mainly, for its liberalism. It is hard to escape the impression that Sullivan is not liberal-baiting here. No, when he piously implies that the orbit of The New Republic is immune, or hostile, to the eternal verities of Christianity, he is baiting another class of people, and operating in the vicinity of a different canard.

II. Consider some squibs that SOMETHING page 32

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Mussolini, which affected his future in two important ways.

First, he was obliged to spend a great deal of time traveling abroad in Spain, Germany, France, and the Soviet Union on party work, an uncomfortable arrangement for a patriot as attached to the soil as he was.

Second, he had to master the art of secrecy, taking on a baffling and ever-changing array of party aliases— over a dozen, according to Pugliese— including the one that later stuck, Ignazio Silone, which he adopted in 1923 while languishing in a Spanish jail.

Secrecy became a passion for Silone, along with its necessary corollary, the ability to keep silent. This was evident in a turning point in his career during a visit to Moscow in 1927. Both he and Palmiro Togliatti, who were together leading an Italian delegation to a meeting of the Communist International, refused to sign a resolution expelling Leon Trotsky from the party without being allowed to read the document that supposedly incriminated him.

Trotsky was expelled anyway by a resolution that was claimed to be “unanimous.” Togliatti made his peace with the Soviet leaders, and later became the head of the Italian Communist Party, but Silone kept silent, while gradually becoming alienated from his comrades. At the end of the 1920s, having contracted tuberculosis and fallen into a

severe depression, he hid his increasing alienation from the Communist Party by moving to a clinic in Davos, Switzerland; but in the summer of 1931 he was expelled from the party anyway for his failure to support the party line.

It was during his illness and convalescence in Switzerland that, without any formal experience in fiction, Silone wrote his first and most famous novel, Fontamara, a work of polemical social realism that bore witness to his homesickness for his beloved Abruzzo and the peasant community that he had left behind. Its hero, he later said, was not so much an individual as “the rural proletariat, the eternally suffering peasants,” although the novel tells their story through the rebellion of a single peasant, Barbera Viola, against the new fascist regime and his transformation into a fledgling revolutionary. Viola is ultimately arrested, tortured, and brought to his death in a fascist jail—an emblem of the fate of the cafoni under fascism.

Fontamara appeared first in German in 1933, and was quickly translated into twentyseven languages, turning its author into an international celebrity. But the novel could not be published in Silone’s native Italy, because of his communist and anti-fascist reputation. He soon followed it with another novel set in the Abruzzo, Bread and Wine. It told the story of

Pietro Spina, a communist who returns to his native region to judge the prospects for revolution. Spina is a much more self-conscious and intellectual hero than Viola. The hero of Fontamara had still embodied the revolutionary zeal of Silone’s youth, but the hero of Bread and Wine ends up disillusioned and disgusted with the party that inspired him.

Pugliese notes that Bread and Wine is considered by many to be Silone’s finest novel. It is more discursive than Fontamara, but also a more mature work of ideas—a reflection in fiction on the dilemma of ends and means that tortured so many intellectuals in the twentieth century. A third novel, The Seed Beneath the Snow, completed in 1940, constitutes the last in what Silone considered a trilogy. It continues the tale of Spina, who goes willingly to his death at the hands of the fascists for the sake of personal loyalty to his former comrades.

Pugliese is not terribly interested in Silone’s fiction. He pays only cursory attention to the novels, dwelling more on their subject matter than on their literary qualities. What really interests him is Silone’s politics. Among Silone’s writings, he seems to prefer The School for Dictators, a non-fictional satirical monograph couched in dialogue, and written shortly before The Seed Beneath the Snow, to the novel that followed it. He

observes that for Silone the distinguishing quality of fascism was not that it pitted one class against another (which it undoubtedly did), nor that it perpetuated inequality (ditto), but that it mobilized and marshaled “all the relics of primitive barbarism that still survive in modern man,” transferring to the political arena “many pre-logical and a-logical relics of a primitive mentality” lurking beneath the “varnish” of civilization. The fascists had also been successful, according to Silone, in “contaminating many of [their] political opponents” by forcing them to struggle against fascism with fascist methods, thereby becoming “barbarians themselves. Red barbarians.”

There can be little doubt that Silone had put his finger on one of the prime reasons why fascism flourished in so much of “civilized” Europe—it expressed an almost irresistible atavism, which was why it remained the chief ideological and political enemy for Silone even after his break with communism (for Koestler it was the other way around). Silone evidently feared fascism’s pull precisely because of its great appeal to “the masses,” who were dangerously vulnerable to unreason and brutality. But while the argument that fascism had “contaminated” its opponents may have some truth to it, the implication that fascism somehow predated—and was more innocent

than—communism is false.

Both, in their modern form, arose from the ashes of World War I at approximately the same time. But Silone was not yet prepared to equate the two, and he could never quite bring himself to do so. One of the charges he was to level against Koestler and likeminded anticommunists was that they were too inclined to use the same methods as their opponents to achieve their goals. The equivalent charge against Silone (and many other ex-communist intellectuals) has to be that they hid behind their hatred for fascism and soft-pedaled their criticisms of communism.

Silone’s was a particularly complex and ambiguous and tortured case. During World War II, for example, after he had rejoined the Italian Socialist Party and become chief of its foreign office in exile, he was contacted by Allen Dulles of the American Office of Strategic Services (the OSS was the predecessor of the CIA), and became a conduit for passing money and information between the Americans and members of the Italian resistance, and for keeping an eye on the communists in the resistance.

This prompted the adoption of more aliases, and Silone was so successful at concealing his true position that he wound up in a Swiss jail on suspicion that he SAINT page 33

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Sullivan recently posted on his blog. “Most American Jews, of course, retain a respect for learning, compassion for the other, and support for minorities (Jews, for example, are the ethnic group most sympathetic to gay rights),” he declared on January 13. “But the GoldfarbKrauthammer wing–that celebrates and believes in government torture, endorses the pulverization of Gazans with glee, and wants to attack Iran–is something else. Something much darker.” Michael Goldfarb is the former online editor of The Weekly Standard, about whom the less said, the better. Charles Krauthammer is Charles Krauthammer. I was not aware that they comprise a “wing” of American Jewry, or that American Jewry has “wings.”

What sets them apart from their more enlightened brethren is the unacceptability of their politics to Sullivan. That is his criterion for dividing the American Jewish community into good Jews and bad Jews–a practice with a sordid history.

As far as I can tell, Krauthammer’s position on torture is owed to a deep and sometimes frantic concern for American security, and his position on the war in Gaza to a deep and sometimes frantic concern for Israeli security, and his position on Iran to a deep and sometime frantic concern for American and Israeli security.

Whatever the merits of his

views, I do not see that his motives are despicable.

Moreover, Krauthammer argues for his views; the premises of his analysis are coldly clear, and may be engaged analytically, and when necessary refuted. Unlike Sullivan, he does not present feelings as ideas. Most important, the grounds of Krauthammer’s opinions are no more to be found in, or reduced to, his Jewishness than the grounds of the contrary opinions–the contentions of dovish Jews who denounce torture, and oppose Israeli abuses in the Gaza war, and insist upon a diplomatic solution to the threat of an Iranian nuclear capability–are to be found in, or reduced to, their Jewishness. All these “wings” are fervent Jews and friends of Israel. There are many “Jewish” answers to these questions. We all want the Torah on our side. And the truth is that the Torah has almost nothing to do with it.

Sullivan is hunting for motives, not reasons; for conspiracies, which is the surest sign of a mind’s bankruptcy. These days the self-congratulatory motto above his blog is “Of No Party or Clique,” but in fact Sullivan belongs to the party of Mearsheimer and the clique of Walt (whom he cites frequently and deferentially), to the herd of fearless dissidents who proclaim in all seriousness, without in any way being haunted by the history of such an idea, that Jews control

Washington. Sullivan might have a look at the domestic pressures–in lobbies and other forms–upon American diplomacy toward China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Cuba, and give a thought or two to the elaborate and sometimes exasperating nature of foreignpolicy-making in a democracy; but he prefers not to dive deep into the substance of anything. It is less immediately satisfying than cursing and linking. Does Sullivan think that Obama’s engagement with Iran–which, accurately described, is an engagement with the Iranian dictatorship and not with the Iranian people–is paying off?

Does he believe that the Israeli war against Hamas was an unjust war, or that Israel should have continued to absorb Hamas’s rocket attacks–which were indisputably criminal–and not acted with force against them?

His answers may be inferred from his various ejaculations–“the pulverization of Gazans,” for example, is a phrase that is calculatedly indifferent to the wrenching moral and strategic perplexities that are contained in the awful reality of asymmetrical warfare–but they are not so much answers as bar-room retorts; moody explosions of verbal violence; more invective from another American crank. Worst of all, the explanation that Sullivan adopts for almost everything that he does not like

about America’s foreign policy, and America’s wars, and America’s role in the world–that it is all the result of the clandestine and cunningly organized power of a single and small ethnic group–has a provenance that should disgust all thinking people.

And this is not all that is disgusting about Sullivan’s approach. His assumption, in his outburst about “the GoldfarbKrauthammer wing,” that every thought that a Jew thinks is a Jewish thought is an anti-Semitic assumption, and a rather classical one. Bigotry has always made representatives of individuals, and discerned the voice of the group in the voice of every one of its members. Is everything that every gay man says a gay statement? I will give an example. On October 15, 2001, when the ruins of the World Trade Center still smoldered, Sullivan published a piece in the Times of London called “A British View of the US PostSeptember 11.” In this piece he accused Bill Clinton of “appeasement,” and praised George W. Bush for assembling “the ideal team” for a “task” that “cannot be done by airpower alone,” and had kind words for America’s “world hegemony”–the politics changes, the fever remains the same–and also included this unforgettable sentence: “The decadent Left in its enclaves on the coasts is not dead – and may well mount what

amounts to a fifth column.” A fifth column! It is a genuinely sinister sentence. I wish to emphasize two features of Sullivan’s comment. The first is that it is an exercise in demonization: it divides the American people into good Americans and bad Americans.

The second is that it is in no way an expression of Sullivan’s homosexuality. It must never be said that when Sullivan lauded the bellicosity of Cheney and Rumsfeld–which wing of American Christianity, by the way, shall we blame for them?

–he exchanged the company of the good gays for the company of the bad gays. To say that would be homophobic. Here is what such homophobia would look like: Most American homosexuals, of course, retain a respect for art, and compassion for the other, and support for minorities. But the SullivanShmullivan wing of American homosexuality–that celebrates and believes in torture and war, and endorses the pulverization of Afghan villages with glee, and wants to attack any country where Al Qaeda may be found–is something else.

Something much darker. Get it?

III. A day later, on January 14, Sullivan permitted himself another thought on Israel. This is the whole of it: “The Netanyahu government has SOMETHING page 34

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was still a communist. As it happens, his relationship with the OSS caused him to soften his earlier hostility to capitalist America, but he maintained his left-wing principles and continued to insist to the Americans that after the war, even though Italy would be occupied as an enemy power, its people should be allowed to hold free elections and decide on their own form of government, which he was convinced would be a socialist one.

By war’s end, Silone was also, at last, prepared to make his twenty-year-old break with the Communist Party explicit and public. He did so in “Emergency Exit,” his contribution to The God That Failed, a remarkable volume of testimony by excommunists conceived and edited by Arthur Koestler and Richard Crossman. The essay included a lot about Prince Torlonia and the Abruzzo cafoni, but what got Silone into trouble was his revelation about visiting Moscow in 1927 and refusing to sign the resolution condemning Trotsky. This was his first public mention of it, and Trotsky’s widow published a scathing letter accusing him of moral cowardice for waiting twentytwo years to reveal the truth about the infamous and supposedly “unanimous” resolution. Meanwhile Silone was back in postwar Italy and served as a Socialist deputy from 1946 to 1948, when he played a

leading role in preventing an alliance between the Socialist and Communist parties. He also published two more novels, A Handful of Blackberries and The Secret of Luca, in which his estrangement from communism became a major theme.

Pugliese notes that the story of Silone’s zigzag path into socialism, and then from socialism into communism and back to socialism again, is complicated by his many omissions and silences, and his selfevident penchant for mythmaking; unfortunately these attributes seem to have contributed to the chaos in Pugliese’s baffling book.

Pugliese is determined not to write a conventional, chronological biography, and not to seem “omniscient” or overbearing, but he ties himself in such knots to avoid the pitfalls he fears that he falls into the opposite trap of repeatedly losing his way in his own narrative, which in many respects is rambling and unfocused to the point of incoherence. He aims to treat Silone’s life thematically, slicing it up into chapters on Silone and the Communist Party, Silone’s writing and exile, Silone and post-fascism, Silone and cold war culture, and so on, but although he has interesting things to say about all these topics, his disregard for chronology or coherence leads him to repeat facts, dates, and anecdotes over and over again to

fit each new context, leading the reader’s eyes to glaze over and his mind to wander. This is something of an achievement in a biography of a figure as riveting as Silone.

Silone still awaits a proper biography in English, but for those who already know something of his life and work, Pugliese is worth wading into.

His analysis of Silone’s ideas on fascism, and his account of the geopolitical intricacies of the postwar settlement in Europe—along with Silone’s complicated maneuvers between the parties, and his ambivalent attempts to become a politician—is very skillfully done. Pugliese shows why Silone, despite his refusal to allow the Italian Socialist Party to collaborate with the communists, found it so hard to engage in the kind of ideological warfare that Koestler advocated.

In his essay for The God That Failed, Silone emphasized that his expulsion from the party had been “a very sad day for me, a day of mourning, of mourning for my youth.” He never forgot the communist idealism of his early days and his affection for his comrades, even when he was forced to acknowledge the infernal corruption of the party machine. After the war, Silone seemed unable to commit himself completely to any political program and increasingly held himself aloof from political life. Interestingly,

he also disdained the easy antifascism that was popular in Italy at the time. To be “anti” only sustained the illusion that the fascists were still powerful enough to be worth opposing.

Silone turned instead to Europe, having concluded as early as 1946 that remaking Europe was even more important than remaking its individual countries. “The unification of Europe is the fundamental political task of our generation,” he declared. “If we do not solve this problem our generation can consider itself an historic failure.” The following year, as president of the PEN Center in Italy, he spoke at an international PEN conference in Basel on “The Dignity of Intelligence and the Unworthiness of Intellectuals,” pointing to the unique responsibility that intellectuals bore toward society, and to the inability of most of them, including himself, to rise to the challenge. In 1949, at another PEN conference, he admonished writers and intellectuals not to submit to the power of the state, or to become “vassals” of those in power anywhere. And demonstrating again his perpetual drive for evenhandedness, he charged them to resist “the corruption of the mass media” in the West.

It was natural in these circumstances for Silone to reach out to European writers like himself. He was part of the generation of the 1930s that took

it for granted that writers should also be men of action, and as in the cases of many of his fellow writers, it cost him many years in exile. He and Koestler had first met in fact in communist literary circles in Switzerland before the war, and then again in Rome in 1948, soon after the success of Koestler’s masterpiece Darkness at Noon. Koestler, who agreed with Silone about Europe and the political direction it should take, had come fresh from meetings in Paris with Sartre, Camus, and Malraux, and their discussions of what to do about Europe. Silone knew the French writers through his own frequent visits to Paris and contributions to Sartre’s Les Temps Modernes and other French journals. All of them—Silone, Koestler, Camus, Sartre, Malraux—had been with the Communist Party at one time or another, and all of them were preoccupied with the prospects for socialism and supported the concept of a united continent.

Indeed, for a brief time in the late 1940s, it looked as if they might all line up behind a common concept of Europe as free, united, anticommunist, and social democratic.

The concept was shared by the American liberals who had successfully established the Marshall Plan for Western Europe and helped to organize the Congress for Cultural Freedom conference in 1950, but SAINT page 35

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all but declared war on the Obama administration and then openly disses a vital ally, Turkey. The slow cultural shifts in Israel–toward ever more a r r o g a n c e , m o r e fundamentalism, more Russian immigrant racism, contempt for the Muslim world, military adventurism, and the daily grinding of the Palestinians on the West Bank and pulverization and inhumane blockade of the people of Gaza–well maybe others can explain it. All I can say is: it saddens me, as a longtime lover of the Jewish state. It does not represent the historic mainstream of liberal Jewish society, it is a betrayal of many Jewish virtues that goyim like me deeply admire, and it seems designed for war as some kind of eternal and uplifting state of mind. I hope Israel shifts soon. For Israel’s sake.”

That bit about Sullivan’s love for the Jewish state is poignant, and on behalf of all the good Jews in America I thank him for it, but I am unmoved. This squib is an anthology of banalities and stereotypes. The “arrogance” of Israelis: they are pushy, aren’t they? And the slippery slope from pushiness in Tel Aviv to inhumanity in Jabaliya: it is obvious, isn’t it? “More fundamentalism,” Sullivan says, but there is no such thing as Jewish fundamentalism, and there has been no such thing as Jewish fundamentalism since early Karaism. (He can Google

it.) The settlers on the West Bank and the religious fascists in their midst are not fundamentalists.

They represent a particular school of interpretation of scriptural and rabbinical authorities–a debatable one and a deplorable one. But they are not fundamentalists. “More Russian immigrant racism”: it is a problem, though in this region there is a lot of xenophobia to go around, which brings us to “contempt for the Muslim world.” For the entirety of the Muslim world, by the entirety of Israeli society? I think not. And does Sullivan have any notion of the magnitude and the virulence of Muslim contempt for the Jewish world? Muslim contempt for Jews does not justify Jewish contempt for Muslims, of course; but nothing justifies Sullivan’s refusal to give the whole picture.

“Military adventurism”: about the wars against Hamas and Hezbollah this is an empty and propagandistic phrase. Whatever went awry in those campaigns, and many Israelis and supporters of Israel were quick to condemn it, they were hardly adventures–unless you believe that the lives of Israelis under attack do not have the same moral import as the lives of Arabs under attack, which is what Sullivan’s malicious epithet suggests. It does not answer the question of whether those wars of retaliation were just wars, it simply dismisses the question.

Here, too, Sullivan refuses to

give the whole picture. “The daily grinding of the Palestinians on the West Bank”: I was in Ramallah recently, and the situation is more complex and even more hopeful. Anyway, the only thing that will save the Palestinians from the occupation–and a less terrible occupation is still an occupation, which is terrible–is political compromise. With the exception of Salam Fayyad and Mahmoud Abbas on his good days, I do not see a Palestinian keenness for compromise. Again, this does not justify the Israeli lack of the same keenness; but again, nothing justifies Sullivan’s refusal to give the whole picture.

If “the Netanyahu government has all but declared war on the Obama administration,” it was after the Obama administration had all but declared war on the Netanyahu government. Obama may have been right about Netanyahu–the skepticism about the latter’s willingness to surrender land for a peace that will bring Palestine into being is not exactly fanciful–but Obama failed miserably, and set everything back. Sullivan’s characterization of the recent history is dishonest. On the other hand, there is no suggestion that Netanyahu is Trig’s dad.

And then Sullivan returns to his condescension toward the Jews.

Contemporary Israel is “a betrayal of many Jewish virtues.”

I thought that human rights, if this is what Sullivan sees Israel

abusing, is not a Jewish virtue, or a Christian virtue, or a Muslim virtue, but a human virtue. Israel is a secular state. The primary offense of Israeli brutality in Gaza was not against Maimonides. But Sullivan desperately wants the Jews to be good Jews, to be the best Jews they can be. He wants edifying Jews. Don’t they realize that if they fail to edify, they may lose his friendship? The fools! Jews ought to determine their beliefs and their actions apologetically, so as not to disappoint “goyim like me.” This is a common phenomenon in the experience of minorities. They may awaken to their autonomy, but they must not go too far. Gays are abundantly familiar with this sort of phony friendship, as are blacks. “It does not represent the historic mainstream of liberal Jewish society”: but what if the historic mainstream of Jewish society were conservative? A day does not go by that I do not do my humble part to prevent such a transformation from coming to pass, but let us imagine that it does. What, then?

Will they all be bad Jews, and “something much darker”? Is the Jews’ claim upon American understanding premised upon their conformity to a particular politics? Is their legitimacy conditional? Sullivan’s more-insorrow-than-in-anger tone is cheap. He can keep his sorrow and he can keep his anger.

IV.

Then, two weeks later, Sullivan posted whatever was in his head about “Jihadism and The Israel Question,” which is certainly better than “Jihadism and The Jewish Question.” “Jihadism has many causes,” he reflectively began. Then he remembered himself and continued: “But the idea that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and pulverization of Gaza can be bracketed entirely out of that dynamic is loopy. …

It’s clear that taking the IsraelPalestine question off the table would help us tackle Jihadism immensely. If the US were to help to establish a Palestinian state and could be shown to stand up to Netanyahu’s continual provocation, it would help the US advance its interests in the region and the world.”

Sullivan then concedes that “it would not remove or emasculate [that is not the problem!] the more irredentist factions, the Qaeda core, the Saudi nutjobs, and the Mumbai maniacs. But it would help shift the paradigm in which they can use the daily humiliations of Arabs in the West Bank or the horror of the Gaza attack as ways to move the Muslim middle.” And that, of course, is what “those who want to brandish Gitmo, embrace torture, and accelerate Israel settlements,” “those who want a civilizational war,” hope to avert.

They “intensify the polarization that the Jihadists relish.”

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the moment for unity—or, at least, a unity that included America— soon passed. None of the three French writers attended the Berlin conference, though Camus and Malraux sent messages of support. Malraux, like Koestler, was ready to accept America’s leading role in Europe, and to make a pact of convenience with the political right (he eventually joined de Gaulle’s government as minister of information), convinced that it was the only realistic way to oppose communism. Sartre, steadfastly anti-capitalist and anti -American, briefly tried to find a “third way” between the two blocs, but moved leftward to become an apologist for Stalinism. Camus, who was closest to both Silone and Koestler, bitterly opposed Sartre’s defense of the Soviet Union and clung to a sort of third way of his own; and though Silone parted company from Camus over decolonization and the war in Algeria, he fully supported him in his disputation with Sartre.

In Berlin, Silone had the satisfaction of prevailing in his argument with Koestler that the West should devote itself to cultural and political selfimprovement and make the competition with the Soviet bloc peaceful rather than confrontational, and his influence on the organizers of the conference within the CIA turned out to be crucial. One

outcome of his preferred policy was the Congress for Cultural Freedom’s eventual decision to found a stable of literary magazines in Europe and Asia to showcase the cultural richness of the free countries. It was only natural that Silone should become co-editor of a new Italian journal, Tempo Presente, similar to sister journals such as Encounter in Britain, Preuves in France, and Der Monat in West Germany. Silone proved to be an excellent editor: cosmopolitan, sophisticated about literature, and politically astute— though not astute enough (as the more cynical Koestler was) to spot the hidden hand of the CIA behind the CCF. In 1967, when word of the CIA’s role in supporting the Congress for Cultural Freedom leaked out, it provoked a huge scandal among intellectuals in Europe and the United States, and Silone was thrown on the defensive. His ideological enemies pointed to his wartime work with the OSS as evidence that he must have been an American spy all along, and that in editing Tempo Presente he had simply carried out the orders of the CIA—a ridiculous accusation in light of the magazine’s record of intellectual independence and its frequent criticism of Western institutions. (A part of the genius of the CIA’s early leaders was to give the writers and intellectuals it supported a free hand.)

In the inflamed context of

postwar Italy, however, where a portion of the intelligentsia was still on the defensive about its collaboration with Mussolini and another portion consisted of communists and fellow travelers (and the two camps, for obvious reasons, overlapped), the appearance of such an easy target was hard to resist. Silone was not helped at this juncture by his reputation for stubbornness and his penchant for secrecy. The Polish writer Gustav Herling, a frequent contributor to Tempo Presente and a close friend of Silone’s, once described him as “truly a man who did not speak much and who knew how to keep a secret,” and even Silone’s second wife and literary collaborator Darina Silone described his character as “difficult” and his personality as “very complex.” No one, she added, “ever knew him completely,” voicing an insight that was to attain new relevance after Silone’s death.

Silone, meanwhile, retreated into his private world. Keeping his own counsel and hewing to his own path, he held aloof from politics and remained independent of official circles, turning down offers to become Italy’s ambassador to France or to head Italy’s newly established state TV network. Literature was still his main métier, and apart from some journalism he published a novel, The Fox and the Camelias, set in Switzerland between the wars (his only novel

not set in the Abruzzo); a play, The Story of a Humble Christian, based in part on the life of Father Charles de Foucauld, a French holy man; and a collection of autobiographical essays, Emergency Exit, named for the essay that had originally appeared in The God That Failed. Both the play and the essays were critical and commercial successes, and in his last years Silone was showered with honors. When he died in 1978, the president of Italy lauded the writer—in terms that many of his compatriots now shared— as the “noble, rigorous, inflexible, democratic conscience of contemporary Italian culture.”

Silone’s posthumous reputation seemed entirely safe, but the taciturn, introverted survivor of the Abruzzo earthquake had one last secret up his sleeve. It was revealed in 1996, when an Italian historian caused a sensation when he accused Silone of having spied for the fascist police between the wars. The evidence was to be found in a series of letters signed by a certain "Silvestri” to Guido Bellone, a high-ranking fascist police official in Rome, which the historian had unearthed in the government archives. Pugliese devotes his best and most gripping chapter to a detailed account of the controversy that divided Italian public opinion over whether the letters were genuine or not. Silone’s supporters maintained that they

were forgeries, whereas his opponents held that the handwriting was undoubtedly Silone’s. Moreover, the key document in the collection, an emotional appeal to Bellone to release the writer from their arrangement, dating from 1930, appeared to suggest a collaboration that had lasted over ten years.

Somewhat hyperbolically, Pugliese compares the fallout from these heated allegations to the impact of the Dreyfus affair in France. Members of the proSilone camp pointed to numerous inconsistencies and weaknesses in the evidence: there were surprisingly few letters to account for a whole decade; no other high-ranking fascist seems to have known about the letters, and no fascists had ever used the information that Silone was a spy, even when they could have destroyed him with it; and there was no conclusive evidence— other than the handwriting—that “Silvestri” was Silone. A senior Communist Party official took another tack, alleging that Silone had actually been a triple agent, having pretended to spy on party members so he could winkle information from the fascist police that would be useful to his communist comrades. This would account for the fact that another bitter enemy of Silone’s, Palmiro Togliatti, did not SAINT page 41

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What’s Old Is New Again

by Michael Crowley (The New Republic - All Feed)

was stable enough that the province turned its focus to rebuilding. To that end, the U.S. Submitted at 2/8/2010 9:00:00 PM government spent roughly Message from fivefilters.org: If $50,000 last year to finance a you can, please donate to the full promotional magazine hyping -text RSS service so we can Anbar’s economic potential. continue developing it.

Published by the British trade A few years ago, few places on magazine FDI, which is owned Earth were as hellish as Iraq’s by the Financial Times, the selfAnbar Province. Spanning the described “special report” touted country’s western desert, Anbar prospects for investment in is best known by its major cities, A n b a r ’ s a g r i c u l t u r e , i t s Fallujah and Ramadi, both of infrastructure, and its vast which became home bases for al reserves of silica. FDI even Qaeda-linked terrorists who hinted that tourism might be one flooded across Iraq’s border with of Anbar’s “most promising Syria and joined with Sunni sectors for investment.” (Isn’t it i n s u r g e n t s t o c a r r y o u t time you took the kids to Lake b o m b i n g s , e x e c u t i o n s , Habbaniyah?) kidnappings, and torture across Unfortunately, not all of the country. A dire Marine Anbar’s vital signs are positive. intelligence report leaked in One of them—the story of its September 2006 warned that g o v e r n o r , Q a s i m a l A n b a r w a s l o s t , w i t h i t s Fahadawi—suggests that the g o v e r n m e n t i n s t i t u t i o n s optimism for the province may “disintegrated or … thoroughly be dangerously premature. And corrupted and infiltrated by al if prospects for Anbar are Q a e d a i n I r a q . ” U . S . w a r dimming once again, then so are p l a n n e r s c o n t e m p l a t e d the prospects for Iraq. withdrawing troops from the I met Fahadawi during a midprovince, and giving up on December visit to Anbar in the Anbar altogether. company of Michael Mullen, Since then, Anbar has made an chairman of the Joint Chiefs of amazing turnaround. Even as the S t a f f . A n e n g i n e e r a n d Marines were contemplating an businessman who studied in exit, Anbar’s tribal leaders began Germany, Fahadawi fled Iraq in turning against the foreign 2006 for the United Arab jihadis and aligning with the Emirates, where he enjoyed a life Americans in what came to be of relative peace and prosperity. k n o w n a s t h e S u n n i He returned after the Sunni Awakening—a critical step in Awakening drove out al Qaeda. putting down the insurgency On his arrival home, he told one nationwide. By late 2009, Anbar Iraqi website, “I felt like [the

province] had been hit by a nuclear bomb. The vital facilities have been destroyed and peoples’ mentalities have been infected.” Fahadawi was heartbroken at the lost potential: “Iraq should be the richest country in the Middle East,” he told another interviewer, “and Anbar should be the richest province in Iraq.”

Since becoming Anbar’s governor in April of 2009, Fahadawi has energetically pursued that vision, working what he says are 18-hour days to jump-start the province’s economy. Fahadawi’s secular nature and business acumen have made him an appealing figure to the west. In August, FDI magazine honored him as the “2009 Global Personality of the Year” for his efforts to win foreign investment everywhere from Great Britain to Turkey.

(The same award was subsequently hailed in a U.S. military press release, which did not note that the U.S. government had paid FDI to promote Anbar’s economic potential.)

In Ramadi, Mullen and Fahadawi sat down for a chat.

The governor, who has a bushy salt-and-pepper mustache and wore a western business suit and tie, described his bright vision of Anbar’s economic future. The province had begun to export cucumbers, Fahadawi explained.

(It was a fact of social as well as economic significance, given

that al Qaeda leaders in the province had imposed a bizarre prohibition on women buying the vegetable, deemed too suggestive of male anatomy). To pursue this and other plans, Fahadawi told Mullen he needed loan guarantees of one hundred million dollars or more. Mullen demurred, with perhaps a slight smirk. The joint chiefs chairman explained that he does not control the U.S. banking system.

“The best assurance I can offer you is improvement in the security environment here,” Mullen said.

“Security, we can say, is almost achieved right now,” Fahadawi said. “But my vision to achieve security is economics.”

“I completely agree,” Mullen replied, stirring a sugary cup of Iraqi tea.

That was December 18. Less than two weeks later, on the morning of December 30, a car bomb exploded at a checkpoint near Fahadawi’s office in Ramadi. Against the advice of his bodyguards, Fahadawi went outside to survey the scene. A few minutes later a man in an Iraqi police uniform approached his entourage and blew himself up, killing several more people.

Initial reports said that Fahadawi, who was seen laying on the ground with his face burned, was one of them. But Fahadawi was lucky. He was rushed to a Baghdad hospital, where doctors amputated a hand and a leg. He is now receiving treatment in the

United States. Doctors here have reportedly reattached his left hand.

The near-death experience of an optimist like Fahadawi may be a cautionary tale about the future of Iraq. As America prepares to begin a major troop withdrawal later this year, which will have all U.S. troops out of the country by the end of 2011, optimists are describing a stable country ready to stand on its own. But Iraq still endures persistent bombings throughout the country. Two days of explosions on January 25 and 26 in Baghdad killed 75 people—just the latest in a series of attacks in the capital. U.S. officials call such bombings the last gasp of al Qaeda-linked terrorists determined to destabilize the government and sow fear before upcoming parliamentary elections on March 7. They are heartened, they say, that the bombings haven’t pushed the Sunnis and Shiites back towards 2006-style civil war.

But regular attacks like these suggest that Iraq’s security forces aren’t ready to protect the country on their own. Not in Baghdad, and not in Anbar Province. And that means that Iraq is still a long way from recovery. Foreign investment is hardly likely to pour into a province where the governor’s life can’t be guaranteed. It could WHAT’S page 38

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SOMETHING continued from page 34

Sullivan seems unaware that his analysis is nothing more than a digital version of the traditional analysis of Arabists in Washington since 1948, and even before. This analysis is not entirely incorrect: America’s alliance with Israel has often interfered with America’s interests in the Arab world. This is obvious to any student of history. But the American alliance with Israel, like a good deal of American foreign policy, though not these days, was never only an affair of interests.

Sullivan is apparently indifferent to the moral dimension of the alliance. On January 6, moaning that he is “sick of the Israelis and the Palestinians,” he noted also that “I’m sick of having a great power like the US being dictated to in the conduct of its own foreign policy by an ally that provides almost no real benefit to the US, and more and more costs.” The high moral dudgeon of the heartless realist: that is quite a trick. Like all of America’s other allies, Israel is a sovereign state, and like all of America’s other allies, it sometimes exercises its sovereignty in ways that baffle or infuriate us; but Sullivan’s patience is wearing thin. “My own view is moving toward supporting a direct American military imposition of a two-state solution,” he wildly announces, “with NATO troops on the borders of the new states of Palestine and Israel.” A new

war! Even better, a new war of liberation! Never mind that Israel is a sovereign and a democratic state, and that Palestine is not remotely unified on behalf of such a solution. But at least it would not be a war against a Muslim country. And now that you mention it, isn’t it time that we attacked a Jewish country? It would prove our evenhandedness, wouldn’t it? But alas, there’s no way AIPAC will allow it.

Having demanded that the Jews behave apologetically in America, Sullivan now demands that the United States behave apologetically in the world–that it adjust its relationship with Israel to the preferences of the Muslim peoples. This is a little like decrying the election of a black president because it will inflame white racists. (Sullivan writes about the “middle” and the “core” in the Muslim world as if they were the independents and the base in Massachusetts.)

But peace between Israelis and Palestinians should be made primarily for them and by them.

And anti-Americanism, like antiSemitism and many versions of anti-Zionism, cannot be adequately understood as a response to the actions of Americans, Jews, and Zionists.

Prejudice is not an instance of empirical thinking, as the tenacity of anti-Americanism after the election of Barack Obama demonstrates. There is a progressive president in America

now, enchanted by “engagement” and by Muslims.

In the universe of jihadism, however, this alters nothing. As a matter of numinous conviction, the jihadists are anti-Americans and anti-Semites and antiZionists, and their anti-Zionism is a form of anti-Semitism. They do not want to take the IsraelPalestine question off the table, they want to take Israel off the map. Their goals are literal and maximal. Their worldview is unfalsifiable; their “paradigm” does not “shift.” They do not make Sullivan’s distinction between Israel’s existence and Israel’s actions. If the two-state solution were to come into being, the jihadists would consider their job half-done.

It is true that peace and Palestine would have a modest and marginal impact upon the reputation of the United States in the Muslim world. But the scale of this impact is too inconsiderable to assure anything that Israel does an important place among the causes of jihadism. It may be “loopy,” as Sullivan says, for Israeli policy to “be bracketed entirely out of that dynamic,” but it is even loopier to include it significantly within it. Jihadism is a violent political theology determined by ideas and fantasies that do not come from America or Israel, and its abhorrence of freedom, materialism, democracy, modernity, and the West exceeds even its abhorrence of Jews. We

do not determine who Muslims are, and they are more than their reaction to us. What does Sullivan really know about the origins and the writings of the jihadist tradition? Yet he has an even more brilliant theory of the origins of Muslim antiAmericanism. He accounts for it not only in terms of Israel’s policies, but also in terms of “those who want to brandish Gitmo, embrace torture, and accelerate Israel settlements.”

The neocons, once more. They are what stand between America and Muslim adulation. Bad Jews are making bad Muslims! I doubt that even Krauthammer believes that Krauthammer is this important. The neocons have deranged Sullivan. I suppose they must take what victories they can get. This would count as merely a small comic episode in American political anthropology, except that Sullivan’s bitterness crosses the line into something that is neither small nor comic.

V. I will conclude this unpleasantness here, though there are more rants by Sullivan that merit attention. Criticism of Israeli policy, and sympathy for the Palestinians, and support for a two-state solution, do not require, as their condition or their corollary, this intellectual shabbiness, this venomous hostility toward Israel and Jews.

I have striven for IsraeliPalestinian reconciliation, and

territorial compromise, and two states, for many decades now, but Sullivan’s variety of such right thinking is completely repugnant to me. There are decent and indecent ways to advocate change. About the Jews, is Sullivan a bigot, or is he just moronically insensitive? To me, he looks increasingly like the Buchanan of the left. He is the master, and the prisoner, of the technology of sickly obsession: blogging–and the divine right of bloggers to exempt themselves from the interrogations of editors–is also a method of hounding. Of course, it is impossible to know what is in a man’s heart; but on the basis of what Sullivan has written, I would urge him to search his heart. Such a reckoning would involve more than the “my bad” efficiency of internet introspection. I do not expect to see it. If explaining the Trinity to readers of The New Republic is not easy, imagine how hard it will be to explain all this.

Leon Wieseltier is the literary editor of The New Republic.

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by Jason Zengerle (The New Republic - All Feed) Submitted at 2/8/2010 8:55:00 PM

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By last summer, it was obvious that John Murtha did not have much time left in Congress. This was partly due to the efforts of Washington ethics cops and Western Pennsylvania Republicans, both of whom had spent the past few years working feverishly, through either judicial or electoral means, to remove him from office. But more than that, there was the simple matter of Murtha’s health. At 77 years old, he’d begun to show obvious signs of deterioration—from increasingly frequent verbal gaffes (like calling his part of Pennsylvania “a racist area”) to physical ones, such as the spill he took while visiting injured troops at Walter Reed. When Murtha died Monday at the age of 77, due to complications stemming from gallbladder surgery, it was sad, but hardly shocking, news.

Unless, that is, you lived in Murtha’s hometown of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. When

I visited there last summer, I found that the only thing deeper than the floodwaters that had thrice destroyed the rust belt city was the denial of its residents that Murtha’s 36 years on Capitol Hill were nearing an end.

They expressed unswerving confidence that their congressman could not only defy the laws of man—by forever frustrating the efforts of those trying to unseat him—but the laws of nature, as well. The notion that he might have to retire due to poor health was greeted with a snort: Murtha had been a Marine who, as a father of three, had volunteered for Vietnam; he was too tough to retire. “He would like to die in the House,” one of his friends and supporters told me, certain that such an event was a long way off. Murtha’s great aunt, more than one person in Johnstown mentioned to me, had lived into her 90s; and his clean living—“he doesn’t drink, except for coffee”—meant he could count on reaching a similarly ripe old age.

Now that Murtha has confounded the expectations of his constituents, his obituary writers will invariably describe him as “The King of Pork.”

While the term is not meant as a compliment—and, in fact, Murtha’s political and legal troubles over the last few years stemmed from that well-deserved reputation—it’s worth remembering that, to the recipients of that pork, Murtha was a hero. For the last 15 years, he steered a steady stream of federal money—by some accounts as much as $2 billion—to Johnstown and, in the process, allowed the city to escape the fate of other oncebooming steel towns that were unable to survive the collapse of that industry. Indeed, to visit Johnstown today is to encounter an oasis of relative prosperity—a city that boasts glass-and-steel office buildings, a Wine Spectator-award winning restaurant, even a symphony orchestra—in a desert of economic despair.

When any politician dies, especially one as long-serving as Murtha, his passing will be treated as the passing of more than an individual. And this is already being described as the end of various eras—from the end of the era of Democratic rule in Pennsylvania’s Twelfth Congressional District (which John McCain carried in 2008) to

the end of the era of the “old bull” way of doing business on Capitol Hill. But Murtha’s death also signals something more than the death of a man or the death of an era: It likely spells the death of the city he represented.

When Murtha was alive, Johnstown raised myriad monuments to him—placing his name on everything from a technology park to an airport.

But the city never prepared itself for the day when its honors to Murtha would have to come in the form of memorials.

Johnstown’s success was not a façade, but its prosperity was as dependent on one congressman as it had once been on one industry. It was almost as if Johnstown could not bring itself to imagine—and thus prepare for—what would happen once Murtha, like steel before him, was no longer there to sustain it.

And now it will face the consequences of that failure.

To be sure, Johnstown will not cease to exist tomorrow. Or next week. Or even next year. After all, it took decades for Bethlehem Steel to dismantle its Johnstown operations once it decided to leave the city. But, over time, the economic forces that Murtha managed to stave off

Michael Crowley is a senior editor of The New Republic.

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be a long while before Qasim alFahadawi’s vision of Iraq as a wealthy country is anything more than a cruel mirage.

will begin to take their toll.

Lacking a politician with Murtha’s seniority and powerful committee assignments—not to mention, perhaps, a politician with Murtha’s tolerance for the appearance (and perhaps the reality) of ethical impropriety—Johnstown will watch as the river of federal largesse slows to a trickle. And it will watch as the defense contractors that followed those federal dollars by locating their offices in Johnstown and underwriting its civic activities turn their attentions to the hometowns of other congressmen. And slowly, but ineluctably, Johnstown will meet the same fate as the politician who did so much—maybe too much—to keep it alive.

Jason Zengerle is a senior editor of The New Republic.

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'Choose Life' License Plate Trend Gaining (Newsmax - Politics)

McDonnell, both Republicans, say they object to the idea of diverting money from plate fees Message from fivefilters.org: If to Planned Parenthood offices — you can, please donate to the full n o t n e c e s s a r i l y t h e p l a t e s -text RSS service so we can t h e m s e l v e s . continue developing it.

A state Senate committee heard RICHMOND, Va. -- Abortion testimony on the bill Thursday rights advocates have been and could vote on it this week. unable to halt the "Choose Life" The full legislature's approval license plate variations in nearly and the governor's signature are two dozen states, so now they're needed for the plates to be sold. working to balance the bumper Last year, Virginia became the debate.

23rd state to approve the Activists are pushing a "Trust "Choose Life" plate. The plates Women/Protect Choice" license are expected to be on the roads in plate in Virginia, which would Massachusetts, Delaware and become the fourth state to offer a North Dakota by the end of pro-choice plate and the first to March, and efforts are under way require legislative approval for it. in a dozen other states to get Supporters have threatened to t h e m a p p r o v e d , s a i d R u s s sue if lawmakers don't give Amerling, a coordinator for the drivers the option.

Florida-based Choose Life Inc., "We really don't feel like a which promotes the plates. license plate is the place to be More than 520,000 of the plates promoting a political agenda," have been sold nationwide since said Tarina Keene, executive 2000, raising more than $11 director of NARAL Pro-Choice m i l l i o n f o r p r o - l i f e c r i s i s Virginia. "However, the pro- pregnancy centers, adoption choice community feels like services and maternity homes. they're being taken on by the anti Those on the other side of the -choice side with this license debate have not mounted a plate, and we feel like we need to coordinated response. Even in get involved." states where the plates are Opponents, including Virginia offered, they haven't sold well, Attorney General Kenneth T. though at least 400 people have Cuccinelli II and Gov. Robert F. signed up to buy the pro-choice Submitted at 2/9/2010 2:16:55 AM

plates in Virginia.

Hawaii was first with a "Respect Choice" decal for plates in 2003, but lack of interest is threatening to halt its availability. A "Profamily, Pro-choice" plate is available in Montana, and Pennsylvania has a plate labeled "Planned Parenthood of PA." However, only 22 of those are active.

Those states don't require the legislature's approval. The plates are handled administratively and can be sold as long as they meet certain requirements.

Virginia's proposed plate would generate money for the state's eight Planned Parenthood health care centers, which provide free pregnancy tests, contraception, gynecological exams, cancer screenings and other services for about 30,000 people each year.

That is likely to be a source of contention for Republicans, who control the House of Delegates and in recent years have stripped the organization of state funding other than Medicaid reimbursements because Planned Parenthood provides abortions.

The organization says the money from any license plate sales — $15 per plate after the first 1,000 are sold — would not be used for abortions.

"I expect that's the hurdle," said Mr. Cuccinelli, who led the fight against the organization as a legislator. "It isn't the plate; it's where the money goes."

However, supporters say Virginia has no choice but to allow a pro-choice plate after it offered a "Choose Life" plate — because doing otherwise would be unconstitutional.

The 4th U.S. Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has twice ruled that the government cannot unreasonably censor or favor one viewpoint on specialty plates because they constitute a public forum.

"The General Assembly has stepped into a legal morass now," said Sen. Janet D. Howell, Northern Virginia Democrat, who is sponsoring one of two bills to establish the plate. "You can't have just one point of view represented on license plates.

You have to have both." © Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Apple Store down globally, let the speculation begin (updated)

by Thomas Ricker (Engadget) Submitted at 2/9/2010 9:58:00 AM

Sometimes it's nothing, but often, especially when it's a Tuesday and we're sitting on a stack of overdue rumors, an Apple Store outage is a tell that new products are due. Especially when the store goes down on a global basis as it has just now.

So take a moment to reflect on the latest rumors and chime in with your predictions in the comments. Our guess? Refreshed MacBook Pros... or iPonies, either or. Then check back at 08:30 ET (as is the norm) to see who got it right.

Update: 64-bit Aperture 3 with faces and places tagging announced. Store's back up.

Even after the NVIDIA Optimus announcement we're still left waiting for those elusive Core i5 and Core i7 MacBook Pros.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Apple Store down globally, let the speculation begin (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| | Email this| Comments

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Vote On NLRB Nominee First Test of GOP's New Power (Newsmax - Politics)

personal agenda to the NLRB, and that he would pursue a Submitted at 2/8/2010 10:50:37 PM personal agenda there, rather Message from fivefilters.org: If than that of the administration," you can, please donate to the full Nelson said in a statement.

-text RSS service so we can "This is of great concern, continue developing it. considering that the Board's main The Republicans' first test of responsibility is to resolve labor their new Senate clout could disputes with an even and come in a vote to block President impartial hand. In addition, the Barack Obama's choice of a nominee's statements fly in the union attorney for a seat on the face of Nebraska's Right to Work National Labor Relations Board. laws, which have been credited Senate Democrats need 60 in part with our excellent votes, one more than they control b u s i n e s s c l i m a t e t h a t h a s s i n c e S c o t t B r o w n o f attracted employers and many Massachusetts was sworn into good jobs to Nebraska," Nelson office last week, to clear a GOP said. procedural hurdle to advance Republicans have held up Craig Becker to a final Senate B e c k e r ' s c o n f i r m a t i o n f o r c o n f i r m a t i o n v o t e . T h a t months, saying they fear he will p r o c e d u r a l v o t e h a d b e e n push an aggressive union agenda scheduled for Monday but was at the agency that referees labor postponed until Tuesday because disputes between unions and of a Mid-Atlantic snowstorm management. over the weekend.

The scuffle over Becker is part Democrats' task turned more o f a m o r e h e a t e d c o n f l i c t difficult when Sen. Ben Nelson, between business groups and a c o n s e r v a t i v e N e b r a s k a unions over the Employee Free Democrat who faces re-election Choice Act or "card check" bill this fall, said Monday night he that would deny companies the would join Republicans in right to demand an employee opposing Becker. representation election before " M r . B e c k e r ' s p r e v i o u s they have to recognize a union as statements strongly indicate that a collective bargaining agent. he would take an aggressive Becker, a lawyer for the AFL-

CIO and the Service Employees International Union, has spoken favorably on card check. Some of his legal writings suggest that its goals could be accomplished by the NLRB without Congress having to pass the legislation.

Those writings alarmed the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which poured more than $1 million into television ads supporting Brown during the chaotic closing campaign days before Massachusetts' special election last month to fill the Senate seat of the late Edward M. Kennedy.

The chamber is also allied with groups that launched an online petition urging Democratic leaders to postpone any votes until after Brown's swearing in.

Chamber executive vice president Bruce Josten called Becker's views "well outside the mainstream."

Becker and his supporters attempted last week to play down the writings as scholarly ruminations.

"I don't have any illusions that those important changes can somehow be accomplished administratively and neither does Craig Becker," said Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor

and Pensions committee.

For unions, Brown's surprise win in Massachusetts has been a frustrating setback.

"Republicans stalled Becker's nomination for five months and now accuse Democrats of trying to rush him through," said AFLCIO legislative director Bill Samuel.

The tussle over Becker is also another setback for the NLRB, which has been waiting for more than two years with vacancies in three of its five seats. That has forced the agency to postpone hundreds of cases that could have a wider effect on the workplace.

—— Associated Press writer Steve LeBlanc in Boston contributed to this report. © Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Windows 7 Murders Vista on Steam [Windows 7] by matt buchanan (Gizmodo) Submitted at 2/9/2010 11:15:46 AM

Most of the gamers I knew stuck with XP during the Vista's time because it drained precious CPU cycles, but that's not the case here: Steam's released their latest stats on Windows usage, Windows 7 has already blown past Vista.

The stats break down this away: 42.78 percent on XP, 28.53 percent on Windows 7, and 27.91 percent on Vista. Consider that Vista's been out 3 years, and Windows 7's been out for 3 months. Also worth pointing out is that Windows 7 installs are 64bit by a 2-to-1 margin, which as Ars notes, is now the most popular flavor of Windows on Steam short of XP 32-bit.

The gaming population on Steam isn't necessarily representative of Moms and Dads buying computers, but the fact that the deeply suspicious PC gaming community has picked up Windows 7 in droves does say something. [ Ars]

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SAINT continued from page 35

denounce him when, as minister of justice after the war, he had access to these files.

The balance of informed opinion swung against Silone. Further documents were unearthed to show that Silone had a good reason for approaching the police two years before writing his incriminating letter: in 1928, his beloved younger brother Romolo had been arrested and tortured in jail (where he died two years later) on suspicion of being a member of the Communist Party (which he wasn’t).

Commentators speculated that Silone, who was an active member of the party, must have been racked with guilt over this injustice, and was probably prepared to do anything to get his brother out. This still left open the question of whether he had been in contact with Bellone much earlier, and whether, as further documents suggested, he had acted as an informer when in Switzerland between the wars.

There was even specula- tion that Silone had secretly “confessed” his crimes in one or other of his novels or in his first play, aptly

entitled And He Hid Himself.

But none of these details seemed important beside the enormity of the fact of his collaboration.

Pugliese catalogs the many books, articles, and debates that have poured forth since these revelations in painstaking and fascinating detail, and he is forced to conclude (as Silone’s widow, Darina, also concluded) that at least some of the documents are provably in Silone’s handwriting and therefore genuine. But what does the collaboration mean for our understanding of Silone’s life and work? Some on the left in Italy and elsewhere have rushed to denounce the author as yet another deceitful apostate “like Orwell” (for his list of communist sympathizers delivered to the British Foreign Office during World War II), and therefore not worth reading or respecting, while more cautious critics see the denigration of Silone from the opposite point of view as just the latest in a series of recent attacks from the left on Orwell, Koestler, Camus, and other writers who turned against

the Communist Party.

Pugliese ultimately comes down on the side of those who believe that Silone’s work speaks for itself, and endorses Alexander Stille’s conclusion that the recent scandals “don’t diminish the power of Silone’s writings.” D. H. Lawrence once wrote that readers should “judge the tale, not the teller,” having in mind the difference between the complex artistic message embodied in a novel or poem and what was said outside the work by or about the author, but Lawrence’s dictum fits Silone’s case as well. To anyone who reads his novels and his journalism, it is perfectly obvious where he stood with regard to both fascism and communism, whatever compromises he may have felt obliged to make in his everyday life. As Pugliese shows (and as Silone himself asserted), he was fundamentally religious in his worldview—an “apprentice saint,” in the words of R. W. B. Lewis—who tried in vain to reconcile the secular promise of socialism with the transcendent

vision of Christianity. He fell victim to the tragedy of his age.

Caught between the hammer of totalitarianism and the anvil of twentieth-century reality, Silone, like so many of his peers, “sought in politics that which politics could not grant him.”

Like other mortals, he made mistakes, lost his way, and sinned; but it is in, and for, his work that Silone will be rightly remembered, and that is why we still need to read him.

Michael Scammell’s new book, Koestler: The Literary and Political Odyssey of a Twentieth -Century Skeptic, has just been published by Random House.

For more TNR, become a fan on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

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

iMac 27 Shipping Again [Apple]

by Jesus Diaz (Gizmodo) Submitted at 2/9/2010 11:19:01 AM

After the rumored iMac 27 global shipment halt, reader Adam Pattee has sent us confirmation that his unit—purchased on January 29—is now shipping. Apple says his iMac will arrive on February 16.

Did you get a notification too?

W r i t e t o submissions@gizmodo.com.

USB powered VGA to HDMI converter

by Doug Aamoth (CrunchGear)

The Atlona VGA to HDMI Scaler/Converter is powered via USB and features a built-in Submitted at 2/9/2010 8:30:35 AM image scaler to ensure that the Here’s what appears to be an picture on your TV looks the easy way to hook your VGA- way it should regardless of what only notebook or netbook up to r e s o l u t i o n y o u r c o m p u t e r your fancy HDTV’s HDMI port. m o n i t o r ’ s s e t a t .

and VGA cables are all attached an ETA of February 22nd. to the converter box. Accepted Atlona VGA to HDMI Scalerinput resolutions range from C o n v e r t e r [ A t l o n a . c o m v i a 640×480 to 1920×1200 while S l a s h G e a r ] output resolutions range from 480p to 1080p and higher There’s a six-foot HDMI cable (maximum of 1920×1200). included and the audio, USB, It’s up for preorder at $119, with

42

Politics/ Consumer Reports/ Sports/

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Illinois Looking for Lt. Governor Hopefuls

CR Index: Troubles have waned, but wallets stay shut

(Newsmax - Politics)

by Consumer Reports Shopping Blog (Consumer Reports)

for consumers, the level of job creation needed to fuel a consumer recovery has not Message from fivefilters.org: If developed,” said Ed Farrell, a Submitted at 2/9/2010 5:59:59 AM you can, please donate to the full director at the Consumer Reports CR Index: Troubles have -text RSS service so we can National Research Center. waned, but wallets stay shut If continue developing it.

As a result of the overall mixed you’re in retail, you may want to Illinois Democrats are getting a picture, the Consumer Reports stop reading this now. Although political do-over. They are Sentiment Index has remained consumers spent more than they picking a new candidate for virtually unchanged in February planned to this past holiday January. The top difficulty (43.9) from January (44.1). The lieutenant governor after the season, they’ve buttoned up their r e p o r t e d i n F e b r u a r y : t h e Consumer Reports Stress Index primary winner dropped out due wallets and aren’t planning to inability to afford medical bills is now at 59.9, on par with to a checkered past. open them up anytime soon, or medications(14.7 percent, up January (59.0), but down from Gov. Pat Quinn has the rare according to the February from 12.7 percent in January). A December (63.0). opportunity to help pick his Consumer Reports Index. The change in credit card terms(such The Consumer Reports Index, running mate, but refused to say Past 30-Day Retail Index for as an increased interest rate or conducted by the Consumer Monday who was on his short February, which reflects the penalty fees) was the second Reports National Research list of potential partners. purchases consumers made in most common complaint. The Center, is a monthly telephone Meanwhile, the politicking has January, is 10.9, a decline of 23 Employment Index remains a n d c e l l p h o n e p o l l o f a begun in earnest among those percent from the previous month. u n c h a n g e d , b u t t h e r e i s a n a t i o n a l l y r e p r e s e n t a t i v e seeking a chance in November at And we’re planning to spend significant trend emerging. Over probability sample of American even less in February. The Next the past several months the a d u l t s . A t o t a l o f 1 , 2 6 3 30-Day Retail Index, which p r o p o r t i o n o f A m e r i c a n s interviews were completed r e p r e s e n t s t h e n u m b e r o f reporting a job loss in the past 30 (1,013 households, 250 cell electronics, appliances, and yard days steadily declined to 5.7 phones) among adults aged 18+. a n d g a r d e n e q u i p m e n t percent in February, versus 7.8 Interviewing took place between

by Associated Press consumers said they’re planning percent in October. However, January 28 and January 31, (ESPN.com) Sports Passport. Enter the to buy this month, plummeted to fewer Americans started a new 2010. The margin of error is +/Submitted at 2/8/2010 8:20:22 PM games you attend, upload your 6.9 from 8.9 the prior month. job in the past 30 days (3.8 2.8 points at a 95% confidence Message from fivefilters.org: If photos and share your memories! That’s the lowest level it has percent in February, from a level.—Mandy Walker Subscribe been since August of last year. recent high of 6.2 percent in now! you can, please donate to the full I was there » S u b s c r i b e t o -text RSS service so we can Five Filters featured article: Our hesitation to spend money September).

Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: is not the result of the personal Slow job creation remains a ConsumerReports.org for expert continue developing it.

Did you attend this game? If so, PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, f i n a n c i a l h a r d s h i p s w e ’ r e significant drag on the economy. Ratings, buying advice and experiencing, however. In fact, “Though the tide of job losses r e l i a b i l i t y o n h u n d r e d s o f start chronicling your sports Term Extraction. the Trouble Tracker showed real has been stemmed and the products. Update your feed memories today with ESPN's improvement. It declined to 53.4 economy is improving gradually preferences in February from 58.2 in Submitted at 2/8/2010 11:21:59 AM

the state's No. 2 job.

The spot opened up when Scott Lee Cohen announced over the weekend he would leave the ticket.

It became widely known after Cohen's win that his ex-wife accused him of abuse in divorce papers and he had been accused of holding a knife to the throat of a former girlfriend. © Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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

No. 5 Nova dismantles No. 4 WVU's win streak

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CR Index: Americans Hunker Down On Spending Now That the Holiday Shopping Binge Subsides

by Press Room (Consumer Reports)

home electronics (13.9%, down 1.9% pts.), and major home appliances (6.3%, down 3.3% Submitted at 2/9/2010 6:14:59 AM pts.). The drop in the Next 30CR Index: Americans Hunker Day Retail Index for February Down On Spending Now That was driven by a decline in the Holiday Shopping Binge consumer intent to purchase Subsides major appliances (5.7%, down Improvements in Trouble 2 . 1 % p t s . ) a n d p e r s o n a l Tracker, But Employment Still A electronics (13.2%, down 3.9% Cause for Concern pts.).

YONKERS, NY — The recent Retail purchases may be holiday season showed some d r o p p i n g , b u t i t s e e m s hope for a resurgence in the Americans are faced with less retail sector, but it appears financial difficulties. The consumers are back in the Consumer Reports Trouble doldrums and not willing to T r a c k e r s h o w e d r e a l spend their way out of the improvements, declining to 53.4 recession, according to the in February from 58.2 in January February Consumer Reports a n d i t s h i g h o f 6 8 . 7 i n Index.

September. The top issue facing The Past 30-Day Retail Index consumers in February is the for February, reflective of inability to afford medical bills January activity, is at pre-holiday or medications at 14.7%, up levels, declining to 10.9 from from 12.7% in January. This January’s 14.1, which reflected issue is most common in the December holiday shopping, a South (17.5%). decline of 23%.

Consumer Reports Employment The Next 30-Day Retail Index, Index remains unchanged at 49.0 reflecting planned purchasing for versus 49.3 in January, but there February, plummeted to 6.9 from is a significant trend emerging.

8.9 the prior month, making it Over the past several months, the well below pre-holiday levels p r o p o r t i o n o f A m e r i c a n s and the lowest level tracked reporting a job loss in the past 30 since August 09 (7.5).

-days steadily declined to 5.7% The losses in the Past 30-Day in February versus 7.8% in R e t a i l I n d e x , r e f l e c t i n g October; however Americans purchases made in January reporting starting a new job in versus the prior month, and were the past 30 days has also driven by personal electronics declined to 3.8% in February (23.6%, down 11.1% pts.), major from a recent high of 6.2% in

September. Slow job creation remains a significant drag on the economy.

“The holiday season showed glimmers of hope for the economy, but it is clear through the retail index that consumers are now cutting back on spending,” said Ed Farrell, director at the Consumer Reports National Research Center.

“While the economy is improving gradually for consumers as witnessed by improvements in the Trouble Tracker, which points to a decline in financial difficulties, the level of job creation needed to fuel a consumer recovery has not developed, though the tide of job losses has been stemmed.”

As a result of the overall mixed picture, the Consumer Reports Sentiment Index has remained unchanged in February (43.9) from January (44.1), while the Consumer Reports Stress Index is now at 59.9 on par with January (59.0), but down from December (63.0). Regionally, the South and West were faring less well in February compared to the month prior while the Northeast and North Central were unchanged overall.

The Consumer Reports Index report, available at www.ConsumerReports.org, is comprised of five key indices: the Sentiment Index, the Trouble Tracker Index, Stress Index, the

Retail Index, and the Employment Index. Here are the key findings: Consumer Reports Sentiment Index: 43.9 • The Consumer Reports Sentiment Index remains unchanged for the month of February (43.9) relative to January (44.1). The most optimistic consumers were ages 18-34 (50.2) and households with incomes of $100,000+ (53.0). The most pessimistic consumers were in households with income less that $50,000 (40.3) and Americans 65 or older (40.2).

The Sentiment Index captures respondents’ attitudes regarding their financial situation, asking them if they are feeling better off or worse off than a year ago.

When the index is greater than 50, more consumers are feeling positive about their situation.

When it is below 50, more consumers are feeling worse.

The Sentiment Index can vary from a high of 100 to a low of 0.

Consumer Reports Trouble Tracker Index: 53.4 • The Consumer Reports Trouble Tracker Index has shown improvement over the past several months, falling to 53.4 in February from 58.2 in January. This is a continuation of a downward trend from September (68.7). The key

financial difficulties faced by consumers this month included: • Unable to afford medical bills or medications (14.7%) • Most common in the South (17.5%) • Credit card increased interest rate, penalty fees, etc. (9.3%, down from 14.4% the prior month) • Missed payment on a major bill – not mortgage (8.7%) • Lost or reduced healthcare coverage (7.5%) • Lost job (5.7%)

• Lower-income households, earning less than $50,000 a year, have been disproportionately affected. In the past 30 days: • 24.3% have been unable to afford medical bills or medications • 6.8% lost their job or were laid off • 10.1% lost or have reduced healthcare coverage • 14.6% missed a payment on a INDEX: page 44

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INDEX: continued from page 43

major bill (not mortgage)

to purchase major appliances (5.7%, down 2.1% pts.) and personal electronics (13.2%, down 3.9% pts.).• Among retail categories not included in the index (new car, used car, and new home), past 30-day purchases of new cars (2.5%) and used cars (5.8%), reflect January activity, and were up slightly from the prior month, as were new homes (2.6%).

February’s next 30-day planned purchases are unchanged from the prior month for new cars, used cars and homes.

59.9 • The level of stress consumers feel they are under is down compared to prior months and the Stress Index is now at 59.9 on par with January (59.0) but down from December (63.0).

than 50 indicates more jobs were gained than lost in the past 30 days.

The Consumer Reports Trouble For more information regarding Tracker focuses on both the the Consumer Reports Index proportion of consumers that v i s i t have faced difficulties as well as www.ConsumerReports.org. the number of negative events The Consumer Reports Index, they have encountered. The The Consumer Reports Stress conducted by the Consumer negative events include: the I n d e x c a p t u r e s a t t i t u d e s Reports National Research inability to pay medical bills or regarding the amount of stress Center is a monthly telephone afford medication, missed consumers feel compared to a a n d c e l l p h o n e p o l l o f a mortgage payments, home year ago. It asks whether they are n a t i o n a l l y r e p r e s e n t a t i v e foreclosure, interest-rate feeling more stressed or less probability sample of American increase, penalty fees, reduced stressed. When the Stress Index a d u l t s . A t o t a l o f 1 , 2 6 3 lines of credit or other changes in is more than 50, consumers are interviews were completed credit-card terms, job loss or feeling more stress and when it is (1,013 households, 250 cell layoffs, reduced healthcare below 50 they are feeling less phones) among adults aged 18+. coverage, or the denial of stress compared to a year ago. Interviewing took place between personal loans. The Consumer The Consumer Reports Retail The index can vary from 100 January 28 and January 31, Reports Trouble Tracker Index is I n d e x l o o k s a t c o n s u m e r (Total Stress) to a low of 0 (No 2010. The margin of error is +/then calculated as the proportion purchases in the past 30 days as Stress).

2.8 points at a 95% confidence o f c o n s u m e r s t h a t h a v e well as the outlook for planned Consumer Reports Employment level. The complete index report, experienced at least one of the purchases in the next 30 days Index: 49.0 methodology, and tabular negative events comprising the across several categories. The • The Employment Index stands i n f o r m a t i o n a r e a v a i l a b l e . index multiplied by the average Consumer Reports Retail Index at 49.0 for January, reflective of C o n t a c t : C . M a t t F i e l d s , number of events encountered. represents the proportion of net job losses in the prior 30 9 1 4 . 3 7 8 . 2 4 5 4 , Consumer Reports Retail Index: r e s p o n d e n t s t h a t m a d e a days, and was on par with c f i e l d s @ c o n s u m e r . o r g .

Past 30-Day - 10.9, Next 30-Day p u r c h a s e i n t h e f o l l o w i n g January (49.3). In the past 30 S u b s c r i b e n o w !

- 6.9 categories: m a j o r h o m e days, 5.7% reported losing their S u b s c r i b e t o • A s e x p e c t e d C o n s u m e r a p p l i a n c e s , s m a l l h o m e job versus 3.8% starting a new ConsumerReports.org for expert Reports Past 30-Day Retail a p p l i a n c e s , m a j o r h o m e job.

Ratings, buying advice and Index declined to 10.9 from electronics, personal electronics, reliability on hundreds of January’s 14.1, which reflected and major yard and garden T h e C o n s u m e r R e p o r t s products. Update your feed December holiday spending.• equipment. The Retail Index is a Employment Index examines the preferences Consumer Reports Next 30-Day w e i g h t e d c a l c u l a t i o n . F o r change in employment of those Retail Index for February (6.9) example, a major appliance is of that reported starting a new job are well below pre-holiday levels greater value than a small versus those that have lost their and below the lowest levels appliance. Because of their size job or were laid off in the past 30 tracked to date in August 2009 and frequency, car and home d a y s . A n i n d e x b e l o w 5 0 (7.5). This index was dragged purchases are tracked separately. indicates more jobs were lost down due to the drop in interest Consumer Reports Stress Index: than gained, while a score more

Apple Patent Shows A 3D Virtual World For Buying Their Goods In [Apple]

by Kat Hannaford (Gizmodo) Submitted at 2/9/2010 11:07:11 AM

There was a time, before Avatar, when 3D meant crummy virtual gaming. A recent patent granted to Apple shows they are (or were) considering a 3D virtual Apple Store—a more welcoming way to shop for Apple products.

It doesn't sound very "Apple," when they normally favor start minimalism over cheesy bigheaded virtual characters, but as you can see from the diagram above, they are obviously considering the idea of a store you can walk through and browse the products in, with the outside elements portrayed by falling rain/sunshine etc.

The patent was first filed in 2006 by Apple, so I'm hoping they just got swept up in the Second Life craze and have forgotten all about some naff virtual world where you can exchange 17 green and red apples for the latest Miley Cyrus song. [ Patently Apple]

Consumer Reports/ Gadgets/

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Daily electronics deals

by Nicholas Kolman-Mandle (Consumer Reports) Submitted at 2/9/2010 7:12:13 AM

Daily electronics deals Today's electronics deals, courtesy of The Consumerist: • Newegg:Powermat Sleek Charging Mat For Home or Office (PMM-HO100) - Cell Phone Accessories $79.99 Free Shipping • Lenovo: Lenovo Multimedia Remote with Keyboard for $42 + free shipping • Buy.com: Samsung CLP315W Wireless Color Laser Printer $142 Shipped • Dell Small Business: Dell Small Business Coupon Code STACKABLE 10% off Phones, GPS, Monitors, Accessories, Networking • Best Buy: Acer Aspire AS5532 15.6-inch Laptop $329.99 + free pickup or $15 shipping • Amazon: Toshiba Satellite L505D 15.6-inch Laptop $549.99 + free shipping

• Walmart: Magnavox Blu-Ray Player for $78 + $0.97 Shipping

changing or products becoming unavailable as the day progresses.

These posts are not an • Dell: Sharp 42" LCD 1080p endorsement of the featured H D T V f o r $ 5 4 9 w / F r e e products or the Web sites that Shipping sell them—though some of the • NewEgg: Panasonic VIERA sites may be included, and TC-P46G10 46-Inch 1080p recommended, in our Ratings of Plasma HDTV $956.98 shipped retailers for computers and other • Walmart: 50% Off Select major electronics(both available Disney DVD Movies to subscribers). Price shouldn't • Amazon: Indiana Jones and the be your only criterion. Be wary Kingdom of the Crystal Skull of lower-priced deals that seem [Blu-ray] $12 too good to be true, and check return policies for restocking Related: " Powermat: Another fees and other gotchas. wireless charger at CES 2010"; For general buying advice for TV Ratings and buying tips; many of the products on sale Computer Ratings and buying above, check out our free Buying tips; DVD & Blu-ray player Guides.

Ratings and buying tips; Printer Subscribe now!

Ratings and buying tips.

S u b s c r i b e t o Neither Consumer Reports nor ConsumerReports.org for expert T h e C o n s u m e r i s t r e c e i v e Ratings, buying advice and anything in exchange for reliability on hundreds of featuring these deals; the posts products. Update your feed a r e i n t e n d e d t o b e p u r e l y preferences informational. These deals are often fleeting, with prices

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Q&A: Is one cigarette a day one too many? by rss@consumerreports.org (Consumer Reports) Submitted at 2/9/2010 6:53:43 AM

Q&A: Is one cigarette a day one too many?

I live a healthy lifestyle except for one vice: I smoke one cigarette a day. Do my otherwise healthful habits negate the risks?

— B.S., West Stockbridge, Mass.

Sorry, but no. Even "light" smoking(one to four cigarettes a day) increases the risk of heart disease and premature death in men and women, and it increases the risk of lung cancer in women, evidence shows. While less smoking is certainly better than more, strong research has found that it’s no match for quitting.

In a study involving more than 100,000 people, for example, the number of years spent smoking increased the risk of death from lung cancer more than the number of cigarettes smoked each day. The good news is that the less you smoke, the easier it

is to stop. If you need help, the American Cancer Society offers free information about smoking cessation at 800-ACS-2345 or at www.cancer.org.

Find out exactly how quitting smoking today adds years to your life—and take a look at the downside of quitting. And if you're serious about kicking the habit, find out which cessation strategies are proven to work best(subscribers only). Subscribe now!

S u b s c r i b e t o ConsumerReports.org for expert Ratings, buying advice and reliability on hundreds of products. Update your feed preferences

Sims 3 slowly making its way to consoles later this year

by Doug Aamoth (CrunchGear)

which came out on PC in June of last year will make its way to consoles, but not until the third Submitted at 2/9/2010 8:00:08 AM quarter of this year.

What’s the big holdup here? While specific consoles weren’t Apparently the latest version of named, EA apparently said that real-life simulator, The Sims 3, the game will be available on

according to Kotaku. So we’re portable version to play now ( likely dealing with Xbox 360, see review).

PS3, Wii, PSP, and Nintendo DS The Sims 3 Simming To A at the very least.

Console Near You[Kotaku] It’s been available on the iPhone consoles and handheld systems, and iPod touch since last June, too, if you’re looking for a

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Coming soon: Canon's EOS Rebel T2i SLR

by Terry Sullivan (Consumer Reports)

—Terry Sullivan Next Steps • Digital Camera Buying Advice: • Types of Digital Cameras| • Digital Camera Features| • Digital Camera Brands

Submitted at 2/9/2010 7:36:20 AM

Coming soon: Canon's EOS Rebel T2i SLR Canon EOS Rebel T2i Photo: Canon In addition to the four new PowerShot digital cameras Canon just introduced, Canon announced its latest SLR: The 18 -megapixel EOS Rebel T2i.

The new model has a lot in common with the one it succeeds, the 15-megapixel T1i.

It includes a 3-inch live-view LCD, uses 9 autofocus points, can capture HD-resolution video and has a 14-bit A/D converter, which Canon says will produce images with finer tonal gradations and wider color ranges.

In large part, Canon made only

modest improvements to the new model: Aside from the increase in megapixels, from 15 megapixels to 18, you can now also shoot 1080 HD-resolution video at 30 fps (instead of just 20fps). The T2i's LCD has 1.04 million dots (instead of 920,000), and you can shoot photos more quickly: its burst mode has been

increased from 3.4fps to 3.7fps.

The T2i includes an input jack, for attaching an external stereo mic, for improving audio during video capture. Canon has also expanded the exposure compensation range to +/- 5 EV (instead of +/- 3 EV on the T1i) for more versatility when shooting in low- or bright-light

situations and for high dynamic range (HDR) shooting. The T2i will also be compatible with SDXC memory cards, which will eventually be able to store as much as 2 terabytes of data.

Available in early March, The Rebel T2i will cost around $800 body-only and $900 with a 1855mm kit lens.

All Digital Camera Ratings Subscribers can view and compare all Digital Camera Ratings. Recommended Digital Cameras Look at the ones that we chose as the best of the best.

Subscribe now!

S u b s c r i b e t o ConsumerReports.org for expert Ratings, buying advice and reliability on hundreds of products. Update your feed preferences

Learn Basic Color Theory for Better Designs [Design]

by Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker)

colors, and offering lots of keen examples of every kind of color design, Smashing's post offers Whether you're putting together some clues on how colors are a portfolio web site or just perceived when images are slapping together some slides, translated to mental impressions. knowing how colors affect the Here's a little primer on orange minds of your audience makes that caught me unawares: your message more appealing. Orange is a very vibrant and Smashing magazine offers a post energetic color. In its muted that serves as Color Psychology forms, it can be associated with 101 for would-be designers. the earth and with autumn.

Beyond explaining which colors Because of its association with work as "warm" and "cool," how the changing seasons, orange can primaries play off secondary represent change and movement

Hit the link for a deeper read.

While you've got your monocle and draft paper out, tell us what color schemes you like, and which have never appealed to you, in the comments. Color Theory for Designers, Part 1: The Meaning of Color[Smashing Magazine via The Red Ferret Journal]

Submitted at 2/9/2010 7:00:00 AM

in general.

Because orange is associated with the fruit of the same name, it can be associated with health and vitality. In designs, orange

commands attention without being as overpowering as red. It's often considered more friendly and inviting, and less in-yourface.

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47

The Man Who Looked Into Facebook's Soul

by Marshall Kirkpatrick (ReadWriteWeb)

data-centric community have been calling on the company itself to do for years, and an Submitted at 2/8/2010 9:15:35 PM event that's been complicated by Y o u t h s o c i a l n e t w o r k i n g Facebook's recent privacy policy researcher danah boyd has changes, which have muddied observed that many people the waters of right and wrong but presume the way they use social r e n d e r e d e v e n m o r e d a t a networks is the way everyone available for outside analysis. uses them. "I interviewed gay If what people call Web 2.0 was men who thought Friendster was a l l a b o u t c r e a t i n g n e w a gay dating site because all they technologies that made it easy saw were other gay men," she for everyday people to publish says. "I interviewed teens who their thoughts, social connections believed that everyone on and activities, then the next stage MySpace was Christian because of innovation online may be all of the profiles they saw services like recommendations, contained biblical quotes. We all self and group awareness, and live in our own worlds with other features made possible by people who share our values and, software developers building on with networked media, it's often top of the huge mass of data that hard to see beyond that."

Web 2.0 made public. It's a very Now picture our perspective exciting future, and Warden is leaving our own experiences, about to fire one of the earliest zooming out and up until we can big shots in that direction. Nerds see how all the different groups in Space: Social Graph Analysis are interacting on a worldwide F o r S o l v i n g L a r g e - G r o u p social network. That bird's-eye P r o b l e m s view could be both beautiful and Warden studied Computer horrible if the resolution was Vision in college in the U.K., clear enough. That's what a then got into game development.

R a m e n - e a t i n g , e x - A p p l e After moving to L.A., he spent engineer named Pete Warden is six years building graphics about to release to the public this d r i v e r s f o r t h e o r i g i n a l week.

Playstation and the XBox. Then Sponsor he started his own independent This Wednesday, Warden will business, where, thankfully, he make Friend, Fan page and name open-sourced much of his work data from hundreds of millions (something he's still doing of Facebook users available to today). t h e a c a d e m i c r e s e a r c h When he found out that starting community. It's a move that his own business wasn't going to Facebook has to have seen work with his immigration coming, a move that many in the status, he was very fortunate to

called the company Mailana, a play on "mail analysis" since he was initially focused on email social graph analysis.

We've written here a number of times about Mailana's tool that analyzes the social graph of any Twitter user. Enter the username of someone on Twitter and Mailana will show you which 20 other people the user has exchanged the largest number of reciprocal public @ replies with.

Find someone interesting or important? Mailana's Twitter analyzer will tell you who they most regularly interact with. See, have also caught Apple's eye for example, The Inner Circles of with the software he had been 10 Geek Rockstars on Twitter. releasing to the public. Apple Pulling Down the Facebook bought his company in order to Social Graph b r i n g h i m o n b o a r d . T h e Now Warden is about to unveil proceeds of that small sale are a much larger project along the now sustaining his next project same vein. For the past six after going independent again. months he's been crawling public After spending five years at profile pages on Facebook. He Apple struggling to navigate the now has more than 215 million maze of people and connections of them indexed and updated and types of expertise in order to about once a month. When he get the information he needed, began he was using the Web W a r d e n d e c i d e d t o g o crawling service 80legs, but over i n d e p e n d e n t a n d b u i l d a time he had to build his own company that solved exactly that crawling infrastructure. kind of problem. "I can't think When I talked to him this of a better big company to work afternoon, he had already begun for, but it was still a big uploading 100 GB of user data company," he says. "It was hard onto his server to make it to find the right people to talk to, available for academic research whether for particular expertise starting on Wednesday. Warden or for contacts at external says he's removed identifying companies." And so Warden left profile URLs but kept names, Apple to build a company that locations, Fan page lists and would use social graph analysis partial Friends lists. All those to solve problems like that. He fields of data are just waiting to

be analyzed and cross referenced. That's one very rich resource.

Yesterday Warden posted some of his own initial observations from the data on his personal blog. Those included: • In almost every state in the Southern U.S., God is number one most popular Fan page among Facebook users. Among people in the L.A., San Francisco and Nevada regions? "God hardly makes an appearance on the fan pages, but sports aren't that popular either," Warden writes. "Michael Jackson is a particular favorite, and San Francisco puts Barack Obama in the top spot." In the Oregon and Idaho region? Starbucks is number one. • In the Mormon-influenced areas of Utah and Eastern Idaho, the most popular Fan pages are The Book of Mormon, Glen Beck and the vampire book Twilight, which was authored by a Mormon. • The bulk of Warden's posted analysis yesterday was about location networks. People in the western U.S. tend to have Facebook friends all over the country; people in the southern U.S. tend to mostly be friends with people who have remained in the same area.

Taking a Deeper Look These observations are MAN page 50

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How The Godfather Would Pick Enterprise 2.0 Champions

by Alex Williams (ReadWriteWeb)

Facebook!"

• The Tech-Savvy: "Mary's always got the latest gadget.

Submitted at 2/9/2010 5:03:21 AM She's a natural for this!"

From time to time, we look at • The Connectors: "Martin how Enterprise 2.0 practices are knows everybody. He's the ideal reaching into companies. social networker!"

A recent post by Michael • The Visionaries: "Isabel is so Idinopulos demonstrates how the visionary. She'll totally get what premises for finding Enterprise we're trying to do!"

Pragmatic Enterprise are 2.0 champions is often flawed. • pioneering new methods to help Too often the search is for the clients institute technologies and right personality. Instead, the Idinopulos makes the point that practices that fit with the social focus of the search should really these psychological attributes enterprise. be for the people who are don't work for a few reasons: Dion Hinchcliffe and Michael " e x c h a n g i n g k n o w l e d g e , • The premise that just a few K r i g s m a n o f P r a g m a t i c information, and ideas across have such talents is repudiated E n t e r p r i s e t a k e a h o l i s t i c large parts of the organization." by the fact that it gets adopted by approach. They look at the Sponsor any number of people who don't political, technical and business Idinopulos compares it to how fit into any one category issues that come with any social The Godfather's Don Corleone • They re not actionable. How Web initiative. They look for would approach the issue when can you scale this across an executive champions who want choosing the right people for the organization of 5,000 to 10,000 to use social technologies to job: "It's nothing personal. It's employees? solve a business problem. Once just business." In other words, • The signal does not transmit. the problem is identified, a people are chosen for their role Do you know the lonely social process begins that seeks out the in the organization not for who media evangelist? The one who spectrum of opinions about the they are as people. finally just gives up and says project and the use of Enterprise Let's just say the "Godfather," people "just don't get it." The 2.0 practices for the group. process is still not widely used. enthusiasm has to transfer to the The business world is Often, managers look for the "it" organization. developing its own methods for factor. Here are a few of the how it makes social technologies more common things Idinopulos It's evident a methodology is a part of the business process. At has heard managers say they are emerging for how to make times it may be surprising how looking for: E n t e r p r i s e 2 . 0 a d e e p the technologies get adopted.

• The Young and Hip: "Jimmy's institutional focus. Companies Idinopulos points to a marketing o n l y 2 8 . H e g r e w u p o n like the Dachis Group and manager who turned out to be

responsible for attracting thousands to a Socialtext environment that Idinopulos and his group had implemented for the company:"Because the Marketing Manager's commitment to social media wasn't a personal thing, it transferred quickly to other parts of the business. Other Marketing groups got wind of the project, and started posting their own content, creating their own workspaces, starting their own conversations. Then it started to spread beyond Marketing, to Sales and Product groups that had initially participated as consumers of Marketing content.

Marketing's cross-silo reach positioned them to involve different parts of the organization, which then went on to do their own thing. That would not have happened if Marketing's success had been a function of one person's passion."

The example is proof that the enthusiasm comes from how the social technologies help people in their work so the business can prosper. As the Godfather would say: "It's not personal. It's just business." Discuss

Home Theater Under the Stairs Makes Perfect Sense [Home Theater]

by Jesus Diaz (Gizmodo) Submitted at 2/9/2010 10:40:00 AM

There's nothing fancy about this idea for a home theater, but it's a very clever way to save space in a small house, using the dead space under the stairs to store a ton of tech gear.

The setup was built by Jason Swell, who thought that this was the best way to place his 50-inch Samsung HLR5078W DLP projection television, along with a Dual-Core Mac Mini, Series 2 Tivo, and Comcast HD STB. And rightly so, because it not only saves space, but places the screen at a good distance to watch from the sofas.

The stair hides even more high tech stuff behind that screen: A 1 -terabyte hard drive array, an audio amplifier, the 30Mb/s FIOS connection, an EyeTV 500 HD tuner, and a UPS unit. In fact, he uses five tuners and he is able to record three shows concurrently while watching a fourth. [ Flickr via Unplggd]

Tech News/ Gadgets/ Fashion/

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Google Exiting China? Not Just Yet

by Sarah Perez (ReadWriteWeb)

announced it would review the feasibility of its business operations in China. The Submitted at 2/9/2010 7:55:22 AM company claimed it would Last month, Google received engage in discussions with the high praise from human rights Chinese government to see if supporters after threatening to there was any way for it to exit the Chinese search market, r e m a i n i n C h i n a , b u t f e w claiming it was no longer expected positive results from comfortable with censoring those discussions. search results per government Because the attacks were demands. But here it is a month focused on gaining access to the later and Google has made no email accounts of human rights move to withdrawal its Chinese activists, Google received a lot search operations, with censored of praise for taking a stand r e s u l t s s t i l l a p p e a r i n g o n against the Chinese government, G o o g l e ' s C h i n e s e p o r t a l , the alleged perpetrators of the Google.cn. In addition, the hacking attempts. However, only company may now be investing nine days later, Google's CEO in a Chinese digital media Eric Schmidt took a softer tone company, as well. According to during the company's fourth reports, the Internet giant is said quarter earnings call. "We wish to be a member of a Disney-led to remain in China," he said. consortium looking to invest in a "We like the Chinese people, we Chinese media and advertising like our Chinese employees, we company called Bus Online. like the business opportunities Sponsor there." Google to Invest in Google's decision to exit the Chinese Media Company Chinese search business was Google does like the businesses alluded to in their January blog there, apparently. It's a month post detailing what appeared to later and the company seems to be state-led cyber attacks which be no closer to shutting down hit the Internet giant and other their Chinese search operations Silicon Valley companies in mid business than they were back in -December. As a result, Google January. In addition, sources say

be a bit more murky than a simple case of "good" versus "evil," though. Of course Google couldn't sit idly by as the Chinese government directed Google is planning to invest in attacks on its infrastructure, but China's largest in-bus digital it also would be bad business to media and advertising company, ignore the massive potential of an outfit called Bus Online the Chinese Internet market. whose revenue was about 314.5 Yesterday, new reports from million yuan ($46.07 million) Chinaview.cn stated that the last year. A consortium led by Chinese government had shut Walt Disney Co. is reportedly in down the nation's largest website advanced talks with the Chinese responsible for training hackers. company and has plans to buy a The implication of this news 30%-40% stake for more than and especially its timing, given $100 million in shares, both the actual shut down occurred in public and private. Google is November- is that the Chinese said to be among the investors. government wants to appear as if This move leads credence to the they're "playing nice" with argument put forth in January regards to Western interests. which had cynics claiming that That move may be precisely the Google's withdrawal from China sort of thing Google needs in had less to do with their so- order to maintain an appearance called "moral high grounds" of concern regarding the cyber propped up by the company attack situation while also not motto "don't be evil," and had making a regrettable, revenuemore to do with the fact that impacting business decision by G o o g l e ' s C h i n e s e s e a r c h ceasing Chinese operations b u s i n e s s s i m p l y c o u l d n ' t altogether. The only question compete with the more popular now is whether or not the public Chinese engine baidu.com. will forgive Google for doing so.

Hacker Crack Down Could Help Discuss The reality of the situation may

Street Chic: London

by ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 2/9/2010 4:00:00 AM

Clashing prints make perfect harmony.

Photo: Josie Gealer Think you are Street Chic? E-

could appear in ELLE.com's Street Chic Daily.

Follow ELLE on Twitter. mail us your photo and you

Apple launches Aperture 3 – retails at $199, upgrades for $99

by Robin Wauters (CrunchGear) Submitted at 2/9/2010 7:13:53 AM

It's been almost 2 years to the day when Apple released Aperture 2.0, and this morning the company announced that the third iteration of the photo editing and management software is available. Some of the new features include Faces, Places and Brushes, many of which will be familiar to people using iPhoto '09. With the new version, Apple makes it easier for people to step up from iPhoto to Aperture, while still providing professional photographers with a powerful program for editing and managing their libraries.

Apple says the new software boasts over 200 new features.

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MAN continued from page 47

interesting, but they are only the beginning of what's possible.

Name, location, friends and interests are great data points to analyze. Warden has written a program that will estimate gender as well, based on names.

All these data points can be cross -referenced with outside data, too. Members of Facebook's own staff did this kind of analysis when they compared user last names to U.S. Census data, which allowed them to estimate changes in Facebook's racial composition over time based on the likelihood of people with particular last names to report a particular racial backgrounds.

"I'm mostly thinking 'What do I try first?'," Warden says.

"There's so many interesting ways to slice the data - especially as I'm starting to get changes over time. I'm also trying to map out political networks in aggregate; how polarized the fans of particular politicians are so how likely a Sarah Palin fan is to have any friends who are fans of Obama, and how that varies

with location too. One of my favorite results is that Texans are more likely to be fans of the Dallas Cowboys than God." Warden says he hasn't talked to anyone from Facebook since he started crawling the site, but he did get an email from someone on the security team asking him to take down instructions he'd posted that exposed a security hole that made harvesting peoples' email addresses easy.

So the company is paying attention. "I'd love to see them put me out of business by putting decent data out there," Warden says. He says his Amazon Web Services bill was over $5,000 last month.

Why is he indexing all this content and why is he going to hand it over to the academic world later this week? "I am fascinated by how we can build tools to understand our world and connect people based on all the data we're just littering the Internet with," Warden says.

"Nobody thinks about how much valuable information they're generating just by friending

people and fanning pages. It's like we're constantly voting in a hundred different ways every day. And I'm a starry-eyed believer that we'll be able to change the world for the better using that neglected information.

It's like an x-ray for the whole country - we can see all sorts of hidden details of who we're friends with, where we live, what we like."

For a great example of the kind of social impact that data analysis can make, Warden points to some of the fascinating ways that GIS data is illuminating the intersection of race and public services. Data has shed light on social injustices for decades, and measurable information about the interactions of hundreds of millions of people every day on Facebook offers opportunities to discover both good and bad news about the contemporary human condition.

Warden says he's not yet been able to interest any investors in his ideas for businesses based on this data, so his girlfriend Liz

Baumann, a former insurance actuary, stepped in to help and is now running much of the crawling. He says he's now focused on "working on ways of presenting all this information in a form that answers questions for people willing to pay." His first experiment along those lines is the very interesting FanPageAnalytics.com.

What does Pete Warden hope for from this week's public release of all this Facebook data?

"Hopefully I'll get to see a bunch of interesting [academic research] papers come out of it, worst case. And I'd like to be the guy people turn to when they need stuff like this."

Already well-respected among a fringe group of bleeding-edge geeks, we hope that Warden's work on social graph analysis will end up impacting a far larger number of people than may ever know his name. Discuss

Lady Gaga Now Shares a Penis with George Washington [Going Gaga]

by Brian Moylan (Gawker) Submitted at 2/9/2010 10:47:20 AM

Beloved hermaphrodite and pop art whosiwhatsit Lady Gaga finally gets the perfect tribute from artist Craig Gleason[ NSFW] who is making dollar bills in her likeness. Yes, the medium is definitely the message, even if may be kind of illegal.

WiLink Crams Wi-Fi, GPS, FM Transmission and Bluetooth Into a Single Chip [Wireless]

by Jesus Diaz (Gizmodo) Submitted at 2/9/2010 10:50:00 AM

Texas Instruments says that their WiLink 7.0 is the first chip with four wireless radios in one: FM

transmission and reception, GPS, 802.11n Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth.

What does this mean for you, gadget lovers? In theory, a wholalot goodness. mobile gadgets using this chip Texas Instruments claims that would be able to do all those

four functions for less money—30 percent less—in less space—50 percent—and consuming less energy than the current alternatives. [ PR Newswire]

E-reader News Edition

Tech News/ Tech Blog/

What to Do If Your Toyota's Been Recalled [Cars]

by Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker)

values of the models dropped 2 to 3 percent or so initially and Submitted at 2/9/2010 5:30:00 AM then gradually caught up again Got one of those Toyotas with five to six months later, the "sticky" gas pedal? Maybe a according to a preliminary just-recalled Prius? Don't trade in Kelley Blue Book analysis." your car or panic if your dealer's So, the best advice for recalled booked through next week.

Toyota owners is to call your Here's a few tips from the dealer and make an appointment experts on saving money and for a fix (how surprising, huh?). driving safely.

Still, what if you need to drive First off, if you're not sure your car in the meantime, and whether your Toyota might be you're worried about having your part of the recall or not, here's own "unintended acceleration" the read-out. 2010-model Prius moment? CTV offers an hybrids are soon to be called in emergency stopping maneuver for a fix to the anti-lock brake you can test out: software. Toyota's own recall p r o v i d i n g f i x d e t a i l s , b u t it.

Our recommendation is to drive page has the lengthy details and Canada's CTV notes that it may Toyota's certainly taking a hit in on an empty stretch of road, then model list. Otherwise, here's not reach if you've moved since the media, and the public's long- put your foot to the floor. You do CNNMoney's thumbnail of the your car purchase, and it's up to admiring eye, for having to issue it for a second or two and then you to get in line for a fix, and these safety recalls. If you feel shift into neutral. list: Which cars are involved? The update your address for future like you might want to trade in It's going to sound very noisy your recalled Toyota to try and because your engine will be stuck-pedal recall of 2.3 million recalls and notices: vehicles announced last week The requirement is that the escape a declining value, don't racing. When that happens, take affects Toyota's 2009-2010 manufacturer send the notice to do it—at least, not yet. Kelley your foot off the gas and bring RAV4, Corolla and Matrix the address in their record. If you Blue Book and ALG valuations your car to a stop gently. models; the 2005-2010 Avalon; moved or are the second owner will likely drop 5 percent over After you're done practicing, 2010 Highlander; 2007-2010 of the car, you might not get the the life of the recall, and the New you should use this technique in Tundra and the 2008-2010 notice, even if you bought the car York Times' Bucks blog notes case of sudden acceleration Sequoia; and some 2007-2010 at the dealer of the same brand. that now is not the time to trade while you drive. Do not try to Camrys (only those with gas They don't have to find you, and in. Why? An Edmunds.com fight the car while it is in gear. consumer advice editor notes Do you own a Toyota that's pedal assemblies made by a they won't look. specific Toyota supplier; your So how do I get in contact with that trade-in prices are going to been recalled, going to be dealer can check). No Lexus or the manufacturer to get my be at significant lows right now, recalled, or has already received address updated? but will recover: Scion models are involved. its fix? Tell us about your Toyota's starting to send out The dealer can do it. They may " A f t e r t h e r e c a l l o f F o r d experience, and any lessons mailers to affected car owners have a customer service phone Explorers earlier this century l e a r n e d , i n t h e c o m m e n t s . announcing the recall and number that will allow you to do because of tire failures, the resale Second image by KOMUnews.

51

Twitter-killing follow-up (Scripting News) Submitted at 2/9/2010 6:42:16 AM

Yesterday's piece started quite a discussion, and for the most part people agree that it's time for some new stuff in TwitterLand.

That tells you that it's not only time, it's past time.

In the past, there would have been a lot of comments about how the limits of Twitter are what make it so perfect. If you still believe that, watch this NSFW puppet "interview" with "Walt Mossberg" and "Steve Jobs." It's hilarious, and shows how the tech industry falls for what puppet Steve calls "an obvious crock of shit."

Anyway...

There's more to producing a Twitter-killer than just adding features that Twitter doesn't have.

It has to be a Twitter clone. It has to look and feel like Twitter would, with some or all of these enhancements. Plus, it should also have the ability to post to Twitter and include Twitter content, in other words it should also be a Twitter client. At Microsoft they called this Embrace and Extend.

And one more thing. No Suggested Users List.

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ViralHeat: Social Media Analysis for the Budget-Minded Soul

by Mike Melanson (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 2/9/2010 6:00:00 AM

These days, the words "social media campaign" are on the lips of everyone around, from media professionals to small business owners to college students in coffee shops. While the idea of a social media campaign is becoming widespread, the tools to manage one are often left for the former, while the latter look in awe at the price.

ViralHeat, a social media analytics firm, hopes to fill the space left empty by other, far more expensive services.

Sponsor The Basics ViralHeat has been around for just over six months, providing a low-price but full-featured social media analysis for the budget minded. We had a chance to chat with CEO Raj Kadam and founder Vishal Sankhla today before the relaunch, which is unveiling support for Facebook monitoring, a new user interface and API support.

The fully Web-based app gives full analytics by monitoring an array of blogs, over 200 video sites, Twitter and now Facebook for mentions of your brand,

which is set up as a profile. Each profile exists as a simple logic search, wherein you can keep track of your brand by searching for phrases, domains and hashtags, all in the syntax we've become accustomed to from using from sites like Google.

Champagne Tastes on a Beer Budget?

While ViralHeat compares itself on price to services like Radian6, there is a primary difference between the two services.

ViralHeat offers a full set of analytics features, from standard mention monitoring to sentiment analysis using a natural language algorithm, but this is where it stays. It does not venture over to the content creation side, where we find the more expensive and extensive services like Radian6.

Other services might offer workflow management, scheduled content delivery and other conversational tools, but this would be overkill for the

users we imagine at this app's usability sweetspot.

We see that as an additional merit: ViralHeat has both the price point and the feature set fit for the company that wants to get on top of its image and perception on the social Web but can't afford to bring a social media expert on board - and on salary. The learning curve is suitable for the DIY set and the analytics it provides are self explanatory, not riddled with

indecipherable, industry jargon.

For those of you that like the pricing but want to do a little more with the data, the service also allows you to export data into Excel format and access your data using the API. The Price is Right Speaking of pricing, this is a point that really brings it home for ViralHeat. With today's relaunch of the site, ViralHeat offers a three tiered pricing system, starting with a basic package for $9.99, a professional package for $29.99 and a business package for $89.99. The Basic package offers standard mentions analysis for 5 profiles, while the other packages offer sentiment analysis and API access for 20 and 40 profiles, respectively.

If we haven't drilled it in enough quite yet, here's the bottom line: ViralHeat looks like a solid social media analysis tool that is priced and designed for the more casual user, while offering simple features like export and API interaction that keep it flexible enough for the more serious user. Discuss

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53

When Negotiation Becomes Dishonesty

by Dana Oshiro (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 2/8/2010 7:35:00 PM

If you've been a geek your whole life then you understand the term "Canadian girlfriend."

The Canadian (or sometimes British) love interest is the person you talk about when a member of the opposite sex inquires about your dating status.

The story is that you met online, you've formed a solid bond and you'll probably break up with your online girlfriend when a girl in your vicinity decides she likes you. The idea is to drive up the value of your perceived social stock. In the startup world, the same principle is used in "ham and egging."

Sponsor As pointed out in a recent blog post by university professor Scott Shane, "ham and egging" was first coined by Columbia's

professor Amar Bhide and Harvard Business School's Howard Stevenson. The term refers to the technique of convincing multiple stakeholders that others are working with you despite the fact that you're only in talks. The only problem is that most early partners only want to work with you if other reputable partners have already signed on.

Explains Bhide and Stevenson,"the ultimate ham and egging solution is for the entrepreneur to simultaneously convince each participant that

everyone else is on board, or almost on board."

However, when ReadWriteWeb spoke to MobiTV CEO Paul Scanlan about forging deals between telecom and television companies, he suggested a different tact. Although Scanlan found himself caught between partners who were skittish to sign on without the initial validation of others, he decided that rather than ham and egging, he'd build contingency clauses into contracts. Scanlan's contracts stated that all partnerships were contingent on a set number of large-scale partners to launch. While this may not be the ideal method of closing deals, it seems like an ethical alternative to engaging in deals that begin with dishonesty.

Have you ever engaged in ham and egging and if so, was your deal a success? Discuss

Guy Pretty Copacetic about Being Railroaded by Right Wing [Politics]

by Hamilton Nolan (Gawker)

became a hysterical right wing talking point. Yosi finally speaks, here. (Not bitter!)

Submitted at 2/9/2010 10:40:13 AM

Yosi Sergant is the art publicist who was forced to resign his NEA job after a remark on a

conference call about engaging artists with public service

Sketchpad Is a No-FlashRequired HTML5 Painting App [Webapps]

by Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker) Submitted at 2/9/2010 6:00:00 AM

Chrome/Firefox/Safari: Want proof that HTML5 is the way of the future? Try Sketchpad, a surprisingly robust online painting app that doesn't require Flash, Shockwave, or any other plug-in—just a modern browser and a mouse.

Run by a team that dubs themselves Colorjack, this "Sketchpad" demo shows off the capabilities of modern JavaScript and HTML5 support. You can paint any color in any shade or opacity, take on patterns and "Spirographs," and use all the tools you're likely familiar with from Microsoft's older versions of that old Paint standby.

Sketchpad also offers a handful of control windows you can move around and keep open. If the app supported drag-and-drop file imports, as Firefox 3.6 does, this would be a truly robust, and almost desktop-replacing, webapp.

When you're done with your efforts, hit the save icon and your image pops up in a new tab, ready to be saved. Sketchpad is free to use, and works on any browser that supports HTML5—including, it's been suggested, in some mobile devices, though we had very little luck actually painting with an iPod touch and Android device. Sketchpad[Colorjack via DZone]

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1DayLater Tracks and Graphs Your Time, Money, and Mileage [Time Tracker]

by Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker) Submitted at 2/9/2010 8:00:00 AM

If it's time for a self-assessment of where your workday time or cash go, 1DayLater can help. If you're a freelancer looking for lightweight client tracking, 1DayLater's also got game. It's a really lightweight, web-based tool for watching where everything goes.

After signing up and signing in, you'll see 1DayLater's basic interface: Value, Project, Date, and the optional "Note." If you drove 18 miles earlier to pick up poster something for a project, simply enter "18m" in Value, "Smith Account" in Project, and

OpenOffice, and the Apple iWork suite). You can also put together a rather neat-looking graph of your time, money, and miles. More options and tools, including automatic invoices and mileage claims, are coming soon, according to the developers, as 1DayLater is currently an open beta test.

1DayLater is a free service that requires a registration, and would've made a worthy addition "Today" in date, and type in upon pressing Stop into the to our top 10 tips and tools for "Poster supplies" in note if you Value field. freelancers, had we seen it need to. That's it—your data's When you want to get it out, e a r l i e r . 1 D a y L a t e r [ v i a entered in. If you're about to start you can export to Office Open W e b W o r k e r D a i l y ] working on something right now, XML spreadsheets, which can be there's an on-site timer that opened by most office apps automatically plugs your time ( i n c l u d i n g M i c r o s o f t ,

Submitted at 2/9/2010 6:30:00 AM

Google Chrome: If you're a frequent Chrome and Dropbox user, this unofficial Dropbox extension puts one-click access to your Dropbox files right on the Google Chrome toolbar.

Once installed, the Dropbox extension places a small

Dropbox icon in your Google Chrome toolbar. After your initial sign-in, clicking on the icon presents the menu seen here. You can select between your recently updated files and your folder structure to quickly navigate to the file you're looking for. Clicking on any given file will either display or play the file in your browser or download it to your computer for

local viewing.

Dropbox extension is a free and unofficial extension for

by Jonathan Toomey (TV Squad) Submitted at 2/9/2010 11:25:00 AM

( S03E03)"Tonight's been educational." - Patty Educational it was, both for Patty Hewes and viewers alike, as last night's ' Damages' proved that it can tell one helluva narrative without any of those pesky "six months from now" flashes. 'Flight's at 11:08' isn't the first episode to put the back and forth, past/present/future jumps on the back-burner, but it is the earliest it's happened in a season. Normally, those narrative accessing your Dropbox files and devices don't fade away until the works wherever Google Chrome climactic moment later in the does. Have a favorite extension season when everything collides. or tool for getting the most out of What we got instead was a bit of cloud-based services? Let's hear different angle for 'Damages' as about it in the comments. last night's episode was driven Dropbox Extension[via How-To by the characters and not the Geek] over-arching plot.

Continue reading Review: 'Damages' - 'Flight's at 11:08' Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Damages, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

Dropbox Extension Puts One-Click Access to Your Dropbox Files in Chrome [Downloads]

by Jason Fitzpatrick (Lifehacker)

Review: 'Damages' 'Flight's at 11:08'

Gadgets/ TV/

E-reader News Edition

55

Why the Notion Ink Adam, and not the Apple iPad, is the tablet to watch

by Tablet (BestTabletReview.com)

laptops to fulfill a portable need.

Soon further divergence ushered in personal digital assistants Submitted at 2/9/2010 8:10:53 AM (PDAs) to facilitate a handheld Message from fivefilters.org: If need for tech. This eventually led you can, please donate to the full to more portable gadgets and -text RSS service so we can n i c h e p r o d u c t s ; i n c l u d i n g continue developing it. netbooks, MIDs, PMPs and The Notion Ink Adam is the e R e a d e r s . N o w w e f i n d tablet to watch There are a lot of ourselves in the midst of a tablet skeptics out there. Many convergent cycle. Starting with don’t see room for a tablet form the smartphone (the joining of factor in a computing world full cell phones and PDAs), these o f c l a m s h e l l s , s l i d e r s a n d devices are converging into desktops. We don’t agree. In products that do multiple tasks. fact, we see a huge potential for That happens to be why we’re so tablets in the future— it just keen on the tablet. We see it as takes the right company to make the ultimate convergent device them.

— something capable of being Many thought that company your desktop, your mobile would be Apple, but when the internet device, your eReader, iPad was finally announced, after your personal media player, your years of speculation and rumor, communication tool, your GPS, it had been built up so much in your one computing device. So our heads that it couldn’t far, that idea is a fantasy. As possibly live up to its imaginary much as a “mythical unicorn” as image. We firmly believe that the Apple tablet was this time the iPad will be a success, but last year. But it is coming and think Apple did a very lazy job the first company that realizes making what could have been the this device wins. signature tablet product.

Enter the Notion Ink Adam.

If you look at the computing This is the first tablet device that world you’ll see a cycle of we’ve seen that could possibly divergence and convergence. For begin to unlock the tablet’s true decades the computing world potential. It’s a well-planned revolved around desktop PCs. device — something that has Then came the divergence of been thought out to be an

ultimate (but not the ultimate) convergent device. Its NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor guarantees that it is fast enough to satisfy the user and can render 1080p HD video. It also helps redefine power consumption to make the device last much longer on a charge (a must for a portable tablet).

The Adam will also be the first device to feature the Pixel Qi 3qi display — one of the few second generation color screen technologies that we see as the future for tablet displays. The beauty of the Pixel Qi screen is that it’s two screens in one. The first is an emmitive (and common) LCD screen. The second is a reflective color ePaper-like screen that uses much less power. What this does is finally converges the eReader with the tablet PC. Aside from price, there will now be no added benefit to buying a traditional EInk screened eReader over a tablet PC. It will have all of the advantages (color, reflective, large screen, low energy consumption) without any of the detriments (the E-Ink flash, low frame rate, monochrome, dedicated device). Sure, there will still be people who see minute differences in traditional

eReaders (like size and weight) that will make them preferable to a tablet, but for someone looking to buy one product (barring price) the tablet will offer more ability and use.

A lot has been made about tablet operating systems lately and for good reason. The ideal tablet OS hasn’t been made yet. Many people have problems with Android, but it is an OS on the right track. As an applicationbased system, it allows for developers to quickly identify needs and develop applications to fill those needs. It’s an evolving OS thanks to its open source nature.

The Notion Ink Adam has the promise to deliver on a lot of the iPad’s missed potential. Barring any huge screwups by Notion Ink (which would include performance and pricing), the Adam will be an excellent eBook reader, a speedy internet and media playing device and a versatile and capable computer.

In short, it’s the new tablet to watch — until it dies or we find something better. Leave a Reply Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Review: 'Two and a Half Men' 'Aye, Aye Captain'

by Allison Waldman (TV Squad) Submitted at 2/9/2010 9:39:00 AM

(S07E15) Remember how Charlie and Chelsea's relationship was drifting into the danger zone last week? You know that 'to be continued' we were left with... well, we picked up with the story as Charlie and Alan had cleaned up at home after their sojourn in the woods - Jake, too -- only to find that Chelsea was pulling a 'Charlie.'

That's right, she was coming home in the wee small hours of the morning and hadn't bothered to call. More on that and Alan's topiary below the belt after the jump.

Continue reading Review: 'Two and a Half Men' - 'Aye, Aye Captain' Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

56

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Review: Withings WiFi Scale

by John Biggs (CrunchGear) Submitted at 2/9/2010 7:30:30 AM

Short Version: Yes, this is that scale that Tweets your weight.

And yes, it’s actually pretty cool.

Features • Built-in Wi-Fi • Backlit screen • Battery powered • Body mass sensor • $159 MSRP Pros • Multiple users with automatic user detection based on weight • Slim design • Quick readings • Lots of reporting options scale is just the thing to get me back in Abraham Lincoln mode.

This glass scale features a body mass sensor complete with invisible electrodes as well as a backlit OLED readout. To start, you connect the scale to your Review So the Internet made me fat. computer via USB and assign That and all the beer. Anyway, your wireless hotspot. Then each now I’m going to depend on the time you hop on the scale you Internet to make me skinny again wait for the electrodes to sense and I think the Withings WiFi your body fat (or if they can’t it Cons • Potentially fragile • Seemingly low battery life • Who wants to Tweet their weight?

just transmits your weight) and then you check your progress online. New users are “added” when they weigh themselves and show up as unknown users until you assign their measurements to an account. Because folks usually float among a few data points, your wife’s numbers won’t get mixed up with yours and the dog’s numbers will definitely not get mixed up with

progress remotely so you don’t have to worry about your weight at work. If you know you lost five pounds over the past week then obviously you can go and grab yourself another four donuts. You’re worth it!

Even if you don’t use all of the Wi-Fi features it’s still a nice scale for $159. Sure it can Tweet your weight and it also works with Google Health. It may be a great idea for a personal trainer with multiple clients. By sharing readings with a group or individual you can work more closely with that person on your regimen.

I’ve been using this thing for about two weeks and its fun to your son’s (Note: Do not try to see the weight sort of fluctuate put a dog on this scale. They do but inexorably tend towards not like it.) pulchritude and obesity. Thanks, The obvious question here is Internet! And thanks beer! whether or not you need a web- Bottom Line e n a b l e d s c a l e . Y o u c o u l d A clever and interesting way to feasibly do all of these functions track your weight loss (or gain) with a pad of paper and a pencil. regimen. May not be worth $159 However, the Withings system but the free web service adds a allows you to take BMI as well great deal of value. as set goals for yourself. Most Product Page importantly, you can check your

Paul Reiser Is Thinking About a Return to NBC

by Mike Moody (TV Squad)

Thankfully, he's not producing a hokey reality game show like his pal, Jerry Seinfeld.

Paul Reiser, one of the stars of Reiser, co-creator and star of NBC's "Must See TV" heyday of NBC's hit sitcom'Mad About the 1990s, is reportedly returning You', is executive producing and t o t h e P e a c o c k N e t w o r k . starring in a new single-camera Submitted at 2/9/2010 10:29:00 AM

Word is that NBC has picked up the project, possibly to help fill the coming gaps in its schedule thanks to Leno's return to late night.

Continue reading Paul Reiser Is pilot backed by Warner Bros. Thinking About a Return to

NBC Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Industry, Programming, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

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57

More information on the Notion Ink The Netbook Navigator Nav 9 tablet PC drops price Adam tablet PC from Slashgear

by Tablet (BestTabletReview.com) Submitted at 2/8/2010 10:49:01 AM

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full -text RSS service so we can continue developing it.

The Notion Ink Adam We’ve been very interested in the Notion Ink Adam since it was announced in December. With its combination of Pixel Qi screen (switchable between LCD and reflective color) and NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor (capable of outputting flawless 1080p), the Notion Ink Adam could be the fulfillment of the many missed opportunities we saw with Apple’s iPad. Now some new details have emerged from Slashgear. In a few direct comparisons with the

iPad, Notion Ink says that their battery life will be much longer than the quoted “up to 10 hours” of the iPad’s due to better power management available through the Tegra 2 processor and Pixel Qi screen. There’s also talk that the Adam could have two versions (and Eve perhaps?).

One would measure 11.6mm (0.46 inches) thick and the other 12.9mm (0.5 inches) thick. By comparison, the iPad measures 0.53 inches thick. Slashgear speculates that the other version could possibly feature a cheaper LCD screen although no price information has been released.

Notion Ink is also developing relationships with digital content partners that could bring eBooks, comics and digital magazines to the Adam. They’re also featuring an Android Apps competition to

entice developers to start making applications for their marketplace. The prize is said to be north of one million dollars.

Depending on price, the Notion Ink Adam could be the first solid iPad contender and, if expectations are matched, could exceed it. It already has a better battery life, faster processor, 1080p HD output, a reflective screen that eBook readers will love and the ability to play Flash.

Priced comparatively the Notion Ink would be a hard tablet to pass up.

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Video: Anssi Salmela Scores, Gets Crushed by Jeff Carter

by Adam Gretz (FanHouse Main)

the-radar pickup for the New giving the Devils a 2-0 lead.

Jersey Devils in last week's Ilya Just as the puck was crossing K o v a l c h u k t r a d e , a n d o n the goal line, Philadelphia's Jeff Submitted at 2/8/2010 1:30:00 PM Monday night he made an impact Carter was lining him up.

Filed under: Devils, Flyers, with his second goal of the The result was not pretty.

NHL Injuries, NHL Videos season -- shorthanded -- just one Anssi Salmela was a nice under- minute into the second period,

after iPad announcement

by Tablet (BestTabletReview.com)

webcam, microSD slot, SIM card and a 3 cell battery rated for 2.5 hours per charge. It measures 10 Submitted at 2/8/2010 3:50:39 PM x 6.6 x 0.8 inches and weighs 2 Message from fivefilters.org: If pounds. you can, please donate to the full When it was originally -text RSS service so we can announced the pricing hovered continue developing it. around $1200. Now that the iPad The Netbook Navigator Nav 9 pricing is live, that figure has tablet PC One of the major dropped to $799 for its 16GB i n f l u e n c e s t h e i P a d option (and $1399 for its 128GB announcement had was in setting option). While that’s still more a firm tablet price for the market. than the base, non-3G 16GB Although the iPad is technically iPad, Netbook Navigator thinks a MID, you’ll see a lot of tablet it has a superior product on its PC makers either discount their hands (as evidenced by this chart previously released tablets or they’ve made). price their soon-to-be announced Once again, you’re really (quite tablets to match Apple’s $499- literally) comparing Apples to $839 range. oranges but that’s not going to Case in point, the Netbook stop companies from comparing Navigator Nav 9 tablet PC. If their tablet PCs to Apple’s iPad. you’re not familiar with Netbook In the end, that’s good news for Navigator’s Nav 9, it’s an 8.9- c o n s u m e r s as most inch 1024 x 600 resolution manufacturers will be trimming touchscreen that runs off an Intel costs any way they can to get on Atom N270 processor. It features the same price margin as Apple.

16GB of SSD storage (optional Source: Liliputing Leave a upgrades for 32GB, 64GB or Reply 128GB SSDs are available), Five Filters featured article: 2GB of RAM, WiFi b/g/n, Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: Bluetooth and optional 3G. It PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, runs Windows 7 Home Premium Term Extraction. and has 3 USB ports, a 1.3MP

58

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Panasonic announces new 3D Blu-ray recorders, players

by Joseph L. Flatley (Engadget) Submitted at 2/9/2010 11:32:00 AM

Looks like Panasonic's push to lead the 3D pack continues unabated. It's been just over a week since the company announced the opening of its first Blu-ray 3D authoring facility and now word's coming out of Tokyo's Yurakucho District that the world will soon be getting not one but four devices, including the DMPBDT900-K, a pretty straight

forward player that features the latest Advanced AVC encoding engine and a generous helping of ports (including two USB, Ethernet, two HDMI outs, one component out, and an SDXC compatible memory card port). If playback alone doesn't float your boat (and we don't blame you), three of the new models include 3D Blu-ray recorders, including the DMR-BWT3000 (2TB), DMR-BWT2000 (1TB), and DMR-BWT1000 (750GB). All the aforementioned recorders sport 2Digital BS / 110°CS TV

tuner, 1 Analog TV tuner, i.Link, SDXC memory card slot, Ethernet, VIERA Link, VOD Services, and BD-Live. Both the 2TB and 1TB models come with

a pair of HDMI ports, while 750GB model owners will have to make due with one. All three are pegged to burn BD-RE discs at 1x, BD-R at 6x, and BD-R

LTH, DVD-RAM, DVD-R, and DVD-R DL formats. Akihabara is reporting a street date of April 23rd, 2010.

Panasonic announces new 3D Blu-ray recorders, players originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Akihabara| Email this| Comments

Panasonic to release four 3D Blu-ray recorders and players in Japan

by Serkan Toto (CrunchGear)

Available only in black, the device features 4HDMI ports, an Submitted at 2/9/2010 7:21:34 AM SD card slot (compatible to The VIERA 3D full HD plasma SDXC), two USB ports, VIERA T V s w e r e n ’ t t h e o n l y 3 D link, DLNA compatibility, LAN, products Panasonic priced and BD-Video and BD-LIVE. dated for the Japanese market It will go on sale on April 23 for t o d a y . T h e c o m p a n y a l s o $1,500. announced a total of three new Panasonic also announced three Blu-ray 3D recorders and one Blu-ray 3D DIGA recorders[JP] player. Here are the details. today, all of which are equipped Panasonic says its Blu-ray 3D with hard discs: The DMRplayer, the DMP-BDT900[JP], is BWT3000 (2TB HDD/pictured the world’s first of its kind. a g a i n b e l o w ) , t h e D M R -

LAN, an SD card slot (compatible to SDXC), and a USB port.

Just like the 3D TVs and the 3D player, the 3D Blu-ray recorders will hit Japanese stores on April 23. Prices: $3,350 for the 2TB model, $2,200 for the 1TB recorder and $1,800 for the weakest model.

BWT2000 (1TB), and the DMRBWT1000 (750GB). The devices feature two digital and one analog TV tuner, two HDMI

ports (just one for the BWT1000), VIERA link, web connectivity (YouTube, video-on -demand etc.), AVC support,

storage, sharing and organization, making photo management an easy, natural and collaborative process. Get comments, notes, and tags on

your photos, post to any blog, Term Extraction. share and more!

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Can they see you?

by Zack Sheppard (Flickr Blog) Submitted at 2/8/2010 11:51:54 AM

Message from fivefilters.org: If

you can, please donate to the full -text RSS service so we can continue developing it.• About Flickr Flickr is a revolution in photo

Gadgets/ Entertainment/

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Green House delivers USB 3.0-friendly PCI Express interface card

by Darren Murph (Engadget) Submitted at 2/9/2010 10:45:00 AM

TI stuffs WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth and FM radios on a single chip, UWB and LTE are like 'hello?'

by Darren Murph (Engadget)

with undisclosed names, which could mean that a prototype phone or two will be taking Heads-up, kids -- Mobile World advantage in Barcelona. Fingers Congress is but days away from crossed. liftoff, and it looks like Texas Continue reading TI stuffs WiFi, Instruments will be there with a GPS, Bluetooth and FM radios purpose. The company has today on a single chip, UWB and LTE introduced what it's calling the are like 'hello?' "industry's first quad-radio single TI stuffs WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth chip," which throws 802.11n, and FM radios on a single chip, GPS, FM transmit / receive and UWB and LTE are like 'hello?'

Bluetooth radios onto a single 65 originally appeared on Engadget -nanometer WiLink 7.0 solution. on Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:22:00 Purportedly, this device reduces EST. Please see our terms for costs by 30 percent, size by 50 use of feeds. Permalink| PR percent and bragging rights by Newswire| Email this| Comments 894 percent. The chip is currently sampling to OEMs Submitted at 2/9/2010 10:22:00 AM

Like it or not (and honestly, why would you not?), USB 3.0 is upon us, and we're guessing it's just a matter of time before every single USB peripheral in the entire world is equipped with SuperSpeed support.

Exaggerations aside, there's still a good chance that you'll snap up an item or two over the course of your life that could benefit from hastier transfer rates, and that's where Green House comes in.

The Japanese-based outfit has just revealed a USB 3.0compatible PCI Express interface card, enabling mildly ancient desktops to gain USB 3.0 support by simply slapping a card into a free PCIe slot. The

company claims that you'll see maximum data transfer rates of 5Gbps, but you'll have to wait a few more months to snag it for 짜3,780 ($42).

Green House delivers USB 3.0friendly PCI Express interface card originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Akihabara News| Green House| Email this| Comments

59

Wyclef Jean and Mary J. Blige are Full of Hope for Haiti (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 2/9/2010 3:40:00 AM

Wyclef Jean has tapped into his Haitian spirit by using music and festivities to shed light on the dire need for help and funds in his homeland. He was on hand for the launch of Hope, Help, & Relief Haiti in New York on Monday.

Throughout his career, Wyclef has used his celebrity to bring awareness to the needs of Haiti, a nation that faced struggles even prior to the earthquake.

Following this natural disaster, Wyclef found his "true destiny," he told ET. Mary J. Blige, who performed a lot of songs from her vast catalogue, said, "You have to put yourself in their shoes and think if it was you, you would want people to come out in the same capacity and help you get out of the situation you're in." The images plastered throughout the media of the people struggling in Haiti have inspired Gayle King to be active in supporting recovery efforts.

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Gadgets/ Tech Blog/ Fashion/ Media/

Samsung TicToc PMP player lets you shake right past that Ke$ha song

by Laura June (Engadget)

a cute little docking station to go with it. There's no pricing Submitted at 2/9/2010 11:09:00 AM information yet, but we hear it'll B a c k a t C E S S a m s u n g definitely be available later this apparently unveiled this little year. There's one more shot after guy -- the TicToc PMP, which the break. seems to be aiming firmly at the Continue reading Samsung iPod shuffle demographic -- TicToc PMP player lets you whatever demographic that is. shake right past that Ke$ha song This little bad boy's got just one Samsung TicToc PMP player physical button (for power and lets you shake right past that volume control) while other Ke$ha song originally appeared functions of the player -- on Engadget on Tue, 09 Feb playback, skipping past songs 2010 11:09:00 EST. Please see and the like -- are all controlled our terms for use of feeds. by shaking. The TicToc will Permalink| OhGizmo!| Email come in 2GB and 4GB varieties, this| Comments have a supposed battery life of up to 12 hours, and it'll also have

E-reader News Edition

Is Manhattan exempt from snowstorms?

MediaDailyNews: Correction: Blue State Doesn't Handle MiWorld Ops

(Scripting News)

(MediaPost | Media News)

favorite, and had a long snowy Indian lunch talking politics and Submitted at 2/9/2010 7:28:28 AM press.

Okay this time they say there Today, my neighborhood is really is a snowstorm headed for filled with 24-hour everything.

NYC. Restaurants, book stores, coffee And I'm nestled in my West places. There's a subway station Village apartment, with almost a couple of blocks away, a no food in the fridge, thinking -- relatively easy trudge in even the "What does this mean to me?" stiffest wind. So I could go eat at Last time I was caught in a the food court under Grand snowstorm was in Cambridge, Central Station. No problemmo.

MA. I was staying at the Or... Should I line up at luxurious Charles Hotel, after D ' A g o s t i n o ' s a n d f i l l m y participating in a conference cupboards with comfort food? about the future of news put on I think I'll just go about my

by Shorenstein Center. I didn't business and take my chances. worry about food, I assumed the PS: I've decided I'm at my best hotel would take care of it, and I when I'm a newbie. wasn't disappointed. A group of PPS: Tasks for today: Get on the d e l a y e d c o n f e r e n c e - g o e r s NYU network. Meet with Josh ventured into the snow, across Young to talk about a NYC the street to the now-defunct media-hacker roundtable.

Bombay Club restaurant, a

Submitted at 2/8/2010 9:13:11 AM

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full -text RSS service so we can continue developing it.

Correction: The Feb. 3 Media Daily News story "Former 'People' Writer Creates Global Charity Site" reported that MiWorld's IT operations were outsourced to Blue State Digital, per MiWorld. There is no agreement to provide such services.

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Introducing Lit Life

by ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog)

-dressed) contributors, Lit Life is the kind of place where the love of fiction and fashion coincide, Submitted at 2/8/2010 1:23:57 PM where you might find out what A new kind of book blog is that cool girl in the photo thinks launching on ELLE.com today, about Alice Munro’s latest and the good news is it’s not one collection of short stories and of those “eat your vegetable” how she pulls off those over-thetypes. Headed up by deputy knee boots effortlessly. Also editor Candice Rainey and a host featured: our favorite authors on of well read (not to mention well the book that changed their lives,

ask a book store employee Q&As ( see their interview with Devri Speaks from LA’s Book Soup), and a reader generated photo gallery. As ELLE’s book editor Ben Dickinson so aptly put it, “I get it. We’re making reading look cool!”

—Thomas Ford

Apple/

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61

Macworld Expo Tips: 12 iPhone Apps for Traveling to San Francisco

by Dave Greenbaum (TheAppleBlog) Submitted at 2/8/2010 9:00:34 AM

The time for Macworld Expo 2010 is upon us and the handiest tool you’ll bring to San Francisco with you is, of course, your iPhone. What apps should you install on your phone to enhance your Macworld experience? iMacworld(Free) The iMacworld is a handy guide for navigating the show floor and planning your day. iMacworld, featuring maps and a show directory, was just recently updated for 2010, so jump onboard. Traveling to San Francisco Gate Guru(99 cents) For those who don’t travel often, favorite airport amenities frequently change and may be difficult to find. You’ve got 30 minutes between flights and can’t play “Where’s Waldo” to find your favorite coffee dispensary. Did Peet’s moved to gate 12 from gate 18? Gate Guru can help. Additionally, the app has a review function so if you aren’t sure where to eat, let the wisdom of crowds guide you.

The interface is a bit clunky as you can’t search by airport, only by terminal within the airport, but otherwise it is handy and accurate.

TripIt(Free) Traveling requires corralling an endless stream of alpha-numeric confirmation codes and repeating the same information over and over again to family and friends.

Setup a TripIt account and email TripIt your confirmations, and they’ll automatically put it all into an itinerary complete with additional hotel information and links that you can share with others. When the front desks says they have no record of your reservation, pull up your TripIt app and you’ll have all the data handy.

FlightTrack Pro($9.99) Flight delays are a fact of life and getting accurate information is sometimes a challenge. Like many other apps, FlightTrack Pro will track flights for you.

What’s special about this app is that it will also give you handy access to the airline’s phone number and provide push notifications. An indispensable feature is its ability to find alternate flights that match your planned itinerary should your flight be cancelled, as well as integrated access with TripIt. Getting Around in San Francisco iCommuteSF($3.99) iCommute is similar to MuniApp and iBART, except that it also covers the AC Transit system which serves the East Bay. Utilizing Nextbus

information, it offers real time and predictive information as to when the bus or train will arrive.

It might be the best “jack of all trades” for general getting around, but the interface was a bit more cluttered the MuniApp’s UI. Still, with the more complete data, if you had to pick a single app, iCommute is probably the one.

MuniApp($2.99) MuniApp focuses on San Francisco’s citywide bus and light rail network. It also includes BART info for the stations in SF, making it a good all-around solution if you plan to do heavy traveling within the city limits of San Francisco. The app will predict when the next bus will arrive, and has a good interface for sorting out the sometime confusing amount of bus routes in the city.

HopStop(Free) HopStop allows you to enter a start and end location (or it will use your GPS as the starting point) and will build a route, mixing rail, bus and walking, taking into account the time of day. It is free and accurate, although the quality of the maps is poor. Similar to a GPS, it gets you from point A to B, though locals might disagree on the

route it picks. Exploring San Francisco Yelp(Free) Yelp is not San Franciscospecific, but of all the apps for finding what is cool in the neighborhood from where you are standing, Yelp stands above.

There’s no better app for finding hidden restaurant gems and seeing what the locals think, and with the “VR camera mode” you can hold the phone in front of you and actually see places to eat and shop in real time as you move around. Don’t leave home without this app!

NFT San Francisco($4.99) “Not For Tourists” promises to show you the cool local places that tourists like you would never stumble upon on your own. That’s their line, but in reality, this is another generic guidebook to San Francisco with a hipster edge, and while not bad, it certainly isn’t that much better than other similar apps. It has a good selection of bars and restaurants, but you need to search specific categories.

Lonely Planet Travel Guide(Free) This app automatically includes their SF guide and allows in app purchases for other destinations.

Unfortunately, the app is slow to load and is a whopping 65MB in size.

This is the most comprehensive guide out and

contains the entire printed volume in a location-aware ebook format. Lonely Planet includes the depth of detail on the city’s culture and sights that other guides fail to include.

Since the SF content is free, it is definitely worth the “price,” just remember to load it in advance due to the size.

And just for the fun of it, two bonus apps. These aren’t necessary, but sure are fun for people with special interests.

Fido Factor(Free) FidoFactor helps you find all things dog friendly in SF and includes dog pictures at each location. It’s Yelp for dog lovers. As a dog owner, I appreciate businesses that are dog friendly and like to patronize them. By reviewing or adding locations, money is donated to the SF SPCA. Nice!

SF Beer Week(Free) Technology is my first passion, but being a beer nerd is a close second. By moving Macworld to February, Macworld coincides with SF Beer Week. This app isn’t location or date aware and is pretty much just an easy way view the static schedule for the Beer Week, but finding what beer related activities are going on while in SF is priceless.

Mmm, beer!

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Apple/

E-reader News Edition

Apple May Lower the Price of the iPad: This is Not News

by Liam Cassidy (TheAppleBlog) Submitted at 2/9/2010 7:14:19 AM

Sometimes I have to wonder whether everyone has taken leave of their senses. The big“ news” doing the rounds in the last twenty four hours is that Apple execs have admitted they are prepared to change the price of the iPad should consumer reception (read: sales) demand it.

Yeah, that’s right; Apple admitted it might revisit the price of the iPad sometime in the future, and change it according to sales performance. Shocking, that a company might operate according to a business plan designed to encourage sales and make money, eh? Apparently, that’s somehow mind-boggling news.

It got started because of a report

by Matt Phillips of the Wall Street Journal, who wrote; Apple intends to stay “nimble” on pricing of the iPad, possibly lowering prices if the newly unveiled tablet device fails to gain traction among consumers.

(Top prize goes to Engadget for t h e i r h u m o r o u s response/headline, “Apple to be ‘nimble’ on iPad pricing, athletic on pommel horse”.)

Phillips quoted a note from Credit Suisse analyst Bill Shope

who, following a meeting with Apple executives, said; “While it remains to be seen how much traction the iPad gets initially, management noted that it will remain nimble (pricing could change if the company is not attracting as many customers as anticipated),” This only bolsters my long-held belief that analysts are, apparently, paid for pointing out the blindingly-obvious. That tendency to wrap together common sense and “what we all knew anyway” as “something new and worthy of reporting” is usually exemplified by Gene Munster, but since he’s been quiet for the last week or so, I guess Shope will have to do.

(I predict that, in the weeks ahead of the iPad launch, Munster, or some inspired analyst like him, will issue a note to the press proclaiming, “Apple’s App store sales will perform better in this quarter than in the same quarter last year.” Or it’ll be something even more obvious, like “Apple will sell more iPads this year than they did in 2009…” and I guarantee the tech press will rush to report that ‘advice’ like it’s vitally important “news.” You just wait and see.) Confidence The point here is that Apple is doing nothing revolutionary or

level iPad. Here Come the Trolls Sadly, the predictable fanbaiting didn’t take long, with the likes of Should-Know-BetterThan-That Windows evangelist Paul Thurrott writing, in a blog post provocatively entitled “Do surprising by admitting the fact Not, Under Any Circumstances, that, according to the ebb and Buy an iPad”; flow of consumer demand, it will Following news that I was right revisit its pricing strategy for the about Apple’s decision to not iPad. This is what all businesses allow iPad pre-orders would do with all products, all the time. cause many potential buyers to Apple is always revising its reassess things, comes this prices; MacBooks, iMacs, iPods unbelievable bit of news directly and iPhones get at least one price from Apple itself: The company change on an annual basis. It’s said that it would aggressively not a big deal that they will do lower prices on the iPad if/when the same for the iPad, and it i t d o e s n ’ t t a k e o f f i n t h e certainly doesn’t point to any m a r k e t p l a c e . lack of confidence in the product Aside from the clumsy jumble of clauses and inventive use of itself.

Let’s not forget the infamous the adjective ‘aggressively’, (as iPhone price-cut of ‘07; after far as I can see, neither Shope launching the iPhone with a nor Phillips ever used that word) hefty $599 asking price, Apple I really want to point out, one reduced it by a whopping $200 last time, and for the record — just a few months later. The only this is not “unbelievable” news. difference between then and now Far from it. It is, in fact, the is Apple’s transparency (yeah, I most ordinary, run-of-the-mill, can’t believe I said that either). standard business practice, During his keynote presentation entirely believable news one late last month, Steve Jobs said could expect from a consumer of the iPad; “We want to get this electronics company. (Quite into the hands of as many people what Apple’s flexible pricing as possible.” That is, after all, the strategy has to do with Thurrott’s o v e r r i d i n g r e a s o n f o r t h e theory about the inability to preagreeably-low price of the entry- order an iPad is beyond me; can anyone say “straw man?”)

It comes down to this; the wider tech press are, inexplicably, falling over themselves to writeoff the iPad as a failure before it’s even out of the starting gate.

(Don’t forget, the iPod was panned by critics and tech “experts” when it first launched.

The iPhone was subject to its own fair share of harsh criticism, too.)

No one can say exactly how successful the iPad will be, and while there’s no harm in speculating (after all, much Apple coverage is precisely that) it’s sad to see how some corners of the tech community choose to interpret every little thing Apple does (or says it might do) as “evidence” of failure.

I think I’m being rational and level-headed. You might think I’m a shameless fanboy. Either way, let me know exactly what you think in the comments below.

Related GigaOM Pro Research: • Web Tablet Survey: Apple’s iPad Hits Right Notes • 5 Tips for Developers Targeting the iPad • How AT&T Will Deal with iPad Data Traffic

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The iPad Could Mean Big Trouble for AT&T’s Network, FCC Warns

by Darrell Etherington (TheAppleBlog) Submitted at 2/8/2010 11:44:38 AM

People are excited about the arrival of the iPad (or at least, some people are), but the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is a little more apprehensive about what the device could mean for AT&T’s wireless 3G network. In an official FCC blog posting at Broadband.gov, Director of Scenario Planning Phil Bellaria a n d W i r e l e s s Telecommunications Bureau Deputy Chief John Liebovitz expressed that concern.

Bellaria and Liebovitz didn’t specifically mention AT&T by name, but it seems fairly obvious who they’re talking about in the FCC blog post last week, especially given that the iPad so far only has one official carrier in the U.S.: With the iPad pointing to even greater demand for mobile broadband on the horizon, we must ensure that network congestion doesn’t choke off a service that consumers clearly find so appealing, or frustrate mobile broadband’s ability to

keep us competitive in the global broadband economy.

The blog post also recalls a time not too long ago when AOL’s unlimited internet usage plan caused connection and service problems, and how that time mirrors our own: The congestion problem circa 1996-97 revealed an intense latent demand for Internet access. Similarly, wireless network congestion today reveals intense demand for wireless broadband. Widespread use of smartphones, 3G-enabled netbooks, and now, perhaps, the iPad and its competitors demonstrate that wireless broadband will be a hugely

important part of the broadband ecosystem as we move ahead.

Finally, Bellaria and Liebovitz leave off with the conclusion that AT&T and other mobile broadband providers must expand their spectrum offerings to ensure that a similar congestion problem doesn’t happen again. No doubt, AT&T is taking steps to galvanize its network (which it knows is in trouble already) against the demand increase it has to have anticipated as a result of the iPad’s introduction, but will it be enough?

This problem is one that affects the fundamentals of mobile communication in this case,

unlike before with AOL’s home Internet access issues. Even though it doesn’t make as much sense from a profitability perspective, AT&T has to make every effort not only to anticipate demand, but to over-prepare for the iPad’s release. If there’s one lesson the telecom should’ve learned from its ongoing iPhone usage problems, it’s that half measures will only continue to exhaust the patience of its subscribers.

I realize that a just-in-time approach to bandwidth probably makes more financial sense, but surprise everyone by taking a slightly longer view, AT&T. Presumably the next-gen iPhone will be available on your network, too, as an exclusive or otherwise, so factor that into the estimates of what you’ll need to provide for the iPad’s launch.

Stay just one step ahead of the game instead of two steps behind and maybe you can go some of the way towards improving your terrible reputation.

Related GigaOM Pro Research: How AT&T Will Deal With iPad Data Traffic

'Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse' outed by OFLC

by Alexander Sliwinski (Joystiq) Submitted at 2/9/2010 10:15:00 AM

Like good burlesque, Telltale had been teasing a new season of Sam & Max... meanwhile, like good porn, Australia's OFLC went ahead and just exposed the goods. Unless a dramatic change occurs, it appears the title of the next installment in the comedic adventure series is titled Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse Episode 1: The Penal Zone.

The premature ratings announcement obviously doesn't contain much aside from a title -there's no telling whether the game might eventually come to Mac or iPhone as recently rumored -- but at this point, we'll take whatever glimpse we can get.

[Thanks, 5abanja] 'Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse' outed by OFLC originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple Finally Releases Aperture 3

by Nick Santilli (TheAppleBlog) Submitted at 2/9/2010 7:30:30 AM

A month ago I vented about Aperture 2’s stagnation, and many of you rallied along with me. Well everyone can stow their torches and pitchforks — Aperture 3 has finally been released today by Apple. With over 200 new features, the latest version of Apple’s professional photo processing and organization software should have something to please everyone.

The fairly obvious improvements like Faces, Places, and 64-bit architecture (for Snow Leopard users with Core 2 Duo Processors) are there of course.

But there are so many cool new features — I won’t touch on all of them here — I had to mention a few.

• Backup on Import Smart & necessary! Automatically back up your master images to a second drive during import, freeing you from the need to perform a separate, manual backup.

• Color Labels Apply up to eight different color-coded labels to images to organize and group them. Add a custom name for each color label in Aperture preferences. Simple keyboard shortcuts allow you to apply

adjustments of a single type to different parts of an image by creating multiple adjustment bricks for each adjustment. For example, set one Levels adjustment to create the perfect sky. Then add another Levels adjustment brick to selectively perfect skin tones. To add a new instance of an adjustment, choose the Add New option from the Action pop-up menu in each adjustment brick.

• Support for GPS Track Logs In Aperture, you can easily assign locations to photos by importing the track log from a GPS receiver. Then simply drag photos onto the track to have Aperture sync the photos to the location data in the track log.

You can also reset the time zone of the track in Aperture.

Total War games 66% off on Steam this week

by Richard Mitchell (Joystiq) Submitted at 2/9/2010 8:00:00 AM

Strategic war game buffs, take note: All of the Total War titles on Steam are receiving a massive discount this week, to the tune of a whopping 66 percent off. In fact, you can pick up the Total War Mega Pack, which includes Medieval II: Total War, Rome: Total War-- including the Alexander and Kingdoms expansions -- and Empire: Total So yeah, that’s maybe more than War for $20.39. Additionally, labels using the keyboard. on or off. a few features I listed, but the Empire: Total War • Fast Library Switching Close • Nondestructive Brushes believe me, there’s plenty to get Downloadable Content Pack, one Aperture library and open YES!!!! Make nondestructive excited about with Aperture 3. containing all the Empire content another on the fly by selecting image enhancements to specific Try it out for free for 30 days, released thus far, is available for the desired library from the areas of any photo using new and then if you’re upgrading, pay 10 percent off at $16.19.

Switch to Library submenu — adjustment brushes. Use brush $99, or$199 for a new user Incidentally -- but probably not no need to quit and restart strokes to modify — brush in or license. (If you’re thinking about co incidentally -- the latest game Aperture. brush away — most of the picking Aperture up, check out in the series, Napoleon: Total • Focus Points Hover over the standard image adjustments the new ‘in-action’ videos of it War, releases February 23.

Focus Points button in the available in the Adjustments here.) We can breathe easy folks, Total War games 66% off on Camera Info pane to see the inspector. You can control the it looks like our day has finally Steam this week originally focus points used by your size, softness, and strength of come. appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 09 camera to autofocus the image. each brush with intuitive sliders.

Feb 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please You can also click the button to • Create Multiple Instances of see our terms for use of feeds. turn the display of focus points Adjustments Apply multiple Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Apple Grabs a Quarter of U.S. Smartphone Market

by Darrell Etherington (TheAppleBlog) Submitted at 2/9/2010 8:03:57 AM

Perhaps it has to do with Apple positioning itself as a mobile devices company, but the iPhone is on a serious upswing in the U.S. smartphone market, even while all of its competitors seem to be losing ground. Except for one, that is, and the rate at which that company is building up steam should give the Mac maker cause for some concern.

For the moment, though, Apple is doing much better than anyone in the space, really. The latest comScore report, which covers a three month period from September to December of 2009, shows Apple as having 25.3 percent of the total smartphone market share, up 1.2 points from 24.1 percent at the beginning of the period measured.

Research In Motion (RIM) came in first place overall once again, with 41.6 percent of U.S. smartphone subscribers opting for a BlackBerry device. But that number represented a slide, ultimately, as RIM began the measurement period with 42.6

percent. Microsoft and Palm likewise slipped, with MS dropping from 19 to 18 percent, and Palm losing 2.2 points, down to 6.1 percent.

Google had the lowest market share of the bunch, with 5.2 percent of subscribers. But that number was up from only 2.5 percent in September, suggesting that it was probably helped along considerably with the introduction of the Motorola

Droid. 2.7 points also represents the largest market share grab made by any smartphone manufacturer over the period of the report, so Google is indeed the company Apple needs to be most worried about.

Palm is probably the company everyone needs to be least worried about. The Pre and Pixi maker lost almost as much market share as Google gained, and was the only company on the

list to post such a significant loss of ground. The Pre Plus and Pixi Plus could alter its fortunes, but I honestly can’t see customers who were disappointed with the originals going back for more at this point.

Going forward, Apple’s main concern is going to be with Google and how it fares now that it’s begun taking more control over its own smartphone future.

The Nexus One drastically

undersold the iPhone both in the first week and in the first month, so that’s got to be good news for Apple. That said, Google is doing something pretty much unprecented with regards to smartphone sales in the U.S., and it’s only selling the device in the U.S. as of yet. Apple had the advantage of selling its device through AT&T when it launched, which was an established sales and marketing channel for such devices already.

Apple’s growth over the period measured in the comScore report remains impressive, though, given that it had not introduced a new smartphone model since much, much earlier in the year.

Google’s rise can be almost entirely attributed to the initially strong sales of the Motorola Droid, which was arguably the “it” device of the pre-Christmas season.

Related GigaOm Pro Research: As Windows Mobile Stumbles, Which Smartphone OS Will Seize the Lead?

China confirmed as world’s top exporter (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 2/9/2010 2:16:06 AM

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Must-have features for Twitter-killing (Scripting News) Submitted at 2/8/2010 5:03:06 PM

In October 2009, after 2.5 years of using Twitter every day, I wrote a piece that explained the limits of Twitter that we'll have to look past Twitter to see solved, because Twitter doesn't seem to be trying to solve them.

Tomorrow, we hear, Google will announce a product that aims to take on Twitter. If so, here's a list of features to look for. Any of these features would give Google a serious edge over Twitter. Maybe they thought of some things I don't have on my list. It's always nice to put your stake in the ground. I did it with the iPad with some hilarious results.

So here's the list of must-have features: 1. Reliability. Twitter still has trouble dealing with high-flow events like last night's SuperBowl. Lots of Fail Whales.

So if Google is able to offer reliability, no matter how much of an advantage Twitter's installed base is, it won't matter.

When Twitter goes down everyone will reassemble on Glitter.

2. Enclosures. Can you imagine if you couldn't enclose a picture or an MP3 with an email

message? Why do we jump through so many hoops just to tweet a picture?

3. Open architecture metadata.

Let developers throw any data onto a status message, giving it a name and a type, and let everyone else sort it out. It would result in an explosion of creativity.

4. Relationships with hardware vendors. I still want a one-click Twitter camera. If I can't have it from Twitter, I'll take it from Google.

5. No 140-character limit. I debated this one with myself. At first I compromised and said okay let's have a 250-character limit, or a 500-character limit.

But I really don't want a limit. If I want to write short status messages, no problemmo. We've already made the cultural transition. We know how to do it. But sometimes a thought just can't be expressed in 140 characters. No one is wise enough to know what the limit is, so let's just not have one.

6. No URL-shorteners. I've explained this so many times.

They're stupid and ugly and they hurt the web. I like it when developers take the time to craft their URLs so they make sense to users. That's all the shortening we really need and all we should

the user base of an established product are "killers" -- but it's been a long time since we've seen a product as ripe for killing as Twitter. (Lotus 1-2-3 was probably the last great example.)

The hubris of Twitter is the assumption that the product is unassailable because of the features they leave out. Sooner or later one of their competitors is going to test that theory, and I'm pretty sure it'll prove have. incorrect. And where they Those are some of my wish-list include horrendous features that items. It seems likely Google a competitor might leave out (I'm will offer #1 and #2. Very thinking of URL-shortening) unlikely they'll do #3 (they don't they don't seem to feel any trust developers any more than pressure to take it out. Yet Apple does). Probably not #4, almost every user would enjoy a though it would be easy to get Twitter with real full URLs that some people from Kodak and didn't take up any of the 140Sony to come on stage with character space. Hard to imagine them. #5 would take a teeny bit anyone objecting. of guts. It's a perfect way to OTOH, Google is a big clunky throw some serious confusion at Microsoft-like company with Twitter. I'd recommend going all strategy taxes, and they don't the way, but if they can't, go to trust the web or developers, or 500-characters. Get some editors each other, and their internal and authors on stage to say how politics drive most of the nice it would be. Because they're decisions they make. To compete making a commitment to their with Twitter is an easy sell inside own URL-shortener it seems Google, but to actually have the unlikely they would outlaw them will to be cut-throat about it, on their status network, but one that's another thing. It'll probably can hope. have to pay homage to Google I usually don't subscribe to the Wave (remember that?) and idea that new products aimed at t h e r e f o r e w i l l h a v e s o m e

elements that are completely incomprehensible. Twitter likely won't get killed, because Google's product will likely fall far-short of what's needed to get us all to think they can be trusted.

The usual disclaimers apply.

This is all tea-leave-reading, I have no actual information, and I'm usually way wrong with these prognostications, but it's still good to share the thought process.

Update #1: A commenter named Scott says: "If people were posting dissertations, I'd be much less likely to read." Tom Caswell says: "How about a 'more' button you could set in the preferences?

I would set mine at 140 characters for old times sake."

Even better, it could default to 140 for old times sake.

Update #2: Cesar Razuri: "also, make hashtags some sort of meta data in our tweets that doesn't add to character length" Good idea.

Update #3: Scoble weighs in.

Even though Google's past efforts at social media have failed, he thinks this time they have a good chance of succeeding.

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Howard Stern Says He Really Is Interested in Simon's Idol Seat

Final 'Jay Leno Show' Airs Tonight

by Bob Sassone (TV Squad)

Coke gets lift from emerging markets (Financial Times - US homepage)

Submitted at 2/9/2010 11:03:00 AM

by Brad Trechak (TV Squad)

This little bit of news has been lost in all of the Leno/Conan/NBC chaos(and Love him or hate him, Howard overshadowed by this past Stern has confirmed his interest Sunday's Super Bowl in Simon Cowell's seat commercial with Jay, Dave, and on'American Idol'. This goes Oprah), but tonight is the last along with the earlier episode of 'The Jay Leno Show.' announcement that 'Idol' The guests tonight are Ashton producers are interested as Kutcher, Gabourey Sidibe, and having Stern as a judge. b a r g a i n i n g c h i p f o r a Bob Costas. I know, they're not This entire situation seems more renegotiation of his contract with exactly the type of guests that a sound and fury and it's unlikely Sirius. Stern would be too much person has on their final show that anything would come of it. of a turn-off for the majority of (no offense to Mr. Kutcher, Ms. All Stern has in common with viewers for 'American Idol'. If he Sidibe, or Mr. Costas), but this Cowell is the ability to be does end up replacing Cowell, probably was not meant to be a obnoxious and denigrating of then it could signal the beginning final show when they were other people. Cowell at least had of the end of 'American Idol'. booked. Or maybe it's no big ties to the music industry before F i l e d u n d e r : I n d u s t r y , deal even to them and they just appearing as an 'Idol' judge. Programming, OpEd, American want to end things.

While Howard Stern does work Idol, Celebrities, Celebrity I'm sure there's going to be a lot in radio, he thankfully has not Commentary, Casting, Reality- of tears tonight as Jay shows a released a CD of himself singing Free montage of all of the great bits the Beatles' greatest hits. If he P e r m a l i n k | E m a i l t h i s | | from his show. Set your DVRs has, I missed it.

Comments America!

Most likely this situation is I don't know what's in store for being used by Stern as a

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Submitted at 2/9/2010 9:10:00 AM

this Jay Leno person after his show ends tonight. But he's a funny, talented guy, and I wouldn't be surprised if NBC gave him another show at some point.

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For the year, Coca Cola recorded net income of $6.8bn, up 18 per cent from the $5.8bn it earned in 2008.

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J.D. Salinger Hated Chris Hitchens, Others (Allegedly) [Feuds]

by Hamilton Nolan (Gawker) Submitted at 2/9/2010 11:11:39 AM

Greek shipping heir and bizarre social critic Taki Theodoracopulos claims to have a big secret stash of vibrant

correspondence from J.D. Salinger. Taki gives the following thumbnail account of Salinger's myriad hated enemies: "He loathed modern Britain almost as much as I do, and p h o n i e s l i k e C h r i s t o p h e r particularly hated what he called

Hitchens, Martin Amis and, surprisingly, VS Naipaul. In fact he once hinted I should beat Naipaul up, but dropped it after I told him I was a friend of Shiva Naipaul's, as well as of his wife Jenny." Also Taki says he's very

concerned about the "publicity" that may come from this, so of course he wrote a column about.

Like father, like son. [ Taki Mag]

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RuPaul's Drag Race: Miss Tyra If You Nasty [Recaps]

by Richard Lawson (Gawker)

hungry?" And all the drag queens say, in unison "No thank you, Mrs. Paul." And then a few Girrrrrrrrrl. Episode two of people smoke some meth and RuPaul's beautiful gift from the that's the episode. It's all pretty thin slip of heaven that still cute. Pretty strange, but pretty remains has come and gone, and cute. we still don't know just what the Anyway! This episode was all hell we're watching. But it's OK. about hooking. Hooking and We'll watch it anyway. stripping. Really! These drag No offense meant to the Logo queens adore the working girl, be network or anything, but is this she diva or disheveled. So in the lowest-budget television came RuPaul on one of those show in the history of television mechanized stair-chairs (I wish) shows? I think Robyn Bird has and she told all them queens that more to spend each week than it was time to do a makeover... this program does. There is a on a Barbie doll! Well, OK, I lady on public access in Newton, don't think it was actually a MA who literally puts kittens on Mattel product, but it was some an electric lazy Susan and talks sort Barbie-esque figure modeled about them as they spin around after RuPaul. There was a sad and around, and I'm pretty sure little pile of fabric and, in teams her budget is slightly higher than o f t w o , t h e g i r l s w e r e t o the few tarnished shekels that Ru construct a ho outfit for this doll is given every week to put her that was created for a very little carnival together. specific subset of adult males.

But maybe that's kind of There was a mad scramble of intentional? I mean, part of the claws and fists and elbows as extremely odd charm of the everyone lunged for the cloth, show — which is equal parts and then a feverish bout of very c h a r m a n d s t r a n g e s e x u a l serious designing. With hot glue menace — is that it looks like it guns and glitter and I think some was filmed in some drag queen's elbow macaroni and not but a basement. Mostly because it few popsicle sticks. was. And you just have like a Seriously guys. One of the heap of wigs in the corner and an challenges on a reality show on old Sanyo boombox tinnily television was to just do a doll playing some old '90s standards makeover. A makeover, on a (En Vogue! Crystal Waters! doll. My sister and I used to do Late/Mid-Career Annie Lennox!) that when we were eight and six and then RuPaul's mom comes years old. Chop off the doll's down with some laundry and is hair and then regret it terribly, like "Oh, don't mind me boys. because it will never grow back.

Do you need anything? Ya One time we had one of the Submitted at 2/9/2010 11:33:00 AM

black Barbies, Christy I think her name was, and my sister cut her hair sooo well. It looked like Oprah's hair. We were very happy with that. But usually? It comes out gross and sad, and those mangled short-haired dolls become the scorned rejects in whatever story you're imagining for them that day. (But none so scorned as the one we just called Legless, who had, in addition to a terrible haircut, one leg missing. A few years later, her hand was chewed off by the dog and a couple hours later, my mother tells me, there was a lone, grotesque doll hand poking up out of his poop, like someone trying to escape hell.) Anyway.

The point is: This was on a television show last night. Doll makeovers. It's wonderful! But it's also sort of terrible.

In the end only one team could emerge victorious and that was Pandora Boxx and Sahara Davenport (I think?) Though many of the dolls were bashed up, missing teeth and the like, theirs was the worst. They broke that poor plastic bitch's heels and everything. I guess RuPaul appreciates a bashed-up ho. So, good for them.

They then got to be team captains for the next big challenge, which involved stripper poles and burlesque and selling cherry pie coupons on the street. Yes, selling coupons like those kids who'd sign up for those ads in the back of Archie comics or something similar

about how to sell oven mitts and steak knives door-to-door in order to win cash or points toward a new Huffy or Nintendo home entertainment system.

Except these girls were just selling coupons for cherry pies at some random cafe down the corner. The girls were straight up yelling at people walking down the sidewalk, wrapping themselves unsexily around lampposts, and doing awkward splits. I don't think they sold much cherry pie.

While one team was hoofing it in full drag gear down on the strip, the other ladies were performing an afternoon "burlesque" show at a club.

Earlier they'd learned how to do the stripper pole from two "burlesque" performers. Oh and the best part about the stripper poles? They had a sponsor. Ru was like "two poles, courtesy of Paul's Pole Palace" or some shit.

Logo, girl, you need to reassess your portfolio if you need a sponsor to pay for two raggedy stripper poles. But anyway.

Everyone was pretty into this challenge, because it's fun to pretend to be a hooker or stripper if you're not actually a hooker or stripper, except for one person.

Tyra is one of the prettiest queens, but, lady, she is also so nasty. Not like gross nasty.

Plain old mean nasty. And lazy.

She just stood there while things were sewn for her, choreographed for her, and, uh, poled for her. She wouldn't even

take a single lesson from the nice stripper, excuse me burlesque, ladies!

Tyra was also snippy to all the other contestants. I mean, all the contestants are terribly snippy to each other, but Tyra is the worst by far. She know she pretty, she know she young, and that's all that matters I suppose. But I do not like her attitude. She probably won't get voted off any time soon, even though she's mean and lazy (Ru caught her napping!), because she's pretty and, I suppose, provides necessary entertainment value.

But if I ever meet her in a dark alley... Well, I'll probably run scared in the other direction.

So after the girls had done their pole routines — writhing and jiggling and stretching and, I'll admit, looking surprisingly competent for the most part — it was time for judgment. I do so love the judging parts because I'm pretty sure the girls are getting made up by professionals, or at least they have better lighting, so they all look wayyy better than they do in the challenges. Plus we get to hear Ru's gonzo color commentary as the girls come strutting down the runway. I can't remember any specifics, but her puns just get weirder and weirder, with stranger and more delightfully strained references.

She's like "Oohhh girl! Pandora RUPAUL'S page 69

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RUPAUL'S continued from page 68

Boxx is bringin' tulips to Amsterdam tonight, honey!" Or, "Ohhh lawwwd no! Tatianna just signed the Treaty of Ver sigh with that number!" "The dingo sure didn't eat Raven's baby today, chile!" It's just so weird and terrific. RuPaul should be the voice for so very many things. "Oh heavens girl, put in your damn pin number!" "Your balance is a raggedy three hundred dollars!" "Baby, I think this is 8th Street/NYU, but lady I don't know for sure. Next stop is Prince Street. Heyyyyyyy.

Watch them doors, girl!"

My two favorites this week were: 1. Raven. Even though she is a straight up mean old crab, she looks so striking with her eagle-eye makeup and stern, chopped wigcuts. 2. Sonique! I was so surprised by Sonique

this... wique. Last episode she didn't stand out at all, but this go around she looked pretty and terrific. All cool beauty and pursed lips. Plus she's definitely the best looking out of drag, so that doesn't hurt.

Alas because she had the second -lowest tips, Raven was forced to Lip-Sync for Her Life, alongside the kind of painfully sad Nicole Paige Brooks. Something about Nicole tells me that she was maybe something of a big, old fish in a small, also old pond?

But out in the bigger world, matched up against some 21-year -old thang in a big bubble wig, her skinny minimalism just doesn't do the trick. Plus she barely even seemed to try during the lip-sync. Raven was busting around with funny little bits and moves, while Nicole just sorta

stood there and... lip-synced.

Snoozer. Understandably, she went home. Which is good. She seemed nice, but her presence was just increasingly awkward.

She seemed a little desperate in an unpleasant way. Who knows.

At least now she can go back to her son. Yes, son. Again with another son on this show.

Curiousssss!

Girl, I think that's it? Huh? What's that Ru? "Fool, if you wanna make a call, please hang UP the damn phone and try that shit again. And don't fuck it up!"

Thanks, Ru.

69

Toyota recalls Prius over brake problem (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 2/9/2010 2:03:19 AM

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Akio Toyoda, chief executive of Toyota Motor, on Tuesday said he would travel to the US to explain the Japanese carmaker’s response to a widening defect crisis directly to North American consumers as he announced a worldwide recall of Toyota’s flagship Prius and other hybrid cars.

In a news conference broadcast live on television in Japan, Mr Toyoda said the Japanese carmaker had decided to recall 437,000 petrol-electric hybrids built between April 2009 and this month, including the latestmodel Prius, to fix a problem with the software that controls their anti-lock brakes. Other models affected by the latest recall include the Sai and Lexus.

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Harold Ford, Yellow-Dog Democrat [Color Me Nauseated]

by John Cook (Gawker) Submitted at 2/9/2010 11:25:55 AM

Harold Ford may or may not remember where he lives, but he certainly knows when he's home—because his eyes are assaulted by a garish array of yellow and turquoise walls. No wonder he's trying to sell it.

This is Ford's apartment — the precise location of which caused something of a stir last week when Ford was quoted (

erroneously, it turns out) as claiming to live a couple blocks from the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan. It's a onebedroom two-bath Fifth Avenue co-op in Manhattan's Flatiron district, and it could be yours for $1.4 million.

Also, it is extremely, relentlessly yellow. And turquoise.

The apartment has been on the market for 224 days, according to New York magazine's real estate listings, and Ford and his

wife Emily Threlkeld recently dropped the price by $90,000.

According to New York real estate records, Threlkeld

purchased it outright in 2006 with the help of her mother Debra Beard, who happens to be married to former Morgan

Stanley chairman Anson Beard.

Threlkeld and Ford were married in 2008 and Ford subsequently moved to New York, so the decor can likely be pinned on Threlkeld's vision of what a bachelorette pad should look like.

A rep for Ford had no immediate comment on why he lives in a prison of unrelenting yellow, and how soon he hopes to escape from it.

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The Upset Few Expected but Everyone Wanted (WSJ.com: The Daily Fix)

reasons why the Saints were underdogs, most notably a 25thranked defense that was the I t w a s h a r d t o f i n d lowest-ranked unit to make the prognosticators who picked the Super Bowl since the 1993 New Orleans Saints to win the Buffalo Bills. But the embattled Super Bowl — other than those Saints defense delivered the who got stuck with the bum end biggest play of the game when of a point/counterpoint feature. cornerback Tracy Porter took There were writers who thought home a backbreaking fourth it would be cool if the underdog quarter pick-six to pad New S a i n t s c o u l d b e a t t h e Orleans’s lead to 14 points. In Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl the Newark Star-Ledger, Jerry XLIV, of course, but not many Izenberg delivers a rapturous who believed it could happen. It appreciation of Porter’s unlikely turns out the latter group — heroism. w h i c h i n c l u d e d t h e Then again, the whole thing felt sentimentalists and loyalists and pretty unlikely, starting with the hardcore Who Datters — were groundbreaking decision by New the ones who turned out to be Orleans coach Sean Payton to correct. The Saints came back lead off the second half with an from a 10-0 deficit, thanks to onside kick. At Slate, Josh Levin some near-perfect second-half argues that Payton’s gutsy call quarterbacking from Super Bowl on the onside kick — and M V P D r e w B r e e s a n d a another to go for it on an playmaking defense, to beat the unsuccessful fourth-and-goal Colts, 31-17. And it was pretty attempt in the first half — cool. Getty Images Tracy Porter reflected the coach’s game plan. has a slight step on Colts guard “Head coach Sean Payton’s Kyle DeVan. Super Bowl philosophy, it “ T h e N e w O r l e a n s S a i n t s appeared, was that it was better bandwagon will now stop and to look foolish than to act timid,” pick up the rest of America,” the Levin writes. “Win or lose — or Journal’s Jason Gay crows. lose while taking huge risks that “Mardi Gras is now a permanent could make you look totally state, and you’re all expected on ridiculous — Payton had decided Bourbon Street within the next the Saints would be aggressors.”

72 hours, or you’re fired. Once Of course, all that sideline tragically late to New Orleans, a toughness wouldn’t have meant nation wants to move in and much if quarterback Drew Brees, establish residency. The Saints who connected on 32 of 39 are unquestionably America’s passes and tied a Super Bowl team. Stand down, Jerry Jones.” record for completions, hadn’t There were several compelling been so locked-in. “The win Submitted at 2/8/2010 9:02:41 AM

excellent finish in her stock-car racing debut Saturday earned her another week in Daytona Beach, Fla. After starting in the 12th position, Patrick rallied from a spin-out in lap 54 to finish sixth in her ARCA series debut, and will race again at Daytona might earn Brees a key to the International Speedway next city but it also gives him the key Saturday in a Nascar Nationwide into an elite club that previously S e r i e s r a c e , a h e a d o f h e r included two — [Peyton] previous schedule.

Manning and Tom Brady,” “All over the speedway, faces Prisco writes at CBS Sports. beamed at this performance,” “The two-man club now includes Yahoo’s Dan Wetzel writes. three. Brees is in that class. They “NASCAR officials couldn’t contain their glee that Patrick’s can’t deny him now.”

And what of Manning, who will experimental move from openhave to wait at least another year wheel racing to stock cars got off to further burnish his legend? At to such a rousing start. She has Sports Illustrated, Joe Posnanski been a big a draw at the Indy ponders this often unlucky Racing League. If she ever gets superstar. “There is little doubt to NASCAR’s top level, the that when Peyton Manning’s Sprint Cup, and her on-track career ends, he will have made success matches her magazine his case as the greatest s p r e a d s a n d t e l e v i s i o n quarterback in the history of the advertisements, everything will NFL,” Posnanski writes. “And go to a new level.”* * * The Washington Capitals still, there’s no way to look at Manning’s brilliant career extended their winning streak to without noticing that there’s an 1 4 c o n s e c u t i v e g a m e s o n Sunday, and could tie the NHL awful lot of heartbreak in it.”

Manning, a New Orleans native record of 17 before the NHL (maybe you’d heard?), will breaks for the Olympics. Down 4 surely not be joining the raucous -1 in the second period, the Caps Big Easy celebration Jenny stormed back, overcoming a pair Booth describes in the Times of of goals by Sidney Crosby L o n d o n , b u t t h e r e s t o f thanks to an Alex Ovechkin hat America’s football fans already trick and an overtime goal by have. After one of the more Mike Knuble to claim a 5-4 satisfying Super Bowls in overtime win over the rival history, it’s tough not to.* * * Pittsburgh Penguins.

Danica Patrick’s surprisingly In the Toronto Star, Damien Cox applauds the fierce rivalry

between Crosby and Ovechkin, and looks forward to seeing the two young greats clash in the Olympics, where Crosby’s Team Canada and Ovechkin’s Team Russia both are expected to vie for the gold.* * * College basketball saw two topfive teams take a tumble over the weekend, as fifth-ranked Michigan State lost at Illinois and second-ranked Villanova fell big to eighth-ranked Georgetown. There was nothing super-surprising about those results: Upsets are a way of life in college basketball. Perhaps the most striking result of the weekend was how routine North Carolina’s latest loss felt. The Tar Heels took a pasting at the hands of the Maryland Terps on Sunday, and are Coach Roy Williams is very much at risk of not making the NCAA tournament for the first time in 20 years.

“For the most part, though, Tar Heel nation understands that North Carolina is in rebuilding mode after losing four players to the NBA — including firstrounders Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington — from last year’s team,” Yahoo’s Jason King writes. “Williams knows he’s running out of time.

The loss to the Terrapins marked North Carolina’s sixth defeat in its last seven games. At this point the Tar Heels’ chances of UPSET page 77

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Kansas Doesn’t Provide Soft Landing for Texas’s Free-Fall (WSJ.com: The Daily Fix) Submitted at 2/9/2010 8:09:36 AM

Three weeks ago, Texas was the No. 1 basketball team in the nation. But it’s been a quick tumble down the rankings for the 14th-ranked Longhorns after five losses in seven games, including Monday’s 80-68 defeat to Big 12 powerhouse Kansas. Things are looking bleaker by the day for the Longhorns, who aren’t playing at a level that will get them to the NCAA Tournament.

Associated Press Texas’s Damion James rethinks his decision to go up for the shot.

“Rick Barnes needs help. And fast,” Kirk Bohls frets in the Austin American-Statesman.

“What he has now is barely a Top 25 team despite Top 10 — and some might say Top 5 — talent. Some 24 games into the season, Barnes’ team is searching for any semblance of consistency and well-defined roles beyond the free-lancing, if explosive, J’Covan Brown, who went off for 26 of his 28 points in the second half.”

CBS Sports’s Gary Parrish sees no end to the Texas slump.

The picture is much brighter in Lawrence, Kansas. The topranked Jayhawks used a 22-0 run to improve to 9-0 in Big 12 play.

“Kansas could throw in a clunker or two along the way, but this is starting to look and feel like 2008,” Blair Kerkhoff crows in

the Kansas City Star.

Marcus Morris is one reason why the Jayhawks could win their second title in three years.

“Whether it’s a turnaround jumper from 10 feet, a slash to the basket for an easy layup or a putback off an offensive rebound, Morris’ skill set is as versatile as it gets,” Yahoo’s Jason King writes.* * * The party celebrating the New Orleans Saints’ first Super Bowl may have ended by now, but revelers are taking only a quick respite before gearing up again for Tuesday evening’s parade.

Then it’s time to look ahead to the 2010 season, when the Saints will try to repeat.

CBS Sports’s Clark Judge says one obstacle is a roster that might be depleted by free-agent defections. Another is that the Saints play in the NFC South.

“The Falcons are the chief concern, primarily because they have a young franchise quarterback in Matt Ryan and a head coach who hasn’t had a losing season in two years,” Judge writes. “But never discount Carolina, especially with the Panthers winning their final three games under quarterback Matt Moore, the frontrunner for the position next season.”

Sports Illustrated’s Don Banks takes an early look at the Saints’ and Colts’ chances next season.

In the New York Daily News,

Gary Myers predicts the Jets will face Dallas in Super Bowl XLV. While the Super Bowl attracted the biggest audience in TV history — 106.5 million — Chicago Now’s Kyra Kyles hardly watched. Mostly, she was too busy doing other things.* * * Saturday’s bonus Fix focused on the chances the NFL might lose the 2011 season to a work stoppage. Other leagues also are seeking cost certainty (read: more money for owners).

Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski writes that NBA “owners have delivered commissioner David Stern an unmistakable mandate: Get our money back and get us profitable.”* * * The Soviet Union was an Olympics juggernaut until its collapse almost 20 years ago.

Without the infrastructure and government support, however, Russia and other former Soviet republics have seen their medal hauls tumble in recent Games.

After the collapse of Communism, new national governments had higher spending priorities than sports.

But now Russia is investing billions of dollars to prepare for

the 2014 Winter Olympics in the Black Sea resort city Sochi, and athletes are getting rich incentives to win medals at the Olympics, Canwest’s Randy Shore writes.

China’s famed sports system is still churning out athletes, and this year the Asian country is aiming to win gold in women’s curling. The Chinese women curlers’ status as paid professionals might give them an edge in Vancouver, Geoff Dyer writes in the Financial Times.

Elana Meyers is headed to Vancouver as a member of the U.S. bobsled team. Meyers always wanted to go to the Olympics, but as a softball player. Her dream seemed dead when softball was dropped from the slate for the 2012 Games in London. But two years ago Meyers got an invitation from the USOC to attend a bobsled camp in Lake Placid. In the Washington Post, Barry Svrluga chronicles the change of course for the athlete from Douglasville, Ga. Meyers isn’t the only athlete from a place not always associated with winter sports.

Ellie Koyander, Britain’s youngest Olympian at age 18, has her sights set on winning a medal in moguls skiing, the Times of London’s Alyson Rudd reports.

CBC Sports’s Paul Gains writes about Ethiopia’s only Winter

Olympian: cross-country skier Robel Teklemariam, whose journey to Vancouver has been anything but smooth.

Canada launched its Own the Podium program to improve its medal haul at the Olympics. If all goes well, Canada could be among the leading medal winners at Vancouver. No matter its overall medal count, Canada is under enormous pressure to bring home the gold in men’s hockey, Michelle Kauffman writes in the Miami Herald.* * * It’s been a couple of tough years for reporters at major metro dailies that have trimmed sports coverage. Some journalists, such as baseball beat writer Mark Zuckerman, lost their jobs when the Washington Times recently axed its sports section. But Zuckerman is determined to report on the Nationals from spring training in Viera, Fla., hoping to raise the $5,000 necessary through his blog.

– Tip of the Fix cap to reader Don Hartline and fellow Fixer David Roth.

Found a good column from the world of sports? Don’t keep it to yourself — write to us at dailyfix@wsj.com and we’ll consider your find for inclusion in the Daily Fix. You can email Garey at ris84rap@gmail.com.

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For Drew Brees, Sean Payton, New Orleans Saints' Super Bowl victory is sinking in

by ESPN.com news services (ESPN.com)

champions for the first time in the club's 43-year history after Sunday's 31-17 triumph over the Submitted at 2/8/2010 6:25:12 PM Indianapolis Colts.

Message from fivefilters.org: If "I'm not sure if it's completely you can, please donate to the full sunk in yet," Brees said at -text RSS service so we can M o n d a y m o r n i n g ' s n e w s continue developing it. Saints conference at the convention Return Home As Champions center in Fort Lauderdale. "It S a i n t s R e t u r n H o m e A s seems like as the minutes go by, Champions VIDEO PLAYLIST it slowly does.

• Saints Return Home As "Our victory last night was the Champions Saints Return Home culmination of four years of hard As Champions work, fighting through a lot of • Super Bowl MVP Brees From adversity, ups and downs and Disney World Super Bowl MVP more importantly than that, Brees From Disney World representing a city that has been • Clayton: Saints' Offseason through so much," Brees said.

C o n c e r n s C l a y t o n : S a i n t s ' "Along the way, people have Offseason Concerns asked me so many times, 'Do • Saints CB Tracy Porter On you look at it as a burden or Super Pick Six Saints CB Tracy extra pressure? Do you feel like Porter On Super Pick Six you're carrying the weight of the city on your teams' shoulders.' I FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- said, 'No, not at all. We look at it Drew Brees turned to his wife as a responsibility. Our city, our when he woke up and asked: fans, gave us strength and we "Did yesterday really happen?" owe this to them. That's made all The Herd with Colin Cowherd the difference. ... There's no Saints QB Drew Brees joins people that you would want to Colin Cowherd to talk about the win for more than the city of Super Bowl win and calls back New Orleans. So it's an honor." into the show after taking a call Wojciechowski: Don't Let It from President Barack Obama. Stop More Podcasts » A fabulous game had a The Saints and their fans awoke storybook ending for the Saints.

Monday to the realization that Which is why the NFL can't risk the once lovable losers from letting the fun stop in 2011, New Orleans were Super Bowl Gene Wojciechowski writes.

Story As Brees spoke, coach Sean Payton sat off to the side, elbows on knees, face buried in his hands. When it was his turn to speak, he leaned on the podium, clutching the Vince Lombardi trophy in his right hand. He recounted Lombardi's grandson, Saints assistant Joe Lombardi, posing for a photo with the sterling silver hardware awarded each year to the Super Bowl winner.

"Joe Lombardi, his father, Vince Jr., and his two brothers sat and posed with this trophy, the four of them, while pictures were taken. And I just thought to myself, 'You've got to be kidding me," Payton said. "If you believe in heaven, and you believe Vince Lombardi is there looking down on his grandson, it doesn't get any better. This is a guy that coaches our quarterbacks, coaches Drew Brees and here a trophy that's named after his grandfather."

Payton then smiled and added that he had the trophy in bed with him while he slept early Monday morning.

"You can't get enough of this," Payton said. "Rolled over it a couple times. I probably drooled on it. But man, there's nothing like it."

Payton said when all was quiet

in the team hotel around 3 a.m., he offered a prayer of thanks for his team and his experience in New Orleans, where he became a head coach for the first time in 2006, with the city still largely in ruin only months after Hurricane Katrina hit in August 2005.

"When [Saints general manager] Mickey Loomis hired me in 2006, not having been from New Orleans, it would be hard to describe the relationship between the fans and the players there, and it became apparent to me that football was obviously very important but it was much bigger than football," Payton said.

"When we got into coaching or playing, we got into it for certain reasons and yet the reasons in New Orleans far exceeded what we ever expected."

The theme for the Saints in 2009 became: A season of firsts. They opened with their first 13-game winning streak, which earned them a first No. 1 seeding in the NFC playoffs. That led to a first home NFC title game, then a first Super Bowl, and now New Orleans' first major professional sports championship.

Before this season, the Saints had only eight winning campaigns -- and two playoff victories -- in their previous 42 years combined. The Saints had to win three postseason games

over three great quarterbacks -Kurt Warner, Brett Favre and Peyton Manning-- to win the title this season.

Their run to the Super Bowl captured the attention of football fans everywhere. The Nielsen Co. says the game got its highest overnight ratings in 23 years, meaning there's a strong likelihood it will be the mostwatched Super Bowl when the final numbers are released later Monday.

Commissioner Roger Goodell called this Super Bowl "clearly more than a game.

"I keep thinking of the word 'magical,' " he said. "When you think about the relationship between the Saints and the Gulf Coast and the city of New Orleans, it was more than just a football game and more than just a football team. The hopes, the dreams and the struggles of that community were all reflected in that football team. It was a great night for the people in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region."

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Top-ranked Kansas handles slumping Texas

Greek rescue hopes help bourses regain their poise

by Associated Press (ESPN.com)

held the Longhorns to 37 percent shooting and scored 27 points off 17 turnovers.

Submitted at 2/9/2010 4:47:37 AM And when Texas finally staged a Message from fivefilters.org: If late rally, Kansas slammed the you can, please donate to the full door behind senior point guard -text RSS service so we can Sherron Collins, who had 15 continue developing it. Morris- points, five assists, four steals led Kansas sends Texas to 5th and made several key plays loss in last 7 games down the stretch.

AUSTIN, Texas -- Kansas gave When the final seconds finally Texas a lesson in not only what ticked off, Collins punctuated the it takes to get to No. 1, but how win by slamming the ball down to stay there. hard with a yell, bouncing it high It started with a big early run in the air. and a rally-killing finish as the "We've put ourselves in pretty top-ranked Jayhawks beat No. 14 favorable position [in the Big Texas 80-68 on Monday night, 12]," Kansas coach Bill Self easily handling a team that a few said. "Somebody can get hot and weeks ago was supposed to run the table, but it puts pressure challenge them for the Big 12 on us to keep playing." title.

It's better than favorable as Jayhawks Maul Longhorns every other team in the league Kansas shot 46 percent and has at least three losses. outscored the Longhorns by 14 Texas seemed game for a good points in the paint. one until a 22-0 Kansas run in "Going into the season, we were the first half seized momentum ranked one and they were two," and took the buzz out of the said Marcus Morris, who raucous home crowd. The overcame dislocating his right Longhorns never recovered and ring finger in the first half to lead the team that a month ago looked Kansas with 18 points. "We like a national title contender c i r c l e d t h i s g a m e o n o u r now simply looks lost. calendars. We were ready from Texas started the season 17-0 to day one to play this game." earn the first No. 1 ranking in It showed as Kansas (23-1, 9-0) school history in early January, outmuscled and outhustled Texas but has since lost five of its last (19-5, 5-4) in just about every seven. way.

Kansas was No. 1 in the Kansas, No. 1 for the second preseason poll and for the first straight week after three weeks eight weeks of the regular season out of the top spot, outrebounded b e f o r e i t s o n l y l o s s , a t a physical Texas lineup 45-34, T e n n e s s e e .

Freshman J'Covan Brown led Texas with 28 points, scoring most of them in a late burst that cut Kansas' lead under 10 late before Tyshawn Taylor made two free throws. Collins then bulled through two defenders to fire a sharp pass to Tyrel Reed for a layup that ended the rally.

Damion James had 24 points and 10 rebounds for Texas but as has been the case in Texas' previous losses, he was the only reliable scorer when the game was close.

Texas tried to muscle up Kansas by inserting forward Gary Johnson into the staring lineup for the first time. But his 10 points on 3-of-8 shooting couldn't make a difference.

Texas led 14-11 early before Markieff Morris' long 3-pointer started Kansas' big run that left the Longhorns looking bewildered at both ends of the court.

Collins zipped a pass to Marcus Morris and he made a nifty grab in a dead sprint for a layup.

Taylor made a 3-pointer before two Texas turnovers led to easy Jayhawks baskets. Collins' long 3-pointer from the left wing made it 30-14.

Texas went scoreless for more than 11 minutes and missed 12 straight shots before James banked in a 3-pointer. Kansas led 34-24 at halftime.

"I didn't know what was happening. It happened so fast," James said of Kansas' run. "They

showed why they are No. 1 team in country. If we want to be there we have to watch this game and see what we can do to make things happen."

Kansas opened the second half with an alley-oop pass from Collins to Xavier Henry and the Jayhawks' stifling defense continued to force wild shots and turnovers.

When Texas guard Dogus Balbay mishandled the ball in the backcourt, all his teammates had already run to the other end.

With four Jayhawks under the basket, Collins coolly tossed it to Marcus Morris for an empathic two-handed dunk and a 50-34 lead.

Everything seemed to be working for Kansas at that point.

Brady Morningstar stroked a 3pointer and Collins spun through the lane for a behind-the-the back pass to Cole Aldrich for a dunk. Even a botched alley-oop pass to Marcus Morris worked when the ball bounced right back to him on the other side of the basket for an easy putback.

"We were terrible on offense for long periods of time, and we helped them," Texas coach Rick Barnes said. "You go back, 27 points off turnovers. That's been the biggest killer in us for every game."

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(Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 2/9/2010 7:12:30 AM

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15:05 GMT. Dow below 10,000! Europe on the fiscal precipice! Never fear, JeanClaude is coming.

The euro rallied, commodities perked up and global stocks recovered their poise after it emerged that Jean-Claude Trichet, European Central Bank president, was to leave a summit with his peers in Australia early and fly to the rescue of the eurozone.

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Julius Peppers of says he doesn't want long-term deal from Carolina Panthers

by Associated Press (ESPN.com) Submitted at 2/9/2010 6:48:11 AM

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JULIUS page 74

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Julius Peppers no longer wants a longterm contract with Carolina Panthers, saying the Panthers have ignored him this offseason.

NFC South blog ESPN.com's Pat Yasinskas writes about all things NFC South in his division blog.

• Blog network: NFL Nation In an interview aired Tuesday morning on Charlotte radio station WFNZ-AM, the five-time Pro Bowl defensive end indicated he's irritated by the team's "silence" and has changed his stance on whether he wants to continue his career in Carolina.

"Last year, at the time, that was the option that I wanted most," Peppers said. "Now it's not."

While agent Carl Carey said last week he believes the Panthers aren't interested in retaining Peppers, Carolina's career sacks leader, team officials haven't announced their plans for the impending free agent. General manager Marty Hurney didn't immediately return a phone message Tuesday.

"How can you say you want to be somewhere when you're not really sure if they want you there because they're not even talking to you?" Peppers said.

It's another twist in a longrunning saga between the two sides.

After being held to a career-low 2½ sacks in 2007, the Panthers

still offered to make Peppers the NFL's highest-paid defensive player. Peppers on Tuesday provided conflicting reasons on why he rejected the contract. “ How can you say you want to be somewhere when you're not really sure if they want you there because they're not even talking to you?”-- Julius Peppers "That deal was to make me the highest-paid defensive player, but slightly, very slightly," Peppers said. "I didn't really feel the sincerity behind that deal."

But later in the rambling answer during the radio phone interview, Peppers also indicated he wasn't worthy of such a deal.

"I had 2½ sacks that season and they're coming to offer me being the highest-paid defensive player. Like, I can't even accept that," Peppers said. "I'm not deserving of that."

Peppers bounced back with a career-high 14½ sacks in 2008, then announced he wanted to play elsewhere and pleaded with the Panthers to let him leave in free agency. He said Tuesday he wanted out because he was upset with the team's direction under then-defensive coordinator Mike Trgovac.

"In my eyes I didn't see us getting any better on that side of the ball," Peppers said. "I felt like it was time to try somewhere else, do something else. But things changed. They brought in

new people."

Trgovac and defensive line coach Sal Sunseri left. Ron Meeks took over the defense and Brian Baker replaced Sunseri. At the same time, the Panthers placed the restrictive franchise tag on Peppers, limiting his options in free agency.

"I never felt that they did that with the intent to keep me here," Peppers said. "I felt like they did that in attempt to send me off somewhere else to get compensation, draft picks or whatever."

There was no deal and Peppers eventually changed his tune, beginning negotiations on a long -term contract. But a deal couldn't be reached and Peppers played under the one-year tender worth an NFL-high $16.7 million. After recording 10½ sacks, Peppers made the Pro Bowl and earned a $1.5 million bonus.

The Panthers could use the franchise tag again in 2010, but it would include a 20 percent raise.

Peppers would be due $20.1 million, plus another $1.5 million Pro Bowl bonus and $250,000 for each playoff victory.

Carolina could use the franchise tag again and try to trade Peppers, but Peppers would almost certainly first have to agree to a long-term deal with that team.

Several clubs, such as

Philadelphia and New England, could be interested. But there are also questions about Peppers' inconsistency. He acknowledged on Tuesday that even former defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio, now coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, told him during his rookie year in 2002 that it doesn't appear he's playing hard on every down.

"I told him just because it doesn't look like I'm running as hard as the next man with my arms swinging, sweating and breathing hard doesn't mean I'm not trying as hard," Peppers said.

"I'm still trying hard, it just doesn't look like it. I do it easier."

But despite 81 sacks in eight seasons, the 30-year-old Peppers' future is murky. The Panthers have until Feb. 25 to use the franchise tag.

"The silence says a lot without saying anything," Peppers said.

"That is kind of a turnoff."

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The Count: The Super Bowl’s Biggest Play (WSJ.com: The Daily Fix) Submitted at 2/8/2010 10:51:31 AM

If the play of the Saints’ Super Bowl victory wasn’t going to be a pass from MVP Drew Brees, it was fitting that it was Louisiana native Tracy Porter’s interception return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

An otherwise ordinary New Orleans defensive unit was extraordinary at turning opponents’ passes into scores.

Associated Press Tracy Porter and the rest of the Saints secondary learned some moves from their offensive teammates.

The Saints led all NFL teams with five interception returns for touchdowns. Just three other teams had more than two (the Colts were one of 11 teams with two). Just 3.1% of passing attempts in the NFL this year were picked off, but 4.5% of passes against the Saints defense were. And fewer than one in 10 interceptions were returned for COUNT: page 75

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The Count: Payton’s Gutsy Calls Were the Safer Bets

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touchdowns, but nearly one in five Saints INTs were. All told, there were 48 interceptions (WSJ.com: The Daily Fix) strategy: what chance it needs to the second quarter, with the returned for touchdowns this have to succeed in order to make Saints a little more than a yard season, and the Saints secondary Submitted at 2/8/2010 10:55:00 AM it superior to the tried-and-true short of the end zone and facing had more than one in 10.

New Orleans had so much The New Orleans Saints took alternative. fourth down, he decided to try success returning touchdowns in their first lead of the Super Bowl While there are plenty of for the touchdown rather than thanks to a decision by coach innovative NFL coaches, some kicking a field goal that would part because its defensive backs Sean Payton that far more NFL strategies still aren’t pursued as almost surely have gone in. excelled at jumping routes and coaches should make: Going for often as their breakeven points Statisticians generally liked the catching balls in stride. (Good a surprise onside kick when the would suggest. Consider onside Since the breakeven point on decision, as they did another blocking also helped, though the situation doesn’t seem to call for kicks. Earlier this NFL season, onside kicks is 42%, they aren’t unsuccessful fourth-down try block of Peyton Manning on the one. Associated Press Why the Burke produced stats showing being used enough. If they were, against Peyton Manning and the Super Bowl pick may have been boring running play? Perhaps that this maneuver — in which a we’d see equilibrium: The Colts earlier this season. That’s an uncalled illegal block in the Sean Payton had used up all his kickoff team deliberately kicks frequency of attempts would rise because the fourth-down try — back.) Their five regular-season first-half creativity in calling for the ball just past the 40-yard line and the success rate would fall to likely to succeed and to pin the touchdowns totaled 340 yards, or this fourth-down attempt. or off a return man near that line the breakeven point as coaches Colts deep in their own territory an average of 68 yards — or six Brian Burke, of Advanced NFL in an attempt to recover the ball changed their return formations if it doesn’t — is worth more yards shorter than Porter’s 74Stats, uses his calculations of — is almost only used when the t o b e t t e r p r e p a r e f o r t h e than four points, compared to yard run-back in the Super Bowl. win probability to mine the NFL kicking team is in dire straits. possibility of onside kicks. three points for the field goal. The Saints’ 21 interceptions that for inefficiencies in coaching More than a quarter of the time (Colts special teamers admitted But Payton’s actual play call of a weren’t returned for scores also strategy. By analyzing thousands t h a t t h i s t e a m h a s a w i n they were caught off guard after run, without much deception, often yielded good yardage after of games, he’s estimated the probability below 10%, it tries the game.) was as dull as his decision to go the catch. They yielded 312 probability a team will win in a for the onside kick. But opposing Perhaps Payton read Burke’s for it was bold. “It was great return yards — more than 23 given situation, like position on c o a c h e s k n o w t h e k i c k i s post from earlier in the season strategy by Payton, leaving the teams had on all interception the field or down and distance. coming, and thus they’re able to pointing that out. But it took Colts pinned at their own 1 if the returns, including touchdowns.

Then he can calculate how win recover the kick more than four more than a good decision to offense fails and with three time The Saints’ overall return probability would shift for a out of five times. When the ensure the success of his ploy. outs, but the play calls were yardage of 652 was 175 more g i v e n s t r a t e g y , w h e n i t ’ s kicking team is in a better That required deception and definitely shaky,” Jonathan than second-place Green Bay, successful and when it isn’t — situation — such as the Saints’ great execution, which the Saints Comey writes at Cold, Hard and Saints returns averaged 25.1 yards, more than every team but and do the same for an alternate position, down four points with special teams — great earlier in Football Facts. the Chiefs — who averaged 25.3 strategy available to coaches. an entire half remaining — the the playoffs, and great on yards on a paltry 15 T h e s e c a l c u l a t i o n s i n f o r m onside kick is almost never tried, Sunday — delivered. interceptions. analyses as to the breakeven and because it’s unexpected, it That contrasts with Payton’s Porter himself exemplified this point for an unconventional works 60% of the time. other unusual decision. Late in Saints defense. By some measures he was an ordinary cornerback this year, and below average in stopping yards after the catch. But his own yardage after catches was very good — COUNT: page 76

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The Count: Only Lions’ Super Bowl Title Could Top This (WSJ.com: The Daily Fix) Submitted at 2/8/2010 3:12:32 PM

What would be the equivalent next year of the New Orleans Saints’ championship this year?

How about, as your 2011 Super Bowl champions, the Detroit Lions? Getty Images Drew Brees, the Saints and New Orleans had been waiting a long time to celebrate.

Before this year, in 42 seasons the Saints had won two playoff games. That’s one playoff win every 21 years. The 32 NFL teams, on average, have won more than a game every three years in their franchise history during the Super Bowl era. Even after winning three playoff games, including the Super Bowl, this year, the Saints’ total of five is greater than that of only two other active teams: the Houston Texans, who are in their first decade of existence, and the Lions, who have just one playoff win since the Super Bowl era began. The Baltimore Ravens and Carolina Panthers, both founded in the mid-’90s, both

already have more wins than New Orleans, even after this postseason, and the Jacksonville Jaguars, also a relatively new club, have matched the Saints’ five.

After the Saints clinched the Super Bowl on Sunday, CBS flashed a graphic pointing out that the Saints won their first Super Bowl by winning three playoff games, one more than their prior total of two playoff victories. In and of itself, it’s not unusual for a championship team to win more playoff games in its first Super Bowl-winning season than it had before. Of the 18 active teams, including the Saints, who have won a Super Bowl, 10 accomplished that feat.

But no other team waited nearly as long as the Saints made their fans wait. Only three such teams

took more than eight years to win a Super Bowl, with the longest stretch the Bears’: They’d won just one playoff game in the Super Bowl era before winning it all in 1985.

More typical of Super Bowlwinning teams is a franchise such as the Rams, who had won 10 playoff games before finally winning it all in 2000, or the Raiders, who’d already won seven playoff games before taking the 1977 Super Bowl.

And nearly every long-suffering team has at least come close before, most notably the Vikings, Eagles, Bills and Titans/Oilers, who all have won at least a dozen playoff games without winning the Super Bowl. Only a Lions Super Bowl title — or a Texans’ championship, after three more fallow decades — could compare to the Saints’ glorious Sunday, in terms of contrast with a franchise’s long history of futility.

COUNT: continued from page 75

20.5, on average, on six prior picks, including one of Brett Favre in the NFC championship game that Porter returned for 26 yards.

That Manning was the goat on the signature Super Bowl play is less surprising than you might think. Though he earned his regular-season MVP award with a host of fourth-quarter comebacks, and by contributing more wins overall to his team than any other player did (at least by some measures), his one weakness was interceptions. He threw 16, more than any other quarterback ranked in the top 20 in passer rating(including No. 1 Brees’s 11). Part of that is a reflection of the Colts’ leagueleading preference for the pass over the run: He threw more, giving opposing defenses more chances to pick him off. But even his rate of throwing INTs on 2.8% of his attempts was the highest of any of the top 14 rated passers. Manning also struggled against blitzing formations such as the one New Orleans used on the key play.

How big was the pick-six?

Before it, the Saints had a 77%

chance of winning, according to Brian Burke’s win-probability graph of the game. That seems about right — the Colts looked like they had about a 50% chance of forcing overtime, and presumably a 50% chance of winning if they did. After the pick, New Orleans was a 98% lock. No other play created as big a swing in win probability.

It’s a reflection of how great the past decade of Super Bowls has been that this one, even with the signature INT, rated in the bottom half by Burke’s measures of excitement — how much win probability varied. Only the blowouts in 2001 and 2003 trailed this year’s. By comeback factor — basically, what was the losing team’s peak winning probability — Colts-Saints rated higher, which is fitting since New Orleans came back from a 10-point deficit, tying the biggest deficit overcome in a Super Bowl. However, each of the last three games had higher comeback factors.

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Drew Brees-Sean Payton: Perfect Partners

by Thomas George (FanHouse Main) Submitted at 2/8/2010 11:30:00 AM

Filed under: Saints, Super Bowl FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.-We saw Drew Brees on Sunday night hold his son Baylen on the field and whisper to him after winning Super Bowl XLIV and the game's most valuable player award. There was a twinkle in his eyes that set everything around him aglow And then on Monday morning in his news conference here, Brees cradled his MVP trophy much like he had his son. The glow from the silver prize illuminated his face. The stars on the trophy reflected to form a line of stars on the ceiling above him.

Saint Brees.

That is how New Orleans Saints fans now regard him. It is how his coach, Sean Payton, in some ways considers him. And for

Brees, the feeling is mutual.

Brees and Payton reminded every NFL team that if you want to get where they just reached, you had better develop an encompassing head coach/quarterback relationship that colors your team. The head coach and quarterback garner much of the credit and much of the blame in any NFL city. That duo's aura -- or lack of it -- sets

the template for the entire roster.

You are going nowhere in this league if first you do not have a franchise quarterback. And accompanying it a quarterback/head coach relationship that sets the standard for team-wide relationships.

"With Sean, it's like ESP,'' Brees said. "We have trust, faith and confidence. I feel like I know the play that's going to be called.''

Brees said that this Saints team "will walk together forever'' even though there certainly will be roster changes next season.

But this Brees-Payton connection looks solid for the next few seasons. And that is great news for both. And for Saints teams to follow.

news to overshadow it, for FSU to announce the decision to vacate 12 wins in football, the 2007 men’s outdoor track-andfield national championship, and a host of wins in women’s basketball, softball, baseball and other sports? On Sunday, hours before a Super Bowl in the same state would wash the news all but off the sports pages, FSU stepped up and announced its punishment. On some winter

Wednesdays, a scandal this big would have been a top story. On the day after the Super Bowl, it’s impossible to find a columnist out there who gave it any thought.

“Shhh. You hear that? It’s the sound of Florida State moving on,” ESPN’s Heather Dinich writes.

— Tip of the Fix cap to reader Don Hartline and fellow Fixer Garey Ris.

Found a good column from the world of sports? Don’t keep it to yourself — write to us at dailyfix@wsj.com and we’ll consider your find for inclusion in the Daily Fix. You can email David at droth11@gmail.com.

UPSET continued from page 70

making the NCAA tournament appear slim at best.”* * * There’s never a great time for a college’s athletic department to vacate a bunch of wins. But Florida State University’s academic-cheating scandal — which wound up encompassing 61 student-athletes in 10 sports — was inevitably going to lead to a bunch of retroactive forfeits.

What better time, then, than a Sunday with a bit of other sports

Gainey Steps Down as Canadiens GM

by Christopher Botta (FanHouse Main) Submitted at 2/8/2010 9:18:00 AM

Filed under: Canadiens With surprise timing, Bob Gainey stepped down on Monday as president of the Montreal Canadiens. Gainey has been replaced by his assistant Pierre Gauthier, and he will stay in the organization as a consultant.

"I've done my best," said Gainey.

"Now it's time for me to pass the torch. I want to have more control over my own time. What I'll do with it, I don't know.

Maybe I'll play the piano."

Gainey's final season has been a mixed bag. In the offseason he signed leading goal scorer Mike Cammalleri(26 goals before a recent injury). He also agreed to an out-of-touch deal where he GAINEY page 78

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took Scott Gomez's enormous contract off the hands of the Rangers and relinquished assets for the privilege.

The Canadiens are currently is sixth place in the Eastern Conference, with a record of 2826-6 for 62 points.

The 56-year-old Gainey said the timing was right because the Olympic break will afford Gauthier the time to settle into the head role before the March 3 trade deadline. However, as evidenced by major deals made in the last eight days by colleagues such as Brian Burke,

by FanHouse Newswire "When I got off the airplane it Lou Lamoriello, Darryl Sutter (FanHouse Main) was like, 'What's this green grass and Glen Sather, many GMs are doing here? This is the Winter by Tom Mantzouranis champion's welcome. Though seeing the pre-Olympic roster Submitted at 2/8/2010 11:45:00 AM Olympics,"' U.S. speedskater (FanHouse Main) the tradition is nothing new; freeze on Friday afternoon as an VANCOUVER (AP) -- As Trevor Marsicano said Sunday, Saints fans have lined this same even more important deadline.

Submitted at 2/8/2010 10:55:00 AM Olympians arrive by the day, the recalling his reaction after flying stretch of road to greet the team Winter Games seem to be in last week from Milwaukee. Filed under: Saints, NFL Fans, after every road game this missing something. Namely, "For me it's nice, because I'm Super Bowl, Super Bowl XLIV season. winter. used to, like, zero-degrees. This Video For a mile and a half, bodies There's more snow in D.C., as in is awesome."

NEW ORLEANS -- Why wait lined the street, nulling any other District of Columbia, than B.C., Trouble is, with opening until Tuesday for a parade? After traffic. Some partied through the or British Columbia. ceremonies on Friday, the above- all, you can create an impromptu night and made it to the airport Vancouver Olympic officials f r e e z i n g t e m p e r a t u r e s i n one with two simple ingredients early in the morning to get a have touted these as "The Green Vancouver -- it got above 50 on -- a mass of people lining each good spot, even though the team Games," but Mother Nature Saturday -- continue to raise side of the street and moving didn't arrive until about 3 p.m. might be taking that to an c o n c e r n s f o r o t h e r s p o r t s , vehicles.

On an overpass above the road, extreme. Some Vancouverites particularly snowboarding and And so New Orleans Saints fans drivers turned a highway into a are now referring to them as freestyle skiing, two events being gathered on Veterans Memorial parking lot, getting out of their "The Brown Games," given the h e l d o n t h e m o u n t a i n B o u l e v a r d b y t h e L o u i s c a r s a n d s t a n d i n g o n t h e muddy conditions at Cypress o v e r l o o k i n g t h e c i t y . A r m s t r o n g N e w O r l e a n s overpass in order to look down Mountain.

International Airport, waiting for on the action. the team to fly back from Miami in order to give them a

More Snow in D.C. Than B.C.

Saints Fans Welcome Champs Home

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Nintendo Australia fines NSMB Wii uploader $1.5 million

by JC Fletcher (Joystiq)

Bros. Wii to the internet, doing so on November 6, one week before the game was released (an Finally, Nintendo has been able act that facilitated creative works to make a little money from New in addition to piracy).

Super Mario Bros. Wii, a sequel Not only is this bad news for to one of its old franchises, this one guy, it should also serve r e l e a s e d t h i s N o v e m b e r . as a warning to other would-be Nintendo of Australia announced pirates. "Upon the game being that as the result of a federal u p l o a d e d t o t h e I n t e r n e t , court settlement, one Australian Nintendo was able to employ the will be required to pay $1.5 u s e o f s o p h i s t i c a t e d million ($1.3 million USD) to t e c h n o l o g i c a l f o r e n s i c s t o Nintendo for loss of revenue due. i d e n t i f y t h e i n d i v i d u a l This person was allegedly the responsible for illegally copying first to upload New Super Mario the file and making it available Submitted at 2/9/2010 9:30:00 AM

for further distribution," Nintendo said in a press release.

"On 23 November, 2009, Nintendo obtained a Federal Court search order in respect of

the individual's residential premises. This led to the seizure of property from those premises in order to gain further evidence against the individual."

If you upload Nintendo games, the company will come to your house and take your stuff.

Chilling.

[Thanks, Foetoid] Nintendo Australia fines NSMB Wii uploader $1.5 million originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Producers: Final Fantasy XIII will 'resurrect' Japanese game industry

by JC Fletcher (Joystiq) Submitted at 2/9/2010 10:45:00 AM

Final Fantasy XIII may not be out in North America and Europe yet, but the development team is in full "victory lap" mode in Japan. At least, that's how it seemed when noted industry figure Jem Alexander interviewed producer Yoshinori Kitase and director Motomu Toriyama for the European PlayStation Blog. Asked about the state of the Japanese game industry, the two (no individual

attribution was given to the speakers) said that FFXIII was going to fix it.

"Some people have been saying that the Japanese game industry is dead, and all that... I dunno," the creative lead said. "I will say that Final Fantasy XIII is one really epic title for high definition consoles. With this game, we are going to resurrect the whole thing." And then they immediately moved from boastful to confusing:"As for Western games that have influenced us - FPSs mostly. The

Call of Duty series, for example." Influenced their desire to sell a lot of copies, maybe?

The team also suggested elsewhere in the interview that

God of War Collection-style remakes of previous Final Fantasy titles are unlikely. And, while they didn't outright deny DLC (which is looking more and

more likely), they said that material or ideas originally left out won't be put back in as DLC. Producers: Final Fantasy XIII will 'resurrect' Japanese game industry originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fall 2010 Fashion Week Preview: One Hour With Pamela Love

by ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog)

promises something "way bigger" than last season's chichippie-tented-cocktail-party For designer darling Pamela come September. Now, back to Love, casting metal into her Bon Jovi. The rock-star dad, u n i q u e l y e d g y c r e a t i o n s , adorably enough, dropped by the planning future collaborations studio during our shoot to return with fashion’s finest, and a pop- a ring his daughter had recently in from Bon Jovi are all in a borrowed from Love. day’s work. Love let us into her —Violet Moon Gayn or West Side studio as she prepares All Photos: Kelly Stuart for a busy few weeks ahead. "This season more than any First, her jewelry will grace the other, I'm not compromising." r u n w a y a t F r a n k T e l l , "This season is a little lighter, Twenty8Twelve, and three or which is hard for me. I have a four other shows (the girl has to love affair with heavy." keep a few secrets). Next, she'll "These pieces are inspired by hop a plane to Paris, where she'll picado flags. There's almost a build her very own installation at lace-like quality."

Colette. Though Love will not be "These are called Decay rings. I presenting during New York love the idea of taking something Fashion Week (her fall 2010 apart, beating it up, heating it up, collection is inspired by a recent and putting it back together." trip she took to New Mexico with her boyfriend), the designer Submitted at 2/8/2010 10:25:52 AM

Ferrari Racing Pack exclusive to Need for Speed: Shift on 360

by Justin McElroy (Joystiq)

for example, is the 2006 Ferrari X734 or the X744? Where's the 2008 Ferrari Sesquiderro?

After a seven year absence, the Where's the 1898 Ferrari X78 Ferrari brand is returning to Horse or the 1962 Ferrari OldNeed for Speed, albeit in an anti- Timey Ice Cream Truck? Should climatic comeback for true the fact that these are cars we Ferrari fans like ourselves. First, m a d e u p i n a t t e m p t a t the facts: On February 16, those h u m o r o u s l y m a s k i n g o u r who own Need for Speed: Shift i g n o r a n c e o f a l l t h i n g s on 360 will be able to get 10 cars automotive just eliminate them from the venerable manufacturer from consideration? Without so for 800 points ($10) -- we've got much as a second thought? PS3 the full list for you after the owners, it may have seemed that break. you were being slighted, but you It's an okay list, but there are can count yourself lucky that some glaring omissions. Where, you've been spared this travesty Submitted at 2/9/2010 11:15:00 AM

of justice.

Gallery: Need for Speed: Shift Ferrari Racing Pack Continue reading Ferrari Racing Pack exclusive to Need for Speed: Shift on 360 Ferrari Racing Pack exclusive to Need for Speed: Shift on 360 originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MediaDailyNews: Forrester: Social Media, Web Spend Up, TV Down (MediaPost | Media News) Submitted at 2/8/2010 10:50:18 AM

Sundance Channel Premieres Savile Row and The Red Carpet Issue

by ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog)

firms in London’s Mayfair District and examines their challenges in the 21st-century Submitted at 2/8/2010 9:09:11 AM marketplace. Then at 9pm, The Last September, the Sundance Red Carpet Issue chronicles the Channel gave us The Day r e d c a r p e t c e r e m o n y ’ s Before, French documentarian transformation from a private Loïc Prigent’s stellar series a f f a i r t o a p o p - c u l t u r e following the creative chaos phenomenon (interviews include leading up to four designers' Karl Lagerfeld, Marc Jacobs, and shows: Sonia Rykiel, Proenza Milla Jovovich.) Click here for Schouler, Karl Lagerfeld for more info.

Fendi, and Jean Paul Gaultier. —Erin Clements As part of its Full Frontal Anna Mouglalis at the Cannes Fashion lineup, Sundance kicks Film Festival, in a scene from off another week of sartorially The Red Carpet Issue m i n d e d p r o g r a m m i n g t h i s Follow ELLE on Twitter. evening. Savile Row, airing at Become our Facebook fan!

8pm, profiles the finest tailoring

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full -text RSS service so we can continue developing it. A new Forrester Research/Association of National Advertisers survey says TV marketers plan to spend 41% of their media budgets on television in 2010 -- the same level as a year ago.

Still, this was down from the 58% level of two years ago. The survey says this illustrates a continued lack of confidence in the effectiveness of television ads.

The survey looked at 104 U.S. advertisers in 21 industries, representing nearly $14 billion in measured media budgets. It included companies such as C i s c o S y s t e m s , GlaxoSmithKline, ING, Kraft, Marriott, State Farm and Clorox.

Some 62% percent of companies say TV ads have become less effective in the past two years due to increased advertising clutter. Worse still, virtually all advertisers believe the TV industry needs new audience metrics beyond reach and frequency; 82% of

would be moving TV dollars to social media this year; 73% plan to shift money to online advertising, and 59% will be spending more on search-engine marketing and 46% on e-mail marketing.

Other non-TV traditional media respondents would be interested doesn't seem to be part of this i n r a t i n g s f o r i n d i v i d u a l trend. Only 15% said they plan commercials. to increase spending in But one sign that has turned traditional media such as radio, around for TV marketers: The o u t d o o r , m a g a z i n e s o r expectant lifespan of the 30- n e w s p a p e r s . second commercial. Now, 19% "CMOs need to prepare for say the 30-second spot will be television's digital future by dead in 10 years. This is down forcing change upon the TV from 28% a year ago. advertising ecosystem," said The future of addressable D a v i d C o o p e r s t e i n , v i c e advertising is showing some president and research director of mixed signals. While 78% are Forrester Research. interested in targeting consumers "We recommend that advertisers more precisely, only 59% would get ready for the future of be willing to pay a premium for television by preparing to deliver it. targeted commercials, delivering Future branded entertainment true branded entertainment deals will grow, according to experiences and embracing the 80% of advertisers. And in 2010, connected TV." 38% say they will spend more on The survey findings will be branded entertainment as an presented at the ANA's "TV and alternative to the 30-second Everything Video Forum" on commercial.

Feb. 11 in New York.

Social media, Web advertising Five Filters featured article: and search are stealing budgets Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: from TV and other media. Of PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, those surveyed, 77% said they Term Extraction.

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Toyota's ongoing troubles: It's not stopping...

(The Economist: News analysis) Submitted at 2/9/2010 12:36:50 AM

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full -text RSS service so we can continue developing it.

Toyota's ongoing troubles More recalls deliver further blows to Toyota’s battered reputation Feb 9th 2010 | From The Economist online ANNOUNCING the latest recall of Toyota vehicles, Akio Toyoda, the company's chief executive, invoked the principle of genchi genbutsu, an integral part of the car company’s production system. It urges managers to experience problems for themselves rather than relying on reports and then attempting a fix one or two steps removed. On Tuesday February 9th Toyota said that it would recall over 400,000 Prius and other hybrid vehicles worldwide to address problems with their brakes. Later Mr Toyoda promised that he will shortly visit America, the car company’s largest market, where he will see the damage to Toyota’s reputation for himself. Finding a fix is another matter entirely.

Recalling another few hundred thousand cars may seem to be only a moderate additional

problem for a company that has already shocked customers with the recall of more than 8m vehicles worldwide. On its own the recall of new Priuses, some Lexus models and other hybrids would not have caused the company much anxiety. But coming on top of the recall of cars with accelerator pedals that can jam open, another over brake pedals that sometimes refuse to operate is dreadful. Even before the latest news Toyota put the cost of the recalls at $2 billion.

The adverse publicity has hit sales in America, which plummeted by 16% in January compared with the year before.

Its shares have fallen by some 20% since the recalls were announced last month.

After announcing the earlier recalls Toyota made the unprecedented move of shutting production at six plants in North America and withdrawing from sale several models while it figured out what had gone wrong with its accelerator pedal. This delivered a pounding to Toyota’s image as a maker of reliable—though somewhat dull—cars. Now the Prius has been dragged into the mire. It is the world’s best selling hybrid car and Japan’s most popular new car of all. Around half of the cars affected by this recall are

Priuses in Japan. This will undoubtedly do no good for a company that is attempting to maintain its lead in hybrid cars as competitors line up to launch competing green models.

Toyota’s hybrid technology is under suspicion. The system that recharges batteries using the brakes has failed in a small number of cases leaving drivers temporarily unable to stop. On top of which the Lexus brand, Toyota’s range-topping and profitable luxury cars, has also been tainted by the recall, though only a few hybrid models are affected.

The charge sheet against the company lengthens daily too.

Not only are its suspect cars dealing a blow to Toyota’s public image but so is its reaction to the problems.

America’s transport secretary, Ray LaHood, claimed that Toyota was pushed into making the recalls and press reports maintain that the customers have been complaining about the accelerator problem for several years before Toyota acted.

On Tuesday Japan’s transport minister, Seiji Maehara, gave a public dressing down to Mr Toyoda for failing to act swiftly enough in recalling faulty vehicles. Mr Toyoda had made his apologies for his company’s

shortcoming on Friday. But keen students of Japan’s ritualised acts of obeisance noted that while he apologised and accepted responsibility for the firm’s failings he did not bow deeply in shame.

Toyota faces further scrutiny on Wednesday when its North American boss, Yoshimi Inaba, is set to testify before a congressional committee over the affair. It is unclear whether public recrimination and closeup scrutiny will help or hinder Toyota’s rehabilitation. Some may doubt whether it can recover fully at all. Toyota probably faces an avalanche of classaction lawsuits in America which will prolong the adverse publicity. What is clear for Toyota and other companies that may find themselves in a similar position is that swift and decisive action may be painful but less agonising than letting a problem boil over and then attempting to clear up afterwards. Readers' comments The Economist welcomes your views.

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

MediaDailyNews: Dish, Rentrak Partner For Media Data (MediaPost | Media News) Submitted at 2/8/2010 10:56:54 AM

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full -text RSS service so we can continue developing it. As Rentrak looks to expand its ratings service for local TV, CEO Bill Livek indicated that the strategy is inking a deal with a station group in a market, and then persuading competitors to follow.

On Monday, he said the leverage approach is working in the Columbus, Ohio market (DMA 34). In December, the Sinclair group reached an agreement to receive its StationView Essentials data for its ABC and Fox stations. Not long after, the Lin group followed for the CW station.

And now, Media General is on board for the NBC affiliate.

Rentrak plans to announce that deal on Wednesday.

Livek said 70% of the viewing taking place in Columbus' 900,000 homes each week is monitored by Rentrak.

Columbus is the only market where Rentrak has more than one station purchasing the fledgling second-by-second data.

Propelled by Sinclair -- which receives the StationView Essentials data in four markets -there are 12 stations in five MEDIADAILYNEWS: page 83

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DMAs receiving it.

Garnered from set-top boxes, the data provides stations' guidance on viewing trends, which can be used to pitch advertisers or perhaps serve as a currency. Unlike Nielsen, StationView Essentials can provide commercial performance information in local markets -including how DVR-enabled viewing may lead to ad-skipping.

Still, that is only believed to be at the household level, without demographic breakdowns.

Rentrak says StationView can provide local second-by-second data in all 210 markets.

CEO Livek spoke an earnings call, where Rentrak reported that the operations with the branded "Essentials" services saw revenues in the OctoberDecember period increase 34% (to $4.3 million). It's a small but growing part of the company's business, where the majority of revenues still come from tracking the home entertainment market.

Rentrak draws StationView data

from homes served by AT&T Uverse, Charter Communications and Dish Network. The company has had access to Dish data for some time, but announced Monday that it has rights to sell it to stations as part of its services.

That deal is believed to help send its stock price up 10% Monday to the $17 range.

Livek said Rentrak is the only measurement service able to offer networks and advertisers data from homes that subscribe to cable, satellite and telco TV service.

"This will allow us to provide advertisers and their agencies with a holistic view of detailed viewing behaviors," he said on the earnings call.

Its cable sample, however, comes from only about 300,000 homes served by Charter Communications in the Los Angeles market.

Overall, Livek said Rentrak draws data from 15 million sets, but it's not known how many are Dish or AT&T homes.

Beyond local markets, Rentrak provides data for national networks through its TV Essentials service (StationView is a derivative of that). Livek said Rentrak has initially focused on networks that don't subscribe to Nielsen ratings -- such as Bloomberg Television - as clients, but is now looking to expand to larger networks.

In the 2009 October-December period, the company division with the "Essentials" products produced 19% of Rentrak's $23.1 million in revenues. The company swung to a net loss of $579,000 in the quarter.

The "Essentials" products track mobile and Internet usage, among other consumer behaviors.

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revenue in future years for TV stations could be a negative for online local and national video platforms.

The report says: "Networks receiving retrans fees for their programming are also more apt to restrict the amount of free programming they make available online, in order to

protect that revenue stream, allowing stations to keep their importance as local distributors."

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MEDIADAILYNEWS continued from page 83

thanks to improved auto advertising spending means total TV station revenues could be up 5% to 7% this year.

Although auto advertising is up by 50% in many markets, SNL Kagan says it is higher in comparison to severely depressed 2009 levels.

Improving retransmission

MEDIADAILYNEWS: page 84

MediaDailyNews: Kagan: TV Ad Revs Less In 2013, Than 2006 (MediaPost | Media News)

revenue in three years from a 1% share in 2006. Online revenues Submitted at 2/8/2010 9:16:54 AM will rise to 7% in 2013 from 1% Message from fivefilters.org: If in 2006. you can, please donate to the full In 2009, SNL Kagan said TV -text RSS service so we can station traditional ad revenues continue developing it. Although sank 20% to $19 billion. the advertising share of revenues Going forward, the report said from digital and retransmission even with growing online and fees will grow in the coming retransmission revenues, "there years, overall ad dollars for TV w i l l s t i l l b e s i g n i f i c a n t stations will still be $3 billion b u m p i n e s s , " e s p e c i a l l y less in three years than ad dollars considering the even and odd in 2006. years of Olympics and political A recent report from SNL spending.

Kagan says overall TV station The findings factor in the recent revenues will be $21.7 billion in l a n d m a r k d e c i s i o n b y t h e 2013 -- against the $24.6 billion Supreme Court, which gives take in 2006. corporations the freedom to W h e r e t r a d i t i o n a l T V advertise around political issues advertising represented 97% of a and candidates. typical TV station's revenue take, The report suggests that an i t w i l l b e 8 4 % i n 2 0 1 3 . upturn in local TV advertising Retransmission fees will grow to 9% of an overall TV station's MEDIADAILYNEWS: page 83

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Gallup Poll/

E-reader News Edition

MEDIADAILYNEWS continued from page 83

Gallup Economic Weekly: No Super Bowl Boost (All Gallup Headlines) What to Watch For Submitted at 2/8/2010 8:00:00 PM Gallup's economic data suggest Message from fivefilters.org: If consumers are pretty much stuck you can, please donate to the full in place as recent events have -text RSS service so we can swirled around them. The stock continue developing it. market plunge is generally PRINCETON, NJ -- Falling described as a much-needed stocks, a lower unemployment " c o r r e c t i o n . " R e c e n t rate, winter storms, and even the international solvency worries approach of the Super Bowl and may seem highly esoteric to the parties that surround it seem many Americans. The winter to have had little impact on storms may be severe but are not American consumers last week, a surprise at this time of year. a s G a l l u p ' s E c o n o m i c And perhaps the anticipation of C o n f i d e n c e I n d e x w a s last weekend's Super Bowl unchanged at -29 -- virtually the parties was not a big deal to same reading as those of the Americans, either. Regardless, prior three weeks. Job market economic confidence remains c o n d i t i o n s a l s o r e m a i n e d unaffected. essentially the same, as Gallup's However, when the Job Creation Index was at 0 -- Reuters/University of Michigan compared to -1 the prior week Consumer Sentiment Index is and 0 for the week ending Jan. reported Friday, it will be 24. Even with parties to hold and compared to January's monthly paychecks in hand, self-reported reading -- not just that of recent consumer spending remained weeks. Given the more positive unchanged at an average of $60 levels of consumer confidence in per day last week. early January, it seems likely that What Happened (Week Ending Friday's consumer sentiment Feb. 7) reading will be down slightly.

Probably more importantly, last • Friday's unemployment report • did little to positively affect • Americans' perceptions of the

job market. The decline in jobs (down 20,000) seemed to offset any positive impression produced by the reported decline in the unemployment rate (from 10.0% to 9.7%). Gallup's job creation data -- which have shown no improvement in hiring activity for many months -suggest this is a reasonable conclusion.

However, the most important (and perhaps disturbing) aspect of early 2010 economic trends involves the continuation of 2009 "new normal" spending levels. Of course, there is always

hope that this may change if consumers open their wallets more for Valentine's Day than they did for the Super Bowl.

Still, whatever happens this week, it seems unlikely that the U.S. economy can realize significant new hiring as long as consumer spending remains at last year's depressed levels.

Review and export the complete daily trends on these measures: Economic Indexes; Consumer Spending; Economic Outlook; Economic Conditions; Job Market Learn more about Gallup's economic measures.

On Feb. 10, 2010, at its world headquarters in Washington, D.C., Gallup for the first time will release the findings from its daily U.S. employment tracking, including insights into the U.S. workforce's state of mind. Learn more ...

Survey Methods For Gallup Daily tracking, Gallup interviews approximately 1,000 national adults, aged 18 and older, each day. The Gallup consumer perceptions of the economy and consumer spending results are based on random halfsamples of approximately 500

national adults, aged 18 and older, each day. The Gallup job creation and job loss results are based on a random half sample of approximately 500 current full - and part-time employees each day. Results from the week of Feb. 1-7, 2010, are based on telephone interviews with 3,481 adults for the consumer perceptions and spending questions. For these results, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points. Results for the job creation and job loss questions are based on interviews with 3,981 employees, with a maximum margin of error of ±3 percentage points.

Interviews are conducted with respondents on land-line telephones and cellular phones.

In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

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