Liberty Newspost Feb-12-10 by Liberty Newspost

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U.S. illegal immigrant tally drops by 1 million on poor economy by Tim Gaynor (Front Row Washington) Submitted at 2/12/2010 7:32:25 AM

The number of illegal immigrants living and working in the shadows in the United States dropped to 10.8 million in January last year, from a high of 11.8 million two years earlier, as the U.S. economy faltered, according to a U.S. government report. The study by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which was released earlier this month, found that the “number of unauthorized residents declined by 1.0 million between 2007 and 2009, coincident with the U.S. economic downturn.” The report, which drew on DHS and Census Bureau figures, found that unauthorized immigrants from Mexico accounted for 6.7 million of the

with Mexico. Congressional Democrats introduced a bill seeking comprehensive reform late last year, although analysts say a crowded agenda and a struggling economy may sink hopes for an overhaul in 2010. Obama’s predecessor George W. Bush tried and failed to get reforms passed. The period of decline coincides with a build up in policing efforts on the nearly 2,000-mile (3,200 km) Mexico border, although the study made no reference to any impact of the total, followed by 530,000 was backed overwhelmingly by additional Border Patrol agents, migrants from El Salvador, Hispanics in his election in 2008, infrastructure and fencing on the 480,000 from Guatemala and s u p p o r t s a n o v e r h a u l o f fall-off. 320,000 from Honduras. immigration laws that would Photo credit REUTERS/Tomas Illegal immigration is a divisive l e g a l i z e m i l l i o n s o f Bravo (residents wait to board issue in the United States, where undocumented immigrants in bus to Los Angeles from Jalpa, Hispanics are also the largest good standing, while cracking Mexico. Jan. 15, 2009) legal immigrant group and are an down on employers who hire For more Reuters political news, increasingly weighty voting bloc. undocumented workers as well click here President Barack Obama, who as hardening the porous border

Video: Galileo (Little Green Footballs)

Today’s sanity break is a fascinating piece of high

definition video art by Avrillon Ghislain, titled “Galileo.”[Video]

24 hours in pictures (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk) Submitted at 2/12/2010 7:41:36 AM

A selection of the best images from around the world

ADVERTISEMENT: (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 2/12/2010 9:30:00 AM

Google tweaks Buzz privacy settings by Tom Krazit (Webware.com) Submitted at 2/11/2010 5:53:00 PM

Changes are coming to Google Buzz after a rough start when users complained that their most frequently e-mailed contacts were automatically shared on their Buzz profiles. Originally posted at Relevant Results

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Obama ‘luckiest man on the planet’ in snowstorm

JA Solar Ups Forecast, Receives Upgrade

by Tabassum Zakaria (Front Row Washington)

by Mark Fightmaster (BloggingStocks)

Submitted at 2/11/2010 12:15:13 PM

Submitted at 2/12/2010 10:40:00 AM

President Barack Obama has weathered many political storms with varying degrees of success, but the snowstorm of the century that walloped Washington this week proved he was the luckiest man on the planet. That’s according to White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, still sore from endlessly shoveling snow at his own home. To get an idea of what a herculean task it would have been for one person to clear the White House of snow, see the video posted on the White House blog of the blizzard striking the president’s home. “Obviously, we have seen an extraordinary amount of winter weather here in the midAtlantic. Having shoveled my driveway now what seems like 10,000 times, I can testify to that,” Gibbs said at his daily news briefing. This winter’s snowfall in

Washington broke a 110-year record and the latest storm closed the federal government for four straight days so far (no word yet on whether federal employees will have to make up those snow days). “It has been an overwhelming weather event,” Gibbs said. “Why wasn’t the president out there shoveling the walk?” one reporter asked. “Because he’s the luckiest man

Filed under: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, Earnings Transcripts On Thursday, solar firm JA Solar Holdings ( JASO) upped its outlook for the year. The company shares rallied 9% Thursday as JASO topped the consensus estimate with its fourth-quarter earnings report by three cents. In addition, JASO raised its outlook for the fiscal year. The company noted that it will produce solar panels with on the planet,” Gibbs replied. The president’s spokesman said roughly 1.1GW of capacity he told Obama this weekend: during 2010 in an attempt to “You should never leave. It’s a respond to growing global great deal. You’ve got a huge demand. For this reason, the driveway and it’s — my back is c o m p a n y b e l i e v e s t h a t a n expected decline in average killing me.” For more Reuters political news, selling prices will be offset by click here Photo credit: Reuters/Yuri (Little Green Footballs) Gripas

increased sales. As a result of this news, Raymond James upped JASO to outperform from market perform with a target price of $6.50. Continue reading JA Solar Ups Forecast, Receives Upgrade JA Solar Ups Forecast, Receives Upgrade originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

Onion: NASA Planning New Approach [Video]

Submitted at 2/11/2010 3:39:15 PM

iPhone sausage stylus (Holy Kaw!) Submitted at 2/11/2010 10:16:05 PM

Winter presents an interesting predicament for iPhone users—risk frostbite by removing your mitten to use the

touchscreen or stay toasty and miss calls and tweeting opportunities. Luckily, a couple iPhone users in South Korea came up with a creative (and tasty!) solution: meat. More specifically, snack sausage that

happen to be compatible with the gadget’s screen. Could this

meaty stylus trend catch on? Well, Engadget has already registered meatstylus.com, so grab some bacon and hop on the bandwagon fast. Full story at Engadget. All the latest iPhone news and

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Quirky museum reveals the Seychelles' rich history by David Smith (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk) Submitted at 2/12/2010 7:04:50 AM

David Smith shuns the beaches, sailing and diving for which the Seychelles is famous and heads to a museum In one of the world's smallest capital cities I found the world's heaviest nut. I was on a gruelling assignment in the Seychelles, inspecting the star exhibit of the otherwise modest Natural History Museum in Victoria. And there it was inside a glass case, a prime specimen of coco de mer, hauled up on scales in 2001 and found to weigh 18.03kg. Coco de mer palms grow abundantly on the nearby island of Praslin. The nut's appearance is invariably compared with an often concealed part of the female form. An early French author likened it to "the anterior and posterior parts of the body of a negress". General Charles Gordon said the nut represented "the thighs and belly … which I consider as the true seat of carnal desires". Read tourism brochures about the Seychelles and words such as pristine Garden of Eden, untouched heaven on earth and "a chance to recalibrate one's soul in harmony with the primal essence of nature" cascade forth.

The 115 granite and coral islands are famed for sailing, diving, snorkelling, beaches, mountain hikes and nature trails. So I went to a museum instead. The Seychelles' National Museum of History is roughly the size of the British Museum's cloakroom. It is a single gallery divided into sections, with a narrative that seems to finish around the second world war, which brought airmail and telephones to the islands. The museum receives between 1,000 and 1,500 visitors a year, mostly from overseas, and closes on Saturday lunchtime for the rest of the weekend. Sometimes quaint and quirky museums possess a charm that can be lost in the age of the interactive touchscreen and blockbuster crowd. There is a section here that has a potent, spare quality in no need of adornment. Slavery thrived in the Seychelles in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, with the majority of forced labourers shipped from Madagascar and east Africa, particularly Mozambique. The display includes a collar with three bells attached to the ends of long metal rods, making the wearer an easy target if he tried to escape, and a metal collar with two rings: big for an adult's waist and small for a child's. An advert in old typeface capitals

Sunny Washington Square Park with snow (Scripting News)

promises male and female slaves for sale as casually as rice, grains, paddy, books, muslin, needles, pins and ribbons. Then there is the story of a slave called Pompée, convicted of murdering a Pierre Michel Inard with a billhook in 1809. It says: "As there was no executioner available to carry out the beheading, the tribunal unanimously ruled that the convicted man should be burned. "This took place on a beach near the Moussa river at half-past three in the morning of 15 August 1810." It is an image not easily dispelled. The National Museum of History's closest thing to the Rosetta Stone is the Stone of Possession, placed at La Poudrière in 1756 to signify French ownership of the archipelago. It took its name from Louis XV's finance minister, Viscount Jean Moreau de Séchelles, only to be later anglicised. Indeed, this country became a vintage Anglo-French bone of imperial contention. Today you can hear both languages in the streets, as well as Seychelles Creole, and eat a croque monsieur while looking at the elegant Victoria Clocktower, a replica of a clock near London's Victoria station which has become this city's best known

landmark. The museum has sections on traditional washing and ironing, tobacco making, creole furniture, board games and kitchen objects such as a "machine for crushing coffee seeds" made by W M McKinnon & Co of Aberdeen. There are musical instruments including the mouloumba, bombe and zeze. A gramophone is on show and we are told the first records played here were country and western. A couple of the display cabinets are about witchcraft, or "grisgris". A caption notes that: "Many Seychellois still love to consult bonhomme-du-bois and sorcier, also dispense and sell charms, pronounce incantations etc and hold strong beliefs in these spells, incantations, potions and medicines." The exhibits include an animal jawbone, horn, pack of playing cards, miniature coffin, set of dominoes, battered copy of The Pilgrim's Progress, Catholic rosary, scissors, knife and bottle of cologne. Another section is devoted to the world wars. The Seychelles were not invaded but held air raid drills just in case. A machine gun, steel helmet and German war bell are all displayed. There's a statuette of Queen Victoria and photographs of former governors including Sir Eustace Edward Twisleton

Fiennes, a starched figure with white hair and moustache, military epaulettes and collar up to the cheekbones and arctic stare from an armorial age. Not a man you could imagine singing his babies to sleep. After that is a section entitled "Seychelles traditional architecture", but the walls are blank. I emerged into the sunlight and found I could do the rest of my tourist ticklist on foot. Victoria is a small port city with a population about the size of Shipley in West Yorkshire. I stopped by the colonial era courthouse and post office, then visited St Paul's Cathedral, where an all-female choir was rehearsing. From near the pulpit, I looked up and saw a banner written in big letters: "My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge — Hosea 4v6." I didn't see any particular local significance, but thought to myself that museum curators everywhere would approve. • Seychelles David Smith guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

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Iceland plans future as global haven for freedom of speech by Mark Tran (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

Expression. A haven for free expression would, he said, help counter the growing practice of libel tourism. British courts in Submitted at 2/12/2010 7:09:25 AM particular, have become a • Opposition MPs propose strong f a v o u r e d d e s t i n a t i o n f o r press protection laws complainants seeking to take • Wikileaks advising on creation advantage of the UK's plaintiffof safe port for journalism friendly libel laws. The House of Iceland intends to become a Lords recently established a bastion for global press freedom government panel to look into u n d e r a p a c k a g e o f l a w s the possibility of amending its proposed by opposition MPs to laws to make it tougher for defend freedom of speech, and foreigners to bring defamation protect sources and fight libel suits in Britain, amid fears that tourism. current British law was having a With the help of Wikileaks, the "chilling effect" on freedom of online whistleblowing site, the expression. MPs have launched the Icelandic With a population of just Modern Media Intiative, with the 320,000, Iceland's ambition to goal of turning the country into a transform itself from a country global haven for investigative heavily dependent upon fishing journalism. into a financial powerhouse, T h e p r o p o s a l , w h i c h h a s went up in smoke after the 2008 widespread backing among credit crunch. The failure of Iceland's 51 MPs, is scheduled to Landsbanki and the bailout of its c o m e b e f o r e t h e A l t h i n g i , online savings bank, Icesave, left I c e l a n d ' s p a r l i a m e n t , n e x t Icelanders picking up the tab Tuesday, in the first step towards after the government had to find turning the idea into law. funds to repay creditors in "It is a good project for political Britain and the Netherlands. change," said Róbert Marshall, a The new legislation has won member of the ruling Social support from Julian Assange and Democratic Alliance party. "We Daniel Schmitt, the co-founders have been through a difficult of the Wikileaks website. period and this is an initiative Assange wrote in an email from that can unite the whole political Iceland last week: "I have been scene." [here] the past few weeks As a former journalist Marshall advising parliamentarians here is keen on the creation of the on a cross-party proposal to turn Icelandic Prize for Freedom of Iceland into an international

'journalism haven' – a jursidiction designed to attract organisations into publishing online from Iceland, by adopting the strongest press and source protection laws from around the world." Assange said that in his role as Wikileaks editor, he had been involved in fending off many legal attacks. "We've become good at it, and never lost a case, or a source, but we can't expect everyone to go through the extraordinary efforts what we do. Large newspapers are routinely censored by legal costs. It is time this stopped. It is time a country said, enough is enough, justice must be seen, history must be preserved, and we will give shelter from the storm." Wikileaks, which publishes anonymous submissions and leaks of sensitive documents while attempting to protect the identity of whistleblowers, has currently suspended operations, other than the submission of material, because of financial problems. The website says it will resume once operational costs have been covered. When the Guardian was prevented from publishing documents on the alleged dumping of 400 tonnes of toxic waste on behalf of the global commodities trader Trafigura because of a super-injunction, the material ended up on

Wikileaks days later. The site played a role in Iceland's financial crisis last summer when a national TV broadcaster was blocked from revealing a list of creditors in the country's banking debacle. The broadcaster ran the url for the Wikileaks disclosure instead. Following on from that brouhaha, Assange and Schmitt went to Iceland early December to discuss their idea for a journalism publishing haven on a talk show, then in a more detailed presentation at Reykjavík University, according to Jonathan Stray, a blogger for the Nieman Journalism Lab. Birgitta Jónsdóttir, of The Movement, a political party with three MPs, is confident the measure will become law. "From what I have experienced from discussions with MPs from all the different parties, there is incredible goodwill," she told the BBC. • Iceland • Wikileaks • Freedom of information • Freedom of speech • Icesave Mark Tran guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Monthly Foreclosures Top 300,000, Again by Connie Madon (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 2/12/2010 10:00:00 AM

Filed under: Bad News, Economic Data, Housing, Recession U.S. foreclosure filings rose 15% in January to over 300,000. This is the eleventh straight month that foreclosures have passed 300,000. Here is the situation: • 315,716 properties received a notice of default, one in every 409 households. • Bank seizures may rise to 3 million this year, according to Realty Trac. Continue reading Monthly Foreclosures Top 300,000, Again Monthly Foreclosures Top 300,000, Again originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Argentina blocks supply ship (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

there could be up to 60bn barrels beneath the seabed around the British territory, a bonanza which would transform the 2,900 Submitted at 2/12/2010 7:22:33 AM islanders into oil barons. Argentina steps up row with Argentina, which lost the brief B r i t a i n o v e r o i l a n d g a s 1982 war with Britain over exploration in South Atlantic by islands it calls the Malvinas, still detaining ship claims sovereignty and describes Argentina has blocked a cargo the British presence as an ship from setting sail over occupation. The prospect of suspicion it would supply oil "black gold" enriching the d r i l l i n g e q u i p m e n t t o t h e islands has fuelled Buenos Aires' Falkland islands, marking a ire. Last week it formally sharp escalation in a diplomatic objected to the imminent oil and b a t t l e w i t h B r i t a i n o v e r gas exploration. hydrocarbon exploration in the On Thursday the foreign south Atlantic. minister, Jorge Taiana, met the A u t h o r i t i e s h a l t e d a governor of Tierra del Fuego consignment of tubes on board a p r o v i n c e , F a b i a n a R o s , t o ship in Campana, north of coordinate Argentina's response. Buenos Aires, and accused the "Great Britain is violating o w n e r s o f a i d i n g a n Argentine sovereignty," the "illegitimate" search for oil and governor said after the meeting. gas. It emerged yesterday that port T h e i n t e r v e n t i o n , w h i c h officials prevented the ship Thor appeared to catch the Falklands Leader from leaving Campana and Britain by surprise, came as on Wednesday over suspicion its the islands prepared to start c a r g o o f A r g e n t i n e - m a d e drilling the first of 10 wells. A seamless tubes would be used for rig, the Ocean Guardian, is drilling activity "illegitimately expected to arrive next week and promoted" by Britain. to begin drilling 100 miles Techint, the world's biggest offshore almost immediately. producer of seamless steel tubing Geological surveys suggest for the oil industry, said the

tubes were destined not for the Falklands but the Mediterranean. In a separate accusation the foreign ministry said the Thor Leader had visited Port Stanley, the islands' capital, in January without permission. Companies involved in the oil business need authorisation to operate on Argentina's continental shelf, including the disputed islands. A spokesman for Desire Petroleum, one of four British firms with contracts to explore Falklands waters, confirmed the vessel delivered drilling equipment, anchors and pipes to the islands. The material was sourced in Britain. The British Foreign Office declined to comment on the affair. British and Falkland officials had recently played down Argentine protests as rhetoric. Phyll Rendell, the Falklands government's director of mineral resources, shrugged off the Argentine action. "The incident with the vessel does not make any difference to activities here. The vessel had competed unloading cargo here and had obviously got another contract to pick up steel pipe from Campana

Opera 10.5 lags in my speed tests by Stephen Shankland (Webware.com) Submitted at 2/12/2010 3:45:00 AM

Opera hopes its JavaScript engine will be the fastest on the market. But when CNET's Stephen Shankland compares the

latest rough builds of several browsers, Opera falls short. Originally posted at Deep Tech

to take it to Egypt. The vessel was not coming back here." Despite mounting domestic woes for the Argentinian and British governments neither is expected to seek diversion in another military conflict. The 1982 war, which cost 649 Argentine and 258 British lives, doomed Argentina's dictatorship and forged Margaret Thatcher's reputation as Britain's "iron lady" prime minister. This month's drilling will be the first in Falklands waters since Shell suspended exploration in 1998 after oil prices slumped to $12 a barrel. Oil companies are bullish about prospects this time round but island authorities caution that no commercial deposits have yet been found. • Falkland Islands • Argentina • Oil • Oil and gas companies • Foreign policy guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Trial Starts in Killing of Iowa High School Football Coach (FOXNews.com) Submitted at 2/12/2010 5:09:07 AM

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full -text RSS service so we can continue developing it. SHELL ROCK, Iowa Opening statements are set to get under way in the trial of a man accused of gunning down a revered high school football coach in Iowa. Mark D. Becker is accused of killing Aplington-Parkersburg High School football coach Ed Thomas in the school's weight room last year. His trial is scheduled to begin at the Butler County Courthouse on Friday. Click here for photos. The 24-year-old's defense attorney has said he'll ask jurors to find Becker not guilty by reason of insanity or diminished responsibility. Becker played football for Thomas in high school. He is accused of shooting the coach to death in front of more than 20 students on June 24. Thomas led the northeast Iowa team for 34 seasons and was the NFL High School Coach of the Year in 2005. Four of his players are now in the NFL. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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A disappointing verdict for Eweida | Edward Wanambwa and Anna Birtwistle by Edward Wanambwa, Anna Birtwistle (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

through the turban, hijab and skullcap would understandably seem unfair. It is true that it was Eweida's personal decision to wear a visible cross (and was not Submitted at 2/12/2010 7:30:00 AM one which was required by It's unfair that Nadia Eweida's scripture or as an article of her right to wear a cross won't be faith). But we might well ask protected, given concessions w h y , w h e n d i s c r i m i n a t i o n made to others on matters of legislation has moved forward so belief as to encompass arguably nonThe decision in the case of traditional philosophical beliefs, Nadia Eweida, who has lost her the law should look to the appeal today, does not sit well requirements of scripture as they with the general principle that pertain to religions rather than protection from discrimination individuals' own interpretation should be interpreted broadly. and subjective beliefs. Regrettably this judgment might Indeed it is hard to justify that have the effect of providing Eweida's desire to display the nationalist figures with further cross should not be protected ammunition to preach their own where employment tribunals culturally and racially divisive have previously emphasised the beliefs that the law gives wide range of beliefs, for precedence to religions other example climate change and t h a n C h r i s t i a n i t y i n o u r vegetarianism, that will be multicultural society. protected under our For Eweida, a policy which on d i s c r i m i n a t i o n l a w s . the one hand made exceptions Unlike other decisions for her Sikh, Muslim and Jewish c o n c e r n i n g r e l i g i o u s colleagues to express their faith discrimination, the manifestation

of Eweida's belief had no discernable affect upon others (see, for example, the case of the Christian registrar who refused, on grounds of her belief, to perform same-sex civil partnerships) and for this reason one might have expected the court of appeal to have taken a more generous approach when interpreting our religious discrimination laws. Arguably, the judgment in Eweida may have been largely public policy driven; the court of appeal perhaps being concerned that it might open the floodgates to employees relying on, and seeking protection in the workplace for, their own subjective rather than objective versions of religion. We await full details of the court of appeal's reasoning, but it appears that the court took the view that banning Eweida from wearing a cross was not discriminatory because Christians, as a group, "generally" do not wear a cross

as a requirement of their religion and Eweida was unable to produce evidence to the contrary. Liberty, who represented Eweida at the court of appeal, has indicated that they will now try to take her case to the supreme court. However, today's decision may represent the last word on this matter if Eweida is not granted leave to appeal to the supreme court. Edward Wanambwa and Anna Birtwistle are lawyers at CM Murray LLP • Religion • Civil liberties • Law • Christianity Edward Wanambwa Anna Birtwistle guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Built-in video arrives in Opera beta by Stephen Shankland (Webware.com) Submitted at 2/12/2010 1:10:00 AM

A fourth browser now plays video with no plug-ins. But codec wars continue: It uses Ogg Theora, like Firefox and Chrome but not Safari. Originally posted at Deep Tech

Go fishing for online music with Radio Tuna by Jasmine France (Webware.com) Submitted at 2/11/2010 2:50:00 PM

Radio Tuna let's you easily search thousands of online radio stations based on the artists played, the genre, or the name of the station.

Retailers Lagging in Social Media Rush by Tom Johansmeyer (BloggingStocks)

retailers would flock to any place where they could find 400 million people. With the sixth Submitted at 2/12/2010 9:30:00 AM anniversary of Facebook closing Filed under: Internet, Google in, its robust user base still hasn't (GOOG), Yahoo! (YHOO), o p e n e d t h e e y e s o f m a n y News Corp'B' (NWS), Media r e t a i l e r s . World, Technology You'd think Despite all the Black Friday

social media engagement this

year, a substantial 75% of the top 100 online retailers don't have a formal presence on Facebook, according to a study by ForeSee Results. Another 25% haven't even hit 10,000 fans. Continue reading Retailers Lagging in Social Media Rush

Retailers Lagging in Social Media Rush originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Hooray for Sallywood? Why the Hollywood Sign Is OffMessage by Alissa Walker (Fast Company) Submitted at 2/12/2010 10:22:31 AM

As the sun set over Los Angeles today, millions of local residents looked to the north and wondered, "Who's Sally?" The nine letters marking the world's most famous neighborhood--and possibly one of the planet's most effective billboards--had been planned to be altered to read SAVE THE PEAK. But a late start, light breeze and difficulties working with a delicate historic monument proved slow going for the team, who had to work entirely by hand securing 45-foot mesh fabric banners along the backs of the letters. By 5:00 only the S and the A had been covered. Tonight, it would be a Sallywood Night. The sign's transformation hoped to draw attention to the fact that the peak nearby--some 138 acres seen to the left of the thenSollywood sign here--needs to be purchased from developer Fox River Financial Resources to prevent a hypothetical four mansions from being built along the ridge. A movement was launched by the Trust for Public Land named Save Cahuenga Peak and has already raised $6.3 million dollars from celebrities (Tiffany & Co. chipped in another million in time for the

press conference today). The campaign needs to double that amount by April 14 in order for the sale to go through. Although he can't be blamed for the disconnect between launching a campaign to protect the view of the Hollywood sign and transforming it into an eyesore for a few days, the

creative execution for the piece fell on Ramy Baramily from Signquest. His company got the call a few weeks ago to start designing the banners, and only received official permission to install them yesterday. I asked him if they considered using the Hollywood sign typeface (they did) and why they chose red (it's

what the city wanted). I then asked him how they planned to solve a looming logistical problem: SAVE THE PEAK has two more characters than HOLLYWOOD. "You're the first person to ask me that," he said, amazed. The "THE" will be squeezed onto the space of the Y, he told me. I think we're about to

witness a typographic disaster of landmark proportions. Not to mention a sustainability one: thousands of yards of mesh fabric, used for five days, and at a cost of "in the high five figures" (although the Trust for Public Land says it was all HOORAY page 9

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What Aardvark Can Do for Google by Dan Nosowitz (Fast Company) Submitted at 2/12/2010 10:25:08 AM

Yesterday brought the news that Google has officially purchased Aardvark, a small San-Francisco -based social search startup that happens to have been created by former Google employees. The timing, coming just two days after Google unveiled Buzz, can't be coincidental--but what can Aardvark do for Google? An awful lot, as it turns out. Aardvark is a question-andanswer service more than a search engine. You ask a question via email or instant message, and it looks through your list of friends as well as your friends' friends before sending your question to those who would be able to answer it best. So if you ask "What's the best coffeeshop in San Francisco's Mission District?" it'll only send the question to those who live or have lived in San Francisco. Your answers won't be a list of external links, like a typical search engine, but a genuine human reply, just like in those horrible, horrible days before the Internet when people had to (shudder) relate to one another. And if you're doubting the chance of actually receiving a response, you'll be surprised: It's remarkably efficient, returning an answer 90% of the time, and 60% of the time within 10 minutes. Even better, users rank about 70% of answers as "good,"

and only 15% as "bad." So why does Google want Aardvark? Could be the valuable search data Aardvark's collected-who's searching for what, what kind of answers are most satisfying for the user, that kind of thing--as well as the personnel involved in its creation. Also, remember, Google owned Foursquare's predecessor, Dodgeball, but allowed it to go fallow, only to have Foursquare explode in popularity a few years later. Google can't let that happen again with a similar service, especially now, with the launch of Buzz. Let's say Google decides to use Aardvark. The possibilities are pretty striking, especially in the context of Google Buzz. Aardvark integrated with Buzz

would take Google's fledgling social networking platform to a level neither Facebook nor guidebooks like Yelp can match. Facebook's private, friend-based community is its strength, a strength shared by Aardvark, yet Aardvark's search is, well, incredibly useful--that's something Facebook can't boast. Facebook is great for connecting with people, but it's just not designed with this kind of answer-based search in mind. Aardvark would be a notably Googley way to differentiate Buzz from the more established social networks: It's all about answers. Aardvark would even allow Buzz to compete more effectively with Yelp--while Yelp might be the established

crowd-sourced pool of answers to a lot of the questions Aardvark users ask, users might well be happier with the personal responses Aardvark can provide. Do you want to hear what some stranger you may have nothing in common with thinks about local cafes, or do you want to hear from your friends and friends of friends, who probably have similar taste in bohemian hangouts? Plus, the inherently helpful nature of Aardvark is a boon to social networking; it feels great to be asked a question to which you know the answer. Even apart from Buzz, Aardvark would add an interesting social twist to plain old Google search. Imagine an additional button next to Web search, image search and video search: Friend

search. Instead of asking Google's algorithms, you could ask living, breathing people. How cool is that? Google hasn't said what they intend to do with Aardvark. Even the confirmation of the deal is as barebones as it gets: Max Ventilla, Aardvark's CEO, simply wrote "We can now confirm that Google has signed a deal to acquire us but have no further comment." But Aardvark has a lot to offer Google, and stripping the company for parts would be a mistake. But if they take advantage, Buzz is going to get a lot more exciting. [Via TechCrunch]

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Kennedy won't seek re-election, marking end of era (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News)

The decision comes less than a month after a stunning upset by Republican Scott Brown in the Message from fivefilters.org: If race for the Massachusetts you can, please donate to the full Senate seat his father held for -text RSS service so we can almost half a century. Last week, continue developing it. as Brown was sworn into the WASHINGTON â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Rep. Patrick seat, Patrick Kennedy called Kennedy's decision not to seek re Brown's candidacy a "joke" and -election will leave Washington predicted Brown would betray without a Kennedy in political his union supporters. office for the first time in more Mark Weiner, a major than 60 years. Democratic fundraiser in Rhode The Rhode Island Democrat's Island and one of Kennedy's top term ends early next year but he financial backers, said he had says in a television message spoken with Kennedy recently, viewed by The Associated Press and that his father's death had on Thursday that his life is taken an enormous toll. "taking a new direction" and he "It's tough to get up and go to will not seek a ninth term. The work every day when your video was provided to the AP by partner is not there," Weiner Kennedy's congressional office. said. "I think he just had a The 42-year-old son of the late broken heart after his father Sen. Edward Kennedy does not passed away." give a reason for the decision but Kennedy said in his ad that he says it has been a difficult few remained committed to public years for many people and he service, and he thanked Rhode mentions the death in August of Island voters for supporting him his father. through ups and downs. "Illness took the life of my most He has been in and out of cherished mentor and confidante, treatment for substance abuse my ultimate source of spirit and since crashing his car outside the strength," he said, as a black-and U.S Capitol in 2006. Still, he has -white photo of him as a boy been comfortably re-elected sailing with his father appeared twice since then, after making o n t h e s c r e e n . " F r o m t h e mental health care his signature countless lives he lifted, to the issue in Washington. American promise he helped "When I made missteps or shape, my father taught me that suffered setbacks, you responded politics at its very core was about n o t w i t h c o n t e m p t , b u t serving others." compassion," he said. "Thank The announcement is to air you for all the times you lifted S u n d a y o n R h o d e I s l a n d me up, pushed me forward and television stations. filled my heart with hope." Submitted at 2/12/2010 5:15:53 AM

Kennedy was not specific about his plans, but said he would continue to fight for issues on behalf of those suffering from depression, addiction, autism and post-traumatic stress disorder. "Now having spent two decades in politics, my life is taking a new direction," Kennedy says. A Kennedy has served in elected office in Washington ever since Patrick Kennedy's uncle, John F. Kennedy, was elected to Congress from Massachusetts in 1946. As a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, Kennedy has made sure federal dollars are sent to his state. Democratic Rep. Jim Langevin, Rhode Island's only other House member, had spoken with Kennedy and said he would miss him in Congress. "Patrick is a true public servant and passionate fighter who made a real difference for the people of our great state," said Langevin, who served with Kennedy in the state House of Representatives. Kennedy was elected to that position in 1988 at age 21 while still attending Providence College, then was sent to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994. Kennedy also has been a financial boon to the Democratic Party, drawing people to fundraisers nationwide, and he once served as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

In Congress, Kennedy has pushed for greater mental health care coverage, citing his own struggles with depression and addiction. His mother, Joan Kennedy, has been through several alcohol treatment programs. Kennedy has never married, and friends have said his personal life had taken a back seat to his career. Still, until recently, Kennedy appeared committed to running again. The only Republican in the race, state Rep. John Loughlin, has been working with Brown's campaign team, the Shawmut Group, and was raising money. But Kennedy was heavily favored to win the race: Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans more than 4 to 1 in Rhode Island. Loughlin has little statewide recognition, and Kennedy had four times as much campaign cash on hand coming into the year. He told The Providence Journal shortly after Brown's win in January that he wasn't worried about Loughlin, saying "bring it on." Weiner said Kennedy was not afraid of losing the election. "Winning or losing had nothing to do, I'm sure, with his decision," he said. Loughlin said Thursday night that he wished Kennedy well. "We hope that wherever life takes him beyond his career in

Congress that he has good fortune," Loughlin said. "And we're going to stay in the race." No Democrat has entered the race for the seat. Kennedy has had a difficult time in the public spotlight, with a number of high-profile troubles. Most recently, he engaged in a protracted public spat with Providence Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin over health care reform and Kennedy's support of abortion rights. After leaving treatment at the Mayo Clinic in 2006, he described to reporters how his work and public profile had taken a toll on his health, and bred feelings of isolation and self -criticism. "How well this event did or how well that event did â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and then I'd take that all home, and it's all on me," he said then. "And then I don't have a private life. I don't have real personal connections. I don't have a support system." ___ Smith reported from Providence, R.I. Associated Press writers Eric Tucker and Ray Henry in Providence contributed to this report. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Bill Clinton returns home after heart procedure (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News)

he'll be on the phone ... calling people asking for more help for Haiti and where he can get Message from fivefilters.org: If pickup trucks so they can deliver you can, please donate to the full food or generators. If I know Bill -text RSS service so we can Clinton, he'll be raring to go in continue developing it. about 35 minutes," McAuliffe CHAPPAQUA, N.Y. â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Former said. President Bill Clinton was Clinton could be back at work recovering at his suburban home as soon as Monday, cardiologist with his wife on Friday after Allan Schwartz said previously. leaving a Manhattan hospital A couple of hours after Clinton where he underwent a heart went home, C.J. Williams, a procedure. second-grader from New Three black SUVs with tinted Fairfield, Conn., arrived at the windows arrived around 7:45 cul-de-sac carrying a get well a.m. Friday and pulled through card and a red heart-shaped box the high gates at the house. The filled with Skittles. Westchester County hamlet of The sandy-haired boy said he Chappaqua is about 35 miles wrote on the card, "Happy north of New York City. Valentine's Day. I hope you feel State Department spokesman better and here's a little heart to P.J. Crowley said Secretary of make your big heart feel better." State Hillary Rodham Clinton An officer told C.J. and his was also at the family's home. father that they'd have to mail the Clinton adviser Douglas Band items. said in a statement that Clinton Clinton had quadruple bypass left New York Presbyterian surgery more than five years ago. Hospital"in excellent health." He returned Thursday to have a "He looks forward in the days clogged heart artery opened after ahead to getting back to the work suffering discomfort in his chest. of his Foundation, and to Haiti Two stents resembling tiny relief and recovery efforts," it mesh scaffolds were placed said. inside the artery as part of a Terry McAuliffe, the former m e d i c a l p r o c e d u r e t h a t i s Democratic National Committee common for people with severe chairman and a close friend of heart disease. the Clintons, told CBS' "The Schwartz said tests had showed Early Show" that he expects that one of the bypasses from the Clinton will get back to work surgery was completely blocked. quickly. Instead of trying to open the "If I know President Clinton, b l o c k e d b y p a s s , d o c t o r s Submitted at 2/12/2010 7:32:32 AM

reopened the original clogged artery and placed two mesh props called stents to keep it open. The procedure took about an hour, and Clinton was able to get up two hours later, Schwartz said. There was no sign the former president had suffered a heart attack, and the new blockage was not a result of his diet, Schwartz said. "The procedure went very smoothly," Schwartz said, describing Clinton's prognosis as excellent. McAuliffe said 63-year-old Clinton participated in a conference call on earthquake relief as he was wheeled into an operating room. "An aide had to literally take the phone away from him," he said. If Clinton could have, said McAuliffe, he would have discussed Haiti"right through the procedure." The secretary of state went from Washington to New York to be with her husband. Their daughter, Chelsea, was also at the hospital. Aides said Mrs. Clinton plans to leave Saturday for the Persian Gulf. In an angioplasty, the procedure Clinton had on Thursday, doctors thread a tube through a blood vessel in the groin to a blocked artery and inflate a balloon to flatten the clog. Often, one or more stents are used to prop the artery open.

The angioplasty is usually done with the patient awake but sedated. It's one of the most common medical procedures done worldwide. More than a million angioplasties are done in the United States each year, most involving stents. "It's not unexpected" for Clinton to need another procedure years after his bypass, said Dr. Clyde Yancy, cardiologist at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas and president of the American Heart Association. The sections of blood vessels used to create detours around the original blockages tend to develop clogs five to 10 years after a bypass, Yancy explained. New blockages also can develop in new areas. "This kind of disease is progressive. It's not a one-time event so it really points out the need for constant surveillance" and treating risk factors such as high cholesterol and high blood pressure, he said. The former president has been working in recent weeks to help relief efforts in Haiti. Since leaving office, he has maintained a busy schedule working on humanitarian projects through his foundation. Clinton's reputation as an unhealthy eater was sealed in 1992, when the newly minted presidential candidate took reporters on jogs to McDonald's. He was famously spoofed on "

Saturday Night Live" as a gluttonous McDonald's customer. Friends and family say Clinton changed his eating habits for the better after his bypass surgery. "He has a brutal schedule. ... He travels more than 200 days a year, working on his global initiative, helping people," McAuliffe told CBS. "I hear people say, 'Will he slow down?' That's not President Clinton. If anything, he'll redouble his efforts if there's actually time to redouble what he does." But should Clinton slow down a little? "Yeah, probably," McAuliffe said. "But he's been doing this for 63 years and you're not going to change him. He always says, 'It's not about me; it's about all those people.'" ___ Associated Press writers Marilynn Marchione in Milwaukee; Beth Fouhy, Marcus Franklin and Cristian Salazar in New York; Julie Pace, Matthew Lee and Darlene Superville in Washington; and AP video journalist Ted Shaffrey in Chappaqua contributed to this report. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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New England states contract case of 'snow envy' (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News) Submitted at 2/12/2010 5:38:02 AM

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full -text RSS service so we can continue developing it. PORTLAND, Maine – Snow? What snow? Snowless New England states that rely on the white stuff for their winter activities are green with envy watching the MidAtlantic get blanketed with backto-back blizzards. So little snow fell in Maine's largest city that Portland canceled its winter festival. In Vermont, no snow meant no sculpting contest. And in New Hampshire, the lack of snow nixed a dog sled race. "We were thinking of getting the dog teams down to Washington and giving President Obama a ride," said Jim Lyman, president of the Lakes Region Sled Dog Club, which had to cancel this weekend's race in Laconia. But the unusual snow pattern hasn't been restricted to the East Coast: Parts of Texas got some snow Thursday that caused slippery roads. Detroit got 6 inches Wednesday, but overall has seen lighter-than-normal snowfall this winter. Northern Arizona was hammered with near-record

snow, rain and flooding that made roads impassable and cut off the Navajo and Hopi Nations. Helicopters had to drop off tens of thousands of meals, water, cots, blankets and firewood. In New Hampshire, Lyman marvels at the region's bad luck. He has resorted in the past to trucking in snow for the dog sled teams. But this year, there was no snow anywhere in the region as he watched two storms head to the south. "It's hard to fathom," Lyman said. "It's not like we're missing it by much. The nor'easters are still coming. But for whatever reason, they're all going south." Art DeGaetano of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Regional Climate Center at Cornell University says El Nino conditions in the Pacific Ocean have helped create the persistent, southerly storm track this winter, causing storms to miss northern New England and upstate New York. Boston readied itself this week for a forecasted foot of snow. Schools closed and businesses let workers go home early. But the storm never materialized. Grand total: 1 inch, and it melted by the following morning. Meanwhile, more than 18 inches fell on the Mid-Atlantic.

Baltimore has gotten record snowfall, 77.9 inches, more than Buffalo, N.Y., and Caribou, Maine, two places known for their snowy winters. Snowfall records have also been shattered in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Wilmington, Del., and Atlantic City, N.J. Meanwhile, this weekend was supposed to be full of traditional winter frolicking in Portland: snowball fights, snowman building, snowshoeing, crosscountry skiing, sledding, snow sculpting and snow painting. But without any significant snowfall in Maine for the past three weeks, the city lacks the one key ingredient needed for all those activities, and had to cancel its Winter Rush festival. Adding insult to injury was a January rainstorm that washed away much of the snow that had piled up, leaving bare ground at a time when it's supposed to be a winter wonderland. "We're definitely having snow envy," said Sally DeLuca, Portland's recreation director, who canceled all Winter Rush activities except for a road race and a polar plunge. In Vermont, a snow shortage forced the postponement of a snow sculpture contest for a second time in the town of Barre. The competition calls for 6-foot

cubes of snow — 20 of them in all — that are packed solid before being carved into intricate works of art by local stone sculptors. But there was no snow nearby and no budget for trucking in snow, said Sue Higby of Studio Place Arts, the competition's sponsor. Higby decided not to take any chances. "We've decided to postpone the snow sculpture competition — to next year," she said. For the most part, ski resorts seem to be holding their own. Most can make snow as long as the temperature is cold enough. "It's unfortunate when you see all of our friends down in Baltimore and Washington under two, three feet of snow," said Tom Meyers, Wachusett Mountain Ski Area's marketing director in Massachusetts. "They don't appreciate it like we do." ___ Associated Press writers Clarke Canfield in Portland, Jay Lindsay in Boston, Jeff Karoub in Detroit, Amanda Lee Myers in Phoenix and John Curran in Burlington, Vt., contributed to this report. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Coolest 404 error pages (Holy Kaw!) Submitted at 2/11/2010 9:38:47 PM

Stumbling on a 404 error page can make you want to stab your eyeballs with rusty forks, but can that frustration be remedied with a clever message that won’t make you want to reach for the oxidized silverware? It seems more and more web designers want to help avoid the inevitable “page not found” irritation and whipped up creative error pages. The Huffington Post has collected some of the internet’s coolest 404s that make errors slightly less annoying. Full story at Huffington Post. A slew of web design news and views. Permalink| Leave a comment »

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Protest at Mexico president visit (BBC News | Americas | World Edition) Submitted at 2/11/2010 6:42:37 PM

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full -text RSS service so we can continue developing it. Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Protesters come up against riot police in Ciudad Juarez Mexican President Felipe Calderon faced public anger during a visit to his country's most violent city, Ciudad Juarez, on the border with the US. There were scuffles between riot police and dozens of protesters outside the convention centre where Mr Calderon and his cabinet met community leaders. The president promised new initiatives to tackle crime in the city, which is a major battleground for drug cartels. But he refused to withdraw troops, who critics say have worsened the violence. More than 15,000 people are believed to have been killed in drug-related incidents in Mexico in the last two years. There were more than 2,600 murders in Ciudad Juarez last year. On 31 January, 13 teenagers and two adults were shot dead at a high school party. Their families have said they had no gang ties.

'Not welcome' "If those deaths... mean anything it is that we need to change after that absurd sacrifice," Mr Calderon told Ciudad Juarez residents. The president promised improvements in health, education, welfare and infrastructure for the povertystricken northern city, but insisted he would not withdraw the 6,000 troops deployed there. In a country where the institution of the president is deeply respected, Felipe Calderon exposed himself during several hours to direct

accusations of inefficiency in his strategy to combat the drug cartels. The people of Ciudad Juarez vented their frustration with the ongoing violence and the effect it is having on daily life in the border town where more than 5,000 people have been killed since 2006. Mr Calderon said he was ready to readjust his policies and launched a series of social initiatives, but insisted he would not pull troops out, one of the popular demands. His visit was aimed at opening a new chapter in the fight against

drug trafficking, but as one of the local leaders told Mr Calderon to his face, it may have come too late. "I've promised the parents of the victims that we'll find a new impetus for the fight against the violent gangs," he said. "We have to have better co-ordination between the different institutions of government and the police forces to take on this challenge a fight that we have yet to win." But as soon as he finished his speech and opened the floor to questions, the criticism started to flow, says the BBC's Julian Miglierini in Mexico City.

"You come here one or two years late," a local leader told Mr Calderon, while a woman shouted: "You are not welcome here." All those who spoke expressed their frustration about the level of violence, our correspondent adds. They also complained about the lack of a proper infrastructure and alleged human rights abuses by the security forces. The federal government's perceived lack of efficiency in dealing with the crisis was another major grievance. Army helicopters patrolled the skies above, as federal riot police tried to disperse the dozens of people staging a demonstration. Many were holding signs saying "army and police, leave!" and "Calderon out". "Calderon's afraid... We want justice, we want him to resign," Luz Davila, whose two teenaged children were killed in the January high school party shooting, told the Reuters news agency. Print Sponsor Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Valentine’s Day ideas for frugal folks (Holy Kaw!) Submitted at 2/11/2010 8:24:00 PM

Don’t let the endless stream of jewelry commercials fool you; Valentine’s Day doesn’t require a gaudy diamond necklace. A perfectly delightful day with your sweetheart can happen without making a major dent in your wallet. Dumb Little Man has put together a list of frugal Valentine’s Day ideas that will satisfy any penny-pinching Cupid. Go to a bookstore, browse and purchase a favorite book for each other. Take your date to a free or inexpensive play or concert at

your local community college, near by university or a local city theater. Write short quick love notes. See if you can do 365 of them. Put them in a gift box that you

decorate and give a gift good for one year. Create a video declaring your love for your Valentine, post it on You Tube and email the link to your sweetie.

Have a “Spa Nite.” Give each other a massage. Rent a DVD if you need instructions. Use special oils and lotion. Make the room nice and toasty! When you are finished you can take a bubble bath together, drink champagne or sparkling water in fluted glasses. Later serve finger foods to each other. Nothing suit your fancy? Break out a crisp Hamilton and pick up a can of whip cream and some feathers. Full list at Dumb Little Man. Tons of dating tidbits. Photo credit: Fotolia Permalink| Leave a comment »

Sneak Peek: Levi Johnston's 'Playgirl' Shoot on Pay Per View! (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 2/12/2010 3:04:00 AM

ET has your look at Levi Johnston's steamy Playgirl shoot on pay per view! The pay-pay-view special debuts tonight at 10 p.m. and features footage of Levi's hugely popular shoot and much more. Meanwhile, Levi's Playgirl issue hits newsstands Feb. 23.

A new phone for every month of the year (CNET News.com)

"change[s] phones every month." A new phone. Every month. Submitted at 2/12/2010 6:07:28 AM Really??? Message from fivefilters.org: If Granted, you don't have to be a you can, please donate to the full multimillionaire CEO to cycle -text RSS service so we can through phones on a monthly (or continue developing it. even weekly) basis. But if one If the lifestyles of the assumes that middle-class technology rich and famous are technology consumers' buying any indication, we're about to behavior will eventually catch up e n t e r a n a g e o f s e r i o u s l y with the idiosyncrasies of the conspicuous consumption. rich, the era of two-year Conspicuous, that is, for its contracts tied to a specific phone wastefulness. may be nearing an end. While green computing is all the The same thing, incidentally, is rage, Infosys' co-founder and happening to the personal CEO, S 'Kris' Gopalakrishnan, c o m p u t i n g m a r k e t , w i t h told the Financial Times that he consumers increasingly turning

to low-price Netbooks, increasingly powered by lowercost Linux, to make computer purchases less painful...and less permanent. Is this a good or bad trend? It's obviously bad from the standpoint of the environment. The mobility of these devices may make them easy to trash, but that trash has to go somewhere. Last time I checked, Dell and Lenovo weren't offering specials on biodegradable laptops, and Apple would cringe at the thought of its iPhones filling iLandfills. But let's assume we were able to

get around this issue (perhaps by making it easy to transfer our devices to other markets or new uses, such that they don't endure a month's worth of utility). What then? Well, it's pretty exciting to think of an industry where the hardware takes a distant second place to the software running it. In fact, in such a massively mobile environment, the software on the device could only serve as a short-lived outpost for the Web. Sync services, like those enabled by open-source Funambol, would became

paramount, because the need to keep the device current with the cloud would be paramount. You'd want to be able to move for the latest, greatest gadget, and would simply expect your data to follow you. It's a pretty exciting future and, if Infosys' founder's lifestyle is any indication, a future that will soon be available to the digital proletariat, too. I can't wait. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Nissan to take orders for Leaf in April, batteries included (CNET News.com)

charge level and remaining range. As they plan to roll out electric Message from fivefilters.org: If cars, executives at carmakers you can, please donate to the full have been considering the idea of -text RSS service so we can separating the price of the battery continue developing it. --which significantly adds to the Nissan will take reservations for cost of production--from the its Leaf all-electric sedan in purchase. But Nissan indicated April with deliveries starting at that batteries are included in the the end of the year, the company cost, whether it's a purchase or a said on Thursday. lease. The company isn't disclosing the Of the incumbent auto price of the car but Nissan CEO companies, Nissan is the most Carlos Ghosn has said that it will bullish on all-electric vehicles be competitively priced with and the company's country-wide similarly sized vehicles, which public tour in the U.S., which the company sees as crucial to ended on Thursday, has was mass market adoption. The $100 marked by "a groundswell of reservation fee is refundable and grassroots support," according to the company will start to take the company. The company orders in August. earlier this month secured a $1.4 The design of the car is very billion loan from the Department much aimed at everyday use, of Energy to modify Nissan's although its anticipated 100-mile Smyra, Tennessee plant to driving range does impose limits. p r o d u c e t h e L e a f a n d i t s It's a four-door sedan with a b a t t e r i e s . hatchback with on-board features Still, the question of sticker to help drivers track battery price continues to hang over the Submitted at 2/12/2010 7:40:47 AM

Leaf--and the electric car segment in general. Optimists expect that plug-in cars--whether they are hybrids or battery electrics--will become a sizeable slice of the auto market over the next ten years, much the way hybrids sales have grown because of consumer demand. Nissan projects that electrics will be about 10 percent of the market in 2020. But auto industry experts point out that the hefty price of batteries is not projected to drop dramatically in the next few years, which will limit its adoption even with tax credits for plug-in cars. The Boston Consulting Group forecasts that sales of hybrids will represent nearly three quarters of electric car sales by 2020. Most likely, electric cars like the Leaf will take hold in certain regions, which would mimic the same sales pattern of hybrids. Consumer needs for range vary in different parts of the country

and world, which would make an electric car more suitable in San Francisco, for example, than rural Iowa. Also, certain municipalities are eager to promote electric vehicles adoption by providing incentives for public charging stations and simplified permitting for installing 240-volt charging points in people's homes. The DOE has also provided grants to pay for over 6,000 recharging stations in Seattle, Phoenix, Tuscon, and San Diego, in addition to locations in Tennessee and Oregon. So even though the Leaf and electric cars are expected to cost more upfront, we'll start to see electric cars on U.S. streets early next year, depending on where you are. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Bill Clinton Rushed to NY Hospital (Little Green Footballs) Submitted at 2/11/2010 2:00:42 PM

Best wishes to former President Bill Clinton, who was rushed to a hospital in Manhattan this afternoon. Former President Bill Clinton was rushed to a Manhattan hospital late this afternoon, sources tell ABC News. Clinton, 63, was transported to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan for a condition related to his heart. ABC News’ chief political correspondent George Stephanopoulos reported that sources said he was taken to the hospital “likely for a stent procedure.” … An official told ABC News that Clinton’s ailment seems more like “discomfort…something wasn’t right” rather than a health “crisis.”

Yahoo Launches Mobile Site for the Winter Olympics by Stan Schroeder (Mashable!) Submitted at 2/12/2010 6:46:05 AM

Sports fans, rejoice: If you’re on the move, you can still easily find out what’s happening at this year’s Winter Olympics. Yahoo

launched a mobile site for the and find detailed info about the Vancouver 2010 Winter 15 sports included in the games. Olympic Games, with up-to-theThe site is available in English minute live results, upcoming for 13 countries, including the events schedule, medal counts, U.S., Canada, the Philippines, expert commentary and more. India, Singapore, Malaysia, You can also do an athlete athletes competing at the games, Australia, New Zealand, France, search to see in-depth profiles of Germany, Italy and Spain.

To check out the site, point your mobile browsers to m.yahoo.com/olympics Also, check out a preview in the video below. Tags: Mobile 2.0, winter olympics, Yahoo

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House Of Lords Has Serious Concerns About Digital Economy Bill by Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

secondary legislation and could be wide-ranging. Submitted at 2/11/2010 11:23:00 PM We do not believe that such a We've already pointed out how skeletal approach to powers Lord Lucas seems to be quite which engage human rights is c o n c e r n e d a b o u t t h e appropriate. There is potential ridiculousness in the Digital for these powers to be applied in Economy Bill, and has proposed a disproportionate manner which a series of amendments to help could lead to a breach of internet get rid of these problematic users' rights to respect for elements. However, it looks like correspondence and freedom of some others in the House of expression. There are also grave Lords are equally concerned as concerns over section 17, which well. Michael Scott points us to w o u l d e f f e c t i v e l y l e t t h e the news that the Lords' Human Business Secretary change Rights Joint Committee has put copyright law at will: The broad out a report that is highly critical nature of this power has been the of the more controversial points subject of much criticism. In in the Digital Economy Bill, correspondence with us, the starting with the pressure on Secretary of State explained that ISPs to disconnect users under a the Government intended to three strikes plan: The Bill introduce amendments to limit provides for the Secretary of the power in Clause 17 and to State to have the power to introduce a 'super-affirmative' require ISPs to take "technical procedure. The Government measures" in respect of account amendments would limit the holders who have been the circumstances in which the subject of copyright infringement Government could use their r e p o r t s . T h e s c o p e o f t h e powers to amend the Act by measures will be defined in secondary legislation and would

provide a system for enhanced parliamentary scrutiny. Despite the proposed amendments we are concerned that Clause 17 remains overly broad and that parliamentary scrutiny may remain inadequate. We call for a series of clarifications to address these concerns. On top of that, they're still a bit skeptical even of requiring ISPs to send notices when a user is accused of infringement, noting that while they don't think this would be a restriction on human rights or freedom of expression, they would like "a further explanation of why they [the backers of the bill] consider their proposals are proportionate." Definitely nice to see that this bill isn't just getting rushed through, and there are some folks who are heavily questioning the more ridiculous parts of the bill. Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

by Associated Press (ESPN.com) Submitted at 2/12/2010 4:31:56 AM

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full

-text RSS service so we can continue developing it. Top Performers Orlando: D. Howard 19 Pts, 11 Reb, 1 Ast, 2 Blk Cleveland: L. James 32 Pts, 8

Macworld 2010: OWC's Grant Dahlke demos USB 3.0 drive, fastest SSD by Steven Sande (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 2/12/2010 10:00:00 AM

Filed under: Macworld, Hardware, Peripherals, Video, TUAW Interview Mac expansion powerhouse Other World Computing always has something incredible to show off at Macworld Expo, and there was no doubt about it when we visited the OWC booth on Thursday. OWC's Grant Dahlke displayed some of the new products coming out from the company, including their first USB 3.0 drive, a new smaller-format portable RAID array, and the fastest SSD on the market. The latter product, called the OWC Mercury Extreme Enterprise SSD, has a five-year lifespan and blinding speed. In the video below, you can watch a MacBook Pro equipped with the drive zip through a reboot and load a pile of CS4 applications in seconds, while a similar MBP with a faster processor and 5400 RPM hard disk plods through the same activities. Trust me, you're Reb, 13 Ast, 2 Stl Five Filters featured article: g o i n g t o w a n t a M e r c u r y Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: Extreme Enterprise SSD after PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, watching the video. The USB 3.0 drive has not yet Term Extraction.

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been benchmarked by OWC, since no Macs or PCs with USB 3.0 ports have been released at this time. The first devices will ship in 2010, and include a SuperSpeed mode that provides transfer rates of 3.2 Gbits/second (about 400 MB / second) or about 8 times the speed of USB 2.0. If you're at Macworld Expo 2010 over the next few days, be sure to drop by booth 1354 and see these new and unbelievably fast drives for yourself. TUAW Macworld 2010: OWC's Grant Dahlke demos USB 3.0 drive, fastest SSD originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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EMI Tries Fake Word Of Mouth Campaign To Promote Ok Go by Mike Masnick (Techdirt) Submitted at 2/12/2010 7:22:00 AM

Well, well. We've written about the band Ok Go a few times here, as a band that definitely does seem to "get" what's going on in terms of how to connect with fans and promote their music well. Many years ago, the band had spoken out against DRM, and, of course, they produced one of the most popular music videos of all time -- the famous "treadmills" video. I would have embedded that video here, but Ok Go's label, Capitol Records/EMI decided somewhere along the line that no one should want to share one of the most viral videos ever, and disabled all embedding. Brilliant. So, when Ok Go put out a new album with a new "viral video" EMI once again banned embedding, apparently not realizing how this viral stuff works. Ok Go wrote about it,

and basically made it clear that they'd tried over and over again to explain this stuff to Capitol/EMI, and the folks at the label simply didn't get the value of making the video viral. Well, now, instead of allowing a real "word of mouth" viral campaign with the video, it looks like EMI/Capitol has decided to bootstrap a fake viral word of mouth campaign, by sending around emails (and even submitting directly to us) a request to "get a free Ok Go" song if you just Tweet about it. Seriously. So rather than letting people organically share what they wanted to share, EMI is trying to bribe people into promoting something else. EMI, you're doing it wrong. In the meantime, the platform that EMI is using for this is easily defeated. You have to log in to Twitter Connect via a special promo page, and it asks you to send a specific twitter message about how you just got

a free Ok Go song... but you can edit the message to say whatever you want. And, here's a little trick: if you edit the message to be more than 140 characters, it doesn't actually send to Twitter, and you still get the free song. And wait, didn't EMI insist in court that it never authorized free MP3s to be available online? Anyway, the problem here is that EMI is trying to force people into doing things a specific way (not embedding, must tweet), rather than simply being open, sharing and (perhaps) suggesting they share things if they like with a friend. That's much more authentic and real. This feels very fake and corporate. You build trust by actually putting stuff out there and seeing how people respond, rather than bribing them and limiting how they can share. Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

Google Maps Get Labs With 9 Cool New Features by Stan Schroeder (Mashable!) Submitted at 2/12/2010 12:31:10 AM

Here’s a nice surprise from Google’s Maps team: Just like Gmail, Google Maps now also has the Labs feature(it’s the little green vial in the top right menu), which introduces experimental new features for you to try out. Right now, you can try out nine new features (all disabled by default): Drag ‘n’ Zoom– lets you zoom in on a specific part of the map by drawing a box. Aerial Imagery– gives you rotatable, high-resolution overhead imagery, but it’s only available in certain areas. Google plans to add more over time, though. Back to Beta– OK, this one is a little weird. It lets you have a beta tag on Maps (just like Gmail). Only for hardcore Google users. Where in the World Game– test your geography knowledge by guessing the names of countries from satellite imagery. I lost days playing a similar game on Facebook, and I forgot everything I’ve learned. Sigh.

Rotatable Maps– north facing up is just one way to look at a map. Now you can rotate it any way you like. What’s Around Here?– adds a second search button that searches for “*”, returning the top results in the current view. I’ve actually been waiting for this for a long time; it makes searching for certain POIs within some area a lot easier. LatLng Tooltip– see the exact latitude and longitude next to your cursor. LatLng Marker– drop a marker anywhere on the map, showing the latitude and longitude of that location. Smart Zoom– stops you from zooming into an area if imagery is not available. Tags: Google Maps, labs, trending

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Don't Buy Into Any Reports On Q4 Online Ad Revenue Just Yet by Mike Masnick (Techdirt) Submitted at 2/12/2010 4:07:10 AM

In the last month or so, we heard a few different reports making the rounds claiming that "online advertising is back!" after lots of companies had great fourth quarters when it came to online ad revenues. The latest to report such a thing is the NY Times, who saw a big boost in online ad revenues in the fourth quarter, leading a bunch of people to wonder if maybe online ad revenue is taking off in a big way. While advertising has always been a cyclical market, and will certainly continue to grow, I think people are overreacting to Q4 of 2009. Frankly, we saw the same thing here. While we don't rely on ad revenue as the core of our business model, we do make money on advertising, and we had a great fourth quarter on that front, as advertisers were

EU Has A 'Public/Private' IP Observatory To Watch For Copyright Infringement Online by Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

organization, even though it appears like just another industry association. Engstrom finds the Bas Grasmayer points us to a whole thing baffling: So much pumping tons of money into ads. on. Then, along came Q3, and blog post by Christian Engstrom, for the involvement of the But I don't think it's a sign of suddenly the marketing VPs and an EU Parliament member (yes, European Parliament on this anything to get too excited about directors realized they were from the Pirate Party) who notes issue. We have been invited to -- and that's because a lot of approaching the end of the year, that while he was in a committee hold an exchange of views in the companies were really skittish and still had huge chunks of trying to address whether or not JURI committee, and we are earlier in the year, so I think a money that had been budgeted in an "IP Observatory" should be currently spending time on large chunk of Q4 online ad 2008 for 2009, but hadn't been created, he discovered it already drafting a resolution on if and spending was a mirage. Here's spent. And the way lots of existed. The Observatory how the IP Observatory should why: companies do budgeting is that, appears to have been set up not be set up. The economy took a nosedive in if you haven't spent it, you get to promote progress or even to But before we (the parliament) the fourth quarter of 2008. By less the next year. So, these make sure that intellectual w e r e i n v i t e d t o j o i n t h e that point, lots of companies had marketing folks had to quickly property was a net benefit, but discussion, the decision had a l r e a d y s e t t h e i r 2 0 0 9 a d spend the budgets they had instead it appears to just start already been taken, and the IP budgets, and had committed to at meant to spread out over the from the unproven premise that Observatory had already been set least a decent portion of what entire year, and they dumped a of course it's a net benefit, and up and started working. It's just they planned to spend in Q1 of b u n c h o f i t i n t o o n l i n e thus it's only focus should be on that the representative of the 2009. However, once the credit advertising, because it was quick stomping out infringement. And, Commission forgot to mention crunch went into overdrive, and and easy. of course, it appears that most t h i s d e t a i l w h e n s h e w a s there was all sorts of talk about So, I don't think that any of the participants are actually from presenting the initiative to the how the world economy might Q4 reports you hear about industry, with a few "nominated JURI committee. Government collapse and we'd all be living in concerning online advertising representatives from Member for the people? a post-apocalyptic Mad Maxian should be considered as an States" along for the ride to give Permalink| Comments| Email world, lots of companies hit the indicator of very much in terms the Observatory a sheen of This Story brakes, and didn't want to of the future. legitimacy as a quasi-gov't commit to spending. A bunch of Permalink| Comments| Email c o m p a n i e s s i m p l y s t o p p e d This Story spending on online advertising until they knew what was going Submitted at 2/12/2010 2:07:25 AM

Welcome To Your New Start Page [Start Page] by Brian Barrett (Gizmodo)

off with your four favorite website's icons already queued Submitted at 2/12/2010 10:47:36 AM up. You can customize from This is even cooler than it looks: among the 34 current offerings, Fav4.org starts your browsing and it looks as though they'll be adding more soon.

That's right: finally all you AOL/ffffound/MySpace/Linked In junkies will have a one-stop start page of your very own. Let the write-in campaign for a

Gizmodo icon begin! [ Fav4 via NYTimes Twitter]

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Divvyshot launches refreshingly simple photo sharing (CNET News.com)

available for other browsers. A new Flickr link button also lets you create albums from images Message from fivefilters.org: If you have on that service. you can, please donate to the full With Divvyshot you can drag -text RSS service so we can files straight into an HTML 5 continue developing it. browser, like Firefox 3.6(Credit: Divvyshot, a photo-sharing start S c r e e n s h o t b y R a f e -up I first heard about last N e e d l e m a n / C N E T ) March, has opened to the public. Albums are wide open by It's a clever and attractive site for default. Not only can anyone photo sharing, with an emphasis w i t h a n a l b u m ' s U R L s e e on group events. It also has the pictures, they can upload to the world's cutest sharing feature for album too. You can restrict iPhone users. viewing and sharing (separately) The site succeeds as a photo to just invited friends if you like. sharing service. It's easy to use People with access to albums can and very, very clean. Firefox also easily download images users also get the benefit of from them, as Divvyshot creates HTML 5 support: you can just ZIP file archives on request. drag photos onto the Web site to Other photo sites also have upload them. There's no need for versions of group albums, but I an uploader app, although one is haven't seen any as simple to Submitted at 2/12/2010 4:00:00 AM

understand and use as Divvyshare. The slideshow viewer is mercifully clean and simple.(Credit: Screenshot by Rafe Needleman/CNET) The iPhone app gives you

access to your images, like apps for other services. Its cute bonus is the sharing feature: you can transfer your photos to another Divvyshot iPhone user by holding both phones in one hand and shaking them together. It's a

gimmick, and the whole thing is hung up a bit since both phones have to be running the app and set up for sharing, which ruins the spontaneity. But it's a good party trick. Divvyshare is no Flickr, Picasa Web, or Zooomr. It's light on the features. But it succeeds as a simple site for sharing albums with family or friends, and especially for creating shared repositories for images from events that several people attend and photograph, like weddings, concerts, or parties. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

NPD: Apple ranked #5 US electronics retailer in 2009 by Kent Pribbernow (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 2/12/2010 8:00:00 AM

Filed under: Retail, Apple Market research firm NPD Group has published its annual report profiling the consumer retail sector for 2009, and guess who made the list of top five electronics retailers? Hint: If you guessed the Microsoft Store, you would be wrong, and everyone

would be pointing and laughing at you right now. No, I'm talking of course about Apple, who came in at a respectable number five, alongside such industry stalwarts as Best Buy, Walmart, Target, Amazon, and Dell, to name a few. While the report primarily details consumer spending trends throughout 2009, as well as other dry and boring data interesting (because he loves numbers and only to bean counters and cheats at poker), NPD's study T U A W ' s o w n M i k e R o s e does show some growth in

Apple's favor, lifted no doubt on the back of iPhone's popularity. Especially when you consider that their competitors sell many, many brands, and Apple sells just their own product line, their achievement is that much more impressive. In other news, 98% of people surveyed in my own study find Apple to be awesome. And lest you question my sample source, I will reply that the TUAW staff are an excellent focus group for

conducting such studies. TUAW NPD: Apple ranked #5 US electronics retailer in 2009 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Google Buzz Buttons Learn To Count by Pete Cashmore (Mashable!)

Buttons that Count! Today we added counters and tracking to our buttons, running Submitted at 2/11/2010 11:34:42 PM the clicks through URL shortener Yesterday we added Google Bit.ly so we can display the share Buzz buttons to Mashable, counts. It’s not the perfect letting you share our stories to solution, but it’s a temporary Google’s new social network as step until Google decides to y o u c a n o n T w i t t e r a n d support such implementations Facebook. Today we added officially. share counts to those buttons, We’ll be gathering the stats letting you hone in on the most about how much people share on popular posts. Google Buzz versus Facebook If you’re not already up to and Twitter, and we’ll be sure to speed: Google Buzz buttons use report back with our findings! Google Reader’s shared items GMAIL USERS: You’re invited feature to post links to your Buzz to join the conversation on feed. If you’re not already on M a s h a b l e ’ s G o o g l e B u z z Google Reader, you’ll need to account. Reviews: Facebook, set that up and make sure it’s Google, Google Buzz, Google connected to your Google Buzz Reader, Mashable, Twitter account under “connected sites”. Tags: bit.ly, Google, google If you were on Reader before buzz you joined Buzz, chances are that’s already set up. NEW:

Macworld 2010: Andrew Gregory of AutoTune the News by Mike Schramm (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

keynote went off well, and afterwards, I asked Andrew Gregory to come by for a conversation at the booth; Submitted at 2/12/2010 10:30:00 AM Andrew does the extremely F i l e d u n d e r : M a c w o r l d , popular Autotune the News Interviews, Music We can reveal segments on YouTube with his o u r s e c r e t n o w : d u r i n g brothers Michael and Evan, Macworld's setup, we wandered along with Evan's wife Sarah. He into the wrong room, and kindly agreed, and you can randomly came across a stage watch the video of our chat by shared by David Pogue, LeVar clicking on the link below. B u r t o n , a n d t h e G r e g o r y Andrew told us that he and his Brothers A.K.A the AutoTune brothers have been Mac users the News crew, all rehearsing for from the start, and he also shares David Pogue's keynote. The with us part of the story behind

the I am T-Pain AutoTune app, along with his impressions of the Macworld show floor. It was very fun to meet up with him in a pretty unlikely place -- be sure and give our chat a look. TUAW Macworld 2010: Andrew Gregory of AutoTune the News originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Macworld 2010: Box.net adds QuickOffice support to iPhone app by Michael Rose (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

edit Box.net stored files, which could provide a big productivity boost. It was impressive -- with the app, you can jump in and edit Submitted at 2/12/2010 9:00:00 AM Box.net files from anywhere. F i l e d u n d e r : M a c w o r l d , Good stuff. Enterprise, Video The storage And heck, just imagine what's mavens at Box.net took a few around the corner for iPad users moments for us on the show with QuickOffice and Box.net. though the iPhone app will work floor at Macworld this week to If Box.net is able to pull off an on it as well), as well as the way demo the iPhone app that links to app like this on the iPhone, we he originally found out about our their service, which provides can't wait to see what they do blog here at TUAW. Hit the read quick and consistent access to all with the extra multitouch space. TUAW Macworld 2010: more link below to see the full your stored files; you can also view common file types, and B o x . n e t a d d s Q u i c k O f f i c e video. T U A W M a c w o r l d 2 0 1 0 : even send download links to support to iPhone app originally Chatting with Phil Libin of folders or files anywhere in the appeared on The Unofficial Evernote originally appeared on world. The latest update adds the Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, The Unofficial Apple Weblog ability to comment on files or 12 Feb 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of (TUAW) on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 folders from inside the app. 07:00:00 EST. Please see our The new addition at the show is feeds. the capability for QuickOffice Read| Permalink| Email this| terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| users on the iPhone to open and Comments Comments

Macworld 2010: Chatting with Phil Libin of Evernote by Mike Schramm (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

Phil Libin is definitely worth a watch. He explains why the app is both so magical and so hard to wrap your mind around, as he Submitted at 2/12/2010 7:00:00 AM discusses the idea and the F i l e d u n d e r : M a c w o r l d , mechanics behind what the Software, Video, Productivity, Evernote team has done. We talk Interviews There are some big about their retention problem fans of Evernote on the TUAW (and I apologize for my investorstaff -- we've talked quite a bit rousing mistake), and how about the app that promises to Evernote has to actually make store important clips and notes you remember to use it before from anywhere, and make them you can use it to remember. accessible at any time. But even He also talks about plans for the if you haven't heard of the app future, including the iPad(which before, the interview with CEO is getting its own separate app,

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Official Twitter App for BlackBerry Opera Mini Reaches 50 Looks Really Good Million Active Users by Stan Schroeder (Mashable!)

by Stan Schroeder (Mashable!)

Submitted at 2/12/2010 2:54:20 AM

Submitted at 2/12/2010 5:46:29 AM

If you’re a BlackBerry user who also happens to like Twitter, chances are you’ve been throwing jealous looks at your friends’ iPhones and their elegant Twitter clients. Yes, things got a lot better once UberTwitter entered the scene, but can there be an even better Twitter client for the BlackBerry? The upcoming official client might fit the bill. A while ago, we wrote that an official Twitter app for BlackBerry was in the works, and now it’s getting close to a public beta. You can find a very detailed analysis of the client and its features here, and from the looks of it, it’s far more advanced than any other Twitter

A couple of days ago we wrote about Opera Mini for the iPhone, a somewhat odd step for Opera as Apple is unlikely to ever approve the app (since it duplicates Safari’s functionality). While Opera was obviously making a statement with that move, in reality it can survive without the iPhone; in fact, Opera Mini is one of the most popular mobile browsers out there. The latest number to support this claim is 50 million active users. Opera Mini was launched in 2006 and had a somewhat slow start; it took it nearly two and a half years to reach the first

app for BlackBerry out there. Some of the features are automatic URL-shortening, easy photo-sharing, push and message list integration (sending you notices of new direct messages as they arrive), as well as search filtered by geolocation. The public beta should be available “later this year” (We

know, it doesn’t sound very comforting considering the year is still young). If you want to be a beta tester for the app, go to www.blackberry.com/twitter and sign up to receive notification when Twitter for BlackBerry becomes available. Tags: blackberry, Mobile 2.0, RIM, social media, twitter

Pseudo-Science for the Whole Family (Little Green Footballs)

attended a traditional school, he’d never see them, she says. Plus, she says, Neff thinks the Fort Wayne’s Journal Gazette Bible tells parents to teach their has a report on some home- c h i l d r e n . S h e q u o t e s schoolers teaching their children Deuteronomy: “And you shall to reject modern science. love the Lord your God with all Part of the reason the Neffs your heart and with all your soul opted for home schooling was and with all your might. And s c h e d u l i n g . M a r k N e f f , these words that I command you J e n n i f e r ’ s h u s b a n d , w o r k s today shall be in your heart. And second shift, and if his children you shall teach them diligently to Submitted at 2/11/2010 5:56:40 PM

your children, and you shall speak of them when you sit at home, and when you walk along the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up.” Louis Griffith, whose wife teaches their three children in their Fort Wayne home, likes that home schooling gives them the option to teach creationism alongside evolution, which also appealed to Cresse.

Teaching a biblical worldview to his children is important to his family, Cresse says. His wife teaches creationism but also teaches evolution, primarily so his children can understand what is being taught to their peers and friends in public schools. Imagine what kind of “evolution” she’s teaching her kids.

10 million; in the last couple of months, however, it has been growing a lot faster. According to Opera, Mini has grown 150% from January 2009, when it had 20 million monthly unique users, to 50 million monthly unique users in January 2010. To try out Opera Mini, you need a Java ME-enabled phone; you can find the latest version over at the official Opera Mini site. Tags: Browsers, Mobile 2.0, opera mini

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Rinse, Wash, Repeat by John B. Judis (The New Republic - All Feed) Submitted at 2/11/2010 9:00:00 PM

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full -text RSS service so we can continue developing it. I don’t think anyone would mistake me for a big fan of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the main (as they put it) “pro-Israel” lobby in Washington. The only organization of that kind that I’ve ever given money to is Americans for Peace Now in Israel. And I have defended critics of AIPAC, including Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer, the authors of The Israel Lobby, from charges of anti-Semitism. But I think Walt and Mearsheimer have been dead wrong in trying to blame the Israel lobby or the Israeli government for America’s invasion of Iraq. And now Walt is repeating the same nonsense. Walt, who blogs for Foreign Policy’s website, recently revived the argument, claiming in a self-congratulatory column titled “I don’t mean to say I told you so, but…” that Tony Blair’s testimony last month before Britain’s Iraq War Commission confirmed that “the Israel lobby ... played a key role in the decision to invade Iraq in 2003.” I have read Blair’s testimony. I don’t find it to be proof of anything of the kind; and I don’t think Walt’s accompanying

restatement of the argument is any more persuasive than the version he and Mearsheimer put forward in his book. Walt says that Blair’s statement to the commission “reveals that concerns about Israel were part of the equation [that is, the decision to go to war] and that Israel officials were involved in those discussions.” Here is what Walt, citing a column in the New Statesman, quotes Blair as saying about his early April 2002 meeting in Crawford, Texas, with George W. Bush: As I recall that discussion, it was less to do with specifics about what we were going to do on Iraq or, indeed, the Middle East, because the Israel issue was a big, big issue at the time. I think, in fact, I remember, actually, there may have been conversations that we had even with Israelis, the two of us, whilst we were there. So that was a major part of all this. Now there are at least three problems with the inferences that Walt draws from this statement. First, even if we were to grant that Blair is saying that he and Bush were talking about Israel’s role in or importance to the Iraq invasion, this certainly does not show that the Israel lobby had anything to do with the decision to go to war. Nor, secondly, does it show that the Israeli government pressured the U.S. to go to war. The “conversations” could have easily consisted of the Bush administration

informing Israelis of their plans. But these are minor objections. The real problem is that Walt does not seem to have taken the trouble to have read the transcript of Blair’s testimony. If he had, he would have realized that Blair was not talking about how invading Iraq might benefit Israel, but about the conflict then occurring between Israel and the Palestinians. The second intifada had reached a new height with the Passover and Haifa suicide bombings and the beginning of the siege at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, and Blair was concerned that the Bush administration was not actively pursuing the peace process. Blair wanted the administration to put the Arab-Israeli issue on a par with the threat of Iraq. The former prime minister makes this clear in other parts of his testimony. Here is an exchange between Blair and Sir Roderic Lyne: Lyne: … Just one more point arising from Crawford, but not just from Crawford. You said you reminded us that the ArabIsrael problem was in a very hot state at Crawford. You said you may even have had some conversations with Israelis from there, and obviously it was something that was a large part of your conversations with President Bush. I think it is right to say, indeed, Jack Straw said it, that you were relentless in trying to persuade the Americans to make more and faster progress

on the Middle East peace process. Ultimately, Jack Straw said it was a matter of huge frustration that we weren’t able to achieve something which you had been seeking so strongly … Blair: … I believe that resolving the Middle East, this is what I work on now, is immensely important, and I think it was difficult, and this is something I have said before on several occasions, it was difficult to persuade President Bush, and, indeed, America actually, that this was such a fundamental question … Lyne: But surely you must have said to him, “Look, this thing is only really going to have a chance of working well if we can make this progress down the Arab-Israel track before we get there”? Blair: Well, I was certainly saying to him, “I think this is vital,” and I mean, this was, you could describe me as a broken record through that period … The talks at Crawford led eventually to Bush agreeing to the “road map” for peace. In other words, he and Bush were not saying that they had to invade Iraq to assist or appease the Israelis. Nothing that Blair said in his testimony should have provided the slightest evidence that this was occurring. And it seems clear enough that the discussions Blair and Bush had with the Israelis were not about Iraq but about the peace process. I am sorry to say that this kind

of sloppy research and reasoning is typical of the way that Walt and Mearsheimer deal with the question of whether the Israel lobby influenced the decision to go to war. In their book, they claim that the U.S. would “almost certainly” not have gone to war without the influence of the Israel lobby. That’s a very strong claim, but they do not back it up either in the book or in Walt’s current blogging. Let me briefly deal with their logic here. There are three ways in which the Israel lobby could have made itself indispensable to the decision to go to war: first, in White House-Pentagon deliberations; second, in significantly influencing the critical Congressional vote in October 2002; and third, in dramatically shaping public opinion. Their argument falls short on all these counts. White House: To contend that the “Israel lobby” influenced the White House decision to invade—which had more or less been made by the spring of 2002 when Blair visited Crawford—Walt and Mearsheimer expand the “lobby” to include neoconservative intellectuals such as Paul Wolfowitz, the Deputy Secretary of Defense. That’s a stretch in itself, because it suggests that all these intellectuals were so preoccupied with Israel that they RINSE, page 37

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They Ain’t With Main Street by John B. Judis (The New Republic - All Feed) Submitted at 2/11/2010 9:00:00 PM

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full -text RSS service so we can continue developing it. The excerpts that Bloomberg published Wednesday from its interview with Barack Obama provoked some indignation from Simon Johnson, Paul Krugman, and others, but the full interview, published yesterday morning by Bloomberg BusinessWeek, deserves a few additional howls. It shows the degree to which Obama not only doesn’t understand but, on a deeper level, also doesn’t share the outrage many Americans—from left-wing bloggers to right-wing tea-partiers—feel toward the Wall Street CEOs and traders who have made off like bandits during the financial crisis they helped bring about. It’s not the substance of what Obama says—he doesn’t back off on financial regulation or health care reform. It’s his tone, his emphases, and where he allows his sympathies to fall. Let’s start with what Obama says about executive bonuses. The exchange begins: BBW: Let’s talk bonuses for a minute. Lloyd Blankfein: $9 million. Jamie Dimon: $17 million. Now, those were in stock and less than what some had expected. But are those numbers O.K.?

Obama: First of all, I know both those guys. They are very savvy businessmen. And I, like most of the American people, don’t begrudge people success or wealth. That is part of the freemarket system. I do think that the compensation packages that we have seen over the last decade, at least, have not matched up always to performance... “Have not matched up always to performance”?! That’s like saying Rod Blagojevich’s conduct did not always measure up to what Illinois voters expected from their governor. It’s an understatement that betrays a lack of identification with the rage people feel about these CEO salaries and bonuses. Then Obama is asked about Dimon’s bonus: BBW: Seventeen million is a lot for Main Street to stomach. Obama: Listen. $17 million is an extraordinary amount of money. Of course, there are some baseball players who are making more than that and don’t get to the World Series either, so I am shocked by that as well. If you have ever had an argument about excessive executive salaries with a rich Republican—I can recall one, for instance, with a downtown corporate tax lawyer—he will invariably compare CEO salaries to those that athletes and entertainers make. And here we have a Democratic president using this spurious ploy. Is it necessary to make the

obvious points? That the athletes who make $17 million have spent most of their waking life since they were four years old practicing their sport (if you don’t believe it, read Andre Agassi’s autobiography, Open); that they possess unusual skill at what they do; that in some cases—like those among professional football players or prize fighters—they risk life and longevity; that their earning cycle, often only a few years, is very sharply limited compared to that of a banker; and that what they contribute to society—after all, athletics and entertainment have been an essential part of human life for thousands of years—is as valuable as, and probably more valuable than, what many a banker or trader contributes. Obama had a lot of other opportunities during the interview to make clear that he was outraged, and not merely discomfited, by the huge disparities of wealth that have emerged; but he framed his responses primarily in terms of economic efficiency rather than injustice. We need to change the fact, Obama declared, that “businesses are making record profits but employees are seeing their wages flatline” because “we are going to be better off if everybody feels like they have got a stake in growth and innovation moving forward.” Yes, there’s nothing like cooptation to boost profits. Or

we need financial regulation because, he said, having “financial instruments that drive huge profits but leave consumers unprotected … is not good for the system overall.” You can say that Obama was directing these comments specifically at a business audience that wouldn’t have wanted him to talk about the injustice that the system has bred, but as Obama well knows, in this age of cable and Internet, anything a president says to anyone he says to everyone. And I’d go further: Making a few sharp points about injustice to a business audience would have helped to allay public fears that Obama isn’t really on their side. Finally, here’s what Obama says when he is asked to name a CEO he respects: BBW: Do you want to weigh in on a specific CEO you admire? Obama: There are a bunch of them. You know who I really enjoyed talking to at our last lunch was Fred Smith of FedEx ( FDX). Very thoughtful. He’s an example of somebody who is thinking long-term. His industry is deeply sensitive to energy prices, and he’s the first one to say that if we don’t start getting an energy policy that’s smart, we’re going to lose. He’s also very thoughtful about trade and talks about the difficulties they’ve had in some cases with partners around the world... What’s wrong with this? Well, Fred Smith is an odd choice for a

Democratic president to make. He’s a well-known Republican, one of John McCain’s chief backers and a member of his kitchen cabinet. Between June 2006 and July 2009, he gave $82,100 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Moreover, he has a longtime record and reputation as an anti-union executive. Most recently, Smith’s company threatened to cancel an order of planes from Boeing if Congress voted to include his company under the National Labor Relations Act, which would allow unions to organize individual FedEx plants, rather than the Railway Labor Act, which requires a union to organize all FedEx workers across the country at once—a near-impossible task. FedEx’s unionized rival, UPS, falls under the NLRA. When McCain was rumored to be considering Smith to be his running mate, Change to Win issued a statement about Smith that pretty much sums up labor’s attitude toward him: In the 35 years that Fred Smith has been the CEO of FedEx he has repeatedly fought against workers joining together to have a voice on the job, openly stating that he 'doesn't intend to recognize any unions at Federal Express.' Less than 2% of the 200,000 American workers at FedEx are in a union. In contrast, THEY page 37

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Washington Diarist: The New Proles by Leon Wieseltier (The New Republic - All Feed) Submitted at 2/11/2010 9:00:00 PM

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full -text RSS service so we can continue developing it. When I was young, I enjoyed the romance of the garret. Poverty, or relative poverty, became me. I mastered arcane books and composed ambitious essays in the smallest apartment anybody ever saw in Cambridge, Massachusetts. When you opened the door, it hit the bed, which of course led to some misunderstandings. I rested my typewriter on a scarred wooden board that groaned every time I struck the keys. When what I wrote was published, I took my earnings to an elegant clothing store on Newbury Street, in defiance of the disconnection notice in my briefcase. (Balzac says somewhere that a student is a person who can afford only luxuries.) I was often broke but never destitute. Many years later Irving Howe used a phrase that described my state of happy indigence: “a decent poverty,” he called it. Lately, however, I have been observing a high incidence of indecent poverty. Many young writers and journalists I meet are close to penniless. They have almost not a hope of supporting themselves in the pursuit of their calling. A garret is no longer affordable. Jobs are disappearing. Internships are

unpaid or barely paid, which has the consequence of corrupting a meritocratic system with the inequities of social class, as the fortunately born become the fortunately hired. And when they publish what they write--well, now we leave the honorable tradition of the struggling young writer for the unprecedented enchantments of the digital revolution. Owing to its vastnessand its velocity, no medium of communication and publication ever depended more desperately on “content”--the lifeless business expression for words and ideas--than the Internet. Some people celebrate this as a historic breakthrough for literariness in its various forms. They rhapsodize about the democratization of the writing life, about the demise of the “gatekeepers” and their institutions, about the pure and perfect autonomy of blogging and “self-publishing.” Who needs The New York Times if I can arrange for you to know what it is in my heart at this instant? Leave aside the question of the relation of blogging to writing, of posting to publishing. I wish to emphasize what the love songs omit: the economic and professional consequences of the cheap entropy of the web-its proletarianization of the writer. I wonder if people outside the besieged walls of the profession understand how little is earned with contributions to

websites. The sums are scandalous. And sometimes there are no sums at all. Sometimes contributions to websites are produced for free. Writers are the only people I know who are expected to work for next to nothing or nothing. Without them, as I say, the intelligent regions of the Internet would not exist; but even as their skills are increasingly in demand, they are treated increasingly as worthless. You do not have to read the Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts to recognize that this becomes an issue of dignity. From the standpoint of the owners of these institutions, this “business model” may seem rational--if they can save money on paper, printing, and postage, why not also save money on prose?--but theirs is not the only standpoint that matters in considering the future of our culture. (Leave aside also the question of paper, and of its almost spiritual necessity for serious writing and its betterment of life.) It is not the owners who make our culture, though some of them serve it admirably. Indeed, an enlightened owner is a hero of culture. And yet it is of no importance that the market will bear this immiseration of writers; the history of the market is riddled with injustices of all kinds. And what model of economic rationality is it that recommends the exertion of one’s skills for little or no reward? I refer you to a report by

James Rainey in the Los Angeles Times a few weeks ago about the reality of the contemporary freelancer: “what’s sailing away, a decade into the 21st century, is the common perception that writing is a profession--or at least a skilled craft that should come not only with psychic rewards but with something resembling a living wage.” Is this really what we want? (About Rainey’s article, one of the brats on Gawker-see what insomnia can do to a man?--poignantly observed that “it’s a little disturbing that the job that pays my bills now may be helping to destroy the one that helped pay them when I was in college.”) And a similar indecency is taking place in book publishing. Laud the Kindle all you want, but who will pay the advance for the novels and the histories that you will cop for $8.99, without which they cannot be written? Not Amazon. A literary agent in New York was recently heard to remark that $30,000 is the new $100,000, and it takes years to write a book. Forward-looking thinkers explain that the money that the publishing houses, or their corporate proprietors, save by printing fewer physical copies will make up the difference; but anybody who believes that those savings will be restored to the primary mission of the editors and the publishers does not understand a thing about the corporate temperament, especially in the aftermath of a

panic. No, nausea is in order. In an interminable piece in The Atlantic, Michael Kinsley complains that newspaper articles are too long. “On the Internet, news articles get to the point,” my friend declares, whereas “newspaper writing ... is encrusted with conventions that don’t add to your understanding of the news.” He follows this with a quantitative and semantic analysis of various examples of “unnecessary verbiage”; and like much quantitative and semantic analysis, the results are clever and trivial. I do not doubt that newspapers are not as linguistically efficient as they can be, except perhaps USA Today, that ur-website. But Kinsley’s worry about the financial costs of prolixity is silly: no newsroom budget will be rescued by cutting “tag” and “context.” So may I say a word on behalf of necessary verbiage? Brevity may be the soul of wit, or lingerie, or texting, or quail eggs, but all subjects are not the same. Efficiency of expression is in some realms a virtue and in some realms a vice. Brevity is certainly not the soul of news, if by news you mean more than information. “The point” is not always easy. There is not always a “takeaway.” Anyway, this is already an abbreviating age. The forces of concision and distillation are winning. After the WASHINGTON page 33

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Glenn Beck Exposes Truther 'Tea Party' Candidate, Hypes Theocratic Fanatic (Little Green Footballs)

that regard, there are some very good arguments and I think the American people have not seen Glenn Beck deserves some all the evidence there, so I have credit today for exposing Texas not taken a position on that.” … gubernatorial candidate Debra After the interview, Beck, who Medina as a 9/11 Truther. holds sway with many Medina was known as the “tea Republican primary voters, said, p a r t y c a n d i d a t e , ” w h i c h “I think I can write her off the shouldn’t surprise anyone who’s list.” been following the recent bad Beck, who has been critical of craziness at tea party events. It’s Gov. Rick Perry and U.S. Sen. not mentioned in this article, but Kay Bailey Hutchison, added, she has also appeared on the “Let me take another look at Kay Alex Jones conspiracy show, Bailey Hutchison if I have to. w o r k e d f o r R o n P a u l ’ s Rick, I think you and I could Campaign for Liberty, and even French kiss right now.” placed a banner advertisement on At the same time as he exposes the neo-Nazi Stormfront website. Medina (who was running a Radio host Glenn Beck, saying distant third and had no real he was responding to e-mails he c h a n c e o f w i n n i n g t h e got from listeners, asked Medina governorship), however, Glenn in a national interview this Beck is heavily promoting David morning whether she believed Barton and Wallbuilders, one of t h e U . S . g o v e r n m e n t w a s the most extreme theocratic involved in the September 2001 groups currently operating in the attacks on the World Trade US. Beck touts Barton as an Center. “expert” on the founding of the “I don’t have all of the evidence United States; but in reality there Glenn so I’m not in a place, Barton is notorious for pushing I have not been out publicly revisionist history aimed at questioning that,” Medina said. undermining the separation of “ I t h i n k s o m e v e r y g o o d church and state. Here’s an LGF questions have been raised in search for our posts about David Submitted at 2/11/2010 10:57:51 AM

Barton. More information about Barton’s past activities: In 1991 Barton addressed the Rocky Mountain Bible Retreat of Pastor Pete Peters’ Scriptures for America, a group that espouses the racist “Christian Identity” theology. Advocates of this bizarre dogma insist that white Anglo-Saxons are the “true” chosen people of the Bible and charge that today’s Jews are usurpers. Aside from being a virulent anti-Semite, Peters has advocated the death penalty for homosexuals. According to the Anti-Defamation League, other speakers at the event included white supremacist leader and 1992 presidential candidate James “Bo” Gritz, a leader of the radical and increasingly violent militia movement, and Malcolm Ross, a Holocaust denier from Canada. In November of that same year, Barton spoke at Kingdom Covenant College in Grants Pass, Oregon, another “Christian Identity” front group with ties to Peters. Asked to explain these actions, Barton’s reply amounted to a not very creative “I didn’t know they

WASHINGTON continued from page 32

death of waiting, I do not see the Leon Wieseltier is the literary PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, wisdom of preaching impatience. editor of The New Republic. Term Extraction. A culture cannot thrive upon a Five Filters featured article: fear of discourse. Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools:

were Nazis” dodge. In a July 1993 letter, Barton assistant Kit Marshall wrote, “At the time we were contacted by Pete Peters, we had absolutely no idea that he was ‘part of the Nazi movement.’ He contacted us for David to speak for Scriptures for America. The title is quite innocuous. In all the conversations that I personally had with Pete Peters, never once was there a hint that they were part of a Nazi movement. I would also like to point out that simply because David Barton gives a presentation to a group of people does not mean that he endorses all their beliefs.” An excuse like that might have washed one time, but it stretches the bounds of credulity to accept that Barton was twice duped by innocuous-sounding extremist organizations. That’s Glenn Beck’s “historical expert” — a fundamentalist fanatic working to subvert the Establishment Clause, with ties to white supremacists. Here’s another article on Barton and his theocratic front group, the National Council On Bible Curriculum In Public Schools:

Historical Revisionism in the NCBCPS Curriculum. UPDATE at 2/11/10 11:10:04 am: Debra Medina says she isn’t a Truther. I was asked a question on the Glenn Beck show today regarding my thoughts on the socalled 9/11 truth movement. I have never been involved with the 9/11 truth movement, and there is no doubt in my mind that Muslim terrorists flew planes into those buildings on 9/11. I have not seen any evidence nor have I ever believed that our government was involved or directed those individuals in any way. No one can deny that the events on 9/11 were a tragedy for all Americans and especially those families who lost loved ones. The question surprised me because it’s not relevant to this race or the issues facing Texans. This campaign has always been about private property rights and state sovereignty. It is focused on the issues facing Texans. It is not a vehicle for the 9-11 truth movement or any other group.

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Senate Dems Ax Bipartisan Jobs Bill (Newsmax - Politics)

provisions sought by lobbyists for business groups and doctors. The surprise blew apart an Message from fivefilters.org: If agreement with key Republicans you can, please donate to the full like Chuck Grassley of Iowa, -text RSS service so we can w h o w o r k e d w i t h F i n a n c e continue developing it. Committee Chairman Max Senate Democrats scrapped a Baucus, D-Mont., for weeks to bipartisan jobs bill in favor of produce a bill containing the one they say is leaner and extra provisions. focused solely on putting The original bill had won Americans back to work, and support from across the political t h e y ' r e a l l b u t d a r i n g spectrum, from President Barack Republicans to vote against it. Obama as well as conservative T h e n e w , s t r i p p e d - d o w n Republicans in the Senate, proposal followed criticism that offering the promise of a rare the bipartisan version wouldn't bipartisan package in a Congress create many jobs. that has been gripped by partisan The switch brought sharp fights. To get that support, accusations of reneging from however, the package had Republicans who thought they morphed into a 361-page grab had a deal, jeopardizing a brief bag of provisions that included attempt at bipartisan lawmaking. e x t e n d i n g b e n e f i t s t o t h e Senate Majority Leader Harry unemployed and tax breaks for Reid's latest bill focuses on businesses. several popular provisions aimed Now, the bipartisan agreement a t b o o s t i n g j o b c r e a t i o n , is off. including a new tax break "Our side isn't sure that the negotiated with Republicans for Republicans are real interested in companies that hire unemployed developing good policy and to workers and for small businesses move forward together," said that purchase new equipment. It Sen. Thomas Carper, D-Del. also would renew highway "Instead, they are more inclined programs and help states and to play rope-a-dope again. My local governments finance large own view is, let's test them." infrastructure projects. Said Reid: "Republicans are Reid, D-Nev., put forward the going to have to make a choice. I pared-back plan after Senate don't know in logic what they Democrats balked at a broader could say to oppose this." bill stuffed with unrelated Reid officially put the measure Submitted at 2/11/2010 11:35:53 PM

before the Senate on Thursday evening, setting up a key test vote when the chamber returns the week of Feb. 22. He'll need at least one GOP vote to prevail in a filibuster challenge. Republicans said they were blind-sided by Reid's about-face. Grassley spokeswoman Jill Kozeny said in an e-mail that Reid "pulled the rug out from work to build broad-based support for tax relief and other efforts to help the private sector recover from the economic crisis." The bigger bill got a decidedly mixed reception at a luncheon meeting of Democrats, many of whom were uncomfortable with supporting a bill containing so many provisions unrelated to creating jobs, including loans for chicken producers and aid to catfish farmers. The provisions also included a $31 billion package of tax breaks for individuals and businesses, an extension of several parts of the USA Patriot Act and higher payments for doctors facing Medicare payment cuts. The surprise move appears to insulate Democrats from criticism that greeted the earlier, lobbyist-backed legislation first leaked on Tuesday and officially unveiled by Baucus and Grassley — to praise from the White House — only hours before

Reid's announcement. The centerpiece of Reid's new bill is a $13 billion payroll tax credit for companies that hire unemployed workers. The idea, by Sens. Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, would exempt businesses hiring unemployed workers in 2010 from the 6.2 percent Social Security payroll tax for those hires. It also would provide an additional $1,000 tax credit for workers retained for a full year and deposit an additional $20 billion into the federal highway trust fund — money that would have to be borrowed. There's also $2 billion to subsidize bond issues by state and local governments for large infrastructure projects But Republicans are irate at the tactics and said Reid had gone back on a deal reached with some of the Senate's heaviest hitters, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. © 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.

Riiflex Wiimote dumbbells cease being a joke, now on sale by Vladislav Savov (Engadget) Submitted at 2/12/2010 10:07:00 AM

You know, we were surprised these Wii Remote appendages actually made it to the pre-order stage way back in April of last year, a feeling which slowly dissipated as they failed to make it out to real retail. Until now. The 2lb / 1kg Riiflex sleeves for your Nintendo-approved wand are ready to purchase, starting at a cent under $30, though the 5lb variety promised earlier is yet to make an appearance -- perhaps it's become yet another victim of the harsh, cutthroat economics of the Wii peripheral business. Anyhow, if you wanna take your Wii Fitness to the next level, the source link will get the set of two to your door with free delivery, though it might be a bit late in helping you shape up for V day. Riiflex Wiimote dumbbells cease being a joke, now on sale originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Gizmodo| Riiflex| Email this| Comments

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Gender Bias Bunk (AEI.Org: Articles)

reward always being on the job, we will never find out whether leading a balanced life leads to Message from fivefilters.org: If equally good or better scientific you can, please donate to the full work." A world where women -text RSS service so we can (and resocialized men) earn continue developing it. Nobel Prizes on flextime has no Over the past decade the basis in reality. But the Advance National Science Foundation has program is not about reality. funneled $135 million into a For many years nsf has "gender bias program" called sponsored admirable programs Advance. Its stated purpose: to that truly help and encourage advance women in science. In women scientists. But a 1999 mit practice it does little to help report alleging pervasive sexism women, but its potential to inflict persuaded nsf officials that lasting damage on fields that encouragement was not enough: drive the American economy-- The culture of American science e n g i n e e r i n g , p h y s i c s a n d had to change. Scholars in the c o m p u t e r t e c h n o l o g y - - i s National Council for Research enormous. on Women were ready with an Virginia Valian, a feminist avalanche of advocacy research psychologist at Hunter College, d e s c r i b i n g t h e " h o s t i l e is credited with providing environment" women face in the Advance with its "conceptual laboratory. One ncrw author tools." With the help of a $3.9 lashed out at the "manliness of million nsf grant, she and her the scientific enterprise" with its colleagues developed the Gender obsessive single-mindedness, Equity Project, which sponsors competitiveness and antagonism w o r k s h o p s a i m e d a t to family life. By 2006 former t r a n s f o r m i n g A m e r i c a n Clinton Administration official laboratory culture. According to Donna Shalala would testify at a Valian, the compulsive work congressional hearing that habits, single-minded dedication gender bias in the laboratory was a n d " i n t e n s e d e s i r e f o r a national "crisis" requiring achievement" that typify elite dramatic federal action. "Our scientists not only marginalize nation's future depends on it." women but also compromise But evidence for bias against good science. She says, "If we women in science is weak. In a continue to emphasize and 2009 collection I edited, The Submitted at 2/11/2010 3:00:00 PM

Science on Women and Science, distinguished scholars such as Simon Baron-Cohen, Jerre Levy and David Geary point to data that suggest men and women, on average, have different career interests and propensities. Women are underrepresented in engineering but more than hold their own in sociology and biology Ph.D. programs. Is this because engineering departments discriminate against women while biology departments do not? Or is it because more women choose not to spend their lives with inanimate objects? In another recent book, The Mathematics of Sex, Cornell researchers Stephen Ceci and Wendy Williams politely demolish studies that are presented in nsf workshops as settled science. They note, for example, that the mit report that inspired Advance was based on data never made public. Data from a much-quoted 1997 Swedish study "proving" sexism in peer review have somehow gone missing. The nsf itself sponsored a study in 2009 that admitted "that, at many critical transition points in their academic careers (e.g., hiring for tenure-track and tenured positions and promotions), women appear to have fared as well as or better than men."

There are brilliant women working in all areas of American science, and there is a need for reasonable and sound initiatives to help them succeed. But these efforts must be respectful, not contemptuous of the culture of American science. They should take into account the true state of the research on gender and science--not just the assertions of impassioned activists. Advance marches on. Now any engineering, physics, math or computer-technology program that moves too slowly toward gender parity is inviting a government investigation and loss of funding. The nation's leading programs are under pressure to adopt gender quotas and to rein in their competitive, hard-driven, meritocratic culture-a culture that has made American science the mightiest in the world. Christina Hoff Sommers is a resident scholar at AEI. Photo credit: paul goyette/Flickr/Creative Commons Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Video editing keyboard costs $272 – that’s one expensive jog wheel by Doug Aamoth (CrunchGear) Submitted at 2/12/2010 7:00:27 AM

The jog wheel. A must for anyone who edits video on a regular basis. Well, maybe not a “must” but definitely handy. They’re expensive, though, as evidenced by this otherwise normal keyboard that costs $272 thanks to the attached jog wheel. You’ll have to order it from far, far away, too. All the way from Japan. As for specs, it’s a 105key USB keyboard with a builtin three-port USB hub and the aforementioned jog wheel flanked by commonly used video editing shortcut buttons. It comes with configuration software as well, so you can remap the buttons according to your particular project. Video Editing Keyboard[Geek Stuff 4 U via Akihabara]

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It's You, Not Me by Ed Kilgore (The New Republic - All Feed) Submitted at 2/11/2010 9:00:00 PM

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full -text RSS service so we can continue developing it. One mini-saga of the past decade in American politics has been the flirtation—with talk of a deeper partnership—between progressives and libertarians. These two groups were driven together, in the main, by common hostility to huge chunks of the Bush administration's agenda: endless, pointless wars; assaults on civil liberties; cynical vote-buying with federal dollars; and statist panders to the Christian right. This cooperation reached its height during the 2006 election, in which, according to a new study by David Kirby and David Boaz, nearly half of libertarian voters supported Democratic congressional candidates—more than doubling the support levels from the previous midterm election in 2002. (As Jonathan

Chait noted after the first Kirby/Boaz study of libertarian voting, their definition is overly broad, encompassing 14 percent of the electorate.) At the time, left-wing blogger Markos Moulitsas hailed the influx of "libertarian democrats" into the Democratic coalition. Soon, even the Cato Institute's Brink Lindsey was proposing a permanent alliance of what he called "liberaltarians." Well, you can say goodbye to all that. The new Kirby/Boaz study reports that libertarian support for Democrats collapsed in 2008, despite many early favorable assessments of Barack Obama by libertarian commentators. Meanwhile, the economic crisis has raised the salience of issues on which libertarians and Dems most disagree. And there's no question that during Obama's first year—with the rise of the Tea Party movement and national debate over bailouts, deficits, and health care—libertarian hostility to the new administration has grown adamant and virtually universal.

But what progressives need to understand is that the end of this affair is actually a good thing. The progressive-libertarian alliance may have provided tactical benefits in 2006, augmenting the Democratic “wave” election of that year. But 2008 showed that libertarian support is hardly crucial: Obama still won "libertarian" states such as Colorado and New Hampshire handily, even without their backing, and he generally performed better in the “libertarian West” than any Democratic nominee since LBJ. In terms of a deeper bond based on philosophical congruence, it’s true that modern liberals and libertarians share common ideological roots in eighteenth and nineteenth century AngloAmerican liberalism. Both believe in a world of rational actors, and both consider the promotion of individual autonomy to be a positive good. With the emergence of the "neoliberal" and "New Democrat" movements of the 1980s and 1990s—which lauded capitalism,

technological progress, and free trade—the potential for overlap only increased. What's more, these groups have a sociocultural affinity. Secularism, prevalent in both liberal and libertarian circles, makes them more comfortable with each other in an era of culture wars. (In my own Washington think tank years, the two camps often coexisted on panels and over lunch or drinks—the sort of professional and social interaction that rarely if ever occurred with the Christian warrior wonks of the Family Research Council.) Plus, people on both sides of the “alliance” undoubtedly enjoyed the psychic rush of breaking bread with someone from “the enemy camp” who could quote Thomas Jefferson and rage against the Iraq war and corporate welfare. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Video: Kevin Smith at Macworld 2010 (VERY NSFW, but VERY funny) by Matt Burns (CrunchGear) Submitted at 2/12/2010 6:00:03 AM

Forget Steve Jobs, Macworld 2010 featured Kevin Smith who

spoke about iPads, the movie industry, and, his new film, Cop Out, as shown in the video above. Please, DO NOT watch this video at work or place of

worship. You’ll either be fired or excommunicated. This ten minute clip is just part of his

Macworld address but Wired happened to attend for the full thing so be sure to read their SFW take here.

We are ready for your Buzzes by John Biggs (CrunchGear) Submitted at 2/12/2010 5:46:07 AM

Hello! Always one to jump on the latest bandwagon, CrunchGear is fully Google Buzz compliant. You can follow us here and maybe, just maybe, we’ll be able to keep this Google start-up in business by sharing our pithy, witty commentary and expert opinions. You can buzz John right here and Matt’s is right here. We’ll figure out everyone else’s later. Enjoy!

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RINSE,

THEY

continued from page 30

based their own policy recommendations on that issue. This may have been true of some but certainly not of most neoconservatives. More important, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney, neither of whom could be categorized, even by Walt and Mearsheimer’s absurdly broad standards, as part of an Israel lobby, took the lead in pressing for an invasion even, it seems, before September 11. And they would have been inclined to invade whether or not Wolfowitz had been at the Pentagon. So there is no basis for saying that the White House decision to invade Iraq was driven by neoconservative preoccupations with Israel’s security. Congress: Walt cites my quoting of AIPAC head Howard Kohr’s boast that AIPAC had been “quietly lobbying” Congress to pass the war resolution in October 2002. I don’t doubt that AIPAC favored going to war, as did some leaders of other proIsrael organizations. But AIPAC did not aggressively lobby for the war resolution the way it lobbied in 1981 against the

continued from page 31

AWACs surveillance plane sale to Saudi Arabia or recently for the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act. I have interviewed AIPAC people and members of other Jewish lobbying organizations on this question, and they say the same thing. It was not a make-or-break legislative priority. And there is very good circumstantial evidence to back this up. Some of AIPAC’s most dependable supporters on the Hill—such as Senators Daniel Inouye and Carl Levin and Representative Jerrold Nadler—opposed the resolution. So, yes, AIPAC probably did “quietly” make its preference known; but it can’t be credited or blamed for the outcome of the vote. And no other pro-Israel or Jewish lobby possesses comparable clout on the Hill. Public Opinion: Did the Israel lobby have a sine qua non influence on public opinion in favor of the war? If so, one would expect that its influence would at least show up among Jewish Americans, who would be most likely to listen to their arguments. In a 2003 survey, the American Jewish Committee found that 54 percent of Jewish

Americans disapproved of going to war with Iraq and only 43 percent approved. At the time, a majority of Americans approved of going to war. So, far from being a leader in pro-war sentiment, American Jews were lagging behind. That suggests that the pro-Israel lobby failed even to influence in any significant way Jewish opinion. In other words, there is no basis for accepting Walt and Mearsheimer’s contention that, without the Israel lobby, the U.S. would likely not have invaded Iraq. That’s not anti-Semitism, but it is nonsense. So is Walt’s use of Blair’s testimony to buttress their case. John B. Judis is a senior editor at The New Republic and a visiting fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

UPS unionized workers make nearly 30 percent more than they non-union counterparts at FedEx. Despite organizing efforts, FedEx has filed appeal after appeal to deny their workers the right to bargain collectively, and has sought national legislation to thwart union organizing. Is this a guy a Democratic president should hold up as a model CEO? Again, if you were talking to a class at Harvard Business School, and pointing out which CEOs had brought a good return to their stockholders, then Smith would be high on the list. But for a Democratic president to hold him up as a model reveals a shocking ignorance of what the party, and one of its most important constituencies, has stood for. Overall, the impression the interview leaves is of a president surprisingly oblivious to the fury

that is sweeping the nation. Obama has occasionally attempted to speak to it, or read speeches that address it. But this interview shows that, in the choice between Main Street and Wall Street, his natural inclinations lie more toward one side—and it ain’t Main Street. John B. Judis is a senior editor of The New Republic and a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 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.

SI Swimsuit Models Rock Out in Sin City (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 2/12/2010 7:03:00 AM

The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit models stripped down and partied it up in the desert of Las

Vegas on Thursday night at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino's Vanity Nightclub! The beauties have a calendar full of appearances to promote the annual edition of the

magazine. Cover girl Brooklyn Decker has been in a media whirlwind since the big reveal on Monday. She is "still in shock" and explained what gracing the cover means to her: "Being in the

issue is like playing in the Super snap a photo. Brooklyn said, Bowl and then getting on the "We really are living up Vegas cover is like winning the MVP." the way it should be lived up." The girls certainly are making quite a statement in Sin City, shutting down the main strip to

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Olympics go mobile: Following the game on your smart phone or iPod Touch by Jeffrey Fox (Consumer Reports)

musical events) in both Vancouver and Whistler(the latter is where bobsled and luge events are held), news, and the ability to follow at least 11 Olympic-related Twitter accounts.

these, when you can easily bookmark and browse the Olympics-related sites for free Submitted at 2/12/2010 7:12:13 AM on your own. Olympics go mobile: Following Olympic Web sites the game on your smart phone or Here are some useful Web sites iPod Touch NBC's Olympics app to browse to get Olympics news: 'Ellen' to Stay on When you can’t plant yourself • The NBC Olympic site NBC Stations; Won't in front of your L CD or plasma • CBS Sports TV, here are some ways to • The free CTV Olympics Guide • T h e o f f i c i a l O l y m p i c Replace 'Oprah' follow the action from the app, from Canada’s largest TV ranging from 99 cents to $2.99, C o m m i t t e e s i t e by Danny Gallagher (TV Vancouver Winter Olympics, network, offers headlines, photos though it’s not immediately • EPSN Squad) which opens tonight, on your galleries, schedules, and maps of obvious why they’re worth • Facebook Submitted at 2/12/2010 9:05:00 AM favorite mobile device. event venues. There’s a neat paying for, when you can get so • Twitter(Also search on hash iPhone (and iPod Touch) apps feature where you can view much from the above free apps. c o d e s # o l y m p i c s a n d It looks like Ellen won't be the The following apps are available profiles of individual athletes by Android apps #vancouver2010) new Oprah after all. If I were from the iTunes app store: country for any of roughly 30 The Android Market listed a Oprah, I'd be very relieved. I • The free NBC Olympics nations (the default is, of course, small group of apps, but nothing To find Olympic athletes to wouldn't want someone taking a p p ( s e e p h o t o ) p r o v i d e s Canada). f r o m N B C , t h e O l y m p i c follow on Twitter, surf to Twitter over my soul and inhabiting my schedules, real-time updates on Committee, or CTV. Most just -Athletes. body solely for "ratings." all events, news, alerts, and If you have any favorite Ellen DeGeneres has re-upped offer updated medal counts. video clips. You can also post • Another free app, the NBC The free Vancouver Olympics Olympic sites or apps, tell us her daytime talk show for four articles, photos, and messages on Olympics Cheer, lets you listen app offers news from the official about them below. more years and will stay on Facebook and Twitter. to Olympic-themed cheering Olympic Committee, NBC, and –Jeff Fox NBC's affiliates through the s o u n d s f r o m c o w b e l l s t o other sources. What it did when I Subscribe now! remainder of her current whistles, winter sports sounds, tried it was display a list of S u b s c r i b e t o contract. • The free Official Guide app and submit your own “Team headlines, then browse the Web ConsumerReports.org for expert This ends speculation that Ellen from the Vancouver Organizing USA” cheers. This app won’t run pages for whichever headline I Ratings, buying advice and would "become the new Oprah" Committee is geared toward on an iPod Touch, because it c h o s e . T h e 9 9 - c e n t a p p , r e l i a b i l i t y o n h u n d r e d s o f in the wake of Oprah announcing those attending the Olympics in requires a microphone. Olympics News, did nearly the products. Update your feed s h e w i l l e n d h e r s h o w i n person. It features schedules, non same thing. I don’t see much preferences September of 2011. If she did -sporting events (including I found at least two Olympics- point in paying for apps like take Oprah's place though, it dance, film, theater, comedy, and related apps for sale at prices would have been interesting to see if Stedman came with the deal. Filed under: Daytime, Celebrities, Talk Show, Pickups by Pareene (Gawker) hologram? Really high scientists and Renewals, Reality-Free say "yes." From the comments: " Submitted at 2/12/2010 10:27:13 AM Permalink| Email this| | Physics involving cats is hard holograms also?" Comments Is our entire universe a giant e n o u g h , n o w t h e c a t s a r e

Universe Just Like The Matrix [Science]

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Push-button ignition: Is it safe? by Consumer Reports on Safety (Consumer Reports) Submitted at 2/12/2010 4:59:59 AM

Push-button ignition: Is it safe? Vehicle technology has come a long way in the past decade and many new features have helped reduce the number of crashes and fatalities. Systems such as electronic stability control (which will be mandated in vehicles starting with the 2012 model year), antilock brakes, air bags, and traction control have been credited with saving thousands of lives each year. Then there are other vehicle features that are more for convenience such as Bluetooth capability, iPod connectivity, heated seats, tilt and telescope steering wheels, and keyless entry and push-button ignition. These features aid in comfort and help enhance the driving experience. However, sometimes a new feature can add more complexities and confusion and create safety concerns. Our car team discussed this recently with the new MyFord dashboard interface, which may cause driver distraction. And now, in light of the recent Toyota recalls, there are questions about the safety of vehicles with pushbutton ignition. Keyless entry is a cool, innovative feature that

made its way into the luxury vehicle market a few years ago and that has since trickled down to the mainstream market even in such entry level cars as the upcoming redesigned Ford Focus, which will offer the technology as an option. While traditional keys are universal and easy to use, a push -button ignition requires some getting used to, especially since the technology varies by manufacturer. A recent Los Angeles Times article discussed the possible confusion and safety implications these buttons can cause. One issue that has come to light lately is how to stop a car with push button ignition if you are faced with sudden acceleration. The answer isn’t very clear, which may have been a factor in why an off-duty police officer could not stop his Lexus when it accelerated out of control causing a horrific crash last August. Recently, Toyota announced that it will change how its start-

stop ignition button operates to provide more intuitive operation in the event of an emergency. Currently, the button must be held for three seconds to turn off the engine when the car is in motion. Other manufacturers such as Nissan, Infiniti and Cadillac allow an engine to be shut off with two quick pushes within three seconds, which is more intuitive. Right now there is no government standard for start-stop buttons, but federal regulators and industry groups are researching the option of adopting standard procedures. In the meantime, it’s important to be familiar with how your vehicle’s start-stop button works. Check your owner’s manual for details. If you are ever faced with an incident of sudden acceleration and need to stop your moving car, brake firmly, put the transmission in Neutral, steer to a safe location, put your car in park and turn it off. (Read: " How to stop a runaway car: Five steps that can save your life.") —Liza Barth 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

Q&A: What temperature constitutes a fever? by rss@consumerreports.org (Consumer Reports) Submitted at 2/12/2010 2:59:59 AM

Q&A: What temperature constitutes a fever? One of your previous articles about fever said that "normal" body temperature varies, but it never said what temperature constitutes a fever. Please clarify. — J.W.K., Carmichael, Calif. As a rough general rule, temperatures over 100 degrees F for oral readings,101 degrees for rectal, and 99 degrees for the armpit (for Celsius, 37.8 degrees, 38.3 degrees, and 37.2 degrees, respectively) are considered fever. But normal temperature varies from person to person and fluctuates throughout the day because of changes in metabolism, activity level, and outdoor or indoor temperature. So a more accurate definition of fever is a reading higher than what’s normal for you at a particular time of day. To find your normal

temperatures, take a reading three times each on three successive days when you’re feeling well: before getting up in the morning, in the late afternoon, and before going to bed. Then average the readings for each time of day. Fever is one of the symptoms of the flu. Read more on flu complications, vaccines, and the best treatments for the flu(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

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DirecTV, this snowball's for you by James Willcox (Consumer Reports)

son. But when I do manage to free enough snow with a—can I say, DirecT hit—I’m a Submitted at 2/12/2010 2:59:59 AM momentary hero in the house, DirecTV, this snowball's for you and my wife’s threat to switch at Among the many annual rites of least one of our TVs to a cable winter—hot chocolate on a cold provider is held at bay, at least day, shoveling snow from the until the next snowfall. driveway—my family has added Are there other DirecTV users a n o t h e r q u a i n t t r a d i t i o n : good 30 feet from the ground. out there with similar stories? throwing snowballs at our That’s far enough away that I We’d like to hear them, so take a don’t want to risk climbing out few moments to share your DirecTV’s satellite dish. Well, watching me throw on a snow-covered roof, and too experiences in our comments snowballs at the dish, really. far to reach with the longest pole section at the bottom of this That’s because at least once or we own. The best solution I’ve blog. It’s likely they’re amusing, twice every winter, we get a wet been able to come up with is and at the very least I won’t feel enough snow that it sticks to our snowballs. like I’m going at this alone—a dish, apparently covering enough That means our neighbors now small but comforting consolation of its face that it knocks out have the added winter bonus of the next time I’m armed and reception from one of the HD w a t c h i n g m e s t a n d i n o u r dangerous in my driveway, satellites. So instead of getting driveway, tossing snowball after aiming at a small parabolic target “American Idol,” one of my 5- snowball at the dish, hoping to 30 feet away on my roof. year-old son Tyler’s favorite d i s l o d g e t h e s n o w t h a t ’ s — James K. Willcox Subscribe shows, we get a blank screen and collected on its surface--or at now! a message that the receiver is least enough so that satellite 771 S u b s c r i b e t o searching for satellite 771. can get through. Occasionally, ConsumerReports.org for expert Occasionally we can get the non- though, one of the snowballs will Ratings, buying advice and HD versions of the channels we actually stick to the dish, r e l i a b i l i t y o n h u n d r e d s o f normally watch if they’re being potentially knocking out one of products. Update your feed beamed from a different satellite, the few channels we are able to preferences receive. I can say that this is met but not always. Unfortunately, the dish is on the w i t h a g o o d a m o u n t o f highest point of our house, a displeasure from my wife and

A gift that’s sure to surprise your valentine by Consumer Reports Shopping Blog (Consumer Reports) Submitted at 2/12/2010 3:59:59 AM

A gift that’s sure to surprise your valentine"If you're seeking greater financial security and still haven't found that perfect Valentine's Day gift, why not surprise that special someone in your life with the gift of life insurance." So suggests the president and CEO of the insurance industry’s LIFE Foundation, in a press release earlier this week. Can't you just hear the squeals of delight already? While we agree that everyone with dependents should have an adequate amount of life insurance, an informal poll

around our office suggests that flowers, chocolate, or even electronics might be a safer choice for Feb. 14. 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

Bill Clinton Released from Hospital (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 2/12/2010 4:30:00 AM

Former president Bill Clinton has been released from the hospital. He was accompanied by daughter Chelsea as he was

discharged. Former Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe broke the news on CBS' "The Early Show." He spread the word, saying, "He's out of the hospital and in the car

back enroute to his home [in Chappaqua.]" Douglas Band, Counselor to Clinton, told ET, "President Bill Clinton was released from New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia this morning

in excellent health. He warmly thanks the doctors, nurses, and staff of the Hospital for the care he received... President Clinton would also like to thank the many people who extended their best wishes to him for a quick

recovery. He looks forward in the days ahead to getting back to the work of his Foundation, and to Haiti relief and recovery efforts."

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How Google Failed Its Users and Gave Birth to an Internet Meme by Mike Melanson (ReadWriteWeb)

FAFEBOOK BACK THIS SHIT IS WACK!!!!!" complained the next. Submitted at 2/11/2010 11:39:00 PM At first we wondered if it could It's not every day you get to be a giant, orchestrated prank. watch the birth of an Internet We weren't sure who we might meme, but yesterday, I was there have offended, but obviously it at the moment of conception. I was a premeditated assault. didn't give birth to it but I When we looked at our traffic, certainly played a completely however, we didn't see any of the inadvertent and circumstantial usual suspects, just two little part. Facebook and AOL had words on a very big website: announced their partnership and "Facebook login" and Google. I decided the news merited more The post had become the number than the two paragraph treatment two search result. I saw everywhere else. So I By the end of the day, the post embarked on a diatribe about had several hundred comments how Facebook was trying to be and our back-channel chat room our "One True Login"- and was still debating whether or not unknowingly set in motion what it could all be real. has become the most epic It was like we had unearthed a comment thread ReadWriteWeb long-lost city, the Atlantis of the has ever seen. But how did this Internet. But instead of treasures happen and why? and gold we'd found a steady Sponsor deluge of confused and frustrated Within a half an hour of posting, users who had tried everything the number of visitors had they knew to do and just wanted skyrocketed. It looked like a real to log in to Facebook, damnit. winner. An hour later, it had But how had this happened? It reached the number of visitors an certainly wasn't that thousands average post might see in an and thousands of people had just entire day. I figured I'd hit a started searching for "facebook home run. login" yesterday. This stream of But then the comments started people has been there all along rolling in. and something is broken. "When can we log in?" asked Google had completely failed its one commenter. users. It put us, with a post about " I W A N T T H E O L D how an AOL partnership

head-on into the tech illiterate and mockery and disbelief started to overtake confusion as the general tone in the comment f o r e s h a d o w e d F a c e b o o k thread. As the post made its way becoming the de facto user around the web, other comment database, above the most logical threads, like those on Reddit and s e a r c h r e s u l t p o s s i b l e - MetaFilter, began mimicking the now infamous comments. I Facebook's login page. W h i l e f o r u s t h i s w a s suddenly realized that we might completely random, other search be standing at that flash point, results show that this is actually that moment where it begins a s p a c e t h a t i s o t h e r w i s e the immaculate conception of an intentionally occupied by sites Internet meme. I've always trying to siphon off this traffic wanted to be there at that and profit from it. I don't think moment. I've always wondered t h e f i r s t s e a r c h r e s u l t f o r about the first person that saw a "Facebook login" was actually lobster and said, "You know E n g l i s h , a n d t h e o n e t h a t what? I'm going to eat that." followed wasn't either, but those "I LIKE THE NEW ALL-BLUE two key words are used over and FACEBOOK BUT CAN I JUST L O G I N N O W over. PLEEEEEZE?????!!!11" reads By the next morning, the scale one comment on MetaFilter. had tipped. News of the epic thread had started making its Another comment on Reddit way around the social web, being r e a d s , " I S T H I S T H E r e t w e e t e d a c r o s s t h e ARTICLE!!? ALL I SEE IS Twitterverse, posted by early COMMENTS!!!!! HOW COME adopters on Buzz and submitted WHEN I TRY TO LOG IN I to sites like Reddit, Digg, PEE ON MYSELF AND PASS StumbleUpon, HackerNews and OUT?!?? I LIKED REDDIT BEFORE THE PEE!!!" Fark. "No, really," everyone seemed to One person has even written a be saying, "You GOTTA see this sonnet, detailing the plight of the lost Facebook users. one." Suddenly, the two worlds While we mock those users, the collided. The tech savvy ran simple fact is they haven't necessarily failed, something

failed them. With all of our talk about the semantic Web and search engine optimization and tailoring search results to the individual user, there are thousands upon thousands of users performing the same simple search and following the same wrong road. If this were a standard traffic sign misdirecting this many people, it would have been pulled down long ago. There would have been outraged citizens at town meetings and special reports on the five o' clock news. So, when five years down the road someone, somewhere, in a completely unrelated comment thread says "i need the old facebook this new one is very b a d bbbbbbbbbbuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu uuuu!" I will be happy to say that I was there - I was around for the birth of that Internet meme. But I also hope that, by then, we've addressed the problem at the core. This is the Internet and these are its users. If this many of them can't login to Facebook by typing that into Google and clicking on the first thing they see, it's probably not them that are wrong, it's Google. Discuss

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First a Data Center, Now Free WiFi - Google, The Cloud and the Significance of a Small Oregon Town by Alex Williams (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 2/12/2010 1:00:00 AM

Google is giving a small town in Oregon $100,000 for free WiF i. It's a town called The Dalles - a community with interesting significance for Google. The Dalles is a city of 12,000 people along the Columbia River, about 80 miles east of Portland. Google owns a massive data center in The Dalles. It's a key Google operation. It's powered by the cheap hydroelectricity that comes from the Columbia. Twin cooling towers stand four-stories high, keeping the servers from overheating as they continually crunch data and serve it back to millions of people online. This data center in The Dalles is what helps make Google's cloud computing capabilities a reality. Sure, it's connected to data centers around the world. But this one has special significance, In some ways, it symbolizes the emergence of the cloud computing era. Sponsor The prospect of the data center in The Dalles had national significance. In 2005, Congress

changed energy legislation so the Bonneville Power Administration would not be privatized. That allowed Google to get the cheap electricity that it wanted for the data center. With that in place, Google went ahead with construction, knowing they could burn as much power as it needed to keep its servers humming. In that year, Harper's Magazine published blueprints of the data center. The magazine used the blueprints as the center piece to profile Google, its quest for cheap electricity and the emergence of cloud computing. In June of 2006, the New York Times ran a front page story about the data center. The headline:"Hiding in Plain Sight, Google Seeks More Power." It, too, used the data center to tell a story about Google's strategy and its lead in cloud computing over rivals like Microsoft and Yahoo! Now, The Dalles and its free WiFi from Google has some interesting correlations to another announcement this week pertaining to Google's efforts in creating an ultra-fast broadband network. This larger effort to provide broadband service to select cities

is certainly designed to show what kind of opportunities come when people get an Internet connection that is 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today. It's the kind of effort that makes sense as Google seeks to make it possible to offer a whole new generation of applications that would be available in the cloud. As the New York Times points out:"In Google's vision of the future of the Internet, the live streaming of 3-D medical images from a rural health clinic to a specialized medical center or the downloading of a full-length movie in a matter of minutes would become commonplace." Google is only providng cash in the form of a grant to The Dalles for the WiFi. It is not providing the kind of Internet access that

will go to those who receive the ultra fast Internet connection. But The Dalles experiment does show Google's interest in providng Internet access to rural communities. There are some other interesting correlations: Google made provisions with The Dalles that it would not be permitted to filter content. That's a move we should also expect when Google lays its experimental fiber in cities around the country. Google alluded to this kind of spirit in its announcement this week:"Openness and choice: We'll operate an "open access" network, giving users the choice of multiple service providers. And consistent with our past advocacy, we'll manage our network in an open, nondiscriminatory and transparent way." Google gets final approval over the content, look and feel, and design of the splash page and the landing page for the free service in The Dalles. Will they seek that kind of control in other communities, too? Google will also help get the network up and running in The Dalles. According to Wi-Fi Net

News, Mountain View, Calif. is the only other town where Google operates a WiFi network. Google tried to launch a network in San Francisco but the effort failed. Google also referred to Mountain View in its announcement this week about the fiber network:"Like our WiFi network in Mountain View, the purpose of this project is to experiment and learn. Network providers are making real progress to expand and improve high-speed Internet access, but there's still more to be done. We don't think we have all the answers - but through our trial, we hope to make a meaningful contribution to the shared goal of delivering faster and better Internet for everyone." It's a differen task to lay fiber but The Dalles may serve as a miniature model for the complexities that come with developing a municipal network for accessing the Web. In the meantime, it's great to see an Oregon town play such an interesting role in the development and future of Google, the most significant Internet company of our time. Discuss

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Google Maps Launches Labs: What Will You Enable? by Sarah Perez (ReadWriteWeb)

Blogoscoped, Google Maps Labs launched with nine experimental features. You can access this Submitted at 2/12/2010 7:00:05 AM new section by clicking on the Google Maps has just launched green test tube icon which now an "experimental" section called appears at the top of Google Labs where you can find the Maps. In the pop-up window that latest prototypes and test features appears, you can enable or to try out for use with the disable the extra features. company's online mapping Currently, the line up includes: service. As with other Google • Drag 'n' Zoom: Click the Dragp r o d u c t s , l i k e G m a i l f o r and-Zoom button, then draw a example, the Labs section lets box on the map to immediately users opt-in to features that - as zoom into that place. Google describes it - "aren't quite • Aerial Imagery: Available for ready for primetime." But some certain areas, aerial imagery of the features in Gmail will "gives you rotatable, highnever be mainstreamed into the resolution overhead imagery email service itself - they're presented in a new perspective." simply fun extras which some • Back to Beta: This will simply people love but others would add a "Beta" icon to the Maps hate...or simply have no use for. logo. So will the new Google Maps • Where in the World Game: Labs be the same? Filled mostly Guess the name of the country with fun but ultimately minor from satellite imagery. upgrades among a handful of • Rotatable Maps: This puts gems? Or will it truly serve as north facing downwards, for the testing ground where the next instance. major features planned for • What's Around Here?: This Google Maps make their debut? will trigger a search for anything We checked it out this morning ("*"), showing the top places for and found a couple of options a given location. worth enabling right now. • LatLng Tooltip: Shows the Sponsor latitude/ longitude of where your D i s c o v e r e d b y G o o g l e cursor is positioned.

Some of the new options clearly fit more in the category of "just for fun" - like the one that adds the "beta" label back to the service's logo or the "Where in the World" game which lets you guess where you are based on satellite imagery. Our Favorite New Features However, a few of the other features are more intriguing. For example, the "Aerial Imagery" feature sounds suspiciously like Bing Maps' "Bird's Eye view." In Bing, Bird's Eye view lets you see aerial imagery in an angled view. Using four different angles, the perspective is more useful for seeing detail than traditional aerial imagery which looks straight down on the rooftops. In fact, Bing's unique Bird's Eye view feature has been one of the service's key selling points for some time. But now, it sounds as if Google plans to add the same - especially since the Labs description notes "currently imagery is only available in certain areas, but we're adding more all the time."

Another interesting option is the "What's Around Here?" feature. Enabling this experiment adds a second search button next to the search box. When you have a map pulled up on your screen, all you have to do is click that button and thousands of round markers appear on the map denoting places of interest. This is a handy way to explore an area when you don't necessarily have something in particular that you're searching for. It's easy to imagine how a future version of this feature could tap into other Google location-based services like the new Google Buzz or Google Latitude, for example, in order to add layers of social activity to the map, similar to Bing's Twitter "mapplication." The two features described above registered as the stand-out options worth enabling right now, but we'll definitely be watching the Labs section to see what other options show up later on. Do you have any feature requests you would like to see appear in Labs? If so, let us know in the comments. Discuss

Video: Celebs Light Up the Runway in All -Star Fashion Show (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 2/12/2010 3:03:00 AM

ET was there as Kristin Chenoweth, Kim Kardashian, former "American Idol" champ Jordin Sparks and many more walked the runway in red dresses created by America's top designers at the Heart Truth's Red Dress Fashion Show in New York on Thursday night -- and the stars also reacted to former President Bill Clinton's health scare. "It's so amazing to be part of something that is spreading awareness about a serious issue [heart disease], but at the same time we get to do it fun," said Jordin, who noted that her great grandmother passed away from heart disease about two years ago. "I'm honored to be here to walk in the show tonight," said Kim, who added that she's enjoyed the whirlwind last few weeks leading up to her boyfriend Reggie Bush's big Super Bowl win.

Cold Koreans Jabbing Smart Phones with Meat [Trend Alert] by Pareene (Gawker) Submitted at 2/12/2010 10:56:59 AM

South Koreans are reportedly using a"snack sausage" as a"meat stylus" for their iPhones. Guys, I think South Korea is

making fun of us and our fat American sausage fingers.

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Google Responds to Critics: Makes Small Changes to Buzz by Frederic Lardinois (ReadWriteWeb)

won't inadvertently share information they would rather keep private."Tens of Millions" Submitted at 2/11/2010 5:26:03 PM users to block people from of Users Already Google Buzz, which launched following them, even if they In addition to announcing these two days ago, has been widely haven't created a profile yet. changes, Google also notes that criticized for making the lists of Sponsor "tens of millions of people have who you follow and who follows ReadWriteWeb's full coverage checked Buzz out, creating over you public by default. Until now, and analysis of Google Buzz: 9 million posts and comments." the check box to turn this Even though Buzz now makes it In addition, Google is currently "feature" off was hidden in your clearer that your public profile registering over 200 posts per Google Profile settings - which will include a list of users and minute through the mobile many people never even realized makes it easier to turn this interface. Given that Google is they had. Now, however, Google feature off, this remains an opt- giving Buzz a prominent spot in announced that it is making it out feature. We think that it the Gmail interface, this doesn't more obvious to new users that would be far better for Google to come as a surprise, but it also these lists will be public and will make this an opt-in feature so shows Buzz's potential as a offer clear instructions to turn the that those users who don't read mainstream geo-social network. p u b l i c d i s c l o s u r e o f t h i s the disclosure information Discuss information off. In addition, closely when they first use Buzz Google now also allows Buzz

Fierce Fashions: The Life and Creations of A-List Designer Alexander McQueen (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 2/12/2010 3:00:00 AM

Famed designer Alexander McQueen, 40, was found dead in his London home. The news has stunned both the fashion world as well as the many A-listers who donned his wild ensembles.

Take a look back at Alexander McQueen with his celeb friends, his head-turning catwalk creations and the famous frocks that draped all the top-notch celebs who were lucky enough to wear them.

Fall 2010 Fashion Week All Access: BCBG Max Azria by ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 2/11/2010 8:01:48 PM

Google Brings the Power of the Pie Chart by Mike Melanson (ReadWriteWeb)

Google's latest release, the Google Chart Tools, will make it easier for sites to show their Submitted at 2/12/2010 7:40:00 AM users data in a meaningful, visual If you've ever sat around and interactive manner. mulling over different parts of an Sponsor interactive map after an election These tools are broken down or studied the New York Time's into two parts: image charts and " How Different Groups Spend interactive charts. The image Their Day" graph, then you charts work off a simple URL know the value of a good chart. structure, defining all of the They can suck users in and really necessary characteristics through engage them. They can take a URL parameters. The interactive complex concept and make it charts, while still relatively simple. simple compared to custom

Blog, "Interactive charts trigger events, providing tool-tips and animations. In addition to a rich gallery of charts, this tool can also read live data from a variety creation, use a slightly more of data sources such as Oracle complicated Javascript library. P L / S Q L or Google Interactive charts will allow for s p r e a d s h e e t s . " s h o w i n g e x t r a d a t a o n We're hoping these take off and m o u s e o v e r s a n d s i m p l e we see more interesting visual animation. There are 30 different data sets to play with around the chart styles available, from web in the very near future. interactive maps to pie charts, Discuss line charts to Venn diagrams. According to the Google Code

New York Fashion Week kicked into high gear this a.m. with BCBG Max Azriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fall ready-to -wear collection. And we were there to capture everything, from test runs to backstage beauty. Enjoy these shots! All Photos: Kelly Stuart

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Divvyshot Offers Simple and Open Photo Sharing [Photo Sharing] by Jason Fitzpatrick (Lifehacker)

demonstrates—drag and drop pictures right out of folders on your computer and into the Submitted at 2/12/2010 6:00:00 AM album. More and more you'll find The strongest selling point for yourself not being the only Divvyshot is the ease-of-use photographer at an event. factor. The interface is Divvyshot offers a simple way to simplistic, the next step needed not only share your own pictures, to complete a task is clear, and it but to create open albums others definitely passes the non-techie can contribute their event photos relative test—if Uncle Bill can to. check his email he should have Divvyshot has a painless oneno problem uploading pictures to step signup process—it's right on Divvyshot. their front page, no annoying can contribute to it, click the like by who uploaded them, what Have a favorite service for email confirmation!—and a person icon to lock viewing the activity is going on at the event, sharing event photographs? Let's p o l i s h e d a n d e a s y t o u s e album to friends, click the globe o r v i e w t h e w h o l e a l b u m . hear about it in the comments. interface. Nearly all the settings to share your photos on Twitter, Uploading is fairly standard Divvyshot[via CNet News] for your albums are represented Facebook, Divvyshot, and with unless you're sporting a browser as icons across the top of your email notifications. that supports HTML 5 like the album page: click the padlock to You can easily view the photos new version of Firefox, then you lock the album so only friends in the album in a variety of ways can—as the screenshot above

China’s surprise monetary tightening shatters calm (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 2/12/2010 7:26:36 AM

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full -text RSS service so we can continue developing it. By Jamie Chisholm, Global Markets Commentator Published: February 12 2010 08:33 | Last updated: February 12 2010 15:26 Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Insulate Outlets and Switches to Cut Down on Heat Loss [Winterize] by Jason Fitzpatrick (Lifehacker)

feel—especially in older homes—around outlets and light switches. Multiple those tiny Submitted at 2/12/2010 7:00:00 AM drafts by every single outlet and Power outlets and light switches switch in the houe however and can be a point of cold-air entry in you've got a prety substantial y o u r h o m e b u t y o u c a n leak. inexpensively and easily plug the Over at the home-centric blog leak. Check out this guide to see Re-Nest they have a quick how. tutorial on how to insulate your It might seem like a trivial thing, outlets and switches. You'll need t h o s e t i n y d r a f t s y o u some inexpensive foam plate

seals—seen in the above right photo—a screw driver to open the plates, and if you've got significant gaps between the

edge of the wire box and the wall you'll definitely want a can of expanding foam or a tube of insulating caulk to fill the space.

Check out the full guide at ReNest including tips on using your insulation to help reduce noise. Have a tip of your own for plugging energy leaks—big or small? Let's hear about it in the comments. How To Insulate Outlets & Switches Home Hacks[Re-Nest]

Tech News/ Game/

E-reader News Edition

Is It Compatible? Shows if Your Current Extensions are Upgrade Safe [Downloads]

Fable III dev diary reveals 'extreme morph' feature

by Jason Fitzpatrick (Lifehacker)

by JC Fletcher (Joystiq)

Submitted at 2/12/2010 6:30:00 AM

Firefox: Every new version of Firefox offers enticing new features, but the real question is whether or not your beloved Firefox extensions are ready for the jump. Is It Compatible? puts the compatibility information right in your add-ons window. There isn't much more to this handy little extension, once you install Is It Compatible?

whenever you open the add-ons window in Firefox—as seen above in the screenshot—you'll see not only the extensions you have installed but also the

versions of Firefox they are rated for displayed in a minimummaximum format. If you only have one or two critical Firefox extensions you

rely on, it probably isn't much of a hassle to visit Mozilla and confirm their compatibility. With more than a few extensions however, Is It Compatible makes a tedious process as simple as scrolling down your extension list. Is It Compatible? is a free extension and works wherever Firefox does. Have a favorite tool for keeping Firefox in top shape? Let's hear about it in the comments.

Official AIM App Also Brings Facebook Chat to Android [Downloads] by Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker) Submitted at 2/12/2010 5:30:00 AM

Android: Got an Android phone? Got contacts on AOL Instant Messenger, or chatty friends on Facebook? AIM now has an official chat client in the Android Market, one that can run in the background and connect to Facebook and Twitter too. There's not all that much more to say about AIM for

Android—it asks for your login credentials, and if you head into the settings, you can feed it your Facebook login as well, and it will send and accept chats across both fronts. If you want, AIM can hit you with your friends' status updates, update your own at the same time as your AIM status message, and even post to It's likely the most guaranteed Twitter, too—though there are means of keeping a connection certainly better dedicated clients across AIM's servers, and since for that purpose.

AIM can run silently and ping you on new messages, it makes good sense as an Android app. AIM for Android is a free download for Android phones only. AIM's product page hasn't updated to announce it yet, but should soon. Instant Messenger AIM[via Phandroid]

Submitted at 2/12/2010 10:30:00 AM

Ready to see a few seconds of Fable III in action? Ready to see Peter Molyneux and other Lionhead staff tell you how awesome it is? Check out the first developer diary of the game above. Molyneux introduces the "extreme morph" system, which allows players to show their alignments in dramatic ways at the press of a button. His example? "You're walking along and someone upsets you.You can press this expression, and out of your back appears these huge angel wings. A shaft of light comes down and shines on you. Everyone around you steps back, and, 'Oh, my goodness!' You're showing your true character." The Fable III peek also briefly introduces the weapon morphing system and the "touch" system, and it features several shots of people being stabbed, sometimes with interesting-looking weapons. Good stuff. Fable III dev diary reveals 'extreme morph' feature originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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The Phishing Flow Chart Highlights Red Flags in Dangerous Emails [Phishing] by Jason Fitzpatrick (Lifehacker) Submitted at 2/12/2010 5:00:00 AM

We hardly see the average Lifehacker reader getting taken by a simple phishing scamâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;you're a techno-literature bunchâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;but a little refresher never hurts and this flowchart is perfect for showing to relatives who have no idea what

"phishing" even is. The above image is a companion image to the guide at LoginHelper on how to identify phishing attacks, but for a quick and easy refresher and way to explain to less than techno-savvy relatives what to look for to defend against a phishing attack it's a great stand alone aide. If you're in educate-the-relatives mode make sure to check out our

previous article: The Complete Guide to Avoiding Online Scams

(for Your Less Savvy Friends and Relatives). It's a great starting point for opening the eyes of friends and family that give the sincerity of foreign princes a little too much stock. Have a great visual aide or guide to help people become more security conscious? Share a link in the comments below. The Phishing Flow Chart[via gHacks]

Caption contest: iPhone as a CPR device by Vladislav Savov (Engadget) Submitted at 2/12/2010 10:54:00 AM

Alright, we'll leave all the zingers for you and our mercurial staff to deliver, and just use this space to dish some info on the hardware. Ivor Kovic, an emergency physician from Croatia, has recently demoed a new iPhone cradle that turns the already multifunctional handset into a CPR assistance device. By using an app titled Pocket CPR and the built-in accelerometer, he can get audio and visual feedback to tell him if he's doing it correctly, while his basic (but awesome) cradle

allows for longer CPR sessions if necessary. Check out the video after the break, then hit the comments with your finest witticisms. Paul:"Come on Luke Wilson's Career, stay with me now, you're not going to die on me!" Darren: "Man, I could really get a better look at what's going on if this thing had a 9.7-inch IPS panel..." Chris:"Everyone is either dying or staying alive these days, and we began to ask ourselves: is there room for something in the middle?" Nilay:"He then died." Vlad: " Our other cradle also measures rhythm and depth,

though its purpose isn't entirely medicinal." Andy:"A rare case where a lack of multitasking is actually helpful to the task on hand." Thomas:"Can you stop dying for

a second, I have to take this call." Joe:"This actually adds an intriguing level of complexity to Super Monkey Ball 2." Richard Lai:"Come on... COME

ON!! Wait a tick... AT&T? No wonder it isn't working. Dammit." Tim:"Looks like this guy's heart(puts on sunglasses)... has dropped its last call." Yeeeaaaaaahhhh... Continue reading Caption contest: iPhone as a CPR device Caption contest: iPhone as a CPR device originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| YouTube| Email this| Comments

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10 Best Ways to Use Your PC While You're Sleeping or At Work [Useful] by MaximumPC (Gizmodo) Submitted at 2/12/2010 9:43:22 AM

There's only so much a processor can handle at once. That's why we keep our home PC powered on while we're at sleep or at the office. Forget about energy savingsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a powerful PC is meant to be utilized! Some processes, like games, monopolize CPU clock cycles, making it inconvenient to run other processor-intensive utilities in the background. From scheduled FTP downloads to converting digital photos and more, here are the ten best ways to keep your PC busy so it won't miss you when you're gone. Downtime be damned! Record TV Shows and Movies Sure, you can record TV shows and movies while you use your PC, but what do you do if you have two or three programs all battling for your attention? If you can't catch your favorites on Hulu or Boxee, or if you don't have a TV tuner than can handle multiple programs, take advantage of repeat broadcasts of many programs; catch the game live, and record your favorite news programs or movies later. If your favorite movie station insists on having a marathon of your favorite movie, you might as well record the 2AM showing and watch something else in

prime time. If you use Windows Media Center, you can use either the program guide or the movies guide to record movies. Patch Applications and Run Windows Update Windows Update enables you to decide when to download and install updates for Windows and for Microsoft Office and other programs supported by Windows Update/Microsoft Update. The default setting is in the middle of the night, but if your PC is busy with other tasks then, consider a

time like Wednesday morning after you head off to work (Wednesday morning is also a perfect time to catch Microsoft's Patch Tuesday updates). Need a reminder on how to adjust your settings? Here's how to do it with Windows XP and with Windows Vista (and Windows 7). Scan Your PC with Anti-virus and Anti-malware Software Although most current anti-virus and anti-malware programs can run while you use your computer for other tasks, you're still better

off to check your machine for problems when you're not using it. Depending upon your favorite software, you might be able to schedule scans from within the software, or in some cases, you might need to run Windows Task Schedule/Scheduled Tasks service separately. To find out if your favorite programs have built-in scheduling, you might need to switch to the program's advanced mode or advanced menus. For example, to schedule scans with

Spybot S&D, you must switch to the Advanced mode and open the Settings tag to locate the scheduler. However, you might need to update to the paid versions of some scan programs to have access to scheduling functions. Depending upon the speed of your anti-virus and anti-malware scanners, you might be able to schedule them on the same day or night. If possible, schedule the scanner's update process to run before the scan program itself. Check Your Hard Drive for Errors with Chkdsk+Defrag While malware and spyware can deep-six your computer's performance, so can problems with your hard disk's structure. Use the dynamic duo of chkdsk and defrag to check your hard disks for errors and defragment files to keep your storage in good shape. Chkdsk can be run from the command prompt, and by using command-prompt switches when you schedule chkdsk to run, you have a great deal of control over how chkdsk works. If you want to repair disk errors on the C: (system) drive, you'll need to schedule chkdsk to run at startup. You can shut down and restart Windows automatically using Task Scheduler, enabling you to run Chkdsk on the system drive BEST page 49

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BEST continued from page 48

at startup. You should run Chkdsk before you run Defrag on a given drive to assure that files are not being moved to corrupt portions of the disk. In Windows 7, you can select multiple drives for defragmenting, which realigns small file fragments into larger contiguous blocks. This enables faster file reads and writes, especially on drives with frequent changes, such as the drive you use for temporary or swap files or drives with frequent modifications to data files. Backup Your PC! You can configure most commercial backup programs as well as Windows's own backup programs to run on a schedule. To make scheduled backups work properly, keep the following in mind: • Use an external hard disk or network location that's big enough for the backup (you won't be around to flip DVDs or removable media in and out of a backup drive). Use the default compression setting for the best combination of backup performance and backup size. • Use the backup scheduler included in the backup software. • Make sure your backup location is ready to receive the backup. With an external hard disk, make sure it's turned on and connected to your PC. With a network backup, make sure the remote drive or server is connected to the network –

preferably, to a wired rather than a wireless connection. • If you have time, verify the backup. • For best performance, use gigabit Ethernet for network backups and eSATA or USB 3.0 for local drive backups. To learn more about using Windows 7 backup, see our Windows 7 feature focus article. Process Photos and Transcode Videos If you're a serious digital photographer, you already know that shooting in RAW mode provides much more control over exposure, white balance, and other factors than shooting in JPEG. However, when it comes to sharing or printing your photos, JPEG rules. Cut out the tedium of converting your photos manually by using automation features in your photo editing software. With Photoshop Elements and Adobe Camera RAW, you can use Process Multiple Files to convert RAW files into virtually any other format supported by Photoshop Elements, apply quick fixes, resize images, rename files, and add labels. With Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Adobe Camera RAW, you can use the Image Processor to automate the conversion process and run actions. If you still use Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Adobe Camera RAW, you can also use Image Processor. Depending upon what type of video you're encoding or

transcoding, there are many choices, all of which take time better spent when you're away from your PC. Here are some of our tutorials and product guides: How To: Download, Save and Convert Flash Video to Play on your iPod or DVD Player Ultimate Guide to Playing and Transcoding Downloaded Videos The Last DVD and Blu-Ray Ripping Guide You'll Ever Need The Power User's Guide to Video Encoding with Handbrake The Top Transcoding Apps for Watching Content on Consoles Schedule Bittorrent Downloads and Pre-Load Steam Games Whether you use FTP or Bittorrent to transfer files or play games delivered via Steam, you're pushing a lot of information through your home network to the Internet (and viceversa). Here's how you can take advantage of away from your PC time to handle heavy bitpushing. If you use file transfer protocol (FTP) to shuffle files around, you know there are plenty of freeware versions to choose from. Unfortunately, just about all of those that include a scheduler feature will cost you a few bucks. One that won't cost you anything is WinSCP. Use its scripting feature to schedule file transfers. For a low-cost FTP program that doesn't require scripting to schedule transfers, consider ProSoft FTP Scheduler Standard Edition(about $25, 15

day trial). Want to schedule Bittorrent transfers? Check out the Scheduler feature built into uTorrent. Scheduler allows you to adjust transfer speeds, go idle, or upload only at the times you select. For a tutorial, see page 7 of our own Paul Lilly's 20 Essential Tricks and Skills Every BitTorrent User Should Know. Be sure to see the comments for tips on using Dropbox and PeerBlock to improve uTorrent performance. While Steam doesn't provide a way to schedule your downloads, you can pause and restart a game download whenever you want. Run a Music Server There's no need to drag your music collection between home and office. Give your iPod or Zune a rest and use our own Norm Chan's How To: Stream Your Music Library to Any Computer tutorial to bring your music to your office. The most time-consuming step (page 2) is importing your music into Netjukebox, so it's a perfect candidate for running it before you hit the hay or head to the office. Compiling Code or Render Graphics Compiling code and rendering graphics are among the most time-consuming tasks you can perform, so you shouldn't waste precious playtime by watching your computer munch program and video bits. Start these processes before you

clock out for the evening or as you start off to work. To make sure they run as quickly as possible, set your computer's power management for high performance and turn off other tasks that might interfere, such as Windows and application updates and other processes (such as the ones listed in this guide). If you're rendering graphics to an external drive or building a DVD or Blu-Ray disc, make sure your external drive is ready to roll and that you have a suitable blank disc in your drive. Contribute to Distributed Computing You can "give something back" to the world by devoting unused computer cycles to a cause you support. You can help make scientific discoveries or fight deadly diseases, and there's no shortage of causes looking for your help. For a list of projects, see these Maximum PC stories: Facebook and Intel want You to Donate Your Spare Cycles, Freeware Files: Five Free Distributed Computing Projects for your Idle PC!, and New Distributed Computing Initiative Wants to Create Artificial Life. Need more options? See Wikipedia's list of distributed computing projects and Distributed Computing Info's list of projects. How to Manage It All When You're Away Whether you're running apps BEST page 50

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Bing To Use Flickr Photos and Live Video In The Future, But Google's Got Goods Too [Microsoft] by Kat Hannaford (Gizmodo) Submitted at 2/12/2010 9:59:00 AM

Without wishing to compare Microsoft's Bing Sky to Google Sky, and its Bing Maps with photos and live video to Street View, they do sound pretty bandwagon-jumping-like, especially with Google Maps today adding some new Labs features. Microsoft's said to "stay tuned" for release details, but has demoed the live video, which could prove really valuable when going on holiday for example—you can check places out before you bother going. The Streetside Photos feature isn't exactly revolutionary now that every man and his dog has used Street View, but by using people's uploaded Flickr photos (geo-tagged, naturally) they'll be in a higher-res and offer more color and life than Google's own Street View cars can snap. The new features were shown off at the TED conference, and then later blogged on Bing's site: "This tech preview mines geotagged photos from Flickr, and relates them to our Streetside imagery to show images matched to its original spatial context. Why is this cool? You're now able to see what that club looks like at night (is it really THAT

scary?), see if you're really going to get a good sunset at that B&B you're looking to book, or check out the crowds on a Saturday morning at Pike Place Market in Seattle or get a view of the same market from decades prior. As more people share imagery, our challenge is to reunite those photos with where they were taken – again, provide context to the data in the ether." Bing Sky meanwhile has been created using WolrdWide Telescope from the Microsoft Research division, and will let you:

"be able to walk outside in Streetside mode, look up, and see what's above – way above – right now where you're standing. Constellations come to life as you pan – you can even set the time of day so you can see what you'll see at 9pm – great for exploring with your daughter to get her ready for what she'll see when the sun goes down." It does seem like unfortunate timing for them, when Google's put its Maps service into the Labs box, adding some new early features like the ability to see high-res aerial pictures of

select locations; rotate a map the way you want it to appear, and a 'where in the world' game for quizzing yourself on countries (amongst others). I still think Microsoft's got a hard game to play if it wants to properly catch up to Google, and while live video is impressive, there's just too many people out there doing Google Maps mashups and developing outside of the Microsoft box. [ Bing via Search Engine Land via Blogoscoped]

BEST continued from page 49

that include built-in schedulers or need to start them yourself, you're going to want a way to log into your home PC from the office and keep an eye on what's going on. You could use commercial services like GotoMyPC, but if you're looking for a powerful freebie, check out the remote connection apps in our story The Ultimate Free Network Applications, Period. During your coffee breaks or lunch, you can stay in complete control of your PC at home. Maximum PC brings you the latest in PC news, reviews, and how-tos.

Rubik’s Slide offers 10,000 puzzles by Doug Aamoth I don’t want topage be 51 a Fussy (CrunchGear) RUBIK’S Freddy here but these new digital

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RUBIK’S continued from page 50

Rubik’s Cubes make it impossible to peel off the stickers and rearrange them. So what you’re left with is the insurmountable task of actually completing the puzzles yourself. Some people like that, though. If that sounds like you, you may be interested to hear that the Rubik’s Slide was announced at the Toy Fair today. It’s an $18 digital Rubik’s Cube that features more than 10,000 puzzles. From what it sounds like, you begin by solving simple puzzles and then advance to increasingly difficult levels. According to the press release: Rubik’s Slide combines the simplicity and fun of casual

games with fast-paced, brainbusting cubing. Players begin each puzzle by checking the goal pattern and then sliding the lights into the correct pattern by twisting and shifting the top panel. (Much like the slide or “fifteen” puzzles from years ago). Once the puzzle is solved, Rubik’s Slide will advance to the next puzzle. Featuring more than 10,000 puzzles, Rubik’s Slide includes two different types of play. Players can see how many puzzles they can solve in Free Play mode or race against the clock to complete a series of 10 puzzles before time runs out in Lightning Round. Rubik’s Slide

includes multiple levels of difficulty with easy, medium and hard puzzles built-in, so anyone can play. The electronic game features vibrant light and sound effects, adjustable volume IBM specs out Power7 control, and high score memory. systems, starts shipping B a t t e r i e s a r e i n c l u d e d . them to your local server Appropriate for players ages 8 and up, Rubik’s Slide will retail farm for $17.99. by Vladislav Savov Rubik’s Slide will be available (Engadget) in the fall. Submitted at 2/12/2010 9:38:00 AM Rubik’s Slide[Techno Source] Sure, there's not much chance of popping down to your local hypermarket and picking up something with a Power7 roaring IBM page 52

Submitted at 2/12/2010 5:32:46 AM

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full -text RSS service so we can continue developing it. Are you still interested in the Camangi WebStation tablet? We’ve shown an unboxing and demo of the $399 (although they’re currently selling it for

$275) Android tablet in the past, but now Camangi has uploaded seven new videos to their YouTube account that covers everything from Ebook function to internet surfing to their Android app marketplace. Obviously Camangi is making a final push to promote their WebStation tablet before iPads start landing in consumer’s laps. Camangi has invested a lot of time and resources not only in

creating the tablet, but creating an online marketplace for larger Android running devices (which would include the Archos 5 Internet Tablet). Dropping the price by a drastic $125 makes it a very interesting product once again. It could appeal to people who are willing to buy a Kindle or Nook for $15 less but want a device that is more than a dedicated eReader. Does it peak your interest? One Response to

by Ross Miller (Joystiq) Submitted at 2/12/2010 9:30:00 AM

Filed under: Features, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action There you are, old Sam Fisher, minding your own business at some unknown cafe when the waiter brings you a cell phone and Bluetooth earpiece, compliments of the caller. It's Grim, it's Third Echelon, and it's the end of his vacation. Some thugs have managed to upset his vacation-now we know why he's always carrying 12 rounds and a pistol. Gallery: Splinter Cell: “Camangi drops price of C onviction (X10) WebStation Android tablet to Continue reading X10: Splinter $275, uploads seven new videos” • [...] has an article about the Cell: Conviction hands-on price drop of this Android tablet. X10: Splinter Cell: Conviction At that price it is awfully hands-on originally appeared on tempting. According to the [...] Joystiq on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Leave a Reply Permalink| Email this| Five Filters featured article: C omments Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Camangi drops price of WebStation Android tablet to $275, uploads seven new videos by Tablet (BestTabletReview.com)

X10: Splinter Cell: Conviction hands-on

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IBM continued from page 51

inside, but there's also nothing stopping you from a bit of vicarious investigation, now is there? IBM's eight-core, 1.2 billion-transistor Power7 chips have begun shipping as promised, with the entry-level Power 750 Express starting at a few bucks over $34,000. That offers you some truly supreme computing power, as each of the eight cores can run four simultaneous threads for up to 32 parallel tasks, with 8MB of embedded DRAM (acting as L3 cache) per core. The top-tier POWER 780 system maxes out with either eight 3.8GHz eightcore chips or eight 4.1GHz quadcore units, allied to a maximum of 2TB of DDR3 RAM and up to 24 SSDs -- though you'll have to call IBM to find out the price

(presumably so that a trained professional can counsel you after hearing the spectacular number). Watch the video after the break while we try to cajole IBM into sending us one for benchmarking. Continue reading IBM specs out Power7 systems, starts shipping them to your local server farm IBM specs out Power7 systems, starts shipping them to your local server farm originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 09:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| IBM| Email this| Comments

Christopher Tarnovsky hacks Infineon's 'unhackable' chip, we prepare for false-advertising litigation by Tim Stevens (Engadget)

Black Hat DC Conference earlier this month. Initially, Infineon claimed what he'd done was As it turns out, Infineon may impossible, but now has taken a have been a little bit... optimistic step back and said "the risk is when it said its SLE66 CL PE manageable, and you are just was "unhackable" -- but only a attacking one computer." We (Financial Times - US with economistsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; expectations, little. The company should have would tend to agree in this case, homepage) was led by sales of electronics, put an asterisk next to the word, but Tarnovsky still deserves recreation goods and food. Sales p o i n t i n g t o a d i s c l a i m e r serious respect for this one. Nice Submitted at 2/12/2010 6:36:18 AM of home furnishings and building indicating something to the work, Big Gun. Message from fivefilters.org: If m a t e r i a l s , w h i c h h a v e effect of: "Unless you have an Christopher Tarnovsky hacks you can, please donate to the full plummeted since the collapse of electron microscope, small Infineon's 'unhackable' chip, we -text RSS service so we can the housing market, slipped conductive needles to intercept prepare for false-advertising continue developing it. again, falling more than 1 per the chip's internal circuitry, and litigation originally appeared on Retail sales rose 0.5 per cent in cent on the month. the acid necessary to expose it." Engadget on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 January as retailers recovered Five Filters featured article: Those are some of the tools 10:31:00 EST. Please see our from a dip in December sales, Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: a v a i l a b l e t o r e s e a r c h e r terms for use of feeds. Permalink according to a report by the US PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Christopher Tarnovsky, who Yahoo! News| DarkReading| Census Bureau. Term Extraction. p e r p e t r a t e d t h e h a c k a n d Email this| Comments The increase, which was in line presented his findings at the Submitted at 2/12/2010 10:31:00 AM

US January retail sales figures improve

Street Chic: New York Fashion Week by ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 2/11/2010 4:41:16 PM

Chunky knits in brown and cream make a cozy-chic statement. Photo: Anne Ziegler Think you are Street Chic? Email us your photo and you could appear in ELLE.com's Street Chic Daily. Follow ELLE on Twitter. Become our Facebook fan!

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Quotient system electronically diagnoses ADHD, oh look a bunny by Tim Stevens (Engadget)

‘Volcker rule’ gives Goldman stark choice (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 2/11/2010 4:44:45 PM

Submitted at 2/12/2010 9:14:00 AM

Ski goggles feature head mounted display by Doug Aamoth (CrunchGear) Submitted at 2/12/2010 7:30:03 AM

Wow, these Zeal Optics “Transcend” goggles feature built-in GPS, speed data, altitude information, temperature, and a whole lot of other stuff for $350. Everything’s controlled by three buttons on the side of the goggles and displayed nonobtrusively in your line of sight. They’re available for pre-order now with a target ship date of October 1st. Current features include: GPS, speed, altitude, virtual odometer, stopwatch, temperature, time, anti fog, and a helmet compatible design. If you watch the demo video

here, you’ll also see that Zeal is planning to roll out some really cool features later on: trail maps, caller ID, text message display, buddy tracking, online data sharing (statistics, etc.), mountain traffic reports, camera and recording features, virtual run previews, lift line information, music controls, emergency calling, and more. Very cool stuff. The SPX spherical polarized version sells for $350 and there’s a version that adds “SPPX xtreme low light spherical photochromatic” coating for $450. Transcend[Zeal Optics via Red Ferret]

Cubicles are the site of many of the worst cases of adult attention -deficit hyperactivity disorder ( ADHD), so it's perhaps a bit ironic that Quotient's ADHD System looks an awful lot like a cubicle on wheels. It's an automated machine that presents a series of games and challenges for a user to participate in, all while watching that user with a pair of cameras -- one up top to monitor head movement and one below to look for a bouncing leg. We think the same could be done far cheaper with a webcam and a Yurex leg odometer, but the FDA has recently seen fit to clear parent company BioBehavioral Diagnostics to start marketing this thing, so look for these to crop up in every elementary school faster than a twitchy kid can say Ritalin.

Quotient system electronically diagnoses ADHD, oh look a bunny originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 09:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink MedGadget| Quotient| Email this| Comments

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full -text RSS service so we can continue developing it. Goldman Sachs and other banks should give up their bank status if they want to avoid the ban on proprietary trading proposed by the White House, Paul Volcker, head of President Barack Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board, said. “The implication for Goldman Sachs or any other institution is, do you want to be a bank?” Mr Volcker said in a video interview with the Financial Times. “If you don’t want to follow those [banking] rules, you want to go out and do a lot of proprietary stuff, fine, but don’t do it with a banking licence.” Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Bill Gates Unimpressed by the iPad by Liam Cassidy (TheAppleBlog)

does that I say, “Oh, wow, I don’t think we can do that.” I am not surprised Bill doesn’t Submitted at 2/11/2010 12:04:11 PM “get” the iPad, in the same way Bill Gates, in case you thought he didn’t “get” the iPod, either. otherwise, is a genius. He really, Gates’ vision of “a computer on really is. Not only was he every desktop” was a grand building a software company at a vision. But that’s as far as the time when no one believed vision went; he certainly didn’t software had a meaningful describe the computer as an future, but his vision of “a appliance. From the Microsoft computer on every desk and in perspective, the “computer” is, every home” was nothing short largely speaking, a screen with a of crazy hugely ambitious. keyboard and a pointing device. Even so, geniuses do get things In fact, it’s even more specific w r o n g s o m e t i m e s . I n a n than that; as far as Microsoft is interview with BNET’s Brent concerned, a computer is a Schlender, he suggests netbooks screen with a keyboard and a will be the devices of choice in a pointing device powered by post-iPad world; Windows. And if you really want “You know, I’m a big believer in to push the boat out, you can add touch and digital reading, but I some flavor of Office into that still think that some mixture of mix, too. Disguise voice, the pen and a real Since neither Windows nor keyboard – in other words a Office are particularly suited to netbook – will be the mainstream p e r v a s i v e , i n t u i t i v e t o u c h on that.” control, the Microsoft definition Hardly shocking, coming from of “the computer” simply doesn’t t h e m a n w h o c o - f o u n d e d accommodate anything like an Microsoft. He adds; iPad. Tablet PCs are a bit easier …it’s not like I sit there and feel for Microsoft to swallow – at the same way I did with iPhone least most of those have a where I say, ‘Oh my God, k e y b o a r d ( m a k i n g t h e m Microsoft didn’t aim high n o t e b o o k s i n d i s g u i s e ) . enough.’ It’s a nice reader, but And while Microsoft knows there’s nothing on the iPad I look Tablet PC’s don’t sell, it also at and say, ‘Oh, I wish Microsoft knows that the interest in had done it.’” Apple’s iPad might translate into As TiPB’s Rene Ritchie pointed a short-lived boost in Tablet PC o u t , t h i s i s r e m a r k a b l y sales, too. But let’s be honest; reminiscent of Gates’ dismissal Microsoft isn’t committed to of the iPod in a BusinessWeek tablets in any meaningful way interview in 2004; because tablets don’t fit into There’s nothing that the iPod Microsoft’s vision of how we

iPhone OS on a tablet device is an obvious fit). Therefore, the iPhone OS is designed to be so simple and intuitive that multitasking is intentionally restricted, reserved for a select-few apps. That’s not a lack of vision or coding acumen, but rather a terribly bold statement of intent. Apple has a vision for how people should interact with computers, and they believe it’s better than anything else we currently have. What’s more, it’s willing to stand by that vision, despite the cries of inflexible critics who fail to understand it. In short, Apple doesn’t sacrifice form for function – rather, Apple allows form to dictate function. u s e c o m p u t e r s . O r , m o r e d i a m e t r i c a l l y o p p o s e d t o Dream Come True accurately, tablets don’t fit into Microsoft’s. Steve Jobs has long- Back in the early noughties, it Microsoft’s vision of how pursued a desire to make the was Gates who championed the businesses use computers. desktop computer more intuitive Tablet PC, and more broadly, the It’s ironic that Microsoft – and, paradoxically, less like a s l a t e f o r m - f a c t o r , b o l d l y popularizer of the ubiquitous traditional computer. So, while p r e d i c t i n g i n 2 0 0 1 t h a t , spreadsheet software – still have Windows exposed increasingly “…within five years I predict it not made Excel (arguably the complex functionality in each will be the most popular form of most popular spreadsheet editor successive iteration, Mac OS X PC sold in America.” on the planet) touch-friendly. did the opposite, hiding or Microsoft’s hardware partners Meanwhile, Apple, considered removing as much complexity as dropped the ball when executing by some to be makers of shiny possible, leaving behind just his vision, helped, no doubt, by toys for posing artistes, have a enough to get the job done. Microsoft’s decision to crowbarbusiness-class spreadsheet app When it came to mobile devices, in a barely modified version of ready to go when the iPad Microsoft’s desktop vision its full desktop OS – the exact launches. (Former Microsoft proved inescapable, and it tried same mistake it’s making again exec Dick Brass offers a possible t o s q u e e z e W i n d o w s i n t o today. Not enough people got explanation for this bewildering everything. (Only the Xbox and their hands on a Tablet PC to oversight in his revealing article Zune break with that tradition.) arrive at an informed opinion on on the NY Times last week.) Just Meanwhile, Apple demonstrated its utility. Not enough software Enough that a device’s software must BILL page 57 Apple’s vision has always been reflect its form factor (like an

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The Dollar Show: Cheap TV and What It Could Mean for the iPad by Darrell Etherington (TheAppleBlog)

definition TV shows cut in half (they currently cost $1.99 per episode). Submitted at 2/11/2010 8:40:56 AM There are plenty of reasons why The Wall Street Journal is they would want that to happen, claiming this week that Apple is though, and the biggest of all is testing out 99 cent episodes of iPad marketability. To people TV shows on iTunes with the who, for example, think a intent of offering the same deal ReadWriteWeb post is actually much more broadly across its the Facebook login page, the library when the iPad launches in iPad is a mysterious device late March. The information i n d e e d , w i t h f e w s e l l a b l e c o m e s c o u r t e s y o f p e o p l e qualities. Why would such familiar with the talks between people pay for the ultimate web Apple and the networks browsing experience, for regarding pricing changes. example, when they’re terrified Shows already being offered at of the web? What they will pay 99 cents are cited as examples of f o r , a n d w h a t t h e y d o testing for this new scheme, but u n d e r s t a n d , i s T V . the shows in question aren’t Bestselling shows offered at a exactly the most popular, so it dollar isn’t only an attempt to seems almost as likely that the woo iTunes TV-viewers to the discounting is designed to new platform, although it will stimulate sales in these specific probably help do that. The c a s e s . M T V ’ s “ W o n d e r advantage of such competitive S h o w z e n ” a n d W a r n e r ’ s pricing for a single, popular type “Children’s Hospital” are among of media is that it will make the those on offer at the reduced rate. iPad a destination device for said Still, we’ve heard rumblings of media, in the same way that the this before, and the article in the iPod has become the digital WSJ fits almost exactly the music player. Apps might sell d e s c r i p t i o n o f w h a t a n the iPod touch and iPhone now, intentional leak from Apple but make no mistake, what sold looks like. Also, I have no doubt their predecessors and allowed that while networks might not be them to even exist in the first that crazy about this idea, there’s place was music. no reason Apple wouldn’t want TV could do for the iPad what to see the price of standard music did for the iPod, and

Apple knows it. Sure, the iPad has apps, but I’d be willing to bet that apps still remain mostly untouched territory for a massive number of people who use the media playback capabilities of their iPods and iPhones. Books aren’t priced competitively enough, nor do they appeal to a wide enough market to create the kind of consumer rush Apple is

prices, which by all accounts are fairly high. Apple should merely open the platform a little by either developing easy conversion options itself for .avi files and other formats, built right into iTunes, or by encouraging third-party companies to do so. In short, make it easier for users to get their own files onto the device, and you broaden the hardware’s appeal immensely. Apple currently makes it somewhat difficult to get your own differently formatted media onto its devices because by doing so, it encourages content providers to offer their media for licensed use with the device. It gives Cupertino the ability to negotiate with those providers, since Apple is actually protecting their interests by discouraging piracy. But if networks don’t begin to take Apple seriously as a looking for with its new device. contender to cable companies No, it has to be TV, and for that and other TV service providers to become a reality, consumers by offering competitive prices, I have to see prices that compete say the Mac-maker is well within with or improve upon cable its right to go its own way and subscription models. open the platform up. Consumers Offering cheaper TV is a step in will reward them with big the right direction, but there is an hardware spends to make up for alternative if talks break down lost media revenue. and Apple can’t offer steep discounts on its current TV

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How-To: Connect to a Cisco VPN Using Snow Leopard or the iPhone OS by Andrew Flocchini (TheAppleBlog)

VPN Type and name it what you want. • The VPN connection will now Submitted at 2/11/2010 9:05:02 AM be in your list. Fill in your Server Snow Leopard has more than its Address and Account Name. Our fair share of improvements. If VPN checks authentication you work in the corporate world against Active Directory so my then Cisco IPsec VPN is a great A c c o u n t name is addition. domain\username. Also be sure Before Apple added this feature, to check the Show VPN Status you had to use Cisco’s client to box so you can easily start and connect up to its VPN. With stop your VPN connection. Snow Leopard and the iPhone • Click Authentication Settings OS, this support is built in. You and enter your Shared Secret and may need to get together with Group Name. Once again, your your Network Admin to get all Network Admin should have this the correct passwords, group information for you. name and such but anything that • Go ahead and apply your can be done in the OS versus a s e t t i n g s a n d c l o s e S y s t e m third-party app is good by me. Preferences. You should see a new VPN status icon in the menu • Open up Network in System bar that when you click, gives a Preferences. drop-down menu to start your • Click the+ sign to create a new VPN connection. connection. Select VPN as the • Click Connect and you should interface, Cisco IPSec as the receive a Password prompt.

• Click Add VPN Configuration. • Click on the IPSec button and fill in all your information just as you did in Snow Leopard. Click Save when you are done. • Try it out by flipping the VPN switch to On. • If all is good, you’ll see you are now connected.

• After you are connected, notice the menu bar icon indicates how long you have been connected. This can be a nice reminder to disconnect if you aren’t using the VPN anymore.

Setting up your iPhone or iPod touch is just as easy. • Launch Settings and then click on General. • Click Network. • Click VPN.

Things to remember when accessing shares over a VPN are that you may need to use fully qualified domain names or IP addresses. Every network is different so get friendly with your Network Admin and he/she will hopefully help you out. It’s nice to see Apple developing things like this on the business side of the market. It does it so simple and to the point, that it puts everyone else to shame. Related GigaOM Pro Research: Cisco’s Big Bet on Consumer Telepresence

Sponsor post: Atimi Software to Be Showcased During 2010 Games in Vancouver by Edit Staff (TheAppleBlog) Submitted at 2/11/2010 9:00:54 AM

Atimi Software has been added to the top 20 Vancouver-based wireless and digital media companies that will be showcased in the city’s Robson Square during the upcoming

Winter Olympics Games and Paralympic Games. The installation is part of VX — short for Vancouver Experience — which is aimed at highlighting the city’s worldclass wireless and new media industry. It is a great honor and opportunity for Atimi and its

iPhone clients to be able to both demonstrate current applications and reveal two new ones that will soon hit the marketplace. Atimi Software Inc. is a crossplatform development company that specializes in Macintosh

applications; porting applications from Windows to the Macintosh; and iPhone, BlackBerry and Android mobile application development for the new generation of smartphones. As a pure services company, Atimi handles high-value intellectual property for some of the largest

technology companies in the world. Its processes ensure those companies reach their projected targets reliably and efficiently, allowing them to focus on building strong, lasting relationships with their own customers.

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BILL continued from page 54

was developed that made good use of it, either. So, while the iPad is far from Microsoft’s ambitions, it’s the closest the industry has ever come to the realization of Gates’ tablet dreams. Gates is obviously loyal to Microsoft, but he’s clearly prepared to say when he thinks Apple has done something remarkable. I don’t believe he fails to grasp what the iPad represents, despite his comments yesterday… and I’m pretty sure he’s disappointed Microsoft couldn’t learn from its earlier tablet mistakes. For a man who

invested so much in the tablet dream, it must be pretty galling to see Apple succeed where he failed. 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

Which Shows Are on the Endangered List? by Brad Trechak (TV Squad)

China orders banks to raise reserve ratios (Financial Times - US homepage)

Submitted at 2/12/2010 10:29:00 AM

We're hitting that time of year when the fates of television shows are decided. The Hollywood Reporter has posted their list of potentially cancelled shows as well as a probability score of renewal next to each. While it is not surprising that'Smallville' is given a high probability of renewal, it is somewhat disturbing. The show has become extremely different since its move to Fridays, focusing more on the geek factor than the teen angst. It's come a long way from the'Buffy'-clone it started out as. If anything, The CW should cancel the series and go immediately to a spin-off Superman series, perhaps called 'Metropolis'. It's also a good thing that'Chuck' has recovered from its precarious perch and become a ratings winner for Monday night. What can I say? I like the show.

Submitted at 2/12/2010 3:24:35 AM

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full -text RSS service so we can continue developing it. China rattled global markets on Friday after the central bank ordered commercial banks to increase the amount of reserves they hold for the second time in a month in order to cool the rapid increase in lending. Reserve requirements for So what do you think of THR's Chinese banks will increase by list? Is it on the mark? Are the critics crazy? Sound off in the 50 basis points from February 25, the central bank said on its comments. Filed under: Programming, website, to 16 per cent for large OpEd, Cancellations, Pickups commercial banks. and Renewals, Ratings, Reality- Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: Free P e r m a l i n k | E m a i l t h i s | | PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. Comments

'The Mentalist' - 'Blood In, Blood Out' Recap by Bob Sassone (TV Squad)

nonsense, by the book. Only I think Jack Webb used to smile a lot more than Cho does. It's great (S02E14) "You are one strange to see Cho (Tim Kang - a good freak, man." - gang member to actor), my favorite character on Jane. the show after Patrick Jane, get Detective Cho is like the Sgt. an A plot in an episode. Friday of'The Mentalist.' He's Wow, Cho is a bit of a hard-ass, worked to get away from his s e r i o u s , d e t e r m i n e d , n o eh? You can see how hard he has past, joining the Army and all Submitted at 2/12/2010 9:29:00 AM

that, and he really doesn't have Reviews, Reality-Free, The any patience or sympathy for the Mentalist people he left behind. At least we Permalink| Email this| | think that at first. Comments As I've said before, I'd watch a spinoff with Cho as the lead. Continue reading'The Mentalist' - 'Blood In, Blood Out' Recap Filed under: OpEd, Episode

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Morning coffee notes (Scripting News)

don't say which oAuth developers should adopt. Problem is there are three, and Been a while. Twitter says, in the very same Google says there's been over 9 email, that they like all three. I m i l l i o n B u z z p o s t s a n d hear that a lot of people at comments so far. Impressive. Twitter read my posts, so please But there hasn't been a single read this: I suppose it's okay to link in my tweet-stream from turn off Basic Authentication, if Buzz, except for the one I you really must. You're going to posted, when I first tried it out lose some apps when you do. I (and quickly shut off when I saw won't convert very many of the mess it created in my Gmail mine, but at least I can since I've inbox). What does this mean? implemented oAuth 1.0. But I'm Well, it hasn't gone viral, at least not in any hurry to implement to the people who I follow on the others for a couple of Twitter. reasons: 1. They're moving Fred Wilson, an investor in a targets. 2. I'm not investing much bunch of companies in the time in Twitter development BuzzSpace, has his review. these days, I'm busy with other Wondering if anyone is thinking things. So come June, a bunch of of creating a wonderful webmail my remaining apps will die. I product that's just webmail, no think it would be better to hold tricks. With Google-quality spam on to the developer momentum filters. I'd pay $100 per year for and go really slow on the the service. But no tricks! I don't deprecation. want any new products to launch Google says the reason they through your product. I don't don't support the Twitter API is want to reach into my email box that it's not an open standard. one day and find a snake! Two comments. 1. WordPress In other news, Mike Arrington and Tumblr thought it was good says TED is a sleeper. enought for them. 2. Isn't Google Last night Twitter sent out an the company that scanned all update on oAuth. They saved the those books and published them best for last. In June they plan to on the web without the authors' turn off Basic Authentication in permission? f a v o r o f o A u t h . T h e y s a y My Roadrunner package will developers should hurry up and arrive today according to Fedex. switch now so they don't have to According to the instructions, I panic come June-time. But they should have service after I install Submitted at 2/12/2010 5:02:59 AM

I love big companies. (Not.) Had dinner last night at a wonderful West Village restaurant called Po, recommended by the illustrious Matt Terenzio. One of the great things about the neighborhood I live in -- lots of great restaurants. I need to get some exercise today! It's a sunny day so I think I may go explore the Hudson and the Highline. Having lunch with Dan Farber who is now the Editor In Chief of CBS.Com. I knew Dan when he was knee-high to a grasshopper, and just Editor In Chief of MacWorld. Also ran into Eric Hippeau who is now CEO of Huffington Post. These are the guys I grew up with in tech. Now they're in NY running things. Proves the old motto, be kind to those you meet on the way up. Once again Jeff Pulver honors me by making me the opening the modem and call the office. speaker of his#140Conf here in Made total sense until I got a call NYC, April 20. I must have been from Time-Warner yesterday saying they had to send an very kind to him at one point! installer out to turn it on. That On after me are the esteemed won't happen until late next John Borthwick of Betaworks week. But the previous tenant in and the honorable Jay Rosen of my apartment had Time-Warner NYU. I wonder if Jeff knows the Internet. Seems to me they can turn it on without having to get counter-culture significance of into the apartment. I'm sure all 4/20? the wires here are still connected.

Funny signs by Zack Sheppard (Flickr Blog) Submitted at 2/11/2010 9:40:47 AM

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full -text RSS service so we can continue developing it. For more laughs check out the Funny signs group. Photos from fishbert, Skuchamenz, popomohaha, Dill Pixels, indiekidd73, maplecs100, BaubCat, and Dania Hurley. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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69 Percent of TV Guide Readers Won't Watch Leno by Danny Gallagher (TV Squad) Submitted at 2/12/2010 10:06:00 AM

Internet polls are always a little squiffy when it comes to interpreting actual raw data. But if I were Jay Leno right now, my chin would be quivering right about now. TV Guide conducted an online poll of their readers and 69 percent of the respondents said they used to watch Jay either on'The Tonight Show' or his by Jason Hughes (TV Squad) interfering with their relationship short-lived'Jay Leno Show' but won't when he returns to the post as "just-friends." Submitted at 2/12/2010 8:34:00 AM With the Valentine's Day dance local news time slot. (S01E16) Suddenly I want to looming, Troy and Pierce tried to Another 15 percent said they spend at least 40 more minutes in regain some of their own dignity would watch Jay in his new time the world of'Community' after early in the episode, only to lose slot, 12 percent said they never tonight's episode. I wonder if it completely by the end of it. watched him in the first place those 40 minutes will come back Surprisingly, despite his "skills" to haunt our dear friend later? on the dance floor, Chang either Jeff and Abed tore it up with has no dignity to lose, or has so one of the most bizarre drunk much that it's impervious to m o n t a g e s I ' v e e v e r s e e n , anything he does. culminating with Abed in the Continue reading'Community' a b s o l u t e b e s t " a f t e r m a t h " 'Communication Studies' Recap by Brian Moylan (Gawker) position I've ever seen. And Jeff Filed under: OpEd, Episode Submitted at 2/12/2010 10:38:03 AM did it all to try and make things R e v i e w s , R e a l i t y - F r e e , Project Runway is all about right with Britta again. Try as C o m m u n i t y they might, those two just can't P e r m a l i n k | E m a i l t h i s | | vision and delusion. The vision to put a cute dress on a magazine seem to get their awkward C o m m e n t s cover. The delusion that will stop feelings for one another to stop print from going extinct. The vision of concentration. The delusion it leads to victory.

'Community' 'Communication Studies' Recap

PROJECT continued from page 59

they outsource all the work to a sweatshop in a third world country (or China) just like the rest of the fashion industry does. Speaking of bad things here are the: Things We Hated: • Not Listening: What is up with designers who don't listen to instructions. Even worse than not following the rules of the challenge is following the rules but missing all the nuance from the person giving them the assignment. Joanna Coles Editorin-Chief of Marie Claire Magazine told them all what they should avoid—black, drab and the remaining 4 percent were colors, patters, things with undecided. detailing on the bottom—and Filed under: Celebrities, w h a t t h e y s h o u l d f o c u s Cancellations, Pickups and on—bright colors, detailing at Renewals, Reality-Free, Jay the neckline, something that will Leno pop. What do these people give P e r m a l i n k | E m a i l t h i s | | her? LoganJesse's is a blue so Comments PROJECT page 60

Project Runway: Stop the Dresses! [Recaps] This week our quilting bee of death got into the bonnet of Marie Claire magazine. We wonder how that happened? It's not like they're sponsoring the show or anything. The challenge was to make a dress to be on the cover of the rag's April issue modeled by Heidi Klum herself. They got this directive from

Joanna Coles Editor-in-Chief of Marie Claire Magazine, who also gave the designers some instruction about what looks the best in print. Then it was off to mood with a modest budget to work their tiny little fingers to the bone for the last time before PROJECT page 59

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PROJECT continued from page 59

dark it might as well be black, Amy's is a shoulder pom pom vomiting up a technicolor print like it's a ball of yarn disemboweled by a rabid cat, Jay's has this long asymmetrical train thing that would get cropped out of a photo, and nearly everyone's was a color of the walls in a suburban apartment complex painted the most boring shade of bland to attract the somnambulists who want to live there. None of these won. And who was applauded? The ones who gave crazy color and detailing up top. See, people. Fucking listen! You don't know better than the experts and think you do is going to give you a short career in fashion and a long career waiting tables at Red Lobster, which is where Andre is now trapped for eternity. • Seth Aaron Shirtless: Our favorite part of the "getting ready montage" that is in each episode is we usually get to see a cute boy naked. Who do we get this week? Not hunky Jay or pretty boy Logan Jesse, but paunchy asshole Seth Aaron whose entire chest has the pallor and hairiness of a backside that hasn't seen the sun since the Clinton administration. Don't do this to us again, please. • Dead Weight: By now we know some of the people who are never going to make it to the final: Seth Aaron, Jesse, and Janeane. Can't we just cut them all at once next week and let the really good people duke it out?

• Tear Up Weepy Janeane: We have already established that Janeane like to cry. This week we have diagnosed her with a severe psychological disorder. We think she is, and this is the scientific term, a complete fucking mess. If she's not talking about emoting the turmoil in her soul or grunting and squealing like a pig trapped in a fence, then she is worrying that everyone is better than her and she'll never finish her garment on time. Seth Aaron, give this girl one of the Klonopin you have stashed in your luggage. Sister needs it! • Tim Gunn Is a Burn Out: No, he's not out back smoking pot (though that would be funny) but he just seems to have lost the old mentoring mojo. Instead he is just a well-dressed robot, spouting off his handful of usual catch phrases, corporate messages, and designer minding instructions. he's like a doll where you pull the string and he gets up, twirls around the room, and says one of three preprogrammed things before crashing lifelessly on the floor, just out of reach of the dirty martini he so desperately needs. • The Winners: Every week there has been someone who deserved to win more than the person they selected to win. With the except of last week, when Amy really deserved to win for her best of the worst red dress, they judges have been a shade off each time. We hope that doesn't happen when they finally

crown someone with the top prize.

perfect for Runway. If only he could augment his talent and personality with Suzanne Things We Loved: Sugarbakers. Then he's be the • The Challenge: Finally these second coming of Christian are stakes worth having. Say Siriano and well on his way to a what you will about Marie long career as both a designer C l a i r e , b u t m o s t o b s c u r e and general star-kissed famous designers would kill for a chance person. to get their looks on the cover of • Joanna Coles Editor-in-Chief a national magazine, especially of Marie Claire Magazine: She on the body of Heidi Klum was the guest judge and she was (hopefully inbetween bouts of as mean as she was pretty. We bearing her latest spawn). Sure it would say we know where might not have turned out that NGFDMCM got it from but we great for Jay McCarroll, but this know she had it before she could be a boon for each of worked with her current boss. them. Setting the bar high made But JCEICMCM has many of everyone try their hardest, which t h e s a m e q u a l i t i e s a s always makes for good TV. NGFDMCM. Their editorial • Madam Butterfly on Acid: meetings in the Heart Building This is how Jay described his must be epic whirlwinds of ego look. We couldn't have said it and smooth, slickly worded better. Fabulous. underminings. • Suzanne Sugarbaker: We hated • Heidi's Laugh: When Suzanne Anthony at first, but she grew on was named the winner (spoiler us. Now she is the shining alert!) and started laughing beacon of this show. Even after inappropriately on the runway, she won this week (spoiler alert!) Heidi retorted with a laugh of her she over reacted a bit on the own. If Tim Gun's chuckle is like runway, but unlike the first a shower of Werther's Originals, week, it was cute and endearing. Heidi's laugh was sharp, prickly, Keep on working, Suzanne. We and unexpected—like 10 million don't think you're good enough toothpicks fired out of a air to take home the final trophy, but cannon at a crowd that thought it we're going to love watching you was going to get some free Ttry. shirts but instead got a face full • Tickle Me, Emilio: While of splinters with colorful bits of Suzanne Sugarbaker doesn't have cellophane at the end. a hope of being the top designing woman, Emilio actually does. In the end it was Suzanne He's talented, just bitchy enough, Sugarbaker who took home the and not afraid to fight hard to top prize (spoiler alert!) for his win a challenge. This guy is blue dress that looked like a

raspberry Icee trapped in a tornado. He stole the top prize from Ben whose postapocalyptic geisha was fresh, different, and made for magazine cover. Also with strong showings were the underappreciated Jonathan with a '70sinspired onesie for the dock of Aristotle Onassis yacht, Amy a f o r e m e n t i o n e d cat/yarn/vomit/print thing (we meant that as a compliment), and Jay's elongated baby doll dress that looked like a tree filled with toilet paper on a slightly breezy chalk night. Dead Weight was sent home for something that even Forever 21 would have laughed out of its cheap depots. There were a bunch of other ugly ones too, but I can't come up with clever adjectives for Seth Aaron's walking suit of armor, Mya's walking Georgia O'Keefe painting, or Janeane's walking Betty Draper nightmare. They all suck. They suck so much that we love them. Let's watch some videos! General Annoyance Description: Everyone is so awed by this challenge that, for a change, they are working hard and being quiet. Except Seth Aaron. He is an asshole and has to annoy everyone and they hate him. What is up with the West Side Story cross-step and snap he's doing? Vision: That everyone cares PROJECT page 62

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Harold Ford's Tennessee Tax Dodge [Ford Tourist] by John Cook (Gawker) Submitted at 2/12/2010 10:41:43 AM

When it comes to his shadow run for Senate, Harold Ford is a New Yorker through and through. When it comes to paying taxes, though, he's still a Tennessean — he's never filed a New York return. Ford claims to have moved to New York three years ago, and says paying "New York taxes" makes him a New Yorker. But his spokeswoman confirms to Gawker that he's never filed a New York tax return — meaning that he's never paid New York's income tax, despite keeping an office and a residence in New York City as a vice chairman of Merrill Lynch since 2007: "He pays New York taxes and will file a New York tax return in April for the first time," Ford's spokeswoman Tammy Sun told Gawker. "He will file all necessary personal disclosure and tax forms that candidates are required to file if he chooses to run." (According to Sun, Ford admitted to the tax dodge yesterday at a press availability in Albany, but we can't find any news accounts mentioning the remarks.) Ford has presumably chosen to instead file in his other home Tennessee, which conveniently has no income tax. Which means that, despite the fact that New York law requires part-time and nonresidents to pay income tax

on money they earn in the state, Ford has shielded his entire Merrill Lynch salary from New York's tax collectors for the past three years. In fact, it seems like Tennessee's lack of an income tax may be the best explanation for Ford's rather complicated two -state life since 2007 — he clearly wanted to live in New York, and married a woman in 2008 who did live in New York. But he made sure to keep a foot in a state whose tax code is friendly to rich guys like himself. When Merrill Lynch announced Ford's hiring in 2007, it said he would be keeping offices in Nashville and New York City. Ford has said that he's basically lived in New York since then, though he never technically lived here until last year since he didn't "spend the requisite number of days" staying at his wife Emily Ford's breathtakingly yellow apartment in the Flatiron district. (" Moved is such a legal term," he told the New York Times). Ford was clearly thinking of New York's 184-day rule, which requires that part-time residents who spend 184 or more days living in the state pay New York taxes on all their income. What he seems to have forgotten is that New York has gone to great pains to prevent wealthy people like him from spending time and earning money in the state and then jetting off to a tax haven come April 15: It also requires nonresidents and people

who live there fewer than 184 days to pay New York income taxes on whatever portion of their income they earned in the state. If Ford did enough business in New York to keep an office there, its reasonable to presume that he earned a good deal of money in New York. Now, we're sure that there are all sorts of accountants' arguments and narrow dodges at Ford's disposal to claim that he didn't owe New York income tax until he moved

running for Senate in New York by claiming you've lived there for three years and pay taxes there. So what taxes is Ford talking about, if he's never paid income tax in New York? We've asked Sun, and haven't heard back. The most pathetic (and, by our lights, likely) answer is New York City's 8.875% sales tax, though Ford could also be talking about sharing in property taxes on Ford's apartment, or paying quarterly estimated tax payments on his freelance income as an MSNBC talking head, which he might have started paying last year once he decided to break that 184-day barrier and commit to New York. Or perhaps he instructed Merrill Lynch to start withholding New York taxes from his salary when he established residency in 2009. And when precisely, did that happen, by the way? According to this Federal Election here last year: He could have Committee filing recording a been paid out of Merrill Lynch's donation Ford made to Colorado Nashville office, for instance, Sen. Mike Bennet, he was still and he could have received the using his Memphis address as majority of his income in a recently as September 29 of last bonus that he could claim he y e a r — 9 8 d a y s b e f o r e h e earned in Tennessee, not New announced his interest in Sen. York. But while those sorts of Kirsten Gillibrand's seat. arguments may be useful to someone trying to get as close as possible to living in New York without suffering the tax consequences of doing so, they're not as effective when you're loudly thinking about

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what he says and thinks he's funny. Delusion: That anyone cares what he says and thinks he's funny. What Would Nina Say: "I don't find any you amusing." Dramometer: 4 Under the Gunn Description: Tim comes into a silent work room and doesn't know what to do with himself. He's so used to making them all shut the fuck and listen to him that the stillness bothers him. Vision: All the designers are tired and beat down from no sleep, crazy challenges, and inhumanely small beds at the Atlas apartments. Delusion: They think they're just working hard. What Would Nina Say: "I like you so much better when you keep your mouth shut." Dramometer: 3 Shit Talk Description: After several strong

showings and a win, everyone has finally figured out that Mila is NGFDMCM's favorite and iis a headstrong bitch who isn't as talented as she (or NGFDMCM) thinks she is. Vision: Saying something is going to change her. Delusion: Mila is going to make the finals, y'all, so you better get used to her and her severe bangs now, because they aren't going anywhere. What Would Nina Say: "Don't listen to what they say. I think you're brilliant. I see some of myself in you." Dramometer: 5 Runway Arrogance Description: Ben watches his dress walk down the runway. Vision: As we said before "Madam Butterfly on Acid." Really, a thing of beauty. This is what I'm wearing for Halloween next year... Delusion: ...minus the belt. What Would Nina Say: "Just

like me, it looks good from the front and the back." Dramometer: 2 Back Talk Description: Michael Kors turns into Tyra Banks and changes the model's outfit and hair before deeming her worthy, just as the crazy host of America's Next Top Model does to her girls just about every week. Sorry, Queen Tangerine. Even with all that fake tanning you're still not dark enough to be Ty-Ty. Vision: Emilio thinks that if he does what they tell him, that he'll win. Delusion: Sorry, they may have broken the rules for you, but your second win will have to come another week. What Would Nina Say: See for yourself. Dramometer: 6

by Richard Lawson (Gawker)

Submitted at 2/12/2010 12:34:26 AM

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

appears on the mend. The Hall of Famer has to hope his return can salvage an NCAA tournament bid for the ailing Huskies. Calhoun returned to his coaching duties Thursday after a medical leave of more than three weeks forced him to miss seven games. He has no restrictions on what he can do and will be on

Googled "facebook login" and have expected direct results. Never mind that the first item Some tech blog recently put up a that comes up in such a search is post called Facebook Wants to the actual Facebook login page. Be Your One True Login. When And never mind that many of the you Google search "facebook frustrated commenters are using login," this post is the fifth result Facebook Connect to comment, that comes up. So naturally the which sort of means they're internet's many geniuses are already logged in. Those are all confused. elitist details. What's important is As this is written, the post has t h a t t h e s e f o l k s G o o g l e d 846 comments, many of which something and expected results, are simple, anguished pleas: but in this confusing byzantine P L E A S E L E T M E L O G I N labyrinth we call the web, well... INTO F A C E B O O K , sadly, things aren't always easy. FACEBOOK IS GRATE BUT Internet people, dear readers. THIS IS REDICULOUS. Because, you see, they've Submitted at 2/12/2010 10:53:10 AM

Connecticut Huskies coach Jim Calhoun back on the job by Associated Press (ESPN.com)

A Reminder of Who's on the Internet: I Just Want to Login to Facebook!!! [Ordinary People]

the bench for Saturday's game against Cincinnati. "I both felt that the time away was important for my personal and professional well-being and that I am ready to move ahead from this point at full speed," Calhoun said. CONNECTICUT page 64

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Vonn’s Bruised Shin Chills U.S. Medal Hopes (WSJ.com: The Daily Fix)

victory. Vonn winning a gold medal (or three) could be legendary.” Right now, Lindsey Vonn has Sports Illustrated’s Tim Layden the most famous right shin in notes that Vonn’s career has sports, and it’s not healthy. Her been marred by injury. dream of winning five medals at The Globe and Mail’s Dawn t h e W i n t e r O l y m p i c s i n Walton writes about two other Vancouver might be over before downhill skiers poised to win the Games begin if that shin she Olympic gold, Maria Riesch of bruised last week in Austria Germany and Anja Pärson of doesn’t heal before her first race Sweden. Sunday. Vonn’s first training run The Vancouver Province’s was scheduled for midday Terry Bell writes about the first Thursday. Associated Press controversy of the Games, which Lindsey Vonn’s gold in press surrounds skeleton, one of those coverage won’t count toward bizarre sports that get little U.S. medal totals. attention outside the Olympics. “The best woman skier in Canadian Jeff Pain, a silver American history (she’s on her medalist in 2006, accuses the way to her third World Cup German squad of using a sled o v e r a l l t i t l e ) , V o n n w a s bolstered by an illegal metal supposed to be the Michael component in the runners. Phelps of these Olympics,” No such controversy in ESPN’s Jim Caple writes. women’s skeleton, where “Every media outlet has been Shelley Rudman is Britain’s best talking up her chances of hope for an Olympic medal. The winning multiple gold medals.” pressure is on: Her funding will Yahoo’s Dan Wetzel says drop substantially if she fails to expectations are unrealistically win a medal. (She won silver high around Vonn. “The bold four years ago.) To win gold, medal goal, pushed by her Rudman will have to defeat the m a r k e t i n g p e o p l e , h e l p e d world’s No. 1 woman, Canadian establish Vonn as the big pre- Melissa Hollingsworth, the Games star,” Wetzel writes. Guardian’s Donald McRae “The risk was that if she won writes. only three golds, she’d be In the Sydney Morning Herald, declared a disappointment. It Dan Silkstone has the story of happened, to some degree, to how Australia’s bobsled team Phelps in the Athens Games made it to the Olympics. when he wasn’t able to win In the Times of London, every race. Now everything Matthew Syed laments that most changes. Just getting out there Olympic athletes come from well and competing would be a -to-do families. “It is estimated Submitted at 2/11/2010 8:21:57 AM

to upsetting No. 2 Syracuse on Wednesday before the Orange held on for a 72-67 victory, its 24th of the season in 25 games. The Huskies are still looking for their first road win (0-6), but the New Haven Register’s Dave Solomon saw progress from t h a t t h e h o t e l , t r a v e l a n d UConn. coaching costs of Chemmy In the Syracuse Post-Standard, Alcott, Britain’s best-known B u d P o l i q u i n t o u t s t h e skier and a medal prospect, are importance of Andy Rautins to about £300,000 a year — not a t h e O r a n g e . ” D e f e n s e figure easily affordable for most choreography leadership. He provided it all,” Poliquin writes, Brits,” Syed writes. Figure skating figures to land “plus a couple of big free throws, boffo ratings for NBC and its down the stretch as this secondaffiliates, but Sports Illustrated’s ranked SU club improved its Frank Deford gives the sport’s record to a fairly astounding 24new scoring system a failing 1. And it did so against a pretty formidable foe.” grade. One team that’s no longer In the Seattle Times, Ron Judd catches up with short-track speed formidable: North Carolina, skater Apolo Ohno, who relishes w h i c h w o n t h e n a t i o n a l competing in his final Olympics. championship last season. The NBC will have fewer tape- Tar Heels are only 13-11 (2-7 in delayed events than in previous the ACC) after losing to Duke, Olympics, unless you live on the 64-54, on the night Tyler West Coast, the Journal’s Sam Hansbrough’s number was Schechner and Amy Chozick retired. For Sports Illustrated’s write, unlike in Canada, where Seth Davis, the Tar Heels’ loss everything will be shown live. signals the end of their NCAA Finally, the Christian Science Tournament hopes. That would represent a big Monitor’s Bill Glauber writes about why the Olympics still disappointment. In the New York Daily News, Dick Weiss matter. Be sure to check back often for writes that few analysts expected the Journal’s comprehensive Carolina to repeat, but the Tar Olympics coverage. Must-see Heels could have been a Sweet video: The Journal’s Reed 16 squad.* * * Albergotti tries moguls skiing.* Dale Earnhardt Jr. is coming off his worst Nascar season ever, a ** UConn came tantalizingly close 25th-place finish without a victory in any race. There might

be no better venue than Sunday’s Daytona 500 to begin a turnaround. In fact, Earnhardt has struggled for the past three years, the last two under Hendrick Motorsports. “So now it has come to this: An icon of the sport has reached a crossroads,” ESPN’s Terry Blount writes. “Either Earnhardt returns to contending status and regains his credibility among the Nascar elite or he falls into a racing purgatory of disappointment and unmet expectations.” Elsewhere in racing: In the Los Angeles Times, Jim Pelz gets the story on drag racing, “ the most crucial four seconds in sports,” and some of its colorful characters over the past halfcentury.* * * Spring training can’t begin soon enough for baseball fans, but anticipation and renewed hope might be tempered somewhat when you check out ticket prices for the best matchups. It’s called “dynamic pricing,” and while SF Weekly’s Joe Eskenazi understands the reasoning behind the Giants’ move to a new pricing system, he doesn’t like it one bit. Sabernomics’s J.C. Bradbury sees benefits in the practice, though. – Tip of the Fix cap to reader Don Hartline and fellow Fixer David Roth. VONN’S page 65

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Calhoun returns to a team that needs a sizzling, upset-heavy winning streak to sniff the NCAA tournament. The Huskies (14-10, 4-7 Big East) have sunk to the bottom half of the conference standings a year after a No. 1 seed and a Final Four berth. UConn's top moment came Jan. 23 when associate head coach George Blaney led the Huskies to an upset of then-No. 1 Texas. But the Huskies threw away their momentum like one of their 352 turnovers this season when they lost the next game at Providence -- and that started the second of their three-game losing streaks this season. UConn ended the skid by eking out a seven-point win Saturday against lowly DePaul (1 win in the Big East) and lost at No. 2 Syracuse 72-67 on Wednesday night. "We still think we're pretty good," Blaney said. "We still think we can be a factor in every game we play in." UConn has gone 3-4 in Calhoun's absence. School officials have not said what was ailing Calhoun, but said it had nothing to do with his three bouts with cancer and was not related to his heart. The losing wasn't the only thing that took some getting used to in Storrs, a bucolic college town,

located amid the dairy farms of northeastern Connecticut. UConn games without Calhoun, as New England as a bowl of clam chowder, have been way too quiet. Gone has been the stomping, the cussing, the barking at officials. Longtime followers of the program described the 67-yearold Calhoun as more down than angry after recent losses. He never knew what kind of performance he'd get out of the erratic Huskies and almost seemed resigned to that fate. Asked recently what UConn basketball is like without Calhoun, forward Stanley Robinson cracked, "[Blaney] doesn't scream." Added freshman center Alex Oriakhi: "The yelling. That's the biggest difference." Blaney, a former head coach at four schools including Holy Cross, is more laid back. He has calmly watched games with his arms folded -- never any hint he was about to blow a gasket over a blown call. The Syracuse game was the 14th time since 2003 he has coached in Calhoun's place, including the NCAA opener last season. "I think initially it was easy because they know me and I've been around a while, especially with the older guys," Blaney

said. "But I think as the time goes on, it's a little more difficult for them because they're used to his style and the way he runs practices. I would say it might be a little confusing to them at this stage." The two gym rats forged a relationship when Blaney coached at Stonehill and Calhoun was in the high school ranks. They crossed paths again when Blaney moved on to Holy Cross and Calhoun went to Northeastern. Calhoun is making $1.6 million the final year of a six-year deal and was on the brink of signing a multi-year extension in December, though the contract was never completed. "This has no bearing on the contract whatsoever," athletic director Jeffrey Hathaway said. The deal is still there for Calhoun -- if he wants it. Calhoun, the gruff Irishman, spoke last season about retiring if the Huskies won the national championship. Now he's in his 38th year as a college head coach. Calhoun has been treated for cancer three times during his UConn career, including last summer when he successfully battled skin cancer. In June, he had to be hospitalized after breaking several ribs during a

charity bike ride. "It's going to take a lot to keep coach Calhoun out. A lot," Oriakhi said. "If you break ribs and keep going on your bike, this is nothing for him." There's also an ongoing NCAA investigation into a report by Yahoo! Sports that former team manager Josh Nochimson helped guide basketball recruit Nate Miles to Connecticut, giving him lodging, transportation, meals and representation. Calhoun has acknowledged that he or his staff may have made mistakes in recruiting Miles. Hathaway said the NCAA and school are in the middle of the review and had no other comment. Calhoun has not talked to the press since the start of his sabbatical and repeated attempts to reach him by The Associated Press have been unsuccessful. He'll address the media at the end of Friday's practice. If Calhoun does retire at the end of the season, this is no immediate successor in place. Blaney is 70 and, while he's filled in when needed, is certainly not a long-term solution. "Whoever takes over, that's going to be the hot seat," former UConn star and Celtics guard Ray Allen said. It's hard to

imagine anyone having more impact on the team than Calhoun. UConn had played in the NCAA tournament just twice in 20 years before Calhoun led them to nine trips in the 1990s. The Huskies need some turning around again, starting with signature victories to leap back into NCAA consideration. Their grueling schedule features games this month at Villanova (No. 5 ESPN/USA Today, No. 4 AP) and West Virginia (No. 4 ESPN/USA Today, No. 5 AP). UConn is 1-5 vs. the Top 25 and the win against Texas looks less impressive as the Longhorns have sputtered. UConn might have to win out and reach the Big East tournament final to be considered for an at-large NCAA bid. That's quite a heady mission for this team -- with or without its legendary coach. Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Drugs, Rain, Apathy: Pivotal Games by Jay Mariotti (FanHouse Main)

are said to be in the dirty group. The bad news, for sportingkind, is that world-class athletes Submitted at 2/11/2010 3:32:00 PM continue to cheat even as the V A N C O U V E R , B r i t i s h strongest testing measures in Columbia -- It's raining in British Olympic history are firmly in Columbia, just as it's supposed to place. Have they not followed rain the next several days and the steroids fallout the last 20most of the next two weeks, some years? Do not they not see meaning the host city of the the shame when an athlete is Winter Olympics may lack one revealed to be a juicer? Are vital ingredient: Winter. This performance-enhancing drugs meteorological hangup only here forever and ever and ever? stands to trigger further debate And if mainstream sports fans about whether the cold-weather w a t c h t h e W i n t e r G a m e s Games, once a gem on the global primarily for what I call the sports calendar, still have the greatest tournament in team chops to be considered a big sports -- the hockey competition deal. Isn't our planet obsessed -- there were concerns Thursday with the World Cup, NFL, Tiger that NHL players aren't subjected Woods, Roger Federer and all to the same testing policies of the sorts of ventures not involving World Anti-Doping Agency as ice, snow, Double McTwists and other Olympians. "It's not as triple Salchows? stringent as you would want,'' Already, hours before the WADA director general David Opening Ceremony inside BC Howman said. "We don't know if Place, we have a scandal amid there's a [doping] problem [in the the trees, water and snow-capped NHL], but you're left with the mountains of a dazzling, party- suspicion that there may be a minded region. On Games eve, problem if you're not prepared to the anti-doping police let it be front up.'' Those of us gearing up known they'd busted more than for Sidney Crosby vs. Alex 30 Olympians for violations and Ovechkin sure don't need a barred them from entering steroids mess. Canada. The good news, for As they talked drugs in the city, America, is that no U.S. athletes Lindsey Vonn was two hours

VONN’S continued from page 63

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previous three years and 50 weeks. A decade into the 21st century, are the masses really into figure skating, bobsled and speedskating anymore? Much as America loved Dorothy Hamill, Eric Heiden and Bonnie Blair, how does anyone relate to their sports anymore when so few people participate in them? The future seems to be in the X Games genre, with no better evidence than White's standing -at $9 million annually -- as the away atop Whistler Mountain, Davis, red-headed snowboarding highest-income Olympian other admitting on her Twitter feed -- freak Shaun White, pioneer short than a few hockey superstars. get used to Twitter feeds here -- -track star Apolo Anton Ohno -- When snowboarding sex-kitten that she "took a bunch" of and deserve your attention. But H a n n a h T e t e r ( s e e S p o r t s painkillers to numb her famously N B C b e g i n s i t s c o v e r a g e Illustrated's swimsuit edition) bruised right shin before a admitting it will lose a minimum draws a higher wage at $1 downhill training run. You can of $200 million because of million a year than the more just hear Jim McKay and the diminished advertising revenue. accomplished Davis, you sense trumpets now, saluting the The hope, as we've seen before, the Winter Games are destined to c o n c e p t o f " a b u n c h " o f is that snowbound segments of become a full-blown version of painkillers. Needless to say, it America warm up to the Games, the X Games -- especially with doesn't help the buzz quotient female viewers take notice of ESPN, home of the X Games, w h e n t h e f i r s t t w o m a j o r figure skating and human- ready to be a prime bidder at the headlines involve drugs and a interest stories and the under-30 next TV negotiating table. chance the golden girl of the crowd rallies around White and As even codgerly David Games could miss part or all of X Games endeavors. The bigger Letterman said the other night, the skiing competition with her sense, though, is that the Winter while interviewing garage-rockinjury. It's sad, really, because so Games are at a crossroads and guitarist White, "This is what the many of these athletes are m a y d e v o l v e i n t o a n i c h e Olympics need more of." brilliant and fascinating -- function because most of us don't brooding speedskater Shani pay attention to these sports the

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Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson out of All-Star Game

The Count: Lakers Weather Bryant Injury

by Marc Stein (ESPN.com)

(WSJ.com: The Daily Fix)

vacation in the Phoenix area and is expected to fly back to Dallas on Friday. Message from fivefilters.org: If Mavericks owner Mark Cuban you can, please donate to the full said it took a little lobbying to -text RSS service so we can league officials to name Kidd as continue developing it. Bryant's replacement. DALLAS -- Would-be starters "But once we laid it out, they Kobe Bryant and Allen Iverson were really excited about it," are out of the NBA All-Star Cuban told reporters in Dallas. Game. Although he is still scheduled to Lee travel to Dallas and take part in Kidd All-Star Weekend festivities as a Jason Kidd of the hometown spectator, Bryant is the third Dallas Mavericks has been West guard to pull out of chosen to replace Bryant. New Sunday's game through injury. York's David Lee is replacing Stern chose Denver's Chauncey Iverson. Billups to replace New Orleans' An ankle injury has prevented C h r i s P a u l ( k n e e ) a n d L o s Bryant from playing in the Los Angeles Clippers center Chris Angeles Lakers' past three Kaman to take the spot of games. Iverson has missed P o r t l a n d ' s Brandon Philadelphia's last five games R o y ( h a m s t r i n g ) . because one of his young Golden State's Monta Ellis, sixth children is ill. in the league in scoring at 26.2 Both informed the league on points per game, might have Thursday that they needed to been a contender to replace withdraw from Sunday's game, Bryant but suffered a knee strain sources said. in Tuesday's home loss to Dallas NBA commissioner David t h a t f o r c e d h i m t o m i s s Stern, who makes all selections Wednesday's win over the on All-Star injury replacements, Clippers. then chose Kidd to make his 10th Iverson has averaged 14.4 points All-Star appearance. Kidd -- who in 25 games since returning to ranks fifth in the league in assists the Sixers in December and (9.3 per game) -- had already left earned more than 1 million votes Dallas to begin an All-Star break in fan balloting to earn an East Submitted at 2/12/2010 7:02:35 AM

starting spot. Iverson will not be required to travel to Dallas because he's missing the game for personal reasons. Lee is averaging 20 points and 11.4 rebounds and becomes the Knicks' first All-Star since Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell in 2001. Stern chose Lee over Milwaukee center Andrew Bogut, who is averaging 16.0 points and 10.2 rebounds and has helped lead the Bucks to within a game of a playoff spot in the East. West coach George Karl and East coach Stan Van Gundy will choose the players who will replace Bryant and Iverson in the respective starting lineups. It's expected that Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki, who just missed out on a starting spot in fan voting when San Antonio's Tim Duncan passed him in the final ballot tally, will replace Bryant as a starter with the West. ESPNDallas.com's Tim MacMahon contributed to this report. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Submitted at 2/11/2010 2:00:21 PM

The Los Angeles Lakers have won three straight games by double digits against Western Conference foes — without Kobe Bryant. What does this say about the importance of the defending champ’s leading scorer to their prospects? Getty Images The Lakers have made do without Kobe Bryant shots like this one in recent games. Different data sources give different answers. Basketballvalue.com puts Bryant just outside the top 10 in the NBA in adjusted plus/minus, a measure of how much better the Lakers are with him on the court than without him. His rating is +12.81, which is a far cry from LeBron James’s league-leading mark of +21.77, but is still a superstar level. However, Wayne Winston’s— which, unlike Basketballvalue’s, attempt to account for those players at the end of NBA benches who play the fewest minutes — put Bryant at +8 rather than +13. His top four players are Dwyane Wade, at +21, and James, Dirk Nowitzki and Kevin Durant at +20. All four of those players rank in the top six at Basketballvalue, demonstrating that the methods aren’t vastly different. But they

do paint different pictures of Bryant’s usefulness to L.A. It’s notable that Winston rates Durant so highly, because after last season Winston’s system showed the Thunder were better without Durant than with him. That brought Winston a lot of criticism for his methods, though Basketballvalue agreed. This year, both sites are very high on the 21-year-old forward, including for his defense, which last year was a liability. At Basketball Reference, Neil Paine takes the longer view in assessing Bryant’s impact on his teammates. Paine gathers the stats of players who appeared alongside Bryant while being coached by Phil Jackson, and compares their stats with and without the Bryant-Jackson combo. Paine finds that these players were at least as good without the two. Perhaps that’s because Bryant is so good offensively, and so prone to use his teams’ possessions with his own shots.

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Snowed-Out Mountain a Gift for Vonn (WSJ.com: The Daily Fix) Submitted at 2/11/2010 6:26:30 PM

American skier Lindsey Vonn, whose debilitating shin injury has put her gold medal hopes in jeopardy, received a potentially significant gift from Mother Nature Thursday. Heavy snow at Whistler Creekside, the site of the downhill run, cancelled practice, forcing all skiers to take the day off. AFP/Getty Images Lindsey Vonn arrives limping for training Thursday in Whistler. Heavy snow forced all skiers off the slopes. Had the days event taken place, Vonn would have had two options: Take the training run, potentially aggravating her deep tissue muscle bruise on her shin, or take the day off, allowing her competition gain a competitive edge by skiing the course and acclimating to its topography. If you want to be fast, you have to memorize the course and know where everything is. In order to do that you need time on the snow, said US ski team spokesman Doug Haley. Vonn is the most prolific female skier in American history, with

injury is called a boot bang because its caused by the edge of the boot digging into the muscles surrounding the shin. Most skiers experience it at least once in their careers. Vonns case, however, is extremely severe. Vonns mother, Linda Krohn, says her daughter knows her limits and would have pulled out if the inury were too serious to compete. She knows when she should stop and when she can keep going, she said. But Krohn says Vonns pain tolerance is extremely high. One thing Krohn thinks will help her daughter cope with the 31 World Cup wins. She has injury is her husbands experience won the last two overall World with the same type of injury. Cup championships, and ranks Thomas Vonn, a former Olympic among the favorites in all five racer, is with his wife in womens alpine skiing disciplines Whistler. Im sure his mind is figuring out how to make it less in the 2010 Games. She injured her right shin in a painful, Ms. Krohn said. Im just training run in Austria Feb. 2, thinking he has a plan. and has been off her skis since Krohn said she has not spoken then to let the injury heal before to her daughter since the injury t h e O l y m p i c s . V o n n t o l d occurred. I will not go near her reporters Thursday at Whistler during the Olympics, says Ms. she was relieved to have an extra Krohn. Shes so focused, I would not interfere with that. day to rest her shin. In the skiing world, Vonns

Source: Bengals work out former Titan, Cowboy Adam "Pacman" Jones by Adam Schefter (ESPN.com) Submitted at 2/12/2010 6:26:52 AM

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full -text RSS service so we can continue developing it. Former Tennessee Titans and Dallas Cowboys cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones worked out for the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday, according to league sources. The workout is thought to be Jones' first with an NFL team since the Cowboys released him in February 2009. Bengals coach Marvin Lewis has been a champion in providing second chances to players. Jones has avoided trouble since his last brush with the law in October 2008. He was involved in an alcohol-related incident with a bodyguard assigned to him by the Cowboys, and hotel employees called police. No arrests were made nor charges filed. But the NFL suspended Jones for four games because the

incident was a violation of the league's personal conduct policy. Jones began his time in Dallas under close league scrutiny after he was suspended for the entire 2007 season for multiple violations of the conduct policy while he was a member of the Titans. The Cowboys traded for Jones before his suspension was over and he was reinstated by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on Aug. 28, 2008. The Bengals also have expressed interest in former Jaguars receiver Matt Jones, who was suspended for the final three games of the 2008 season for violating the league's substance abuse policy. He was cut by the Jaguars in March 2009. According to The Tennessean of Nashville, the Titans have made Matt Jones a contract offer and were awaiting word back. Adam Schefter is ESPN's NFL Insider. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Paul 'Tank' Younger Helped Put Grambling on Map by Dave Goldberg (FanHouse Main)

first African-American quarterback to win a Super Bowl. It's long-time coach, Eddie Submitted at 2/12/2010 1:00:00 AM Robinson, is revered in football Black History Month has been circles. celebrated in some form since But until Paul "Tank'' Younger 1924. For sports fans, it is a came along, it was barely a blip chance to reacquaint themselves on anyone's consciousness with those who broke down outside northern Louisiana. barriers in all areas of Younger, who was primarily a competition and all segments of fullback in 10 NFL seasons, was society. Many are now a trailblazer, the first player from household names and American a historically black college to icons: Joe Louis, Jesse Owens, recognizable as pioneers. During play in the NFL, starting in 1949, J a c k i e R o b i n s o n , W i l m a Black History Month 2010, when pro sports were 98 percent Rudolph, Muhammad Ali, up to FanHouse aims to give them white. He also was one of the Tiger Woods, Tony Dungy and their due. first blacks to work in an NFL Venus and Serena Williams Tank Younger front office -- as assistant general today. In the world of black colleges, manager of the San Diego Every day throughout February, Grambling is Notre Dame, Chargers from 1975-87 and later FanHouse will shed light on the Southern Cal, Penn State and as a scout and administrator for other figures in the history of Alabama rolled into one. It has the Rams, with whom he spent sports whose breakthroughs were turned out dozens of NFL most of his playing career. as significant as those mentioned players, including four Hall of above, but who aren't as instantly Famers and Doug Williams, the

E-reader News Edition

Shaq Makes It Personal in Cavaliers' Win Over Magic by Pat McManamon (FanHouse Main) Submitted at 2/11/2010 6:19:00 PM

Filed under: Cavaliers, Magic CLEVELAND -- Thursday could have been a night for the Cleveland Cavaliers to celebrate their franchise-tying 13th win in a row. Or to marvel at another MVP performance from LeBron James, who turned a 96-96 tie into a final-minutes runaway by scoring or assisting on 16 Cavs points in a row. Or to point to the Cavs' four wins in four games this season over the Lakers and Magic, the two teams that reached the NBA Finals a year ago. But more personal matters took precedence after the Cavs won 115-106, personal matters that will carry through when the two best teams in the East meet in the NBA playoffs in the spring. Think the handshake issue meant something after last

season's playoff series? That's a cool breeze compared to the simmering feelings coming from Shaquille O'Neal regarding Orlando's Dwight Howard. Because as the media straggled into the Cavs locker room, O'Neal stood at his locker, ready and waiting. Clearly he had something he wanted to say. "You tell me," he said, "who the real Superman is."

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No NFL Salary Cap? No Problem by Terence Moore (FanHouse Main) Submitted at 2/11/2010 3:00:00 PM

In a couple of weeks, when NFL players and owners fail to extend their collective bargaining agreement, the salary cap will vanish for the upcoming season. Not only that, players union chief DeMaurice Smith says that if the salary cap goes, his clients never will agree to bring it back, which isn't good news. It's great news. At worst, it is indifferent news, but only if you realize the myth that The All Mighty Salary Cap reigns as the league's messiah. Sorry to reveal the truth to the naive, but there is no Easter Bunny, somebody really was shooting from the grassy knoll, and the salary cap hadn't much to do, for instance, with the normally hapless teams from New Orleans and Tampa Bay capturing Super Bowls during

Dana White Says Anderson Silva Will Still Fight at UFC 112 by Mike Chiappetta (FanHouse Main) Submitted at 2/11/2010 5:08:00 PM

this century. The Saints and the Buccaneers were just better than everybody else. That is, better, as in their combination of players, chemistry and strategy. And what was behind that combination? Well, it wasn't the salary cap. It was those ownerships hiring the right executives to run their franchises. After that, it was those executives acquiring

knowledgeable football people in management. Then it was those knowledgeable football people finding the perfect head coach for the situation. Then it was the whole collection of those folks adding and deleting players and assistant coaches along the way to fit their vision. The salary cap? Please.

Filed under: UFC, FanHouse Exclusive, News Though an injury will keep Vitor Belfort from competing during the UFC's maiden voyage to Abu Dhabi, middleweight champion Anderson Silva is still expected to fight at UFC 112, UFC President Dana White told MMA Fighting early Friday morning. Belfort injured his shoulder in training and will require surgery. White gave no indication as to who Silva might face, but said the fight will be in the middleweight division, indicating that "the Spider" will indeed defend his belt. At last Saturday's UFC 109, Chael

Sonnen soundly defeated Nate Marquardt and was promised a title shot after Belfort and Silva squared off. Now, with Belfort out, Sonnen seems the most likely possibility, but no sure thing.

Uncharted 2 outselling first game, 'closing in' on 3 million sold by Andrew Yoon (Joystiq)

base of the PS3 has something to do with franchise's growing success; and perhaps the addition It may not have charted in the of multiplayer makes Uncharted January NPDs, but Uncharted 2 2 a more attractive purchase than has stealthily beaten sales of the the first game; or maybe it's f i r s t g a m e i n t h e s e r i e s , simply because it's pretty darn according to PlayStation's Jack good. Tretton. We can think of a Uncharted 2 sales are "now n u m b e r o f r e a s o n s w h y : closing in on three million copies Certainly, the growing install sold worldwide," according to Submitted at 2/12/2010 10:59:00 AM

Tretton. Considering those figures, it's clear that Sony management should have one

directive for developer Naughty Dog: " Make another one, please!"

Uncharted 2 outselling first game, 'closing in' on 3 million sold originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Cage initially wanted PlayStation Motion Controller for Heavy Rain by Justin McElroy (Joystiq)

find this quote from Cage regarding his upcoming Heavy Rain. Just to prove we're willing to go "If you are talking about Motion the extra mile for you here at Control, this is something we Joystiq, we taught ourselves initially considered for Heavy Norwegian just to bring you the Rain. The very first version of l a t e s t f r o m D a v i d C a g e ' s the game design was based on i n t e r v i e w w i t h N o r w e g i a n motion control, but it was not publication Dagbladet. Sadly, feasible at the time," he said. Mr. Cage's answers were not in D a g b l a d e t l a t e r h e l p e d u s Norwegian, meaning we wasted confirm via one of Cage's reps $8,000 and what our instructor that he had hoped to design the Jokkum Frantzberg called "a game for the PlayStation Motion very good ear for Norwegian." Controller originally, but felt the The entire project was not in tech simply wasn't far enough vain, though, as we managed to along. Submitted at 2/12/2010 9:07:00 AM

Cage went on to add, "I have a lot of interest in Sony's motion device and there is a good chance that we announce something about it in the coming weeks." We don't know what he'll announce, but we certainly hope that it'll be in Norwegian. Cage initially wanted PlayStation Motion Controller for Heavy Rain originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 09:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Nyla Noor: Luxury Fashion Meets Conscious Living by ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog)

collections “must have” styles, can we worn as a messenger bag by day and a chic clutch by Submitted at 2/11/2010 2:36:22 PM night. Nyla Noor is a brand that It was just last year that sisters merges luxury fashion and Romaana and Saifra Zia left their conscious living. Their collection banking jobs to start their is produced in Manhattan, and lifelong dream of designing the despite the measures they take to perfect eco-luxe handbags. Now, go green, quality and aesthetic with the launch of The Nyla are never sacrificed. Noor Launch Collection, they’ve Prices range from $415-$855 created four beautiful, multi- and they can be purchased at functional styles made from the www.nylanoor.com very best leather and luxurious — K y l e A n d e r s o n , S e n i o r hardware. And, better yet, each A c c e s s o r i e s E d i t o r can be worn in a variety of ways Follow ELLE on Twitter and is the perfect accessory for Become our Facebook fan the fashionista “on the go.” The Mercat Convertible, one of the

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Erin Wasson’s Fall 2010 Show: “Magic” Carpets and an Appearance by Ke$ha by ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 2/11/2010 8:53:30 PM

EEDAR: No More Heroes 2 sold less than 30k in January by JC Fletcher (Joystiq)

was on sale for less than a week in January. (There's certainly room for a few more people to It's sad to admit it, but we never go out and pick it up, though.) expect any third-party "core" Wii " No More Heroes 2: Desperate game to sell well -- regardless of Struggle has scored top reviews its quality or the hype behind it. averaging a 90 (out of 100) since Lowered expectations mean that its release," EEDAR analyst when such a title doesn't Jesse Divnich said in the absolutely tank, it's great news! EEDAR report. "However, sales And the sales of No More came less than 30,000 units for Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle, as its first week (January 26, 2010 reported by EEDAR in its NPD release)." Divinich compared the review analysis, fall somewhere lowish sales to Dead Space in that "didn't absolutely tank" Extraction and MadWorld, both area, especially since the game o f w h i c h a l s o h a d " l o w Submitted at 2/12/2010 10:01:00 AM

marketing budgets, which is likely the wrong strategy to use when attempting to target the Wii consumer, even if you are targeting the 'core' market." When is that ever the right strategy? EEDAR: No More Heroes 2 sold less than 30k in January originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

Erin Wasson knows how to pack a room—be it the tents at Bryant Park or the 6th floor of a home goods store. For her fall 2010 RVCA show tonight, the model/designer/stylist filled New York’s chicest house-wares emporium, ABC Carpet & Home, with editors, friends (and a scantily clad pop-star) all seated on stacked “magic” carpets (much more comfy than tough-chic leather jacket. the folding chairs set up at the Click here to shop Erin's current tents). Causing even the coolest collection for RVCA. of cool kids to lose their —Violet Moon Gayn or composure was singer Ke$ha, Photo: Patrick McMullan who arrived with ELLE’s own Follow ELLE on Twitter. Joe Zee. In proper pop-star style, Become our Facebook fan! she came wearing no pants and a

Fashion/

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Olympic Hopeful Jennifer Rodriguez on How to Get Your Body Movin' by ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 2/11/2010 2:16:11 PM

Don't get me wrong— I love a super-soaker of a workout—but finding the motivation to give up an extra hour of sleep or leave a long day at work to hit the gym is nearly impossible (almost as impossible as getting me to go near a jar of mayonnaise). Recently, I had the opportunity to chat with Nike athlete and Team USA Olympic hopeful Jennifer Rodriguez, a speed skater from Miami, and thankfully took away some words of get-off-your-butt wisdom. I need it: 1. Workouts are always better with a plus one. Whether in a class or on a run, exercising with my friends is always more enjoyable. It's the same at the professional level: "Once I get going, my teammates are there to lift me up if I need it, to keep going," says Rodriguez, who commits six to eight hours a day to training in the summer,

which consists mostly of circuit work. 2. It's never too late to make a comeback. The longer I go without a workout, the harder it is get back in the gym. Rodriguez (the first Cuban-American to medal in a winter sport), full-out retired from speed skating in 2006, but decided to put in the hard work—including regaining ten

us will never, and should never, exert ourselves to the point of blacking out, we can all relate to the exhaustion and aches that set in after a tough workout—not exactly something that's going to make you want to do it again in the coming days. Rodriguez treats soreness by taking cold baths and eating something rich in protein and carbs “as quickly as possible after training.” 5. Another reason to book a massage: As if I need another reason to go to a spa, massages are the perfect way to reward yourself and your muscles. Rodriguez says she gets massages once a week when pounds of muscle mass—to routine, however, is simple she's training. Now, that is return to the sport in 2008. enough for anyone to replicate something that will definitely 3. Buns of steal are real. for a rock-hard behind: lunges, motivate make me get off my Rodriguez's time on the ice has one-legged squats, hip lifts with butt. earned her more than just a elastic bands, and "anything —Maura Lynch, Associate bronze medal from the 2002 where your legs burn." Beauty & Fitness Editor games. She has glutes most 4. No need to ache. Follow ELLE on Twitter w o m e n w o u l d t r a d e t h e i r "On the long track, my body uses Become our Facebook fan Louboutins for: "I get asked up so much oxygen that I black about that area a lot," she laughs. out sometimes towards the end "Skating stems from the hip, so it of a race, and my legs just burn," gets worked a lot." Her toning says Rodriguez. While most of

Economy/

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Tech.view: World Wide Wait (The Economist: Daily columns)

efficient caching elsewhere on the web, used fewer graphics and embraced the PNG and JPEG Submitted at 2/11/2010 11:41:46 PM picture formats, with their Message from fivefilters.org: If smaller file sizes, as soon as they you can, please donate to the full became available. Compared -text RSS service so we can with text, pictures really were the continue developing it. equivalent of 1,000 words, at Tech.view The faster the least when it came to the time internet becomes, the slower it taken to transmit them. loads pages When your correspondent handFeb 12th 2010 | From The coded The Economist’s first Economist online website back in 1994, a typical EVER noticed how long it takes web page was about 50 kilobytes for web pages to load these in size and dial-up modems days? You click on a link and could transfer no more than three wait and wait, and then wait kilobytes a second. To stay under some more, for the content to the “eight-second rule”, pictures t r i c k l e i n . I f n o t h i n g h a s were kept to a minimum, so no happened after ten seconds or so, page took more than three or your impatient correspondent four seconds to begin loading hits the browser’s stop button and never longer than 20 seconds followed by the reload key. In to complete. The irony is that, desperation, he sometimes loads with broadband nowadays more the link into a second or even a or less everywhere, overall third browser tab as well, and connection speeds have gone up bombards the website’s server by leaps and bounds, yet the time with multiple requests for the taken to load web pages seems page. If that fails, he gives up in only to have got longer. disgust and reads a newspaper Your correspondent is instead. admittedly near the end of the Back in the early days of the road for a digital subscriber line internet, when most web users (DSL) connection. But even at relied on dial-up connections, three miles (5km) from the local browsers were crude and web telephone exchange, the speed of graphics were clumsy GIF files, his broadband connection has eight seconds was considered the inched up over the past few years maximum people would stick from 65 kilobytes a second to around for a page to load. To m o r e t h a n 9 0 k i l o b y t e s a increase “stickiness”, web second—as the local line has designers pared their HTML b e e n t w e a k e d a n d l e g a c y code to the bone, collated their equipment like echo-cancelling style-sheet data and JavaScripts coils removed from its junction i n t o s i n g l e f i l e s f o r m o r e boxes.

Sure, he could get 650 kilobytes a second or more from a cable connection. But that would mean ditching his otherwise excellent satellite-TV service. Besides, optical fibre is slowly working its way up his hillside. He could soon have access to the internet at more than six megabytes a second—providing he is prepared to pay $140 a month instead of $21 for his existing DSL connection. A 70-fold increase in speed for a sevenfold increase in price would seem a bargain. But your correspondent is not sure that more raw speed will solve the glacial loading problem. Even with his wimpy DSL connection, pages are rendered quickly enough once the website’s servers (and all the other computers along the route, plus those used to host adverts, graphics and miscellaneous layout bits) start giving his browser’s request some attention. The trouble is getting their attention in the first place. Before two computers can exchange information, they have to agree to talk to one another. Under normal conditions, this requires the user’s computer to send a request to the host computer, which then sends a response back to the user. Only after this “handshaking” is complete can the exchange of data commence. The time taken for this round-trip of request and acknowledgment determines the network’s latency.

The latency cannot be less than the distance the electromagnetic signal has to travel divided by the speed of light. For instance, your correspondent’s home in Los Angeles is 400 miles from a colleague’s in San Francisco. In theory, then, the shortest roundtrip between the two locations is 4.3 milliseconds. But if you “ping” the other computer, you’ll get a round-trip time of typically 700 milliseconds. That is still pretty quick, but it shows just how much time is spent waiting around for the various servers involved to handle the request. There are many places along the way where the message can get bogged down. Queues can build up at routing servers that switch data packages along different routes to their destinations depending on the traffic. Worst of all, the DNS (Domain Name Server) computers used by your ISP can be overwhelmed as they try to translate the names of all the websites subscribers want to visit (say, www.economist.com) into their actual internet addresses (216.35.68.215). If you know it, try using the website’s numerical address rather than its verbose URL (Universal Resource Locator) name. That can sometimes halve the response time. The bottlenecks—whether at the DNS translators, the routing computers or the host’s own servers—stem largely from the way the mix of internet traffic has changed faster than the

infrastructure used to carry it. Websites that were once just 50 kilobytes of text and tiny pictures now come with music, video and animated graphics. YouTube, Hulu, iTunes and BitTorrent have much to answer for. It is even worse on the mobile phone companies’ proprietary networks. Carriers are struggling to keep up with demand as subscribers use their smartphones to check Facebook, stream videos from YouTube and play interactive games. Where a mid-range smart-phone would consume about 100 megabytes of data a month, more advanced models like the Apple iPhone or Motorola Droid, with fully fledged browsers and access to thousands of downloadable applications, tend to consume over 500 megabytes a month. With the imminent arrival of tablet computers like the iPad, which come with wireless modems, the appetite for downloadable data could hit a gigabyte a month (see the lead story in this week’s Business section). And this is just the beginning. On the internet, the average latency for corporate websites in America is currently around 350ms, according to the Network Weather Report operated by the University of California, Los Angeles. Google’s latency is 150ms, Facebook’s 285ms and TECH.VIEW: page 74

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This week's top stories [12 February 2010] (The Economist: News analysis)

says that exploration and capital spending hit $27.1 billion in 2009, 4% higher than in 2008. Submitted at 2/12/2010 6:00:28 AM The company expects to spend Message from fivefilters.org: If $25 billion to $30 billion you can, please donate to the full annually to the same end over -text RSS service so we can the next five years. BP intends to continue developing it. spend some $20 billion this year The oil industry Big Oil is being on investment in new projects forced to rethink its future and drilling, roughly the same Feb 4th 2010 | From The level as last year. Economist online But there are limits to what ON THE face of it the world’s money can buy. State-controlled big and publicly quoted oil rivals—in the Middle East, companies should be celebrating Russia and beyond—jealously some pleasing results this week. guard oil reserves on their home Royal Dutch Shell unveiled its patches. Few new big fields of results on Thursday February oil, at least those that are easy to 4th, reporting that it had made reach and cheap to exploit, have $9.8 billion in 2009. Two days been discovered in recent years. earlier BP boasted profits of $14 And where new opportunities billion for the same year. Yet emerge, such as in Iraq, Western t h e s e b i l l i o n s a r e a oil giants are scrambling to pay disappointment compared with big sums at auctions for drilling the bonanza of previous years rights in territory where the local (Shell, for example, raked in government tightly limits their $31.4 billion in 2008 alone) returns. Even then, competition when soaring oil prices pulled from Chinese, Russian and other profits ever higher. state-run oil firms can be severe. In the long term, however, the National oil companies will often firms’ success depends on pay prices that would alarm sustaining reserves. The big shareholders in the big listed oil western oil companies are trying companies. to expand through acquisitions Thus Western firms are a n d i n v e s t m e n t , b u t t h e increasingly looking for different opportunities do so are becoming sorts of growth. One option is to scarcer. The firms are spending deploy their expertise in the hunt where they can. Exxon Mobil, for oil that is harder to reach, for the biggest listed oil company, example deep offshore, or to go

for reserves such as tar sands that are trickier, and so much pricier, to refine. Another route is to speed up the quest for other energy reserves. France’s Total has branched out into nuclear-power generation. This week Shell announced a $12 billion joint-venture with Cosan, a Brazilian producer of ethanol from sugar cane. This is something of a change of tack. Exxon and Shell are both spending money on “second generation” biofuels made from algae or waste materials, but these could take years to develop. Now Shell can sell Cosan’s “first generation” wares through it global distribution network. By far the biggest bet laid, however, has been on natural gas. Around 40% of Shell’s daily production is now in the form of gas. Total and BP are not far behind. Gas is increasingly important for power generation and heating and the global market is expected to grow by half by 2030. Big oil companies are keen to expand, calculating that their skills at managing huge capital projects will be useful when building gas-liquefaction plants that make the stuff readily transportable. Late last year Chevron, Shell and Exxon agreed to spend $37 billion to

develop the Gorgon field off Australia, another potentially huge source of gas. Nonetheless investors remain cautious because prices are volatile. Exxon’s shares fell in December when the firm bid $30 billion for XTO Energy, which gets its gas from “unconventional” shale beds. Gas prices have tumbled in the past couple of years as new projects, especially shale, came on stream just as the global recession lessened demand. And technological improvements have made the huge reserves of gas in America, from shale beds and the like, a commercial prospect. BP believes that these factors will keep gas prices weak for three or four years, but it could be longer. Though national oil companies have forced the Western oil giants to look farther afield for new reserves, the oil prices, unlike gas prices, are supported by the state-owned firms that make up OPEC. Readers' comments The Economist welcomes your views. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

TECH.VIEW: continued from page 73

YouTube’s 515ms. Such latencies will have to come down considerably if the next generation of internet applications, such as telepresence, high-definition video streaming and remote surgery, are to fulfil their promise. The future is beckoning. Netflix has just announced an ondemand video-streaming service offering full high-definition picture quality (so-called 1080p, which has 1,080 lines in its picture) with 5.1-channel surround sound. Each stream being watched will require a megabyte a second of bandwidth and a latency of less than 60ms if it is to deliver crisp, pin-sharp video and pristine sound. For the internet service providers, that means stepping up investment substantially. But adding a lot more routers to the internet would complicate matters hugely and do little to solve the latency problem. If anything, it would actually increase the number of potential bottlenecks. A better solution might be to light up more of the “dark fibre” installed during the heady days of the dotcom boom, but left lying unused beneath the streets since the bubble burst nearly a decade ago. That is what a number of securities firms have been quietly doing. When shaving a millisecond off the TECH.VIEW: page 75

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TECH.VIEW: continued from page 74

time needed to execute automated trades can increase revenue by $100m, there is plenty of incentive to build private optical networks with latencies approaching zero. Indeed, Google said this week that it was not going to hang around waiting for the telecoms industry to build the new optical web. The company is planning a low-latency fibre network that will be capable of delivering speeds of over 100 megabytes a second for communities of

50,000-500,000 people. With luck, other internet service providers everywhere will get the message. Readers' comments The Economist welcomes your views. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

The popularity of e-readers is on the rise (The Minnesota Daily) (Yahoo! News Search Results for e-readers) Submitted at 2/11/2010 4:49:23 PM

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full -text RSS service so we can continue developing it. Last December Amazon.com’s Kindle became the most-gifted item in the company’s 15-year existence. Christmas Day of the

same month brought another first for Amazon when books for the Kindle outsold Amazon’s vast physical book collection, according to Amazon.com The Kindle, along with Sony’s Reader , Barnes & Noble’s Nook and a number of others, are called e-readers, and they are changing the way many people read their favorite books. An e-reader is a handheld device

The Winter Games! The Snow! The City! The Rings! The dogs! by Tara Kirchner (Flickr Blog)

IOC is pleased to encourage people to share the photos they take during the Olympics. Message from fivefilters.org: If Although as an attendee of an you can, please donate to the full e v e n t y o u d o n o t h a v e -text RSS service so we can commercial rights (ie, you can’t continue developing it. sell your photos) you are The IOC, the official governing encouraged to take photos and body of the Olympics, has set up share them online. their official Olympic photo While we’re at it, we’d like to group for people to share their invite Flickr members who are in photos of the Vancouver 2010 the Vancouver area to join us for Winter Games, and of the a meetup on Monday, February surrounding city of Vancouver. 22, at the Yahoo! Sports Studio Photos? Olympics? Yours? Yes! in Yaletown. We’ll display In case there was any doubt, the photos from the Olympics group

attendance, to answer any questions you might have, and to take part in chronicling the Olympics through the community’s perspective. Photos by BigBean, Robert Scales, and kk+ in the Olympics Flickr group. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Submitted at 2/11/2010 2:27:03 PM

on Flickr, and provide a warm place for you all to regroup and upload your photos. Our friends from the IOC will also be in

that allows the user to choose from a library of previously downloaded books. Once the book is chosen, the user can read the book on the device’s six-inch display. Currently, the Kindle sells six of its books for every 10 physical book sales, Amazon POPULARITY page 77

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E-reader News Edition

Do E-Readers Cause Eye Strain? (New York Times) (Yahoo! News Search Results for e-readers)

“The current problem with reading on screens is that we need to adjust our bodies to our Submitted at 2/12/2010 3:37:33 AM computer screens, rather than the Message from fivefilters.org: If screens adjusting to us,” Dr. you can, please donate to the full Meredith said. -text RSS service so we can Still, as regular readers of Bits continue developing it. comments know, there is a lively The admonition offered by debate among fans of e-readers legions of mothers — “Don’t sit and paper books about which so close to the TV” — isn’t type of reading experience is really an option when it comes to most friendly to the eyes. e-reading devices. You have to It turns out the answer isn’t as get close to the screen to use it. black-and-white as we might The act of reading is going assume. through a number of radical Doctors and researchers note transitions, but perhaps none is that in most instances, paper can more fundamental than the shift offer more visual sophistication from reading on paper to reading than a screen. But certain types on screens. As consumers decide of paper, including inexpensive whether to make this jump and newsprint and the paper in which technology to use, one key softcover books, can actually question is how reading on a provide an inferior reading screen affects the eyes. experience for our eyes than the First of all: doctors say that electronic alternatives. reading on a screen won’t cause With e-readers, there are any harm. currently numerous display “Most of what our mothers told technologies available, from the us about our eyes was wrong,” b l a c k - a n d - w h i t e E I n k said Dr. Travis Meredith, chair t e c h n o l o g y f o u n d i n of the ophthalmology department Amazon.com’s Kindle and the at the University of North Barnes & Noble Nook, to the Carolina, Chapel Hill. “Sitting coming full-color IPS LCD close to a television, or computer display that will come built into screen, isn’t bad for our eyes. It’s Apple’s iPad. And then there’s a variety of other factors that can old-fashioned paper. Does one cause physical fatigue.” offer a better reading experience For example, the ergonomics of than the others? reading screens and the lack of Michael Bove, director of the blinking when we stare at them C o n s u m e r E l e c t r o n i c s play a big role in eye fatigue. Laboratory at the M.I.T. Media

Lab, says different screens make sense for different purposes. “It depends on the viewing circumstances, including the software and typography on the screen,” said Mr. Bove. “Right now E Ink is great in sunlight, but in certain situations, a piece of paper can be a better display than E Ink, and in dim light, an LCD display can be better than all of these technologies.” E Ink has a very low contrast ratio. Although it can offer an excellent reading experience in bright sunlight, the screens can become uncomfortable to use in dark settings because of the lack of contrast and backlighting on the screen. LCD screens, meanwhile, have long struggled to offer good viewing angles for reading. Apple’s latest IPS LCD screens include extremely wide viewing angles, but the reflective glass on the screen could be a hindrance in brightly lit situations. Professor Alan Hedge, director of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Laboratory at Cornell University, said that reducing eye fatigue is less a matter of choosing a specific display than of taking short breaks from looking at the screen. When we read, Dr. Hedge explained, a series of ocular muscles jump around and can cause strain, regardless of

whether we are looking at pixels or paper. “While you’re reading, your eyes make about 10,000 movements an hour. It’s important to take a step back every 20 minutes and let your eyes rest,” he said. Today’s screens are definitely less tiring to look at than older displays, which refreshed the image much less frequently, causing a flicker. Carl Taussig, director of Hewlett-Packard’s Information Surfaces Lab, said the 120 Hz refresh rate typical of modern screens is much quicker than our eyes can even see. “The new LCDs don’t affect your eyes,” Mr. Taussig said. “Today’s screens update every eight milliseconds, whereas the human eye is moving at a speed between 10 and 30 milliseconds.” Mr. Taussig said consumers will pick the type of screen that makes sense on an individual basis. “I don’t think there is a single technology that will be optimum for all the things we want to do with our devices. For example, H.P. sells 65 million displays a year, and they are all used in a different way.” Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Switched On: I, hotspot (Engadget) (Yahoo! News Search Results for e-readers) Submitted at 2/11/2010 2:54:00 PM

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full -text RSS service so we can continue developing it. Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. One of the conundrums facing device makers today is how to add wireless connectivity to their products. E-readers such as the Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook use internet access primarily for selling you more content, so it can be completely subsidized. Laptops, on the other hand, can consume large amounts of data, and so plans can run $60 per month and have capped bandwidth, even at that price. Apple and AT&T's iPad pricing scheme attempts a compromise: a $15 prepaid for a minimal 250 MB per month that could serve the needs of many users (especially with a Flashless browser and sideloaded video delivery), along with the option of a $30 unlimited plan. For many users, though, there is another option: bring your own broadband. Last year, Novatel Wireless's MiFi, launched in the SWITCHED page 77

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said. “We are surprised that the number is so high this early on given that we’ve been selling physical books for 15 years.” Accounting for much of the ereader’s success is the convenience that the device can offer, staff writer for Wired Magazine Priya Ganapati said. “How many books can you pack in your backpack — three or four? With an e-reader you can have hundreds of books in one device that you can fit in your jacket pocket,” she said. The library of books to choose from on a user’s e-reader is made up of books that were bought from the specific e-reader’s ebook store, which can be accessed through the device’s free wireless connection. The ability to buy a new book from just about anywhere is an attractive feature to many users, editor for ZDNet.com and Mobile Gadgeteer Joel Evan said. “It’s pretty convenient to be able to impulse buy a book and have it available on your device in seconds.” The e-book libraries of Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Sony offer the majority of their books for download for $9.99. Ganapati said this price adds to the reasons

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for the current popularity of ereaders. “I can get the latest Dan Brown book for 10 dollars. I don’t have to go to a store and probably pay more,” she said. Before you can download the ebooks to your reader, you have to buy the device at a price that is a point of concern for some. With most readers starting around $250, the e-reader may be more catered to people who read more extensively, Evans said. “You have to buy a lot of books to justify the initial purchase price,” he said. University of Minnesota Bookstore Associate Justin Adams said the price is high for e-readers when other similarlypriced devices perform a number of functions, as well as read ebooks. “The Netbooks we sell are only $50 more expensive than our ereader, and you can do a lot more on a Netbook,” he said. Besides the price, current ebook readers do have some other criticisms. Ganapati said current e-book readers like the Kindle are limited in the types of books that are readable on the device. The reason for these limitations

is the lack of color on the ereaders, which makes reading texts like cookbooks and textbooks extremely difficult, Ganapati said. “It’s great for nonfiction. It’s great for fiction. But if you want to go outside of popular reading, it’s not going to work for you,” she said. Apple has recently announced the future release of the iPad . The tablet-based device breaks the limitations of current ereaders, according to Ganapati. The iPad is a device that has the e-book reading function, but it also adds the ability to check email, watch video, listen to music and a number of other features. However, these added features do come at a price. Evans said that the iPad model would start at $499. “While it will do a lot more than an ereader, the price is higher to start with,” he said. Ganapati said that the iPad’s color display allows the device to better accommodate texts like magazines, newspapers and even textbooks. “What Apple has done is it changed the game to where it is forcing [other e-reader retailers]

to step up,” Ganapati said. Apple has signed deals with publishers to bring textbooks to the iPad, Ganapati said. “It will probably mean a way to replace the notebook and textbook that most students carry to the classroom.” The classroom is where ereaders could have a growing presence in the future, according to Evans. “I think it’s going to start in schools where kids don’t have to take backpacks loaded with books,” he said. Despite the e-readers’ growing presence in the world of literature, Ganapati said she believes there will always be a place for printed books. “People still buy CD’s. People still buy vinyl records. There is always going to be a place for physical books.” Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

U.S. by Sprint and Verizon Wireless, opened up the possibility for virtually any WiFi device to access the internet over 3G connections. Laptops without 3G cards could access the web from a car and the iPod touch became a functional iPhone -and in some parts of AT&T's alleged network coverage, more functional than an iPhone. Recently Sprint followed up the introduction of it MiFi with the Overdrive from Sierra Wireless. The Overdrive is significantly chunkier than the MiFi, but brings several advantages. First among these is access to 4G WiMAX networks in the expanding canvas of cities where it is available. Others include an advanced web-based device management site that lets you tweak all kinds of parameters, the ability to act as a GPS receiver, a microSD slot for sharing content with a workgroup, and an LCD that can display status indicators, and the network name and password -- a much higher-tech approach to the simple sicker on the MiFi. There's even a speaker to alert you to connections and when the battery is running low. And then, of course, there is the hotspot that may already be in your hands -- "tethering" with your mobile phone. U.S. carriers have had an inconsistent record in supporting this functionality, but Verizon Wireless is now SWITCHED page 78

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supporting it on the Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus, and AT&T offers it for the BlackBerry (and has promised, but not delivered, tethering for the iPhone). Other personal hotspots have been announced that don't provide mobile broadband on the go, but can offer other services. One is Tivit, a portable receiver for the new over-the-air mobile digital television broadcasts that will be rolling out in the U.S. later in 2010. With Tivit, device makers don't need to build a DTV receiver and antenna into their products, although they will need some client software to receive the rebroadcasts over WiFi. And then there's AirStash, a small USB drive that accepts SD cards and can serve up that content on demand. It can be

used to extend the storage of your own WiFi phone or to conveniently pass along some photos or a presentation to others on the go. While WiFi isn't fast enough to substitute completely for a device's native functions, it can enable just about any device that has a web browser to tap into an array of content and services. And Novatel Wireless intends to turn its mobile hotspots into platforms for which developers can write programs, making it harder to limit device capabilities through native development restrictions. Imagine a MiFi that contained a browser like like Skyfire for Windows Mobile and Symbian, which can render Flash video -- you could theoretically play it back on a device that

doesn't support the plug-in. And, of course, the capability will travel with you to whatever group accompanies you. Increasingly, as you go out to dinner with friends, you may find that your waiter is far from your only server. Ross Rubin is executive director of industry analysis for consumer technology at market research and analysis firm The NPD Group. Views expressed in Switched On are his own. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

How To: Access Sites Blocked By Your Work's IT Overlords by John Mahoney (Popular Science - New Technology, Science News, The Future Now)

home, through which you can access all the fun sites your IT department doesn't want you to use. Their tool of choice is PHProxy, Submitted at 2/11/2010 1:00:50 PM an open source tool that requires Lifehacker today has a nice a web server to run. You can use guide that answers one of the the built-in server on an OS X questions I get asked most often machine, or one of several all-inby tech-advice-seeking friends: one solutions that work for both which you then use to access How do I get around my work's Mac and Windows. From there, y o u r h o m e m a c h i n e f r o m web site blocker? Lifehacker's you set up a friendly unchanging a n y w h e r e . V e r y c o o l . answer is to set up a proxy server URL for your home machine It's a bit involved, but should be running on a machine at your with a free service like DynDNS,

fairly foolproof if set up correctly (you don't have to install any software on your work computer or even adjust its

browser settings--both of which are often impossible on work machines). Foolproof, that is, until your IT department spies you betting on camel racing in Dubai (or worse!) while you should be working and terminates your ass. Check out the link below for the full stepby-step. [ Lifehacker]

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Standard of Living: North Dakotans the Most Satisfied (All Gallup Headlines) Submitted at 2/11/2010 8:00:00 PM

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full -text RSS service so we can continue developing it. PRINCETON, NJ -- On a stateby-state basis, U.S. adults' average satisfaction in 2009 with their own standard of living -that is, "all the things you can buy and do" -- fell in a fairly narrow range, from 82.3% in North Dakota at the high end to 69% in Nevada at the low end. "Satisfaction in Mississippi, Delaware, and North Dakota increased by more than five percentage points between 2008 and 2009, and in Connecticut, Maine, and New York it increased by more than four points." Geographically, the states that were home to residents with the highest levels of satisfaction with their standard of living (77% or greater) in 2009 are concentrated in the Midwest and Rocky Mountain regions, plus Alaska, Hawaii, and Virginia. Of the four least satisfied (all with satisfaction scores below 71%), two are in the ailing Rust Belt (Ohio and Michigan); the others are economically troubled Nevada and Rhode Island. The 2009 satisfaction results are based on combined data for Gallup Daily tracking from Jan. 2 through Dec. 30, 2009, including more than 350,000 interviews for the entire year.

The state sample sizes range from 632 in the District of Columbia and 878 in Wyoming to 37,203 in California. Fortyone states had more than 2,000 respondents. Several states showed a small, but statistically meaningful, improvement in satisfaction with their standard of living in the past year. Satisfaction in Mississippi, Delaware, and North Dakota increased by more than five percentage points between 2008 and 2009, and in Connecticut, Maine, and New York it increased by more than four points. Overall, 31 states showed an increase in satisfaction of at least one percentage point between 2008 and 2009, whereas 5 showed a decrease of at least one point (the greatest decrease, Hawaii's, was less than four points.) The remaining 14 states plus the District of Columbia changed by less than one point. Standard of Living Reviews Don't Entirely Match Economic Confidence The public's broad satisfaction with its standard of living in 2009 contrasts with state residents' uniformly pessimistic views of national economic conditions(ranging from -16 to 47). In terms of rankings, there is a fair amount of consistency between states whose residents hold the most positive perceptions of their standard of living and states with the least

negative perceptions of the economy. The reverse is also true -- those highly negative (or less positive) on one measure tend to be among the most negative on the other. However, there are several major exceptions to this. • •

according to satisfaction with standard of living than they do on the basis of economic confidence. Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Louisiana, the District of Columbia, and North Carolina all rank significantly lower on satisfaction with standard of living than they do on economic confidence. Bottom Line Additionally, Hawaii, Despite the many serious Wyoming, Maine, Pennsylvania, economic problems facing the and Arizona all rank much c o u n t r y i n 2 0 0 9 - - a n d h i g h e r a m o n g t h e s t a t e s consumers' resulting pessimism

about the economy -- the great majority of residents of every state were upbeat about their own standard of living last year. This still left nearly 30% of Americans dissatisfied in many states, highlighting the clear need for improvement. However, in most states the 2009 readings were slightly improved over 2008. Gallup's "State of the States" series reveals state-by-state differences on political, economic, and well-being measures Gallup tracks each day. New stories will be released throughout the month of February. Survey Methods Results are based on telephone interviews with 353,848 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted Jan. 2-Dec. 30, 2009, as part of Gallup Daily tracking. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±1 percentage point. The margin of error for most states is ±2 percentage points, but is as high as ±5 percentage points for the District of Columbia. For the most populous states, the margin of error is ±1 percentage point. Interviews are conducted with respondents on land-line telephones and cellular phones. STANDARD page 80

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In addition to sampling error, Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: question wording and practical PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, difficulties in conducting surveys Term Extraction. can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls. Five Filters featured article:

New Camera System Takes the Guesswork out of Baseball Stats by Bjorn Carey (Popular Science - New Technology, Science News, The Future Now)

are just too many unknowns in a play. How much ground did Jeter cover? How fast was the ball moving? In essence: How unlikely was it that he'd catch the Submitted at 2/12/2010 7:13:04 AM ball? It tracks fielders for definitive This off-season, the broadcastdefensive analysis tech company Sportvision will This could be the year that install a new player-tracking baseball-stat freaks finally crack camera system into ballparks that the "Derek Jeter enigma." A could finally help produce panel of coaches has awarded the accurate defensive statistics. New York Yankees' shortstop Sportvision's FieldFX camera four of the past six Gold Glove system records the action while awards for fielding excellence. object-recognition software That drives statisticians nuts, identifies each fielder and because nearly every statistical runner, as well as the ball. After model ranks Jeter's defense a play, the system spits out data below average. for every movement: the But evaluating fielding is trajectory of the ball, how far the baseball's hardest math. There fielder ran, and so on. "After an

amazing catch by an outfielder, we can compare his speed and route to the ball with our database and show the TV audience that this player performed so well that 80

percent of the league couldn't have made that catch," says Ryan Zander, Sportvision's manager of baseball products. That information, he says, will allow a much more quantitative measure

of exactly what is an error. The tech could transform how teams scout players and dole out contracts, and it will provide more in-depth analysis during broadcasts this summer. But it's the stat junkies who are really salivating for the data. "We can pick out systematically who's good and bad, but there's still guesswork with our models," says Wharton School statistician Shane Jensen, who writes models for fielding stats. "We'll certainly be able to settle who's the best shortstop." Click Here to View the Gallery

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Nanofiber Lamps Are More Efficient Than Incandescent Bulbs, Eco-FriendlierThan Fluorescent by Stuart Fox (Popular Science - New Technology, Science News, The Future Now)

than fluorescent bulbs. The nanofibers themselves have diameters smaller than a human hair, and emit warm, white light when in contact with an electric Submitted at 2/11/2010 1:45:18 PM current. More important from an Photoluminescent nanofibers energy usage perspective, the emit light efficiently nanofiber lights put out 55 For those who want to start lumens of light per watt. That saving the planet at home, makes them five times more lighting presents a vexing efficient than a traditional light paradox. While incandescent bulb. bulbs are wildly inefficient, Unfortunately, the lights remain c o m p a c t f l u o r e s c e n t b u l b s in the testing phase. According contain hazardous chemicals. to RTI, the nanofiber bulbs won't W i t h f u n d i n g f r o m t h e become available for at least Department of Energy, RTI another three to five years. Until International claims to have then, everyone has to continue solved the problem with the lighting their house the oldinvention of nanofiber bulbs fashioned way. more efficient than regular lights, and more environmentally sound

Iran Loads Up On High-Tech Chinese Riot-Control Trucks by Stuart Fox (Popular Science - New Technology, Science News, The Future Now) Submitted at 2/11/2010 2:28:45 PM

Today marks the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. And in anticipation of Green Movement protests today, Iran has a new fleet of scary, high-tech riotcontrol trucks.

Made in China, the trucks hold 2,640 gallons of water that they can spray at protesters from up to 220 feet away. The truck also contains three 26-gallon drums that can be filled with tear gas, burning chemicals, and paint. The paint marks protesters, so that if they slip pass a police cordon during the chaos of rioting, they can be picked up by the cops later in the day. Each truck costs around $650,000, but

it is unknown how many the Iranian government purchased. What is known is that the trucks, combined with a pre-anniversary Internet crackdown, early shows of force by Basij militia members, and a year long wave of opposition arrests, has succeeded in controlling Green Movement opposition protests. [ LA Times, via Danger Room]

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IBM Develops Higher-Efficiency Solar Cells Using Non-Rare Materials by Stuart Fox (Popular Science - New Technology, Science News, The Future Now)

But IBM is now backing those words up with action, by unveiling a groundbreaking solar cell, 40 percent more efficient than any similar cells. Submitted at 2/11/2010 12:11:03 PM The cells operate at a power While IBM is primarily known conversion efficiency of 9.6 for its information technology percent. And while that isn't that products, the company has high, the cells use only common recently begun expanding into elements like copper, zinc, tin, the alternative energy market. So s u l f u r , a n d s e l e n i u m . B y o n t h e m a r k e t t o d a y o n l y far, that change has mainly taken comparison, the most efficient o p e r a t e s a t 6 . 7 p e r c e n t the form of a new ad campaign. common earth element solar cell

efficiency. By shying away from the rare earth elements employed by so many other solar cells, IBM hopes to both keep the cost of their cells down, and prevent reliance on foreign sources for rare earth elements. Ultimately, IBM plans to lease the technology to other companies, rather than getting into the solar manufacturing business.