Liberty Newspost Mar-03-10 by Liberty Newspost

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Coffee Party USA takes on the Tea Party Ed Stoddard (Front Row Washington) Submitted at 3/2/2010 5:01:37 PM

America’s conservative Tea Party movement may be on the boil, but the left is brewing up its own version in The Coffee Party USA. The movement has launched itself on the social networking site Facebook where it has acquired more than 50,000 fans over the past month. You can see some news reports and commentary about it here and here and here. Under the battle cry “The Coffee Party USA: Wake Up and Stand Up” it is asking people to host a Coffee Party event on their March 13 “kickoff.” “What’s your favorite spot for a cup of coffee or Sunday brunch? Enter it here along with what time on March 13th you plan to meet, and you are a Coffee Party

coordinator! We are volunteers, working to restore our capacity as Americans to engage a civil and respectful conversation about public policy. As with any disagreement, the first step is sitting down to talk,” it says. Like the Tea Party — a conservative movement opposed to big government and President Barack Obama’s agenda which takes its name from an 18th century American revolt against British colonial rule — the Coffee Party claims to be “100 percent grassroots.” “No lobbyists here. No pundits. And no hyper-partisan strategists calling the shots in this movement. We are a spontaneous and collective expression of our desire to forge a culture of civic engagement that is solution-oriented, not blame-oriented,” it says. And like the Tea Partiers it evokes America’s 18th century founders, with a feminist twist:

doubt find some red meat here: what could be more elitist and out of touch than the coffeehouse, latte and Starbucks crowd? The Coffee Party also has some catching up to do. The Tea Party movement is diffuse but it has morphed from a protest movement marked last year by “Our Founding Fathers and a n g r y r a l l i e s a n d h e a t e d Mothers gave us an enduring t o w n h a l l m e e t i n g s i n t o a gift — Democracy — and we political machine that plans to must use it to meet the make an impact in state challenges that we face as a primaries this year with an eye to the November congressional nation.” “We are an alternative to the elections and ultimately the Tea Party,” says Coffee Party 2 0 1 2 W h i t e H o u s e r a c e . movement founder Annabel Essentially, it is working to get Park — identified as a out the vote for (mostly “concerned citizen” — in her Republican) candidates who Y o u T u b e p i t c h , c o f f e e i n subscribe to its view of limited hand, which you can see here: government and low taxes and http://www.youtube.com/watch? deficits. v = l O _ 5 H v n F E Do you think the Coffee Party v0&feature=player_embedded can mount a credible alternative Conservative critics will no from the liberal left?

EU gives obscure browsers a big chance Stephen Shankland (Webware.com)

Seven lesser-known browsers are getting a chance at relevance

as 100 million Europeans see alternatives to Internet Explorer.

Originally posted at Deep Tech

South African President Jacob Zuma visits Britain with his latest wife (Latest news, breaking news, current news, UK news, world news, celebrity news, politics news) Submitted at 3/3/2010 6:55:43 AM

South African President Jacob Zuma is a polygamist who has been married five times and has 20 children. He has arrived in the UK with his fifth wife, Thobeka Madiba Zuma Picture: AFP/GETTY IMAGES Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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US Senate ends benefits impasse (BBC News | Americas | World Edition) Submitted at 3/3/2010 3:00:32 AM

The US Senate has passed stopgap legislation to keep benefits flowing for the longterm jobless and provide funding for road building projects. The 78 to 19 vote came after Republican Senator Jim Bunning, who blocked the move for days, dropped his objections amid pressure from his own party. He had argued that the bill would add $10bn (£6.6bn) to the federal deficit. As existing legislation had expired, thousands faced losing benefits, while road workers were told to stay home. The legislation passed by the

Senate on Tuesday extends a number of programmes for another month while Congress grapples with a much larger bill covering payments through the year. Kentucky Senator Mr Bunning, 78, had used procedural tactics since last Thursday to delay the measure. The former baseball star said he did not want to add to the US's ballooning deficit, and that the Democrats had not explained how they were going to pay for it. Many Republicans said they agreed with his view but not his tactics. The deadlock was broken when Mr Bunning lifted his opposition in return for a vote to close a tax loophole. But he insisted the cost of

unemployment benefits should not be added to the federal deficit. "We are on an unsustainable path as far as the budget," he said. Democratic Senator Dick Durbin said Mr Bunning had accepted an offer he had turned down for days. "As a result... unemployment benefits were cut off for thousands of people across America, assistance for health care was cut off across America, thousands of federal employees were furloughed," he said. Print Sponsor Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

U.S. Declassifies Part of Secret Cybersecurity Plan Kim Zetter (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 3/3/2010 6:08:00 AM

The Obama administration declassifies part of the government’s cybersecurity

plan, publishing parts that discuss intrusion detection systems for federal computer networks and the government’s role in securing critical infrastructure - but nothing about cyberwarfare.

Fine. You Tell Us What You'd Drive In a 'Snowicane' Chuck Squatriglia (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 3/3/2010 6:54:00 AM

Wow. You guys are brutal. We expected to take some heat for our 'Perfect Car for a

Snowicane' post, but some of you surprised us with both your vitriol and the seriousness with which you took a tongue-incheek post Fine. Have it your way. Seriously. In our poll.

Guatemala police chief arrested (BBC News | Americas | World Edition) Submitted at 3/2/2010 2:51:54 PM

Guatemala's chief of national police and the country's top antidrugs official have been arrested over alleged links to drug trafficking. Attorney General Amilcar Velasquez said police chief Baltazar Gomez and Nelly Bonilla were being held in

connection with a cocaine theft in March 2009. Mr Velasquez said five police agents were killed as a result of the theft. Mexican drug gangs have been moving operations into Guatemala as they come under pressure in their own country. The two most senior officials in Guatemala's fight against drug trafficking were arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit

a crime, illegal possession of weapons and obstruction of justice. "The captures were the result of tracking the investigation into the drug robbery that took place in Amatitlan, which those detained today are believed to have participated in," Mr Velasquez said. The arrests come two days after President Alvaro Colom removed Interior Minister Raul

Velasquez from office over alleged corruption. With the US secretary of state about to visit Guatemala, the state department has published a report expressing serious concerns about corruption and inadequate law enforcement in Guatemala. With Mexico making strong efforts against drug traffickers, Washington fears the cartels are moving south to take advantage

of lax policing and limited surveillance in Guatemala, says the BBC's Julian Miglierini in Mexico City. Print Sponsor Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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EU gives obscure browsers a big chance (CNET News.com) Submitted at 3/3/2010 4:00:00 AM

It took Mozilla more than five years of concerted effort and a lucrative partnership with Google to dent Internet Explorer's dominance. But maybe it doesn't have to be so hard. Courtesy of an antitrust case against Microsoft in the European Union, several smallfry browsers are getting a helping hand that could boost their efforts to attain relevance. At least as long as Europeans notice a particular scroll bar. "The ballot represents an enormous opportunity for Maxthon," said Ron White, a spokesman for one of those relatively obscure browsers that will be brought to the attention of Europeans. "Even though the choice screen does its best to hide Maxthon and six other lesser-known browsers, it's still a safe bet that the ballot will bring Maxthon to the attention of hundreds of thousands of computer users who would otherwise never hear of it." Once you slide the scrollbar past the five better-known browsers on Microsoft's choice screen, seven lesser-known options come into view.(Credit: screenshot by Stephen Shakland/CNET) Through Microsoft's 2009 settlement of the EU antitrust case, the company will present a

"ballot" screen with a choice of browsers to Windows users in the European Union--about 100 million of them, by the European Commission's estimate. "We plan to begin a phased rollout of the update across Europe the week of March 1," said Dave Heiner, Microsoft's deputy general counsel, in a recent blog post, and a Microsoft representative confirmed that the company has indeed begun issuing the browser choice update across European Union nations. The European Commission welcomed the move: "This should ensure competition on the merits and allow consumers to benefit from technical developments and innovation

both on the Web browser market and on related markets, such as Web-based applications." Browser choice in action Here's how it works. After a Windows Update change Microsoft has begun issuing, the choices appear to people with Internet Explorer set as the default browser. The choice screen shows the five most widely used browsers, in random order: IE, Firefox, Google's Chrome, Apple's Safari, and Opera. Next to the icons are links to install them or to get more information. But tucked at the bottom of the EU browser options list is a scrollbar that reveals seven other browsers. Don't be surprised if you haven't heard of them, much less installed them.

They are GreenBrowser, KMeleon, FlashPeak's SlimBrowser, Maxthon International's Maxthon, Avant Force's Avant, Fenrir's Sleipnir, and Flock. The only two to surface on NetApplications' monitoring of global Web browser use are Maxthon, with 1.2 percent share of browser usage in February, and Flock, with 0.06 percent. Neither of these projects is entirely original, either: Flock is based on the same Gecko technology underlying Firefox, and Maxthon uses IE's Trident browser engine now (a second engine, the WebKit project used in Safari and Chrome, is being added to the next version of Maxthon). It's hard to get a browser

project off the ground, with or without a helping hand. In the last 15 years, browsers have moved from being curiosities that nerdish types use to see what's on the Internet to an essential part of the computing experience often used for hours a day. Instead of being a mere window to the Web, browsers now are a foundation for applications. And the more powerful players in the market are moving fast--adding new features, concentrating on better performance, and trying to close security holes as fast as possible. New attention The second-tier players believe the EU browser choice will give GIVES page 28

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Green tech seeks its 'Netscape moment' (CNET News.com) Submitted at 3/3/2010 5:46:00 AM

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.-If you're wondering what the next big thing in green tech will be, this is a good place to look. The ARPA-E Summit, a conference designed to showcase potential breakthrough clean-energy technologies, started on Monday, attracting some 1,700 investors, entrepreneurs, and policymakers all vying to reinvent the energy infrastructure to be cleaner and more efficient. Given the makeup of the group, the mood is optimistic that new technologies can shake up even the slow-moving energy business. At the conference, scientists and entrepreneurs showed off early-stage ideas, such as kinetic energy storage systems or methods for low-cost solar power. Arun Majumdar, the director of ARPA-E, is looking for home runs in clean energy technology.(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET) At the same time, there's an undercurrent of concern. Attendees here appear convinced that clean energy industries--everything from algae fuels to efficient LED lighting--will be the engine of economic growth in the future. But they also know that it will be a competitive global race.

And few of the experts here, it seems, believe that the U.S. is firing on all cylinders when it comes to converting to a cleaner energy system. In addition to technology breakthroughs, the other key pieces to the puzzle--financing and a cohesive energy policy-need work before green tech can move from niche to mainstream, according to some of the speakers. "We need to have a Netscapelike moment when a company goes public and its potential and success infects the average American, so that there's a change in attitude toward this essential product--energy," said John Doerr, the famed venture capitalist from Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, during a panel on Tuesday. "When that happens, pardon the pun, it will be electrifying." Right now, Doerr said the U.S. simply isn't matching the speed of transition in energy in other countries. China's cars are already 30 percent more efficient, the government spent 10 times as much stimulus money as the U.S. on energy technologies, and its leaders, most of whom are engineers, have a five-year plan. In another panel, Center for American Progress CEO John Podesta said that China is spending $12 million a minute on cleanenergy research and development.

Karsner, the CEO of Manifest Energy and a former Department of Energy official, said that renewable energy is starting to scale up but not in the U.S., in part because of the financial environment. Tech showcase The technology side of the picture is more optimistic. On Tuesday, a handful of companies and researchers, who are vying for or have received research grants from ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy), presented results of their ongoing work. For example, MIT Professor Daniel Nocera described the solar-power hydrogen storage system that his company Sun Catalytix is developing. Meanwhile, FloDesign Wind Turbine CEO Lars Anderson By contrast, Doerr said that the LaMonica/CNET) said his company is making U.S. energy policy could be In general, green-technology p r o g r e s s i n b r i n g i n g t h e called the "sum of all lobbyists," investors and entrepreneurs company's jet-engine-like wind a p r o c e s s t h a t y i e l d s a n argue that putting a price on turbine to market. inconsistent set of rules and carbon emissions will act as an There was also a showcase of c h r o n i c u n d e r f u n d i n g o f incentive to businesses to dozens of companies working research and development. develop low-carbon energy. on wide range of energy-related General Electric CEO Jeffrey Also, many argue that utility technologies, including solid Immelt said during a talk that regulations need to change so state batteries, LED lighting, U.S. policies in many energy t h a t a l l u t i l i t i e s h a v e a n efficient car engines, and a r e a s , i n c l u d i n g c o a l a n d incentive to use energy more magnesium plates that can store nuclear, are unclear. efficiently. hydrogen for fuel cell vehicles. One company vying for ARPA- Financing, meanwhile, remains One early stage idea at ARPAE funding is Energy Focus, a challenge for many budding E S u m m i t i s t h e u s e o f which makes LED bulbs that green-tech companies because thousands of magnesium disks can replace existing fluorescent m a n y b u s i n e s s e s r e q u i r e to store hydrogen for a fuel cell bulbs, offering more control and hundreds of millions of dollars vehicle. The system from higher efficiency, according to to produce their products at GREEN page 29 the company.(Credit: Martin scale. During a panel, Andy

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I have seen the future, and it's SSD David Winograd (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 3/3/2010 8:00:00 AM

Filed under: Hardware, Rumors, First Look On the Macworld show floor, I didn't really see one specific product that blew me away. What I did see, however, is the next big concept that's going to not only blow all of us away, but it will change the way we relate to our computers. It's the SSD(solid state drive) and it's almost ready for prime time. As we've mentioned before, an SSD is a high performance storage device that has no moving parts. These drives can contain DRAM or EEPROM memory, a CPU, a memory board and a battery card ( more details here). Having no moving parts, they can move data much quicker than an HDD(hard disk drive) which uses quickly spinning platters with magnetic surfaces. I got to play with what's being sold as the quickest SSD on the market, courtesy of Other World Computing. Their new Mercury Extreme Enterprise SSD drives start at US $229 for 50 GB and top out at 200 GB for $779.95. You can see our own Steve Sande in a video interview showing the boot time of this SSD vs. a stock 5400 rpm Apple drive. Watch for it at about 2:20 into the video. OWC set up a test of two Macbook Pros; I saw this demo myself and my jaw

dropped as the SSD equipped laptop booted up and started running applications in 32 seconds. The HDD equipped Macbook Pro took at least three times as long to accomplish the same thing. The computing experience is one of perception. How fast or slow your computer seems is based on more than the CPU speed alone. It's a composite of I/O speed, CPU speed and dozens of other factors. If you have a screamingly fast CPU with a poky drive, you have a poky computer as the chain is only as good as its weakest link. I've found, on my i7 iMac, that no matter what I do, I usually can't use up all the CPU speed, so the slowness may be due to the HDD not being able to keep up. The current and future classes of SSDs are going to change all

that. I can imagine sitting down, booting up and before I can lift my coffee cup, the computer has come up and is running startup programs. This will take some getting used to, since it will change my and everyone's work flow somewhat. Instead of all the little interruptions you get from waiting for something to happen, the response will be nearly instantaneous. This will tend to keep me more focused since I'm a procrastinator by nature, and get distracted quickly, like whenever I see a spinning beach ball. If a computer works as quickly as I feel it should work, I will be more engaged. Previous releases of SSDs got a lot of bad press for running down your battery, losing speed over their lifetime, having low capacity, and being incredibly expensive. I haven't seen any

battery tests for the OWC SSD drive, but the company advertises that the drive uses Advanced Wear Management, so that performance will not degrade over time, and they guarantee it over the five year life of the drive. The other factor is price. The 200 GB version at $779 is very expensive when compared to under $100 for a 250 GB HDD. Until there is some sort of price parity, even at a slight premium, SSDs will sell to a niche market. The last concern is capacity. Not long ago, the largest SSD you could buy was a 32 GB drive. Now Apple is selling them as stock items on the higher-end MacBook Air, and as a build to order option on the MBP(a 256 GB SSD adds $800 to the cost). I wonder how many of the $800 SSDs have been sold? I'm guessing it's a pretty

small number. So when will the stars align to the point that capacity, reliability, and price converge at a level that consumers will buy in a big way? I spent some time with people from both OWC and Drivesavers and separately asked reps exactly the same question: How long do you think it will take before large capacity (500 GB) SSD drives will be available at a price point that would be attractive to the average computer user? I got exactly the same response from both company reps: under two years. I expected much longer. If that pans out, I can see HDDs being slowly phased out in three to four years; eventually the HDD will go the way of the Betamax, Laserdisc, floppy disk, and sooner than you think, the DVD. I've bought and retired all of those technologies. I've seen this before. I started with an Apple ][+ and a tape drive in the late 70s. A bit later the Disk ][ was introduced by Apple, giving me 143 KB of storage for $595, more capacity than I thought I'd ever need in my life or the life of my children. It added a massive speed increase to my computing experience. Some years later, I went for the big bucks and spent $1395 on a First Class Peripherals D9, which was a 90 MB HDD with streaming tape HAVE page 31

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GIVES continued from page 25

them a leg up, though. "Considering that going into this balloting, Maxthon has a market share of 1.21 percent, even a 1 percent shift would be a big difference," said Maxthon's White. "It's obvious who the two leaders are. The chart also shows that there's really not much difference among the four other browsers. It wouldn't take an awful lot for Maxthon to overtake Opera, Safari, or even the vaunted Chrome." Ever heard of Avant or KMeleon? They're among the seven lesser-known browsers that appear on the browser choice screen.(Credit: screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET) Maxthon, which claims second place after IE in China, now has a specific ambition from the European change. "What I'd like to see in the next six months is enough people select Maxthon that we can take Opera's place among the first five browsers on the ballot," White said. Sleipnir, a browser from a company in Japan called Fenrir, has already seen a difference from the browser-choice screen. "New downloads are increasing from this list," said spokesman

Yasuhiro Miki. "We are very happy for this opportunity [for] users to gain more chances for browser choice," and as a result of the of the browser-choice screen, "we are thinking to cover finally all languages in Europe." Flock, too, is happy with its new opportunity. "Flock's existing market share has been generated almost entirely by organic word of mouth. It is likely that increasing users' awareness of choice in the browser market will increase the sampling of browsers," said Chief Executive Shawn Hardin. The scrollbar worry But he's among those worried about the browser choice page design. "While we are very supportive of the EU's effort to give users more choice and open up competition, we believe that Microsoft's implementation of the final choice screen is flawed and could substantially undercut the EU's original intent and intended benefits," Hardin said. "If no changes to the choice screen design are made quickly, we estimate 58 percent of the browsers chosen (7 of 12) will

only be discovered and considered for installation by a very small minority of users who receive the choice screen on their PC." K-Meleon, which also uses Mozilla's Gecko engine but combines it with a native Windows interface, is experiencing a 30 percent increase in downloads. "There are quite some visits from browserchoice.eu," said a KMeleon forum moderator called Guenter who's active in the project. But Alex Tarantul, who also works on the K-Meleon project, shares Flock's concern about the horizontal scrollbar. He sees a vicious cycle: people mostly won't use the scrollbar, so lesser browsers won't be installed, so the browser choice screen will drop them on the assumption that there's little interest. And Yannis Kargas, who writes extensions for K-Meleon, believes K-Meleon may actually be doing better than statistics indicate. "Unlike what most believe, K-Meleon is not a browser with very limited user base. Certainly, it has less users than the common or mainstream browsers but it isn't by any

means an unknown or forgotten browser without real users," Kargas said. At root of the problem, Kargas said, is browser identification text called the user-agent string. Because many Web sites check this string and reject browsers they don't support, many using browsers that are off the beaten track "spoof" this string to gain admittance. And some sites don't read the string correctly, for example believing any Gecko-based browser is Firefox. "Unfortunately, many nonsavvy users will not know that they simply need to change the user agent when encountering those Web sites, and they think the browser is flawed and eventually decide to use one of those 'popular' browsers because they are 'supported' or recommended on those Web sites," Kargas said, even though the browser actually is compatible. FlashPeak also is unhappy with the scrollbar situation. "We are tracking the number of downloads but so far, the numbers are fairly disappointing (a few hundred downloads per day for us). I was expecting a couple of thousands per day.

Virtual Musicians, Real Performances: AI Is Changing Music Eliot Van Buskirk (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 3/3/2010 5:00:00 AM

Ever wonder how Jimi Hendrix would have covered Lady Gaga? The day is approaching when you should be able to find

out, thanks to Zenph Sound Innovations' technology for analyzing and recreating artists' musical styles.

But it's better than nothing," said company representative Stephen Cheng. Several of these companies lack the resources of major browsers. Efforts to contact GreenBrowser and Avant representatives were unsuccessful. But even for those of the lesserused browsers that are well organized, the fight for relevance will be tough. For example, Opera, which already has a significant following in Europe, is is launching a publicity campaign based on the browser choice situation. The EU will give a new opportunity for the curious to try new browsers. But even for the curious, brand familiarity matters. And when it comes to branding, Microsoft, Apple, Google, Firefox, and even scrappy Opera have a big lead. Update 5:53 a.m. PST with comment from FlashPeak. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Study: Medical identity theft is costly for victims (CNET News.com) Submitted at 3/3/2010 5:00:00 AM

When your wallet is lost or stolen, the first thing you probably do is call your credit card companies. You should also notify your medical insurance provider judging from the conclusions of a report to be released on Wednesday that finds that medical identity fraud can be very costly. With identity fraud, most people think of criminals stealing Social Security numbers and credit card data to take out loans or make purchases that the victim is responsible for. But there is a growing amount of medical-related identity theft in which someone uses another person's identity or insurance information to get medical treatment or medicine. About 9 percent of U.S. adults have been victims of identity fraud and, of those, nearly 6 percent are estimated to have been victims of medical-related identity fraud, which translates to 1.4 million people, according

to survey results and population extrapolations from the National Study on Medical Identity Theft report from the Ponemon Institute. The report was sponsored by credit reporting firm Experian. The average total cost to resolve an identity theft-related incident, according to the survey, came to about $20,000. More than half of the victims said they had to pay for the care they didn't receive out of their own pocket to restore coverage. Nearly half said they lost their health care coverage as a result of the incident, while nearly one -third said their insurance premiums went up after the event. "We had a customer call this week who said he received a collections notice," said Jennifer Leur, general manager of Experian's ProtectMyID.com service. "Someone took a loan out from a bank to pay for several thousand dollars worth of surgery, used his name for the loan and the surgery... We got it removed from his credit file, but

it changed his medical records and now he could face a lawsuit from the doctor who wants to get paid." Fewer than 10 percent of survey respondents said that the matter affecting them was completely resolved and their identity restored, while 40 percent said they were not able to resolve the matter. In many cases, the fraud is committed by a family member or friend of the victim, so the crime is often not reported to authorities, said Larry Ponemon, founder and chairman of the Ponemon Institute. But don't doctor's offices and hospitals ask to see photo ID? "That is not as common a practice as you might think," Ponemon said. "Some health care providers think that could be a violation of the consumer's privacy." Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Find Just the Right Film Clip â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Fast Mario Aguilar (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 3/2/2010 9:00:00 PM

Movieclips and Anyclips will prove you right (or totally wrong) the next time you're having an argument about when

that one guy said that one thing in that place in your favorite flick.

GREEN continued from page 26

Plasma Kinetics uses a laser, just like a CD player, to remove fuel and power the vehicle.(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET) The ARPA-E agency was first funded last year with a $400 million budget with a goal of nurturing breakthrough energy technologies. ARPA-E Director Arun Majumdar said that the agency is structured to yield "home runs" by focusing research in different areas, such as grid storage or carbon capture and storage, which can be developed within the next three to five years. On Tuesday, it opened additional grant solicitations in grid storage to complement wind and solar power, energy efficient air conditioning, and efficient power electronics for wind turbines or LED lighting. While entrepreneurs and scientist toil away on these early -stage ideas, many of the attendees are closely watching the development of green-tech companies now reaching the point of commercialization. Lithium ion battery company A123 Systems went public last year, and this year a few more companies, including electric

carmaker Tesla Motors and solar company Solyndra, are hoping to raise money on the stock market. The success of these early companies, although still not global powerhouses, shows that new technologies are penetrating the market faster than many would have predicted five to eight years ago, said Stephan Dolezalek, who heads the clean tech practice at VantagePoint Ventures. But to make a large-scale impact, the industry still needs a handful of enduring success stories, said Don Paul, the executive director of the University of Southern California Energy Institute. "It will be a complex ecology with different players," he said. "But ultimately for us to compete in the world, we must have global players because that is what is out there." Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Supreme Court Says Courts Still Macheist arrives. Again. Have Jurisdiction Over Unregistered Copyrights Erica Sadun (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 3/3/2010 10:30:00 AM

Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

freelancers. That set off a flurry of other similar/related lawsuits. Submitted at 3/2/2010 11:23:00 PM In one of those other cases, the There have been a series of p u b l i s h e r a n d f r e e l a n c e r s lawsuits over the past decade or eventually reached a settlement so concerning newspapers and -- but not all of the freelancers magazines republishing old were satisfied with it. content that was created by In appealing the settlement, it freelancers in digital format. was noted that many of the Basically, the publications had freelancers had not registered freelancers create content for their copyrights. Now, as you publication. Years later, this h o p e f u l l y k n o w , y o u wonderful world we know as the automatically get copyright on internet became a big deal (and, any new content as soon as it's before that, CD-ROMs) and the set in tangible form, but if you publishers wanted to republish decide to register it, it gives you their archives in digital format a d d i t i o n a l p r i v i l e g e s a n d (first CD-ROMs, then the remedies against infringement. internet or other electronic In most cases, not having a d a t a b a s e ) . S o m e o f t h e registration greatly limits what freelancers got upset, saying that you can do in terms of a lawsuit the publications were reusing against infringement. So the t h e i r c o n t e n t w i t h o u t issue in this lawsuit -- Reed permission, and that the license Elsevier v. Muchnick -- became to use the content had been for w h e t h e r o r n o t t h o s e the one use only. Lawsuits were unregistered stories (and their filed and eventually, in the authors) could be covered by the Supreme Court ruled that this settlement. v i o l a t e d t h e r i g h t s o f Copycense points us to the

Supreme Court's ruling(pdf) which says that, contrary to what the Appeals Court had ruled, it is perfectly fine to include unregistered copyrights in the court's jurisdiction. While some are reporting that this means you no longer need to register to sue, I don't think that's what the ruling is actually saying. It simply says that just because you haven't registered, it doesn't mean that it's outside of the court's jurisdiction. So it sounds like this means that unregistered copyrights can get included in a settlement/classaction lawsuit like this one, but the holders of those unregistered copyrights might still have difficulty (or great limits) should they try to bring the lawsuit directly themselves. It would be great to get some of the copyright lawyers in the community here to weigh in as well. Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

Filed under: Apple The latest MacHeist countdown has finished and, after a few tense moments as they got their ducks in a row last night, the new bundle is ready for sale. This year's "nano bundle" includes the following apps at an incredible discount: • MacJournal • RipIt • Clips • CoverScout • Flow • Tales of Monkey Island • Rapidweaver

developer. When participating in these "event" sales, I tend to forget that I ever downloaded the stuff, often being surprised at finding the software thus acquired in my /Applications folder. Your mileage will, of course, vary. For some of you out there in reader-land, this bundle may turn out to be the best thing since, I dunno, sliced bread or Wheatabix or citizen band radios or whatever, for you. So if you're a bundle kind of person, Woo Hoo! The stuff is That's more than US$260 worth here (or at least, nearly here.) of software for a mere twenty Here's hoping there are some bucks. Note that Tales of goodies for you, this go 'round M o n k e y I s l a n d a n d that will enhance your day-toRapidweaver are the "Unlock day Mac use and bring some joy Apps." That is to say, they'll into your software life. become available once certain Via our Christina W., whom we sales milestones have been miss TUAW Macheist arrives. reached; Monkey Island will go Again. originally appeared on on sale once 50,000 bundles h a v e b e e n s o l d , a n d The Unofficial Apple Weblog R a p i d w e a v e r a f t e r t h a t . (TUAW) on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 I tend to buy software as I need 10:30:00 EST. Please see our it or as I realize that I've been terms for use of feeds. using it for a while without Read| Permalink| Email this| sending off some cash to the Comments

LEGO. Stop Motion. Lightsabers. Important. [Image Cache] Mark Wilson (Gizmodo) Submitted at 3/3/2010 9:00:00 AM

Just as I'd play LEGO Star Wars, I'd gladly watch a full feature LEGO Star Wars

movie—assuming it's as wellexecuted as this clip. Enjoy the brick gore. [ BricksinMotion via

Kotaku]

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iPhone gross profit margins nearly 60% Michael Grothaus (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 3/3/2010 10:00:00 AM

Filed under: Apple Financial, iPhone Bernstein Research's Toni Sacconaghi issued a 13page report last week in which he estimated that the iPhone's gross profit margins were an astounding 57.8%. Those margins tower above Apple's competitors with RIM estimated to have 43% profit margins, Nokia 33%, Motorola 32%, and HTC 31.7%. Sacconaghi believes that the iPhone's high gross margins could change Apple's business model as the iPhone's share of Apple's overall revenue stream grows from 30% in FY09 to an estimated 45% to 50% in FY11. Philip Elmer-DeWitt over at Apple 2.0 notes that while the Street generally assumes Apple's profit margins will decline over the next few years, Sacconaghi believes they will increase due to a few key points:

2011 under the assumption that there won't be an iPhone for Verizon before mid 2011. He also expects T-Mobile will get the iPhone before Verizon does. As for the iPad, Sacconaghi estimates its gross profit margins to be between 30 to 32%, not the 50% suggested by iSuppli. Sacconaghi rates AAPL as "Outperform" and has a price target of $250. In his report he states, "We believe that on a cash flow basis the stock is very attractively valued and that the stock is the most attractive secular name in our coverage universe." TUAW iPhone gross profit Mobile partners are still lining margins nearly 60% originally â&#x20AC;˘ iPhone prices are actually up to get the iPhone with Apple appeared on The Unofficial increasing. In Q3 2009, the adding 15 new ones over the Apple Weblog (TUAW) on average wholesale price was past 4 months. Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:00:00 $588. In Q1 2010 it's risen to EST. Please see our terms for $638. Despite his Rosy outlook, use of feeds. â&#x20AC;˘ Buyers are still more than Sacconaghi is reducing his Read| Permalink| Email this| eager for the iPhone. There is no iPhone shipment estimates by Comments sign of price resistance from 1.3 million units in FQ4 10 and either customers or carriers. 5.5 million units in fiscal year

HAVE continued from page 27

backup built in. Even being the slowest drive on the planet, at least in today's terms, my computing speed at least tripled. As HDDs got quicker and cheaper (and I did buy a harddrive equipped Mac SE/30 somewhere in there) the

perception of speed tripled again. Nothing that dramatic has happened in at least a decade, but the next big change is nearly upon us. In fact, it's here for the well heeled and the MacBook Air buyer, but about two years away for the rest of us.

This is going to be big. Comments TUAW I have seen the future, and it's SSD originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this|

NatGeo Downloader 2.0 Grabs Over 5,000 Wallpaper-Worthy Photos [Updates] Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker) Submitted at 3/3/2010 6:05:00 AM

Windows: National Geographic's web site has some stunning photography, and a lot of it makes for good rotating desktop backgrounds. The NatGeo Wallpaper Downloader we've previously enjoyed has updated with interface improvments, bug fixes, and access to thousands more images. The app's developer writes that while his first release of the app made it convenient to grab a few hundred of National Geographic's photography contest images, this 2.0 version broadens your access to more than 5,000 images. Future versions should expand the range even further. It's a Windows-only app, but Linux and Mac users with some command line savvy can still get in on the NatGeo action. NatGeo Wallpaper Downloader is a free download for Window systems. NatGeo Wallpaper Downloader[Novazi]

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Google and PayPal to Support New Government Login System

AT&T: iPad Is a Wi-Fi Driven Product

Stan Schroeder (Mashable!)

Submitted at 3/3/2010 7:00:11 AM

Submitted at 3/3/2010 7:04:39 AM

Open Identity Exchange(OIX) is a newly founded non-profit organization, launched today at the RSA Conference 2010 by Google, PayPal, Equifax, VeriSign, Verizon, CA, and Booz Allen Hamilton. The aim of this new organization is exchange of online identity credentials across public and private sectors; in other words, it can certify online identity providers to U.S. federal standards. OIX is not to be confused with OpenID, which is a standard that lets sites such as Google, Twitter or Facebook share the same login credentials. U.S. Government sites require a trust framework, a certification system that enables a party who accepts a digital identity credential to trust the identity, security, and privacy policies of the party who issues the credential. OIX is the first Open Identity Trust Framework provider, enabling certified sites

According to AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, iPad will be a Wi-Fi driven product. “My expectation is that there’s not going to be a lot of people out there looking for another subscription,” he said. It makes sense; people who already have an iPhone subscription may be unlikely to go for another subscription, especially since it’s not crucial to the iPad experience, which comes in both Wi-Fi and 3G flavors. But, have you ever actually tried to do some meaningful work (or even casual browsing) using only a Wi-Fi connection, when you’re on the move? Often, you’ll find many Wi-Fi connections available, but they’re all password-protected. When you find one, you’re not very mobile anymore: sit on a tram, bus, or a subway, and your Wi-Fi is lost, and you have to search for another one. Finally, open Wi-Fi connections are often unsafe, and many users

share their login credentials with U.S. Government sites. “OIX grew out of a public/private industry partnership initiated by the U.S. government at this conference last year. OpenID and Information Card technologies can solve the technical problem of using identity credentials across different websites, but can’t solve the problem of how those credentials can be trusted at different levels of assurance. OIX is a solution to this problem not just for the U.S. government, but for many different governments, industry alliances, non-profit associations, telcos, academic networks, and others all over the world who need to establish

trust across a wide online population,” said Don Thibeau, OIDF Executive Director and OIX Board Chair. Today, OIX has certified Google, PayPal and Equifax (with Verizon awaiting certification) to issue digital identity credentials that will be accepted for registration and login at U.S. government websites. Of course, this will be implemented gradually; the first site to accept OIX credentials for login is the National Institutes of Health(NIH). Read more about OIX at the official site. Reviews: Facebook, Google, Twitter Tags: Equifax, Google, OIX, paypal, U.S. government

Oooooohmmmmmmmmmmmultiball! [Pinball] Jesus Diaz (Gizmodo) Submitted at 3/3/2010 9:40:00 AM

My wife and I joined the NYC

pinball league two weeks ago. I wonder if they would let me play using this brain-computer interface, which was shown at

by Sean Gallup/Getty Images CeBit in Germany. [ io9] Photo

won’t dare access or send sensitive data over them. Being able to fall back to a 3G connection improves your mobile Internet experience tremendously, and the logical question (that no one answered yet) is this: will iPad users will be able to tether 3G connection from the iPhone? After all, if you’re paying for a 3G iPhone subscription, shouldn’t you be able to use that connection on another device (bought from the same carrier and the same manufacturer)? Apple has so far been silent about tethering on the iPad, but it’s a question that needs to be answered, perhaps even before iPad hits the market. Tags: 3g, att, ipad, iphone, Tethering

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Transcend's CompactFlash cards go high-speed (CNET News.com) Submitted at 3/3/2010 6:34:00 AM

Transcend has begun selling 400X and 600X CompactFlash cards with capacities up to 64GB and 32GB, respectively.(Credit: Transcend) Transcend, which makes flash memory cards for budgetminded buyers, announced on Wednesday two new high-speed CompactFlash models with transfer speeds up to 90MBps. The Transcend Ultimate 600X cards are at the top of the line, able to read and write data at 90MBps by using the UDMA (Ultra Direct Memory Access) mode 6 interface. This line tops out at 32GB. The Transcend Premium 400X cards range from 16GB to 64GB capacity and can write data at 60MBps and read data at 90MBps, the company said. The 400X and 600X cards use "premium" flash memory chips and employ error correction code (ECC) to nip some data transfer errors in the bud. The company didn't announce prices, but high-speed models generally sell for a big premium over middle-range options. B&H Photo is selling the new

Louis Vuitton Sues Hyundai Over A Louis Vuitton Basketball Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

Vuitton) suing a Darfur fundraiser for creating a t-shirt of a Darfur victim "pimped out" Yesterday, I saw that Marty to look like Paris Hilton, Schwimmer had posted a link to including a designer handbag a Hyundai commercial asking if with symbols made to look like anyone saw the "lawsuit" in the the LV symbols. commercial: It took me a second So, yes, that's exactly what this viewing before I spotted it. The lawsuit is about. DSchneider commercial itself plays on the points us to the Consumerist's idea of "what if everyone could article laying out the details and e x p e r i e n c e l u x u r y i t e m s " I've embedded the lawsuit filing showing various examples of below: Frankly, this lawsuit is "luxury" items being used in ridiculous. LVMH is claiming more everyday settings: yachts that people might be confused? in driveways, cops eating caviar In what world? Seriously. In and... some guys shooting hoops what world is anyone going to with a "luxury" basketball using view the Hyundai commercial Transcend 400X cards for $89 Lower-end SLRs from Canon the typical Louis Vuitton and think that it implies any for 16GB, $205 for 32GB, and and Nikon, the single-lens reflex markings that you see on LV kind of LVMH endorsement of $369 for 64GB. The 600X cards camera market leaders, use purses/handbags/etc. Hyundai. It's a joke -- and any are selling for $107 for 8GB, SDHC. Canon's latest model, Louis Vuitton is notoriously moron in a hurry knows that the (and ridiculously) aggressive LV basketball isn't a sign that $200 for 16GB, and $300 for Rebel T2i, uses SDXC. 32GB. Transcend competes most when it comes to trademark LVMH is working with or C o m p a c t F l a s h c a r d s a r e directly with SanDisk and infringement. A couple years endorsing Hyundai. common on higher-end SLR Micron subsidiary Lexar. It back we wrote about LVMH Permalink| Comments| Email cameras, but the technology offers lifetime warranties on its (parent company of Louis This Story standard faces a challenge from CompactFlash cards. the smaller SD format, which Five Filters featured article: has just begun its transition from Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: the SDHC generation to the PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, faster, higher-capacity SDXC Term Extraction. generation. Submitted at 3/3/2010 5:04:51 AM

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iLuv iPhone dock includes "bed shaker" Sang Tang (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 3/3/2010 9:00:00 AM

Filed under: iPod Family, iPhone The iLuv iMM178 shares a lot in common with many iPod docks available in the market today: • Play and charge your iPhone or iPod -- check. • Alarm clock scheduling based on full-week, weekdays and weekends -- check. • Alarm clock with customizable sounds -- check. • Alarm clock that vibrates to wake you up -- wait, did I read that wrong, or did that say that this alarm clock will vibrate to wake me up? That's right, folks. The iLuv

iMM178 (couldn't they have thought of a more friendly name?) is equipped with a corded "bed shaker" that, as its name suggests, will vibrate in tandem with your alarm. As the iLuv iMM178 wakes you up to The Beach Boys' "Good

radio, and has a time sync feature that reconciles time between it and your iPhone or iPod. iLuv's website lists the iMM178 at US$99.99, where it's available for purchase. Alternatively, you can improve your sleep habits with Sleep Cycle(available for $0.99), a bio -alarm clock iPhone app that analyzes your sleep patterns and wakes you when you are in the lightest sleep phase. TUAW iLuv iPhone dock includes "bed shaker" originally Vibrations," it can also literally appeared on The Unofficial give you some good vibrations Apple Weblog (TUAW) on of its own with its bed shaker. Wed, 03 Mar 2010 09:00:00 iLuv suggests that the bed EST. Please see our terms for shaker be placed underneath use of feeds. your pillow. Read| Permalink| Email this| In addition to these niceties, the Comments iLuv iMM178 also plays FM

Virgin Mobile increases value for prepaid broadband data buckets — $60 for 5GB Doug Aamoth (CrunchGear) Submitted at 3/3/2010 6:30:03 AM

Virgin Mobile’s Broadband2Go prepaid 3G data service made a splash last summer by offering no-contract plans that came close to competing with twoyear offerings from the likes of Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, and TMobile. The major drawback was that the top plan, at $60, only allowed for 1GB of data usage, whereas you’d get 5GB on a contract plan.

Skinput Turns Your Body Into a Touchscreen [VIDEO] Barb Dybwad (Mashable!)

input device. Skinput makes use of a microchip-sized pico projector F o r g e t L C D , O L E D a n d embedded in an armband to AMOLED: The next trend in beam an image onto a user’s touchscreens could be your skin. forearm or hand. When the user Researchers at Carnegie Mellon taps a menu item or other University and Microsoft’s control icon on the skin, an Redmond research lab have acoustic detector also in the developed a working prototype armband analyzes the ultralowof a system called Skinput that frequency sound to determine effectively turns your body which region of the display has surface into both screen and been activated. Submitted at 3/2/2010 9:58:59 PM

PDF link] in April at the Computer-Human Interaction conference in Atlanta. Another innovative muscle-based control scheme we profiled recently comes to mind as an example of where the intersection of biology and computing might be heading. Both systems are still You can check out more in the early prototype stages, but specifics on the technology offer an exciting glimpse of behind Skinput in the paper the what the future might hold in group will present[Warning: t e r m s o f h u m a n - c o m p u t e r

interactions. Check out the video below and let us know what you think: Would you be interested in turning your skin into a touchscreen? [via New Scientist via PhysOrg] Tags: futurism, HCI, microsoft, pico projector, skin, touchscreens, video

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Once Again: People Want To Share The News Mike Masnick (Techdirt) Submitted at 3/2/2010 9:21:00 PM

Lots of folks have been sending in the "news" about news consumption from a new Pew study. A lot of the attention being paid to the study focuses on how more people are using the internet for news that newspapers, but that was an obvious trend. What I find a bit surprising is how few people seem to be talking about one of the other findings: that so many people are actively involved in "shared news." That is, they either share news links or get news links from others on a regular basis. This is something we've discussed for the better part of a decade, but which many in the news business still don't get. When they put up

paywalls and even registration walls to limit access to the news, they make it difficult to impossible for people interact with the news the way they want to. It shows that publishers still have a mentality that they are "delivering" a final product to consumers -- whereas most readers now think of themselves as a part of the process, hoping to spread the news to others, to comment on the news, and to be a part of the overall experience. The Pew study found that 75% of people get news sent to them by friends via email/social networks and 52% take part in sharing links. That becomes a lot harder with paywalls. Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

Microsoft Security Exec Suggests Internet Tax To Pay For 'Computer Health Care' Program Mike Masnick (Techdirt) Submitted at 3/3/2010 6:35:44 AM

Tank Szuba alerts us to the story about a Microsoft security exec suggesting that it might make sense to implement an internet usage tax to help fund a "computer healthcare system" to fix the notoriously insecure software that his company produces. It doesn't sound like a well-thought out proposal. It seems more like a brainstorm from a panel discussion by Scott Charney, Microsoft's Vice President for Trustworthy Computing. He suggests, as others have, that a system could be setup for quarantining infected computers, but when asked how to pay for it, he

suggests such a tax. Or, of course, Microsoft could make software that doesn't have as many security holes. Charney seems to model his idea off of our broken healthcare system:"I actually think the health care model ... might be an interesting way to think about the problem," Has he looked at how well healthcare has been working lately? Of course, as with healthcare, the real issue should be preventative efforts, and those mainly start with Microsoft and how it architects its software. But I guess it's easier to just ask everyone to pay a tax to hide that. Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

Verizon currently experiencing nationwide data outage Matt Burns (CrunchGear) Submitted at 3/3/2010 6:05:23 AM

Did you look at your Verizon Droid minutes ago and wonder why you hadn’t gotten any emails within the last few minutes? I did. I just marked it up as the start of a good day, but apparently I was exactly wrong. Verizon’s data network is down and my Gmail inbox is full. Damn. There’s no ETA as of yet and New York seems to be fine. Your best bet is just to hang tight and let the VZW folks do their jobs. They want the network back just as much as you do.

Twitter Speeding Towards 10 Billion Tweets Stan Schroeder (Mashable!)

billion tweets. Notice the trend? Although Twitter has been somewhat About one year ago Twitter struggling with traffic(compared reached a huge milestone: one to its earlier immense growth) in billion tweets. Four months ago, the last couple of months, it still 5 billion tweets were served. managed to go from five to ten And now, in about one day, billion tweets in four months; Twitter should reach another quite a remarkable achievement. quite easy: just look at the URL very important milestone: 10 Counting tweets is actually of any tweet. The number at the Submitted at 3/3/2010 1:55:08 AM

end of the URL seems to be the number of that tweet, and at this moment the number of one of the latest tweets is 9917803012. If this seems like a long way to go before we reach one billion, check out this counter. Yup, we’re getting there fast. The five billionth (now deleted) tweet was a simple “Oh lord,”

written by Robin Sloan. I wonder what the ten billionth tweet will say? Hat tip to Bit Rebels for noticing this one. Tags: social media, trending, twitter

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Damages Possible, But Limited, For Bogus DMCA Takedowns

Skype for Symbian Now Live in Nokia’s Ovi Store

Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

Stan Schroeder (Mashable!)

Submitted at 3/3/2010 2:22:58 AM

Submitted at 3/3/2010 3:04:11 AM

damages, but the amounts are likely to be so small in most cases as to be meaningless. We had discussed earlier this Compare this, of course, with year just how damages should the statutory damages given to be figured out (and if they t h o s e w h o i n f r i n g e o n should be available at all) for copyrights -- starting at $750 for bogus DMCA takedowns. The sharing a single item and going law, technically, says that there way up from there. How is that can be punishment, but it's rare equitable? Basically, the to see a case ever get that far. In incentive is quite strong for the ongoing Lenz v. Universal copyright holders to continue to Music, however, (about the f i l e D M C A ' s w i l l y - n i l l y , video takedown of a child knowing that the threat of errors dancing to less than 30 seconds is mostly minimal, even as the of a Prince song), the judge has impact is to silence one's free ruled that damages are available, speech -- which should be seen but at the same time limited how as a bigger issue than interfering t h o s e d a m a g e s m i g h t b e with someone's business model. calculated. So, there's some Permalink| Comments| Email good, in that filing bogus This Story DMCA takedowns can lead to

Skype for Symbian has gotten out of beta and appeared in Nokia’s Ovi Store today, enabling users of Nokia’s Symbian-based smartphones to make free voice calls over 3G or Wi-Fi connection. Besides free Skype-to-Skype voice calls, the app enables you to send and receive instant messages, share pictures, video and other files, receive calls to your online number, and import names and numbers from your phone’s address book. The app works on following Nokia models: Nokia N97, Nokia N97 mini, Nokia X6, Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and Nokia 5530 and the following non-touch devices: Nokia E72, Nokia E71, Nokia E90, Nokia E63, Nokia E66, Nokia E51,

Condolences to Marie Osmond take Center Stage at 'Dreamgirls' Curtain Call (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 3/3/2010 5:12:00 AM

The news of Marie Osmond's son's death has reverberated through Hollywood like Jennifer Hudson's high note in "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going." At the Los Angeles premiere of the "Dreamgirls" stage production, stars such as Nokia N96, Nokia N95, Nokia Angela Bassett and Nia Long N95 8Gb, Nokia N85, Nokia sent their condolences to the N82, Nokia N81, Nokia N81 8 mourning mother of Michael Gb, Nokia N79, Nokia N78, Bryan. Nokia 6220 classic, Nokia 6210 Hugging her own young son close to her, Nia relayed, "My Navigator, Nokia 5320. See a video demonstration of heart goes out to her because I the Skype app for Symbian have one child and I know she's got a clan, but it doesn't matter below. You can download the app if you have one or 14 or five, the from Skype or from the Ovi loss of a child; I don't think there's anything like it." store. Angela said, "I send all my Reviews: Skype prayers and I pray peace to her Tags: Nokia, Skype, spirit and to her soul and that of smartphone, Symbian, voip her family at this time."

iPad maker, Foxconn, denies delay rumors (big surprise) Matt Burns (CrunchGear) Submitted at 3/3/2010 7:00:10 AM

There’s been some unfounded rumors swirling around the Internet water cooler the last few days that Apple’s initial

shipment of iPads will only be around 300,000. That’s far less than the expected numbers of 300,000-400,000, which would no doubt cause fanboy riots and shenanigans at Apple Stores nationwide. John called BS on

these rumors a few days back

and now Foxconn’s suppliers has done the same. These companies see no reason why Foxconn will not be able to make the expected numbers and should even hit the 1,000,000 mark in April. Of course

Foxconn didn’t comment on the rumors or this latest report so we really don’t know anything more. The joys of the Internet, eh? [image via mulaz.org]

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Senate Returns to Business Tax Break Measure (Newsmax - Politics) Submitted at 3/2/2010 11:34:41 PM

After buying time by resolving an impasse over jobless benefits and other programs that had briefly lapsed, the Senate is returning to a $100 billion-plus bill reviving popular tax breaks and extending longer and more generous jobless benefits through the end of the year. Tuesday night's vote to approve stopgap legislation extending a host of programs, including Michael Grothaus (The Max and V-Ray render and only highway funding, generous Unofficial Apple Weblog took about 10 days to complete. health insurance subsidies for (TUAW)) Check out the video below to the unemployed and benefits for see if your favorite Apple the long-term jobless, gives Submitted at 3/3/2010 9:30:00 AM Filed under: Hardware, Retro product made the list. Congress time to consider the Mac, Graphic Design Anatomy of Apple Design from far larger measure covering Transparent House, a San Transparent House on Vimeo. most of the same programs. Fransisco-based 3D design and [via Mashable] But the daunting price tag on visualization studio, has created TUAW Found Footage: Apple t h e l o n g e r - t e r m m e a s u r e t h i s s t u n n i n g v i d e o t h a t d e s i g n s i n 3 D o r i g i n a l l y guarantees more complications showcases some of Apple's best appeared on The Unofficial and a rougher path through the designs over its 34-year history. Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Senate than experienced by the Ground-breaking products from Wed, 03 Mar 2010 09:30:00 bill passed Tuesday. the Apple I in 1976 to the iPad EST. Please see our terms for Kentucky Republican Jim in 2010 are shown. use of feeds. Bunning held up action for days. What makes this video so Read| Permalink| Email this| He wanted to force Democrats impressive is that everything in Comments to find ways to finance the bill it is entirely 3D generated. The so it wouldn't add to the deficit, animation was done using 3Ds but his move sparked a political tempest that subjected Republicans to withering media

Found Footage: Apple designs in 3D

coverage and cost the party politically. Bunning's support among Republicans was dwindling, while Democrats used to being on the defensive over health care and the deficit seemed to relish the battle. Once Bunning gave in, the stopgap bill — which passed the House last week — passed the Senate by a 78-19 vote. President Barack Obama signed it into law late Tuesday. "During these difficult economic times, supporting American workers, their families and our small businesses must be everyone's focus," Obama said in a statement. "I'm grateful to the members of the Senate on both sides of the aisle who worked to end this roadblock to relief for America's working families." Rather than winning the fight over funding the bill, Bunning eventually settled for a vote to close a tax loophole enjoyed by paper companies that get a credit from burning "black liquor," a pulp-making byproduct, as if it were an alternative fuel. The amendment failed. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat, said

Bunning was accepting an offer he had rejected for days. "As a result ... unemployment benefits were cut off for thousands of people across America, assistance for health care was cut off across America, thousands of federal employees were furloughed," Durbin said. Doctors faced the prospect of a 21 percent cut in Medicare payments, and federal flood insurance programs had also lapsed with Monday's expiration of an earlier stopgap bill that passed late last year. Democrats promised to retroactively restore unemployment benefits and health care subsidies for the unemployed under the COBRA program. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood ordered furloughed employees back to work Wednesday. © 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.

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Pencils Down Nathaniel Frank (The New Republic - All Feed)

seem reasonable at first blush, the reality is that the government, the military, and Submitted at 3/3/2010 9:00:00 PM independent researchers have On February 2, at the first been studying this issue for Senate hearings on gays in the decades. And all of their military since 1993, Admiral findings point to the same truth: Mike Mullen became the only Openly gay service does not sitting Chairman of the Joint impair military effectiveness. Chiefs of Staff to support What's more, existing research allowing gays and lesbians to already shows what steps should serve openly in the military. He be taken to repeal DADT. It’s said the “institutional integrity” far from clear what good will of the armed forces demands come from another year of study that they stop forcing gay - - b u t i t ' s e a s y t o s e e service members to lie in order o b s t r u c t i o n i s t s u s i n g t h e to serve their country. The window to sow fear and doubt current policy of “don't ask, as a tactic to kill the plan for a don't tell” (DADT), Mullen repeal. argued, ends up needlessly Indeed, the script emerging “devaluing” a critical segment from last month’s opening salvo of the military population. at the DADT hearings is eerily B u t t h e e n d o r s e m e n t o f similar to the one that played DADT’s repeal by the top out in 1993, when President Bill military leadership--Defense Clinton’s effort to lift the gay Secretary Robert Gates has said ban was derailed during a sixhe backs the plan, which month study period. During that President Obama has pledged to window, opponents of reform, w o r k w i t h C o n g r e s s t o led by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, implement--was tempered by rallied to defend the status quo, concerns that a quick timetable forming a wall of military would be unwise. Gates said he r e s i s t a n c e t h a t s o m e s a i d wants a study period to “help amounted to insubordination. inform the legislative process of They were joined by skeptical some facts about the attitudes of m e m b e r s o f C o n g r e s s . our men and women in uniform, Ultimately, Clinton yielded to what they think about a change the pressure and backed away in the law, [and] what their from his promise. To avoid a families think.” He added, “The repeat of that debacle, it’s truth is, we don't have any crucial to understand both what facts.” went wrong last time and what But is that true? While taking mountains of research already time to study the transition may t e l l u s a b o u t h o w t o e n d

discrimination against gay troops. In his first State of the Union, Obama vowed to repeal DADT, and, at the subsequent Senate hearings, Gates said the military would take up the president’s charge. “The question before us is not whether the military prepares to make this change but how we best prepare for it," Gates noted. In 1993, thenDefense Secretary Les Aspin, also said he would follow the president's directive to determine how, not whether, to lift the ban. To that end, Aspin ordered two different studies-one by the RAND Corporation, an esteemed think tank with close ties to the military, the other by a “Military Working Group” (MWG) of active, highranking officers, who would give the military’s “independent judgment” about how to proceed. But things didn't quite go as planned. RAND commissioned a team of 75 social scientists from its National Defense Research Institute to study the issue. They examined scientific literature on group cohesion, the experiences of foreign militaries, the theory and history of institutional change, public health concerns, the history of racial integration in the military, policies on sexuality in police and fire departments, and numerous other issues. The result was a 500-page report confirming that

there was no evidence that openly gay service members posed a threat to the military, recommending that the armed forces not consider sexual orientation when determining who should serve, and outlining a clear, quick process for lifting the gay ban. But the report, which cost taxpayers $1.3 million, barely made it out of RAND's Santa Monica headquarters because, according to The New York Times, Pentagon officials tried to keep the study from going public. They ultimately never considered it when shaping policy, the Times reported, because of resistance from the Joint Chiefs of Staff. (Precisely the same thing had happened with previous studies on gays in the military. The Navy’s 1957 Crittenden Report and the 1988 and 1989 studies from the Pentagon’s Personnel Security Research and Education Center (PERSEREC) both found that there was no basis for the gay ban, yet both were buried.) Instead, with President Clinton’s reluctant blessing, the military opted to focus on the 15 -page report written by the MWG, a panel of five senior generals and admirals. The group had undertaken its charge begrudgingly. Only when press reports revealed that no action had been taken several months after their appointment did the members even meet. Offering

no proof whatsoever, the final report stated, “All homosexuality is incompatible with military service.” Going further, it cast homosexuals as dangerous: “Due to their sexual practices, active male homosexuals in the military could be expected to bring an increased incidence of sexually transmitted diseases,” including AIDS, which could create the perception of an “enemy within.” With backlash mounting, Clinton gave up his effort to lift the gay ban and, instead, agreed to compromise by crafting a new law with Congress. In November 1993, he signed DADT, which suggested that the military stop asking recruits about their sexual orientation but also called for service members to be discharged if they said they were gay or engaged in homosexual conduct. The next month, the Pentagon, using the MWG report as a blueprint, issued its own DADT regulations, consistent with the new law. All of the evidence from the RAND study--not to mention from the Crittenden and PERSEREC reports--was simply ignored. Seventeen years later, Gates has asked RAND to update its findings, and he has appointed another MWG. But what would an updated RAND report, much PENCILS page 45

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THE PICTURE: Displacements Jed Perl (The New Republic All Feed)

been an odd sort of history lesson, but it was not necessarily a bad one. Submitted at 3/3/2010 9:00:00 PM I have found myself reliving When I was growing up, we those early impressions of New often visited my grandparents in York’s museums after seeing Brooklyn in the summer, and The Art of the Steal, a new my earliest memories of New documentary about the Barnes York’s museums will forever be F o u n d a t i o n i n M e r i o n , a s s o c i a t e d w i t h s o m e Pennsylvania. The movie tracks extraordinarily hot, muggy the battle between the men and afternoons. I cannot pinpoint the w o m e n w h o w a n t e d t h i s summer when I first saw, or at astonishing collection of modern least was first conscious of, the paintings to remain forever in its Picassos and Matisses at the original home in suburban Museum of Modern Art. And Philadelphia and those who I’m uncertain when I first have now been allowed by the visited the Morgan Library. But courts to relocate the museum just as I remember the sticky downtown, to the Benjamin rides to and from Manhattan, I Franklin Parkway, as part of remember the sizzle of midtown what promoters hope will as we walked over to the become a museum district. I am Modern, and how all that urban firmly in the camp that believes excitement became part of the the Barnes should have stayed reality of Picasso and Matisse. put. Advocates of the move As for the Morgan Library, I downtown say that a slew of remember how astonished I was m a s t e r p i e c e s b y S e u r a t , by its baronial splendor, by the Cézanne, Matisse, and Picasso sense of precious things encased will now be available to a larger in walls of stone. Am I right in public. True enough. But the recalling that the two great four or five mile trip out to Memlings hung in J. P. Merion—the sense of a Morgan’s study? And that a pilgrimage to this place where visitor was kept behind velvet the paintings were displayed ropes, barely able to see those alongside American antiques Flemish masterpieces? Maybe a n d w h o k n o w s w h a t I’m a little confused about the else—served to emphasize the particulars, but something of the u n c a n n y p o w e r o f t h e s e heavily upholstered, robber canvases. The Cézannes in baron luxury of the Morgan Merion felt tougher, stranger, underscored my gathering sense more fiercely indomitable than of the remoteness and wonder of the Cézannes in the Philadelphia the Middle Ages. That may have Museum of Art—and although

that may not be a logical distinction, I believe it was a distinction worth preserving. Could it be that something in the curmudgeonly independence of Dr. Albert Barnes—who made a fortune in pharmaceuticals, dedicated his life to educating America about the glories of modern art, and delighted in denying access to the likes of Meyer Schapiro and Alfred Barr, whom he regarded as pedants—helped to underscore the curmudgeonly independence of Cézanne? There was something more than a little bit crazy about the mismatch between the relatively modest setting of the Barnes and its outrageously rich collections, and somehow that mismatch returned us to the essential outrageousness of what Seurat, Cézanne, Matisse, and Picasso were doing. Dissonance is not a bad thing. When you stood beneath the great mural, The Dance, that Matisse painted for that very spot in Merion, Pennsylvania, you were reliving the modern adventure—you were exactly where Matisse wanted you to be. The Pew Charitable Trusts, which aggressively supported the move into Philadelphia, is one of the main villains of The Art of the Steal, and I do not think the portrait of the foundation is inaccurate. But in arguing that the Pew has used its involvement with the Barnes to

strengthen its own position in the not-for-profit world, the filmmakers may lose track of the larger philosophic difficulties that the Pew has with an organization as magnificently odd as the Barnes. Through its widely disseminated studies of American cultural life, the Pew has encouraged a normalization of the relationship between the public and the arts, an idea that everything can be reduced to poll numbers and statistics, to flow charts and pie graphs. While the intentions may in some cases be honorable, the mentality is profoundly destructive, because it equalizes all artistic experience, leading straight to the cookie cutter museum designs of the past few years. The Morgan Library I visited as a boy, that rock solid treasure house, has been ruined by Renzo Piano’s inane glass box of an entrance hall, which suggests a miniaturized version of the entrance to the new Museum of Modern Art. My heart sank not long ago, when I read that Piano had been hired to create a new entrance and galleries for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. What on earth is wrong with the Gardner staying more or less as Mrs. Gardner conceived it a century ago? What is wrong with plunging straight from contemporary Boston into this hothouse version of a Venetian palace, this fin-de-siècle

aesthete’s retreat, where the dark corners are a jumble of Asian and Italian objects, and one of Titian’s greatest paintings, The Rape of Europa, confounds the surrounding opulence with its emotional opulence? Cultural consumption is more and more in danger of replacing cultural discrimination. Maybe that helps to explain the confoundingly misguided exhibition of Burgundian sculpture that has just opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, beginning a national tour. In the years around 1400, a group of sculptors working in Dijon under the impact of the great Claus Sluter created a group of eighty mourning figures, each some 16 inches high, for the tombs of Philip the Bold and his son, John the Fearless. Their faces half-hidden by cowls, their bodies bent and twisted in sorrow, this stream of grieving men wander through the shadowy miniaturized gothic arcades which run beneath the huge marble slabs bearing the effigies of Philip and his son John and John’s wife, Margaret of Bavaria. The mourning figures from the tomb of John the Fearless are now at the Metropolitan; but they are fully exposed, removed from their architectural setting. The PICTURE: page 46

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N.Y. State Police Chief Abuptly Retires (Newsmax - Politics)

health and for my own sanity it's the right thing to do." Corbitt's boss, Deputy A n u n f o l d i n g s c a n d a l Secretary for Public Safety threatening Gov. David Paterson Denise O'Donnell, resigned a and his administration claimed week ago, saying direct contact its second public safety official by the governor and troopers Tuesday when the head of the w i t h t h e w o m a n w a s New York State Police casually "unacceptable" regardless of told a television reporter that he their intent. She said that at the was retiring, partly because of time, Corbitt had assured her intense media scrutiny. that state police were not Superintendent Harry Corbitt involved in the investigation. had acknowledged in February Paterson, who has denied that a state police official had wrongdoing, earlier had hinted contact with a woman who had that he would soon tell his side accused a top Paterson aide of of the story in the scandal but assaulting her on Halloween in refused to comment on whether N e w Y o r k C i t y ' s B r o n x he had asked Corbitt to step borough. Soon after, the woman down. dropped the domestic violence "I think that we'll move forward complaint against the aide, now and we will look to see David Johnson. who will be the best person to On Tuesday, Corbitt talked lead the state police," Paterson about the pressures of being told reporters. "I think he involved in the story and why he worked very hard and he was was leaving office — a course helpful at this period." some critics are also urging the Sherruna Booker told police she Democratic governor to take. was roughed up on Halloween " A n y i n d i v i d u a l w h o i s by Johnson, her boyfriend at the criticized constantly feels that time, but she decided not to pain," Corbitt told the cable press charges. At issue is station Capital News 9. "And in whether Paterson or anyone most cases there is some way to from his staff or state police fight back. But in public service security detail influenced her there is not. I'm not an elected decision. official; I'm a public servant, I'm Paterson has acknowledged that a cop. And a good cop. So to he spoke with Booker but said continue to face that pressure, she initiated the call and that he and even pressure from my did not try to get her to change family, the media showing up in her story or not pursue a charge. m y d r i v e w a y — t h a t ' s Paterson's administration has unacceptable. So for my own not made Johnson available to Submitted at 3/2/2010 1:35:14 PM

comment or answer questions. The New York Times on Tuesday provided new details on Paterson's involvement in the matter, reporting that the governor had personally directed two state employees to contact the woman. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo — often mentioned as a potential gubernatorial candidate by the very critics who dogged Paterson last week into abandoning his campaign for a full term — is investigating those contacts. Any criminal case will hinge on whether Paterson, staff members or members of his state police security detail tried to get Booker to change her story, making charges of witness tampering or obstructing justice possible. The departure of Corbitt, who had already retired once but returned to service at Paterson's request, came on a day when the Times report gave Paterson his most damaging press yet. The National Organization for Women, long a Paterson ally, called for his resignation even as he got some rare support by lawmakers. State Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs drove from Long Island to meet in the governor's mansion with Paterson and later said Paterson's account of his contact with the woman, along with the state police and staff members, "explains an awful

lot." He declined to divulge details. "I did not get the sense that the governor is considering resignation, that resignation is pending," said Jacobs, a longtime friend of Paterson who owes his job to the governor. "There shouldn't be any more shoes to drop. The sense I got from him is there won't be." Paterson left a closed-door meeting with staff and said only that he doesn't plan to quit and didn't even feel pressure to resign, despite widespread speculation in the Capitol. A driver passing by the mansion honked and shouted to reporters, "Get him out of there!" Minutes before Jacobs spoke, powerful Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver left a lunch meeting with Paterson at the mansion and told reporters: "I don't feel he should resign." The Times report outraged NOW's state chapter, which called for Paterson's resignation despite his "excellent" policy record on women's issues. "It is inappropriate for the governor to have any contact or to direct anyone to contact an alleged victim of violence," chapter president Marcia Pappas said. Even Democratic U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, whom Paterson appointed to the seat last year, said Tuesday that he would have to resign if allegations that he abused his

power are proven true. But five Latino legislators, all Democrats, met with Paterson about budget appropriations and the needs of their communities, then approached reporters waiting outside the mansion to voice support. "No one has criticized the governor more than I have," said Sen. Ruben Diaz, of the Bronx. "Right now, we are supporting the governor to stay until the investigation is resolved." Paterson said he would soon speak publicly. Some leading Democrats have said he should resign to avoid further damage to the party in the 2010 elections. Arriving at an Irish American fundraiser in Manhattan, Cuomo did not say whether he thought the governor should resign. He said he hadn't spoken to Paterson yet but that the governor's office had cooperated. "We will do the investigation as fast as we can, as fast as practical," Cuomo said. "We also want to do it right, we want to be thorough, we want to be fair, and we want to have all the facts." Corbitt succeeded acting Superintendent Preston Felton, who was part of another scandal known as Troopergate. The administration of then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer was accused of N.Y. page 44

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Connection between Money and Politics Gets More Troubling (AEI.Org: Articles)

earlier incarnation of the committee for then-Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas). Last week added some bad In the travel case, with trips ingredients to the already deeply sponsored by the Carib News troubling connection between F o u n d a t i o n v i a c o r p o r a t e money and politics. contributions, the committee The House ethics committee focused its blame on staff, for issued reports on allegations Rangel and the others, while involving a number of House ignoring evidence that all of the Members about lobbying and travelers, even if ignorant of the earmarks via the PMA Group, direct source of the travel and about lawmaker trips to the monies, were plainly aware that Caribbean. In the first instance, there were corporate sponsors of the committee exonerated seven the conferences they attended, members of the Appropriations and while doing little about the Committee; in the latter, it underreporting by Members of admonished Ways and Means the actual costs of the trips. Chairman Charlie Rangel (D- Even if I might have come to a N.Y.) while letting four others different conclusion, there is off the hook. certainly a reasonable case to be Did these Members violate the made that the lawmakers in rules? I do not want to second- question here did not technically guess the bottom line of the or deliberately violate any rules. ethics committee or get too But what troubles me is that the much into the weeds, especially ethics committee did not use since five of the seven PMA either occasion to issue a clarion cases had first been carefully call to the House about the huge addressed by the independent ethical questions here. There are Office of Congressional Ethics, the issues involving soliciting or with similar findings. In two of accepting campaign funds while the cases, Reps. Todd Tiahrt (R- offering earmarks to those Kan.) and Peter Visclosky (D- solicited or contributing. And Ind.), both of whom refused t h e r e a r e t h o s e i s s u e s flatly to talk to the OCE, OCE's surrounding the tone-deaf recommendation that the approach way too many committee dig a little deeper Members have taken to trips was rejected despite lingering abroad, in providing inaccurate questions. With Visclosky, the pre-trip information to the timing of his fundraising c o m m i t t e e t o g e t " p r e solicitations and his earmark c l e a r a n c e " f o r t r a v e l , requests paralleled behavior that unquestioning acceptance of got an admonishment from an who is alleged to be paying for Submitted at 3/2/2010 3:00:00 PM

the trips and in a slipshod approach to the reporting requirements. I do not want an ethics committee that becomes an avenging angel, punishing Members left and right for transgressions. But I do want and expect a committee that is a zealous guardian of the standards of the House, setting out clear markers and making it crystal clear to Members and staff that abiding by the letter of the rules is not enough to maintain the ethical standards we expect and deserve from our lawmakers. When the committee earlier blasted the OCE for its investigation of Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) over a relatively minor case of a Member not disclosing his financial ties to a witness he called before a committee, it focused narrowly on whether there was a specific violation of a House rule, not on whether Members should zealously avoid conduct that does not reflect well on the standards of the House. The need to make the point about standards is so much greater now following the Supreme Court's colossally ruinous Citizens United decision. Opening the floodgates to unlimited corporate money directly in campaigns will distort the policy process in multiple ways. Lawmakers fearful of massive

attacks of independent ads trashing them will be even more driven to raise money themselves, and we can expect as a consequence even more questions being raised about the nexus between campaign solicitations, earmarks and contracts. Lobbying firms like PMA, not to mention companies and trade associations, have a new tool in their arsenals--not just campaign money, but bundles for independent ads, either for or against lawmakers or their campaign opponents. Powerful lawmakers have an added incentive to shake down companies for major league campaign help (or even for attack ads run against their opponents). And, as I pointed out in an earlier column, much of the corruption that will flow from this decision will occur without the money actually being spent: an amendment here, a clause weakened or excised there, a comma deleted or added so that the attack ads never occur. This awful decision was made by a group of justices who have not been within a country mile of a campaign or an election, much less a real live legislature; they, especially Justice Anthony Kennedy, the author of the opinion, are at best totally ignorant about politics and lawmaking and blissfully unaware of how money and

politics and policy interconnect in the real world. The loss of Sandra Day O'Connor, who had been in politics, run and won elections, and participated in the down-and-dirty dynamic of legislative policymaking, left a huge vacuum on the Supreme Court--all of course underscoring the fact that the 54 Citizens United decision was not the Constitution speaking, but the power shift to a new narrow majority created only by her untimely retirement. I know we will never return to an era like the 1950s when a majority of the members of the court had run for and won office. But it would be nice to have at least one member who had experienced something other than law school, a law firm, a post in the Justice Department or a cloistered court. As for the ethics process, I will continue to hope that in this challenging time, with populist anger on the rise just as money-driven distortions in lawmaking will accelerate, smart and sensible legislators like Reps. Zoe Lofgren (DCalif.) and Jo Bonner (R-Ala.) will start to assert themselves more in strengthening an ethics process that finally has two functional committee leaders and the credibility of an independent investigative arm. I hope they will find ways to CONNECTION page 43

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The Chief Noam Scheiber (The New Republic - All Feed)

between the moment Obama offered the job and the moment he took it a week later, Emanuel Submitted at 3/3/2010 9:00:00 PM would call his brother Zeke--a One of the enduring mysteries prominent bioethicist who about White House chief of staff w o u l d l a t e r j o i n t h e Rahm Emanuel is why he took administration--and rant about the job in the first place. At the why he should say no: “I have a time he accepted it, he was the great life. I’m going to rise up in fourth-ranking Democrat in the the House leadership, be the House of Representatives, a first Jewish speaker,” he’d position he’d attained with b e l l o w . E m a n u e l w o u l d considerable effort. Two years continue in this vein for 20, 30, earlier, Emanuel had chaired the sometimes 40 minutes. Then he House Democrats’ campaign would abruptly hang up, only to arm and led the party to a 31- start in all over again the next seat majority after a decade of day. futility. It was a grueling Still, there was never much undertaking--Emanuel shed 14 doubt he would sign on. “He pounds during the two-year had twenty-seven reasons--he stint, went months without a wants to spend time with his decent night’s sleep, consumed kids, be a devoted father. appalling quantities of caffeine-- They’re at a tender age. I mean, and it entailed significant all of them were right. But too professional risk. Had Emanuel bad,” says Zeke, nodding at the come up short in an election family ethic of public service. cycle many Democrats deemed “He knew he had to take the job. their best shot in years, he might He had no choice. It was his have spent the rest of his career duty. ... It was everything that on the backbenches. Instead, on had gone into forty-nine years of the eve of Barack Obama’s him being raised.” victory, only three colleagues One can understand Emanuel’s stood between him and the hesitation. Laboring as White coveted House speakership, and H o u s e c h i e f o f s t a f f i s they were all two decades older. fantastically difficult under any So why was Emanuel so keen c i r c u m s t a n c e s , s o m e t h i n g to walk away? The short answer Emanuel learned well as an aide is that he wasn’t. Once a day to Bill Clinton. Former George

W. Bush chief of staff Andy Card famously arrived at the White House by 5:30 each morning and stayed until eight or nine each night. But laboring as chief of staff during the first year or two of a presidency can be a prolonged form of torture. A new White House tends to be heavily populated with campaign personnel, many of whom have little experience at governing, much less in the West Wing. Yet they will have earned a claim on a job whether or not the chief of staff wants them there. This dynamic typically fades over time, as campaign veterans get replaced by operatives with a less personal connection to the president. When Erskine Bowles took over as Bill Clinton’s third chief of staff in late 1996, he brought in two new deputies, Sylvia Matthews and John Podesta. But the tension can be a major source of frustration in the early going. And, in fact, Emanuel was denied the luxury of choosing his own deputies. (One of his preferred candidates, Tom Donilon, later resurfaced as deputy national security advisor.) On top of which, Emanuel has his own unique set of frustrations. By virtue of his

political successes and his outsized personality--the nickname “Rahmbo” sums it up-he is the object of near-constant mythologizing. On the right, there is a tendency to view him as a kind of Democratic Karl Rove--a brilliant if diabolical operative who excels in the dark art of psychological warfare. When Emanuel ran the House Democrats’ campaign operation in 2006, the Republican leadership had a habit of blaming him for the party’s freakish procession of scandals, such as the timing of the Mark Foley imbroglio and the indictment of Tom DeLay. Meanwhile, to activists on the left, who have viewed Emanuel as a crypto-conservative since his Clinton-administration efforts to pass NAFTA, there is a persistent belief that he has maneuvered into the role of shadow president. In each passing disappointment--a toosmall stimulus, a too-generous bank bailout, a variety of health care compromises--the left finds more evidence of his ascendant worldview. One prominent liberal radio personality refers to Emanuel as “Barack Obama’s Dick Cheney,” while Jane Hamsher, proprietor of the highly trafficked blog

Firedoglake, has agitated for his ouster. If anything, though, Emanuel is the anti-Cheney. The former Bush vice president was famous for leaving few fingerprints; often, senior White House aides weren’t even aware of his involvement on an issue. But his influence touched every major administration initiative. Emanuel, by contrast, leaves more fingerprints than a twelvefingered larcenist--thick, greasy, deeply grooved fingerprints. And yet, going down the list of Obama initiatives, one is struck by the number that resist his designs. This probably doesn’t come as a surprise to Emanuel himself, who is shrewd enough to have foreseen that he wouldn’t have a free hand to impose his own governing strategy. But then, merely anticipating such constraints doesn’t make them painless. In fact, some of these same strains lie at the heart of the White House’s recent troubles. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Will Senate Say Aloha to Racial Discrimination? (AEI.Org: Articles)

this is unconstitutional. The Constitution empowers Congress to recognize What's the worst piece of established Indian tribes and to legislation before Congress grant them self-governance. But associated with the letter H? the Constitution doesn't give it M o s t c o n s e r v a t i v e s a n d the power to create an Indian Republicans, many moderates tribe. and Independents and even Native Hawaiians are not and some liberals and Democrats never have been an Indian tribe. would answer: one of the health The kingdom and the republic of care bills. Hawaii were multiracial But there's a robust competitor societies, not tribal entities, until for this honor, passed by the annexation by the United States House last week and currently in 1898. before the Senate: the Native Moreover, the Akaka bill is in H a w a i i a n G o v e r n m e n t tension if not in conflict with the Reorganization Act. constitutional ban on racial As with so much legislation, the d i s c r i m i n a t i o n . I t c o n f e r s title is Orwellian. The bill, benefits on people because of sponsored by Hawaii Sen. their race. Many of our states D a n i e l A k a k a , d o e s n o t used to do this, and some of us reorganize a Native Hawaiian are old enough to remember government, it creates one. separate drinking fountains and It states that people of Native restrooms for blacks and whites. Hawaiian descent can organize Not many of us see this sort of themselves as an Indian tribe. It thing as an attractive model for would have "inherent powers the years ahead. and privileges of selfThere is the additional g o v e r n m e n t , " i n c l u d i n g complicating factor that it's not presumably the power to tax, to clear just who is a Native enact criminal laws and to use Hawaiian. Racial intermarriage eminent domain to seize private has been common in Hawaii for property. a century and a half, and some There is good reason to believe have estimated that there are Submitted at 3/2/2010 3:00:00 PM

only a few hundred people left of whose ancestors were all Native Hawaiian. The Akaka bill provides that a federal commission determine who qualifies for inclusion in the new tribe. Anyone see an opportunity for political favoritism here? What's the impetus behind this retrograde bill? Pots of money. The state of Hawaii established an Office of Hawaiian Affairs in 1978 and gave it funding from the huge income from federal lands, the so-called Ceded Lands, granted to Hawaii when statehood was granted in 1959. OHA officials were chosen in elections limited to Native Hawaiians. In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Rice v. Cayetano that this violated the 15th Amendment's ban on racial discrimination in voting. The asserted purpose of the Akaka bill's discrimination is to aid a disadvantaged ethnic group. In the 1990s an OHA official told me that Native Hawaiians had the lowest education and income levels of any ethnic group in Hawaii "except, of course, the Filipinos." (Which leads me to

wonder: Should we have a Filipino Government Reorganization Act?) The actual purpose is to turn over to this racially defined governmental entity the Ceded Lands and the income therefrom: many millions of dollars. Perhaps disadvantaged individuals who get certified as having the requisite percentage of Native Hawaiian ancestry will get some benefit. But there's reason to bet that much of the moolah will go to wellconnected lawyers, accountants, project managers and investment advisers. What I find most dismaying about this Native Hawaiian bill is the contrast between Hawaii's traditional openness and tolerance and the bill's attempt to separate Hawaiians-Americans--by race. Hawaii, as Sen. Daniel Inouye stated in 1994, is "one of the greatest examples of a multiethnic society living in relative peace." Quite so. Inouye was one of the Hawaii politicians who worked for statehood in the 1950s. Then their chief opponents were Southern Democrats who feared

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make it clear to lawmakers that business as usual, including the temptation to tailor behavior to the narrow letter of the law and not the obvious standards of

acceptable conduct, is not good enough in this brave new postCitizens United world. Norman J. Ornstein is a resident scholar at AEI.

P h o t o C r e d i t : Term Extraction. iStockphoto/james steidl Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS,

the example of a multiethnic, multiracial society in which whites were in the minority and racial segregation was taboo. The Hawaii in which Barack Obama was born in 1961 justified those fears. Despite some tensions that Obama mentions in his autobiography, it was a sterling example of tolerance and togetherness not just to the United States but to the whole world. The Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act would put Hawaii on a road headed in the other direction. The Democratic health care bills threaten one-sixth of the nation's economy. The Akaka bill threatens something even more precious, the progress we have made as a nation toward racial equality. Michael Barone is a resident fellow at AEI. P h o t o C r e d i t : iStockphoto/ktsimage Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Senators Seek to Block Stimulus Money for Overseas (Newsmax - Politics) Submitted at 3/2/2010 11:39:13 PM

A group of Democratic senators is urging the Obama administration to suspend an economic stimulus program aimed at financing renewable energy, complaining that money is going to projects that are creating jobs in foreign countries. The four senators, led by Chuck Schumer of New York, wrote to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Tuesday to request a moratorium on the Recovery Act program. They asked that the moratorium remain in place until they can pass legislation mandating stimulus aid flow only to projects which preserve and create U.S. jobs. "A critical Recovery Act priority is investment in the domestic renewable and clean energy industry, not investment in foreign manufacturers," the senators wrote in the letter, obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press. The letter, which will be disclosed at a news conference Wednesday, was also signed by Sens.

Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Robert Casey of Pennsylvania and Jon Tester of Montana. The lawmakers cited a report by the Investigative Reporting Workshop which found that a majority of the program's grants went to foreign-owned companies, and that a majority of the turbines purchased with the money were built by foreign manufacturers. "This is not the intended use of Recovery Act funds," they wrote. A Treasury Department spokesman declined to comment Tuesday. Dan Leistikow, a spokesman at the Energy Department, which was copied in on the letter, said the program has helped put Americans to work, and said it funds only projects built in the U.S. He added that the Recovery Act has helped attract more than $10 billion of foreign investment into this country's wind industry, including new manufacturing plants. "It's the opposite of outsourcing, and we should encourage — not discourage — those kinds of investments," Leistikow said.

While some of the grants go to foreign-owned companies, the administration argues that more than half the components, measured by their value, are built in this country and all the energy projects are installed in this country. Last fall, a joint venture was announced involving China's Shenyang Power Group, Cielo Wind Power LP of Austin, Texas, and a private equity firm, U.S. Renewable Energy Group, to build a $1.5 billion Texas wind energy project. Because the wind turbines are to be manufactured in China, Schumer wrote to Energy Secretary Steven Chu last November urging him to reject federal funding for the project. "The idea that stimulus funds would be used to create jobs overseas is quite troubling," Schumer wrote, "and, therefore, I urge you to reject any request for stimulus money unless the high-value components, including the wind turbines, are manufactured in the United States." In response, Chu wrote that the program in question is

Camera!, Shy [Open Caption] Richard Lawson (Gawker) Submitted at 3/3/2010 9:31:45 AM

[ Whitney Port from " The City" and her main squeeze in New York; image via Bauer-Griffin]

"available to all qualifying entities; it is not a discretionary grant program administered by the Department of Energy." He also said all the money awarded from the program helps put Americans to work. "All of the wind turbine installation jobs are created here in America," Chu said. On Tuesday, Walt Hornaday, president of Cielo Wind Power, said the company has not yet applied for federal money. He said it is looking at several federal grant programs, including one that would provide 30 percent of approved costs, or around $450 million. He took issue with Schumer's characterization of jobs, saying a majority of those created for the project would be in the United States. © 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.

N.Y. continued from page 40

using state troopers for surveillance of the governor's political enemies. In November, the state Public Integrity Commission found that Felton ordered state police to create official-looking documents about a political foe's use of state aircraft. He was accused of producing the material at the request of one of Spitzer's aides, who then gave the documents to a reporter. Felton faced no penalty. Spitzer later resigned amid a prostitution scandal, and Paterson, who was his lieutenant, ascended to governor. —— Associated Press writer Cristian Salazar contributed to this report from New York. © 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.

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PENCILS

Cash Poor?

continued from page 38

Noah Kristula-Green, Byron Tau, Sam Sweeney (The New Republic - All Feed)

cash to cover mortgages, school tuition and other expenses.” So, do the folks at Goldman Sachs really have a liquidity Submitted at 3/3/2010 9:00:00 PM This bonus season, with problem? The base salary of a encouragement from the White partner—excluding bonuses or House, Wall Street firms have stock awards—hovers around been paying their employees $600,000 a year. What are they less in cash and more in stock. blowing all that money on? The idea is that vast cash Below, we've gamed out some bonuses encourage reckless, of the yearly costs: short-term decisions—while (Click here for larger version) stock awards incentivize long- When you add in all the other term planning that creates miscellaneous expenses—gifts lasting value. for parents and kids, The practice has set Goldman p r e s c r i p t i o n d r u g r e f i l l s , Sachs bankers howling. “Some gasoline for the Audi A4, and on employees say the shift could and on—it does look like a bit leave them short of cash," the of a cash crunch. Of course, Wall Street Journal reported, there are ways for a Goldman " s i n c e s t o c k c o m e s w i t h partner to cut back and stay restrictions on how quickly it within budget for the year. can be sold. And since many Ditching the summer pad in the people plan their household Hamptons for one in Toms b u d g e t s a r o u n d b o n u s River, New Jersey, (near expectations, they may need the Snooki!) would free up some

cash, and giving less money to charity always stands as the nononsense, Randian option. (Extra incentive: according to The New York Times, skipping a few galas could save $35,000 on gowns for your trophy wife.) But however our Goldman partner chooses to alleviate his financial stress, he should remember that his problems are exclusively attributable to government intervention and are not—repeat: are not—of his own making. 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.

less another MWG study, add to the debate? RAND's findings remain accurate, as no new social science data has emerged that finds homosexuality to be incompatible with military service. To the contrary, post1993 studies on gays in the military have only bolstered the RAND report and showed that another research delay mandated by the military's top brass would do no good--indeed, it might actually do harm. According to the original RAND study, two of the most important factors in a personnel policy transition like the repeal of DADT are decisive leadership and a single code of conduct for all personnel. But RAND also found that a successful new policy must be “decided upon and implemented as quickly as possible” to avoid anxiety and uncertainty. "[F]ast and pervasive change will signal commitment to the [new] policy," and “any waiting period also permits restraining forces to consolidate." These findings are

supported by decades of research on institutional change, public policy implementation, and cohesion theory. Much of that literature has focused on leadership and institutional culture. In their 1983 book, Implementation and Public Policy, for instance, Daniel Mazmanian and Paul Sabatier note the importance of, as the RAND report described, “committed implementers as driving forces for policy change.” And, in their 1986 book, The Political Hand, Barbara Ferman and Martin Levin explain that the key to effective change is having leaders communicate that a new policy is now consistent with the institutional identity of a group. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Negotiation Lessons from the Pawn Stars [Negotiation] Adam Pash (Lifehacker) Submitted at 3/2/2010 5:00:00 PM

MetaFilter founder and blogger Matt Haughey spent some time recently watching Pawn Stars(the History channel's "blue collar version of Antiques Roadshow"), and after a few

episodes learned some solid negotiation lessons from the folks at the pawn shop. The video above offers a few pointers for how to approach a pawn shop when you're looking to sell things, but Haughey also extracts a pattern for the negotiations that take place in

Pawn Stars that seem applicable to nearly any negotiation. The best part is the negotiation stage. I'm a terrible negotiator and in the past I've only done bargaining for new cars over email, since I completely fail trying to persuade lower prices from someone standing in front

of me. I'm fascinated at how consistently Rick pulls a fairly low price for items and there is a general pattern to the procedure worth knowing. Hit up his post for the breakdown, especially if you, like Haughey (and this editor), aren't generally skilled at

negotiation. While you're getting your haggle on, don't forget the golden rule of negotiation. The Art of Negotiation According to Pawnstars[A Whole Lotta Nothing]

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PICTURE: continued from page 39

Burgundian sculptural tradition that Sluter defined, with its uncanny interweaving of naturalist observation and religious intensity, is not so much sadly diminished by the presentation at the Metropolitan as it is obliterated, a radical development in European art reduced to a product making the rounds. I wish I hadn’t seen the Mourners at the Metropolitan. I would have preferred to remember an afternoon years ago at the museum in Dijon. And what of those who have not been to Dijon? And perhaps will never go? Have they not been

done a service? The belief that we can experience everything is as absurd as the idea that we can experience nothing. It is the intensity of the experience that counts. There are masterworks in the world that I will never see, and I am not troubled by that thought. If I never get to Angkor Wat, and I doubt that I ever will, I do not expect Angkor Wat to come to me. It would have been better that fewer people saw Matisse’s Dance in the very room for which he painted it in Merion, Pennsylvania, than that more and more people see the

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Syracuse wins first game as No. 1 since 1990

painting in a replica of its original setting, reconstituted on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. When everything is available, Associated Press nothing is available. (ESPN.com) Jed Perl is the art critic for The ASUS introduces O!Play Submitted at 3/2/2010 7:52:08 PM New Republic. HD2, first networked Five Filters featured article: Top Performers Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: St. John's: D. Kennedy 19 Pts, 4 media player with USB PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Reb, 3 Ast 3.0 Term Extraction. Syracuse: A. Onuaku 21 Pts, 8 Tim Stevens (Engadget) Reb, 1 Stl, 2 Blk Submitted at 3/3/2010 9:01:00 AM Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: Chances are you're not a part of PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, the SuperSpeed revolution yet, Term Extraction. and that's okay. It's early days yet, but ASUS is doing its part to make that transition to USB 3.0 a little more appealing with its O!Play HD2. A follow-up to the earlier O!Play models, the for the 4,237th time. HD2 offers what looks to be It’s hard to believe people plenty of connectivity options aren’t starting to get tired of (we're seeing USB, memory Beck’s repetitious far right c a r d s , a n d e S A T A ) a n d paranoid schtick. promises a "wealth of cloud UPDATE at 3/2/10 6:01:12 pm: infotainment." ASUS isn't Looks like even the ol’ Impaler sharing any more details than himself might have indulged in that right now, but we're going an occasional pie: Traditional to try to track this guy down on Romanian Food and Recipes. the CeBIT show floor and, when & # # x 2 0 1 C ; P o a l e - n we find, it you can be sure we brâu&##x201D; pies are made won't spare the hard questions. historical figures. They all — either with sweet or salty ASUS introduces O!Play HD2, with the possible exception of cheese. The dough is wrapped first networked media player into an envelope and filled with w i t h U S B 3 . 0 o r i g i n a l l y Vlad — liked pie. Be that as it may, Glenn cheese. appeared on Engadget on Wed, concluded his show today by Pie. The universal language. 03 Mar 2010 09:01:00 EST. Godwinning himself right out, (Hat tip: freetoken.) Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink SlashGear, Engadget Spanish| ASUS| Email this| Comments

The Glenn Beck Commie-Nazi Pie Conspiracy (Little Green Footballs) Submitted at 3/2/2010 5:26:50 PM

I happened to switch my EyeTV to Fox News this afternoon just in time to catch a screenshot of Glenn Beck working his favorite themes, with his favorite subjects pasted on his favorite blackboard: From top to bottom, we have: Mao Zedong, Vladimir Lenin, Fidel Castro, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, some European guy with a ruffled shirt, Pol Pot, Hugo Chavez, Adolf Hitler (of course), and Vlad the Impaler. He’s unraveling the threads of history, exposing the

connections, showing us how it all works behind the curtain … but even the awesome polymathic mind of Glenn Beck has missed the one fundamental attribute that connects these

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Daily electronics deals Nicholas Kolman-Mandle (Consumer Reports)

$99.99 w/ Free Shipping

often fleeting, with prices changing or products becoming unavailable as the day Submitted at 3/3/2010 7:24:04 AM • Meritline: Designer All in p r o g r e s s e s . Daily electronics deals Today's One Card Reader/Writer for These posts are not an electronics deals, courtesy of $3.99 w/ Free Shipping endorsement of the featured The Consumerist: • Amazon: Willie Nelson and products or the Web sites that Wynton Marsalis Play the sell them—though some of the • P C M a l l : S a v e $ 6 0 : Music of Ray Charles $12.99 sites may be included, and Refurbished Wacom Bamboo • Amazon: The Universe: recommended, in our Ratings of Graphics Tablet with Wireless Season 3 $30.49 + free shipping retailers for computers and other Stylus Pen & Mouse $40 • Deep Discount: Hellboy II: major electronics(both available • Newegg: Acer Dual Core 15.6 The Golden Army $10.78 + free to subscribers). Price shouldn't -inch Widescreen Notebook shipping be your only criterion. Be wary $400 of lower-priced deals that seem • Newegg: Philips 1080p 42too good to be true, and check inch LCD HDTV $600 Shipped return policies for restocking • Buy.com: Viewsonic 24'' Related: TV Ratings and fees and other gotchas. LCD 1080p HDTV for $249.99 buying tips; Computer Ratings For general buying advice for w/ Free Shipping and buying tips; DVD & Blu- many of the products on sale • Newegg: iLuv iPod Docking ray player Ratings and buying above, check out our free Station and Alarm Clock w/ Bed tips; Printer Ratings and buying Buying Guides. Subscribe now! Shaker for $32.99 + $0.99 tips. S u b s c r i b e t o Shipping Neither Consumer Reports nor ConsumerReports.org for expert • PC Micro Store: $4 Off $7 T h e C o n s u m e r i s t r e c e i v e Ratings, buying advice and P u r c h a s e + O n e M o r e a n y t h i n g i n e x c h a n g e f o r reliability on hundreds of Coupon$4off$7 featuring these deals; the posts products. Update your feed • OfficeMax: Samsung Mono are intended to be purely preferences Laser Multifunction Printer for informational. These deals are

'CSI: NY' Victims Get the Ax (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 3/3/2010 3:15:00 AM

Detectives Mac Taylor ( Gary Sinise) and Don Flack ( Eddie Cahill) found more than they bargained for upon opening a hotel room door.

Instead of a suspect, they found a room full of clues and murder victims who were brutally beaten by an ax. The investigators try to piece together the crime by chronicling the order of the murders and following the

pattern of blood splattered on the hotel room's walls. Watch "CSI:NY" tonight at 10 p.m. on CBS to see the expert sleuths solve the case.

Daily Dispatch: Toyota turns to Twitter; Mobile shopping apps overview Dirk Klingner (Consumer Reports)

the temptation to click? An App for That, Too: How Mobile Is Changing Shopping( Submitted at 3/2/2010 2:24:11 PM Advertising Age) Daily Dispatch: Toyota turns to Great overview of 6 shopping Twitter; Mobile shopping apps related mobile applications and overview what they can do for you. Combing through hundreds of Covers ShopSavvy, Yowza, blog posts and news articles RetrevoQ, FastMall, TheFind d a i l y , D i r k K l i n g n e r , o u r and GroceryIQ. technology-trend watcher, sifts RedEye mini converts iPhone, through the noise to bring you iPad or iPod touch into IRthe tech news most important to beaming universal remote( consumers. If you have a tip on engadget) a story you want to share, leave ...Today, the RedEye mini is a comment below. setting a new bar in the world of Toyota Turns To Twitter To iPhone / iPad / iPod touch Repair Its Image( TechCrunch) remotes, with a single plug-in ...So what does the company do Infrared (IR) adapter enabling to repair its image? Turn to your Apple device to beam out a Twitter, of course! The Japanese near-limitless array of IR auto giant has launched a commands. b r a n d e d c h a n n e l o n Lighter Side: Eye Candy: OK TweetMeme, in partnership with Go's Insane Rube Goldberg Federated Media, which Machine( FastCompany) aggregates and organize Twitter S u b s c r i b e n o w ! conversations regarding Toyota. S u b s c r i b e t o How to Safely Open Unknown ConsumerReports.org for expert Web Pages at Work( digital Ratings, buying advice and inspiration) reliability on hundreds of ... What should you do if you products. Update your feed are unsure of the contents of the preferences web page but still can’t resist

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Verizon Wireless offers free calls to Sarah Palin Says She'll Chile be Tina Fey Impersonator Nicholas Kolman-Mandle (Consumer Reports)

Sprint (including Nextel, Boost Mobile, and Virgin Mobile USA) say they will not charge Submitted at 3/2/2010 2:32:15 PM for text-message donations and Verizon Wireless offers free that each donation will appear calls to Chile on customers' monthly cellV e r i z o n W i r e l e s s h a s phone bills. announced that it will not charge To donate: customers for calls made to • Text "4CHILE" to 50555 to Chile. In a press release, the donate $10 to support Chile company said that free calling relief efforts through Convoy of would be retroactive to the time Hope of the earthquake and extend at • Text "CHILE" to 50555 to least through Saturday, March 6. donate $10 through the Friends Roaming calls will be billed at of the World Program the carrier's normal rates. • Text “CHILE” to 25383 to As they did after the earthquake donate $10 through Habitat for in Haiti, the major wireless Humanity carriers are again facilitating • Text "REBUILD" to 50555 to m o b i l e g i v i n g . V e r i z o n donate $10 through Operation Wireless, AT&T, T-Mobile, and USA

• Text “CHILE” to 52000 to donate $10 through The Salvation Army (ETonline - Breaking News) • Text “CHILE” to 20222 to donate $10 through World Submitted at 3/3/2010 4:10:00 AM Vision Move over Elvis and Marilyn Monroe impersonators on the You can also donate through Strip, Sarah Palin made her each charity's Web site. If stand-up comedy debut Tuesday you've never texted a donation night on "The Tonight Show before, here's what you should with Jay Leno" and announced, know. "I picked up a gig in Las Vegas —Nick K. Mandle at the 'Legends' show playing Subscribe now! Tina Fey." S u b s c r i b e t o On his second night back on the ConsumerReports.org for expert late-night job, Jay took a step Ratings, buying advice and out of the spotlight, allowing reliability on hundreds of Sarah to deliver a monologue. products. Update your feed Before beginning, she poked fun preferences

Dick Arms in the House

Q&A: Is being skinny risky? rss@consumerreports.org (Consumer Reports)

The BMI is calculated by multiplying weight in pounds by 705, dividing by height in Submitted at 3/3/2010 7:17:50 AM inches, then dividing by height Q&A: Is being skinny risky? again. A BMI of 30 and over is I don’t smoke or have any considered obese, 25 through 29 disease. But my body mass overweight, and 20 through 24 index is in the underweight ideal. Scores below 20 are range. Is that unhealthy? — considered underweight because A.M., Elk Grove, Calif. studies have linked them to Almost surely not. Body mass increased risk of premature index(BMI) was devised to d e a t h . B u t t h a t ’ s a l m o s t m e a s u r e o b e s i t y , a n d certainly because disease, eating c o n c l u s i o n s d r a w n a b o u t disorders, or malnourishment thinness have been misleading. makes some people thin, not

because thinness make people susceptible to deadly diseases. And while a low BMI may slightly increase your risk of developing osteoporosis, you can counter that by getting enough exercise and calcium. Note that BMI may be misleading in another way: People who have bulky muscles may be classified as overweight even if they have little body fat. Calculate your BMI, but keep in mind that there is no one-size -fits-all definition of a healthy

at herself for the mishap in which she was caught with notes on her hand as she spoke at an event. She promised to do her comedy bit without cue cards or notations, saying, "I will know these jokes like the front of my hand." Glad to have a break in L.A. from the frigid winter weather in her home of Alaska, the former Vice-Presidential nominee compared the two states: "Here, when people have a frozen look on their face, I find out it's botox."

weight. And for more on keeping track of your weight, see our new report and Ratings on the best bathroom scales(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

Barry Ritholtz (The Big Picture) Submitted at 3/3/2010 7:00:02 AM

Be sure to check out reknown market technician Dick Arms piece “ WHERE ARE WE NOW?” in the Think Tank. > Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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SXSW Interactive 2010 for Musicians & Music Fans Jolie O'Dell (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 3/2/2010 7:00:34 PM

A ReadWriteWeb Guide As a tech conference strongly linked to an epic music festival, SXSW Interactive is the perfect place for music and tech geeks to converge. Musicians, get ready to nerd out and learn how to sell your wares and increase your fanbase online. And geeks, get ready to let your love for music show. Perhaps with a little cooperation and cross-discipline interaction, this whole "music on the Internet" thing will work out, after all. Check out these ten parties, panels and events sure to delight the most musical of geeks - and the most geeky of musicians. Sponsor This is part of a series of ReadWriteWeb guides to SXSW Interactive 2010. If this guide isn't your cup of tea, be sure to check back for more information soon! Online Tastemakers: Death or Rebirth of Music Curation? "Free infinite music has fragmented across every digital nook and cranny, making it hard for consumers to keep up with new quality artists online. A new breed of tastemakers are cropping up with innovative twists. Are they helping or hurting? Is online music curation dying or evolving?" With Anya Grundmann of NPR

Music, Chris MacDonald of I n d i e F e e d Networks/LibsynPRO, John Hammond of The MuseBox and Christopher Weingarten of Rolling Stone. TechKaraoke If music is your bag, head to this second-generation event at Six Lounge for more than five hours of punk, rock and metal karaoke with a live band. There will also be dancing with DJ Johnny Bravvo in the Tap Room next door and the mellow tunes of The James Moran Band on the upstairs patio. Music 2010: Playlists, Networks, Radio & Numbers You Need "Technology has opened floodgates to a sea of music marketing resources and overabundance of data generated by behaviors and transactions. What are the most important numbers & what do they mean? What numbers are missing? Examine complex human interactions with music online: learn to define & synthesize data generated by music consumption." With publicist Ariel Hyatt and Corey Denis of Not Shocking. Emo's This legendary rock club in Austin is home to many a SXSW event - not least of which is the Pastries & Pasties burlesque/cupcake extravaganza on Friday night of SXSWi. But this venue will also be hosting

boundaries of music licensing. This panel opens a lively debate between the major labels and publishers who control the songs, the music supervisors who negotiate the rights and fees, and the music and media startups that are navigating uncharted territory." With Adam Blumenthal of Curious Sense, Joel Johnson of Gizmodo, Randy Shefer of Sony, Robin dozens of bands and DJs in its Raj of Citizen Group and Annie dual-stage, open air-cum-indoor Lin of The Rights Workshop. setup throughout the rest of the Xephyra: An alternative world conference. In a town known for music and video mythos its music clubs, it says a lot that Strap on your Suspension of locals consider Emo's one of the C r i t i c i s m h e l m e t s ; i t ' s best. alternative performance art Artists, Labels Embrace Virtual time! Worlds "Award-winning artists Chad "Music labels (Atlantic Records, Salvata and Jo Beth Henderson E M I , S o n y B M G ) a n d have created the newest ethos musicians (Rob Thomas, Ice-T, a d v e n t u r e , X e p h y r a , a n N e w F o u n d G l o r y ) a r e alternative world music and embracing virtual worlds by v i d e o m y t h o s . T h i s n o n creating branded stores and traditional performance is virtual merchandise that engage presented with video images and their fans and promote and sell live music. The extraordinary music and memorabilia. Learn vocals are performed in an h o w v i r t u a l w o r l d s a r e imaginary language of a mythic changing the music industry and tribal island world. Xephyra, a creating new warrior of the Blue Orchid tribe, revenue streams and promotion journeys on her quest to find her opportunities." With Lee Clancy husband, Warrior, who has not of Imvu. returned from the Island Wars. Music Licensing for Emerging Along the way, she is joined by Media: Apps, Widgets, Viral Terra, a sea siren. They are Videos hunted by monster birds, battle "In the era of apps, widgets, shark mermaids, and slay the streaming sites, viral videos and kaleidoscope octopus. Will they m a s h u p s , d e v e l o p e r s a r e find Warrior and return safely c o n s t a n t l y p u s h i n g t h e home?"

Hoek's Pizza If you're a metalhead in search of a snack and a beer or a music fan in search of some once-in-alifetime novelty... and a beer, be sure to hit up Hoek's Heavy Metal Pizza. The music generally, death/black/very heavy metal of a Gojira/Arch Enemy caliber - is loud, but this joint is the kind of place that definitely keeps Austin weird. We also hear there's a stage on the back patio, and good movies are generally playing inside, as well. As one reviewer said, "I get scared sometimes when I walk into this place, but I like that." Video Games, the New, New Media For Music "Video Games have become the New, New Media. Music, and products are featured as prominently in the virtual world of games as they are in films and commercials. Artists are seizing this opportunity to expose their music to an attentive new audience through means that were unthinkable only a few years ago. The user experience creates a unique bond between gamer and artist which is changing the way fans relate to music. The games themselves are being marketed in new and exciting ways too, utilizing, creatively, every possible new media resource." With Mark Roemer of The Ant SXSW page 53

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McKinsey: Get Ready For Sensor-Driven Business Models Richard MacManus (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 3/3/2010 1:02:25 AM

Consulting firm McKinsey has just released a report on the Internet of Things, one of ReadWriteWeb's top 5 trends of last year. The report, available for free if you sign up as a member of McKinsey Quarterly, focuses on the "new sensordriven business models" that Internet of Things brings. McKinsey sees two categories for emerging applications: "information and analysis" and "automation and control." Many of the applications listed are for large companies or specialized industries (for example automobile manufacturers). But consumers should take note too, because there will be a lot more data about us flowing onto the Internet. Sponsor McKinsey defines Internet of Things as "sensors and actuators embedded in physical objects [...] linked through wired and wireless networks, often using the same Internet Protocol (IP) that connects the Internet." In the "information and analysis" category, McKinsey firstly lists tracking behavior. An example is insurance companies installing location sensors in customers' cars,

allowing them to base the price of policies on "how a car is driven as well as where it travels." Another example is Tesco's use of sensors to capture shoppers' profile data via membership cards. According to McKinsey, this "can help close purchases by providing additional information or offering discounts at the point of sale." On the B2B side, McKinsey points to companies using sensors to track RFID tags placed on products moving through supply chains. We've written before about IBM's activities in this market. The next information and analysis application is enhanced situational awareness. This is when large numbers of sensors are deployed in infrastructure such as roads and buildings, in order to report on real-time environmental conditions such as weather or temperature. Sensor-driven decision analytics shows how revolutionary sensor technologies could be, without most consumers even realizing it! The report explains that some retailers are presently studying ways to gather and process data from shoppers as they flow through stores. Sensor readings and videos will be able to "note how long they linger at

individual displays and record what they ultimately buy," data which McKinsey says "will help to increase revenues by optimizing retail layouts." The second major category for Internet of Things apps in this report is "automation and control." By this McKinsey means "converting the data and analysis collected through the Internet of Things into instructions that feed back through the network to actuators that in turn modify processes." The first class of apps listed under this category is process optimization, for example for chemical production and assembly lines. Next is optimized resource consumption, for example power companies that provide so-called 'smart meters' so that customers can better manage their power expenditure. This is particularly useful for companies that use a lot of power every day, because they can "shift energy-intensive processes and production

away from high-priced periods of peak energy demand to low -priced off-peak hours." The third and final automation and control use case is complex autonomous system s, which McKinsey calls "the most demanding use of the Internet of Things" because it involves rapid, real-time sensing of unpredictable conditions. For example the automobile industry is developing systems that can detect imminent collisions and take evasive action. The report ends by saying that the Internet of Things holds great promise, but there are many issues to resolve including privacy, legal and cost of sensors and actuators. However McKinsey thinks that energy consumption efficiency and process optimization are "good early targets" for businesses using Internet of Things. Overall, this is an informative, useful report for companies who want to get their heads around the potential business opportunities of the Internet of Things. For ReadWriteWeb's ongoing coverage and analysis of this important trend, check out our Internet of Things archive and subscribe to our RSS feed. Discuss

Acer Aspire One 532G with ION 2 priced at an aggressive 379 euros Ross Miller (Engadget) Submitted at 3/3/2010 10:19:00 AM

Now that's how to get our attention. While the Englishspeaking portion of the Acer press conference left much to be desired, the second half, decidedly more German in vernacular, had a couple great tidbits. Most notable is a price of Acer's AspireOne 532G, the ION 2-equipped netbook initially espied at Mobile World Congress. The slide says it all, sort of: 379 euros -- mighty aggressive, and if history tells us anything, there's a good chance it'll be about $379 when it comes stateside, too. No word on release date as far as we can tell, but you'll definitely want to keep an eye out for this one. Acer Aspire One 532G with ION 2 priced at an aggressive 379 euros originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| | Email this| Comments

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iPad Owners to Go Wi-Fi Only? AT&T CEO Thinks So (POLL) Sarah Perez (ReadWriteWeb)

CEO thinks otherwise. He predicts the iPad will primarily be a Wi-Fi only device. Is he When consumers rush out to right? purchase Apple's new handheld Sponsor device, the slate-like computer Too Many Subscriptions called the iPad, they'll have According to a Reuters report, several options to choose from. A T & T C E O R a n d a l l In addition to multiple storage Stephenson says he doesn't capacities, iPad buyers will have expect the iPad's launch to lead to make an even more critical to very many new AT&T d e c i s i o n : W i - F i o r 3 G ? service subscriptions. "My Although Wi-Fi hotspots are in expectation is that there's not many places these days, from going to be a lot of people out airports to coffee shops and t h e r e l o o k i n g f o r a n o t h e r sometimes even blanketing a subscription," he was quoted as city's downtown, anyone with saying. an iPod Touch will tell you that He may be right. As consumers, t h e y ' r e f a r f r o m b e i n g we're starting to hit a saturation everywhere. That problem point with how many times we certainly limits some of the have to pay - again and againfunctionality of the iPad apps, for access to the same Internet. especially those relying on real- We have our broadband bill for time updates for breaking news, at home, a mobile broadband data downloads or other Internet bill for our laptop's "air card" -only content. Considering that and a third bill for our phone's the contract-free iPad 3G plan data plan. Layer on top of that starts at $15 per month, one the numerous subscription would think that, given these services for Internet-accessible potential issues, the 3G version content, like Xbox LIVE, would be the top choice among N e t f l i x ( v i a t h e i r " W a t c h consumers. However, AT&T's Instantly" service) and premium Submitted at 3/3/2010 6:55:45 AM

music streaming sites like Pandora, Spotify or Last.fm, and it's clear that we've become overloaded. Will anyone out there be able to afford yet another wireless data plan? Apparently, AT&T isn't counting on it. Will You be Missing Out? If you plan to use the iPad mainly as an eBook reader and portable media device for streaming iTunes-purchased content, then you won't miss out too much when you go offline, which - let's face it - when you leave the house, that will be most of the time. The majority of iPhone games, all of which will work on the iPad out-of-the -box, won't be affected either. But what about when you want to read the newspaper or a magazine via the iPad? Without an Internet connection to download the latest, you'll be stuck with yesterday's news or last month's edition of Wired. And if you wanted to quickly share something you read on Facebook or Twitter, you would

be out of luck, here, too. However, many people may be willing to live with these limitations. Just as we've learned to sync our iPods and iPhones before we leave the house, we may soon need to remember to update our online newspaper and magazine apps, too. For this minor inconvenience, there's a major payoff: the monthly savings, of course, but also hundreds of dollars off the retail price of the iPad. In any event, we wonder if AT&T's CEO has any insight into this situation or if he will be surprised by how popular the 3G iPad ends up being. Do you agree with his prediction? Lets find out! Take our poll (linked below) to tell us what iPad you'll buy. (If you're not buying an iPad, then just skip it!) NY Times readers, click here to access the poll. Discuss

Street Chic: Milan Fashion Week ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 3/3/2010 4:00:00 AM

Floral leggings (on model Sasha Pivovarova) are in full

bloom this season. Photo: Imaxtree Click here for our complete fall 2010 Fashion Week coverage Think you are Street Chic? E-

mail us your photo and you

could appear in ELLE.com's Street Chic Daily. Follow ELLE on Twitter. Become our Facebook fan!

Verizon Customers Are Amidst a Nationwide Data Blackout [Verizon] Mark Wilson (Gizmodo) Submitted at 3/3/2010 8:28:15 AM

If you're a Verizon customer and your phone isn't connecting to data this morning, it's not just you. Verizon has confirmed that its data is down across the nation, though apparently NY is doing just fine. UPDATE Your make/model of phone has nothing to do with the problem, as everything from Blackberries to Droids are equally affected by the outage. Those old fashioned phone calls, however, still work just fine. [ Crackberry and DroidForums via Engadget] UPDATE: According to Verizon, the outage is over. On their Twitter account, Verizon also clarified that, despite earlier reports, this was an issue in the eastern US.

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What the Tweetmeme Toyota Portal Looks Like Under the Hood Marshall Kirkpatrick (ReadWriteWeb)

combination of heavy duty and easy to use, just like you'd expect for a big corporate Submitted at 3/2/2010 6:51:56 PM customer like this. The best Auto manufacturer Toyota news? This system will be launched a new Twitter-based opened up to the public soon. p o r t a l c a l l e d T o y o t a Sponsor Conversations tonight and the No Cover Up Here site is getting a whole lot of Below, an item page for a press. Most people are focused popular link shared about on how the site seems to contain Toyota. Below is what appears more positive Tweets than the to be the company's direct world at large, but there are a lot response. Thus the name of the of negative links on the site as site, Conversations. well. Easy to Use Logic Chains We got a look at the back-end Tweetmeme portal customers infrastructure of the Tweetmeme set up complex combinations of p o r t a l s y s t e m a n d h a v e rules for which tweets to display screenshots displayed below. using what company founder These aren't for the Toyota Nick Halstead calls "a miniproject in particular, but they are programming language - with a the same tools being put to use drag + drop interface for setting in a different campaign. We them up. Rules can be based on know you feed and data geeks tweet, text from the story, title, fantasize about building the meta data from the story, geo u l t i m a t e f e e d m o d e r a t i o n location data, twitter users who system. Check out the one that are tweeting...almost any data Toyota put down no small sum that is associated with twitter to get to use. It's a nice and the linked story that we

Halstead's company got a big boost from this deal, but spider as well. Each channel Tweetmeme has been cash-flow can have a number of chains - positive for at least the last 3 each chain can work separately - months. "I think the more but be valued differently - i.e. interesting fact," he says, "is that h a v e a c o n f i d e n c e f a c t o r I started this company for the sole purpose of doing this and associated with it." companies are now only just The Big Dashboard in the Sky This is what Tweetmeme HQ starting to recognize the value in looks at, standing on top of all this kind of proposition. I think the channels. The ten person that shows how far social media team calls its big set of rules has grown up. And that you "the pickle matrix". Every time have to stick at what you know someone Tweets a tweet with a is right - even if people ignore it new link in it, or a Retweet, that to start with." data is thrown against the pickle No word yet on when this matrix. That's the field "access system will be opened up to the count." Then an optimized public, but used in conjunction process of rules are matched. with other media types like "The data isn't the problem," Toyota has it sure seems like Halstead says, "it's the number there's a lot of potential here. of rules we put against it. This Disclosure: FM Publishing, a is 1,000 times more powerful partner in the Toyota project, is than Twitter's Track or search a l s o R W W ' s a d v e r t i s i n g because we can apply tens of n e t w o r k . D i s c u s s thousands of rules to every Tweet we see."

Mickey Rourke to Wrestle Greek Gods (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 3/3/2010 3:10:00 AM

Golden Globe winning actor Mickey Rourke will suit up for battle in 'War of the Gods.' Hollywood's resident bad-boy is set to play the villain, King Hyperion, according to Variety. He will join 'Slumdog Millionaire' breakout star Freida Pinto in the film. Pinto will star as Phaedra, an oracle priestess. Her character must join Theseus, played by "The Tudors"' Henry Cavill, to avoid the outbreak of catastrophic war. Theseus and his fellow warriors seek to save mankind by entering into battle with the powerful elder gods of the Titans. His force also struggles to defeat evil by fighting the immortal Greek gods.

Cameron Diaz Tries to Win Over Justin Timberlake's Heart (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 3/3/2010 3:20:00 AM

Cameron Diaz is not looking to start any cat fights with Jessica Biel, Justin Timberlake's current

girlfriend. The one-time Hollywood leading couple will, however, reunite on screen in 'Bad Teacher,' according to Variety. Diaz will play a middle school

teacher coping with being dumped by her boyfriend. She forms an attraction to another teacher (Timberlake), but he is currently linked to a rival teacher ( Lucy Punch). Jason

Segal, Eric Stonestreet, and the story plays out in theaters. Molly Shannon also star in the film. Who will become Mr. Timberlake's teacherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pet? Fans will have to wait and see how

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SXSW continued from page 49

Farm, Doug McCracken of Activision Blizzard and Matt Drenik of Lions. Ukulele for Geeks: Secrets of the Pentatonic Scales "At first glance the fretboard of a ukulele (or guitar) looks incomprehensible, but with the magic of pentatonic scales ancient, nearly universal 5-note Alex Williams export your data, but they open standards exist for passing patterns, you can "crack the (ReadWriteWeb) usually don't allow you to data. code" and hack the fretboard export their underlying code. As Vint Cerf said in January to and start jamming along with Submitted at 3/2/2010 11:02:10 PM While a lot of these services the Commonwealth Club: It's your favorite tunes or musician Drupal's founder is calling for might be built on Open Source like 1973 for moving data friends in no time. You don't open source in the enterprise components, they have a lot around in the cloud. IBM, need to know the names of the and in the cloud. This should be m o r e i n c o m m o n w i t h Google and Amazon have no notes or what key a song is. Just no surprise, coming from proprietary software vendors way to interoperate. There are find the little dippers and start someone like Dries Buytaert. than Open Source projects or no cloud standards. messing around with patterns. But it is still interesting, companies." Open-source communities are I'll explain the concepts and considering the source and the It's in Dries view that this faring well in the enterprise demonstrate the techniques, point he makes about the actual model can be disrupted by open space. Matt Asay of the Open which are completely self lack of open source in cloud source. For example, he says, Road posted a story last week t a u g h t . " W i t h C h r i s t i a n computing. the Drupal Gardens community that illustrates the success of C r u m l i s h o f Y a h o o . Drupal is one of the most improves the overall platform oepn-source enterprise efforts. Bonus Round! SXSW Music popular, open source content by contributing to it. The goal, In particular, he referred to Yes, you read that right: We're management systems. Buytaert as Dries says, is for people to some of the most successful calling the Music portion of c r e a t e d i t i n i t i a l l y a s a export their Drupal Garden site companies: Alfresco Software, SXSW a must-do for any musicmessaging board. It went open- in their entirety " the code, the Sugar CRM, Jaspersoft and loving attendee of SXSW source in 2001. theme and data -- and move the Zimbra. Here are the numbers Interactive. Here's why. Sponsor platform to any Drupal hosting he presented: Each year, a few Music folks Dries, who is now the co- environment." Open-source communities founder of Acquia, says the His example points to a huge thrive in all sorts of places, even SaaS model need to be updated, issue with cloud computing. It's the enterprise space. The next (Financial Times - US modeled on open source values. not easy to export data from step is to bring this same homepage) H e p o i n t s o u t t h a t S a a S cloud computing services. Third community drive into the cloud companies for the most part are -party services offer methods for community. Our bet is it will Submitted at 3/3/2010 6:01:30 AM built on proprietary software. exporting the data but for the happen sooner than we think. By Kerin Hope in Athens Dries: most part, cloud computing Discuss Published: March 3 2010 10:39 "....they might allow you to services are proprietary. No | Last updated: March 3 2010

Drupal Founder Critical of SaaS and its Proprietary Nature

come to Austin early, and a few Interactive folks stay late - but those folks are few, indeed. There's a wonderful opportunity here for our very different crowds to mingle, to make the Web better for musicians and make the experience of music better for online and mobile platforms, and it all begins with conversations. Also, even two days of SXSW Music will provide you with enough shows, parties and coincidental meetups to leave you seeing the world through rose-colored glasses for months afterward. So book another day at your hotel and scalp a wristband - you'll never regret it. Those are our SXSW Interaction recommendations for music fans and musicians of all stripes. If you've got suggestions or feedback, let us know in the comments! See you in Austin, folks! Discuss

Greece unveils new austerity package 14:01 Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Use Coffee Grounds as a Drain Cleaner [Clever Uses] Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker) Submitted at 3/3/2010 4:30:00 AM

We thought we'd heard of just about every alternate use of coffee grounds, but here's one you're probably already benefiting without knowing it: grounds make for a great drain de-clogger and deodorizer. Photo by How can I recycle this. That's according to Baltimore's WJZ television, which rounded up some tips on creative re-uses of used coffee. Some of them we've heard before—garden protector, exfoliant—but the drain cleaner and another tip were new to us: Another great use for coffee grounds is as a drain cleaner. Mixed with hot water, coffee grounds can unclog a drain and help keep it smelling fresh. In the refrigerator it makes a great deodorizer because the grounds can absorb odors. If you have a piece of scratched furniture, steep some grounds and apply a bit of the liquid with

MAG Digital tablet MDT70CT MID has an OS identity crisis Tablet (BestTabletReview.com)

a Q-tip. It will cover the scratch. Please take note of the mixed with hot water portion of that tip—we're not just advocating dumping coffee grounds down your drain, plugging your ears, dancing out of the kitchen, and singing a song about clogs being gone. A little Google-ing shows a good number of testimonials to the first idea, often in combination with very hot water, to both de-clog and

improve the smell of your sink. The second use was harder to vet, but it sounds like a nerdy challenge, trying to match your French Roast to your dark wood chair. Creative Use Of Ground Coffee Can Save You Money In Furniture Repair, Skin Treatment[WJZ.com via Serious Eats]

The MAG Digital MID also has two mini USB ports, external speaker, included stylus, Submitted at 3/3/2010 6:45:28 AM microSD card slot in addition to MAG Digital is showing off the aforementioned HDMI. their new 7-inch 800 x 480 Going by the video, shot by resolution resistive touchscreen Charbax of ARMDevices.net, MDT70CT tablet at CeBIT. The the tablet has a full compliment MID features a Windows CE of typical MID features (video OS but due to the custom and audio playback, image interface built by MAG Digital viewing, internet surfing) plus (called Talentech) it looks very Office documents (Word, Excel, much like an Android user Powerpoint), email and instant interface. messaging. On the down side T h e M D T 7 0 C T u s e s a the battery is rated for a rather Telechips CPU and is good for low two hours of portable run 1080p video playback and time. The representative says streaming through the included that a webcam will be included HDMI. It also has full-fledged before launch, which is expected GPS navigation. It seems that to be in April. The cost for the companies are identifying the device will be between 200 and GPS/MID coupling as a new 250 — though we’re not sure if trend. We reported on the Mio that’s $ or €. Moov V780 just a few days ago Source: ARMDevices that has a similar concept, Five Filters featured article: although it seems to place more Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: emphasis on the GPS part of the PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, equation. Term Extraction.

Did the NFL Screw Up Taylor Mays' Time? JJ Cooper (FanHouse Main) Submitted at 3/2/2010 1:13:00 PM

Filed under: NFL Draft It seemed kind of bizarre when Taylor Mays unofficial 4.24 40yard dash turned into a 4.43

official time. Even accounting for an itchy timing finger, missing the time by .19 seconds seemed very hard to do. Now there is visual evidence that seems to indicate that the official time may not be all that

accurate either. As part of their coverage this year, the NFL Network has added a simulcam that can overlay different players' 40-yard dashes on one screen. What it seems to show is that Mays' official 4.43 40-yard

dash was actually faster than Trindon Holliday's official 4.34. Take a look at the video and see if you see any possible mistakes in how they lined up the 40-yard dashes. Unless the NFL Network's Simulcam is

inaccurately speeding up Mays' run it sure looks like he turned in the second-fastest time at the combine.

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Turn Left Over Mustard into NoProof that everyone is Waste Salad Dressing [Food Hacks] making a tablet – Pierre Cardin tablet PCs Jason Fitzpatrick (Lifehacker) Submitted at 3/3/2010 6:30:00 AM

If you hate waste and it seems a shame to throw away a jar of spicy or exotic mustard without getting the last bit of flavor out of it, this clever trick will turn that left over mustard into salad dressing. At MarthaStewart.com they're big fans of lists and galleries of clever and trendy things you can do around the house. In this week's "40 Good Things" list they share a great tip for using the mustard left after the last sandwich is made, to create home made dressing: Have a tiny bit of mustard left in the jar? Toss in a few ingredients, and shake a tangy Dijon vinaigrette right in the container. A crushed garlic clove, some chopped fresh herbs and minced shallot will add the right flavor. Pour in balsamic

Tablet (BestTabletReview.com) Submitted at 3/2/2010 2:41:09 PM

Finally! The perfect matching tablet accessory to go with your watch and luggage set. Ok, so it may not be the same Pierre Cardin responsible for all that jewelry, perfume and other bling, but they are producing a rather prolific little tablet family. vinegar, season with salt and off. Check out the link below to The main model that stuck out pepper, then close the lid and browse through some of the was the PC810 which features a shake. Add olive oil; shake o t h e r c l e v e r t i p s i n t h e i r VIA C7-M processor and an 8.9 again to emulsify the dressing, roundup. Have a frugal tip of -inch capacitive multitouch and then drizzle over your your own to share? Let's hear screen. The main gimmick with favorite salad. With a tightly about it in the comments. No- the Pierre Cardin line of tablets sealed lid, it will keep in the W a s t e is that they’ve integrated a refrigerator for up to one week. Dressing[MarthaStewart.com keyboard into the cover case that allows a user to set up the Sounds delicious and a perfect via Re-Nest] tablet like a netbook or small "after life" for the jar of Dijon mustard I've just about polished

laptop. The keyboard is very thin and uses a rubber-like keyset. Judging by the video, if anyone is familiar with one of those roll-up wobbly keyboards from a few years back, it looks to have the same feel and consistency. The rest of the tablet has the normal port settings (USB, Ethernet, SIM for 3G, etc.) but the most interesting thing may be the “really nice” price points — according to JKK who filmed the video. Source: JKKMobile via UMPCPortal Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

'White Collar' - 'Front Man' Recap Bob Sassone (TV Squad)

like the show does that a lot, a la'Burn Notice.' And tonight continued that trend, with (S01E13) "Paranoia is a skill, Wilkes coming into Neal's life, the secret to longevity." - Moz kidnapping a girl and wanting Last week we had someone Neal to do some favors for him f r o m N e a l ' s p a s t ( K e l l e r ) in exchange for the girl's life (of coming back to cause problems, course, he has no intention of probably kill Neal too if he had and I mentioned that it seems releasing the girl and would Submitted at 3/3/2010 10:21:00 AM

to). The funny thing is, even though all these baddies from Neal's past keep making appearances, I bet none of them have anything to do with the Kate and the music box and none of them are the big bad guy in charge of everything. What, you think it's actually

Fowler? Yeah, right! Continue reading'White Collar' - 'Front Man' Recap Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

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Fein Energy Crystals turn any drink into an energy drink without altering the taste Doug Aamoth (CrunchGear)

generations of product innovation to deliver the energy equivalent of existing 8.4 oz. For those of you who have energy drinks, at a bestsworn off energy drinks because available price of less than half of their syrupy, cough-medicine a dollar per 0.6 gram serving, -y, sugary taste, these new “Fein about 44 cents. Fein is a nonEnergy Crystals” might be more taxable food product, not a up your alley. They’re pitched dietary supplement. as “the world’s first flavor-free Spark Brand, Tampa, Fla., caffeine crystal product” and created the two-minute can be added to any drink infomercial featuring millionaire without altering the taste. -maker Kevin Harrington, For those of you who have infomercial pioneer and panelist sworn off energy drinks due to on ABC-TV’s “The Shark semi-serious heart palpitations, Tank,” and top-ranked, irritability, night terrors, and nationally syndicated radio host, paranoia, you should probably Bubba the Love Sponge®. still stay away from this Fein is available at product. www.GetFein.com, or at 1-800And unlike most energy drinks, 506-FEIN (3346). Select retail Fein appears to be little more outlets and some military bases than 75 milligrams of caffeine carry Fein cubes containing 30 per packet—none of the good servings, and others are being stuff like Guarana, Taurine, or added. Fein is on Facebook and the myriad of other magic herbs free caffeine crystal product, Revolutionary Fein energy for busy people on the go. Fein Twitter (@Fein). Fein is not found in the likes of Red Bull, Fein, adds a new twist to the crystals, with the trademark delivers 75 mg of caffeine per recommended for anyone under $ 7 . 9 - b i l l i o n e n e r g y d r i n k slogan, “Conquer the night, take stick with zero sugar, calories, Monster, and Rock Star. age 18, pregnant women or One final caveat: it looks like category: no sugars, no artificial on the day™,” can be added to carbs and artificial ingredients anyone with hypertension. Users the ordering process involves a ingredients of any kind, no carbs any favorite beverage, even with no taste or aftertaste. should consume no more than 4 free 30-day supply for $6.74 and no calories. It tastes the water, to make it an energy “Fein is the answer for everyone Fein sticks in any 24-hour which is then re-billed monthly same as your favorite beverage. drink without altering the flavor. seeking an energy boost with all period. Because Fein incites at $20. So you’d better be down Fein is being introduced through Fein’s formula is all-natural the flavor and pleasure of their energy, users should not take a modified rollout in select caffeine citrate and a suite of favorite beverage, but without for a caffeine subscription. within five hours of sleep. markets with a television secret, 100-percent natural added carbs, calories, sugars and Full Press Release: Find complete product and Fein Energy Crystals Create a infomercial and national radio “taste erasers.” It is the only sweeteners,” Mr. Diaco said. scientific information at Mr. Diaco said that with S t i r i n t h e E n e r g y D r i n k e n d o r s e m e n t s , a n n o u n c e d energy drink product to use www.NYNewswire.com/1003/f Stephen Diaco, a management caffeine citrate as its primary imagination, hard work and Category ein TAMPA, Fla.–( BUSINESS partner for Fein Innovations, source of caffeine, making it an s c i e n t i f i c i n g e n u i t y , F e i n all-natural, soluble power plant Innovations, LLC researched 35 WIRE)–The world’s first flavor- LLC. Submitted at 3/3/2010 7:30:14 AM

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An interview with Joel Johnson on why he’s funny John Biggs (CrunchGear)

mentor and friend I wanted to point you guys to a great interview with him on Joel and I were so angry at each DadWagon where he talks about other in this picture that Cat abuse at the hands of his stepSchwartz literally had to keep us father, Glen. apart. Joel wrote his piece [Warning: I don’t usually want to bring The first line is a doozy] last people’s personal lives into week and it spread rather rapidly focus here on CG. After all, among a certain group of we’re dedicated to, as Joel people. Joel, the former editor of reading – the interview for its himself always pointed out, self- Gizmodo and Boing Boung reasoned stance and the actual deprecation and dick jokes. Gadgets, is brave and both memoir for its brutal honestly. However, since Joel is my pieces are definitely worth His level-headed interview with Submitted at 3/3/2010 7:16:31 AM

Matt at DadWagon is even more interesting in that he explores many of the emotional barriers that we tech geeks – and techie

dads – rarely think about, namely the ways our relationships effect the ones we love. This is not to say we’re all in Joel’s situation or that we could even imagine the impetus for his step-father’s actions, but technology gives us a shield and an excuse. Joel, in this case, refused that respite. He’s still the best tech writer I know, but he’s now also the best writer I know.

The Sony Dash is now available for preorder Tablet (BestTabletReview.com) Submitted at 3/2/2010 10:30:13 AM

The Sony Dash - now available for preorder We’ve made no secret of our anticipation for Sony’s Dash Personal Internet Viewer. We think it could be the best fourthscreen device out there. It looks like we’ll be able to put those assumptions to the test soon as Sony is now taking preorders on the Dash for $199 here. In case you’re not that familiar with the Dash, let us explain why we’re so keen on it. Introduced at this year’s CES

show, the Dash is a very niche device meant to be used in home and requires connection to a power supply in order to work. Connecting through your home wireless connection, the Dash

has access to over 1,500 free applications that allow you to customize it to your will. For instance, use it as your new alarm clock. Then wake up to your favorite Pandora music

Opening Ceremony Cutout Boots ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 3/2/2010 3:51:20 PM

Whitney Vargas, Senior

Fashion News Editor, in Opening Ceremony cutout boots “The wedge makes these really practical.”

Photo: Kelly Stuart

channel, up to the minute traffic and weather and the latest headlines news. Or use it in your kitchen to display a new recipe while streaming Netflix video. There are a whole lot of possibilities that will appeal to most, but most appealing will be the sub-$200 price tag. So will you be picking it up? If so, what will be your ideal use for it? Let us know in the comments. Source: Engadget Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Alexander Wang's Spring Collection Now for Sale Online ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 3/3/2010 5:00:00 AM

Calling all Alexander Wang fans! Starting at 4 pm today, the designer’s spring collection is available for sale at alexanderwang.com. We’re guessing these leopard wedges will be long gone by this time tomorrow. —Whitney Vargas Follow ELLE on Twitter. Become our Facebook fan!

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Lego and TT Games sticking together through 2016 JC Fletcher (Joystiq) Submitted at 3/3/2010 10:00:00 AM

Coby $85 smartbook feels like a hundred bucks (hands-on) Joanna Stern (Engadget)

cozied right up to us. Okay, so it isn't as thin or attractive as the Submitted at 3/3/2010 9:58:00 AM $499 Lenovo's Skylight, but F u n n y h o w o u r t u n e o n again let us remind you that it smartbooks totally changes costs about as much as a couple when one's got an $85 price tag. of new printer ink cartridges. We happened upon Coby's Inside the little guy packs a booth at CeBIT this morning 624MHz Marvell PXA303 and of all the fairly cheap processor, 2GB of flash storage feeling laptops the company had and runs Windows CE which all on display it was its 7-inch should be good enough for some N B P C 7 2 2 s m a r t b o o k t h a t light Web browsing and e-mail

writing. There was actually a YouTube shortcut on the desktop, but the NBPC722 wasn't connected to try it out. Apparently this inexpensive laptop should be making its way stateside this spring, but until the flowers start blooming you've got the video below. Gallery: Coby NBPC722 smartbook Continue reading Coby $85

smartbook feels like a hundred bucks (hands-on) Coby $85 smartbook feels like a hundred bucks (hands-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 09:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| | Email this| Comments

If you like the Lego (popular entertainment property) series of games, great news: developer TT Games and Lego will be held together like some kind of interlocking toy until 2016 -- by which time, the kid for whom you pretend to buy these games will no longer be a kid. In the announcement of the renewed deal, WBIE notes that the Lego series, including Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Batman games ( Lego Rock Band isn't mentioned for some reason), has sold "close to 50 million units worldwide." Next up for the Lego/ TT Games collaboration are Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 this May, and Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars this fall. Lego and TT Games sticking together through 2016 originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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ELLE Video Star: Colorful Eye Makeup ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 3/2/2010 1:59:55 PM

Zotac's ZBOX HD-ID11 has NVIDIA Ion 2 and Atom D510 to thank for excellent media playback Vladislav Savov (Engadget)

the mobile front yesterday, and as such should provide flawless Flash 10.1 playback while Like gaming? Move right along occupying an extremely lean to the iBuyPower booth, please. footprint on your desktop. Zotac Want an unobtrusive PC that has matched MSI's Wind Box w i l l f e e d y o u r H u l u a n d DE220 with its inclusion of a Y o u T u b e H D s t r e a m i n g dual-core 1.66GHz Atom D510 addiction? Say hello to the CPU, though it obviously differs ZBOX HD-ID11. It's basically a with its NVIDIA Ion 2 graphics desktop version of the same Ion subsystem that includes 512MB 2 setups you saw announced on of dedicated DDR3 memory. Submitted at 3/3/2010 9:40:00 AM

HDMI 1.3a and standard VESA wall-mounting are expected extras, with six USB ports, integrated 802.11n WiFi, duallink DVI, and a 6-in-1 media card reader covering the rest of your bases. Check out some 1080p playback on a similarly specced system right here while you wait for pricing and availability to be revealed. Zotac's ZBOX HD-ID11 has

NVIDIA Ion 2 and Atom D510 to thank for excellent media playback originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 09:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Hot Hardware| Zotac| Email this| Comments

Gold eye makeup is golden, but add a dash of pink to the outer edges and the look pops! Just check out ELLE Video Star Katrina Currie’s colorful eye makeup tutorial for proof. In creating swept-out ‘70s-inspired shadow, Currie borrowed the era’s technique of pressing tape and/or paper to the face and brushing color along it for a perfectly diagonal line. For more colorful eye makeup videos, click here. —Emily Hebert Photo: Courtesy of Katrina Currie Follow ELLE on Twitter Become our Facebook fan

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The iPad Could Make Emergency Calls...So Will It? [Unconfirmed] Mark Wilson (Gizmodo)

Nokia and Alpine Team Up For Ovi Maps Integration In Cars [Navigation]

Submitted at 3/3/2010 10:07:53 AM

Kat Hannaford (Gizmodo)

Hunting around in the iPhone/iPad SDK, one developer spotted this option to make an emergency call. The above was easily achieved by enabled a passcode lock, and then entering it incorrectly about 5 times. You can then slide for a emergency call. So does this mean the iPad will make emergency calls? Possibly. There are two schools of thought here, and they both hold some validity. The skeptic's response is simple, "that's leftover from the iPhone SDK, on which the iPad SDK is based!" It could be. But, what I might call the more reasoned response, is that the

Submitted at 3/3/2010 9:04:37 AM

Ovi Maps has been a focal point for Nokia in the last few weeks since they gave it all away for free, so it's not surprising a hardware company wants to use their turn-by-turn navigation for cars. If you've got an Alpine car system with a dashboard or iPads with 3G chips, speakers option to make emergency calls, speakers, then you'll be able to and mics could (technically) Apple could be sidestepping any connect your Nokia handset by make such calls just fine. Plus, FCC issues while also being either Bluetooth or USB, with as 9To5Mac points out, FCC generally cool about their device navigation displayed by Ovi regulations mandate that all assisting those in emergencies. Maps on the dashboard. cellphones must be able to place Besides, I always knew the iPad Navigation updates and music emergency calls, even when not w a s j u s t a b i g i P h o n e ! [ can come through your car's under subscription. Gumball Tech via 9To5Mac] speakers rather than the Nokia's By offering iPad owners the puny little speaker, and even information about the fuel levels and engine health can be integrated into Ovi Maps, so if you're in need of fuel for example, Ovi Maps will tell you where the next petrol station is. No products have been shown

Traders optimistic Greek crisis can be contained (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 3/3/2010 6:42:26 AM

14:40 GMT: Growing optimism that the fallout from the Greek

debt crisis can be contained helped calm forex markets and encourage broader risk appetite on Wednesday. The FTSE World equity index rose 0.5 per cent, the euro and

Greek sovereign debt firmed, as traders absorbed details from Athens on the austerity package deemed necessary to secure support from its eurozone partners.

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off just yet, but this Terminal Mode will be available on Nokia phones soon apparentlyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and with well over 3m downloads of the free Ovi Maps, upgrading your car system could prove very tantalizing for some. [ Alpine via Engadget via SlashGear]

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MacHeist Returns: Offers 7 Mac Apps For Less Than $20 Chris Brandrick (TheAppleBlog) Submitted at 3/2/2010 7:57:31 PM

Software bundle website, MacHeist, has unveiled its latest offer. The ‘ nanoBundle2‘ was made public as midnight struck on Wednesday, revealing a range of seven Mac OS X applications. For those unaware, a typical MacHeist promotion sees a number of Mac applications being made available at a discount rate ( sometimes even for free), but only for a limited time. Following a build-up of teasing tweets this past week, the bundle is now available, with the latest collection of software including: MacJournal(Retail: $39.95) Tim Stevens (Engadget) to tell what (if anything) else Writing software, MacJournal, has changed, and apparently LG from Mariner Software is an Submitted at 3/3/2010 9:21:00 AM reps weren't forthcoming with Apple Design Award winning LG's £500 ($800) GD910 information, but with any luck application which claims to be Watch Phone made quite an this new version will offer a perfect for any amount of impression when we reviewed it more affordable price point than writing, whether that’s just a late last year, but part of that i t s s t a t e l y b u t s p e n d y quick small list, a more detailed impression was of a bulky, p r e d e c e s s o r . blog entry or a full-on book. blocky thing that feels decidedly Redesigned LG Watch Phone RipIt(Retail: $19.95) substantial on the wrist. A caught showing off shapely RipIt is a simple DVD subtly redesigned version was figure in Brazil originally importing tool from ‘the little spotted recently at the LG appeared on Engadget on Wed, app factory.’ The application Digital Experience in Brazil, 03 Mar 2010 09:21:00 EST. aims to make the process of s p o r t i n g a s l i g h t l y m o r e Please see our terms for use of importing your DVD collection curvaceous shape and a new feeds. Permalink| Zumo Blog| logo placement -- up top rather Email this| Comments than below the screen. It's hard

Redesigned LG Watch Phone caught showing off shapely figure in Brazil

onto your Mac as simple as it is for CD’s. You can even compress your DVD’s for portable use on an iPhone. Clips(Retail: $27) Ever went to copy something and suddenly stopped, remembering that you may already have something stored on your computers clipboard? Conceited Software are offering clipboard management application, Clips, as the solution to just that problem. CoverScout(Retail: $39.95) Equinux’s CoverScout is one of several currently available apps that will take an ever-growing iTunes library, then find and replace any missing cover-art. Developers Equinux claim that due to the visual nature of humans, music with no cover-art is more likely to be ignored when browsing your collection. Flow(Retail: $25) Flow is an FTP client from Extendmac which boasts not just a fresh clean user interface but also claims to take advantage of the latest OS X technologies. Beyond its basic FTP capabilities, Flow also has

live editing and other development tools. It also is an Apple Design Award winner. Tales Of Monkey Island(Retail: $34.95) Although currently locked, Telltale Games’ adventure title Tales Of Monkey Island will be unlocked for all MacHeist customers once 50,000 bundles have been sold. Once that goal has been reached, six episodes of pirate based fun will be yours. RapidWeaver(Retail: $79) RapidWeaver, the last application in the latest MacHeist bundle, is a website creation tool from Realmac Software. The application has similarities to that of Apple’s iWeb. The nanobundle2 is available now for just seven days, so if you were looking to buy any of the above applications now would clearly be a good time. If you were to purchase each of the included applications separately it would cost an excess of $266. So buying through MacHeist not only donates money to charities (over $1.5 million since the heist’s began), but it could also save you up to $246!

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How-To: Expand Wake On Demand Support Under OS X 10.6 Andrew Bednarz (TheAppleBlog) Submitted at 3/2/2010 12:00:31 PM

Recently, I’ve been migrating the functionality of my old Ubuntu Linux server to my wife’s old iMac. Since a big part of the reason to decommission my old Linux PC was to reduce my total power consumption, I wanted to fully utilize Snow Leopard’s Wake On Demand functionality with as many services as possible. Wake On Demand is a relatively new feature that arrived with Snow Leopard. It allows your Mac to be put into sleep mode and then be woken up on demand when one of its services is required. This feature requires a compatible Apple AirPort Base Station (or Time Capsule) and OS X 10.6 running on the Mac. Most of the standard system services (File Sharing, Screen Sharing, Scanner & Printer Sharing etc.) will work automagically with this setup, but custom services such a my subversion and the built-in web sharing do not. However it’s not hard to make these services compatible with Wake On Demand with only a little bit of work to set it up. Here’s how I did it. Bonjour For the Wake On Demand functionality to work properly, any service being hosted by a Mac must be registered with Bonjour, Apple’s zero config

service discovery protocol. This is how the Airport Base Station knows when its appropriate to wake up a sleeping Mac. To assist with getting a complete picture, I’d recommend downloading a great free utility called Bonjour Browser. This application will show you all the services currently being broadcast by Bonjour on your network. Any service displayed here will be automatically enabled to use Wake On Demand by your AirPort base

soon as we press Control+C to kill the command, we can see in Bonjour Browser that our service disappears. Of course it’s not terribly useful if we need to manually run a command every time our computer reboots (even if Macs don’t need to be rebooted that often). To make the Bonjour registration occur automatically at system startup we need to launch our command using the launchd subsystem, which OS X uses for automatically starting background services. The easiest way to configure this to run automatically via launchd is by using Lingon. You can grab the latest version from Sourceforge. For more details on using Lingon see this previous article I put together, but for this task we just need to add a new User Daemon. Run Lingon, click the New button and select User Daemons. station. Most of the server is usually 3690, so assuming Fill out the dialog as follows: software components such as you have a standard setup, we Name: org.subversion.bonjour File Sharing will register with can register subversion with What: dns-sd -R "SVN" Bonjour itself, however for the Bonjour with: _svn._tcp. . 3690 ones that don’t, we need to do it dns-sd -R "SVN" _svn._tcp. . pdl=application/svnserve on their behalf. 3690 pdl=application/svnserve Be sure to tick the “Keep it Luckily this is easy, as OS X If we run this command running all the time” and “Run comes with a command line manually in Terminal.app, we it when it is loaded by the utility called dns-sd, the DNS can quickly verify that our system” checkboxes. Click the Service Discovery tool. This ties B o n j o u r b r o a d c a s t w a s save button and restart your directly in with the Bonjour successful by using Bonjour Mac. If everything has been system and with it we can Browser. The service will done right, you should be able to register services with Bonjour. remain registered with Bonjour see this instance of dns-sd in Lets use subversion as our for as long as the dns-sd HOW-TO: page 65 example. Subversion’s TCP port command is still running; as

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How-To: Setup an Airport Extreme in Bridge Mode

Job-cutting at US companies falls to two-year low

Dave Greenbaum (TheAppleBlog)

(Financial Times - US homepage)

Airport Extreme. You can configure via Wi-Fi, but wired is easier. If you do it over WiSubmitted at 3/3/2010 6:30:57 AM Fi, you’ll need to search for When our community went live your particular Airport. for AT&T U-Verse, we jumped Once you are connected to the right on the opportunity to get a Airport base station (either via service with advanced voice, ethernet or Wi-Fi), launch the data and TV on the same line. Airport Utility on your Mac. Unfortunately, we found out that T h e u t i l i t y i s l o c a t e d i n U-Verse requires you use to use /Applications/Utilities. Once it their router. So we had to loads, you will see your Airport replace our beloved Airport router listed in the upper left Extreme, right? Not quite. corner. If the router doesn’t Our situation was U-Verse show up, make sure you are related, but others may have physically connected to its s i t u a t i o n s w h e r e b y y o u r network from your Mac. Extreme can no longer provide Click “Manual Setup” towards Internet routing functions. Fear the bottom of the window and not, because you can still take then click the “Internet” icon advantage of its features with that appears at the top of the Bridge Mode. Bridge mode window. essentially turns off the Internet After you click the “Internet” routing portion of the Airport, icon, the Internet Connection tab but leaves intact all of its other should appear. At the bottom of features such as Wi-Fi, printer this window, you will see an sharing, disk sharing, and Time o p t i o n f o r “ C o n n e c t i o n Machine support. Sharing.” By default, this is Let’s begin! Getting Started probably set to “Distribute a First, unplug all network cables range of IP addresses” or “Share from the Airport and reset it so a public IP address.” You want you are starting with a clean to change this so that it says slate. Instructions to reset can “Off (Bridge Mode)” be found here. At this point, you are done. Next, plug an Ethernet cable The Airport is setup for Bridge from your computer into one of Mode, but you’ll want to the Ethernet ports on your configure a few more things.

point, you can disconnect from the ethernet port and now must plug in the ethernet cable from your ISP-provided router into the Broadband port of your Airport Extreme. After it restarts, the Airport Extreme indicator in the front should go green. You can test the bridge by connecting to your Airport via Wi-Fi (or ethernet if you want) and surf the Internet Configuring Your Bridge as well as see any disks or To configure the Wireless printers you might be sharing. Security and Wireless Network Keep in mind that there are a Name, click the Airport icon at few limitations of bridge mode. the top of the window and then Because the Internet routing click Wireless. features of the Airport are not If you reset the Airport first, used in Bridge Mode, certain you’ll want to click the Base features that rely on special Station tab to rename the Base functionality of the Airport Station and create an Airport router, like Back To My Mac, Extreme Password (which may may not work. Additionally, or may not be the same as your port forwarding (for things like wireless password). games or Bit Torrent) needs to I f y o u w a n t t o s h a r e a be done using your ISP’s connected printer or disk, click router’s web interface, rather the Printers and/or Disks tab as then the Airport Utility. Some applicable. Personally, I use the ISP routers have a special mode USB port and Disks function to called “DMZ” which allows you have a remote Time Machine to use these features on the shared by multiple computers. Airport, but setting this up is Once you have made all the router-specific and often subject changes you wish to make, click to change. on “Update” in the lower right corner, and your Airport base station will restart. At this

Submitted at 3/3/2010 5:48:11 AM

US businesses cut jobs at the slowest rate in two years in February, offering hope that the economy could soon begin adding workers. Private companies shed 22,000 workers in February, according to a survey from ADP employer services. That was the smallest decline in employment since job losses began mounting in February 2008. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Apple Still Needs a Sub -$700 Conventional Notebook Charles Moore (TheAppleBlog) Submitted at 3/2/2010 12:14:45 PM

Writing in the Huffington Post, Larry Magid raises the point that PC netbooks are hot sellers for very good reasons — namely that these small laptops, which typically cost between $300 and APPLE page 64

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APPLE continued from page 63

$400, can do most things a large portion of users want to do with a laptop computer, and do them much more cheaply, as well as being handily smaller and lighter than traditional laptops. Small Laptop Price Premium Dynamic Turned On Its Head I agree, and along with Magid note the irony of a changing dynamic where, reversing erstwhile conventional wisdom that computer consumers would be obliged to pay extra for the required engineering of miniaturization, with smaller laptops often costing more than larger siblings of the same brand (think PowerBook Duo vs. PowerBook or MacBook Air and MacBook), netbooks have turned the cost/weight equation on its head. Mainstream netbooks, particularly ones equipped with the latest Intel Atom N270 processors running at 1.60 GHz, with a GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive, are perfectly adequate for most common tasks people use computers for such as Web surfing and e-mail,

and even for watching web video. At least for non-touch typists, their usually undersized keyboards are also considered tolerable. Downward Pressure On All Laptop Pricing Then there’s the netbook phenomenon’s collateral effect of exerting strong downward pressure on standard sized notebook computer prices, to which even Apple has not been immune, as exemplified by the 13 MacBook Pro being cheaper than its aluminum unibody MacBook predecessor, and the debut of a lower entry level 15 MacBook Pro stripped of its ExpressCard Slot and discrete graphics processor/VRAM. A prima facie topical example is Lenovo’s new ThinkPad Edge, which has a 13-inch display, a typically excellent Lenovo full-size keyboard, an AMD Athlon dual-core processor, 2GB of RAM, a 320GB 5400 RPM hard drive, three USB ports, runs Windows 7, offers five-hour real world battery runtime, and is priced starting at an easy-on-the-wallet

$599. Move up to a 1.3GHz Core Duo Intel processor and 4GB of memory and you’re still at $799. That’s of course only $200 less than Apple’s entry-level MacBook, which at $999 has a much more powerful 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo processor and Nvidia 9600M 9400M integrated graphics, but only 2GB of RAM, a measly two USB ports, and a 250GB hard drive. To get the same 4GB of memory and 320GB of storage specs as the $799 Lenovo or even a $399 Dell Inspiron 15, you’re up to $1,149, while a comparable spec MacBook Pro will set you back a whopping (by comparison) $1,399 — a thousand dollars greater than your typical netbook. Mac Still Greater Value, But Gap Narrowing Now personally, I still think greater value is found in the Macs, especially due to their OS X-clusivity, and projected durability over the longer haul, or if you need the extra processing and graphics power

they offer. But, with PC competition stiffening, and consensus building that Windows 7 is actually a pretty decent operating system, the OS X advantage is diminishing. That base AMD-powered Lenovo ThinkPad Edge for $600 bucks looks particularly enticing for cash-strapped or value-oriented users whose computing power needs are typically modest, especially in this challenging economy That’s why I continue to stubbornly contend that the forthcoming iPad notwithstanding, Apple still needs a conventional clamshell notebook contender in the $600 – $700 price category. Related GigaOM Pro Research: Report: The Future of Netbooks!

Mitsubishi and Peugeot scrap stake swap (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 3/3/2010 4:05:16 AM

Peugeot and Mitsubishi on Wednesday said they had abandoned plans to form a strategic partnership that would have seen them acquire mutual stakes. The French and Japanese carmakers gave no reason for their decision, which came after several months of talks and was announced after a meeting of their bosses in Geneva. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

FanHouse's 2010 NFL Mock Draft 2.0 Chris Burke (FanHouse Main) Submitted at 3/2/2010 12:00:00 PM

Filed under: NFL Mock Draft With the Scouting Combine in the rear-view mirror, it's time for another version of FanHouse's 2010 NFL Mock

Draft. And while there's still plenty of time before the real NFL Draft takes place in April, the combine didn't do a whole lot to change our thinking-- at least, not at the onset of the first our Mock Draft 2.0 stayed the round. The top seven picks in

same from Mock Draft 1.0, which means Ndamukong Suh (pictured) is still tabbed for St. Louis at No. 1, with Gerald McCoy penciled in as Detroit's selection But things start to get real interesting with the eighth pick

in our newest mock, as a player not selected period in our first go-round lands with the Raiders. That move set off some dominoes that fell throughout the remainder of the round. Check out all the updated picks below.

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HOW-TO: continued from page 62

Activity Monitor when viewing All Processes. Rinse and Repeat The process described above can also be used for any other service, such as for the Web Sharing service (port 80) or any other custom service that you’ve setup. Simply replace the references to the application protocol (ie. svn) and the applicable port number and create a new launchd item for each one. This isn’t the most ideal solution, as each new instance of dns-sd takes about 380KB of memory, however if you’re running a number of these extra services I would assume that you have at least

2GB of ram and the impact of 380KB is negligible. Each instance of dns-sd also uses a negligible amount of CPU processing time so it won’t get in the way of other processes. Of course the perfect ideal solution would be that the server software you’re running registers itself with Bonjour, but if that was the case you wouldn’t need to be reading this article. Final Result With everything set up correctly, you should now be able to replicate the following test: • Put your Mac to sleep • From another device on your

network access your custom service(s) • Rejoice with a warm fuzzy feeling as you realize your electricity bill will be lower and your carbon footprint is a smaller than it was yesterday. I hope this has helped someone else achieve on-demand server bliss, with the peace of mind of minimal power consumption like it has for me. Do you have an even better way of doing it?

'Lost' 'Sundown' Recap Jason Hughes (TV Squad) Submitted at 3/3/2010 2:20:00 AM

Cablevision and ABC Disney Feuding in NYC Danny Gallagher (TV Squad) Submitted at 3/3/2010 10:02:00 AM

Another media outlet and cable company are feuding again. Only this time, some serious collateral damage hangs in the balance. ABC Disney and Cablevision are in another programming feud with one side threatening to also hinted that individuals who yank the plug out of the wall for set up camp ahead of the launch, t h e l o c a l N e w Y o r k C i t y in order to become one of the affiliate WABC. This time, it's first to get their hands on an over (spins the "Wheel of Media iPad, will be rewarded. Just Conglomerate Feud Causes") what this Apple related reward licensing fees! Man, the wheel may be is unknown. keeps landing on that one for However, despite all the some reason. I swear that one of d e t a i l e d d a t e s , r u m o r s o f these days, it's going to land on possible production problems "custody of Jon and/or Kate." could negate the planned launch. Cablevision executive vice Let’s just hope it doesn’t. president Charles Schueler said ABC Disney wants an additional $40 million on top of the $200 million they have already forked over to the 'LOST' page 66

iPad to Hit Stores March 10, But Only for Employees? Chris Brandrick (TheAppleBlog) Submitted at 3/2/2010 5:28:40 PM

Sources from within Apple are claiming that the iPad will be in stores starting March 10, if a recent Examiner post is to be believed. Examiner’s report claims that the tablet devices will be hitting Apple retail stores early in order to give employees and employees only, plenty of time to get up-to-speed with using the new tablet device, ahead of its

official launch. The iPad is expected to arrive before the month is out, with many blogs increasingly hinting at a March 26 launch date. Examiner sources, which allegedly include an anonymous “Apple Store manager in Southern California,” also claimed that the iPad’s advertisement campaign will kick off around the 15th of this month. The advertisement upcoming device, no doubt with campaign is said to be focusing an intent to take some steam out heavily on the iBookstore and e- of the Kindle’s successes. b o o k c a p a b i l i t i e s o f t h e Finally, the Examiner report

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'LOST' continued from page 65

(S06E06) In a season where all the answers are supposedly being given, I actually appreciate that I still have no idea what's coming next on'Lost.' With twelve episodes left to go, it's certainly not necessary for me to be spoon fed all the answers right now. If they did that, why would we keep watching it for the next two-and-a-half months? This week, in the alpha-verse we were treated to the promised confrontation at the temple. It certainly didn't go down the way I expected, but it still blew my mind. Claire and Kate wound up facing off, with all the expected tension, and all hell broke loose in the temple. As I said, from the closing seconds of

'Sundown,' I can't even speculate what's going to happen next, and I love that. Sayid was the focus of the episode, both on the island and in the rewritten beta-verse reality. In both of them he seems to be fighting a darkness within himself. It was certainly the darkest flash-sideways we've seen yet. Continue reading'Lost' 'Sundown' Recap Filed under: OpEd, Lost, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

Barbra Streisand, Charlize Theron and Kathy Bates added to Oscar roster Allison Waldman (TV Squad) Submitted at 3/3/2010 9:00:00 AM

This week they started revealing some of the stars who'll be presenting at Sunday night's Oscar broadcast on ABC, and at the top of the list were three former Oscar winning actresses, Barbra Streisand, Charlize Theron and Kathy Bates. Also on the roster will be Queen Latifah, Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta. Nikki Finke's Deadline.com column has a major spoiler about the opening of the show. If you don't want to know, avoid the last paragraph below. There's an interesting angle on Barbra Streisand's appearance on the show. Speculation is that Streisand will be presenting Best Director, which insiders say is a lock for Kathryn

CABLEVISION continued from page 65

Mouse House. The veep released a harsh statement against the media giant that said "It is not fair to force Cablevision customers to pay a new TV tax for programming ABC Disney gives away free, both over-the-air and on the Internet. In tough economic times, it is shameful that ABC Disney would hold viewers hostage by threatening to pull the plug, and we urge them to work with us to reach a fair agreement." Filed under: Industry, Cable/Satellite, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

Bigelow. Continue reading Barbra Streisand, Charlize Theron and Kathy Bates added to Oscar roster Filed under: OpEd, Celebrities, Awards, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

'Parenthood' - 'Pilot' Recap (series premiere) Allison Waldman (TV Squad) Submitted at 3/3/2010 9:45:00 AM

(S01E01) There are moments in'Parenthood' that are so uncomfortably realistic that you might think it's a re-telling of the PBS series 'The Loud Family.' Yes, it's that real in

some ways, but is it entertaining and inviting? Would you want to keep up with the Bravermans week after week? That depends. The show offers promise, but it's a jell-o that's yet to be jelled. It would be hard for any series to go wrong with Lauren Craig T. Nelson top-lining the Graham and Peter Krause and cast. They all acquit themselves

well, although the characters are 'Pilot' Recap (series premiere) all under more pressure than a Filed under: Other Drama pressure cooking with a faulty Shows, OpEd, Reality-Free lid. You just sense explosions Permalink| Email this| | around every corner. And that's C o m m e n t s the way it is with a lot of pilots, especially where there's so large a cast. Continue reading'Parenthood' -

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Which Director Is Using a Sex Tape to Bribe an Actress to Work with Him? [Blind Items] Brian Moylan (Gawker) Submitted at 3/3/2010 10:13:57 AM

It's bad enough he was cheating, but now he's extorting too. An actor is hitting on underage girlsa, and another star had an indecent public accident with another celeb. Also a clue about yesterdays' coked-up tweener. Oh callooh, callay! 1."A certain famous married director has been filming more than feature films. He has used his own camera to record some of his very personal moments with his favorite actress. She hit the roof when she found out but can't do very much about it. She knows that if she tries to take any sort of legal action, it would quickly become public knowledge, and she absolutely will not tolerate any hits to either her personal reputation or her current relationship. He has agreed to destroy the footage in exchange for her commitment to a future project of his. Frankly, we would take any promises made as a result of blackmail with a grain of salt." [ Blind Gossip] 2."This mainly famous for

television actor used to be B list. I guess he is C list now. His fault really. Not because of acting but because of something else he did. Anyway, he is supposed to be and claims to be on the straight and narrow but that doesn't appear to be the case. Last week he jumped at the chance to hit on an underage girl and in a second episode

offered another girl coke to have sex with him." [ CDaN] 3."This actor, who is trying to revive a slowed-down career through a network show actually thinks he is finally back on his way to fame. He allegedly got the part to begin with by sleeping with the wife of a network executive so that she'd put a good word in, and he's

willing to do anything to be back in the limelight again. He decided that at a recent event with other celebrities, he would try and glad-hand and network as much as possible. A little kissing up never hurts right? Not in this case. The actor went up to a B-list actress and thought he'd compliment her on her dress. As he was making a polite remark, he brushed the fabric on her dress and somehow ended up pulling her top down. (We're not sure how it happened exactly. No one can agree on what happened. One source said they thought he did it on purpose, but everything we've heard say it was an accident.) She was embarrassed, but started to laugh it off, when he grabbed her breast and tried to put it back in the dress himself. Luckily, only a small group of people saw the incident, but the actress- and her husband were furious. Not Chris O'Donnell." [ BuzzFoto] 4."As for yesterday's item you can go ahead and exclude Miley Cyrus, but our tweener is most definitely a minor." [ CDaN]

Lost WTF of the Week: Sayid Did a Bad, Bad Thing [Clips] Richard Lawson (Gawker) Submitted at 3/3/2010 10:31:25 AM

Last night's episode was a dark one, as we journeyed further into Sayid's forever-tortured soul and got a closer look at the thing that is Locke but isn't Locke. So Sayid's bad now, huh? Whatever Pai Mei said to him about not letting Bad Locke get any words out before stabbing him certainly seems to have been true. Or something. Basically, the "Evil" that the elaborate Operation tongs thing detected in Sayid has become unleashed, and now he is as cold -blooded a killing machine as he ever was during his Republican Guard days. Or is he? Bad Locke totally isn't bad, right? I mean, aside from all the killing. I'll bet ya he's actually leading them all somewhere less than bad, somewhere like... the flashsideways lives we've been seeing? Who knows! And who knows what's going on with crazy Claire and Jin being in the meat locker in Sayid's flash, but I do know one thing: I think it would be really cool if we got a Cindy episode. You know, Cindy the Stewardess who's now an Other. What's going on with her? What happened to her between then LOST page 68

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Corrupt Charlie Rangel Temporarily Steps Aside to Save the Democrats [Heroes] Pareene (Gawker) Submitted at 3/3/2010 9:39:44 AM

The delightful but sadly incredibly corrupt Harlem Congressman Charlie Rangel announced a 9 a.m. press conference. A couple minute before 9, he went before cameras to announce that he'll"temporarily" stop being the chair of the Ways and Means Committee. Last night, Rangel said he would not temporarily step aside, but something changed his mind this morning.

Last week, the House ethics committee officially "admonished" Rangel. That is not a thing that means anything. It doesn't even really exist, this "official House ethics committee admonishment." (One former Admonishment Recipient: Tom DeLay!) Charlie Rangel won his seat by defeating the legendary Adam Clayton Powell. He's not been in office since 1971. He gives the best quote of the entire New York delegation. He also accepts corporate money to jet down to the fancy conferences

in the Caribbean, has a million rent-stabilized New York apartments while living in DC for tax purposes, and then there is this thing with the apartment in the Dominican Republic. (That is the stuff he is in trouble for.) Democrats began publicly demanding that Rangel step aside this week, because they are big babies about "corruption" and "looking bad" and all that stuff.

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and now? Last we saw her she was trekking up a mountain with the Tailies like four years ago, and then she disappeared and then, boom, Shannon got shot and we were on to other (Other!) things. And now she's in the Temple, all motherly with

the kids. Let's fill in the details there! I think she's Lapidus' main squeeze, and his reason for coming back to the Island. I think I read that somewhere?

MARK

Mark Becker found guilty of first-degree murder in death of high school coach Ed Thomas

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Pregnant Ladies Banned For Their Own Good [Women] Hamilton Nolan (Gawker) Submitted at 3/3/2010 10:09:14 AM

Should pregnant women be allowed to be pregnant, in public? Absolutely not. About this, Las Vegas' overpriced nightclubs and lingerie pimps are in clear agreement. Bravado is a company that sells breastfeeding bras for ladies with breasts that are used for breastfeeding babies. But when Bravado goes out to fashion trade shows to have their

pregnant lady models model the breastfeeding bras in their pregnant way, can you guess what happens? Yes, they are banned, for their own pregnant good. From a runway show! In a nightclub! At the Wynn Casino, in Las Vegas, the City of Sin! "We did not feel it appropriate to feature a very pregnant model in a nightclub, at midnight, w h e r e a l c o h o l w a s b e i n g "What is that pregnant whore served," Jennifer Dunne, a doing out carousing at midnight Wynn spokeswoman, wrote in a in our den of sin?" is what statement

Jennifer Dunne is trying to get across, here. "It is a well known fact that alcohol can jump right out of a glass in a nightclub and get your baby drunk," she added before her statement was copy edited, we imagine. Keep your sexxxy pregnant body covered in your seclusion hut, breeders! Steve Wynn demands it. [ NYT]

ESPN.com news services (ESPN.com) Submitted at 3/2/2010 10:02:32 PM

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e l s e { I.setDescription(jQuery("p:first" ).text()); } A.userAction = I; gigya.services.socialize.showSh areUI(H,A); return false; } } ESPN.com news services ALLISON, Iowa -- Mark Becker stood passively Tuesday as a jury found him guilty of murder in the shooting of a nationally known Iowa high school football coach. He seemed far removed from the man whose mind was filled with images of angels and horned demons who lurked in the shadows of every room, telling him that the community was plotting against him and that Aplington-Parkersburg coach Ed Thomas -- known for his winning record and town leadership -- was Satan. Becker, 24, had explained to psychiatrists that after months of torment, he shot Thomas at least six times in the makeshift high school weight room, then kicked his body before walking away. Jurors deliberated more than 24 hours over five days before convicting Becker of firstdegree murder, rejecting his plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. The guilty verdict carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison. Minutes after the verdict was read, Becker's mother, Joan,

comforted a crying relative sitting behind her. "It's OK," Joan Becker said. "Just pray he gets the right medication." The reading of the verdict was briefly held up as members of Thomas' family drove from Des Moines, where they had been lobbying for a bill, named after Thomas. The bill would require hospitals to communicate with law enforcement agencies when a suspect who should be in custody is scheduled to be released from the hospital. Details of Becker's mental state emerged during the 14-day trial held in tiny Allison, about 150 miles northeast of Des Moines. Jurors heard from defense attorneys that Becker's delusions were so severe that he didn't know right from wrong when he shot Thomas. Psychiatrists testified Becker believed invisible forces were pushing down on his eyes. Police interrogation videos showed him sitting alone, speaking to no one, swatting at the air. Prosecutors acknowledged that Becker suffered from a mental illness, but said that he also coldly calculated the killing, taking practice shots with the .22-caliber pistol he used to kill Thomas and lying to people in his search for the coach. After the verdict, the Thomas

and Becker families -- who attend the same Parkersburg church -- said they would pray for each other. But they took away different lessons from a system that couldn't help Becker but ultimately succeeded in convicting Thomas' killer. Joan Becker said the mental health support system in Parkersburg and Butler County failed her son. A psychiatrist in a Waterloo hospital agreed to his release just days after he was hospitalized following a violent incident and arrest. â&#x20AC;&#x153; Our family is not over anything. The Becker family is not over anything.â&#x20AC;?-- Aaron Thomas, son of Ed Thomas Police weren't notified when he was let out of the psychiatric unit. "Ed Thomas was a victim of a victim," Joan Becker said. "Although Mark and we as his parents attempted to go through all the proper channels to get Mark the mental health treatment he desperately needed, the system failed miserably." Thomas' son, Aaron, said both families have only begun to grieve, and the conviction wouldn't change that. But he said the justice system did what was necessary. "We do want to recognize that

there truly are no winners in this case, but the system worked," he said. The question of why Becker's delusions focused on Thomas remains unanswered. Thomas last coached Becker some six years before the shooting, and Becker since had spent significant time away from Parkersburg, a town of 1,800. Thomas amassed a 292-84 record and two state titles in 37 seasons as a head coach -- 34 of them at Aplington-Parkersburg High School -- and coached four players who have played in the NFL. He also was a leader in rebuilding Parkersburg after nearly one-third of the town was wiped out in May 2008 by a tornado that killed six people. Defense psychiatrist Phillip Resnick, of Cleveland, said Becker believed Satan had possessed Thomas and that he was doing the community a favor -- and freeing Parkersburg's children -- by killing the coach. Resnick and others who interviewed Becker about his mental status said Becker suffered from such intense delusions that he incorrectly believed Thomas and the members of Becker's old football team were sexually assaulting him, and that Thomas was trying to make Becker into

a "sex slave." Maryland-based psychiatrist Michael Spodak, testifying for the prosecution, agreed Becker suffered from severe mental problems, including paranoid schizophrenia, but said he still understood right and wrong. Spodak said Becker took rational measures to avoid detection on the morning of the shooting: He hid his gun while he was driving, told passersby that he was searching for Thomas in order to volunteer for the city's tornado relief efforts, and made it a point to avoid shooting the teenagers in the weight room. While supporting the jury's verdict, Aaron Thomas said both families still are reeling more than eight months after the killing. "Our family is not over anything," he said. "The Becker family is not over anything." Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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U.S. Olympics goalie Ryan Miller get standing ovation by Pittsburgh crowd before Sabres-Penguins game Associated Press (ESPN.com) Submitted at 3/3/2010 5:58:23 AM

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I.setLinkBack("http://sports.esp n.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=49 60646"); if (jQuery("#videoInfo").length > 0 ) { I.setDescription(jQuery(".article p:not(div.beta-opt p):first").text()); } else { I.setDescription(jQuery("p:first" ).text()); } if (jQuery(".article .image, .headshot").length > 0) { var theimage = (jQuery(".article . i m a g e , .headshot").find("img").attr("src ")); I.addMediaItem( { type: 'image', src: theimage }); } A.userAction = I; gigya.services.socialize.showSh areUI(H,A); return false; } } Associated Press PITTSBURGH -- Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller received a standing ovation in Pittsburgh on Tuesday night for leading the United States to an Olympic silver medal -- cheers louder than those given the Penguins' own Sidney Crosby. Crosby beat Miller to score the game-winning goal in overtime Sunday as Canada defeated the United States 3-2 for the gold

medal in Vancouver. Despite being on the losing team, Miller was chosen as the tournament MVP. Olympians for both teams were introduced before the game, with Miller drawing the loudest and most sustained cheering. Crosby also was given a standing ovation, but it was less enthusiastic than Miller's despite his vast popularity in Pittsburgh. "It was a good tournament," Miller said before the Sabres lost to the Pens 3-2. "Hopefully, it made some hockey fans here in the United States." Some Penguins fans admittedly were conflicted, enthused by the United States' successful tournament -- the Americans were unbeaten before losing to Canada -- but too loyal to Crosby to boo the player who led Pittsburgh to the Stanley Cup last spring. "I'll leave it up to other people to decide, but for me it was a pretty proud moment," Crosby said. "Being in Canada, playing hockey growing up as a kid and dreaming of playing for your country, then having it work out

that way, it's still pretty amazing to think about." There was a mixed reaction when a replay of Crosby's game -winning goal was shown on the Mellon Arena scoreboard, with some cheering but also audible booing. Later in the game, when the replay was shown again during a break in play, there were noticeably more boos than cheers. Miller sat out of the game after playing in all six games for the U.S. in Vancouver. Crosby was in the Penguins' lineup and assisted on the first goal, by Sergei Gonchar on a power play at 14:58 of the first period. "I'm a little spaced from traveling, the time change," Miller said. "We were up there for two weeks and everything's thrown off just a bit. ... I'll get my rest but there's not much of a choice. We've got to keep playing." Sabres coach Lindy Ruff, a Canada assistant coach during the games, started Patrick Lalime in net because he knew how emotionally draining the tournament was for Miller.

Crosby's three goals against Miller when the teams met Feb. 1 apparently didn't figure in the decision. Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, who was Canada's No. 3 goalie but did not play in the Olympics, also sat out as backup Brent Johnson started. Crosby said it wasn't difficult to shift back into a playoffs-drive mode with Pittsburgh after spending two weeks in a win-the -gold mode with Canada. "It's been a tough couple of weeks, a lot of ups and downs," Crosby said. "When you look at it, we had to win what felt like four Game 7s in a row to win. It's been a bit of a roller coaster, but I'm looking forward to getting back to a routine." 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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The Count: Salmons Pushes Bucks Into Contention (WSJ.com: The Daily Fix) Submitted at 3/2/2010 3:39:19 PM

The Milwaukee Bucks are on a hot streak. The sad-sack franchise, which hasn’t finished more than two games over .500 or won a playoff series in nine seasons, has won 14 of its last 20 games. That includes three wins, by a combined 50 points, over the Miami Heat, whom the Bucks just passed for the No. 7 playoff position in the East. The Celtics, who could be the Bucks’ first-round opponent, have dropped 11 of their last 20. Associated Press The Bucks’ first loss with John Salmons in the lineup was to Josh Smith and Atlanta, a top Eastern Conference team. Milwaukee’s surge isn’t readily explicable from the box score. Brandon Jennings leads the team in scoring, among regulars who have been there all season. The rookie scored 55 points in a game earlier this season, and is averaging 16.1 points per game. However, he’s doing so despite putting up some abysmal shooting numbers inside the three-point line. According to Hoopdata.com, he’s the only regular in the league (among those to have played at least 40 games and averaging 20 minutes

per game or more) to shoot below 40% from each of four different distances inside the arc: at the rim, within 10 feet, 11 -15 feet and 16-23 feet. And he takes at least 1.5 shots per game from each of those distances. That’s a remarkable rate of brick -laying for a guard who hits 38% of his three-pointers and 81% of his free throws. Perhaps the difference maker is John Salmons. Since acquiring the guard from Chicago, the Bucks have won six of seven, with their only loss coming in overtime to Atlanta, the fourthbest team in the East. And Salmons has averaged 20.1 points per game since his arrival. But it may not be his scoring that’s been most instrumental. After all, he shot just 39% in his first four games with Milwaukee and the Bucks offense didn’t improve much. But their defense improved dramatically, as Kevin Pelton notes at Basketball Prospectus. Numbers from hoops analyst

Wayne Winston and BasketballValue.com show that teams are better off with Salmons on the floor than without him. It’s important not to read too much into a midseason hot streak, though. The Knicks won 12 of 18 games earlier this year, including defeats of Phoenix, Portland and Atlanta (twice). Since then New York has lost 19 of 24 games, and has been the league’s worst team since the All-Star break, according to Winston. Should Milwaukee sustain its run, it would mark a reversal for a franchise that has endured a tough two decades, featuring just one season with at least 50 wins and a playoff-series victory (2000-01). As a sign of their futility, Lee Mayberry, who started his career on some awful Bucks teams, is the player with the third worst career won-loss record among those who have played at least 10,000 minutes, according to Basketball Reference’s Neil Paine. But another recent Paine blog post recalls a time of better Bucks basketball: Milwaukee played in three of the 10 most competitive playoff series to go the maximal number of games, winning in two of them.

Geoff Bodine's Bobsled Perseverance Yields Olympic Gold Holly Cain (FanHouse Main) Submitted at 3/2/2010 1:22:00 PM

How ironic that 1986 Daytona 500 winner Geoff Bodine may look back at his storied racing career and decide his single greatest glory came in a race he didn't even drive in. Standing alongside the Olympic sliding track Saturday night in Vancouver, Canada, with the four-man American bobsled team one final run away from its long-coming gold medal, the racing veteran who was the driving force behind their American-made "Night Train" sled gave the team all he knew to give. "I'm a racer, I know you need to concentrate, so I just looked at them and relayed the confidence,'' Bodine, 59, told FanHouse on Tuesday. "I knew how difficult it was. I knew they had it in them. "Afterward, when they won,

they let me take a photo with the gold medal around my neck and let me tell you, it felt good." That gold medal felt good for the entire country, too. Amidst a sea of sleek, muscled athletes, here was stocky, balding Steven Holcomb, sort of an Olympics everyman, flying off the starting line with his teammates in blazingly fast starts, piloting his sled through the harrowing "5050 curve" and setting track records on a course infamous for its crashes.

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Poll: Tiger Woods really sorry, but popularity in rough ESPN.com news services (ESPN.com) Submitted at 3/3/2010 5:53:27 AM

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n.go.com/golf/news/story?id=49 60760"); if (jQuery("#videoInfo").length > 0 ) { I.setDescription(jQuery(".article p:not(div.beta-opt p):first").text()); } else { I.setDescription(jQuery("p:first" ).text()); } if (jQuery(".article .image, .headshot").length > 0) { var theimage = (jQuery(".article . i m a g e , .headshot").find("img").attr("src ")); I.addMediaItem( { type: 'image', src: theimage }); } A.userAction = I; gigya.services.socialize.showSh areUI(H,A); return false; } } ESPN.com news services Tiger Woods' apology seemed sincere to more than half of Americans, but his popularity remains in the weeds. In an ABC News/ESPN poll conducted from Feb. 25-28, 54 percent of over 1,000 respondents said that Woods was sincere when he said he was sorry for the damage done by his admitted extramarital affairs. Twenty-two percent didn't believe it, and 24 percent had no opinion.

But only 39 percent had a favorable impression of the golfer after his admission. Woods has been on a steady decline since the story of his affairs broke. That's a far cry from his approval ratings in 2000 (88 percent), 2001 (84 percent) and 2005 (85 percent). While companies like Gatorade and Gillette have canceled Woods' endorsement deals, 31 percent of those polled agreed with those decisions, but 54 percent thought that the golfer should remain a spokesperson for their products. Finally, most of those polled are ready to give Woods a mulligan, but they don't think his wife should be so forgiving. Fifty-five percent said they are ready to forgive Woods, while only 29 percent say Elin Woods should do the same. Twenty-one percent say she shouldn't forgive him, and 42 percent of those polled said it's none of their business. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Missouri Ends Drive on McGwire's Highway of Deception Greg Couch (FanHouse Main) Submitted at 3/2/2010 3:50:00 PM

Filed under: Cardinals It's a stretch along I-70 that welcomes people to downtown St. Louis, like a welcome mat, really. A first impression. And the Missouri Senate has voted unanimously to take down the signs showing its honorary name and change that stretch to Mark Twain Highway. It had been this: Mark McGwire Highway. So at least the government is hitting the right Mark now. I'm sure there is some good lesson in this, but my first thought is this: One of America's great literary figures is Plan B to a cheating baseball player. Somehow, this is a cross between an insult to Twain and straight comedy. "When a person cannot deceive himself, the chances are against

his being able to deceive other people,'' Twain once wrote. You see how timeless he was? It's as if he said that right after McGwire's testimony in Washington at the steroid hearing. The road had been named after Twain, and then was switched in 1999, the year after McGwire hit 70 home runs. That's 70 more, after all, than Huck Finn ever hit.

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Jim Bunning Still Beaning Opponents

Halo Reach Beta trailer shows jet packs, assassinations [update]

David Whitley (FanHouse Main)

Justin McElroy (Joystiq) Submitted at 3/3/2010 7:00:00 AM

Submitted at 3/2/2010 2:00:00 PM

According to various media reports on Tuesday, a Hall of Fame pitcher was a "heartless SOB," a "jackass" and a lot worse. According to other reports, he was a Constitutional hero who was just trying to stop the fiscal insanity in Washington. Speaking of nuts ... "Who is that crazy obstructionist?" Jon Stewart screamed on the Daily Show. He's Jim Bunning, baseball legend, U.S. Senator, worldclass crank and America's No. 1 lightning rod. Democrats reviled him. Republicans averted their eyes. The Tea Party threw a rally for him. I hate to mix sports and politics,

since the only thing that deranges people more than sports is politics. So I won't comment on Sen. Bunning (RPluto) single-handedly stopping a bill that would extend unemployment benefits to thousands of Americans.

Huh? What do you think you're doing? You're reading a post that has "shows jet packs" in the headline? When you know that there's a Halo Reach beta trailer (initially leaked by a Taiwanese site called GNN) right after the break? We're just going to assume you've already watched it, because any other scenario speaks ill of your mental stability. That said ... DUDE! Jet packs! Assassinations! Load outs! New modes! The only feature Bungie Mike Schramm (Joystiq) you must have." forgot to list that was also All the better to get published included in the trailer? Like 50 Submitted at 3/3/2010 6:00:00 AM with, we suppose. We'll be at million boners. Why don't you click here for full version GDC en masse next week, so start digging through the clip Legendary game developer we'll do our best to corner Mr. a n d l e t u s k n o w i n t h e American McGee has posted McGee and see if he willing to comments what else you can concept for the Little Red tell us any more about this not- find? Riding Hood game he's planning simply-fractured-but-actually- Update: We've replaced the to pitch to publishers at GDC mauled fairytale. If this is what leaked video that was posted 2010 next week -- and wow, the little girl looks like, just wait after the break with the now Little Red has never looked until we see the Hunter. officially released trailer above quite so badass. The art, put [via GSW] and added one new piece of art together by a few artists at the American McGee's Little Red in the gallery below. Good Spicy Horse Games studio, Riding Hood looks pretty news: The trailer's still got jet features a white-haired little girl Grimm originally appeared on packs! embedding an axe (almost Joystiq on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 Gallery: Halo: Reach bigger than she is) in a demonic 06:00:00 EST. Please see our Halo Reach Beta trailer shows wolf's skull. McGee probably terms for use of feeds. jet packs, assassinations has a pitch of his own all set up, Read| Permalink| Email this| [update] originally appeared on but we look at a pic like that and Comments Joystiq on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 can't help but think, "My, what 07:00:00 EST. Please see our complicated weapon combos HALO page 74

American McGee's Little Red Riding Hood looks pretty Grimm

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Test Drive Unlimited 2 leaves the showroom this Fall Griffin McElroy (Joystiq)

The press release promises "the world's most desirable vehicles," but we all know the best part of Is no one impressed by your Test Drive Unlimited was the massive stockpile of (relatively) fancy clothes you could buy for ancient virtual cars in Test Drive your character. We can't wait to Unlimited? It's almost time for see what exciting fashion lines you to pick up this year's model TDU2 brings to the table. -- Atari recently announced that Gallery: Test Drive Unlimited 2 this coming Fall would see the Test Drive Unlimited 2 leaves release of Test Drive Unlimited t h e s h o w r o o m t h i s F a l l 2 on PS3, 360 and PC. This originally appeared on Joystiq sequel will offer the persistent, on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 09:30:00 open-world multiplayer racing EST. Please see our terms for o f i t s p r e d e c e s s o r , w h i l e use of feeds. introducing new elements such Read| Permalink| Email this| as vehicle damage, day and Comments night cycles, and weather. Submitted at 3/3/2010 9:30:00 AM

Blur arrives May 25 in the U.S., May 28 in Europe David Hinkle (Joystiq)

few extra days, as the game won't be in shops until May 28 over there. Click image to slide into our While you wait, might we gallery suggest you check out some new With the Blur multiplayer beta screens in our gallery below? coming any day now, we're That is, if you want to -- no anxious to get some quality time pressure or anything! w i t h B i z a r r e C r e a t i o n s ' Gallery: Blur (3.2.2010) upcoming racer. In the interim, Blur arrives May 25 in the U.S., the game's official blog details May 28 in Europe originally what players can expect from appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 03 the beta, but perhaps more Mar 2010 10:30:00 EST. Please interesting is what's tucked at see our terms for use of feeds. the bottom of the update: a Read| Permalink| Email this| r e l e a s e d a t e o f M a y 2 5 . Comments Europeans will have to wait a Submitted at 3/3/2010 10:30:00 AM

Victoria’s Secret Angels Celebrate the Brand’s Newest Styles ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 3/2/2010 10:11:05 AM

Some people collect stamps. Victoria’s Secret models, apparently, collect bikinis—at least Rosie HuntingtonWhiteley does. When I caught up with the British bombshell last night at VS’s party celebrating the newest styles to join the Body by Victoria VICTORIA’S page 75

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family, she admitted to bringing a bathing suit back from all of her travels. (She now owns hundreds of suits, 80 of which are by Victoria’s Secret). The 22 -year-old travels constantly, but manages to squeeze in a massage at every hotel she checks into. Alessandra Ambrosio, the other angel in attendance, just returned to New York from her surprise turn on the Prada catwalk last week. Ambrosio, mom to one-and-ahalf-year-old Anja, dreams of getting 10 hours sleep, but usually settles for 6-7. To relax, she indulges in a foot massage

after each shoot. While Huntington-Whiteley feels best on the beach in a teeny bikini, Ambrosio feels sexiest when she’s comfortable (I’m with Alessandra on this one). Click here to shop the supercomfortable new Body by Victoria styles. —Violet Moon Gayn or Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Alessandra Ambrosio Photo: Kelly Stuart Follow ELLE on Twitter. Become our Facebook fan!

Maynard’s Revenge: Keynesianism and the Crisis Barry Ritholtz (The Big Picture)

provides the only plausible set of answers, including rising income inequality which spilled Submitted at 3/3/2010 6:00:45 AM over into debt accumulation at GoogleTechTalks, February 26, the same time as household 2010 consumption rose, low real Presented by Lance Taylor, interest rates, massive expansion A r n h o l d P r o f e s s o r o f of financial assets and liabilities International Cooperation and as investors borrowed heavily Development at the New School (increased leverage) to buy for Social Research. assets with rising prices, and an Historically, financial crises ample supply of imports and have been commonplace. Over capital inflows from the rest of the past two decades the sector the world. In an accommodating has staged the 1987 stock political economic environment market crash, the Mexican these factors linked the real and crisis, the Asian crisis, Enron, financial sides of the economy the LTCM collapse, the end of to create the crisis. the internet bubble, and 2007- Five Filters featured article: 09. Why did the latest episode Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: a l m o s t d e r a i l t h e w o r l d PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, economy? The macroeconomics Term Extraction. developed by John Maynard What aWHY splendid page 76idea: A Keynes and his close followers Consumer Finance Protection Barry Ritholtz Big Agency whose (The sole purpose is to provide a set of standards for the

Why a Consumer Protection Agency

WHERE ARE WE NOW? Barry Ritholtz (The Big Picture) Submitted at 3/3/2010 6:45:11 AM

Dick Arms has spent nearly half a century following, trading and writing about Stock Markets. Best known for his Arms Index, or TRIN, his other

major contributions to Wall Street methodology include Equivolume Charting, Ease of Movement, Volume Adjusted moving averages, Volume Cyclicality, and a number of volume based indicators. These tools are revealed and explained in his six books, the most recent

titled Stop and Make Money. Dick has received many of the highest awards in Technical Analysis, including the Market Technicians Association award for lifetime achievement. He has been inducted into the Traders Hall of Fame. Located in Albuquerque, New Mexico,

Dick advises a select group of institutions with his weekly letter and personal consultation package, priced at $8000 per year. rarms@swcp.com 505-293-4438 Dick Arms March 1 2010 This is an abbreviated version

of his weekly letter for TBP readers. As always, please share your thoughts Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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finance industry when it comes to marketing their products to otherwise naive US consumers. The original plan was to have a standard form for major finance purchases — mortgages, cars, revolving credit. This would allow consumers to 1) Understand the amount of money the financing would cost them; 2) Determine if they could afford this product; 3) Allow them to shop competitively for the best rates. Good idea, right? Considering that we are a nation that made the Snuggie, the Sham-Ease, and Hair-in-a-Can all best sellers, a little impulse control is probably a good idea. More accurate cost disclosures of credit will also help. We are, after all, a country of mathphobic shopaholic shit junkies. Anything that can help us figure out whether we can afford our bigger purchases — like cars and houses — should be a nobrainer. Unfortunately, the banking lobby, in conjunction with the auto dealers lobby, had other ideas. A simple mandate to have all mortgages shown compared to a plain vanilla 30 year fixed

was thwarted. It was to be similar to the FDA nutrition disclosures on the side of your kid’s cereal box. Who, could possibly object to that? That the banking lobby stopped this simple consumer disclosure in its tracks reveals they want nothing to stand in between themselves and any profit, no matter how ill-gotten. That even this simple consumer disclosure was thwarted is testament to how corrupt Congress has become. They can’t even get something this modest — and needed — passed. Think back to the boom times of yesteryear. How many Americans actually understand the mortgages they were applying for? Did they calculate the costs, obligations and risks of their Refis, HELOCs, and piggyback loans? The answer for the vast majority of US citizens is an emphatic NO. If anyone needs better disclosure of financial costs, it is the mathematical illiterates — innumerates— here in the USA. Over the years, I have had countless conversations with home buyers about their mortgages. From 2003 to 2008,

a typical a cocktail party or a BBQ invariably went something like this: Home-Buyer: We got a great deal on our new mortgage. Me: Did you do a 30 year fixed or something more exotic? HB: 30 year fixed — at 4.5% ! BR: Sorry, but that’s not 30 year fixed — rates are 6.5% today. That’s probably a 2/28, with a reset in 200X. HB: No, we definitely asked for a 30 year fixed. BR: Well, that’s not what you got — its impossible to get that loan at that rate today. HB: We’re good negotiators. BR: Mortgage rates are set by the bond market. Banks charge a mark up ABOVE the rates that they can borrow money. They can’t get 30 year money at 4.5%, so you can’t get 4.5%. There is only so much negotiating you can do with the bond market. HB: Well, its definitely a 30 year fixed. BR: Please make the pain stop . .. And so on. Huge swaths of people, did not understand what they were buying, what it cost them, what

their other options were, whether they could afford it or not. I am not saying this to exonerate their ignorance — it is inexcusable in my opinion. Adults must take responsibility for their decision making, regardless of how foolish it may have been. That home buyers cannot figure out a basic financing document is beyond my comprehension. However, that is the way it is. We must acknowledge the simple reality, if we wish to avoid this problem in the future. That’s why we need to insure consumers understand what they are purchasing. Currently, there are several proposals floating around to change the basic concept of a consumer protection agency. For the most part, these proposals are meaningless, watered down foolishness, bordering on idiotic. Let the Fed do it? They were already charged with doing this, and under Greenspan, committed Nonfeasance— they failed to do their duty. The Fed is the wrong agency for this.

It does not need to be a giant bureaucracy, just a relatively simple set of disclosure laws to make sure consumers understand, in plain English, what they are buying. And the teeth to enforce them. Americans have a hard time with complex math. And in Finance, we have a carnivorous sales force that eats its young, and sells their grandmothers near worthless CDS at par. Forcing this rapacious group of Ferengi to comply with fair cost disclosure is not asking too much. If we are going to have an informed consumer class making intelligent financial decisions, a Consumer Protection Agency is a good place to start . . . > via Tom Toles Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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California's elections: The other Brown (The Economist: News analysis) Submitted at 3/3/2010 12:07:49 AM

California's elections A late, and philosophical, return to American political campaigning for Jerry Brown Mar 3rd 2010 | LOS ANGELES | From The Economist print edition THE dark, floppy hair has gone, and the face is a little rounder, but otherwise Jerry Brown, at 71, looks much as he did when he slept on a futon on the floor of his office and squired Linda Ronstadt round town. He was California’s Democratic governor then, from 1975 to 1983, and on Tuesday March 2nd he officially announced that he hopes to be governor again. Apart from a spell studying Buddhism in the east—no surprise to anyone—Mr Brown has not disappeared in the interim from California politics. He has been mayor of Oakland and is now the state’s attorneygeneral. He has a Jesuit education, a prodigious intellect, a fine pedigree (his father, Pat Brown, was one of the state’s best governors) and a protean political identity that allows him to become almost any sort of candidate, as needed. “Actually”, he said in full Zen mode last June, “action and

contemplation joined together is what I would call the highest path that we can follow.” A celebrity himself, he will probably face another one. Meg Whitman, the front-runner among the Republican candidates, made her name as boss of eBay, nursing the online marketplace from 30 employees in 1998 to 15,000 in 2008. Her only remaining challenger is the state’s insurance commissioner, who is also rich from his Silicon Valley days but fading fast. Ms Whitman is bombarding him with negative ads, hoping to finish him off so that she can quickly define herself as fiscally conservative but socially moderate for the general election. Ms Whitman’s management credentials are far from convincing. She ran eBay well in its early years, then missed the trends known as “Web 2.0” and made a financially disastrous acquisition. She also forgot to vote much of the time. However, she seems to be a quick study where government is concerned. She now claims that California, a state in deep fiscal crisis, is so dysfunctional that an MBA with a fresh approach is exactly what it needs. The same claim is made by a remarkably similar Republican candidate in the Senate race.

Carly Fiorina is running for the seat of Barbara Boxer, one of the most liberal members of Congress. Ms Fiorina was once boss of HP, a printer and computer maker. She is trying to make voters overlook the fact that HP was worth much less when she left than when she came, not to mention that the board ousted her in 2005. Her grasp of governance issues is superficial: she recently seemed to think that California could declare bankruptcy. And her campaign and advertising (“Carly for California”) have been bizarre to the point of ridiculous. Her weakness has persuaded another Republican, Tom Campbell, who was running for governor, to switch to the Senate race, where he instantly became the Republican frontrunner. Mr Campbell is a libertarian professor; he has also been a US representative and finance director of California. His knowledge of government arcana is daunting, but his manner can be wonkish. He is not one to channel anger. But he is clearly hoping for an antiincumbent surge against Ms Boxer, who has been in the House or Senate for almost three decades and whose lead in polls is narrow. The main effect of Mr Campbell’s switch to the Senate

race, however, has been to make Ms Whitman the obvious frontrunner in the Republican primaries for governor. Above all, she has oodles of her own money to spend on her campaign. This will be her chief advantage against Mr Brown, who has puny amounts of it. Yet in California, where independent lobbies were spending freely in campaigns even before a recent Supreme Court ruling to this effect, penury does not necessarily spell political death. Already, a liberal group calling itself “Level the Playing Field 2010” is attacking Ms Whitman to prevent her from “buying” the governorship. Mr Brown, who would be California’s oldest governor ever, admits that the job is fiendish and thankless. But he is looking forward to “the combat the conflict and the exploration.” And the toughness of the post is all the more reason, he says, to elect somebody who knows the ropes and who has “no future” afterwards. Readers' comments The Economist welcomes your views. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Pearson sees future in Apple's iPad, e-readers (Macworld UK) (Yahoo! News Search Results for e-readers) Submitted at 3/3/2010 5:46:52 AM

Pearson, the publishing and education company behind the Financial Times and Penguin books sees great potential in Apple's forthcoming iPad. Announcing positive results on Monday, with 2009 pre-tax profits climbing 13 per cent to £761m, Pearson signalled a move away from traditional printing. "eBook sales grew fourfold on the previous year. 14,000 eBook titles are now available. eBook sales are expected to grow rapidly again in 2010, benefiting from the popularity of e-readers such as Amazon’s Kindle, the Sony Reader and Barnes and Noble’s Nook as well as new devices such as Apple’s iPad," Pearson said announcing 2009 Preliminary results (unaudited). Pearson is the world's biggest education company, with sales of learning products of £3.78bn. The iPad, is being touted as an educational tool by many including Apple. In recent years, Pearson has introduced range of digital learning products including eCollege, PowerSchool, MyLabs and Edustructures, many of which are likely to be ported and PEARSON page 78

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developed for Apple's iPad, which goes on sale later this month. Click here for more Apple iPad coverage As part of a ÂŁ2bn investment programme over the past five years Pearson has launched a range of digital learning products, including eCollege, Power-School, MyLabs and Edustructures, with more than 25m users in North America. A new range of digital products and iPad 'apps' will seek to capture a wider market, with learning products for toddlers featuring Spot the dog, maths applications for pre-school children and Penguin books that will tap into the teenage craze for vampires according to a report.

Profit at FT Publishing, which includes the FT and a share in the Economist magazine, are also likely to develop iPad applications. Last week, Associated Press revealed plans to launch a paid news application for the iPad. A AP new business unit will be created, called AP Gateway, expanding such products as the AP Mobile news service for smartphones and online platforms including the iPad. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

PeePoo Bags Sterlize and Compost Human Waste Where Toilets Are a Luxury Stuart Fox (Popular Science New Technology, Science News, The Future Now)

the soil. Most importantly, because these problems affect the poorest 40 percent of the world Submitted at 3/2/2010 12:15:14 PM And they cost only three cents population, the bag is cheap. By each producing the bags so The mismanagement of human inexpensively, Wilhelmson waste is a serious health hopes to both help the world and problem for the 2.6 billion turn a profit. And considering people who don't have regular the market for low cost toilets access to toilets. In fact, in the runs into the trillions of dollars, slums of Kenya, waste there is certainly profit to be management is so haphazard made. that residents dispose of fecesEvery year, 1.5 million children filled plastic bags by simply die from diarrhea caused by flinging the bags away without poor sanitation. Through concern about where they land. amazingly cheap production and And it was discovering those simple design, Wilhemson flying sacks of waste that inside of the bag. Once its filled hopes that the PeePoo won't just inspired Anders Wilhelmson to and buried, enzymes in feces save lives, but allow the people invent the PeePoo, a chemically naturally breakdown the urea suffering through the problem of treated toilet bag that sterilizes into ammonia and carbonate. waste mismanagement to save human waste and converts it to This raises the pH in the bag, those lives themselves. fertilizer, all for only two or killing any pathogens. Once the [ The New York Times] urea decontaminates the waste, three cents. The secret of the PeePoo lies the bag biodegrades, and the with the urea coating on the remaining ammonia fertilizes

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Gallup Poll/

Dems' Economic Confidence Tops Independents', Republicans' (All Gallup Headlines)

Americans' views of the current economy and of the economy's direction appear to reflect more PRINCETON, NJ -- Democrats than objective economic were less negative than either indicators such as joblessness, independents or Republicans gross domestic product growth, about the economy in February, and the business activity as has been the case since Americans see around them. shortly after President Barack Economic confidence clearly Obama took office in early reflects political confidence as 2009. Democrats' -10 reading on well. Gallup's Economic Confidence Within a month or two of Index in February compares to Obama's presidential 34 among independents and -44 inauguration in January 2009, among Republicans. Democrats became strikingly Gallup's Economic Confidence more positive about the Index is based on Americans' economy, and have remained answers to two questions -- one positive, on a relative basis. asking about current economic Republicans' economic conditions in the country and the confidence had been dropping in other about their economic the waning months of the Bush outlook."Independents and administration and, although it Republicans also became more improved modestly in the first positive through the first part of part of 2009, has remained well last year, but not nearly to the below the confidence of same degree as Democrats." Democrats since then. have reported significantly more today. Republicans improved to Independents' confidence was Americans' views of the Bush to Obama. economy clearly reflect their Economic confidence dropped positive economic confidence -36 in September and are at -44 slightly more positive than political orientation and can across all three partisan groups l e v e l s t h a n h a v e e i t h e r today. Democrats' in 2008 (but well vary sharply, depending on i n 2 0 0 8 , b u t R e p u b l i c a n s independents or Republicans. Overall Trends in Economic below Republicans' confidence) D e m o c r a t s ' e c o n o m i c Confidence which party controls the White remained consistently less and has been slightly more House. Republicans are most negative than independents or confidence reached its most From a broader perspective, positive than Republicans' in p o s i t i v e w h e n t h e r e i s a Democrats throughout the year. positive point of the last two economic confidence has been 2009 and 2010 (but well below R e p u b l i c a n p r e s i d e n t . Obama became president in late years (-3) in August 2009, and is fairly stable for a number of Democrats' confidence). Democrats are the most positive January 2009. In the following currently at -10. Independents months, after dropping from -32 These data show that a rising w h e n t h e p r e s i d e n t i s a month, February, economic and Republicans also became in January 2008 to its low point and falling tide can lift and confidence across the three more positive through the first of -60 in late 2008. Economic lower all ships to some degree, Democrat. This pattern is starkly apparent party groups equalized, a fairly part of last year, but not nearly confidence last month (-29) is given that all three partisan when one compares the trends in rare occurrence, with each group t o t h e s a m e d e g r e e a s slightly more negative than it groups' confidence fell in 2008 economic confidence by party recording confidence in a Democrats. Independents were was in January and December, and that all three increased in identification over the past two narrow range between -56 and - at -31 in August and September but slightly more positive than confidence at least slightly in years, spanning the transfer of 60. From March 2009 to the (their most positive point during in November. DEMS' page 80 the presidency from George W. present, however, Democrats the last two years) and are at -34 Bottom Line Submitted at 3/2/2010 7:00:00 PM

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2009. The largest shifts occurred within partisan groups, however, with Republicans' confidence falling dramatically between early 2008 and January 2009, and Democrats' rising sharply in 2009 between January and the summer. The data make it clear that month-to-month shifts in confidence in the economy can reflect political factors as much as or more than economic factors. Review and export the complete daily trends on these measures: Economic Indexes; Economic Outlook; Economic

Conditions Learn more about Gallup's economic measures. Survey Methods Results for February are based on telephone interviews with a random sample of 13,832 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted Feb. 1-28, 2010, 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 Âą1 percentage point. Interviews are conducted with

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

Portable Hydro-Electric Backpack Generator Goes Where the Grid Can't Clay Dillow (Popular Science New Technology, Science News, The Future Now)

standard rucksack. The BackPack Power Plant collapses into a package only 3 feet long and weighing only 30 Submitted at 3/2/2010 2:58:03 PM Those of us who can plug pounds, packing power, control, directly into the grid likely don't cooling and sensor systems into think much about where our a cylindrical, fairly lightweight power comes from, but for package that slings over the people living in remote regions shoulder. When deployed, the of the world or militaries rotor blades unfold from the operating far from the nearest h u b , c r e a t i n g a p o r t a b l e three-prong outlet, being able to electricity source that generates pack power with you is a up to 500 watts in optimal priority. With that in mind, conditions (in an ideal spot, the California-based Bourne Energy water would be at least four feet has devised a hydroelectric deep with a current moving at stream, placing a light anchor in generator that breaks down to about 8 feet per second). backpack size, making green To deploy, the user simply digs each one - a system designed energy as portable as any a trench on either side of the after the mooring systems used

on offshore oil rigs. A rope is slung across the stream from which the unfolded BackPack unit hangs into the stream. The unit can be deployed virtually anywhere water runs downhill in significant volumes. A second, military version of the device weighs less than 25 pounds, can generate 600 watts, and can be bottom mounted to a riverbed so the whole unit is concealed beneath the water. Both military and civilian units can be set up in arrays; the civilian version can put out a full 30 kilowatts when deployed in an array of multiple generators, the military version

20 kilowatts. The Achilles heel of the BackPack Power Plant: cost. At $3,000 for the civilian version (if history is any indicator, the military rig costs more), it won't be easy to get them into the hands of those that really need them in underdeveloped parts of the world. But pound for pound, the units put out more power than other portable renewable tech like solar cells and could allow populations that have made it this far without hooking into a conventional power grid to remain unplugged. [ Bourne Energy via PhysOrg]

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Emotional Attachment To Roombas Suggests Humans Can Love Their 'Bots Clay Dillow (Popular Science New Technology, Science News, The Future Now) Submitted at 3/2/2010 1:00:13 PM

How much do you love your vacuum cleaner? If yours happens to be a cute little Roomba, a new study suggests that you might like it a little bit too much. A Georgia Tech researcher has found that many Roomba owners name, dress up and genuinely worry about their Roombas, as if they were living pets. For instance, of 30 committed users studied as part of the research effort, two-thirds had named their devices and half had assigned them an arbitrary gender. Others in the study were found to rearrange their homes to be more accommodating to the robots, while others pre-

clean their homes before putting the machine to work and buy new rugs that don't tie up the Roomba on its programmed march around the house. One subject even introduced his Roomba to his parents. But the most interesting finding

important than their presence and companionship. We're not making this up. The study also suggests that people are warming up to having a robot perpetually in the house, even one that doesn't necessarily do its job right all the time. Is it the beginning of the acceptance of robots into the family dynamic? We're not sure about all that just yet, but it would seem that in the case of the tiny Roomba, man and machine are forging some kind is that Roombas don't always of bond at an emotional level. work perfectly - and that may Whether that's exciting or only contribute to owners' unsettling is still up in the air. affections for them. The cute, [ MSNBC via Gizmodo] fallible little devices are emotionally engaging enough for some users that their reliability as robots is less

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Lab Rats' Pampered Lifestyles Found to Skew Research Results Stuart Fox (Popular Science New Technology, Science News, The Future Now) Submitted at 3/2/2010 2:03:19 PM

Sure, the maze gets boring every so often. And yeah, there's not much variety in the food. But compared to the kill or be killed world of the wild, being a lab rat is a pretty good life. So good, in fact, that researchers at the National Institute on Aging (NIA) believe many lab rats are so overfed they distort research results from experiments intended to help cure everything from cancer to Alzheimer's to, you guessed it, obesity. According to the NIA, the common practice of allowing lab rats and mice constant access to food, but not exercise, has resulted in some test

subjects getting so fat that their health fails as a result. Not only does the high weight of the lab animals compromise any comparisons between the effects of drugs on the animal and the potential effects on a health human, but the animals develop

weight-related health problems that researchers mistake for drug side effects or disease symptoms. To combat this problem, the NIA suggests simple solutions like only feeding the animals every other day or putting a

running wheel in the cage with the rats. Rats and mice are model organisms used as proxies for humans in a wide range of pharmaceutical, behavioral, and genetic experiments. This new finding casts suspicion over an entire body of research. Scientists, doctors, researchers, please, let's get these rodents a personal trainer or something, because I don't want to potentially miss out on a cure for cancer because Micky and Minny didn't want to run some laps. [ Nature]

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to this Facebook page, and signing his petition to the SI unit's international regulatory body. Or, if you cringe at the thought of this obnoxious slang term proliferating further, just like, chillax dude, it's all good. [ Next Big Future]

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Physics Student Petitions For "Hella" to Be Nex SI Unit Prefix Stuart Fox (Popular Science New Technology, Science News, The Future Now) Submitted at 3/3/2010 7:00:00 AM

Beloved by Bay Area natives and loathed by the rest of the country, the term "hella" has entered the general American lexicon thanks to the combined efforts of No Doubt and South Park. And now, if University of California, Davis, physics student Austin Sendek gets enough signatures, it might enter

the scientific dictionary as the prefix for numbers with 10^27 zeroes. The International System of Units (SI) provides standards for scientific weights and measurements, like Kelvin and the mole, as well as the prefixes for naming quantities of different magnitudes. Thanks to advances in computing speed and storage, high order prefixes like peta-, giga-, and even yottahave become familiar to lay

people, as well as scientists. particular number. Primarily, those prefixes come That's where Austin Sendek's from the Greek word for a petition comes in. Currently, the

SI prefixes stop at 10^24, or yotta. Sendek selected 10^27 for hella-, rather than the obvious next step of 10^25, because the 10^27 magnitude appears frequently in measurements relating to the sun. Under Sendek's proposed naming schema, the sun would weight 2.2 hellatons, and release 0.3 hellawatts of energy. You can help Sendek by going PHYSICS page 82

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Save the Climate Billâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Rebrand Cap and Trade

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info@greentechmedia.com (Greentech Media: Headlines)

Konarka Gets $20M More for Organic Solar Cells info@greentechmedia.com (Greentech Media: Headlines) Submitted at 3/3/2010 6:30:53 AM

Whatever one says about organic solar cell aspirant Konarka, the one thing the startup is great at is raising money. Konarka just announced $20 million in strategic investment from Japan's Konica Minolta. That brings Konarka's total to more than $150M in angel funding, venture capital, strategic investment and private equity money raised since 2001. And throw in at least $10 million more in DARPA, DOE, NSF, US Army, bank loans and credit lines in the last ten years. Newest investor in that long list of investors, Konica Minolta, is in the OLED business which might have some synergy with Konarka's roll-to-roll technology. They hope.

Konarka is headquartered in Lowell, Mass., and has a manufacturing facility in New Bedford, Mass., with European headquarters in Nurnberg, Germany, business development offices in Asia and a research and development facility in Austria. That sounds like a healthy burn rate. Konarka was founded in 2001 by scientists at UMass Lowell and has received investment from Chevron, Good Energies, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Massachusetts Green Energy Fund, Vanguard Ventures, Mackenzie Financial, Partech, and many more. I have spoken to a few of those early investors about their investment in Konarka. One comment, off-the-record, was unprintable, Another comment, made anonymously, was that the investor had no idea at the time of investment that First Solar would hit the numbers on cost

and efficiency that they have. And that Konarka was in a sort of limbo of commercial production capability but no production demand -- that their low efficiency nets out in no incentive for main stream market adoption. Low efficiency and difficulty in achieving long life times leave OSCs to go after niche markets like consumer wearables and luggage. The ten year old startup has also mentioned tents, awnings and BIPV as possible end-markets. These applications could result in real business but it seems difficult to get to serious magawattage and difficult to justify as a VCfunded firm. Next generation solar cell developers include Konarka and Plextronics in the organic photovoltaics field, and Dyesol, EPFL, G24i, Mitsubishi and Peccell on the dye-sensitized

cells front. OSCs remain a compelling technology. One of the appeals of third-generation thin-film solar cells is that they can be manufactured using solutionbased, low-temperature roll-toroll manufacturing methods which use conventional printing techniques on flexible substrates. That is the Sirens' call which keeps the VC money flowing. Our analyst team at GTM Research has written a report and forecast on "third generation" solar which includes this comparison of dyesensitized cell technology versus organic solar cell technology: My VCs gave me $150 million and all I got was this Sunbag Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Submitted at 3/3/2010 4:11:55 AM

A disturbing meme has found its way into the national debate in recent months: cap and trade is the new public option, a complex, easy-tomischaracterize policy prescription that has been cast as the focus of debate and therefore harmed the chances of passage for otherwise popular legislation. This topic came up in a discussion on Thursday, February 18 th, hosted by Silicon Valley Bank, and featuring Congressman Jay Inslee(D-WA), a strong supporter of climate legislation, in conversation with several prominent cleantech VCs and entrepreneurs. [Disclaimer: I consult with SVB's cleantech practice; however, all views expressed herein are my own and not those of SVB.] While Rep. Inslee is well aligned with the cleantech VC community on policy, the discussion brought to light some critical differences on tactics. The American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES, a.k.a. Waxman-Markey) passed the House last June, but has been SAVE page 84

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stuck in the Senate ever since. However, Inslee believes that passage of a meaningful bill is still possible in this session. As with health care reform, both Republican and Democratic polling has found that sizable majorities of Americans support a clean energy agenda -- one focused on energy independence, "green-collar" job creation, and tackling our carbon dependency through investment in renewable energy, alternative fuels, energy efficiency, and new technology. In fact, the numbers on clean energy are even better than health care -- with 20+ point majorities in favor. When asked what we in the cleantech community can do, he recommends working the halls of Congress and targeting key fence-sitters in the Senate, such as Lindsey Graham(R-SC) and Jim Webb(D-VA). He believes that if every Senator were to tour a cleantech employer in their state -- see the green glow of an algae biofuel plant, shake hands with workers on a wind turbine assembly line -- they would become an instant supporter of cap and trade. Perhaps I'm overly pessimistic, but I don't see much chance of this happening (either the tours or the change of opinion). How We Got Here How did the climate agenda come unglued over the last year? First, the health care

battle dragged on all last summer and fall (and shows no signs of going away soon), sucking up all of the oxygen in Washington and severely depleting the Obama Administration's stores of political capital. Combined with the economic meltdown, the mandate of 2008 has become the deep malaise of 2010. In the meantime, last November there were (suspiciously welltimed) revelations of monkey business at the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit. Though arguably minor by scientific standards, any perceived chink in the armor of climate science serves not only to embolden staunch deniers like James"We Won, You Lost, Get a Life" Inhofe (R-OK) but, far worse, gives cover to the larger ranks of mainstream conservatives and Republican moderates who, though they offer occasional lip service to global warming, would prefer to avoid handing the Administration any legislative victory heading into midterm elections this fall. The lack of concerted U.S. leadership, of course, produced the disastrous collapse of the Copenhagen summit in December, sidelining years of hard work by the international climate community to achieve binding global emissions limits post-Kyoto. What was a domestic policy dispute has

become a foreign policy debacle, as well. While President Obama deserves at least some credit for his lastditch efforts to put on a brave face in Copenhagen, in the absence of Congressional action or even a clear path forward on legislation, it was too little too late (and was viewed as such by the rest of the world). Finally, in a near-perfect literary twist, record snowfalls shut down the Capitol and much of the Eastern seaboard last month -- the headlines practically wrote themselves. One tea party sign read: every time it snows, Al Gore loses. In climate circles, it is truly the winter of our discontent. A Failure of Framing, Not Substance In tactics, as in outcome, the analogy to the health care debate holds up alarmingly well. By failing to frame the climate debate in effective populist language, Democrats have failed to capitalize on broad public support for clean energy policies. The term "Cap and Trade" (though succinct) remains mysterious and seems to require constant reexplanation every time it is introduced in the media. The opposition (heavily supported by the fossil-energy lobby) has been all too happy to jump into the vacuum, labeling it " Cap and Tax" -- frustratingly, framing a cost-minimizing

solution that is the antithesis of big-government command and control as an overly complex, heavy-handed government power grab. With Sarah Palin now working at Fox, can rumors of solar "death panels" be far behind? (Note to my good friends at Armageddon Energy: I love the name, but please don't tell Sarah... she might take it literally). Of course, just as in health care, the goal of the opposition is not to meet cap and trade on the level playing field of ideas -and it is a mistake for cap and trade's supporters to approach this as a rational debate on the substance. Sadly (and I say this with respect for intelligent conservatives everywhere), the Republican leadership's answer to an inconvenient truth has been a politically expedient falsehood -- the myth that cap and trade will "destroy the American economy" and set back the economic recovery; that we cannot afford to take action now, during the worst recession of our lifetimes (when, in fact, now is precisely when we need to begin the transformation of our energy economy to create new jobs and new growth industries). A Modest Proposal The time has come for supporters of clean energy legislation to retool and reframe this stale partisan debate. Let me be clear: I do not personally

advocate ditching cap and trade, the policy, and certainly would urge the Democratic leadership not to give anything away cheaply (Note to Dems from Negotiation 101 -- do not compromise away your best currency without getting something valuable in return, like, say, a Republican vote or two). I am merely talking here about ditching cap and trade, the brand. Instead, we need a name that is so mom-and-apple-pie, so allAmerican, that it becomes instantly unassailable from anywhere left of Inhofe on the political spectrum. To borrow a line from the junior Senator from Massachusetts, we need a slogan as clear and concise as: "My name is ___. I drive a truck." (My name is Elon. I drive a really cool-looking $100,000 high-performance electric sports car?). Unfortunately, I don't have the answer. But I know someone out there does. Collectively, the Greentech Media readership represents the heart of the cleantech economy and (IMHO) some very smart and savvy minds, too. In true Silicon Valley fashion, I propose that we "crowd-source" this one. Email us your nominations for best new framing language for cap and trade (or, generically, SAVE page 85

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meaningful climate and energy legislation) to this address: climatename@greentechmedia.c om by 5 pm Pacific Time this Friday, March 12, 2010. With the help of my friends here at Greentech Media, we will select the best submissions and announce the five finalists on GTM. I will also forward the results to Congressman Inslee's Chief of Staff and we'll see if we can't inject some new language into the national debate. Please put your thinking caps

on, everyone. It is time the cleantech community punched its weight in this fight -- not with money or votes, but with the true currency of Silicon Valley: ideas! Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.