Liberty Newspost Mar-24-10

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When seen from Capitol Hill, Jerusalem looks a bit different Susan Cornwell (Front Row Washington)

Tuesday took place behind closed doors, without photographers present.

Submitted at 3/23/2010 4:02:16 PM But on Capitol Hill he was What’s the U.S. policy toward warmly, openly and officially Israel? It may depend on which received by leading lawmakers. branch of government you ask. Cameras clicked and rolled as On Capitol Hill, Israeli Prime Netanyahu was greeted in ornate Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reception rooms, first in the got a warm reception during his House of Representatives, then Washington visit this week. Eric in the Senate Tuesday. In C a n t o r , t h e o n l y J e w i s h between, he lunched with Republican in the U.S. House of lawmakers.

Representatives, says Congress The Israeli prime minister got is on “a different page” than the to hear his own words echo Obama administration over around the hallowed halls of Jewish settlements in Jerusalem C o n g r e s s a s w e l l . A t t h e and the overall U.S. relationship m o r n i n g m e e t i n g w i t h with Israel.

Netanyahu, “Many of us said, Netanyahu got a less obviously Jerusalem is not a settlement,” effusive welcome from the Cantor told Reuters afterwards.

O b a m a a d m i n i s t r a t i o n . This had been Netanyahu’s line Secretary of State Hillary in a speech to the influential pro Clinton met him at a hotel on -Israel lobby group AIPAC on Monday and his White House Monday evening, where he meeting with the president on struck a defiant note after new

criticism from Clinton of Jewish home construction in disputed territory in and around Jerusalem.

Cantor, the third-ranking Republican in the House, said he and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Democrat, are circulating for lawmakers’ signatures a letter to Clinton

expressing concerns about the direction of U.S. policy. ”We are writing to reaffirm our commitment to the unbreakable bond that exists bewteen our country and the State of Israel and to express to you our deep concern over recent tension,” the letter says.

Meanwhile Cantor said

Alistair Darling's 2010 Budget in pictures (Latest news, breaking news, current news, UK news, world news, celebrity news, politics news)

Alistair Darling has delivered Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: ADVERTISEMENT: his Budget plans, just weeks PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, (BloggingStocks) before a general election Term Extraction.

Picture: GETTY Submitted at 3/24/2010 9:40:00 AM Five Filters featured article:

lawmakers did not need to be in lockstep with the administration on foreign policy, and warned that Congress can put its money where its mouth is, since it controls the federal government’s purse strings.

“We don’t have a parliamentary system; we certainly don’t have a monarchy here,” he said.

For more Reuters political news, click here.

Photo credits: REUTERS/Baz Ratner (Sheep graze in front of a Jewish settlement near Jerusalem, March 22, 2010) REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the AIPAC annual policy conference, Washington, March 22, 2010)

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Does Obama’s healthcare victory point to future legislative strategy?

David Morgan (Front Row Washington) Submitted at 3/23/2010 9:01:25 AM

When President Barack Obama signed healthcare reform into law today, was he also endorsing the preferred White House strategy for legislation to come?

After months of political wrangling and face-reddening rhetoric all around, Obama’s sweeping overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system became reality without a single Republican voting for it.

Democrats say that’s because the Republicans want to render Obama’s presidency a failure.

They point to a recently published account of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s strategic game plan to deny Democrats any support on big legislation.

Meanwhile, Obama has seized upon the virtue of being everready and ever-willing to cooperate with the reliably uncooperative. In doing so, he has effectively used GOP stubbornness as a foil. And

congressional Democrats to ram through the rest of Obama’s agenda may depend on how confident those lawmakers are about their own job prospects — and how well-founded their hopes or fears prove to be come November.

The Republican National Committee has one Democrat firmly in its sights: Nancy Pelosi. They’ve launched a there’s been evidence that the firenancypelosi.com Web site ploy has political merit. that pictures the House N o w t h e p r e s i d e n t h a s speaker clenching her fists in triumphed. Does this mean the apparent frustration before the White House will pursue its flames of Hades. Its aim is to remaining legislative agenda in raise $1,002,010 in campaign partisan fashion while making donations to help Republicans the immovable Republicans w i n 4 0 H o u s e s e a t s i n look like the bad guys?

November. “40 Seats Means No Here’s how David Axelrod M o r e M a d a m S p e a k e r , ” fielded that question on NBC’s the RNC explains. By last count, Today show: “We owe it to the the site had drawn $942,025 in country to work together to pledges. solve problems. But we can’t Photo credits: Reuters/Jason stall our progress because of R e e d ( t h e O b a m a s ) ; political decisions that have Reuters/Jason Reed (Leading been made by one party or the Republicans) other that we’re going to try and Click here for more political shut the whole process down. coverage from Reuters We can’t allow that to happen.”

The idea of getting

Submitted at 3/23/2010 3:41:08 PM

[ fivefilters.org: unable to

retrieve full-text content] In cold Antarctic waters, explorers comb lush seaweed forests filled with rarely seen creatures to find

David Simon, Monkey (World news: United States | guardian.co.uk) Submitted at 3/24/2010 8:20:45 AM

David Simon, the creator of a show you may have read about on the Guardian – The Wire– is back next month with his New Orleans set-drama, Treme. It's a very different piece from The Wire, or indeed anything else he has done, he told the Observer last month. But it does have a few familiar faces in it, although the first one you'll recognise is John Goodman in this lengthy trailer for the HBO show. No

word yet on when or where or indeed – perish the thought – whether it will air in the UK yet.

• HBO • US television industry • Television industry • Television • United States David Simon Monkey guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Earth Hour Pictures: Before and After, 2009 (National Geographic News)

Sydney in 2007 with the nonprofit WWF. In 2009, 2,712 cities, towns, and municipalities Rome Before Earth Hour in 83 countries signed up to P h o t o g r a p h b y G r e g o r i o participate in Earth Hour. The Borgia, AP movement is a symbolic gesture The Colosseum shone as in support of action against brightly as ever until 8:30 p.m. global warming local time on March 28, 2009, . when Rome turned off the March 30, 2009 monument's lights for Earth Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: potential new cancer treatments. Hour 2009.

The voluntary, annual global PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Video. blackout, which aims to ease Term Extraction. global warming, began in

Polar Algae Forests Explored (National Geographic News)

The Wire's David Simon plugs Treme | Media Monkey

Submitted at 3/23/2010 4:16:04 PM

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General Kayani steals the spotlight at Fannie and Freddie Pakistani embassy party Sue Pleming (Front Row Washington) Submitted at 3/23/2010 9:19:52 PM

Pakistan’s foreign minister heads his country’s delegation to Washington this week for high-level talks, but there was no mistaking who was the star at a reception at the Pakistani Embassy on Tuesday night: Army General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.

Guests crowded around Kayani at the annual Pakistani National Day party at the embassy, posing for photos and jostling for the military leader’s ear.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. special representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan, also drew those eager for photographic souvenirs of the occasion, but not such a feeding frenzy as that around Kayani.

U.S. senators and Obama administration officials lined up to speak to the slim and dapper

nospam@example.org (Scott Jagow) (Marketplace Scratch Pad)

the frontiers of Pakistan but also to ensure the continuity of constitutional democratic rule in accordance with the aspirations of our people of Pakistan,” said Haqqani before Qureshi took the podium.

Since he has been in the United States, Kayani has had a busy schedule, meeting U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army General David Petraeus, head of the U.S. Central Command, and other senior U.S. general, who Pakistani media military officials. say rules the roost back home Pakistan returned to full civilian but is also central to U.S. rule with the 2008 resignation of President Pervez Musharraf, but relations with Islamabad.

Pakistani Ambassador Husain the army has not given up its Haqqani, who has had his own dominance of key security tensions with the military in the issues. past, heaped praise on Kayani That showed on Tuesday night, during his introductory remarks when all eyes were on Kayani.

Photo credit: REUTERS/Faisal for Qureshi.

Mahmood (Pakistan Army Chief “He (Kayani) embodies the conviction of the Pakistani G e n e r a l A s h f a q K a y a n i , armed forces, not just to defend Islamabad, September 20, 2008)

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner was on The Hill today talking about mortgages and housing. This is a good subject for debate — should the government be getting more or less involved in the housing market?

Geithner, for one, isn’t ready to pull the plug on the guarantees provided by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Instead of making a decision now, the Treasury will study what to do. From The Street: Geither said that the failure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was part of a “broader crisis that revealed structural flaws in the entire housing finance system.”

He added that the case for providing direct government support to stabilize mortgage credit “would thus rest on the judgment that mortgage credit is particularly important to households and the economy overall.”

“Moreover, the relative size of the housing market and high correlation of losses it can the cheapest hotel when you're experience in times of financial distress means that government traveling. may be best suited to serve as a 3 minutes 49 seconds source of stability in a March 24, 2010 7:37 AM PDT Five Filters featured article: responsible manner,” Geithner Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

3G, 4G, and WiMax too

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Sprint launches the first 4G phone at the CTIA Wireless show, there is more to discuss about Google and China, and how to use Google Maps to find

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added.

However, despite calls from Republicans to start privatizing Fannie and Freddie, the government’s plan is to wait at least a few more months before doing anything with the mortgage giants. From the Wall Street Journal: But industry analysts say that at some point, delaying action could breed uncertainty that could be equally troublesome for markets. “The problem you have with constantly punting the issue down the road is it is going to be a bear to wean the market from government support,” said Thomas Lawler, an independent housing economist in Leesburg, Va., who worked at Fannie Mae for more than two decades. “The longer a market gets used to everything going government, the harder it is to get off of that.”

So, the choice is: Stop nursing the housing market through the government’s huge role in Fannie and Freddie and risk a further collapse of home prices.

Or continue to prop up the market until the government figures out a new model for the public-private intersection in housing.

What do you think is the best approach?

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Healthcare bill signing: exuberance, exclamations, expletives Tabassum Zakaria (Front Row Washington) Submitted at 3/23/2010 11:14:54 AM

With all the giddiness over the signing of the hard-fought healthcare reform bill into law, Vice President Joe Biden might be forgiven for dropping the Fbomb in the ear of the President of the United States … on open mike.

Fox News caught it and now it’s on YouTube for all to hear.

You have to listen closely.

Right after Biden introduces President Barack Obama at the White House East Room bill signing event, when they’re shaking hands, Biden turns and whispers in Obama’s ear: “This is a big f—ing deal.” (Just to be clear, there’s a u, c, and k missing from the quote).

Slight laughter from Obama before saying “thank you everybody” and beginning his remarks to the Democrats gathered before him.

Although some of Biden’s past off-the-cuff comments have been seen by the White House as unwelcome gaffes, the enormity of getting healthcare reform into law was enough to give the Veep a pass this time around.

White House spokesman

Why You Should Sweat the Small Stuff Nancy Mobley (Inc.com) Submitted at 3/23/2010 2:43:00 PM

Robert Gibbs even tweeted @PressSec “And yes Mr. Vice President, you’re right…”

The united exuberance over today’s bill signing among the Democrats was in sharp contrast to the infighting seen just last week — lots of arm-twisting by House leadership to get votes for the bill. In the end Sunday night’s vote was close at 219212, and 34 Democrats joined all the Republicans in opposing healthcare reform.

But that was last weekend.

Today it was all exclamations about history being made and Americans being helped.

Obama did acknowledge the pain that Democrats on the Hill went through in getting to this point.

“It’s also a testament to the historic leadership -– and uncommon courage –- of the men and women of the United States Congress, who’ve taken their lumps during this difficult debate,” Obama said.

To which someone in the audience yelled: “Yes we did.”

Photo credit: Reuters/Jason Reed (Obama and Biden in East Room)

Let's face it -- sometimes you have to sweat the small stuff.

Despite the fact that you have so many other balls in the air, you can't afford to overlook federal and state compliance policies, which unfortunately are constantly changing.

Many small businesses today are squeezed financially and don't have the internal resources to effectively address these and other HR issues their companies are facing. Whether you are planning to grow your businesses, hire new employees, retain key performers, or ensure you are in compliance with ever -changing regulations, you need to have a reliable resource you can turn to for help.

A small company doesn't necessarily need to have a fulltime HR representative on site; instead, outsourced HR services could be a good alternative.

Consider the best way to support HR needs to tap into best practices and strategies for

business growth, reduce risk and ensure compliance. Whatever solution you choose, you need to be sure that you have some solution in place to address an HR need or a crisis.

A recent survey of small businesses in New England conducted by the team at Insight Performance and the Smaller Business Association of New England, Inc. (SBANE), found that small businesses are planning to increase hiring and benefits to employees, but are carefully watching costs. So, your mission when it comes to HR this year is to figure out the best way you can continue to grow, be in compliance and create a workplace that will attract and engage star performers.

Read more about what Nancy and her team are doing to develop Exceptional W o r k p l a c e s a t http://www.insightperformance. com/blog/ or on their Facebook Page.

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US school prom ruling 'violated lesbian student's rights' (World news: United States | guardian.co.uk) Submitted at 3/24/2010 6:57:22 AM

Mississippi school censured for cancelling prom when 18-yearold Constance McMillen asked to bring her girlfriend • Hadley Freeman: Why everyone deserves to go to the prom A Mississippi school district violated a lesbian student's rights by banning her from taking her girlfriend to a prom, a federal judge has ruled, but he stopped short of forcing the district to hold the event.

US district judge Glen Davidson refused the American Civil Liberties Union's demand to force the Itawamba county school district to stage the prom on 2 April. However, he said cancelling it violated 18-yearold Constance McMillen's rights and that he would hold a trial on the issue.

That would come too late for the prom to be salvaged at Itawamba agricultural high school. Still, Kristy Bennett, the union's Mississippi legal director, called the decision a victory.

The union sued the district to force it to put on the prom and allow McMillen to take her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo.

School officials said in US district court this week that they decided to cancel it because McMillen's challenge to the rules had caused disruption.

The judge noted that McMillen has been openly gay since she was in the eighth grade and that she intended to communicate a message by wearing a tuxedo and escorting a same-sex date.

"The court finds this expression and communication falls squarely within the purview of the first amendment," he said.

McMillen said she was happy about the ruling but did not know what to expect when she returned to school. She attended classes a day after the decision on 10 March to cancel the prom.

But she said the hostility and comments from other students led her to miss school. She skipped class on Tuesday to go to the doctor. "My nerves are shot," she said.

District officials said in a statement that they were ready to get back to educating students.

Davidson said a private prom parents were planning would serve the same purpose as a school-sponsored one. He wrote that "requiring defendants to step back into a sponsorship role at this late date would only confuse and confound the community on the issue".

McMillen is not sure if she will go to the dance."I'm going to school tomorrow and will get a feel of how everybody feels about me," she said. "That will help me make my decision about whether I'm going to the private prom. "I want to go because all my junior and senior class will be there, but I don't want to be somewhere I'm not welcomed."

Ben Griffith, the school district's attorney, said his clients were pleased with the ruling. "What we're looking at now is the fact that the case is still on the docket for a trial on the merits," he said.

McMillen first approached school officials about taking her girlfriend in December and again in February. Same-sex prom dates had been banned in the past, but she hoped school officials would grant her

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request.

"I thought maybe the policy had been in place for a different reason," she testified at a hearing on the lawsuit. "I wanted to let them know how it made me feel. I felt like I couldn't go to the prom."

She was told that two girls could not attend together and she would not be allowed to wear a tuxedo, court documents show. The union issued a demand letter earlier this month and the district responded by cancelling the event. McMillen has kept her 16-year-old girlfriend out of the spotlight at the request of the girl's parents.

District officials said they felt that not hosting the prom was the best decision "after taking into consideration the education, safety and wellbeing of our students."

The 715-student high school is located in Fulton, a town of about 4,000 in rural, north Mississippi. The entire county school district has 3,588 students.

The case is typical of what is happening in schools across the country, said Charles Haynes, senior scholar for the Freedom

Forum First Amendment Centre.

"This case is different because this is not just dress, it is a higher claim of personal identity," Haynes said. "I think that if the student prevails in this case, it will send a message to school districts that they need to accommodate students now who are openly gay and lesbian and want to participate in student activities."

McMillen has appeared on the the Early Show, the Wanda Sykes Show and the Ellen DeGeneres Show to talk about how she is fighting for tolerance. DeGeneres presented her with a $30,000 (£20,115) college scholarship from Tonic, a digital media company. A Facebook page set up by the ACLU for McMillen has over 400,000 fans.

• United States • Gay rights • US constitution and civil liberties guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

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Polar Algae Forests Explored (National Geographic News) Submitted at 3/23/2010 3:41:08 PM

The rarely seen creatures in Antarctica's lush algae "forests" are the subjects of a University of Alabama at Birmingham search for potential new cancer medicines. © 2010 National Geographic; Video courtesy Chuck Amsler, UAB Related Links UAB in Antarctica First Detailed Pictures: Antarctica's "Ghost Mountains" Unedited Script The cold waters near Antarctica are filled with lush forests of 4 main species of large algae plants, or seaweeds.

Researchers are comparing their pervasiveness to giant kelp forests of the more temperate Pacific coast of California.

SOUNDBITE: Chuck Amsler, Phycologist, Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham: “You enter these dense forests. They rise up 3 or 4 feet off the bottom just carpeting the bottom.”

Researchers have found the plants and invertebrates in this region produce defensive chemicals, and some are under study for the treatment of at least one type of cancer.

Researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham are in the midst of

a 3-month diving expedition to the frozen continent.

The video, shot by lead researcher Chuck Amsler, shows lush growths below the ocean surface along the western side of Antarctica’s peninsula.

SOUNDBITE: Chuck Amsler, Phycologist, Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham: “You don’t think about there being forests in Antarctica. But there truly are these forests of giant seaweeds underneath the surface of the water.”

The large brown algae forest includes one species that can grow up to 50 feet in length and up to 4 feet wide. These lie on the bottom, at a depth of 100 feet and more, and cover the floor nearly 100 percent in some areas.

Another brown macroalgae, or seaweed, has small spherical gas -filled bladders to make it buoyant, and the 6 foot tall plants stay upright.

Smaller algae grows at shallower depths, but still, often covers the sea floor.

These lush Antarctic forests are different from their counterparts in warmer climates.

SOUNDBITE: Chuck Amsler, Phycologist, Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham: “And what’s unusual compared to other large forests of algae in other places in the world, is that these forests

of algae are chemically defended. They are using compounds to make them taste bad.”

By tasting bad, large algae doesn’t get eaten by other organisms. They feast on smaller algae, and that in turn keeps the small algae from encroaching on the big algae.

Then, besides the forests, there is other thriving life in these cold waters.

SOUNDBITE: Chuck Amsler, Phycologist, Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham: “There are lots of very steep shores, where especially when we get down deep, we get to be on pretty much vertical walls. And when you’re on vertical walls, and there are overhangs and things, the big seaweeds don’t do as well. And that’s where we can start to find really lush and really diverse communities of sponges and colonial sea squirts or tunicates, soft corals, you don’t think about corals, and it’s not hard re-forming corals but gorgonian and soft corals. And they will cover nearly a 100 percent or certainly well over 60 -70 percent of that surface.”

From some of the tunicates, the researchers discovered a compound that in the laboratory, in early studies, has been shown to combat some forms of melanoma in mice.

SOUNDBITE: Jim McClintock, Marine Chemical Ecologist, UAB: “We certainly have the potential of discovering a compound that could help fight cancer, or AIDS or a flu virus, these types of things.”

Because the water is so cold, the researchers’ dives are limited to 30-40 minutes at a time. They wear thick layers of underwear under dry suits, but their hands do get cold.

SOUNDBITE: Chuck Amsler, Phycologist, Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham: “Unfortunately, if we wore as much on our hands as we wore everywhere else, we’d be wearing boxing gloves and we wouldn’t get a lot of work done. So you’re hands get cold. We have some tricks, and chemical heater packs on the hands are nice.”

Their primary goal on these dive studies is to find out more about the ecosystems in these underwater forests, and learn about the relationships between the creatures and plants that live there.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham in Antarctica expedition is funded by the National Science Foundation.

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Dividend Detective's Income Trio Steven Halpern (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 3/24/2010 11:00:00 AM

"Which way the market moves next is anybody's guess. But given the problematic economic outlook, caution should remain your watchword; we try our best to pick solid stocks with strong fundamental outlooks," suggests income specialist Harry Domash.

The editor of The Dividend Detective explains, "However, we caution that they would likely drop along with a weak stock market. So only invest money that you won't need for six to nine months so that you can wait out any market downturns."

Continue reading Dividend Detective's Income Trio Dividend Detective's Income Trio originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 24 Mar 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Murdered Post Office owner's husband was confronted by armed raiders (Top stories from Times Online) Submitted at 3/24/2010 5:45:33 AM

The husband of a post office owner who was murdered in her shop was confronted by an armed raider who told him: “we’ve got your wife” before demanding he hand over cash, police said today.

Diane Garbutt, 40, was found dead in the upstairs living quarters of the village store, in Melsonby, near Richmond, North Yorkshire, by her husband, Robin, at about 8.30am yesterday.

Detectives leading the inquiry revealed Mrs Garbutt had died from severe head injuries but would not say how she recieved them. She had not been shot.

Detective Superintendent Lewis Raw, from North Yorkshire Police, said Mr Garbutt had been working downstairs in the shop from 4.30am when he was confronted by the raider, who escaped with a substantial amount of money in a holdall.

He said Mr Garbutt, 44, called the paramedics after finding his wife upstairs. It is believed the masked intruder broke into the living quarters of the post office

before making his way to the shop.

Mr Raw said: “The man threatened Mr Garbutt, saying ‘we’ve got your wife’. The male then made off with a significant amount of money, which he had placed in a black holdall.”

Mr Raw added: “This is a shocking crime, which has left Mr Garbutt distraught and the residents of Melsonby very shocked and saddened.

“Police are determined to bring Mrs Garbutt’s killer to justice.

However, we need the assistance of members of the public who were in the area at the time to come forward.”

He said: “This would have been a fairly busy time in the village, with people travelling to work or school.

“We are appealing for anyone who may have seen a suspicious or unknown vehicle in the village, or saw one leave the village at that time, or if you saw a man dressed in dark clothing and wearing a mask to come forward.”

He also asked people to be on the look-out for any discarded balaclavas.

Early today long traffic queues

formed on the roads in and out of the village as police stopped drivers to see if they had seen anything.

Anyone walking past the stonebuilt post office was also stopped and spoken to.

Around 30 bouquets of flowers had been laid at the scene this morning and as parents taking their children to school walked past more tributes were handed to officers to place on the ground.

The suspect was described by Mr Raw as 5ft 11in to 6ft tall, wearing a black, tight-fitting mask, a dark blue, long-sleeved T-shirt and dark blue-black coloured jeans.

People living and working around the post office said they did not notice anything unusual until an ambulance and then armed police arrived.

Mrs Garbutt’s business — The Village Shop and Post Office — is at the heart of the small village, a few miles north of Richmond.

It happened almost exactly a year after armed robbers targeted the post office.

In March last year, police said two men, one armed with what appeared to be a handgun,

threatened staff and made off with stamps and a large amount of cash.

People in the village said Mrs Garbutt and her husband, who ran the store with her, considered leaving the village and put the business up for sale but, it appears, they had recently decided to stay.

Linda Ling, who works parttime in the shop and lives in a nearby cottage, said of them: “A dead lovely couple, just very devoted, that’s all I can say. I feel very sorry for Robin, I don’t know how he’ll go on without her.”

Ms Ling said she thought Mr and Mrs Garbutt had been married for around five or six years.

She also said she did not see or hear anything to suggest a disturbance. “I never heard a thing. I opened my curtains around 8.15am and saw the kids waiting for the bus, went to make my bed and then saw the ambulance."

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SEC Workers Love That Internet Porn Zac Bissonnette (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 3/24/2010 10:20:00 AM

One of the most common arguments made in defense of the Securities and Exchange Commission's handling of the financial crisis is that the agency is understaffed, and doesn't pay its people well enough to attract talent that can compete with the private sector.

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Continue reading SEC Workers Love That Internet Porn SEC Workers Love That Internet Porn originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 24 Mar 2010 10:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

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New Israeli construction plan undermines talks (Top stories from Times Online)

given up.

However, the announcement of the new apartments in a Submitted at 3/24/2010 7:41:37 AM development funded by Irving Israel announced today that it M o s k o w i t z , a n A m e r i c a n had given the green light for 20 billionaire, in a predominantly more homes in a Jewish Arab area set tempers flaring development in the disputed again and may undermine what area of Jerusalem. little progress was made in The announcement came after Washington at soothing the one of the frostiest meetings diplomatic crisis. between a US president and an “Israel is digging itself into a Israeli leader. hole that it will have to climb Binyamin Netanyahu, the out of if it is serious about Israeli Prime Minister, had peace,” Saeb Erekat, the chief flown to Washington for an Palestinian negotiator, said. emergency meeting with Barack “ T h e r e i s o v e r w h e l m i n g Obama after a trip to the Middle international consensus on the East by Joe Biden, the Vice illegality of Israel’s settlements, President, was wrecked by an including in east Jerusalem, and Israeli plan to build 1,600 new the damage they are doing to Jewish homes in east Jerusalem. the two-state solution.”

East Jerusalem was captured by The Palestinians have said they Israel in 1967 and is claimed by will not join even the indirect both sides in the conflict. peace talks the US is trying to There was no photo opportunity stitch together unless all Israeli or traditional joint statement of c o n s t r u c t i o n e a s t o f t h e solidarity after the 90-minute armistice line from the 1949 closed session. Neither side Arab-Israeli war is halted. would comment on the talks, During his trip to Washington, but it was expected that Mr Mr Netanyahu went to great Netanyahu would agree to a lengths to explain that his office secret freeze on building in the had no oversight of the many area, despite his public pledges construction projects already that Jerusalem would never be under way, serving an Israeli

population of about half a million in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem.

A spokesman for the city council said that the project was approved last July, and today's announcement was a procedural step. He dismissed the media attention as an attempt to “create a provocation" during the Prime Minister's visit to the US. A Tel Aviv research centre said this week that since 1967, $17.4 billion (£12 billion) had been spent on Jewish settlements in the West Bank – excluding east Jerusalem.

The money has paid for 32,711 apartments, 22,997 houses and 5,534 caravans, 321 sports facilities, 271 synagogues and 96 ritual baths.

There was scepticism even in the Prime Minister’s own coalition at his argument that he could not oversee new construction across the so-called Green Line.

“Is this another 'unfortunate' mistake? Is this another 'misunderstanding'?” asked Eitan Cabel, a Labour MP. Labour sits in an uneasy alliance with Mr Netanyahu’s Likud and other right-wing and

12 cool and unusual iPhone cases (Holy Kaw!) Submitted at 3/23/2010 5:15:00 PM

A unique case is all you need to separate yourself from other

iPhone owners. Check out Toxel.com's round-up of cool and unusual Apple iPhone cases.

See them all at Toxel. tricks.

More design news, tips, and Permalink| Leave a comment »

ultra-Orthodox parties.

“Netanyahu decided to spit into Obama's eye, this time from up close. He and his pyromaniac ministers insist on setting the Middle East ablaze,” Mr Cabel said.

Part of the problem is the terminology of the conflict, according to Meron Benvenisti, a former deputy to Jerusalem’s legendary mayor Teddy Kollek in the 1970s.

Large Israeli settlements, such as Maale Aduumim and Pisgat Zeev, have been built on the eastern edges of Jerusalem and their residents do not even think of themselves as settlers.

Israeli officials are now confused about the US Administration’s sudden decision to lump them in with settlements in the West Bank itself, which are regarded as illegal by the international community.

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

World’s largest treehouse (Holy Kaw!) Submitted at 3/23/2010 10:25:24 PM

When you think treehouse, you likely imagine some leftover two-by-fours half-assly nailed into a tree by dear old dad with maybe a tire swing, if you’re fancy. Well, Horrace Burges’ idea of a treehouse goes beyond any of your wildest childhood fort building dreams. The landscape architect from Tennessee not only imagined the largest treehouse in the world, he built it too, and all for about $12,000. Burges’ “tree mansion” towers at ten stories and boasts 10,000 square feet of living space.

Full story at Treehugger.

Tons of green news and views.

Permalink| Leave a comment »

World/ Business/ Popular News/

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9

Bigger Testes Can Offer a Competitive Edge (National Geographic News)

out their challengers, such as displaying brighter plumage—often seen in When competition for females birds—or wooing females with is fierce, males of some species gifts. (Related:"Chimps Trade have evolved bigger testes to Meat for Sex—And It Works.") trounce their rivals, a new study Testes size is part of this has confirmed. competition, said study leader Specifically, the research shows Carl Soulsbury, a biologist at that testicle size matters in the University of Bristol in the highly competitive animal U.K. societies in which females mate There's also evidence that with many males or in which within species, the biggest, most females live in groups ruled by attractive, and healthiest males an alpha male that must have the heftiest testes, constantly defend his harem. Soulsbury added, suggesting the But that doesn't mean that two are somehow linked. (Read females seek out more endowed a b o u t t h e c h a l l e n g e s o f males. Rather, the rivalry occurs r e p r o d u c i n g i n s p a c e . ) after mating, as sperm battle Evolution Driving Bigger inside the female.

Testes Not surprisingly, males with Previous studies had looked at larger testes produce more testes size and mating behavior, sperm—giving the male, so to Soulsbury said. speak, more bang for his buck. But behavior-based studies can (Related:"Flashier Great Tits be unreliable, Soulsbury said.

Produce Stronger Sperm, Bird So he examined previously Study Shows.") published data on several wild Over time, males in general mammal species that used have developed tricks for edging genetic testing to prove that Submitted at 3/23/2010 3:18:42 PM

litters of offspring had been sired by many males, or, in group-living species, that offspring had been sired by a single dominant male.

Soulsbury then used data on testes mass—as well as other factors, such as length of mating season—to develop a statistical model.

The model revealed "where there's a high competition between males, evolution has selected for larger testes," said Soulsbury, whose study was published March 8 in the journal PLoS ONE.(Read more about animal attraction in National Geographic magazine.)

"It confirms what scientists have expected, but is the first to prove it using genetic data across a range of mammals."

(Related:"Big Testes or Big Horns? It's One or the Other for Male Beetles.")

Humans a Whole Other Ball Game for Testes Research Though Soulsbury's research has some relevance to people,

human reproduction is a whole other ball game.

"Humans are a complicated species [to study because] there's an important social aspect to mating, which makes things murkier," he said.

But Soulsbury did note that men have smaller testes in relation to body size than chimpanzees, our closest genetic cousins.

That's probably because primates such as chimps live in mixed-gender "households," in which males have to constantly vie for females, according to Cheryl Knott, who studies orangutan reproduction at Harvard University.

Men do not compete in the same way for women, meaning that their testes stay relatively small.

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

20 simple yet striking black and white websites (Holy Kaw!) Submitted at 3/23/2010 3:50:32 PM

As the age-old saying goes, sometimes less is more. This is definitely true of website designs. Check out these twenty brilliant home pages, which consist only of black and white elements. See a few below: See all twenty at TutToaster.

More on web design.

Permalink| Leave a comment »

Family Offices Want More Private Equity Tom Johansmeyer (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 3/24/2010 10:40:00 AM

Filed under: Deals, Private Equity The vast majority of family offices -- private companies that manage investments and trusts

for a single wealthy family -- is happy with their private equity investments and want more.

According to a new report from alternate investment research firm Preqin, 84% of family offices are satisfied with investments in private equity, consider forming relationships and 69% are "willing to

with new firms, as of year-end 2009." The opportunity for new inflows, of course, comes with some baggage, as 27% of offices require tighter, more personal relationships with the fund managers with whom they invest.

Continue reading Family

Offices Want More Private Equity Family Offices Want More Private Equity originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 24 Mar 2010 10:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

10

World/ Business/ Popular News/ Tech News/

E-reader News Edition

650,000 more families caught by IHT net (Latest news, breaking news, current news, UK news, world news, celebrity news, politics news)

"Freezing this allowance will potentially drag about 650,000 more estates into the IHT net.

Over the next four years this could cost a couple an Submitted at 3/24/2010 7:27:53 AM

By Emma Simon additional £37,000 in IHT in Published: 2:27PM GMT 24 real terms."

Mar 2010 Over the past 10 years this "nilThe inheritance tax threshold rate band", along with other tax has been frozen for a further allowances has risen in line with four years at £325,000, rather inflation. The Chancellor has than rising in line with inflation. frozen a number of tax This means that an estimated allowances for the this year, but 650,000 more estates will be he has gone one step further caught by this tax. In addition, with inheritance tax, by stating the amount collected from this will threshold would remain estates that pay these "death static for a total of five years, duties" will also increase as a in order to raise funds to help greater proportion of the estate meet social care costs. is likely to subject to this However, since November charge.

2007, married couples have The value of any estate over the been able to transfer this nil-rate band of £325,000 is to allowance, effectively allowing inheritance tax, charged at them to pass on assets worth 40pc. £650,000 to their children (or Frank Nash, a senior tax partner other beneficiaries) before any at London chartered accountants IHT is due.

Blick Rothenberg said: Mr Nash added: " We are not

just talking about wealthy families, who will be hit. The Chancellor's plans will affect many married couples or civil partners whose joint assets, including the value of their home, is more than £650,000."

Patrick Stevens, a tax partner at Ernst & Young added: "Many people expected this allowance to rise in line with the higher values of suburban houses that are in the ownership of many elderly people. This announcment will mean that many more people will fall into the inheritance tax net in the next few years."

Unbiased.co.uk, the financial website pointed out that homeowners already waste some £1.9bn through poor estate planning. "This wastage is only set to increase as estate rise in value, meaning more and more people are over the nil rate threshold of £325,000."

John Richardson, the head of

advice policy at Towry Law added: "Freezing the inheritance tax threshold for another four years will mean more families will need to consider estate planning opportunities by maximising reliefs and exemptions."

But the Chancellor signalled that he will be clamping down on complex tax avoidance schemes, used by many wealthier familes to minimise future IHT bills. In his budget speech he indicated that for the first time IHT schemes will fall under the DIsclosure of Tax Avoidance Scheme rules, which previous have only covered income tax, corporation tax and capital gains tax.

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Men accused of killing 5 NJ teens plead not guilty (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News) Submitted at 3/24/2010 8:01:11 AM

Tamfooshi buzzed up: Struggle for Jerusalem goes on, four decades after war (Reuters) 13 seconds ago 2010-0324T08:11:22-07:00 Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Exclusive Video: New Time Lord's Take on 'Doctor Who' Annaliza Savage (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 3/24/2010 4:00:00 AM

Matt Smith talks about the Doctor's motivations in this new video, prepared exclusively for Wired.com.

Managing IT Through SaaS Curt Finch (Inc.com) Submitted at 3/24/2010 8:06:17 AM

SaaS continues to grow in popularity for a number of reasons. Even IT folk are catching on, as a recent article highlights: “IT departments benefit from this trend because it relieves them of many of the hassles associated with

implementing and administering traditional, on-premise software and supporting the application end-users. In addition, there is a growing array of SaaS-based management solutions aimed at making it easier and more costeffective for IT professionals to do their own jobs.” The fact is that traditional locally hosted software becomes less practical

as the world increasingly shifts towards mobile devices and remote work teams. It also has a lot of value during tough times.

An Entrepreneur article notes the following benefits: “No upfront infrastructure cost, less risk of data security and reliability issues, and ubiquitous authorized access that the business owner can

control.”

The way forward according to one enlightened CIO I interviewed is to "Focus on doing things in-house that are related to the core sustainable differentiators of your company - everything else should be SaaS if it can be. It should be validated by IT, with security processes wrapped around it.

Make sure it's not on a shaky power grid in some unstable country for example."

Good advice I think.

Curt works for Journyx, which has solutions for project management and execution.

World/ Tech/

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Woman reported to police after coming to aid of boy left in tree (Latest news, breaking news, current news, UK news, world news, celebrity news, politics news)

community support officer.

Miss Barrett, whose six-yearold daughter attends a different school, said: "I felt really angry because I thought I had Submitted at 3/24/2010 8:16:55 AM

By Richard Savill saved the school and this boy Published: 3:16PM GMT 24 from something that could Mar 2010 have been far worse, and that Kim Barrett claimed she coaxed instead of thanking me I was the boy down from the tree as under investigation.” she was worried about his The boy “was all on his own safety, and took him back to the and not only was he at least 6ft school building. off the ground, but someone However, the council said the taller than me could easily have boy was being "observed" by reached in from the pavement teachers who had been a n d p l u c k e d h i m o f f t h e instructed not to intervene in b r a n c h , " s h e a d d e d . case the child became distracted Miss Barrett, who works as a and fell. part-time cleaner, said the boy However, she said she was was left in the tree for at least “surprised and angry” when she 45 minutes. later received letters from ''I am a mother myself and I find M a n o r p r i m a r y s c h o o l , it a bit ridiculous that the Melksham, Wilts, and the local school's policy is to leave a council, reprimanding her for child up a tree. I would be very entering the school grounds angry if this happened to my without permission. child,” she said.

She was also visited by a police Wiltshire council said the boy

had climbed down on his own accord and was on the path when Miss Barrett approached him. It said its policy was not to intervene when children ventured into trees for fear of distracting them and causing a fall.

A spokesman said: “If he (the boy) or any other child was in any danger, or was unable to get down from the tree, he would have been assisted either by a teacher or the fire brigade, depending on the circumstances.

“The only danger as far as the school was concerned was that a stranger came onto the premises and talked to the child, who was being observed.”

A council statement added: “The safety of our pupils is our priority and we would like to make it clear that this child was being observed at all times during this very short incident.

“Like other schools whose

premises include wooded areas, our policy when a child climbs a tree, is for staff to observe the situation from a distance so the child does not get distracted and fall.

“This also ensures that children are not ‘rewarded’ with attention for inappropriate behaviour.”

The council said the child’s mother was “in agreement with and fully supportive of our actions both prior to the incident and since.”

It added: "To protect children, we cannot assume that people who enter the school grounds without permission have innocent intentions and must act accordingly.”

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

Submitted at 3/24/2010 8:13:00 AM

Report offensive content: If you believe this comment is offensive or violates the CNET's Site Terms of Use, you can report it below (this will not

automatically remove the comment). Once reported, our staff will be notified and the comment will be reviewed.

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Boston Transit Authority Sued For Patent Infringement... For Letting You Know Your Train Is Running Late Mike Masnick (Techdirt) Submitted at 3/24/2010 5:03:39 AM

Brad Feld points us to the latest in a long line of ridiculous patent lawsuits. Apparently, two foreign companies that have filed "dozens" of similar lawsuits in the last few years are now suing the MBTA (Boston's transit service) for patent infringement for having a system that sends email/text alerts if a train is running late.

The two patents in question ( 6,317,060 and 7,030,781) highlight why so many people think the patent system is screwed up. There is nothing in creating a system to alert users that their train is late that is all that complicated. If you took just about any group of semicompetent engineers and put them in a room and described the issue, they'd come up with similar solutions. There is no reason to justify giving a patent to such an "invention." All it serves to do is actively stifle the Five Filters featured article: use of technology.

Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: Permalink| Comments| Email PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, This Story Term Extraction.

Google corporate site redirected to China (CNET News.com)

11

12

World/ Business/ Tech/

E-reader News Edition

James Cameron hits back at man who said he was 'running for antichrist'

Boeing Upgraded to Outperform

Ben Child (World news: United States | guardian.co.uk)

Submitted at 3/24/2010 10:00:00 AM

was working at the time.

Yesterday, Cameron returned the compliment. "Glenn Beck is a fucking asshole," he said. "I've Submitted at 3/24/2010 4:41:38 AM 'He's dangerous because his met him. He called me the ideas are poisonous,' the Avatar antichrist, and not about Avatar. director told a press conference He hadn't even seen Avatar yet. about Beck, who he also termed I don't know if he has seen it. an 'asshole' "He's dangerous because his Rightwing US pundit Glenn ideas are poisonous," Cameron Beck once labelled James added. "I couldn't believe when C a m e r o n t h e a n t i c h r i s t . he was on CNN. I thought, what Yesterday, the Avatar director happened to CNN? Who is this hit back with his own vitriolic guy? Who is this madman? And volley at a press conference to then of course he wound up on promote the film's forthcoming Fox News, which is where he D V D r e l e a s e , c a l l i n g h i s belongs, I guess." nemesis an "asshole" and Avatar, which has an antioffering to debate with him on corporate, pro-environment environmental and political message, is being released in the issues.

US on DVD on 22 April to Beck, a commentator for Fox c o i n c i d e w i t h E a r t h D a y .

News, first targeted Cameron Twentieth Century Fox, the following the film-maker's 2007 studio owned, amusingly, by documentary The Lost Tomb of Fox News parent group News Jesus, which cast doubt on the Corp, has promised to plant 1m resurrection of Jesus Christ and trees across the globe by the end suggested that the ancient Tomb of the year. of the Ten Ossuaries belonged "At this point, I'm less interested to Jesus' family. "Many people in making money for the movie b e l i e v e J a m e s C a m e r o n and more interested in saving officially has tossed his hat in the world that my children are the ring today and is officially going to inhabit," Cameron said running for antichrist," Beck yesterday. "How about that? I told viewers at CNN, where he mean look, I didn't make this

movie with these strong environmental anti-war themes in it to make friends on the right, you know."

Warming to his theme, the filmmaker suggested that his critics on the right were "just people ranting away, lost in their little bubbles of reality, steeped in their own hatred, their own fear and hatred. That's where it all comes from."

"Let's just call it out," he said.

"Let's have a public discussion.

That's what movies are supposed to do, you know. You can have a mindless entertainment film that doesn't affect anybody. I wasn't interested in that."

• James Cameron • Glenn Beck • News Corporation • Fox News • CNN • United States Ben Child guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Mark Fightmaster (BloggingStocks)

Filed under: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, Boeing Co (BA) Macquarie Securities upgraded Dow component Boeing ( BA) to outperform from neutral Wednesday morning. The brokerage based its decision based on the fact that the aerospace company decided to increase production rates for some aircraft as airline traffic improves.

Macquarie cited BA's decision to up the rate on the 777 while keeping the pace on the 737 the reason for the upgrade. The brokerage house believes that these decisions will lead to a "9% increase in aircraft deliveries next year." Macquarie

added that it appears that 787 flight testing "remains on track" and that it seems as if the company will land a tanker contract with the Air Force.

Continue reading Boeing Upgraded to Outperform Boeing Upgraded to Outperform originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 24 Mar 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Icahn pal Chapple to leave Yahoo's board Tom Krazit (Webware.com) Submitted at 3/23/2010 3:14:00 PM

John Chapple will not run for re -election in June, leaving the company less than two years

after accompanying investor Carl Icahn.

Originally posted at Relevant Results

World/ Popular News/ Tech/

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13

Alistair Darling soaks the rich in pre- Top 10 U.S. cities for election Budget families (Top stories from Times Online) Submitted at 3/24/2010 7:06:20 AM

Alistair Darling unveiled a nakedly political pre-election Budget today that uses one-off taxes on the rich to help delay the most painful cuts in public services until the second year of the next Parliament.

With barely six weeks to go before the expected election date of May 6, the Chancellor was unable to produce a classic giveaway Budget, his hands tied by record levels of public sector borrowing.

But he told Commons that a tax on bankers' bonuses had brought £2 billion into Treasury coffers – more than twice the amount expected - and the Government had earned £8 billion in fees and charges from its bank support programme.

Partly as a result of that – and because, he said, of the decisions taken to help the economy weather the worst global recession in 60 years – borrowing this year will be £11 billion better than previously forecast at £167 billion.

By 2013/14, borrowing will have fallen from 11.8 per cent of GDP to 5.2 per cent and overall debt will be £100 billion lower than forecast. Mr Darling said that he would stick by his pledge to halve the deficit in the next four years.

Mr Darling was able to double the stamp duty holiday offered to first-time buyers, to a new limit of £250,000, paid by a new 5 per cent rate on properties valued at over £1 million.

That appeared to be a carefully calculated political move given controversial Tory plans to raise the inheritance tax threshold to £1 million. Mr Darling said that Labour would freeze inheritance tax at its current threshold for a further four years to help pay for the care of the elderly.

Mr Darling engaged in some more partisan politics too, mocking the Tory leader, David Cameron, for his economic policies and using news of a reciprocal tax accord with Belize to take a swipe at the Tories' non-dom deputy chairman, Lord Ashcroft.

With Gordon Brown sitting

behind him, Mr Darling said that his third Budget would "secure the recovery, tackle borrowing and invest in Britain’s industrial future".

At its heart, he said, was a £2.5 billion "one-off growth package" to encourage investment from small and medium-sized businesses, many of which will have to pay no business rates next year.

Mr Darling announced a new growth capital fund to provide capital for fast growing firms and said that RBS and Lloyds, the two nationalised High Street banks, would provide £94 billion of new business loans, half of them to small and medium businesses.

The Government is also planning to set up a new Green Investment Bank, controlling £2 billion of equity. Half of its cost will come from asset sales, with the rest matched by private investment.

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

(Holy Kaw!)

defense and medical research industries, Huntsville has plenty of jobs, and that translates to Home is where the heart is for lots of resources for creating sure, but in these uncertain family-friendly communities. economic times, home might • Olympia, Wash. Olympia has turn out to be where the jobs beautiful scenery, a dedication are, too. When we set out to to education and a crime rate choose 10 great family-friendly that's lower than the national cities, some of the things we average, which makes it a forest looked for on our list of jewel that's a nice spot to put c a n d i d a t e s i n c l u d e d l o w down some roots of your very unemployment, low crime and own. reasonable home and living • Albuquerque, N.M. costs.

Albuquerque is a cultural There were some standouts that melting pot that offers diversity, didn't have all of these features, stability and natural grandeur. but we thought they exhibited We think that Albuquerque's such superior qualities in other great weather, cultural variety areas that they were worthy of a and economic balance make it a mention anyway. You'll see great place to settle down. why. Let's explore 10 superior cities that any family would be F u l l l i s t a t happy to call home.

HowStuffWorks.com.

• Huntsville, Ala. One of Total aggregation of Kiplinger's "10 Best Cities of H o w S t u f f W o r k s . c o m .

2009." With the abundant Photo credit: Fotolia presence of aerospace, missile Permalink| Leave a comment » Submitted at 3/24/2010 8:18:56 AM

Skype Mobile coming to Verizon's BlackBerry, Android phones Jessica Dolcourt (Webware.com)

A partnership with Skype and Verizon will put a new Skype Mobile app on select Android

and BlackBerry phones in Verizon's service.

Originally posted at CTIA 2010

14

World/ Popular News/ Tech/

E-reader News Edition

Barack Obama's landmark health reforms marred by Biden gaffe

Bolivian army uses Cuban slogan

Richard Adams (World news: United States | guardian.co.uk)

(BBC News | Americas | World Edition)

Submitted at 3/24/2010 7:57:50 AM

TV cameras pick up vicepresident's Anglo-Saxon aside at ceremony to seal passage of healthcare legislation After decades of struggle and months of political in-fighting, Barack Obama stood poised to sign into law historic reforms to America's healthcare system.

But first his vice-president had to have his foot removed from his mouth.

At a White House ceremony for Obama to seal passage of the legislation by giving it his signature, vice-president Joe Biden gave an introduction praising Obama's leadership.

"Mr President, you're the guy that made it happen," he said, before embracing Obama and excitedly whispering in his ear: "This is a big fucking deal!" The aside may have been meant for Obama's ears alone but it was picked up the microphone on the podium and broadcast to the watching television audience of millions.

Applause drowned out Biden's

comment to the dignitaries in the East Room but the reaction on blogs and cable news channels was instantaneous.

"The vice-president used a word that most of us would never use in front of our mother," said CNN anchor Rick Sanchez, explaining why his network bleeped out the remark in its replays. Ben Smith, a blogger for the Politico website, labelled it: "The mother of all Biden moments."

Shortly after, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs embraced Biden's slip, by writing on Twitter: "And yes, Mr Vice President, you're right."

It certainly isn't the first time that Biden has let his tongue get the better of his brain. Long before Obama chose him to be his vice-president, Biden was renowned for his gaffes. During the Democratic presidential primaries, Biden apologised for describing Obama as "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate, and bright and clean, and a nice-looking guy".

In 2008 Biden urged a wheelchair-using local politician at a rally in Missouri: "Stand

up', Chuck, let them see you."

Biden isn't the first vicepresident to resort to AngloSaxon. Dick Cheney told Democratic senator Patrick Leahy to "fuck yourself" during a dispute on the floor of the Senate in 2004. Even Cheney's boss, George W Bush, was once caught on video describing a journalist as a " major-league asshole".

Biden should remember the words of John Nance Garner, vice-president under Franklin Roosevelt, who said: "The vicepresidency isn't worth a pitcher of warm piss."

• Joe Biden • Barack Obama • US healthcare • United States • US Congress • US politics Richard Adams guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Submitted at 3/23/2010 8:46:24 PM

Bolivia's army has begun using the revolutionary motto "Fatherland or death, we shall overcome!", angering some conservative former generals.

President Evo Morales introduced the slogan, which was popularised by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara - the leaders of the Cuban communist revolution.

It is seen as part of Mr Morales' effort to turn the army into guarantors of his socialist revolution.

Bolivian troops executed Che Guevara, who led rebels there in 1967.

Indigenous people's champion The Bolivian army began using the chant "Patria o muerte, venceremos!" on Tuesday, during an annual ceremony known as the "Day of the Sea".

Neverend Media builds smart new e-book format Rafe Needleman (Webware.com)

It's arguably a better format traction? than PDF for electronic books. Originally posted at Rafe's But is it better enough to get Radar

It is observed to remember the 1879-84 war against Chile, during which Bolivia lost its Pacific coastline.

The BBC's Andres Schipani in La Paz says the rebranding of Bolivia's armed forces - which have historically been associated with right-wing repression - has sparked controversy in some conservative military and civilian circles.

He says Mr Morales has also ordered the army to give official recognition to the chequered indigenous flag, or "wiphala".

Since his election victory in 2005, President Morales has been pushing through reforms to place indigenous peoples at the heart of the Andean nation's government and society, our correspondent says.

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

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Teachers suspended after pupil Sam Linton dies from asthma attack (Top stories from Times Online)

members of staff are believed to be teaching assistants.

The three-week inquest at Submitted at 3/24/2010 5:08:38 AM Stockport Coroner’s Court heard F i v e t e a c h e r s h a v e b e e n how valuable time was lost as suspended after a pupil died Sam was made to sit in the from an asthma attack during corridor. class.

The jury ruled last week that Sam Linton, 11, died after Sam’s death was by natural being made to sit in a corridor at causes but neglect at an Offerton High School in “individual and systemic level” Stockport, Greater Manchester, was a significant contributory struggling to breathe. No factor. ambulance was called and by His parents, Paul and Karen the time his mother arrived at Linton, have called for the the school Sam’s lips had stronger implementation of first turned blue. He died a few hours aid procedures at the school. later in hospital.

Mr Linton today described the N e g l e c t “ s i g n i f i c a n t l y council’s move as a “knee-jerk contributed” to his death in reaction” and too little, too late.

December 2007, an inquest jury A spokesman for Stockport ruled.

Council said detailed evidence The staff have been suspended presented to the inquest and the while an internal inquiry is verdict of the jury had led them carried out, Stockport Council to carry out an inquiry. “Five said today. members of staff have been Evelyn Leslie, the head teacher, suspended, without prejudice, is among those who have been pending the outcome of the asked to stand down during the inquiry,” he said. inquiry and Jan Ford, the “While it has been some time teacher who told Sam, to sit in since Sam’s death there has not the corridor is has also been been a period of inactivity. suspended. The other three “Immediately following Sam’s

death, the governing body reviewed the handling of pupils’ medical needs relating to asthma and other medical conditions, and has adapted systems and practices at the school.”

He added that the case did not meet the criteria for a Serious Case Review but an Independent Management Review was set up to establish what lessons need to be learnt.

“The initial IMR report was completed in 2009, its recommendations accepted by the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board and action plans were put in place.

“The council is currently working with colleagues in Stockport Primary Care Trust to review the current policy on managing medical conditions and the updated version will be with schools at the start of the summer term.”

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Firefox Mobile: Where it stands now Jessica Dolcourt (Webware.com) Submitted at 3/23/2010 6:36:00 PM

We sat down with Mozilla's Jay Sullivan to chat about the Firefox browser for mobile phones.

Originally posted at CTIA 2010

15

Music Matters Tries to Make You Feel Guilty About Piracy Brenna Ehrlich (Mashable!)

Submitted at 3/24/2010 8:11:00 AM

Got sticky fingers when it comes to illegal music downloads? Well a new site, Music Matters, launched yesterday in an attempt to alert you when you’re about to snag an artist’s well-earned cash whilst snagging their most recent disc pro bono.

The Music Matters concept is a rather simple one in essence: It’s basically a collective of artists, retailers, songwriters, labels and managers who have come to together to create a Trustmark, a badge that legit retailers can display on their sites to let online music shoppers know that they’re shopping in an antipiracy zone. (Check out this video for more info.)

Currently, Music Matters has a rather hefty list of supporting sites that have agreed to carry the badge, including Vodafone, Spotify, iTunes, Napster, MTV and MySpace. The natural question that follows, then, is: Is every single legal music download site in the whole world really going to carry this badge?

According to the MM website: “The Music Matters Certification Scheme is working

with legal digital music services to ensure they carry the Music Matters trustmark. This will help audiences differentiate legal music sites from illegal sites.”

Fair enough. It seems a lofty goal, but not one without its merits, especially as the music industry continues to change and artists struggle to capitalize on their efforts (we’re talking artists of the up-and-coming SXSW variety here, not Gaga, for all you folks who are going to say musicians are rolling in dough).

Perhaps the best part of this whole campaign is the series of videos that the site is releasing that depict the journeys of various artists. Currently, there are eight vids up on the site, created by a series of music fans/artists (you can also contact the site if you want to add to the line-up). I’m embedding a few favorites below: Sigur Ros, Nick Cave and the Jam. For more entertainment coverage, follow Mashable Entertainment on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook Tags: business, music, piracy, video

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Nancy Pelosi: 'one of history's most skilled vote-getters' | Richard Adams Richard Adams (World news: United States | guardian.co.uk) Submitted at 3/24/2010 8:01:54 AM

When the going got tough, Nancy Pelosi got going: rounding up the votes needed to get healthcare reform passed Before we all finish with healthcare reform once and for all, the Washington Post has one of those long, breathless "ticktock" features rounding up the behind-the-scenes details on the battle for healthcare reform, as its reporters channel Bob Woodward, complete with blind quotes and ability to read minds.

This one, " How Obama revived his health-care bill", although thin on actual news, has an interesting aside about the respect that Speaker Nancy Pelosi carries within the White House: For days, [Obama] had been hearing Pelosi warn that she could not round up the votes for the Senate bill. The speaker was one of the most skilled votecounters in history; her assessment carried weight.

But Obama knew she was one of history's most skilled votegetters as well. More than anyone else, in fact, she had been the reason the House passed its health-care bill in November.

It's about time, too. Over on Cif America, Rachel Morris has written a fascinating piece about Pelosi's role and the recent, over -blown media coverage of White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel: "But all this time, while the media were busy scurrying to collect not-exactlyrare anecdotes of Rahm's machismo, they missed the story on the politician who has actually earned the badge of toughest nut in Fucknutsville: Nancy Pelosi."

From the department of trumpet -blowing, here's what I wrote a week and a half ago when the final phase of the battle was getting underway: Can Nancy Pelosi pull together enough votes to get the healthcare bill through the House? Let's put it another way: over the next few days we'll find

out whether Nancy Pelosi is one of the more astute parliamentary managers of Congress's modern era. It's going to be tough but my money's on Nancy Pelosi for the simple reason that so far she has done an almost flawless job in getting the Obama administration's agenda through the House.

And so it came to pass... by 219 votes. They'll be naming a building on Capitol Hill after her one day.

• US Congress • US healthcare • US politics • Obama administration • Washington Post • Women • Rahm Emanuel • United States Richard Adams guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Demo debrief: Rafe and Josh's favorites Rafe Needleman, Josh Lowensohn (Webware.com)

This year's Demo Spring back at some of our favorites. conference has come to a close, and we take a minute to look

Famed Parisian Fabric Store Sues Author For Defamation After She Used The Store In A Novel Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

The author is "flabbergasted" and notes that she wrote the novel "from an affectionate This is just getting silly. The point of view" in an attempt to famous saying in the writing pay tribute to the store. But business is "write what you Village d'Orsel, the business know," but when "what you which runs the Marche Saint know" sues you for defamation, Pierre, insists that the book -things get tricky. We've Aux Malheurs des Dames, a covered various stories of play on an Emile Zola novel set people suing (and sometimes i n P a r i s ' s 1 9 t h - c e n t u r y w i n n i n g ) b y c l a i m i n g department stores -- tarnishes its defamation in that a fictional image. For more than 60 years character was "based on them." the multi-storey shop has This makes very little sense, as provided customers with a most characters that novelists wealth of materials at low cost write are loosely based on from its building at the foot of people they know... and t h e B u t t e , o r h i l l , o f exaggerated or composited with M o n t m a r t r e . others. That's how you create By describing a mysterious -realistic believable fictional a n d f i c t i o n a l - - m a l a i s e characters. afflicting the self-declared But what if you get beyond "kingdom of fabric", it says the characters to actual locations? book gives a false impression of Copycense points us to the the Marche. This is what we get news of a famous landmark in an "ownership society" where Parisian fabric store that was everyone thinks that they have used as a major set piece in a full control over what others can n o v e l b y L a l i e W a l k e r . say about them -- even in Apparently, the store, the fictional stories.

Marche Saint Pierre, was not at Permalink| Comments| Email all pleased and has sued Walker This Story for defamation, demanding €2 million in damages.

Submitted at 3/24/2010 7:50:00 AM

World/ Tech/ Politics/

E-reader News Edition

Increase in appeals against A-level results (Latest news, breaking news, current news, UK news, world news, celebrity news, politics news) Submitted at 3/24/2010 7:40:01 AM

By Graeme Paton, Education Editor Published: 2:40PM GMT 24 Mar 2010 More than 14,157 requests were made for an emergency review of test papers in August – an increase of more than eight per cent in 12 months.

Students can ask for papers are re-marked as a “priority” if they fear missing out on university places as a result of lower than expected grades.

The rise came amid increased demand for university places last summer.

Almost 640,000 people applied for degree courses in 2009 – up by almost nine per cent – fuelled by mature students returning to education in the recession.

The number of courses

available through clearing plummeted by two-thirds at some universities because of increased demand, raising the stakes for students who just missed out on predicted grades.

Competition is expected to be more fierce this year after applications soared by almost a quarter in 2010.

Figures from Ofqual, the exams regulator, show that the number of “high priority” requests for re-marks – which are supposed to be carried out within 18 days – increased from 12,998 in 2008 to 14,157 last summer.

Almost one-in-10 of these papers were subsequently marked up.

A further 53,524 non-priority requests were made, resulting in around one-in-eight papers being given a better grade.

In a further disclosure, secondary schools in England, Wales and Northern Ireland submitted 94,817 GCSE grades for re-marking - up from 85,981

in 2008.

Kathleen Tattersall, Ofqual chairman, said: “These figures provide invaluable information regarding the examination season. As regulator it is our role to ensure that fair systems are in place and that these are followed correctly.”

The disclosure follows a rise in the number of pupils who had had results in GCSEs and Alevels boosted by up to five per cent after making pleas for special consideration last year.

Almost 360,000 teenagers used excuses such as headaches, hay fever and the death of a pet to get extra marks in exams, according to figures.

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

David Frum: 'We Work for Fox' (Little Green Footballs) Submitted at 3/23/2010 9:01:23 PM

Quote of the week so far, a painfully accurate observation from David Frum:

“Republicans originally thought that Fox worked for us, and now we’re discovering we work for Fox. And the balance here has been completely reversed. The thing that sustains a strong Fox

network is the thing that undermines a strong Republican party.”

ABC News Video

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Sony cuts price of Reader Pocket Edition, tries to duck iPad Mike Schramm (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 3/24/2010 9:00:00 AM

Filed under: iPad Even amateur prognosticators could have seen this one coming on the day that the iPad was announced. With Apple's hardware being so pretty and so full of excellent features, the only way any ereader competitors could ever hope to beat them was with price. That's exactly what Sony is doing with their own Reader Pocket Edition, dropping it down to just $169 from $200.

Of course, since the iPad is $499 (and competitors, like the Kindle and the Nook, are in between Sony's e-reader and Apple's tablet), there is a little more room for them to play with. However, someone's got to take the low road, and it looks like Sony is going to try.

There is one more weakness that might possibly arise on Apple's side, and that is selection. Apple is rumored to be scrambling for content deals, while Amazon is trying to make sure that their Kindle program sits front and center everywhere it can. If Apple can't lock down content the way it wants to, Amazon and Barnes and Noble may still have a chance to

secure an audience. That, combined with their lower price and more focused nature as an e -reader, could allow them to portion off some of the market.

It's going to be a tough road ahead for anyone trying to compete directly with the iPad, though. Pre-orders have already been big, and as the devices make their way into the real world, sales will likely get even bigger.

TUAW Sony cuts price of Reader Pocket Edition, tries to duck iPad originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 24 Mar 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Growing Your Business: Insider Tips from Growco Maisha Walker (Inc.com) Submitted at 3/23/2010 10:48:18 AM

Last week I had the opportunity to speak at Inc.'s Growco conference in Orlando.

Not only did I meet some amazing business owners, I also had the opportunity to collaborate with Deluxe (yes, the check printing company!) who is making a bold move to extend their business beyond branding printed items to supporting small businesses in their need for digital branding as well.

Deluxe hosted a dinner on Monday night with approximately 50 business owners in attendance. They invited me to be their guest speaker and lead a discussion on how growing businesses can get the most out of online marketing.

From innovative product retailers like Rich Johnston of KeyPlex Direct who had some excellent questions like "When is blog content considered too old and no longer trustworthy?" to fine art photographers like Anne Day of Anne Day Photography who was at the conference helping to produce social video content for an inspring book project targeting youth entrepreneurs, to builders like Peter Feinmann, who was "hoping that I would be stimulated by new and creative ways to grow my residential

design/build business. I was not disappointed." The dinner hosted a dynamic group of successful businesses that all had unique and fascinating challenges, questions and experiences to share about how to maximize their online brand.

One of the biggest topics of discussion for almost all of the business owners was deciding whether to and how to market using a blog. It is a question many business owners are still facing. How do I get started?

How do I come up with content that is interesting? How often should I post? How important is blogging for Search Engine Optimization? What else can blogging do for me?

Luckily I had answers! We had a passionate discussion about these and other topics during the cocktail hour and over a fantastic dinner at The Ritz Carlton. I thought in honor of our event I would post some quick references for you to get answers to those questions and share with everyone what was discussed at our intimate dinner.

Growco Attendee Question: How do I get started? The Internet Strategist: Dive in! One thing you'll definitely want to do

is make sure you've thought about the purpose of your blog and how often you plan to post.

Make sure you're choosing a frequency you can keep up with for the next 2-3 years minimum.

To test the waters you can even start posting without making your blog public. Take a look at my 10 Step Guide to Blogging and use it as your step-by-step planning guide to get you started with your blog.

Growco Attendee Question: How do I know if my content will be interesting? The Internet Strategist: I strongly recommend not worrying too much about this one. The best bet is to write about things you are a) passionate about, b) extremely knowledgable about, and c) will be able to stand writing about for the next several years! The wonderful thing about the Internet is that there are just so many darn people on it. There's likely to be a sizable group of people who are just as passionate as you are about just about anything. Keep in mind however that your goals will impact your topic choice - are you looking to drive advertising revenue or are you looking to build credibility in your

industry? Make sure you choose a topic that is appropriate for your goal and don't worry about the traffic yet.

That comes with marketing.

But do be honest with yourself if you're really not a great writer, blogging may not be the venue for you. There are so many other Internet Marketing Techniques available to you.

You can download my free Internet Marketing Checklist to get your head around what they all are. When it comes to marketing it's all about the cost/benefit. If you have limited resources (as we all do) make sure you are making the most of them.

Growco Attendee Question: How often should I post? The Internet Strategist: So I get this question a *lot*. This is completely based on your goals.

If you are looking to create a high traffic blog that will generate advertising revenue, minimum once per week but even better is once per day.

Time and time again bloggers have seen that the more you post, the more traffic you receive. If you are not looking for advertising revenue, my advice is don't sweat it. Do

what you can handle now (monthly, even quarterly is ok) and then build up to more frequent posts if you can.

Growco Attendee Question: How important is blogging for Search Engine Optimization?

The Internet Strategist: blogging can be a great way to boost your search engine rankings and is often a large factor in choosing to blog. But note - to reap the benefits of SEO, you have to have your blog content built within the same site you want optimized. So you can't build a free blog at WordPress.com and then just have a link to your corporate Web site if you want your corporate Web site to improve in the search rankings.

If you want more detail on this take a look at these two articles: " Build Your Blog" and " Blogging for Coin" Growco Attendee Question: What else can blogging do for me? The Internet Strategist: That's a big question. There are so many things from building credibility, creating content that can go "viral", being the basis of other kinds of social media marketing, Twitter links, LinkedIn profile content (see this post for details), being fodder for other materials (ebooks, printed books etc.), helping people truly understand what it is that you do and what your expertise and strengths are.

GROWING page 20

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Facebook Measures British, Canadian and Australian Happiness, Serious Case of Mondays Kit Eaton (Fast Company) Submitted at 3/24/2010 8:01:30 AM

Facebook is a friendly distraction for most of us, but that doesn't mean it can't also be a tool: Facebook's been exploring those billions of status updates as a social data source for example. The data on happiness indices around the world are fascinating.

Back in October 2009 Facebook began this experiment, using anonymized status updates from its U.S. users and correlating key words inside them with the Gross National Happiness Index (a movement dedicated to assessing how cheery or upset a nation's citizens are.) Essentially Facebook's data team picked key phrases that relate to positive or negative emotions, made a frequency count of their occurrence and look at how the resulting data trends over time.

Some of the data isn't all that surprising, but it does prove the validity of the experiment: For example the "happiness" count tends to go up towards the end of each week and peak at the weekend. Nobody, but nobody, prefers workdays and Mondays.

Facebook had to tweak the key words it searched for due to different populations in each of the new nations it's been

analyzing (the U.K., Canada and Australia) and to obvious "cultural differences in how people use language," as their blog posting puts it. It would be unusual to see Brits saying they had a "bonza" morning, just as for a Canadian to note their afternoon was "a little sub-par."

But the headline conclusions are actually amusing: Canadian's happiness about Thanksgiving peaks the evening

before Thanksgiving day. Since the day itself is a Monday, it seems the Canadians are subject to the same Monday woes as the rest of usCanadian happiness is affected by a little cross-border feeling from the U.S.--happiness indices show small peaks on July 4th and U.S. ThanksgivingThe U.K.'s happiness, while still tracing up and down, is the most smooth in terms of happy peaks at holiday

days. Facebook's analysis suggests it's due to the "heterogeneity of U.K. bank holidays" (jealous of that much, Facebook analysts?) but I suspect its that good old British reserve showing in the dataThe Aussies have a huge drop in happiness that correlates to so many users Facebooking the word "sorry" last year when their Prime Minister issued a Parliamentary apology to the

terrible treatment throughout modern Australian history of its indigenous populationWhile everybody likes Valentine's day, it looks like the Canadians like it the most (are they known for being big romantics?) And while Canada also loves Halloween, that festival day is undetectable in the Australian graph, and only shows a slight FACEBOOK page 21

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The Anatomy of an Ethical Testimonial Marla Tabaka (Inc.com)

clue?All of the testimonials boasted that this product was single-handedly responsible for A while back I received a tripling the purchaser's business. marketing email for a home Five solo practitioners tripling study course that piqued my their revenues with ease - and c u r i o s i t y . I t b o a s t e d within a short period of time? "astounding" results with a Hummm, why hadn't I ever money-back guarantee to grow heard this miracle-worker's my business practically name? Now I was really overnight. It was pricey and I curious, so off to Google I was curious if the seller really went.This expert didn't have got results with his marketing much of a Google presence; no a n g l e , s o I d e c i d e d t o speaking engagements, very few investigate...just for fun!Like articles or videos on the internet. any smart business person this That alone didn't bother me too g u y o f f e r e d i m p r e s s i v e much, but what I found next did testimonials on his website. bother me. He had several other They spoke of ease of use, w e b s i t e s o f f e r i n g s i m i l a r value, and results; all of the products and the very same critical pieces of a strong testimonials. That's right, they testimonial. They also displayed were also from the same people. pictures of the customer with Wow! These people really like first and last names included; this guy's work!So I moved on more critical components of a to the next part of the "test" and believable testimonial. Some Googled the authors of 2 of the consumers would be quite testimonials. They did, indeed, happy with that "proof" and appear quite successful in their click the buy button right then fields so I thought I might have and there, but my instincts told to eat some crow. But not yet. I me to search further for emailed these two ladies confirmation of the product's inquiring about the true value of v a l u e . W h a t g a v e m e t h e this product and asking if they Submitted at 3/23/2010 12:33:51 PM

would still recommend the home study product today.

Even I was surprised by the results of my inquiry. Both women called me within the hour."What is the name of this product and where did you see my testimonial?" the first one asked? I gave her the url and before long heard a "huff" on the other end of the phone. She explained that she had done a brief stint in a Joint Venture agreement with this person "way back" at the beginning of her career. She'd never used his product but in her early-career naivetĂŠ may have provided such a "testimonial" as a part of their partnership agreement. Her next call was to the website owner asking him to remove the dated testimonial.The second woman recognized her photo on the website as a "very old" image taken from one of her first websites. She had, indeed, purchased the product but didn't recall using it. But she was certain she'd never provided a testimonial on the product. She too put in a call to have the information removed

GROWING continued from page 18

To help you understand the myriad benefits of blogging and decide which benefits you want to pursue, I would strongly recommend referencing these three articles: To Blog or Not to Blog Blogging's 11 Big Payoffs

(part 1) Blogging's 11 Big Payoffs (part 2) I'm looking forward to the next big Inc. event and hope I'll see you there! I've been promised some video from the dinner - if it's not too horribly

embarrassing I'll try to post it here!

immediately.In addition to the ethical issues in question here, I also noted that both women were astounded that so many years had gone by since they'd had contact with this individual, yet this information was on his websites. My thought was, this was a technology information product, if its content is half as old as these "testimonials" it couldn't even be applicable in today's web culture. Glad I didn't buy!Now I doubt that most people scrutinize a product and the related testimonials in this way, but nonetheless, using integrity and smarts to put the seal of approval on your products and services is critical.

There's nothing wrong with an old testimonial, as long as it's credible and true. Let the individuals know that you'd like to use their quotes and get their permission to do so. You never know who's out there doing a little detective work!How do you ask for testimonials? Do you update them or recycle them? What's worked and what hasn't? Please share with us!

Mac OS X Turns 9 Today [Birthdays] Adam Pash (Lifehacker) Submitted at 3/24/2010 6:00:00 AM

Nine years ago today, Apple launched Mac OS X 10.0 to the general public. A Cheetah, Puma, Jaguar, Panther, Tiger, Intel Tiger, Leopard, and Snow Leopard later, OS X has made leaps and bounds in the eyes of users and has pushed forward a lot of what users expect from a great operating system. And with the move to Intel processors in 2006, the Hackintosh was born, and along with it many guides for building a Hackintosh. (For our most recent, go here.) [ TUAW, Wikipedia] More Âť

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FACEBOOK

Morning Reading nospam@example.org (Scott Jagow) (Marketplace Scratch Pad) Submitted at 3/24/2010 5:54:58 AM

Good morning. Here’s a sampling of what I’ve read so far, from Main Street to Wall Street, and with all the Buffalo wings you can afford…

The recovery depends on Main Street(Robert Reich/Financial Times) None of this is stopping supplyside fanatics from arguing government needs to cut taxes on big corporations to spur the recovery. Their argument is absurd. Big companies do not know what to do with all the cash they have as it is. They are not investing it in new plant or jobs. So why should the government cut their taxes and enlarge their cash hoards even more?

The picture on Main Street is the opposite. Small businesses are not selling much because they have to rely on American consumers and Americans still are not buying much.

Wall Street despised in poll, but people are leery of adding too much regulation(Bloomberg) Americans are leery about

creating a new federal agency to make consumer-protection rules for mortgages and credit cards and would prefer to enhance the existing powers of banking regulators.

Most people interviewed in the Bloomberg National Poll say they don’t like Wall Street, banks or insurance companies and favor letting the government punish bankers who helped cause the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

The necessity of Failure(Washington Times) The cry from the political class is, as always, “We need more government regulation” - and the establishment media, as always, are cheering. Do we really need more government regulation? Play detective.

Congress, in the form of Sen. Christopher J. Dodd’s financial regulatory reform proposal, is flirting with giving the Fed much more power over many more institutions, yet the Fed was a major player in the financial meltdown and missed all of the warning signs. If you were in a military campaign and had to pick a reconnaissance team to warn you of the next

continued from page 19

possible attack, would you pick the team that had missed the previous attacks?

Health reform: A look at changes for the uninsured(PBS NewsHour) Chinese consumed millions of gallons of toxic sewage oil(Raw Story) Well, I used to like Chinese food…

Chinese cooking oil siphoned from restaurants’ waste tanks and stripped out of raw sewage is being resold on the cheap and has for years tainted approximately one out of every ten meals cooked in the eastern nation, according to a recent study.

Chicken wing prices continue to soar(NPR) I’ve noticed this for years at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo (home of the original Buffalo wing) and when I make my own…

“Every time that there is Christmas, wings go up,” he said. “Super Bowl, wings go up — but the problem is they never come down. They go up and they stay there.”

Submitted at 3/23/2010 9:00:00 PM

No one knows quite what to

expect as Matt Smith steps into David Tennant’s shoes as Doctor Who’s new Time Lord.

In the quick clip we’ve seen so far, Smith seems quirkier for

bump in the U.K. chart (where the thing originated, of course, as a much more sober Celtic affair, with less emphasis on candy and pranks.)The Christmas holiday stands out too, but since Facebook's separate and different analysis of the data between nations precludes international comparisons, we can't really say if this reflects differing national interest in religious events. The fact that Hannukah and Diwali are at roughly the same time will also play into the stats of course Potentially the most useful piece of data from Facebook's study is that negativity is decreasing everywhere. While the blog posting notes that this could be due to changing demographics (as more older people are using the service now) it could also be taken as an upswing indicator: The end of

the economic gloomy patch, perhaps. Money can buy you happiness...

And thus is revealed the true value of this analysis.

Facebook's demonstrated that the vast historic record of status updates is a potential goldmine of information that could easily be raked through by sociology analysts keen to work out when it's best to deliver an advert for particular products, or perhaps even to promote a particular political message. [ Facebook] To keep up with this and other news, happy, sad or just a bit "meh" in nature, follow me, Kit Eaton, on Twitter. That QR code on the left will take you to my Twitter feed too. I am generally a cheery Tweeter :)

High-Fructose Corn Syrup "Prompts Considerably More Weight Gain" than Sugar [Diet] Adam Pash (Lifehacker) Submitted at 3/24/2010 8:00:00 AM

Exclusive: New Time Lord's Take on Doctor Who Annaliza Savage (Wired Top Stories)

21

sure — and he looks to be an enthusiastic traveler. So what is Smith’s take on the Doctor’s psyche?

High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) has been a whipping boy of late for its heavily processed origins (prompting a campaign about how natural it is), but it's much worse than that: Princeton researchers find

that HFCS has a significant tie to obesity. More »

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Pentagram's Paula Scher Designs the Beige Out of Middle School, Conquers Fear of Color Dan Nosowitz (Fast Company) Submitted at 3/24/2010 6:40:12 AM

The project was conducted in the Achievement First Endeavor Middle School, a charter school in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. Paula Scher and the rest of the Pentagram team (one of our 10 Most Innovative Design Firms), already experienced with public places thanks to projects like these library murals, tackled the typically beige world of lockers, tile, and brick, and turned it into something bright and bold. The transformation is actually relatively simple--no major construction was undertaken, and the project mostly consisted of big, vivid graphics all over the school, from the walls to the cafeteria, the gym to the stairwells.

The graphics are mostly in bright, simple colors, with slogans like "Sweat the small stuff," "Excellence is a habit,"

and "Many minds, one mission."

I was curious about where the slogans came from, and how the Pentagram team decided which to use and where, so I asked Paula, the lead designer. This is what she had to say: The slogans came from the school. Achievement First uses a series of slogans about education to motivate students

to success. They were designed as small stickers in a multitude of colors. We simplified the graphics, refined the color and made them enormous so they conformed to the architecture.

The positioning of the graphics was achieved through a trial and error process with our clients at the school. My team assembled the graphics on a

styrofoam model of the interior of the school. We made presentations of design schemes and amended them until everyone was happy. I think our clients were initially afraid of the strength of the graphics (everyone is accustomed to beige) but ultimately, they came to love it.

And that fear of beige was a

Automatically Sync Your Media Library When You Plug In Your Android Phone [Syncing] Adam Pash (Lifehacker) Submitted at 3/24/2010 7:00:00 AM

Mobile computing blog

Mobiputing highlights how to automatically sync your Android device using previously mentioned DoubleTwist, you Android phone, and a free

Android app called Auto Mount.

More Âť

motivating factor from the start.

Paula calls the Achievement First project "an opportunity to correct the beige mistake of my childhood," as she "always thought that schools, libraries, medical clinics and other public institutions I inhabited were mean." Why did this dull and oppressive color scheme come to be the norm? "There is nothing more safe and boring than beige," she says, but that's precisely why she decided to go in the opposite direction for the project.

It's a really beautiful project, and completely changes the way a building that is often the site of an adolescent's toughest years feels. This school feels open, cheerful, rife with possibilities-it just shows what good design can accomplish.

You can read more about Pentagram's project here.

Business/ Tech/ Tech News/

E-reader News Edition

So much for the "talent drain" nospam@example.org (Scott Jagow) (Marketplace Scratch Pad)

More And More Musicians Embracing Free Music With Subscriptions For Support

within the executive suite, suggests that a soft job market, corporate loyalty and personal pride helped deter the feared Submitted at 3/23/2010 9:49:53 AM You’ve probably heard over management exodus at the and over how big banks have to companies hardest hit by the pay t h r o w t o n s o f m o n e y a t rules. executives to keep them from Feinberg is also sending a letter going to the competition. Well, to all 419 companies that the government’s compensation received money from TARP. guru says the reality is different. Although he can’t enforce pay Kenneth Feinberg is expected limits at banks like Goldman to release his findings today as Sachs, he is asking for the bonus he announces the 2010 pay numbers from late 2008, right packages for the top executives a f t e r T A R P s a v e d t h e s e a t G M , A I G a n d o t h e r financial firms. From ABC companies still under the News: government’s watch. A preview While Feinberg has no power to from the New York Times: set pay at these 419 companies, Of the 104 senior executives he could expose companies for whose pay was set by the paying out lavish sums of federal pay regulator in the last m o n e y a s t h e f i r m s t o o k two years, 88 executives, or taxpayer aid in the wake of the nearly 85 percent, are still with financial meltdown. The “name the companies even though their and shame” strategy could pay was drastically cut back, ultimately result in firms according to people briefed on returning bonuses or salaries. the government data.

Wall Street has already changed The relative stability, at least some of its pay structures — for

example, giving more compensation in the form of stock. But a recent Harvard study suggests that executives with lots of stock just cash out before the ship sinks: The conventional wisdom is that Wall Street executives who are paid in stock lose out when their firm’s suffer. But as the Harvard study points out, the top executives at Bear and Lehman were able to collect more money during the good years than they lost when their firms ran into trouble.

And as much as Feinberg might think a strict pay policy will make a difference, it’s all in the execution of such a strategy.

The recent report on the Lehman Brothers collapse said Lehman had all kinds of policies that theoretically tied compensation to long-term performance.

They just weren’t enforced.

March 24, 2001: Apple Unleashes Mac OS X

Use Flour to Polish Stainless Steel [Clever Uses]

Brian X. Chen (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 3/23/2010 9:00:00 PM

Steve Jobs releases Apple's indisputably successful

operating system that powers its computers — eventually making it on to the iPhone, iPod Touch and the hotly anticipated iPad.

Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

Ebel has done with his subscription offering. Basically, what we're seeing is a lot of mrharrysan sends over the news v e r y c r e a t i v e p e o p l e of musician John Wood who is experimenting -- not by all experimenting with giving away doing the same thing, but by free music, while setting up a t r y i n g d i f f e r e n t t h i n g s , subscription to support him, as sometimes inspired by others, he creates a new album every s o m e t i m e s a r r i v e d a t month. It's not just a new independently, but all doing album, but a pretty cool website something cool. called Learning Music Monthly In many ways, all of this which includes some cool business model experimentation artwork as well (and, hey, the i s s i m i l a r t o t h e k i n d o f music's pretty good too). experimentation these musicians Wood isn't yet making a living do in the music itself. That is, from this effort (though, I they take ideas they have imagine an Associated Press themselves, combine it with article won't hurt), but it's cool ideas inspired from others, and to see another artist build on c o m e o u t w i t h s o m e t h i n g some of the ideas we've seen wholly unique and creative, from others -- like Jonathan which best matches with their Coulton's song-a-week project, o w n c o m m u n i t y .

It's or Olafur Arnalds song-a-day i m p r o v i s a t i o n a l b u s i n e s s for a week project -- and then m o d e l i n g . build a subscription offer on top Permalink| Comments| Email of it, similar to what Matthew This Story Submitted at 3/24/2010 2:57:26 AM

Jason Fitzpatrick (Lifehacker)

scoop of flour to give it a brilliant shine. More »

Submitted at 3/24/2010 6:30:00 AM

Just cleaning a stainless steel sink doesn't guarantee it'll have

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a nice showroom shine. Next time you clean your sink use a

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British Teenager Fired From Job Via Facebook, After Cookie-Related Ineptitude Dan Nosowitz (Fast Company) Submitted at 3/24/2010 5:05:21 AM

Things you need to know before we get started: in England, cookies are called biscuits. Also in England, the word "cookies" does not also mean cookies, because this story revolves around a cafe called Cookies that does not sell cookies. This may all sound like a fun bit of wordplay leading up to a punchline, but it's not--that's just how they roll in England.

It's a mysterious island nation, I know.

As the Daily Mail reports, Chelsea Taylor, a 16-year-old clerk at the Cookies Cafe in Leigh, was sent, improbably enough, on an errand to retrieve cookies for the staff of Cookies.

She was given a "tenner" (in proper American English, God's own language, that's a "Hamilton") for the purchase of said sweets, only to lose it sometime during the journey.

She returned to the Cookies Cafe both cookie-less and penniless.

Young Chelsea Taylor's boss at the Cookies Cafe was not

Lock Up Two Bikes with One Mini Lock [Tricks Of The Trade] Adam Pash (Lifehacker) Submitted at 3/24/2010 5:30:00 AM

Ever find yourself out with a biking partner (that is, two bikes) but just one lock? Make demonstrates how easy it is to make do with one lock for both bikes. More Âť pleased with this turn of events.

How, she wondered, did she manage to open and run a cafe named after a snack she could not manage to procure? Heads would roll for this one! And it was our poor heroine who got the axe--and not in a very pleasant way.

Yes, Chelsea was fired via Facebook. The message is conciliatory, apologetic, and polite, yet its mere medium suggests a lack of personal involvement and a distancing

that borders on the insulting.

The shortened words, the textmessage abbreviations ("u" for "you"), and the aversion to tell Chelsea in person all combine to form an epic brush-off--and Chelsea is not pleased.

"Even if she had sent me a text message or something it would have been better than on Facebook. She didn't have the guts to tell me face-to-face," said Taylor. Her mother called the action "appalling," "heartless," and "dreadful," and

Climate Hackers Want to Write Their Own Rules Alexis Madrigal (Wired Top Stories)

Earth scientists are meeting this week to try to hash out a set of regulations for researching

possible ways to geoengineer the planet to fight climate change.

(rightfully) identified the typos and abbreviations as "disrespectful."

Is it okay to fire someone via Facebook? Would it actually have been more appropriate to use proper grammatical conventions? Those norms are still being formed. All we know is, don't go to the Cookies Cafe expecting cookies. They don't have any.

Burning Question: Why Isn't My House OutThinking My Dog Yet? Bryan Gardiner (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 3/23/2010 9:00:00 PM

If the guy behind the original iPhone touchscreen has his way, you'll soon control your microwave and printer from most browsers.

Business/ Tech/

E-reader News Edition

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Why Bitbop, Fox's Mobile Video Subscription Service, is No Hulu Addy Dugdale (Fast Company)

a lotta bit News Corp. Content will be available from NBC Universal and Discovery, as Submitted at 3/24/2010 9:59:37 AM well as the Fox channels, but at A video subscription service for $120 a year may be a big ask for smartphones is to be launched at watching video content on CTIA today by Fox Mobile midget devices--especially since Group, owned by that champion rival CBS allows free content to of the free Internet, Rupert be screened over an iPhone app.

Murdoch. (Can I just say how There are three final issues that amazing it is to have Peyote on could prove detrimental to your cornflakes each morning?)

Bipbop's success or failure. One, Bitbop will allow users to view the imminent arrival of the iPad content via streaming, as well as may well lead to the virtual downloadable movies and TV destruction of video content on shows. It consists of a free app, Perhaps the answer lies in the Hulu themselves, led by CEO joked in the past that Kilar is s m a r t p h o n e s . T w o , t h e which offers sneaky peeks, but "co-" part of co-ownership. Jason Kilar. Now, while you'd more interested in the customer patchiness of some of the to get the whole shaboodle, News Corps' partners in Hulu have thought that NBC-Uni and than in monetizing Hulu--Kilar's network providers' 3G coverage. you'll pay a monthly sub of are NBC-Universal (soon to be Disney would be absolutely success is forcing the old media Three: Bipbop's method of $9.99. Hmmm, shades of a owned by Comcast), the Walt queueing up to stick a socking dogs to do it his way. payment is via credit card rather paying Hulu there--which begs Disney Company, Providence great paywall around Hulu, Wily coyote Murdoch, than through customers' the question: As co-owner of the Equity Partners, (who also own w h i c h m a d e a r o u n d $ 1 2 0 however, doesn't want to wait. cellphone billing accounts, free Internet portal, why didn't stakes in Warner Music and million in revenue last year-- Bitbop, in beta form at the although the company is hoping News Corp decide to market MGM), and the founders of Peter Zucker, head of NBC, has moment, is a little bit Hulu, but to change that soon.

Bitbop under the Hulu brand?

Why TV Everywhere Will Fail: Because It's Based On Taking Away Value, Not Adding It Mike Masnick (Techdirt) Submitted at 3/24/2010 12:49:22 AM

We've been pretty skeptical of the plans by the big cable companies to create "TV Everywhere," a system to try to reduce churn by offering users the ability to access TV shows

online that match their cable subscriptions. The problem, of course, is that the cable companies aren't looking at this as a way to embrace the future, but more as a way to make the internet act more like cable.

This is a recipe for failure.

Mark Glaser, over at PBS

MediaShift, digs in to explain the many reasons why TV Everywhere is likely to fail, and they're all focused around a simple issue: the whole concept is based on limiting consumer options, rather than increasing them. The TV Everywhere supporters shoot back that they

are increasing options by giving people access to their TV channels online, but that's only under very restrictive conditions that are more designed to keep you from cutting the cord from the cable company -- a relationship many customers are fed up with and would love to

ditch. It's a simple message that so many companies have trouble understanding these days: you don't succeed by limiting customers and taking away value.

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Seeing calories everywhere nospam@example.org (Scott Jagow) (Marketplace Scratch Pad) Submitted at 3/23/2010 11:24:04 AM

It’s still hard to gauge exactly how the new health care laws will affect people on a daily basis, but there is one provision that will definitely be visible.

Restaurants with at least 20 locations nationwide will be required to post calorie counts on their menus, both inside and at the drive-through. This national law will supercede any local or state measures that require posting nutritional information. More from the LA Times: “People will be able to see that the order of chili cheese fries they are considering will be 3,000 calories,” said nutrition advocate Margo Wootan, who helped write the bill.

Until now, cities, counties and states were each able to develop their own rules — and many already have them in place.

“This legislation will replace a growing patchwork of varying state and local regulations with one consistent national standard that helps consumers make choices that are best for

themselves and their families,” said Dawn Sweeney, chief executive of the National Restaurant Assn.

Restaurants will also be required to give out other information, including the amount of sodium, carbs, fiber and protein in each standard serving of their food.

Vending machines will also have to include the calorie counts, as will buffets and alcoholic drink menus at the restaurant chains affected by the law.

As we’ve discussed before, there’s conflicting data on

Jon Corzine to MF Global Barry Ritholtz (The Big Picture) Submitted at 3/24/2010 7:33:08 AM

Former New Jersey Governor

Jon Corzine is back on Wall Street as the new chairman and CEO of MF Global.

Airtime: Wed. Mar. 24 2010 | 7:05 AM ET

whether posting calorie counts actually results in people eating better. And I’m sure Carl’s Jr. will pounce on this opportunity to brag about a 9,000 calorie burger.

But I’ve always found I make better choices when I have the information than when I’m just guessing. In my brain anyway, guessing and wishful thinking seem to be exactly the same thing.

Image: AP

Hacked? Google Corporate Pages Temporarily Switch to Chinese Stan Schroeder (Mashable!)

Both pages were in Chinese and directing users to Google China.

The incident comes hot on the G o o g l e ’ s c o r p o r a t e b i o s heels of Google’s decision to suddenly switched to Chinese stop censoring Google China this morning, the Guardian search results, directing users in reports. It only affected users m a i n l a n d C h i n a t o i t s connecting from some areas, uncensored, Hong Kong search and the change was live only for site. a short amount of time, but the The pages seem to have been screenshots prove that Google restored back to normal now. may have indeed been hacked – We’ve contacted Google for again. comment, but haven’t received a The pages affected were response yet. http://www.google.com/corporat [Images courtesy of Guardian] e / e x e c s . h t m l . w h i c h l i s t s For more technology coverage, Google’s top executives, as well follow Mashable Tech on s Twitter or become a fan on Five Filters featured article: a Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: http://www.google.com/corporat Facebook PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, e/, which contains general Tags: china, Google, hack corporate info about Google.

Term Extraction.

Submitted at 3/24/2010 7:17:53 AM

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EcoCHARGE wall wart is slim, eco-friendly John Biggs (CrunchGear) Submitted at 3/24/2010 7:30:47 AM

Infographic of the Day: The Spam Industry Cliff Kuang (Fast Company) Submitted at 3/24/2010 9:49:07 AM

The massive profits and massive growth behind the web's most annoying industry.

We all know that spam is huge, but this infographic by New Scientist offers a much closer look. Long story short: Preventing spam seems almost impossible, because the spammers are so nimble.

They're also getting smarter.

Here's an economic breakdown of one single (albeit massive) spam operation. Out of 35 million span emails sent out in one month, only 28 actually turned into sales. (Are you reading this, guy who will no doubt drop spam below this very post, likely in the form of ASCII "bear" or "battleship" art?) But if you extrapolate that out to the whole network, that comes to

$3.5 million in earnings. Which is obviously pretty massive, considering that creating an entire botnet like this one to send the emails would require just a couple diligent hackers.

Spam is evolving quickly, as people become more savvy to classic scams. We've more away from blatant get-rich-quick schemes--and into more subtle ones, like promises for financial services.

You've got to shiver at the possibility that one day, spammers will become super smart, using, for example, lessons borrowed from behavioral economics to tune the perfect pitch.

For more detail, check out the full-sized graphic. And then check out this slideshow filled with graphics showing how spam has changed over time.

Charlie Sorrel is a self-admitted cable obsessive and I think he needs help. However, did find us this EcoCHAGRGE thinger.

It’s basically a wall wart that lets you charge two USB devices at once and it switches off when not charging. There are two models, mini and micro, and it costs $30. There is also a slot on the top for charging one more device.

The EcoCHARGE is also pleasingly slim, which ensures you don’t have to take up too much space on your surge protector. You can pick it up here, if you dare.

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Amid budget crisis, California makes parole easier (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News) Submitted at 3/24/2010 7:05:50 AM

LOS ANGELES – California's budget crisis and overcrowded prisons have led to a new reality for thousands of convicted felons: Parole is getting a lot easier — no more random drug tests, travel rules or requirements to check in with an officer.

Restrictions have been relaxed for nonviolent criminals like burglars, drug offenders and swindlers under a new law that aims to shrink the prison population by reducing the number of minor parole violations that send ex-cons back to prison.

About 24,000 nonviolent excons are expected to qualify for less supervision. The number includes many people already on parole and those expected to be paroled over the next year.

Nonviolent offenders leaving prison will still be required to register their addresses with the prisons agency, but a state parole officer won't check up on them. Unannounced home visits and searches will be left to local law enforcement, if anyone at all.

Local law enforcement agencies and community groups

are worried. They claim less supervision will lead to a spike in crime, compounding the exact problem state officials are trying to remedy.

"It's a pretty significant concern from the public safety standpoint," said Cmdr. Todd Rogers of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

"There's a really good chance these guys are going to go out and caper again."

The rules, which took effect Jan. 25, come as the state desperately tries to close a $20 billion budget gap. Nearly 11 percent of the state budget goes to prisons. Officials estimate the measures will save the state about $500 million its first full year.

The state hopes dropping the restrictions, coupled with an early release program that will free 3,000 current inmates under new rules that allow them to shave time for completing rehabilitation and vocational programs, will cut California's 167,000-inmate prison population by 6,500.

The changes will also free up state parole officers to focus on ex-prison gang members, sex offenders and violent criminals, whose 70 percent recidivism rate is more than double that of

the nonviolent ex-cons.

"Our supervision will be higher on those more likely to reoffend," said California Corrections spokesman Gordon Hinkle.

With about a third of new admissions to prisons caused by parole violations, often for seemingly minor mistakes like missing meetings with parole officers, states have long grappled with how much supervision is appropriate for parolees. Arizona, Nevada and Pennsylvania, for instance, have cut supervision time for certain offenders.

California has the nation's highest rate of sending parolees back to prison, with a little more than two-thirds of all inmates having been sent to prison for violating their parole terms, said prisons expert Alison Lawrence of the National Conference of State Legislatures.

"When you see a number that high, there is a sign that something should change," Lawrence said.

Local agencies being asked to pick up the monitoring of nonviolent offenders are skeptical. Several of them, themselves struggling with budget cuts, decried the extra workload.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which is in the state's most populous county, has about 7,700 felons who will qualify for the easier restrictions. Rogers said the department will start doing what the state's parole officers used to do.

"We still want them to know that they need to behave themselves," Rogers said of the ex-cons. "Some would argue it's an unfunded mandate transferring responsibility to cities and counties."

Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood said he was expecting 1,000 parolees to qualify for lighter restrictions in his largely rural area that has an unemployment rate of 17 percent.

"People are frustrated," Youngblood said. "When you mix that frustration with alcohol and nothing to do because they are unemployed, nothing good can come from that mixture when it comes to public safety."

Youngblood laid off 40 deputies last year because of budget cuts. He's going to bring in deputies on long-term sick leave to handle office duties, freeing other officers to check up on parolees.

Local law enforcement

agencies also are creating programs to let inmates know about community resources that are geared to helping them find jobs, health services and housing — duties usually carried out by parole officers.

Scott H. Silverman of Second Chance, a San Diego-based nonprofit that helps former prisoners find work, said the changes simply pass responsibility to the local level.

"It's a quick fix, but it's only going to make the state feel better for about five minutes," said. "Everyone is going to get hurt on a local level."

Silverman said parolees could be emboldened by the lack of restrictions and he criticized the state for it's lack of a support network.

"They know they are really going to have to do something goofy before they will get sent back to prison," he said of the ex -cons. "We have a 70 percent recidivism rate under supervised parole. What's it going to be like when they are not supervised?"

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

Obama Fares Best Among Healthcare Political Players (All Gallup Headlines) Submitted at 3/23/2010 8:00:00 PM

[ fivefilters.org: unable to retrieve full-text content] President Obama gets higher

ratings for the job he did on the healthcare reform process over the past year than either

c o n g r e s s i o n a l p a r t y d o e s , positive reviews from a majority t h o u g h n o n e o f t h e t h r e e of Americans. primary political actors receives

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Reading scores hold steady on nationwide test (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News)

White students made up 56 percent of fourth-grade test takers in 2009, compared with Reading scores for fourth and 73 percent in 1992, reflecting eighth grade students held the growing diversity of schools mostly steady last year, with in America. In the same time improvements seen in a handful period, Hispanic students have of states and among low-income risen from 7 to 20 percent. students.

And, in another sign of the S c o r e s o n t h e N a t i o n a l nation's recession, the number A s s e s s m e n t o f E d u c a t i o n of students eligible for free Progress, a series of federally lunch rose as well — from 32 funded achievement tests, rose percent of fourth graders in in two states in grade four and in 2003 to 38 percent in 2009. nine states for grade eight in Meanwhile, a significant 2009. Overall, the fourth-grade achievement gap remains among average remained unchanged several groups. Affluent, white while eighth graders rose one and Asian/Pacific Islander point. students are scoring higher than "I think it's not surprising given low-income, black and Hispanic the financial stresses that are students. being felt across the country," Each group has made gains, but David Gordon, a member of the at about the same rate, resulting board that oversees the tests, in a continuing, sizable gap — said of the relatively stagnant 26 points between white and results. black eighth-grade students, and W h i l e n o t s h o w i n g a n y 24 percent between white and significant increases or declines, Hispanic students — somewhat the report does offer a snapshot smaller than it was in 1992. o f t h e n a t i o n ' s c h a n g i n g The test results come as the demographics and how well Obama administration is urging students are doing across racial, s t a t e s t o t u r n a r o u n d ethnic, income and geographic consistently low performing lines. schools with a number of Submitted at 3/24/2010 7:02:22 AM

competitive grants aimed at spurring reform in education.

"There's no magic bullet in all of this," said Gordon, superintendent of Sacramento County schools in California. "I don't think any project or program is going to create improved performance. I think it's back to the basics. I think it's good teaching and good leadership in schools which produces improved student performance."

Fourth-grade students scored 221 on average out of a 500point scale, with 33 percent at the proficient level, which is considered at grade level. Eighth -graders scored an average of 264, with 32 percent considered proficient. The scores for each grade are four points higher than they were in 1992.

The average score of fourthgrade students declined in four states: Alaska, Iowa, New Mexico and Wyoming.

Tom Loveless, a senior fellow with the Brookings Institution, noted that while the national average has not moved much, there are some patterns beneath the data.

The lowest 10th percentile of fourth graders scored an average of 170 in 1992 and 175 in 2009, and those in the 25th percentile increased their average from 194 to 199 during the same years — a jump of five points each. Meanwhile, the highestperforming students jumped three points, from 261 to 264.

"To the extent that there are gains, they're found amongst the lowest achievers," Loveless said.

He suspects that pattern is related to the enactment of more accountability systems at the state and federal level that focus attention on the lowest achievers and punish or reward schools based on progress with that group.

The gap between male and female students has remained steady or decreased as well, with male students increasing their scores, despite concerns they are not reading as much in an age of video games and text messaging.

"One might speculate that boys are doing other reading that they don't see as reading; maybe texting, social groups, e-mails,

interaction with IMs and social networks," Loveless said in an interview.

Other highlights from the report: • Eighth grade students in city schools increased their average score from 257 to 259.

• Scores for fourth-grade black students in the District of Columbia rose.

• Fourth-grade students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch in Connecticut, Florida and New York improved their average score. Nationwide, the average score for this group of students increased at both grade levels. __ On the Web: National Assessment of Educational Progress: http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportc ard/ Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Intel's Overclockable Core i7 Chips for Gamers Go Vroom Vroom Even Easier [Intel] matt buchanan (Gizmodo) Submitted at 3/24/2010 9:43:02 AM

Two of the more interesting Core chips in the pipe from Intel, at least for gamers: The

32nm Core i5-655K(dual core), coming in July, both have coming in June, and the 45nm unlocked multipliers, meaning C o r e i 7 - 8 7 5 K ( q u a d c o r e ) , it's way easier to overclock the

crap out of 'em. They will be expensive. [ DigiTimes] More »

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US to step up Mexico drugs effort (BBC News | Americas | World Edition)

On the eve of the talks, Mr Obama spoke to Mr Calderon to discuss their "mutual desire to Submitted at 3/23/2010 5:36:37 PM work together for the benefit of Please turn on JavaScript. the safety and security of Media requires JavaScript to citizens on both sides of our play. shared border", a US statement Hillary Clinton: "We have a said. programme to combat the flow Lesley Enriquez - a US citizen of illegal weapons" working at the Juarez consulate US Secretary of State Hillary - her American husband, Arthur Clinton has pledged increased Redelfs, and Jorge Alberto support for Mexico in the fight Salcido, the Mexican husband of against drug gangs. another consular employee, In Mexico as part of a highwere shot dead in two separate level US delegation, she said incidents on 13 March in the more would be done to cut US border city of Ciudad Juarez. demand for drugs and the flow The motives for the killings of profits and guns into Mexico. remain unclear.

The gangs "are fighting against Last week, US police across the both of our governments", she border in El Paso, Texas, said, adding that a broader effort S h e a d d e d : " T h e r e c e n t h e l p l o c a l c o m m u n i t i e s of cabinet officials on both rounded up members of the would aim to tackle social downturn in economic growth shattered by the violence. sides, so I think it indicates this Barrio Azteca gang suspected of problems fuelling the trade. and remittances has aided the These measures could indicate is the real deal," Ms Napolitano carrying out the killings.

Ten days ago, three people d r u g t r a f f i c k e r s i n t h e i r the start of a new era of bilateral said.

Drug-related violence has left connected to the US consulate recruitment of young people." co-operation on the drugs issue. Mrs Clinton was due to meet some 18,000 people dead in were killed in Mexico.

'Real deal' An era that would go beyond the M e x i c a n P r e s i d e n t F e l i p e Mexico since 2006.

Discussions during the one-day Defence Secretary Robert security aspects and also include Calderon at the end of her visit. Most of the funds in the Merida visit are focusing on the Merida Gates, Chairman of the Joint addressing the root causes and The trip comes a year after Initiative, which is due to expire i n i t i a t i v e , a $ 1 . 6 b n U S Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike the consequences of the drug P r e s i d e n t B a r a c k O b a m a i n 2 0 1 1 , a r e a l l o c a t e d t o programme of aid aimed at Mullen and Homeland Security conflict. promised to be a "full partner" Mexico, with the rest going to fighting drug cartels.

Secretary Janet Napolitano are It is that impact on society - with Mexico in fighting drugs. other countries in Central Mrs Clinton said: "This new part of the US delegation. plus more than 18,000 people A poll in Mexican newspaper America. agenda expands our focus At the news conference, the US killed since the deployment of Milenio on Tuesday found 59% Print Sponsor b e y o n d d i s r u p t i n g d r u g secretary of state and her troops - that has made of the of respondents thought the Five Filters featured article: trafficking organisations" to Mexican counterpart Patricia drug conflict Mexico's most cartels were winning the drugs Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: i n c l u d e " s t r e n g t h e n i n g Espinosa mentioned other joint urgent problem. war, compared with just 21% PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, institutions, creating a 21st initiatives, such as a study on "You rarely see this kind of who believed the government Term Extraction.

Century border, and building drugs consumption and how to meeting with this kind of array was. strong, resilient communities".

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US and Pakistan seek better ties (BBC News | Americas | World Edition)

prosperity".

He also sought a "constructive" US role on disputed Kashmir Submitted at 3/24/2010 6:56:30 AM and "non-discriminatory" access The US and Pakistan are to energy. beginning a new chapter in The BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan relations, US Secretary of State says recent mistrust between the Hillary Clinton has said. two sides has been fuelled by a S h e w a s s p e a k i n g i n surge in US drone strikes near Washington at the start of talks the Afghan border. Pakistan also with her Pakistani counterpart, complains that promised US aid Shah Mehmood Qureshi. has not been delivered.

Mistrust between the US and For its part the US wants Pakistan, a key ally in the war Pakistan to do more to combat against militants, has reached militants and says hundreds of new lows in recent months. visas for US officials have been Mrs Clinton acknowledged withheld. there had been disagreements. Nuclear issue Mr Qureshi said it was time to The two sides are holding a look forward. Security, energy week-long "strategic dialogue". and economic ties will be Pakistan's army chief Gen discussed.

Ashfaq Kayani and the head of "It is the start of something the ISI intelligence agency Ltnew," said Mrs Clinton as two Gen Shuja Pasha are also taking days of meetings got under way part, as are top US defence in the US capital. officials.

"Our countries have had our Our correspondent says one of m i s u n d e r s t a n d i n g s a n d the main issues for discussion disagreements in the past and will be possible nuclear cothere are sure to be more operation between the two sides. disagreements in the future." Pakistan has long wanted the Mr Qureshi said an improved US to provide it with a civilian relationship between the two nuclear deal, similar to the one countries "is good for Pakistan, given to India. good for America and good for Pakistani leaders say such cointernational peace, security and operation would go a long way

in helping the country deal with its current power shortage.

While some sort of understanding between on two sides is possible, any concrete accord is unlikely, our correspondent says.

Continued fears over Pakistan's proliferation record remain a major stumbling block. In particular, US officials want to question Dr AQ Khan, the disgraced former head of Pakistan's nuclear programme.

Dr Khan admitted to being involved in the transfer of nuclear technology to countries such as Iran and North Korea, which oppose the US. Earlier this week Pakistan's government sought court permission to question Dr Khan over what it says is new information which has come to light about his role in proliferation.

The application is being heard in Lahore high court while talks continue between Mrs Clinton and Mr Qureshi.

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Digg’s iPhone App Is Now Available Stan Schroeder (Mashable!)

Facebook and e-mail.

Navigation through categories, Submitted at 3/24/2010 5:34:01 AM articles and comments is quite * U p d a t e : T h e a p p i s n o t elegant; after I’ve signed in, I’ve available for everyone yet. d u g g a n d b u r i e d a r t i c l e s We’ve confirmed availability in effortlessly within a minute. s e v e r a l m o s t E u r o p e a n There’s also an option to save countries; the app doesn’t seem stories for later reading; it’s a to be available in the U.S. just handy option that lets you keep yet. You can check whether the track of your favorite Digg app is available in your country stories on the iPhone. here.

What are your impressions of As expected, Digg’s official Digg’s native iPhone app? Let iPhone app has arrived for free us know in the comments! in Apple’s App Store.

For more social media The app lists Top, Recent and coverage, follow Mashable Upcoming stories in various Social Media on Twitter or categories, giving Digg users the become a fan on Facebook a b i l i t y t o v o t e a n d v i e w Tags: digg, iphone, mobile apps comments on stories. You can also share articles via Twitter,

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North America baby slings recall (BBC News | Americas | World Edition)

that occurred in these slings in 2009". It said these involved an infant of seven weeks in Submitted at 3/24/2010 5:15:13 AM Philadelphia, an infant of six More than 1m baby slings made days in Salem and an infant of b y C a l i f o r n i a n c o m p a n y three months in Cincinnati.

Infantino are being recalled in 'Close co-operation' the US and Canada after reports In a statement on his company's of three deaths involving them. website, Infantino president US and Canadian consumer Jack Vresics said the recall was watchdogs announced the recall being announced to "address along with Infantino of two concerns raised" by the CPSC. infant carriers, the SlingRider "Our top priority is the safety of and Wendy Bellissimo. infants whose parents and The US Consumer Product caregivers use our products," he Safety Commission said it was said. aware of three deaths in slings Mr Vresics said the San Diegoreported last year. based company would coA free voluntary replacement operate "closely with CPSC as it p r o g r a m m e h a s b e e n continues its investigation of all announced. baby slings".

One million infant slings were It would offer, he added, a free being recalled in the US and r e p l a c e m e n t b a b y c a r r i e r , 15,000 in Canada, the US CPSC activity gym or shopping cart said in its statement. cover to any affected consumer.

"CPSC advises consumers to Earlier in March, the CPSC immediately stop using these issued a broad warning about slings for infants younger than sling-style baby carriers, saying four months of age due to a risk t h e y p o s e d a p o t e n t i a l of suffocation and contact suffocation risk to infants, Infantino for a free replacement especially babies under four product," it said. months.

The CPSC was, it added, It did not single out a specific "aware of three reports of deaths type of sling or manufacturer.

It’s a hold up!

Zack Sheppard (Flickr Blog) Submitted at 3/23/2010 10:07:06 AM

• About Flickr Flickr is a revolution in photo storage, sharing and

organization, making photo management an easy, natural and collaborative process. Get comments, notes, and tags on your photos, post to any blog, share and more!

"In the first few months of life, babies cannot control their heads because of weak neck muscles," that warning said.

"The sling's fabric can press against an infant's nose and mouth, blocking the baby's breathing and rapidly suffocating a baby within a minute or two.

"Additionally, where a sling keeps the infant in a curled position bending the chin toward the chest, the airways can be restricted, limiting the oxygen supply. The baby will not be able to cry for help and can slowly suffocate."

Babies who had a low birth weight, were born prematurely or had breathing problems such as colds were also at risk, the US watchdog noted.

In the earlier warning, it said it had identified or was investigating at least 14 deaths in the last 20 years associated with baby slings.

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Bush Adviser Senor to Announce for N.Y. Senate (Newsmax - Politics)

Gillibrand, a former representative from upstate New York, as failing to solidify her NEW YORK – Dan Senor, a position in the liberal-leaning R e p u b l i c a n f o r m e r B u s h state. No major challenger has administration foreign policy emerged to challenge her in a a d v i s e r , i s p r e p a r i n g t o Democratic primary. c h a l l e n g e D e m o c r a t i c According to a Siena Research incumbent Kirsten Gillibrand in Institute poll of New York the Senate race in New York, a registered voters released on source close to him said on Monday, less than a third of Monday. respondents said they would "All of the steps necessary to vote for her. assemble a campaign are under The poll did not ask about way," said the source, adding, Senor.

"There is not an imminent At least five other Republican announcement." contenders have declared their Senor, a Republican strategist candidacies or are seen as and former spokesman for the eyeing a run. The state holds its Coalition Provisional Authority primaries on September 14, and that governed Iraq after the the election is on November 2.

March 2003 U.S.-led invasion, © 2010 Reuters. All rights i s a p a r t n e r a t R o s e m o n t reserved. Republication or Solebury Capital Management. r e d i s t r i b u t i o n o f R e u t e r s H e i s m a r r i e d t o C N N content, including by caching, t e l e v i s i o n h o s t C a m p b e l l framing or similar means, is Brown. expressly prohibited without the Gillibrand was appointed to her prior written consent of Reuters.

Senate seat last year by New Five Filters featured article: York Governor David Paterson Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: to succeed Hillary Clinton, who PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Five Filters featured article: became secretary of state.

S o m e D e m o c r a t s s e e Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Submitted at 3/24/2010 12:08:49 AM

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Trucks burned in possible threat to Calif. police (AP)

Bad Craziness Dominates GOP

(Yahoo! News: U.S. News)

(Little Green Footballs)

code enforcement officers to respond to complaints.

One man who ran when police HEMET, Calif. – Four city arrived was briefly detained but t r u c k s w e r e t o r c h e d i n a found to be unconnected to the S o u t h e r n C a l i f o r n i a t o w n fires and released, Dana said. plagued by booby trap attacks A 911 caller on Friday warned o n p o l i c e o f f i c e r s , a n d that a police car would be blown authorities said Wednesday the up within 24 to 48 hours in the fires might be linked to the Hemet-San Jacinto as retaliation previous attempts. for a crackdown against the The city code enforcement Vagos Motorcycle Club. trucks were discovered burning About 30 members of the at about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday at a Vagos, California's largest Hemet City Hall parking lot motorcycle gang, were arrested about two blocks from the in Riverside County last week as police department, authorities part of a crackdown across the said. The trucks were empty and state and in Arizona, Nevada no one was hurt. and Utah.

Although the trucks are not Since Dec. 31, police officers issued to police, investigators have survived three attempts to believe the arson is connected to kill them using bizarre booby threats and booby-trap attacks traps. aimed at an anti-gang task force A natural gas pipe was rerouted in Hemet, a desert city about 85 into the headquarters of a gang miles east of Los Angeles. task force but the flammable gas "The flames were going 2 to 3 was smelled before anyone was feet above the truck in both the hurt, police said. cab area and the hood area," In a second attack, a gun rigged police Chief Richard Dana said. to a security fence at the same Television reports showed building went off when an scorched hoods on the white officer opened the gate but the trucks, which are used by city bullet missed.

Submitted at 3/24/2010 7:42:39 AM

The third attack involved placing an explosive device to a police officer's unmarked car.

The device was discovered after he had driven to a convenience store. Police suspect the device was attached to the car but fell off.

"It's a constant pressure, a constant stress," Dana said.

"An officer goes out and they try to protect the public," Dana told KTLA-TV. "And at the same time you have to look over your own shoulder to see who's after you, or to look underneath your patrol car before you can get back in if it's been out of sight for five minutes, that you have to wonder what's outside the door as you step out the police department, makes for a very tense working atmosphere."

A $200,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the attacks.

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United States and so is not eligible to be president” 38 percent of Republicans (20 John Avlon says this new percent overall) say that Obama Harris poll is scary, and that’s is “doing many of the things that probably an understatement. Hitler did” Bad craziness has taken over the Scariest of all, 24 percent of right to an appalling degree.

Republicans (14 percent overall) O b a m a D e r a n g e m e n t say that Obama “may be the Syndrome—pathological hatred Antichrist.”%% of the president posing as These numbers all come from a patriotism—has infected the brand-new Louis Harris poll, Republican Party. Here’s new inspired in part by my new book data to prove it:%%LIST=67 Wingnuts. It demonstrates the percent of Republicans (and 40 cost of the campaign of fear and percent of Americans overall) hate that has been pumped up in b e l i e v e t h a t O b a m a i s a the service of hyper-partisanship socialist. over the past 15 months. We are 57 percent of Republicans (32 playing with dynamite by percent overall) believe that demonizing our president and Obama is a Muslim dividing the United States in the 45 percent of Republicans (25 process. What might be good for percent overall) agree with the ratings is bad for the country.

Birthers in their belief that Obama was “not born in the Submitted at 3/23/2010 9:26:37 AM

Video: Soldier v. gamer in Modern Warfare 2 showdown Nicholas Deleon (CrunchGear)

There’s no doubting it anymore: British TV is miles ahead of American TV. A show

over there called, quite descriptively, “ The Gadget Show,” pit a proper solider

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against the Xbox 360 controllerwielding host in a little Modern Warfare 2 showdown. I insist

that you watch it.

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Google addresses e-mail, apps concerns in China (CNET News.com) Submitted at 3/24/2010 7:27:00 AM

Now that China is playing hardball with Google by blocking some of its search results, are Gmail and Google Apps business customers at risk?

The search giant tried to address fears of a loss of service among enterprise customers using Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Docs by offering some technical solutions in a blog posted by the Google Apps team late Tuesday.

For Gmail and Google Apps business customers with operations and employees in China, Google cautioned that the Chinese government could at any time block access to those and other services in mainland China. As a remedy, the company is advising enterprise customers to implement such technical solutions as VPN (virtual private networking), SSH (secure shell) tunneling, or a proxy server.

This is Google's new dashboard that details service availability in mainland China.(Credit: Google) Services like VPN and SSH would allow employees in mainland China to tunnel into a corporate network outside of the country where they could freely access Gmail and other services.

As Google pointed out, many businesses with global

operations already have these types of technical solutions in place. Companies that don't should work with their own IT staff to find the right solution, advised Google.

Google has also set up a status dashboard for China that shows which services are available and which are blocked. From Sunday through Tuesday, the board showed no issues for Gmail but indicated that Google Docs is being partially blocked.

Google obviously doesn't want the turmoil in China to affect the global use and growth of its services such as Gmail and Google Apps. The company ended its blog by stating, "We recognize that these issues are not unique to Google; many technology companies serving users in China face challenges in providing access to their services, and we don't see [Monday's] news [that we are no longer filtering search results in mainland China] changing how we serve you moving forward."

Google's warnings and advice to enterprise customers followed news on Tuesday that China has started blocking certain Google searches in response to the company's decision to stop filtering its Google.cn search results. Rather than shut down its Chinese search engine, Google simply moved it offshore to Hong Kong as a way of skirting China's censorship rules. Users in mainland China

who run a Google search now are redirected to the Hong Kong site.

In response, the Chinese government hasn't completely shut off access to Google's search results as it has with services like YouTube and Blogger. But people in mainland China are reportedly having trouble accessing Web sites that appear in search results for what China deems sensitive topics.

Google did acknowledge

repercussions of its showdown with the Chinese government may already be affecting the company.

On Wednesday, the Chinese Web portal Tianya.cn said it would take over control of two services that it had created and formerly run with Google, according to the Associated Press. Though neither Google nor Tianaya.cn could confirm why this action was taken, one analyst quoted by the AP said the portal could have been pressured to distance itself from Google, or it could simply be that Google is trying to break off more of its ties to China.

One person who has more than a vested interest in the GoogleChina conflict is Google cofounder Sergey Brin. In an interview with the U.K.-based Guardian, Brin called on the U.S. government to take a greater stand against China's censorship of the Internet.

Wednesday that it is still Urging Washington to make this censoring searches in China for issue a high priority, he told the customers that had contracts Guardian that "since services requiring filtered search results, and information are our most the Associated Press reported. successful exports, if regulations But Google made it clear that all in China effectively prevent us censoring currently done in from being competitive, then China will eventually be phased they are a trade barrier."

Brin expressed regret over the out. decision to censor search results In its Tuesday blog, Google when Google set up shop in also said it intends to maintain business operations in mainland China in 2006. But he also was China, including R&D and sales surprised over the negative GOOGLE page 35 operations. But the business

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Etacts Transforms Your Gmail into a Contact Management Hub Ben Parr (Mashable!)

Submitted at 3/23/2010 9:57:35 PM

Etacts, which just presented earlier today at Y Combinator’s Demo Day, is an attempt to bring advanced customer relationship management to your personal contacts list via a few simple features and a slick Gmail integration.

Let’s all just agree: Contact management is a pain in the butt. You want to keep in touch with your friends, business contacts and others, but solutions such as Google Contacts don’t offer advanced customer relationship management (CRM) features like what you see in Salesforce — even though a lot of us could use it. That’s a need Etacts seeks to meet.

Signing up for Etacts essentially occurs in one step: You connect to Etacts via Gmail Oauth. Once that’s done, it

automatically imports your Google Contacts into its database and provides you with great information, such as how many e-mail conversations you’ve had with someone, when you first contacted someone, the amount of days since last contact and more.

The usefulness of this data becomes immediately apparent as soon as you see it.

The usefulness ramps up to another level when you start using the system to remind you to reconnect with friends and business contacts. You can tell Etacts to remind you to contact your professor once every year

or your friend in VC every month. It will e-mail you these reminders.

The killer feature is Gmail integration. Within your Gmail, Etacts will integrate with your email and remind you if someone hasn’t followed up with you, display social media contact information, and provide a general overview of your contacts.

The website is simple and still sparse, but with a bit of effort, Etacts could become a central hub for contact management.

The company believes that people will eventually spend “hours a day” within Etacts, because it will be your gateway to your friends.

What are your thoughts on Etacts? What contact tools do you use, and what features are they missing? Let us know in the comments. Reviews: Gmail Tags: Etacts, gmail, y combinator

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GOOGLE continued from page 34

reaction the company received when it announced that it would stop complying with Chinese censorship.

"We have always opposed [censorship] but obviously we have now taken a stronger point of view," Brin told the Guardian. "I was surprised immediately after our January announcement how much resentment there appeared to be among free marketeers."

Brin also expressed hope that the U.S. government and other companies can put more pressure on China to loosen the reins of censorship. "I hope the political system in China

evolves so that we can have more direct involvement again," he told the Guardian. "I hope this leads to a path where the doors start to open more."

In a related development, the Guardian reported that a Google search for "Google executives" sends people to a Chinese language site. More details on the possible hack will follow.

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Greeks Most Likely in EU to Struggle With Bills (All Gallup Headlines)

EU to say their households have trouble keeping up with day-toSubmitted at 3/24/2010 3:15:00 AM day bills. A Flash [ fivefilters.org: unable to Eurobarometer survey shows a retrieve full-text content] With majority of Greeks (57%) -their country facing the worst including many who didn't have debt crisis in the euro's history, these problems before -- are Greeks are the most likely in the struggling or falling behind.

Fantastic Four #50 (Little Green Footballs)

This is the third in a series that started with issue #48 — “The Coming of Galactus,” which Here’s a highly prized comic marked the first-ever appearance book in the Lizard Collection: a of the Silver Surfer. The Lizard very well-preserved copy of Collection also contains issues Fantastic Four #50. It’s one of 48 and 49 in the Galactus story, the books we’re planning to and I’ll post photos of them comics are valuable even apart submit to the CGC for grading. soon. You can see why these Submitted at 3/23/2010 9:41:30 PM

from the rarity — the artwork and inking is exceptional throughout. And all produced in the days before Photoshop.

(The reflections are caused by the acid-free plastic bags in which the comics are stored. We didn’t want to risk taking them out of the bags to photograph

them, and didn’t have an ideal picture-shooting situation with lights and umbrellas. The photos I’ll be posting are purely for documentation purposes, and were taken with a tripodmounted Canon G10 or a Canon A720.)

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Apple gains 19% share of portable gaming market, 5% of everything Mike Schramm (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 3/24/2010 8:00:00 AM

Filed under: Gaming Flurry's got lots of new data this week -earlier, we heard that 44% of apps coming to the iPad are going to be games, and now they're saying that Apple is making huge headway into the gaming market overall.

According to the latest numbers, the iPhone OS has nabbed 15% of the mobile game market away from bigger handhelds like the Nintendo DS and the PSP, and the iPhone itself has actually claimed 5% of the worldwide video game market. That's pretty astounding. In just a few years, the iPhone has picked up

a sizeable amount of share in one of the biggest markets in the world, and Apple has done it all while actually selling the device as a smartphone.

What's even more amazing is that Apple has done all of this without actually making a single

game themselves. Video game console manufacturers have long had to deal with the relationship between first-party and third-party games -Nintendo, especially, has struggled with getting their third -party software up to snuff. For

there's no question at all that a bigger touchscreen can, and will, create a whole new experience for gamers. The iPhone has come a long way in the past year and a half, but I'd expect the iPad to take an even bigger bite out of the game industry after all is said and done. [via iPhone Savior] TUAW Apple gains 19% share of portable gaming market, 5% Apple, however, there is no first o f e v e r y t h i n g o r i g i n a l l y -party; they just open up the appeared on The Unofficial App Store and let the sales fly. Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Of course, that drum beating Wed, 24 Mar 2010 08:00:00 you hear in the distance is the EST. Please see our terms for iPad. While Apple has, again, use of feeds. focused on productivity and Read| Permalink| Email this| media rather than gaming, Comments

Happy birthday! Mac OS X turns 9 Michael Grothaus (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 3/24/2010 7:30:00 AM

Filed under: OS It was nine years ago today that Mac OS X 10.0 was born -- or became available to the general public anyway. On September 13, 2000 Apple released a public beta called "Kodiak" (think of this as OS X's conception). On March 24, 2001 Apple effectively ditched OS 9 for the current generation OS that would allow

ultimate scalability for the 2003 coming decades. Since then, • 10.4 Tiger -- April 29, 2005 Mac OS X has had seven or • 10.4 Intel Tiger -- January 10, eight major versions depending 2006 on who you ask. Jobs • 10.5 Leopard -- October 26, considered Mac OS X 10.4.4 2007 major version since it was • 10.6 Snow Leopard -- August totally rewritten to run on Intel 28, 2009 chips. Here's a list of the names and subsequent release dates for Check out the gallery below for all the versions thus far. screen shots of each versions • 10.0 Cheetah -- March 24, and also don't forget to send in • 10.2 Jaguar -- August 24, your suggestions to help us tell 2001 • 10.1 Puma -- September 25, 2002 Apple what you want to see in • 10.3 Panther -- October 24, the next version of Mac OS X! 2001

Gallery: Mac OS Xs TUAW Happy birthday! Mac OS X turns 9 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 24 Mar 2010 07:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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37

Apple to make an HDTV within two to four years?

Mike Schramm (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

does sound like something Apple might want to do.

Munster also says that such a Submitted at 3/24/2010 10:00:00 AM service could be ported to the Filed under: Apple TV The iPhone and iPad for a wireless famous Gene Munster, an solution as well, and that makes analyst at Piper Jaffray, has it a pretty tempting idea. another wacky prediction for us: Yet again, that presumes Apple within the next two years, he wants to get involved in says, Apple will release a television, and with most of connected HDTV. their attention already focused Unlikely, to say the least -- the on bringing content to the iPad, thinking around the virtual that's a bit of a stretch. I guess TUAW offices is that Munster's combining "hardware, software, we'll wait and see. Would you way off base on this one. Not and content will become a key buy an all-in-one TV and only is the HDTV market pretty selling point for TVs" in the subscription from Apple if that's darn price sensitive (Apple is, of future, and Apple does that very, what they decided to do? course, not one to compete on very well. He says that the TUAW Apple to make an price), but Apple has always natural evolution for the Apple HDTV within two to four years? considered television "a hobby," TV is to build an all-in-one originally appeared on The and they're not likely to take on solution with a screen for about U n o f f i c i a l A p p l e W e b l o g a whole new market unless they $2000, and that Apple might (TUAW) on Wed, 24 Mar 2010 think they can do something even offer a subscription service 10:00:00 EST. Please see our in order to completely oversee terms for use of feeds. different.

However, we'll give Munster t h e p r o d u c e r - t o - c o n s u m e r Read| Permalink| Email this| h i s c h a n c e . H e s a y s t h a t relationship. Admittedly, that Comments

Who Really Has the Fastest 3G Network? [3G] John Herrman & Kyle VanHemert (Gizmodo)

time for AT&T to pass the champion's belt? Not yet, but maybe soon. More »

Submitted at 3/24/2010 11:00:00 AM

Turn on your TV, and AT&T will tell you it's them, but when

you use T-Mobile's beefed up 3G you'll be sure it's not. Is it

Toyota’s bad luck the result of cosmic rays?

Nicholas Deleon (CrunchGear)

crashes, mainly, which is a problem if your car has more in common with an Intel Core i7 Submitted at 3/24/2010 8:30:43 AM than a Chevy Nomad. (Special C o u l d c o s m i c r a y s b e thanks to Matt for supplying me responsible for Toyota’s recent with the name of a classic woes? It sounds like the stuff of American car.) sci-fi, but it may well be all too Toyota, of course, has real. Italics mean business. rubbished these claims, saying So the story is that cosmic rays t h a t i t s e l e c t r o n i c s a r e have been known to interfere e n g i n e e r e d f o r “ a b s o l u t e with other electronics and forms reliability.” And who knows, of transportation here on Earth, maybe it’s right? After all, including computer systems and wasn’t one of those high-profile aircraft, so the theory is that, Prius crashes said to be the well, maybe these same rays are likely result of driver error, and s c r e w i n g w i t h T o y o t a ’ s not any sort of engineering vehicles? Toyota loads its cars flaw? with electronics (far more so Incidentally, cosmic rays are than other manufacturers, which the reason why CrunchGear is would explain these rays have down as often as it is. only affected Toyota), but the I, for one, would like to see company has, so far, insisted what actual engineers think of that its problems are mechanical Toyota’s problems. So, any in nature—sticky pedals and the engineers in the house? Any like. idea what’s going on, or what What could these mysterious avenues should be explored? cosmic rays cause? Software

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Sony calls Nintendo 3DS 'a little bit of a stretch' (CNET News.com) Submitted at 3/24/2010 8:05:44 AM

Is this the other 3D gaming device?(Credit: Sony) Sony reportedly believes that Nintendo's foray into the 3D space with its 3DS isn't a very good idea.

Speaking to IGN in an interview, Sony director of hardware marketing John Koller said that he's not quite sold on the 3DS and wonders if it will enjoy the kind of broad market appeal some of Nintendo's previous portables have, due to Nintendo's perceived young audience.

"Having been in the portable space for quite awhile, I think it's an interesting move but one I'd like to see where they go from a demographic standpoint," Koller said, according to the article, adding, "8- and 9-year-olds playing 3D is a little bit of a stretch given where some of our research is right now."

For its part, Sony believes that the future in 3D is in the console. Koller said Sony intends to invest in 3D gaming for its PlayStation 3. A firmware update bringing 3D gaming to

T9 Trace lets you Swype through your text messages Vladislav Savov (Engadget)

taps for the grace of tracing, it promises to be a real fun and Submitted at 3/24/2010 10:49:00 AM rapid way to input text. Nuance You may or may not yet be has bundled the whole thing aware of the Swype virtual with error correction, word keyboard (comes preloaded on prediction and auto-completion, the Cliq XT from Motorola), but while supporting 70 languages. you'll definitely be hearing The company has yet to tell us a b o u t t h e T 9 T r a c e f r o m when the T9 Trace will be the PS3 is coming at some point 3 D S w i l l c a u s e a s i m i l a r N u a n c e . T h i s i s b e c a u s e , s h o w i n g u p o n p h o n e s in the future. reaction remains to be seen. It's although it's fundamentally the (touchscreens only, for obvious At CES earlier this year, Sony also worth noting that Sony same thing as Swype (but from reasons), but you can check out showed off the PS3 running 3D competes in the mobile market a different maker), the T9 Trace video of the competing Swype g a m e s . C N E T e d i t o r J e f f with its PSP, so it makes sense is on offer from the company implementation after the break.

Bakalar had the opportunity to for the company to chime in on behind the T9 predictive text Continue reading T9 Trace lets p l a y W i p e o u t 3 D o n t h e the 3DS. But once the 3DS hits dictionary that pretty much you Swype through your text PlayStation 3 there and said the store shelves, it should be everyone from your 7-year old messages e x p e r i e n c e w a s " t r u l y interesting to see if Sony's nephew to your octogenarian T9 Trace lets you Swype grandpa has used. The big idea through your text messages immersive." Bakalar said after predictions come true. playing 3D titles on the PS3, Five Filters featured article: here is that you trace out the originally appeared on Engadget he's "officially a believer in Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: word on your virtual keyboard on Wed, 24 Mar 2010 10:49:00 gaming in the third dimension." PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, without lifting your finger off, EST. Please see our terms for with short stops at each letter use of feeds. Permalink Mobile Whether or not the Nintendo Term Extraction. you want to add being taken for Burn| Nuance| Email this| input. Once you get over the Comments seemingly unintuitive idea of abandoning those woodpecker

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Yahoo! introduces Sketch-a-Search iPhone app

Coming soon: 50% lighter LCD TVs

Michael Grothaus (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

Serkan Toto (CrunchGear) Submitted at 3/24/2010 8:02:59 AM

Submitted at 3/24/2010 11:00:00 AM

Filed under: App Store Yahoo! yesterday introduced a new app called Sketch-a-Search to the iPhone. It's one of the first search apps I've seen that actually takes a new, novel approach to search taking advantage of the iPhone's multitouch features.

It's simple and easy to use. You launch the app and a split-screen comes up. On the top you have a Google map (yeah, the irony) and on the bottom you have a blank slate. Right in the middle you have a green button. Drag the Google map around to your desired position, touch the green button to lock the map in place, then use your finger to draw a shape (circle, square, squiggly -it doesn't matter) around any area of the map. Once your shape is connected at the ends your search results will immediately be listed on the bottom part of the split-screen.

Right now the app only searches restaurants in the US, but Yahoo! says they be launching additional local categories on an ongoing basis and eventually give the app international support. All in all, it's a very cool app and at the cost of free, why not give it a try? Yahoo! Sketch-a-Search is available in the App Store now and requires an iPhone or iPod touch running OS 3.0 or later.

TUAW Yahoo! introduces Sketch-a-Search iPhone app originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 24 Mar 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Another possible breakthrough for LCD TVs? Researchers at Japanese chemical company Teijin and Yamaguchi University claim they have developed a new technology that makes it possible to halve the weight of LCD TVs. Conventional LCD displays are based on silicon solid-state devices on glass substrates, which “sandwich” liquid crystals. These devices generate heat when used, forcing manufacturers to go for heatresistant (heavy) glass substrates.

But according to the researchers, they placed a thin layer of heat-resistant silicon dioxide on plastic (polycarbonate, to be more exact) instead. The plastic is lighter than glass substrates, which need solid frames to make them more stable. Plastic substrate frames are

considerably lighter, with Teijin saying this will pave the way for LCD TVs that weigh 50% as much as normal.

The company also claims their production method will lead to clearer images (using plastic substrates makes it possible to build higher-power solid-state devices into the TVs). Teijin plans to enter a joint venture with a major electronics makes and commercialize their technology within the next three years.

Via The Nikkei[registration required, paid subscription]

Tiny Generators Charge Up From Random Vibrations In the Air [Generators] Adam Frucci (Gizmodo) Submitted at 3/24/2010 10:36:56 AM

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What's an easier green power source to acquire than sun or wind? Random ambient

that's exactly how some new generators juice up. More » vibrations, that's what. And

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CrunchDeals: Toshiba Blu-ray player only $99 @ Newegg Matt Burns (CrunchGear) Submitted at 3/24/2010 8:00:19 AM

Dear friend, I hope the letter carriers get this utmost urgent note to you on time. If so, there’s still a good chance that you’ll be able to acquire a brand new Toshiba Blu-ray player for only $99.

Think of your children. They need a Blu-ray player but not at the expense of other things. But this one from Newegg is so inexpensive that I hope you’ll be able to forgo a few speakeasy trips this month to cover it. You must, friend, you must. But hurry! T he deal is only good until 1:00pm PDT.

Tumblr Starts Offering Premium Themes Stan Schroeder (Mashable!)

Submitted at 3/24/2010 2:35:14 AM

Remember that little payment widget on Tumblr we talked about a couple of weeks ago?

One of the things it’s used for are premium themes, which are (besides the fee for getting your blog featured in Tumblr’s blog directory) Tumblr’s first

revenue generator.

Although monetization on blogging and microblogging networks is often mystified to the point that everyone expects something out of the ordinary, Tumblr took a very simple and basic route. Users have already had a big choice of “regular,” free themes. Now, those that want something more or

something specific (like the Photofolio theme, for example), now have a choice of 13 premium themes which cost from $9 to $49.

This addition comes hot on the heels of several other important updates, such as static pages, direct video uploads and a BlackBerry app. Besides that, Tumblr posted some impressive

numbers and milestones two weeks ago, showing that it’s still growing and carving an increasingly important niche with its “dead simple blogging” approach.

You can browse the Premium theme portfolio here.

Tags: themes, tumblr

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Kulula Responds To FIFA Legal Threats With Hilarious Clarifying Ad

The Stupid Reason the World's Biggest Book Publisher Is Avoiding the iPad Like the Plague [Ipad]

Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

matt buchanan (Gizmodo)

Submitted at 3/24/2010 6:35:40 AM

In response to our post about FIFA threatening Kulula airlines in South Africa over its advertisment jokingly declaring itself the "unofficial national carrier of the 'you-know-what'," JJ sends over the news that Kulula has put together a new ad that looks similar to the old ad, but which changes the text to the even more ambiguous: "Not Next Year, Not Last Year, But Somewhere in Between" to

avoid saying the dreaded "2010." The artwork in the ad is similar to the original, but clarifies that each thing that you

might interpret as being about the World Cup is actually about something else. For example, the vuvuzelas (horns) are "definitely, definitely golf tees" and the guy who looks like he might be playing football is actually just a "man putting his right foot in, his right foot out and shaking it all about." Small versions are below, but be sure to click through for the larger versions: Original ad Latest ad Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

Submitted at 3/24/2010 10:54:43 AM

You'll notice a major book publisher is missing from this actually. More Âť slide: Random House, the biggest one in the world,

Canonical Ubuntu One Music Service Goes Into Public Beta Alex Williams (ReadWriteWeb)

Sponsor Canonical has unveiled the public beta of its Ubuntu One Submitted at 3/23/2010 1:53:12 PM music store that gives a glimpse We store music on iTunes of what cloud computing may despite its stringent DRM, offer as an alternative to storing preventing us from freely music on our hard drives or a sharing music. But like any proprietary service like iTunes. innovation in the marketplace, it This is new territory. As takes time for us to determine Canonical point out, integrating what is acceptable and what is a cloud service like Ubuntu One not. The promise of cloud with buying music is new for computing and the ability to digital music stores. store limitless amounts of music Ubuntu One serves as a desktop may perhaps be that turning music service that stores the point. music in the cloud and syncs it But it could also mark a more with your computer. It allows stringent time than we have ever someone to purchase music and known. then store it in their Ubuntu One

account. Ubuntu One also serves as a service to store other kinds of information such as images or documents.

The service will go live in late April to coincide with Ubuntu's new release. In the meantime, Canonical is looking for beta testers to give it a try. Helpful infomation is on the Popey blog: As with everything in Ubuntu Lucid, the developers are keen to get people testing the store before Lucid is shipped at the end of April. If you're running Ubuntu Lucid either on bare metal or inside a Virtual

Machine, it would help greatly if you could take some time to test this new functionality. So far only a very limited number of beta testers have been using the store, so opening up the store to public scrutiny should generate plenty of feedback to the developers.

These are the early days of music services that allows you to purchase, store music in the cloud and sync with your computer or smartphone And it comes with definite kinks. The Ubuntu One service is free for up to 2 gigabytes of storage. If you go beyond that you start to pay. That could happen pretty

quickly as people can use the service to store any kind of information they want.

Plus, there are the copyright laws that have had to be taken into consideration for the service.

Music, in some respects, defines how we view the ways we store information. Music is deeply personal. We want easy access to it. We want it always to be there. Cloud services may provide this capability but they also run the risk of acting as walled gardens that can be controlled perhaps even more easily than a service like iTunes.

Discuss

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The Big Challenge Now Is Implementing Health Care Reform (AEI.Org: Articles) Submitted at 3/23/2010 4:00:00 PM

First, a word about Stewart Udall, who died last week. I admit I have a very soft spot for the Udall clan, including not just Stewart's son Tom and his nephew Mark, both now serving in the Senate, but also their cousin, former Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.). This family has an ethos of public service, combined with immense civility and decency, and a collective sense of humor that was best typified by Mark's late father, Mo, whom I was proud to call my friend. Stewart demonstrated those qualities in his service in Congress as well as his time as secretary of the Interior and his landmark lifelong efforts to improve the environment. He will be missed, but he leaves a hell of a legacy in his family.

Now on to the topic of the day and year. Of course, passing health care reform was a huge victory for President Barack Obama and his White House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her leadership team, House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (DCalif.) and the substantive gurus who found the right formula and also showed how the bill would benefit each and every Congressional district, and to the memory of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.). It was also a huge tribute to Rep.

John Dingell (D-Mich.), who finally achieved the goal of his life and played a pivotal role in the critical endgame through his relationship with Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.).

I will assume that the Senate will get through this by the weekend or very soon thereafter.

I was skeptical that the Senate Republicans' main point of order, challenging the reconciliation bill on the grounds that the changes in taxation of high-end health plans affect Social Security outlays, would prevail--after all, many prior reconciliation bills included tax changes that had an indirect effect on Social Security and passed parliamentary muster. I also suspect that the tactic of offering unlimited amendments to do a filibuster by amendment will be limited in duration; after the House action and the public belief that this issue is effectively decided, any interminable delay for delay's sake will create a significant backlash.

After that comes the hard part.

This reform plan is neither socialism nor a government takeover of the health care system, and its sweep in some important ways has been overstated--the outlays here over 10 years amount to less than 4 percent of what the nation will spend on health. But it is complicated because it makes

significant changes in the public and private components of the health care system, and the complications extend to all its efforts to "bend the cost curve."

Its promise to save money over the next 10 and 20 years has real potential; every idea for cost control that health specialists have suggested is in the bill in one form or another. But the reality will be shaped by the implementation of the program, and that in turn will be shaped by the people in charge of implementation.

The skepticism about the projected cost savings here is based in part on a misconception --that every health plan enacted

by Congress has exaggerated potential savings and underestimated costs. That is false, and the best example is the Medicare Part D program enacted in circumstances at least as controversial as this reform bill. That bill passed the House in the dead of night after the infamous three-hour vote, which included the attempted shakedown on the floor of thenRep. Nick Smith (R-Mich.) that earned then-Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and Rep. Candice Miller (R-Mich.) rebukes from the ethics committee. It also included a conference committee that locked out both Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and Sen. Jay Rockefeller (DW.Va.) from the deliberations.

And it included an effort to silence the Medicare chief actuary before he could give cost estimates for the bill.

The Medicare prescription drug bill was the poster child for violations of the regular order and brought with it dire predictions of huge cost overruns, magnified even more because the bill included no offsets to pay for it. But the fact is that the program has consistently produced far lower costs than either the Congressional Budget Office or its critics predicted and projected. Why? One reason was that the elements that thenWays and Means Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) built into the program to enhance competition and reduce costs actually worked. But I believe the most significant reason for this program's success at cost control was the skillful implementation of the program by Mark McClellan, then-director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

McClellan got the program off to a smooth start, figured out the best ways to communicate the essentials of it to seniors--not the easiest audience to reach using modern communications or to adapt to change--managed to coordinate the efforts of Medicare, pharmaceutical companies, pharmacies and the other key actors, and made sure that loopholes and glitches were

kept to a minimum.

I raise this issue now because the mastery of the Obama administration in achieving the passage of health care reform has been paired with inexcusable ineptitude when it comes to putting into place the key player to implement this new and pivotal program.

Fourteen months into the Obama presidency, we have no director of the CMS--and we don't even have a nominee! Cost containment in Medicare and Medicaid is in sight for the first time because of some laudable reforms in the health care bill, but achieving them will depend on leadership in this position.

The presidential nomination and confirmation process is seriously broken. Dozens of worthy and competent nominees are twisting in the wind in the Senate, delayed for months by holds that are often petty, shortsighted and even wholly unrelated to the poor people waiting to be confirmed. It is no way to govern, and the Senate should be individually and collectively ashamed at this shortsighted abuse of power-and should act on reform of the process.

But there is plenty of fault to aim at the White House, which has itself been inexplicably slow at picking nominees for key posts. None is more important BIG page 47

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THE READ: Big Ideas (Don’t Get Any) Ruth Franklin (The New Republic - All Feed) Submitted at 3/23/2010 9:00:00 PM

I don’t normally send fan notes to writers. After all, I’m a critic; if I want a writer to know I liked his or her book, I ought to do it in print. But I made an exception for Lionel Shriver, partly because I didn’t discover her last novel, The PostBirthday World, until it was too late for me to review it, but also because it is one of the wisest and most original books about love I’ve ever encountered. The book describes a fortyish woman named Irina who lives peacefully with her steadfast partner Lawrence until one fateful night, when she suddenly discovers her attraction to a mutual friend of theirs, a professional snooker player (all this takes place in England) named Ramsey who is glamorous, flashy, and passionate—everything that staid Lawrence isn’t. From this moment on, the novel splits into two alternating strands, so that it is essentially two books in one.

In the first, Irina gives in to temptation, kisses Ramsey, and eventually runs off with him, abandoning her former lifestyle to throw herself into his world.

In the other, she resists the impulse and returns to Lawrence, cohabiting with him in domestic placidity while continuing to contemplate how

things might have gone differently. Handled by a less subtle writer, this conceit could feel like a gimmick, but Shriver interweaves the strands with great skill, using each to mirror the other. In the end, the book’s ingenious structure becomes a perfect mirror of the dilemma Irina faces—the classic dichotomy of stability versus passion—and the ultimate exploration of what might have been.

What moved me to write to Shriver, in addition to simple admiration, was a sense of injustice on her behalf, because her tough, complicated, brilliant novel had gone largely unappreciated by critics who seemed almost willfully to misunderstand it. (Its best review came from Entertainment Weekly.) The reviewer for The Guardian divided the strands into “Good Irina” and “Bad Irina,” failing to recognize that Shriver had carefully avoided any kind of moral judgment regarding her character’s choices. The Times reviewer thought the book was about “the slow, excruciating death of lust in long-term relationships.” I was mystified by this, because I thought, if anything, the novel wore its obsessions a little too plainly.

Shriver isn’t the kind of writer who lets her themes bubble up opaquely; she seizes them and interrogates them for all they’re

worth. The resulting no-stoneleft-unturned sensation can be a little exhausting, but it’s also exhilarating to be in the presence of a writer who exercises her intelligence so vigorously.

Shriver and I struck up a friendly acquaintance, and when we eventually had lunch together last summer, she told me she was finishing a new novel about health insurance. I was pleased on her behalf that she had chosen such a timely subject, figuring that her book would be sure to get a lot of attention. It’s still early— So Much for That just came out a couple of weeks ago—but I’ve been surprised to see, again, that critics in America aren’t getting this book. (The British critics are doing better this time.)

Compared with The PostBirthday World, Shriver’s new novel springs from a relatively simple premise. Shep Knacker has squirreled away nearly $1 million from the sale of his handyman business, but he is forced to abandon his dream of living on the cheap on a remote island when his wife is diagnosed with a rare, virulent, incurable form of cancer. He has to stick with his job because she needs his insurance, which they soon discover to be laughably inadequate for the kind of medical care she requires. After a year of paying for her treatment (out-of-network, of

course), combined with additional demands on his finances from his aging father and his layabout sister, Shep winds up bankrupt and desperate.

The difficulty with Shriver’s work, I think, is that the form she has chosen—for all her novels, but especially this one—has largely fallen out of fashion. For lack of a better term, we could call it the “novel of ideas,” though her approach to it is more pragmatic than philosophical. Thirty years ago, in Ideas and the Novel, Mary McCarthy defended the novel form as an “idea-carrier,” lamenting the death of the nineteenth-century tradition of using novels as a vehicle for exploring political, religious, or social questions. Shriver has enthusiastically embraced this vision, investigating issues ranging from overpopulation ( Game Control) to high school shootings ( We Need to Talk About Kevin). Even a novel of ideas, of course, cannot be only about the ideas; as Denis Donoghue pointed out in a critical review of McCarthy’s book, “Ideas are vivid when they become motives in the person who holds them and lives by them … not in their intrinsic quality.” Shriver’s reviewers, however, have often failed to recognize this distinction.

Distracted, perhaps, by the novelty of being confronted

with a novel of ideas, they miss the deeper point.

Despite what Shriver told me at lunch, So Much for That is not actually a novel about health insurance. It is, instead, a novel of fury only barely contained, fury at an American way of life that is so broken and dysfunctional that it has become impossible for people to conduct their lives in a decent, humane way. Shep’s misfortune results not because he has made poor choices, but because he has always behaved as he was supposed to—working hard, paying his taxes—while the system he has been working for has betrayed him. Peopled with vivid, just-this-side-of-farcical characters and told with a rollicking narrative pace, So Much for That has the feel of an “entertainment,” but it exudes a cloud of rage and despair—a despair that becomes all the more poignant in the consoling confines of the bourgeois novel.

Its ripped-from-the-headlines topicality notwithstanding, So Much for That is no kind of polemic. The facts that it marshals are in service of a different purpose: to chronicle a particular moment of modern misery, a society so tortured that the only route to happiness might be simply to abandon it and start anew.

Ruth Franklin is a senior editor READ: page 45

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Unkind Contributions Michelle Cottle (The New Republic - All Feed)

Another notable outrage was not inviting enough big donors to the state dinner for Indian Prime Submitted at 3/23/2010 9:00:00 PM Minister Manmohan Singh. One There was a piece in Politico dissed contributor huffed that last week that did an impressive the event was treated more like job of simultaneously capturing “a big staff party” than an and embodying why so much of opportunity to smooch the America thinks our political backsides of those who’d system sucks. The headline read worked long and hard to fund “Elite Donors Dodge the DNC,” O b a m a ’ s campaign. and the gist was that the Obama (Admittedly, the contributor administration has so badly didn’t put it in those exact bungled the care and feeding of terms.) More broadly, according big-money contributors that fat to Politico’s interviews and its cat Dems aren’t flocking to perusal of White House visitor write their party big checks at logs, the Obamas have thus far the same rate rich Republicans failed to invite major funders to did when the Bushies ran this nearly as many private White t o w n . O h , s u r e , P o l i t i c o House tours, holiday parties, acknowledges, “the DNC’s Camp David sleepovers, and fundraising is humming along at private legislative briefings as a record pace,” but last year’s did their predecessors. haul was nowhere near the level But all is not lost, Politico of money-grubbing achieved by assures us. Among other signs the RNC under similar one- that lessons are being learned in party rule. And a prime reason, O b a m a l a n d , R o g e r s ’ s Politico posits, is that only 10 replacement will be Julianna percent of the president’s Smoot, who “brings a variety of biggest fundraisers, many of strengths to the job: She’s detail whom are “chafing at not - o r i e n t e d , s h e ’ s a s t r o n g getting enough love from the manager, and she knows both administration,” have ponied up the political and the donor the max. worlds.” “A lot of things need to A special raspberry went out to be fixed,” one White House the recently kicked-to-the-curb insider confided.

Desiree Rogers for, among other Well, color me happy. How sins, failing to make sure n i c e t o h e a r t h a t t h i s important supporters got their administration will at last begin White House Christmas cards. showing big donors the proper

degree of pucker. By all means, screw change we can believe in.

Let’s stick with the tried-andtrue model of giving the most attention, access, and deference to those who fork over the most cash. Financially aiding a presidential candidate who shares your progressive governing vision is all well and good, but, honestly, what’s the point if the guy doesn’t invite you over for movie night from time to time?

I realize all the rich Dems who tirelessly squeezed checks out of their rich friends for the campaign just want to feel appreciated. Fat cats need love too. But wasn’t part of Obama’s explicit appeal his vow to move politics away from the businessas-usual, pay-for-access mentality? For big-money Dems to jump on that bandwagon and then get their panties in a bunch when Obama tries to stick with that whole “change” mantra suggests a pathological arrogance: I knew he’d keep all those other losers at arm’s length, but I assumed he’d make an exception for me.

Besides, didn’t much of America—including establishment Washington and high-minded liberals—spend several years loudly and selfrighteously denouncing the ohso-vulgar Clintons for taking

donor maintenance to new and creative lows? I can remember the tut-tutting over the White House kaffeeklatsches like it was yesterday. And with all the finger-wagging about how Bill and Hill violated the sanctity of the Lincoln bedroom, you’d have thought the First Couple was running hookers out of the joint.

Today, it seems, we are supposed to be amazed at the way the Obama White House has dropped the ball on something so basic as sucking up. This, at least, is the breathless storyline being pedaled by Politico: If this president doesn’t climb down off his high horse and get busy “reenergizing major donors”—which the piece points out is “one of the quickest ways to fill the Democrats’ war chest”—slights like the forgotten holiday cards could result in “major repercussions in a year when the Democratic National Committee is going to need every possible resource to help the party’s congressional committees stave off major losses in the midterm elections.”

Indeed, to some degree, it’s hard to tell precisely how exercised big donors are versus how hard Politico is trying to generate buzz. Despite its alarmist frame, the piece is

s p r i n k l e d w i t h caveats—including that the DNC is, in fact, raising piles of cash, that it’s enjoying a rare funding edge over the RNC, that it is contending with other challenges (like the Obamaimposed prohibition on donations from lobbyists and PACs), and that most of the donors contacted say they do not feel neglected by the White House (although, what selfrespecting liberal would admit to being miffed that his contribution hadn’t bought more ass-kissing?). So maybe, hopefully, this is at least partially a case of journalistic overreach. Plenty of donors surely wish Obama would pitch a little more woo their way, but the idea that a significant number would sit on their checkbooks out of pique is too depressing. With pathetic, selfimportant friends like that, who needs political enemies?

Michelle Cottle is a senior editor of The New Republic.

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The Remnant Next Time E.J. Dionne Jr. (The New Republic - All Feed)

believe that conservatism challenges the progressive worldview in at least three Submitted at 3/23/2010 9:26:19 AM indispensable ways.

WASHINGTON--Every nation First, conservatives are n e e d s a n i n t e l l i g e n t a n d suspicious of innovation and c o n s t r u c t i v e f o r m o f therefore subject all grand plans conservatism. The debate over to merciless interrogation. Their the health care bill, which core question goes something mercifully came to a close on like this: Maybe you think this Sunday night, was not American new health (or education or conservatism's finest hour. environmental) plan is a great In its current incarnation, idea, Mr. Liberal, but will it conservatism has taken on an really work? What are its angry crankiness. It is caught up unintended consequences? Can in a pseudo-populism that true our governmental institutions conservatism should mistrust-- carry it off? Not all progressive what on Earth would Bill ideas pass the test. In the health Buckley have made of "death care debate, conservatives were panels"? The creed is caught up at their best when they shelved in a suspicion of all reform that the demagoguery and asked conservatives of the Edmund practical, focused questions.

B u r k e s t r i p e h a v e a l w a y s Second, conservatives respect warned against. Authentic old things and old habits. They conservatism is better than this. are not always right in this.

Conservatives, of course, are R a c i a l s e g r e g a t i o n a n d rightly suspicious that when d i s c r i m i n a t i o n a r e g o o d those on the left recommend a examples of "old ways" that "proper" role for the right, they were morally wrong. But an usually want a tame creed that a d m i r a t i o n f o r w h a t t h e doesn't really challenge any of conservative writer Russell Kirk the progressive fundamentals. c a l l e d " c u s t o m " a n d Still, I have written over the " c o n v e n t i o n " s p e a k s t o years with respect and some real something deep in the human affection for conservatism and heart. its writers and thinkers because I Our habits are the product of

READ: continued from page 43

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time, based on the slowly accumulated wisdom of our ancestors. That's why tradition should not be discarded lightly.

You don't have to be a conservative to agree with Kirk that custom and convention "are checks both upon man's anarchic impulse and upon the innovator's lust for power."

It's worth remembering that not only did Hitler's staunch opponents include the German left, but also, as the historian John Lukacs has insisted, conservative traditionalists horrified by the ways in which the Nazis were ripping apart German society and how they were treating other human beings.

Related to this is the third great contribution of conservatism: a suspicion of human nature and a belief that humans cannot be remolded like plastic.

Conservatives see a fallen side of human nature usually described in terms of original sin. And when utopians propose to create a New Man or a New Woman, the conservative typically cries: Stop!

From generation to generation, human nature doesn't really change. Efforts to alter it

typically lead to totalitarian forms of political and social catastrophe.

A society that fails to keep these conservative warnings in mind is likely to run into trouble. Yet our current forms of conservatism seem thoroughly un-conservative or, as Peter Viereck put it in the 1950s, "pseudo-conservative," which is an ally of pseudo-populism.

It's not just that the mob that gathered outside the Capitol to shout epithets at Democratic lawmakers before they voted on health care was disrespectful of the very norms that conservatism preaches. It's also that utopianism, typically a danger on the left, now runs rampant on the right.

Many who call themselves conservatives propose to cast aside even government programs that have stood the test of time. They seem to imagine a world in which government withers away, a phrase that comes from Friedrich Engels, not Buckley.

Or they tie themselves up in unruly contradictions, declaring simultaneously that they are dead-set against government-run health care and passionate

defenders of Medicare.

And while modern conservatism has usually supported the market against the state, its oldest and most durable brand understood that the market was an imperfect instrument. True conservatives may give "two cheers for capitalism," as Irving Kristol put it in the title of one of his books, but never three.

Perhaps I have just fallen into the very trap I warned against, seeking a conservatism that corrects, but doesn't oppose, progressivism.

But to my mind, conservatism has always made its greatest contribution as a corrective force that seeks to preserve the best of what we have. As our long and bitter health care debate winds to a close, might proponents of such a conservatism find an opening?

Are they still there?

E.J. Dionne's e-mail address is ejdionne(at)washpost.com. (c) 2010, Washington Post Writers Group Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Fattest State's Lawmakers Shed Pounds, Fried Stuff (Newsmax - Politics)

esteem has really improved," Hines said. "My endurance is wonderful now. I feel good In a gym at a tiny college in the about myself." capital of the most obese state in Lawmakers in other states have the nation, state Rep. John Hines held weight-loss contests, dropped his chest to the floor, though Mississippi's seems to be let out an "Aaaarrrrgggh!" and the most organized, said Joseph forced through a few final Nadglowski Jr., CEO of the pushups.

Florida-based Obesity Action H i n e s a n d 7 1 f e l l o w Coalition. lawmakers, 19 members of the And nowhere is there a greater governor's staff — though not need for a positive example. the portly governor himself — Mississippi has the highest and 21 "civilians" have been obesity rate in the nation, at 32.8 working out several days a week percent in 2008, the most recent since January to promote figure available from the healthful living in a culture that Centers for Disease Control and prizes its sweet tea and fried Prevention. Gov. Haley Barbour food. admits he struggles with weight They've shed more than 1,300 and recently tried to deflect pounds collectively, giving new questions about a possible run meaning to cutting the fat out of for the presidency in 2012 by state government. joking: "If you see me losing 40 H i n e s , a 6 - f o o t - 1 - i n c h pounds that means I'm either Democrat, said he started at running or have cancer." "well over 300 pounds," though Michelle Obama came to he declined to give a specific Jackson just last month to number. The 43-year-old has promote her "Let's Move" dropped 73 pounds — about one program that battles childhood -fifth of his entire weight — obesity. through the pre-dawn workouts Lawmakers started their fitness and can now wear a suit that's competition at the urging of a been too tight for two years. lobbyist who shed more than "I didn't know I had a self- 100 pounds last year. esteem problem, but my selfLegislators go to Millsaps Submitted at 3/24/2010 12:28:03 AM

College, a private school a couple of miles north of the Capitol, to run sprints, lift weights and tackle football blocking dummies. They do mixed martial arts and jog stairs.

The 12-week workout program has drawn together participants across party, race, gender and age boundaries. It costs $600, but participants in the legislative program aren't paying.

Corporate sponsors are picking up the tab — something that's not prohibited by state ethics rules. Weekly weight-loss winners receive cash prizes that they donate to schools.

The workouts change each day, and none of the exercises is for wimps.

"Pump it up! Pump it up! Keep working! Keep working," weightlifting coach Ryan Jones yelled over rock music blaring in the gym during a recent 6 a.m. session. The music was so loud that only the pulsing beat, and not the tune, could be distinguished.

As colleagues did situps and pumped weights, Rep. Mary Coleman of Jackson, a 63-yearold Democrat, stepped up onto a machine to do chinups. She hesitated a few seconds, so

Ryan got in her face and yelled, "Pull up! Pull up!"

"I'm trying," Coleman said, sweaty and exasperated but renewing her effort.

The main coach for the workout program is 35-year-old Paul Lacoste, who was a linebacker at Mississippi State University and briefly played pro ball. He goes to the Capitol once a week to report to each chamber how their members are doing. The leading chamber each week gets to keep a marble trophy shaped like the state of Mississippi.

"You take the fattest state in the fattest country. We're the fattest people in the world, and now our elected officials are saying, 'Enough's enough. It's time for us to make a change,'" Lacoste said.

Nadglowski, with the Obesity Action Coalition, said the key for the Mississippi officials will be avoiding a return to their fried foods and sedentary habits when the 12-week program is over.

"Going on a diet and losing 40 pounds — congratulations, that's great. But if the 40 pounds returns over the next year or two, obviously that's not the kind of lifelong change we need

to see," he said.

Several lawmakers say they're changing their eating habits by seeking out grilled chicken and green vegetables and avoiding fried foods, red meat and desserts.

"You talk to a lot of the people who are doing this and they've changed so much about their lives," Lacoste said. "They're not going out. They're staying away from the lobbyists' liquor."

Hines, who represents the Mississippi River town of Greenville, said he hasn't touched alcohol since January.

He said his mother is making fewer fried foods and more green vegetables for Sunday dinners, and his family is fully behind his new fitness plan: "My daughter said I'm getting sexier by the day." © Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Only Neo Would Be Able to Read This Watch [Watch] Jesus Diaz (Gizmodo)

Hello Tokyowatch. Are you out of your goddamn mind? Yes,

yes you are. More »

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BIG

Presumed Innocent?

Benjamin Wittes (The New Republic - All Feed) Submitted at 3/23/2010 9:00:00 PM

The attacks on the Justice Department lawyers who had represented Guantanamo detainees angered me for several distinct reasons. They typified a growing culture of incivility in the politics of national security and law that I have always loathed and have spoken against repeatedly. They sought to delegitimize the legal defense of politically unpopular clients and to impose a kind of ideological litmus test on Justice Department service. They were also, at least in part, about friends and professional acquaintances. And they reminded me painfully of other friends during the Bush administration who had been similarly slimed and for whom the bar had failed to stand up.

The criticism had been simmering for some time in newspaper columns and editorials, but it exploded in the public arena with the nowinfamous web ad by a group called Keep America Safe. The video, ostensibly about the Justice Department’s unwillingness to release the names of all of the lawyers who had worked on Gitmo, brands the unknown ones as the “Al Qaeda 7” and wonders “Why the secrecy” behind them?

“Whose values do they share?”

The two lawyers whose identities were already public—Principal Deputy Solicitor General Neal Katyal and an official in the department’s National Security Division named Jennifer Daskal—saw individual articles blasting them. Citing their service, The New York Post asked in a January editorial, “Whose side is the Justice Department on: America's—or the terrorists'?” When the latest video appeared, I typed out a simple statement and began circulating it among colleagues for signatures.

I am a peculiar choice to organize what The New York Times later called“a Who’s Who of former Republican administration officials and conservative legal figures”—not being a former GOP official, a conservative, or even a lawyer. I occupy a strange place in the current debate over law and terror, sympathetic to important arguments made by both right and left. I have fiercely criticized both the Bush a d m i n i s t r a t i o n ’ s counterterrorism policies and t h e O b a m a administration’s—and fiercely defended both as well.

Yet as the attacks mounted, I wondered whether centrist and conservative lawyers, some of whom had suffered similar attacks themselves, would take a strong stand in defense of the

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continued from page 42

Obama Justice Department lawyers. The answer, it turns out, was as encouraging as the attacks themselves were dispiriting. These lawyers responded with an outpouring of enthusiasm, resulting in a powerful rebuke to the political operatives who had launched the attacks.

Neal Katyal came under fire for having represented Salim Hamdan, Osama Bin Laden’s driver, in a challenge to the Bush administration’s original system of trying detainees in military commissions—a challenge that ultimately resulted in a landmark Supreme Court decision striking down the system in the absence of congressional authorization.

“It's just insane,” The New York Post huffed, “that a lawyer who defended Osama bin Laden's driver and bodyguard—and who sought constitutional rights for terrorists—could be one of the Obama administration's top legal officials.”

Katyal, who is a good friend whom I first met back when he was still in law school, is a perfectly absurd target for conservative slings and arrows.

Far from a conventional liberal, he has been one of the few truly distinctive voices in what has become a sterile and ideologically predictable debate over counterterrorism in the years since September 11.

(Disclosure: Katyal also once

collaborated with me on a project on the statutory law of counterterrorism jointly undertaken by the Georgetown University Law Center, where he then taught, the Brookings Institution, and the Hoover Institution.)

Katyal’s principal interest was not in defending Hamdan but in establishing the principle that the executive branch could not set up military commissions without going to Congress. In the course of the Hamdan case, however, he and his co-counsel had a duty to minimize their client’s role in Al Qaeda—though Katyal himself focused almost exclusively on the legal challenge, not on the factual defense. One might have wished on Katyal’s behalf that his client had been as pure as the driven snow—Hamdan was accused not merely of being a driver but of ferrying missiles as well—but angels don’t tend to end up in front of military commissions, and the test case for the system was destined to have some ugly facts that counsel would have to downplay or contest. To have done otherwise would have been unethical.

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than the head of the CMS. The president and his Congressional allies deserve a victory dance over the remarkable achievement of enacting major health care reform. It could well be a pyrrhic victory if the president doesn't get his team in gear and get a CMS team in place pronto.

Norman J. Ornstein is a resident scholar at AEI. P h o t o C r e d i t : iStockphoto/stevecoleccs Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Katherine Heigl is 'Done' with 'Grey's Anatomy' (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 3/24/2010 7:36:00 AM

It's official! Dr. Izzie Stevens is leaving Seattle Grace.

“I am done,” actress Katherine Heigl tells Entertainment Weekly of her decision to scrub out of "Grey's Anatomy."

"We just finalized our agreement. Everyone had been working really hard to find an amicable and gracious way of letting go and moving on. It’s sad but it’s what I wanted.”

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Florida's Meek Hopes to Inherit Senate (Newsmax - Politics)

Dominican restaurant. "I don't see it as wasted ink as it relates to newspapers when the KISSIMMEE, Fla. - With all coverage is the dirty and nasty the attention being paid to the Republican primary. To the Republican Senate primary average voter that's out there between former state House trying to make ends meet, Speaker Marco Rubio and Gov. they're turned off by that."

Charlie Crist, it may be easy to Mr. Meek, 43, has a primary of forget that there's another major his own - former Miami Mayor candidate seeking the seat - Maurice Ferre is also running Democratic Rep. Kendrick B. but he is considered the clear Meek. front-runner. That may allow The Rubio-Crist race is one of him to save much of his money the most closely watched in the for the general election and be country as Mr. Rubio has come in a position to define himself from far behind quickly to pass after Mr. Crist and Mr. Rubio Mr. Crist in the polls. Either can finish focusing on each other. attract mobs of reporters, and "Whatever comes out of the they are often on national Republican primary, if it's the television. governor or the former speaker, Meanwhile, Mr. Meek, who has that candidate would have not been campaigning for more than only made statements, but taken a year, is still unknown to about positions that [have] very little seven out of 10 Floridians. At to do with the future of Florida, recent stops in central Florida, b u t h a s a l o t t o d o w i t h he attracted crowds of about 30 ideology," Mr. Meek told people. No local media showed supporters last weekend. up. Yet Mr. Meek says that's Mr. Meek is quietly building up fine with him. He doesn't mind grass-roots support and focusing letting the Republicans get all on fundraising. He is trying to the attention as long as they become the first person in keep criticizing each other.

Florida to qualify for the Senate "We're going to get our attention ballot by petition, hoping to at the right time," Mr. Meek said gather more than 112,000 after meeting with a group of names, along with contact Hispanic supporters outside a i n f o r m a t i o n f o r p o s s i b l e Submitted at 3/24/2010 1:28:55 AM

donations and volunteers. He has until March 29 to file the petitions; otherwise, he can write a check for about $10,000 to get on the ballot.

Mr. Meek, a former Florida Highway Patrol trooper, served in the state Senate from 19982002, when he was elected to the Miami congressional seat previously held by his mother, Carrie Meek. He also led the effort to change the state constitution to limit school-class sizes.

In Congress, he served on the Armed Services Committee in his first three terms. He hopes his law-enforcement background and military expertise win over votes north of Interstate 4.

"Some people are shocked when they hear I was a state trooper.

Some people are shocked that I was on the Armed Services Committee," said Mr. Meek, adding that voters shouldn't think he's too liberal just because he's from South Florida.

"As people learn more about me, they say, 'Oh, OK.' " In the meantime, the CristRubio race just keeps getting nastier. David Beattie, a Democratic strategist based in Fernandina Beach, noted that

Mr. Crist is doing whatever he can to make Mr. Rubio look like a crooked politician by pointing out personal charges on a party credit card and questioning how he spent money donated to a political committee and more.

And Mr. Rubio is constantly attacking Mr. Crist.

"Rubio is going to continue the tactic that Crist is a bad governor, he's a sellout, and he'll say anything to get elected," Mr. Beattie said. "These are personal attacks who will leave whoever emerges pretty bruised." The primary is Aug. 24.

Mr. Rubio recognizes that a brutal primary can hurt the Republican nominee and has said he wants the campaign to be about issues and policy and not personal attacks.

Mr. Crist did not respond to requests for comment for this article made through his campaign. Š Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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'Ugly Betty' Reveals Her Million-Dollar Smile (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 3/24/2010 3:02:00 AM

It's time for Betty Suarez ( America Ferrera) to reveal her "Million Dollar Smile" on "Ugly Betty," but as usually happens in Betty's life, there's a hitch in her plans.

Last week, Betty got a referral to new a orthodontist -remember her's went crazy on her -- from hunky playwright Zachary ( Aaron Tveit), before she dumped him. Now, Betty is scheduled to have her braces removed, courtesy of her chatty new orthodontist, Dr. Frankel ( Kathy Najimy).

But before this can happen, she gets knocked unconscious at a photo shoot of the "Million Dollar Bra" at the Guggenheim, spinning her into a dream sequence in which an angelic Dr. Frankel shows her how different her life would have been had she never worn braces.

She's the "pretty sister," while Hilda ( Ana Ortiz) is homely, Ignacio ( Tony Plana) is a compulsive gambler, Marc ( Michael Urie) is a doting dad, and Amanda ( Becki Newton) is married to Daniel( Eric Mabius).

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Google Voice Goes Real-Time (Well, Almost) Sarah Perez (ReadWriteWeb)

exactly real-time, but close enough - at least now your text messaging friends won't think Google is touting a new feature you're ignoring them. f o r t h e i r m o b i l e V o I P Unfortunately, this feature isn't application, Google Voice: being switched on automatically instant notification of new SMS - Google Voice users will have text messages and voicemails. t o m a k e t h e a d j u s t m e n t s You may have thought an app themselves. To enable it, you'll meant to replace your phone's need to open the Google Voice functions would already be settings on your phone and doing that, but in reality, Google touch Refresh and notification.

Voice delayed notifications for Doing so will automatically 15 minutes by default. You disable SMS forwarding to your could change this to 5 minutes phone, too, so you won't receive or force a refresh manually, but duplicate notifications. many don't bother tweaking Also included in the update is a s e t t i n g s o r o b s e s s i v e l y new pop-up bar that appears refreshing just to see if they when you tap a contact's photo. have new messages. Now that's From here, you can quickly no longer necessary - messages respond via voicemail, email or a r e d e l i v e r e d a l m o s t IM. immediately.

Google Voice: Not There Yet? Sponsor Despite this obviously welcome According to news posted on advance for the Google Voice the Google Voice blog, the new app on Android handsets, some notification feature called are still questioning why the "Inbox Synchronization" will service hasn't been better notify your Android-powered integrated with the mobile device (sorry, iPhone users!) of operating system itself. Only new messages "within seconds" days ago, tech guru and founder of receiving them. That's not o f O ' R e i l l y M e d i a , T i m Submitted at 3/24/2010 8:05:03 AM

O'Reilly, posted on Google's new service, Buzz:"What's with Google Voice as a second-class citizen on Android?"

He cites a few examples of improvements that he believes should be made specifically regarding the app's voicemail feature. "There's no link to [voicemail] from the phone app, even if it's installed, so you have to use the old-fashioned voice mail, or else check it in a separate application," he notes.

"Phone numbers that are left in messages are not clickable dial links when the message is transcribed."

Soon after, dozens of commenters chimed in, some with their own gripes, mentioning issues with transcriptions and making calls.

However, more were actually sticking up for the service than complaining.

Anecdotally, we've heard stories from Google Voice users who've complained about minor issues that, on their own, don't seem like "make it or break it" bugs. But they can be irksome enough that some of these users aren't making a full transition from phone-based calls, texts and voicemail over to the VoIP application. That may change in the future as Google pushes out more updates and bug fixes...at least we hope it will.

In the meantime, at least some people are having fun with the service's issues. For example, over on the Facebook page****GoogleVoiceSaid, mimicked after the Twitter account with a similar name, users share the worst (and funniest) translations Google Voice has created. An example post: " This is or you need the hello. Yeah for hello hello at."

Sounds like voice recognition still has a ways to go. Discuss

49

Jennifer Lopez Deals with Cravings in 'The Back-up Plan' (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 3/24/2010 3:05:00 AM

Jennifer Lopez incorporated her real-life role of being a new mom into her character in 'The Back-up Plan.' She tells ET about Zoe, the expectant firsttime mother she portrays in the romantic comedy.

"Having just gone through my own experience of having babies for the first time it definitely ranked true to me," she said. "All the little jokes about what it is to be pregnant and being tired and being kind of hormonal and all those kind of weird things that happen to you. And, how hungry you are."

CBS Films' 'The Backup Plan' has a due date of April 23 in theaters. Watch ET and keep checking back here at etonline.com all week for more inside scoop from the movie's set.

Bindi Irwin Makes Her Movie Debut (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 3/24/2010 3:04:00 AM

Bindi Irwin, the 11-year-old daughter of the late "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin, is making her feature film debut in 'Free

Willy: Escape from Pirate's Cove.'

Of working with orcas in the film, Bindi said, "They are very intelligent. Very very intelligent.

And they are wonderful animals.

Unfortunately with this movie

we couldn't actually work with a real baby orca. There was a bit of movie magic involved, but we did get to work with other incredible African wildlife. We got to work with pelicans, penguins, giraffes."

"It's beautiful," Bindi said of working in Africa. "It was our first time. My dad had been there before filming documentaries, but the places that he went to there was a high malaria risk and a lot of political

unrest. We went to a place called Cape Town in South Africa. It was beautiful and everyone was really lovely."

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Investors to Startups: It's Not You, It's Me Chris Cameron (ReadWriteWeb)

you down, it could be simply that they are looking for something different than what Submitted at 3/23/2010 3:25:00 PM you are offering.

Unfortunately, you can't always "When a VC passes on a explain why a venture capitalist company that seems poised to chooses to invest in one startup succeed, he may do so because and not in another. Despite what the company is not a fit with the some will claim, there is no in a startup is a lot more than VC's thesis," writes Davis. "The m a g i c f o r m u l a t h a t just determining whether it will company might be based in a entrepreneurs can follow to have a prosperous future. geography or sector in which the assure them funding 100% of Ultimately, VCs are looking for VC doesn't invest [or] the t h e t i m e ; t h e s e a r e j u s t a financial return on their company is not likely to scale guidelines to follow to increase i n v e s t m e n t , a n d w h i l e sufficiently to meet a VC's your chances, but in the end, a potentially successful startups investment requirements."

VC's decision is not always can mean quick bucks for So before you trash your pitch a b o u t t h e q u a l i t y o f t h e entrepreneurs, the VC may not deck and slam your head against company, idea or founders. It's stand to benefit as much from the wall, take time to consider like in a relationship when one investing as they would like. It the fact that all VCs have party breaks it off by saying, sounds mean and nasty, but VCs varying motivations and your "It's not you, it's me," only for don't exist to simply shell out company might be perfect for a VCs they actually mean it most cash to worthy companies; they different investor. I would have been tasked with taking a assume any decent VC would of the time. venture fund and investing in tell you why he has declined Sponsor DFJ Gotham Ventures investor companies that will provide investing, but if for some reason Mark Davis, who blogs over at high returns. they don't, make sure you don't Venture Made Transparent That being said, there are a lot leave the meeting without wrote Tuesday about how of different VCs out there with getting some feedback and sometimes, even when looking lots of different goals in mind, constructive criticism from at a great company with a so those looking for higher them. Discuss promising future, VCs (himself returns are less likely to invest included) still say no. The in a company with a mildly reason? Well, for VCs, investing promising future. If a VC turns

Sony's 3D glasses rated at 55 Alice in Wonderland viewings per charge Tim Stevens (Engadget)

running dry -- less than half the 250 hours Panasonic is pledging Submitted at 3/24/2010 9:27:00 AM for its peepers, but more than As we get closer and closer to d o u b l e t h e 4 0 h o u r s f o r being run over by a wave of 3D NVIDIA's option. 100 hours televisions, Blu-ray players, and sounds like a lot, sure, but assorted peripherals, we can coming hot on the heels of start to see more of the details of Nielsen's 35 hours per week of that oncoming rush. Most television report, we're thinking recently revealed is the battery you'd better keep that recharger life of Sony's active shutter nearby. glasses. As we've reported Sony's 3D glasses rated at 55 before, Sony is diving face-first Alice in Wonderland viewings into 3D technology for the home per charge originally appeared and each face that wants to on Engadget on Wed, 24 Mar follow along will need a pair of 2010 09:27:00 EST. Please see $133 TDG-BR100 or TDG- our terms for use of feeds.

BR50 glasses perched upon it. Permalink| Sony Insider| Email Both models will manage 100 this| Comments hours of active viewing before

'Dancing with the Stars' Cast Gets Retail Therapy (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 3/24/2010 6:17:00 AM

Cast members of “Dancing with

the Stars� went dancing in the street on Robertson Blvd. in Beverly Hills. Evan Lysacek and pro partner Anna

Trebunskaya brought the dance party inside to the Ralph Lauren store. The preppy clothing line outfitted Team USA athletes at

the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver. Evan kicked up his leg and popped his collar in celebration of his gold medal.

Tech News/ Gadgets/ Sports/

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51

SenderOK: Email as a Facebook Connector and Social CRM Catalyst Alex Williams (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 3/23/2010 5:19:21 PM

As one reader said about Xobni in our last post concerning The effort to bring Facebook into the enterprise continues Outlook plug-ins: w i t h m o r e s e r v i c e s u s i n g "Interesting article, although I Outlook as a gateway to extend have my doubts about Xobni a contact network and use as a which I used for several months f o u n d a t i o n s f o r a C R M but had to uninstall as it had gotten to the point where it was environment.

SenderOK is one of the latest nearly impossible to use (too effiorts to give more context to s l o w ) . H a r m o n y s o u n d s email by showing a picture of promising; sharing documents in the sender in an email message. place of merely sending them as Too bad it only works on attachments (hence overloading Windows XP or Vista. Ugh. the network) is becoming critical if one wants to keep only Sponsor But let's take a look at the one copy and not scatter several service as we are seeing more around." services that use email as a To be fair, Xobni is the leader foundation for a social CRM in this space compared to other services. They have a loyal environment.

SenderOK compares itself to following. It makes sense that Microsoft's Outlook Soclal companies like SenderOK Connector and Xobni, an email would go after this sector of the plug-in that provides a search market. and profile element for Outlook. SenderOK features include a But we hear a lot of criticism smart mapping capability to that Xobni is a memory hog and give a view of the person's unread email across multiple slows down computers.

accounts. It will also prioritize the email. /> Our interest stems from the SenderOK "business card" feature. Email includes an image of the person and their profile information in the header of the message. In Outlook Social Connector, the image of the sender blocks out the message.

In Xobni, the image and contact information appears in a widget.

We expect these services to proliferate as more startups turn their attention to Outlook as a way to build a user base. Xobni has proven that this approach works.

Further, Google Apps now integrates with third party applications. Services such as Zoho CRM and Intuit are leveraging GMail integration to offer hybrid applications.

Perhaps 2010 will be the year email is viewed more as a foundation than a nuisance to be eliminated. Discuss

FanHouse TV: Midwest Breakdown FanHouse TV (FanHouse Main)

FanHouse TV's Jordan Schultz and Hofstra coach Tom Pecora are back to break down the Submitted at 3/23/2010 4:20:00 PM Midwest Sweet 16 matchups.

Filed under: March Madness, A m o n g t h e t o p i c s : w h y NCAA Tournament, NCAA Northern Iowa has been such a Tournament - Midwest Region surprise, why Ohio State's Evan

Turner may be the best college basketball player in the country and which team will advance to the Final Four.

Click below to watch:

Nokia N8 being announced mid-April Chris Ziegler (Engadget) Submitted at 3/24/2010 10:24:00 AM

We've just been told by a trusted source that Nokia will announce a new flagship device dubbed N8 in the middle of next month. That's not around any major trade shows that we're aware of, but it is just before the company's Annual General Meeting in Helsinki -- and naturally, it doesn't hurt their relationship with major investors to have just introduced a killer new device. For what it's worth, we just saw a leaked photo yesterday morning of a

Symbian^3-based phone purporting to be the N8, so this lines up rather nicely, doesn't it?

Announcement certainly doesn't equate to availability in Nokia's world, so until we hear otherwise, we'll assume that Eldar Murtazin's claim of a September retail launch is likely accurate.

[Image via IT168] Nokia N8 being announced mid -April originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Mar 2010 10:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink| | Email this| Comments

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Microsoft Testing OfficeTalk - Microblogging Service Much Like Twitter Alex Williams (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 3/24/2010 1:07:34 AM

Microsoft is testing a microblogging service called OfficeTalk that is much like Twitter. The service is designed for the enterprise and appears it will be offered as an on-premise service.

OfficeTalk is being developed

by OfficeLabs, the Microsoft lab for testing internally developed ideas.

Sponsor The service looks almost identical to Twitter. Microsoft says themselves that they are in the very early stages of development and because of this

"the OfficeTalk microblogging experience itself looks very similar to other well-known services."

Microsoft is testing the service pretty much internally but is now accepting external requests from companies that want to join the pilot program.

Microsoft has a few screen shots of the OfficeTalk user interface. People create profiles.

They communicate in 140 characters or less. You read the message of the people you follow. It includes a search functionality to find people on the service.

A company feed shows the posts of all the people who are posting. Like Twitter, you can

least a year. It could be a service that integrates with Sharepoint or the Office suite.

OfficeTalk is very early in development but it's clear that Microsoft is seeking to differentiate by offering it as an on-premise service. The reality is that Microsoft will continue to offer on-premise and cloudbased services for a long time across a good part of its product line. So why limit OfficeTalk to on-premise? We are sure that will change. A microblogging see the person's profile, the comments. number of mentions, posts, Microsoft is pretty late to the service is a natural cloud followers and people who the m a r k e t w i t h O f f i c e T a l k . offering. Discuss user is following. It also has a Socialtext, Socialcast, Yammer url shortening service and and a host of others have been threaded conversations they call offering their services for at

UK VHS sales more than double in 2009, Bill Cosby enjoys the attention Joseph L. Flatley (Engadget) Submitted at 3/24/2010 9:53:00 AM

The way we see it, unless you're old enough to have taped a world premiere Smiths video off of 120 Minutes (probably "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before") you have no business hoarding VHS tapes. But maybe you are enamored with their many

charms: actual tape that gets taut, stretches, or simply loses signal over time, resulting in color bleeds and ghastly images; bulky physical media; cardboard cases that stain and tear quickly and easily. Well, you probably live in the United Kingdom, then! According to a report by that nation's Entertainment Retailers' Association (ERA), 0.8 percent in 2009 (the lowest while music sales dropped by decrease in five years) and all

other video fell by by 10.6 percent, VHS sales more than doubled, from 44,377 in 2008 to 95,201 last year. Of course, everything is relative -- while PC games, for instance, declined nearly 25% last year, some 6.4 million titles were sold. Even so, this is no small potatoes when you realize that almost all the sales were attributed to Bill Cosby's Razzie Award-winning

classic. What do you think, guys? Time for a Leonard Part 7?

UK VHS sales more than double in 2009, Bill Cosby enjoys the attention originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Mar 2010 09:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Tech Digest| BBC| Email this| Comments

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53

'Til Death' Is Really, Really Over Brad Trechak (TV Squad) Submitted at 3/24/2010 9:50:00 AM

Fox has confirmed some news that has been in the cards for a while:''Til Death' has been cancelled after four seasons.

Like so many other shows b e f o r e i t (*cough*cough*'According To Jim'), it has avoided the axe for much longer than anticipated. ''Til Death' was even given an honor usually given to only science fiction on Fox: the Friday Night Death Slot.

Actually, by the time the show even got to its fourth season, the only consistent part of it was Brad Garrett and Joely Fisher.

Eddie Kaye Thomas and Kat Foster, the next door newlywed couple that was half of the central premise of the original show, weren't even there anymore.

The best part of the Variety Joanna Stern (Engadget) the $379 10.1-inch N150 in mean we couldn't go for some article was Brad Garrett's Flamingo Pink, Bermuda Blue sort of tropical-flavor candy Submitted at 3/24/2010 11:18:00 AM response to the situation. When and Caribbean Yellow, though right about now.

Spotted first crawling its way kept its internal 1.6GHz Intel Samsung's N150 netbook picks they mention the showing through the FCC, then on the Atom N450 processor, 250GB u p s o m e C o r b y b r a n d i n g , having a 0.4 rating, he replied, floors of CES and most recently hard drive and 1GB RAM S t a r b u r s t c o l o r o r i g i n a l l y "Give me a month and I'll take it at WMC with some LTE inside unprimed. Interestingly, in some appeared on Engadget on Wed, we're going to go ahead and say countries the netbook has 24 Mar 2010 11:18:00 EST. the Samsung N150 has earned acquired Samsung's affordable Please see our terms for use of its new stripes, err rainbow mobile phone Corby brand, feeds. Permalink| Samsung, colors. Trying to add some though here in the U.S. that Notebook Italia| Email this| brightness to its well stocked doesn't seem to be the case. Comments Pine Trail netbook line up, We'd probably just stick with Sammy has gone and painted the black hue, but that doesn't

Samsung's N150 netbook picks up some Corby branding, Starburst color

to a zero." The network responded with dead silence.

Those people have no sense of humor.

Poor Brad. At least he has those 7-Up commercials to keep him going.

Filed under: Programming, OpEd, Cancellations, RealityFree Permalink| Email this| | Comments

54

Apple/

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Opera Submits Browser App…But Who Cares?

Liam Cassidy (TheAppleBlog)

The same goes for email applications, phone applications, iPod-like applications… you get I don’t use any browser on my the idea. Anything you can think iPhone other than Mobile Safari. of that seems similar to an And, unless you have a Apple-made app likely is jailbroken iPhone, neither do considered just different enough you. to be approved.

That’s because Apple’s webkitOpera’s Partner Manager powered Mobile Safari provides Phillip Grønvold told Wired; the browser engine for all the There are two reasons why we iPhone’s various windows onto are confident that Opera Mini the Interweb. So, whether will met [sic] the requirements you’re viewing a webpage from of the App Store… inside Tweetie 2, Instapaper or One, our compression any one of the multitude of apps technology imposes limitations that allow for in-app web on what the browser can do — browsing, you’re using Mobile Opera doesn’t render rich, Safari. content-heavy documents like Back in early February at the Safari does.

Mobile World Congress, Opera Two, Opera Mini does not showed off an iPhone version of actually render HTML on the their mobile browser, Opera device, it uses a custom binary Mini, to a select group of representation of the website. reporters and tech-pundits. That We believe these technical left me a little confused; how differences make Opera Mini could they produce a real sufficiently different to Safari to browser, built from the ground- be made available on the App up, using its own in-house Store. rendering engine, without So, let’s get this straight; the breaking the rules?

Opera Mini web browser You see, Apple has a strict rule doesn’t actually render HTML? that native applications are not Web pages are converted from permitted to reproduce the HTML into some other markup functionality offered by the (compatible only with Opera iPhone out-of-the-box. That’s Mini) and then the ‘browser’ why you don’t see a third-party delivers a sub-par browsing Camera app that doesn’t also experience? Presumably that’s offer some kind of additional what Grønvold means when he “unique” functionality you says Opera Mini ‘…doesn’t wouldn’t get by simply using render rich, content-heavy Apple’s own Camera software. d o c u m e n t s ’ . I t r e n d e r s Submitted at 3/23/2010 12:30:53 PM

not the fault of Mobile Safari — which dutifully renders what it can, when it can. And you know, even when my throughput is a bit meager, I’d rather wait the additional seconds for the full-quality I’ve come to expect from Mobile Safari. Otherwise, what’s the point in owning an iPhone, if I’m only going to use apps that deliver pre-iPhone results?

And, while I’m on the subject of connectivity; in areas where my coverage is very limited and my iPhone can barely hold on to a simple GPRS signal, I simply don’t bother surfing the web.

It’s an exercise in frustration. A hyper-optimised, super-fast alternative browser might seem something less than you’d get like an attractive solution to normally. But, according to s o m e o n e w h o o f t e n f i n d s Wired’s Michael Conroy, it is t h e m s e l v e s w i t h l i m i t e d f a s t . S o , I g u e s s t h a t ’ s throughput, but really, wouldn’t something. But… it’s something most people just wait until they less than you’d normally get. get a stronger signal? Or, even It’s just a thought, but, wasn’t b e t t e r , a c c e s s t o a W i - F i that the problem with phones n e t w o r k ? b e f o r e t h e i P h o n e ? T h e y I know I haven’t tried it yet, delivered less than the best? I’m I’m going by what Grønvold just saying… showed-off at the MWC — but With this in mind, the question I just don’t see that it offers shouldn’t really be “will Apple much in the way of utility and approve it” but rather, should quality. Fart apps and Bikini we care about it in the first apps also don’t offer much in place? the way of utility and quality…

I don’t know about you, but but look at what’s happening to I’ve never considered Mobile them…

Safari unacceptably slow. My So, will Apple approve Opera I n t e r n e t c o n n e c t i o n h a s Mini? I doubt it. It doesn’t sometimes been slow, but that’s matter that it renders web pages

in some special way, it’s still a browser.

That won’t stop the wider tech press turning this into something it’s not. If it is approved, there’ll be talk of how it signifies this or indicates that and someone will claim this in some way ‘proves’ Apple and its iPhone are losing their sparkle… Walt Mosspuppet (the only technology journalist in the world) has this to say on the (unlikely) possibility of Apple approving Opera Mini; …it would be great if their app makes it onto the store. After all, there are all sorts of big bets I win once I can show evidence that Hell’s frozen over, and Apple allowing another browser on the iPhone might just do it.

If (and when) Opera Mini doesn’t get approved, Apple will be criticized for… well, all the usual. Just fill in the blanks yourself, you know the words to this song by now. Ultimately, some kind of drama will be invented. It always is.

Do you want a different browser on the iPhone? And if you do, is Opera Mini the replacement you’ve been waiting for? Why? For goodness’ sake, why! Get sharing in the comments below.

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Why Apple’s iPad Can’t Succeed in Schools (Yet) Liam Cassidy (TheAppleBlog) Submitted at 3/24/2010 7:49:47 AM

Apple has started making the iPad available on its online education store in packs of 10 with an appallingly–stingy discount of only $20 per iPad. If Apple wants to start a computing revolution with the iPad, it absolutely must get the device into schools. But in order to do that, it’s going to have to try a lot harder, and generous discounts are the easiest problem to solve. There are much bigger hurdles standing in the way.

Let’s start with costs alone.

Assume a school wants to buy an iPad for each of its students.

Assume the school is small with only 300 children enrolled.

Assume also that the school wants to buy the cheapest iPad without AppleCare. At a little more than $450 per iPad, that’s a cost of almost $144,000. I imagine the average statefunded school enjoys less than half that in its annual I.T. budget.

“Aha!” you might argue, “Many schools in underprivileged areas get subsidies from the state and provide laptops for their pupils.”

And, of course, you’d be right.

Many schools do provide their students with free or ‘nearlyfree’ laptops. But not decent

laptops. We’re talking cheap, disposable netbooks that cost far less to insure against loss or damage. (Let’s be realistic – the younger the student, the greater the chance of laptop-death!) No Competition I graduated from High School back in the early 90s, and even then my school was considered ahead of the curve when it came to the adoption of computer technology in class. Even so, there were no Macs in my school. They were just too expensive. Here in the UK, the fierce battle in the 1980’s between Acorn, Sinclair, Atari, Amstrad and Commodore meant that there were many perfectly capable, cheap microcomputers available to schools. The Mac was superior to those machines in almost every way, but it couldn’t compete on price.

It has been 16 years since I graduated from high school.

And while I’m happy to report that my old school now has iMacs in most classrooms, sadly they only run Windows XP. The reason for this comes down to two simple factors; Cost, and What’s Best for the Kids. It seems more educational titles are available at lower prices on Windows than on Mac OS X. And, outside school, the kids encounter more Windows PCs than Macs.

Issues You see, tablets-as-books is a great idea until the battery dies, and then the student has no textbook and no computer. She will have to plug-in to a power outlet if she wants either of those things back. But consider the delicate health and safety issues associated with cablesafety in a classroom environment. Not to mention the maintenance costs (that’s a lot of power outlets being used So I look at the upcoming iPad more than ever before) and and, even though I can see the don’t forget the school will p o t e n t i a l i t o f f e r s t o suddenly incur higher energy schoolchildren (and the wider bills. Say what you will about a education market), I can’t help paper-textbook, at least it but wonder if it has any real doesn’t need plugging-in. chance of making a dent at this And then there’s the issue of time. HP’s upcoming slate PC damage. What happens if an has more chance of being iPad screen is cracked? A adopted by my old school damaged book cover doesn’t simply because it works with all render the book’s contents their existing software and runs inaccessible, nor is it likely to Windows — the platform the slice into fingers. Plus, the cost school believes the pupils are of a replacement book is trivial. better served knowing, rather Remind me how much the than Mac OS X, which they cheapest iPad is? have concluded is just too Oh, and let’s not forgot that Apple isn’t perfect. Remember obscure and “specialist.”

And as though these fiduciary w h e n t h e i P h o n e O S w a s and policy-driven decisions updated to 3.1 in September last aren’t bad enough, there’s year? I wrote about it here, and another glaring challenge to the comments quickly ran to getting the iPad widely accepted over 100. iPhones everywhere in schools; at the end of the day, were freezing, crashing, and it’s just not a book. Delicate generally just refusing to work, and all as a result of an official

update from Apple itself!

What happens when Apple does the same thing with the iPad? Even the most diligent students who take the greatest of care with their always-charged-intime-for-class iPads will suffer if an update from Apple proves flaky.

And, finally, there’s the matter of crime. No one ever wanted to rob a kid from my school. The only thing we ever carried in our bags was biology books and the occasional Thundercats pencil case. But what if my school handed-out iPads to its pupils?

Overnight, the school uniform would become an advertisement to any would-be criminal; “mug this kid – expensive computer on-board.”

I’d dearly love to see all school kids and college students everywhere take-up iPads as their favorite learning tools.

Sadly, I just don’t see how that can happen as long as they remain significantly more expensive than textbooks, more sophisticated than simple e-book readers and less resilient than the existing, proven toolset — traditional, dead-tree textbooks.

Related GigaOM Pro Research: Forecast: Tablet App Sales To Hit $8B by 2015

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Steve Jobs, the Magic 8-Ball, Replies to Email Charles Jade (TheAppleBlog) Submitted at 3/23/2010 1:41:11 PM

A few lucky individuals sending emails to steve@apple.com have apparently been getting responses from the iconic CEO on a range of topics from Mac availability to iPhone OS 4.

The seeming randomness of what gets a response, and the often short, cryptic replies, seem reminiscent of the famous fortune-telling toy, not that we aren’t all hanging on every single-word reply.

The latest terse missive seen above was in response to a question those of us with iPhone and multiple email accounts have been asking for years.

TUAW reports reader Julio R. asked if the “iPhone will ever have a universal mailbox just like Mail has on my Mac?” In typically minimalist reply, Jobs responded, “Yep.” While that’s not as affirmative as “Yep – definitely,” I’ll take it. A universal inbox is easily the most obvious missing feature of Mail on the iPhone. While that might be the most satisfying response from Steve Jobs of late, it’s hardly the only one.

A couple of days ago, 9to5Mac posted a response from an individual asking about Apple supporting Google’s Picassa library format. Not surprisingly, the response was negative, nor was it surprising that Jobs wrote

Today In Headlines That Signal the End Times [Listicle] Pareene (Gawker) Submitted at 3/24/2010 10:44:11 AM

• "Sarah Palin announces her 2010 target list"• "Helium rain washing away neon on Jupiter"• "TMZ EXCLUSIVE: Justin Bieber's Manager Arrested for Not Tweeting" More »

Apple had a better alternative, saying “iPhoto on the Mac has much better Faces and Places features.”

There’s really no Magic 8-Ball equivalent to that, but a day later a MacRumors reader allegedly was told in response to the interminable wait for new Mac Pros “not to worry.” The common “Yes” response was given by another TUAW reader asking if it would be possible transfer Google Docs to an iPad through iWork.com, a response supposedly sent from Jobs’ iPad. From AppleInsider, also sent from Jobs’ iPad and about

iPads, was the response to a question about where the iPad will be sold, that being ‘initially at Apple Retail and online stores and Best Buy.” One has to wonder how AT&T, which sells the iPhone and will be providing a data plan for the iPads, feels about that email.

Assuming these responses are not fakes, those hoping to become one of the chosen ones should probably consider their questions carefully. It’s probably a good idea to ask a question that’s interesting, not to Apple customers, but to Steve Jobs, and one that he can answer in a way that satisfies him.

Asking why the iPhone is chained to a second-rate carrier like AT&T, or why there is no to-do option for Calendar on the iPhone like iCal has on my Mac will probably not be responded to. At least not so far. Like the Magic 8-Ball, the best questions are short and binary, “yes” or “no” replies.

So, what question are you thinking of asking Steve?

Related GigaOM Pro Research: Forecast: Tablet App Sales To Hit $8B by 2015

Apple Allows Users to Give the Gift of Apps What do you get that APPLE page 57hard-toDarrell Etherington buy-for person on your list who

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APPLE continued from page 56

already has everything? Well if they already have an iPhone, which is likely since we’ve already established they’ve got everything worth having, then you can now buy them iPhone apps, directly from the iTunes Store.

It’s been a long time coming, but Apple has finally given the greenlight to app gifting, meaning you no longer have to limit your ridiculous, spontaneous impulse buys of games you will only play once and then never again to just yourself. You can find the new “Gift This App” option alongside the “Add To Wishlist” and “Share Via Facebook” menu items in the dropdown that appears next to the price of any app.

It’s nice to be able to give someone a specific app instead of just an iTunes gift card that they then might waste on absolute and utter crap by accident or through ignorance.

I’ll also probably make use of app gifting to get other iPhoneowning friends on board with

multiplayer games and multiuser apps that I haven’t been able to sell them on buying through extremely convincing rhetoric alone.

Why did Apple finally decide to turn on iPhone app gifting, at this late juncture? It’s been absent since the launch of the App Store, which took place almost two full years ago. My guess is that Apple flipped the switch in order to have it up and running, bug-free, in time for the iPad’s launch in early April in the U.S., and late April in many other parts of the world.

Gifting apps will be a great way for Apple to take advantage of its existing App Store user base to spread the love and help new iPad owners become immersed in the experience. I’m sure it’ll also have a positive effect on those people who get an iPod touch or an iPhone and never even open the App Store, let alone download any third-party programs, a group whose size continues to surprise me at this late stage.

It’s also good news for

developers, who might find the limited number of promo codes Apple provides to be somewhat limiting in terms of getting their products out there to the reviewer community. Maybe we’ll be lucky enough to see giveaways and other types of promotional freebies climb now that gifting is an option. Blogs, for instance, could offer apps as prizes pretty quickly and easily now. Mind you, this isn’t a coy hint about our plans for the future, so don’t hold your breath.

There are some restrictions, of course. You can’t buy in-app purchases or recurring subscriptions for others, nor can you use your iTunes gift cards to give apps. Still, it’s one more option on the low-priced gift ideas list, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

James Cameron Declares War on Glenn Beck [Trade Roundup] Richard Lawson (Gawker) Submitted at 3/24/2010 11:12:38 AM

It's true and it will be epically terrifying. Also today: some

good news for some old

favorites, Kevin Kline embarks on a new something, and some very devastating deaths must be reported. More »

'Lost' - 'Ab Aeterno' Recap Jason Hughes (TV Squad)

Richard and his relationship with Jacob was answered this Submitted at 3/24/2010 5:08:00 AM week. In fact, there were no new (S06E09) That, my friends, is questions raised at all that I can how you do a halfway point think of. That must be a first episode! Plenty of answers for'Lost.' given, while reaffirming some Nestor Carbonell proved with of what we already knew about his performance here that he the two main players in this could easily carry the lead in a island drama. There was no dramatic series of his own. With need for an alpha-verse or a beta the caliber of acting we're -verse this week as it was all seeing from our 'Lost' cast this Richard -- or Ricardo. Besides, season, I'm even more eager to there's no way he'd still be alive s e e w h e r e t h e i r c a r e e r had he not gone to the island, so trajectories take them next. b e t a - v e r s e 2 0 0 4 m u s t b e Continue reading'Lost' - 'Ab Richard free anyway. We Aeterno' Recap already know he's been on that Filed under: OpEd, Lost, island a long, long time.

Episode Reviews, Reality-Free Now we know just how long Permalink| Email this| | that's been. I think absolutely C o m m e n t s every question we had about

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iPad to Kick-start an $8B+ Tablet App Market: Report

'The Biggest Loser' 'Week Ten' Recap

Michael Wolf (TheAppleBlog)

Jason Hughes (TV Squad)

Submitted at 3/23/2010 4:36:26 PM

Submitted at 3/24/2010 5:15:00 AM

Apple, with the iPad, has lit the fuse on an entirely new category of mobile devices: the tablet.

Everyone from gamers to developers(even, ostensibly, dead communist leaders) are pondering its possibilities — especially publishers and media barons, who see a savior when it comes to helping readers find, consume and buy media.

At the heart of this opportunity lies the app. With a significant number of the 150,000 apps in Apple’s App Store set to be available on the iPad from day one, the market for paid tablet apps alone is expected to top $8 billion within just five years.

It wasn’t too long ago that the term “app” conjured up images of fried finger food, not software. But that all changed when Apple introduced its App Store for the iPhone and ushered in the modern day mobile app economy.

And now that economy is set to grow even larger with the launch of the iPad. As I’ve detailed in a new report on GigaOM Pro(sub req’d), tablet app downloads and consumption will be significant.

How big do I forecast the

(S09E10) This week, the contestants got a chance to see what life will be like after their time on the show when they were all sent home for a week.

No trainers, no access to the gym, no ranch kitchen. It certainly wasn't going to be a walk in the park. But at least it means we got to see some of our favorite past contestants, as they market for tablet apps will be? bought Quattro Wireless) and were there to welcome their • The paid web tablet app f r e e a p p s t i e d t o c o n t e n t loved ones home. market will grow to top $8 subscriptions (think Netflix And we got to see Melissa billion by 2015 from just $183 Watch Instantly) or content again. Lance's wife has to be million in 2010 downloads (such as, say, a one of the most controversial • Downloads of paid apps will Kindle app), the web tablet app figures of this entire season. Not represent a bigger percentage of economy will actually be much to let her original stint stand, she was back in über-competitive the overall app pie as compared bigger. to those for phones. In 2011, Will this market be Apple’s mode again this week when 179 million paid apps will be alone? Of course not. In fact, I Alison revealed that there was a downloaded, and by 2013 that e x p e c t b o t h G o o g l e a n d marathon of a challenge for the number will reach 630 million. M i c r o s o f t t o o f f e r s t r o n g contestants while they were at • Downloads of apps (both paid alternatives. That said, I forecast home.

There've been competitive and free/ad-supported) will Apple and the iPad to be the game players before on'The grow to total more than 12 web tablet market share leader billion by 2015 from 272 throughout the forecast period. million in 2010 By 2015, I expect the web tablet market to be a 43-million-unitAnd remember: That $8 billion per-year market. Web Tablet is only for paid apps on tablets. App Forecast — GigaOM Pro When you consider that other View more presentations from forms of app monetization will Gigaom. include advertising (why Apple Read the full report here.

Biggest Loser,' and there are some there right now. Michael has proven himself more than willing to strategize to better his position. So why does it come across so poorly when Melissa is doing it?

Continue reading'The Biggest Loser' - 'Week Ten' Recap Filed under: OpEd, The Biggest Loser, Episode Reviews Permalink| Email this| | Comments

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'General Hospital' Recasts Sonny's Son Again Allison Waldman (TV Squad) Submitted at 3/24/2010 11:04:00 AM

Less than a year ago, 'General Hospital' made a big move by aging the character of Michael Corinthos, III. Young Dylan Cash, who had played the role for six years, literally growing up before our eyes, was deemed too young for the mature story the writers had in mind for Sonny's son. It was a rough transition for fans, but since Michael was in a vegetative state and bed-ridden for months and months, when he finally awoke and the actor playing Michael was Drew Garrett, we accepted him.

However, in a surprisingly move,'General Hospital' has replaced Drew Garrett with Chad Duell. No reason given, just a general statement wishing Garrett well in his future

endeavors. The pink slip came as a shock to Garrett who claims he was blindsided by the dismissal. And just a month ago he was on the pre-Emmy nomination list for award consideration.

Continue reading'General Hospital' Recasts Sonny's Son Again Filed under: OpEd, Daytime, Casting, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

Kevin Kline Says Yes to HBO Series Bob Sassone (TV Squad) Submitted at 3/24/2010 10:26:00 AM

It's about time Kevin Kline got a TV series. He's always been a solid actor (I was truly happy when he won an Oscar for 'A Fish Called Wanda' because I didn't really think it would happen), and I've wondered why he hasn't come to TV in any regular role before. But now Kline has said yes to a series, a on HBO to be exact.

There's no title for the show yet (which often happens when it's in the early stages), but the plot has Kline playing a doctor who gets out of prison after serving fifteen years for murdering a woman, his mistress. Somehow this doesn't strike me as a wacky comedy. The writer is David Auburn, who wrote the movie

Somali Pirates No Longer Winning [Pirate Wars] Hamilton Nolan (Gawker) Submitted at 3/24/2010 10:34:49 AM

Private security mercenaries shot and killed a Somali pirate who tried to jack a ship off the 'Proof.'

Filed under: Other Drama African coast yesterday. And Shows, Celebrities, Casting, "International navies have killed about a dozen pirates over the Reality-Free P e r m a l i n k | E m a i l t h i s | | past year." Where is the love? [ WSJ] More Âť Comments

Kim Kardashian Got Dumped Because She Would Not 'Stay at Home' [Gossip Roundup] Maureen O'Connor (Gawker) Submitted at 3/24/2010 10:18:30 AM

Is Reggie Bush sexist, or is he

59

just tired of being Kim's prop or Wednesday gossip is feeling photo op? Zoe Saldana is sick of queasy. More Âť losing roles for being black.

Michelle McGee's fetish videos include spiders, goo, and dolls.

Lost WTF of the Week: The Flying Spaniard [Clips] Richard Lawson (Gawker)

In this LOST week's episode, we page 60

Submitted at 3/24/2010 10:22:44 AM

60

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finally got to see the back story of the mysterious Richard Alpert. Was he an ancient god?

An eyelinered member of Andy Warhol's Factory, out on a 35year bender? Not quite. More »

ECB takes on Merkel over Greece (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 3/24/2010 8:26:42 AM

German chancellor Angela Merkel’s hard-line stance on Greece has come under attack from a top European Central Bank policymaker, who warned that the cost of inaction could be far worse than offering temporary financial support.

The unusually-strong criticism

by Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, an ECB executive board member, highlighted frustration in Frankfurt at Berlin’s intransigence, which is threatening a showdown among eurozone political leaders at their summit in Brussels starting on Thursday.

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Warren Sapp will not face charge in domestic incident Kelly Naqi (ESPN.com) Submitted at 3/24/2010 8:21:16 AM

• Email • Print • Comments '); document.write(''); } else if ( show_gigya ) { document.write('• '); document.write(' '); function showShareUI(){ var H = {APIKey:"2_B48MVBl19K9C Qj72UVrAqLh7VSAyZDfMkcl kt8foSSRaAbdWu36H_N3Ky_ ERWhDG", enabledProviders: "facebook,twitter", cid:"ESPN.Story"}; var I = n e w gigya.services.socialize.UserAct ion(); var A = {}; I.setUserMessage(""); if (jQuery(":header:first").length > 0 ) { I.setTitle(jQuery(".article").find( ":header:first").text()); } else { I.setTitle(decodeURIComponent ("Prosecutors%20in%20Miami %20drop%20Sapp%20battery% 20charge")); } I.setLinkBack("http://sports.esp n.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=502 3714"); 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, href: 'http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/ne ws/story?id=5023714' }); } A.userAction = I; gigya.services.socialize.showSh areUI(H,A); return false; } } By Kelly Naqi ESPN Archive Prosecutors for the MiamiDade state attorney's office informed Judge Carroll Kelly that they have dropped a misdemeanor domestic battery charge against former NFL defensive tackle Warren Sapp.

Sapp Sapp was arrested Feb. 6, the day before Super Bowl XLIV, for allegedly choking a woman in his Florida hotel room. At the time, the former Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Oakland Raiders player was working for the NFL Network as an analyst on its Super Bowl coverage, but was pulled off the air when his

arrest came to light.

Sapp, who was not present in court Wednesday when the charge was dropped, said via text message: "The State Attorney's office declined to file charges. BS is over!"

"We appreciate that the State Attorney's office conducted a thorough investigation into these allegations and determined that no charges should be filed," Sapp's attorney, Christopher Lyons, said in a statement.

"From the beginning, Mr. Sapp was always confident that the system would work and he would be cleared of any wrongdoing. Warren looks forward to putting this matter behind him."

No one from the Miami-Dade state attorney's office was immediately available for comment.

A female acquaintance of Sapp's alleged that she had an altercation with him at about 6 a.m. ET on Feb. 6 at the Shore Club Hotel in Miami Beach, where Sapp was staying while working for the NFL Network.

The accuser told police detectives that she and her friends were partying with Sapp at the hotel when she grew tired and asked Sapp for his room key.

The woman said Sapp came to the room a few hours later, woke her up and they began to argue. According to the arrest affidavit, the woman claimed Sapp choked her, pushed her down on a couch, grabbed her by her shirt and neck and threw her down again. The affidavit also stated the accuser had a swollen knee and bruises on her neck.

Sapp had told investigators that he let the woman stay in his room but asked her to leave a few hours later. Sapp said she fell on her leg when he tried to help her get off a couch.

Sapp later was removed from his role as an analyst for Showtime's "Inside the NFL." He has not appeared on either network since the allegations were made.

The 13-year NFL veteran, who retired in 2008, was a runner-up two years ago on the ABC television show "Dancing with the Stars."

Kelly Naqi is a reporter for ESPN. Information from ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter was included in this report.

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Spring Ritual of Waiting for Favre Resumes (WSJ.com: The Daily Fix) Submitted at 3/23/2010 9:04:18 AM

Just when you thought it was safe to read the Bottom Line again, the Brett Favre Saga found a way to wedge itself back into our lives. Reuters Brett Favre must decide whether he wants to subject his jersey to another season’s worth of stretching.

Between Tiger Woods, spring training, March Madness, March Indifference (the NIT), A-Rod meeting with federal investigators, Ben Roethlisberger, Tom Penders’s resignation and even the MLS avoiding a strike, wasn’t Monday a heavy enough sportsnews day to avoid an update on Vikings coach Brad Childress and his awesome powers of patience? Does that merit a quickly-running blast across the bottom of the screen when it probably rates behind Eric Gagne being released by the Dodgers?

The saddest part about this whole Favre saga is that much of it really isn’t his fault. He was probably sitting at home last night, just being a regular guy, watching “24,” oblivious to the approximately 400,000 groans let out by a sporting nation every time the update ran across the screen. He’s just an old man who hasn’t made up his mind about playing football again and wants to decide on his

own schedule. Yet he’s become so synonymous with the retirement drama that if you go to Google.com and type “will he reti” into the search box, it suggests and auto-completes just one grammatically awkward phrase: “brett favre will he retire.”

Mark J. Miller of Yahoo Sports says that Vikings owner Zygli Wilf expects Favre to return.

But we may not find out for a while. Michael Rand of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune says Favre is still “ the undisputed champ of dragging out a decision.”

Favre’s indecision about his future may have affected LaDainian Tomlinson’s decision to choose the Jets over the Vikings: ESPN’s Ed Werder writes that Favre limited his recruitment of Tomlinson to just texting.

Finally, and impressively, Star Tribune blogger Judd Zulgad managed to use “Brad Childress” and “undecided” in a story that is not primarily about Brett Favre.* * * As 34-year-old Eric Gagne waves goodbye to the Dodgers, Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Phil Sheridan inadvertently offers some hope for the Canadian hurler (as well as Favre), profiling 47-year-old Jamie Moyer and his quest to make the Phillies rotation.

Ben Carsley of Base Heads reminds us that Moyer isn’t the

Nunchuck Baseball clip making the rounds is splendid, but this Daily Fixer is still more impressed with Josh Womack’s eye-rub-inducing spinning bat trick from last year.* * * For readers out there who hate chaos, this year’s National only old man in the game right Invitational Tournament could now. serve as your happy place when On the other end of the age the March Madness upsets s p e c t r u m , t h e R e d s a r e become overwhelming. The considering 22-year-old phenom tournament’s Adequate Eight Aroldis Chapman’s back injury features two No. 1 seeds, two to be nothing serious, Mark No. 2s, two No. 3s, a four and a Sheldonbut writes at MLB.com. five. To make things even more The real gem of the article is comforting, that No. 4 seed is Dusty Baker saying that the defending NCAA champ North coaches in the dugout “could tell Carolina.

[Chapman] was wincing,” yet For a little NIT drama, ESPN’s didn’t immediately pull him Scott Powers suggests looking from the game — even after no further than Illinois junior Chapman hit the backstop with a forward Mike Davis, who is pitch in the top of the seventh currently backing away from his inning. statement that he’d rather lose a On the bright side, Chapman, a first-round game in the NCAA defector from Cuba, may have tournament than “go in the NIT learned enough English by now and win it.” to say in his adopted language Curtis Pashelka of the Contrathat he was hurt on a Monday, Costa Times tries to paint a J o h n F a y r e p o r t s i n t h e picture of exactly what Davis Cincinnati Enquirer. and his teammates are missing Chapman’s back injury, of through the experience of St. course, is the second-most- Mary’s, a surprising regional famous in baseball, as Albert s e m i f i n a l i s t i n t h a t o t h e r Pujols had an anti-inflammatory t o u r n a m e n t . shot and an MRI on Monday. Sports Illustrated’s Stewart The St. Louis Globe-Democrat’s Mandel is lobbying for hoops B.J. Rains had a nice profile of fans not to dismiss teams like St. Nick Stavinoha, who may see Mary’s as mere mid-majors. As some playing time at first base if a bonus, Mandel has a quote Pujols remains hobbled. from Syracuse men’s hoops Today in baseball videos: The coach Jim Boeheim — at the

end of the column — that indirectly endorses a collegefootball playoff system.

Boeheim’s quote is one of the few things in Mandel’s article that Jason Cohen of Can’t Stop the Bleeding doesn’t take issue with. He believes the term “midmajor” should be used more often.

With Maryland’s ouster from the NCAA tournament — incidentally, at the hands of a major, Michigan State — the great college career of Greivis Vasquez comes to a close. The Baltimore Sun’s Kevin Van Valkenburg pays tribute to the man who is second on the school’s all-time scoring list.* * * U.S. soccer fans can rest easy, as the MLS avoided a strike that would have put the league’s 2010 season on hold. Joshua Mayers of the Seattle Times looks at some of the provisions in the new collective bargaining agreement agreed on by the players.

ESPN’s Leander Schaerlaeckens points out that for all the improvements, the players still don’t have free agency within the league (although they are free to roam outside of the MLS).

We already knew the Washington Post’s Norman Chad was not a big fan of the Wall Street Journal’s sports SPRING page 68

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Future MBAers vs. Future NBAers in NCAAs (WSJ.com: The Daily Fix)

Darren Everson explains why this study in on- and off-court contrasts is especially worthy of After a brief break in which a few hours of couch-based fans and players alike caught study. “There hasn’t been a their respective breaths, the college basketball matchup in NCAA tournament is slated to some time that better defines start up again Thursday. If the this sport’s extremes,” Everson Sweet 16 is nearly as amazing writes. “Or, for that matter, one as the first two rounds, about six that will render so many verdicts of those eight games should be on its future. Given all their very close, maybe three will be differences, these two teams are near-classics, and another break hardly even playing the same to catch our collective breath sport.” after the weekend will be very Despite Cornell’s impressive necessary. And of course just showing in the tournament’s about every one of Thursday’s first two rounds, most hoops Sweet 16 games comes with a prognosticators have the Big distinctive and interesting Red as the underdog by a largeb a c k s t o r y . G e t t y I m a g e s ish margin in this one. Vegas According to published reports, oddsmakers favor Kentucky by John Calipari’s salary is more n i n e p o i n t s . B u t i n t h e than triple Cornell’s total men’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Ron basketball budget.

Cook reports that while Cornell A t t h e t o p o f t h e l i s t ? beating Kentucky would be an Thursday’s matchup between u p s e t , i t w o u l d n ’ t b e Kentucky and Cornell. With the unprecedented, given Cornell’s shocking departure of Kansas in 92-77 blowout win over UK at the second round, Kentucky has Rupp Arena back in 1966. been anointed the new favorite In the New York Times, Pete t o c l a i m t h e n a t i o n a l Thamel profiles Cornell backup championship. Cornell, a 12 Mark Coury, who joined the Big seed, is the first Ivy League Red as a transfer after starting team to advance this far in the 29 games as a sophomore walktournament since 1979. on at Kentucky. How Coury “Now Cornell, the team with went from being a starter on an five guys who plan to get admittedly mediocre Kentucky MBAs, gets Kentucky, the team team to being a reserve in the with four guys who could get Ivy League isn’t even the most drafted in the first round by the interesting part of his story.

NBA,” Rick Bozich writes in Because long-shot teams such the Louisville Courier-Journal. as Cornell — or 11th-seeded In the Wall Street Journal, Washington, or 10th-seeded St. Submitted at 3/24/2010 8:11:10 AM

Mary’s, or 9th-seeded Northern Iowa — have to work so hard to get to the Final Four, it’s natural for fans to pull for them to make it. But at CBS Sports, Gary Parrish warns that an allunderdog Final Four could be summed up thusly: “Woof.”

“That’s the strange truth about the NCAA tournament,” Parrish writes.“We like upsets early but want powers there in the end.”

Parrish speaks for himself on this. What your Fixer really likes is watching basketball.

Results notwithstanding, Thursday can’t come soon enough.* * * Kevin Pritchard played for five teams over parts of four NBA seasons, never averaging more than 12.5 minutes per game. But given a turn in the spotlight as a NBA general manager, he has enjoyed notably more success.

His Portland Trail Blazers are ensconced in the eighth spot in the ultra-competitive Western Conference as of Wednesday, and his extreme makeover of the disgraced “Jail Blazer” teams that he inherited has generally been regarded as a triumph. So why was Assistant G.M. Tom Penn fired last week, and why is

Pritchard himself rumored to be on the chopping block? It’s a complicated story, but what we know of it thus far offers a fascinating look into NBA front office politics.

“It is unfathomable that the man who played a major role in transforming the Blazers from the NBA’s worst team on and off the court, into what is today one of the best examples in pro sports of a franchise that can win while valuing character, is in jeopardy of losing his job,” the Oregonian’s Jason Quick writes. “Something is terribly amiss with this franchise.

Anyone under Kevin Pritchard in this organization loves him and swears by him. Anyone over him appears uncomfortable with him or threatened by him.”

At CBS Sports, Ken Berger writes that the now-public power politics behind this strange, slow-mo crisis make the organization look bad. “The secret is out,” Berger writes.

“Working for the Blazers isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”

Dave, the lead blogger at Blazer’s Edge, writes that the most painful part of the whole experience is knowing that fans will never hear the whole truth about what’s going on with their Blazers.

The strange, strained goings-on in Portland have fans using words like crisis. For the Golden State Warriors, this sort of thing is generally known as

“Tuesday.” The Warriors have been among the most dysfunctional teams in the NBA for most of owner Chris Cohan’s tenure, so the rumors that Cohan is considering selling the club has been greeted with tears of joy by the Warriors’ surprisingly large group of diehard followers. At Yahoo, Marc J. Spears reports that the Warriors have hired a company to “spearhead the sale” of the team — very Silicon Valley, that — and are courting a bid from tech mega-billionaire Larry Ellison.

At Deadspin, Barry Petchesky provides a quick gloss on both the outsize Ellison and his Nimitz-class ego that begs the question of whether this would be good news. “This guy practically invented the arrogant, kooky billionaire,” Petchesky writes.

There are crises and then there are crises, though. Back in February, Denver Nuggets coach George Karl revealed to his team that he has throat cancer and would be undergoing an aggressive regimen of radiation therapy. “Every day since then has been shaded by Karl’s health — his presence, his absence, his battle for survival and the uncertainty of his future with the team,” Howard Beck writes in the New York Times. Karl suffered a FUTURE page 67

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NFL owners pass playoff overtime rules modification John Clayton and Chris Mortensen (ESPN.com) Submitted at 3/23/2010 5:26:52 PM

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).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, href: 'http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/ne ws/story?id=5022064' }); } A.userAction = I; gigya.services.socialize.showSh areUI(H,A); return false; } } By John Clayton and Chris Mortensen ESPN.com The NFL owners voted to change an element in the overtime rule, giving the team that loses the coin toss at the start of overtime to get a possession if the coin-toss winning team scores a field goal with the first possession.

The proposal passed 28-4. As it is written, the rules change applies just for the postseason, but the owners also decided to discuss adopting the changes for the regular season at their next meeting, in May in Dallas.

Wojciechowski: Poor Showing The NFL owners had the right idea with the new overtime rule, but they sure did execute it poorly. Story The Buffalo Bills, Minnesota Vikings, Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals voted against the proposal.

The competition committee recommended the change in a vote of 6-2, and commissioner

Roger Goodell supported the plan. He was able to secure enough votes to get the proposal passed on Tuesday, a day before the expected Wednesday vote.

The reason for the change was the increased accuracy of kickers since 1993. In 1994, the NFL moved kickoffs from the 35 to the 30, which created better field position for the teams that won the coin toss and received the kickoffs.

Statistics examined by the committee showed that since 1994, teams winning the coin toss win the game 59.8 percent of the time. The team that loses the toss wins the game 38.5 percent in that 15-year span.

New postseason overtime rules • Both teams must have the opportunity to possess the ball once during the extra period, unless the team that receives the opening kickoff scores a touchdown on its initial possession, in which case it is the winner.

• If the team that possesses the ball first scores a field goal on its initial possession, the other team shall have the opportunity to possess the ball. If [that team] scores a touchdown on its possession, it is the winner. If the score is tied after [both teams have a] possession, the team next scoring by any method shall be the winner.

• If the score is tied at the end of a 15-minute overtime period, or if [the overtime period's] initial

possession has not ended, another overtime period will begin, and play will continue until a score is made, regardless of how many 15-minute periods are necessary.

"We've had this discussion for a number of years," competition committee co-chairman Rich McKay said. "We feel this year's proposal gave us the opportunity to [install] a pretty good rule.

Statistically we felt it needed to be changed. It wasn't creating the fairest result as far as field goal accuracy, field goal distance and drive starts."

Those statistics showed that since 1994, the team that won the overtime coin toss won the game 34.4 percent of the time on the first possession.

Overall, the team that correctly called the coin toss won overtime games 59.8 percent of the time in the last 15 years, or since kickoffs were moved back 5 yards to the 30.

"Plenty of people on the committee, myself included, are so-called traditionalists," Indianapolis Colts president Bill Polian said. "I am proud to be one. But once you saw the statistics, it became obvious we had to do something."

McKay said one of the selling points was it maintained the sudden death aspect of overtime.

This is not a one-year experiment. The vote is a permanent change to the overtime rule, which was

established in 1974 to minimize the number of games ending in ties.

McKay didn't rule out the possibility of the change being implemented in time for the 2010 regular season, but he doubted discussion would result in such quick movement.

Minnesota lost last season's NFL championship game in overtime to New Orleans. The Saints won the toss, drove downfield and kicked a field goal to win.

McKay and Polian both said the Vikings-Saints game had little role in passage of the rule change.

"That's interesting," McKay said. "One of the teams that voted against was in the game and, last I checked, I don't think they won."

Vikings owner Zygi Wilf said Monday he was inclined to vote against the modification.

"You need consistency of the regular season and the postseason," Wilf said.

Polian said overtime rules already are different during the season, when games end in ties after a 15-minute OT, and the playoffs, when a winner must be determined.

McKay and Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher, the other competition committee cochairman, said coaches quickly began favoring the change once NFL page 69

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West Virginia Mountaineers G Darryl Bryant breaks bone in foot, ends season Mark Schlabach (ESPN.com) Submitted at 3/24/2010 8:26:15 AM

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I.setLinkBack("http://sports.esp n.go.com/ncb/tournament/2010/ news/story?id=5022928"); 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, href: 'http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/to urnament/2010/news/story?id=5 022928' }); } A.userAction = I; gigya.services.socialize.showSh areUI(H,A); return false; } } By Mark Schlabach ESPN.com Archive West Virginia starting point guard Darryl "Truck" Bryant will miss the rest of the NCAA tournament after breaking his right foot, school officials confirmed to ESPN.com on Tuesday night.

Bryant, a sophomore from Brooklyn, N.Y., started 31 of the team's 35 games this season, averaging 9.3 points, 3.1 assists and 2.2 rebounds. The No. 2seeded Mountaineers play No. 11-seeded Washington Huskies in Thursday night's East Regional semifinals in at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y. School officials said Bryant fractured the fifth metatarsal in his right foot.

Bryant will probably be replaced in the starting lineup by junior Joe Mazzulla, whose playing time has increased recently after he missed most of last season with a shoulder injury. Mazzulla is averaging 2.2 points and 1.8 rebounds, but he had 15 assists in the last three games.

"It hurts our depth a little bit," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins told ESPN.com's Dana O'Neil on Tuesday night. "But Joe is ready. He's been playing really well for us. He shot the ball really well in practice and in the games. He'll be fine."

Mazzulla's last start came against Davidson on Dec. 9,

2008. He hurt his right shoulder in that game, missed the rest of the season and had surgery. His shoulder limited his shooting mobility for much of this season.

The Mountaineers have no other point guards on their roster but have used forwards Da'Sean Butler and Devin Ebanks in stretches at the position. Earlier this season, West Virginia used an all-forward starting lineup in four straight games, going 3-1.

Huggins said he wasn't sure if Bryant broke his foot in practice or during last week's NCAA tournament games. Huggins said Bryant complained about the foot hurting during practice and they took him for X-rays on Tuesday.

"Everyone is good," Huggins said, when asked how his team responded to Bryant's seasonending injury. "They're sad for Truck, obviously, but they're fine."

Bryant's injury couldn't come at a worse time for West Virginia.

The Huskies are led by point guard Isaiah Thomas, who is averaging 17.1 points and 3.1

Street Chic: New York ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 3/24/2010 4:00:00 AM

A chic leopard print is spot-on

for spring.

Photo: Anne Ziegler Think you are Street Chic? Email us your photo and you

Street Chic Daily.

Follow ELLE on Twitter.

Become our Facebook fan! could appear in ELLE.com's

assists.

Mazzulla, from Johnston, R.I., has seen increased playing time during the NCAA tournament.

In the Mountaineers' 77-50 win over No. 15-seeded Morgan State Bears in the first round in Buffalo, N.Y., Bryant scored four points with three assists in 22 minutes and Mazzulla had five points with six assists in 22 minutes.

In West Virginia's 68-59 victory over No. 10-seeded Missouri Tigers, Bryant had four points with one assist in 16 minutes and Mazzulla scored three points with two assists in 24 minutes.

Mark Schlabach covers college football and men's college basketball for ESPN.com.

Information from ESPN.com's Dana O'Neil and The Associated Press was used in this report.

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NCAA Women's Tourney Day 4 Roundup Milton Kent (FanHouse Main)

less than a second remaining.

Xavier's win came over Vanderbilt coach Melanie Filed under: March Madness, Balcomb, who guided the NCAA Tournament, Women's Musketeers to the Sweet 16 nine Basketball Game of the Day years ago with a win over Facing their biggest deficit in a Tennessee. game since early December, Upset of the Day Atlantic-10 champion Xavier Another March, another early turned it on down the stretch to tournament departure for Ohio beat Vanderbilt 63-62 in the State. game of the day.

For the sixth time in the last The Musketeers (29-3), the eight years, the Buckeyes No.3 seed in the Sacramento received a No. 4 seed or better, region, climbed out of a 10- this time a No. 2 seed. And with point hole midway through the a win over seventh-seeded second half to claim their first Mississippi State, Ohio State (31 berth in the Sweet 16 since -5) would have played in the 2001. regional semis at Dayton.

Amber Harris, the 6-foot-5 However, Alexis Rack's 30 power forward, scored Xavier's points and six assists helped last six points, including the propel the Lady Bulldogs (21game-winning basket with 12.3 12) past the Buckeyes 85-67, seconds to go, to cap a 21-point, sending Ohio State home along seven rebound night. with Texas A&M as No. 2 seeds "Amber does have a knack for knocked out of the tournament making a shot when we've got to short of the Sweet 16. have it and helping us down the Performance of the Day stretch to get a win," Xavier Freshman Skylar Diggins had coach Kevin McGuff said. "She just one basket in Notre Dame's certainly did [Tuesday]" first-round win over Cleveland The Commodores (23-11) had State, and when the Irish fell two chances to win on the final behind Vermont by 10 in the possession, but Lauren Lueders first half Tuesday, Diggins got a missed a tough jumper from the tad anxious. top of the key with about four When the dust settled, Diggins seconds to go. Then, Jency poured in 31 points, six assists Rhoads missed the follow with and seven steals in Notre Submitted at 3/23/2010 6:02:00 PM

of women's basketball today. It's tough not playing on a neutral court, which the men are doing.

You saw that environment and you saw the higher seed playing at home and that's difficult. So that's why you see a lot of the seeds move on that are the higher seed. But it's also good for women's basketball that we are getting crowds. I wish it was on a neutral court and still getting a crowd that was more neutral. And I hope we can get there someday." -- Vanderbilt coach Melanie Balcomb on Dame's 84-66 win over Vermont having to face Xavier on the to earn a berth in the Kansas Musketeers' home floor.

City regional semifinal Sunday. Did You Notice "I don't think I was able to get UCLA was whistled for a i n t o a n o f f e n s i v e r h y t h m technical in its loss to Nebraska Sunday," said Diggins. "I knew for having too many players on that this Vermont team was the floor. going to be really pumped up Up Next and tough to play, so I really The regional semifinals begin wanted to come out strong and Saturday in Memphis and get us started into our game."

Sacramento, with games in "I thought Skylar Diggins was Dayton and Kansas City on absolutely terrific [Tuesday]," Sunday. All four top seeds said Notre Dame coach Muffet advanced, with half of the 16 McGraw. "She came out from remaining teams coming from the get go and decided that we two conferences, the Big 12 and were going to the Sweet 16. I the Southeastern. thought she got herself off to a Follow Us on Twitter Friend Us great start, her defense was on Facebook outstanding.

She Said What?

"I think it was a great example

Yasuhiro Wada stepping down from Marvelous position David Hinkle (Joystiq) Submitted at 3/24/2010 9:36:00 AM

"Personal reasons" mark the departure of Yasuhiro Wada, the creator of the Harvest Moon franchise, from Marvelous Entertainment Inc., Kotaku reports. Wada will relinquish his current position at the end of the month, but will continue to serve the company in an advisory capacity.

Wada has been critical of Marvelous as of late, voicing his concerns about the publisher's lack of brand recognition. While we'd agree that not every gamer out there knows about Marvelous, we'd also argue that producing one of the best games of 2009 is certainly a big step toward gaining consumer trust.

Yasuhiro Wada stepping down from Marvelous position originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 24 Mar 2010 09:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Andy Reid says Philadelphia Eagles entertaining offers for quarterbacks ESPN.com news services (ESPN.com) Submitted at 3/24/2010 7:53:40 AM

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%20QBs")); } I.setLinkBack("http://sports.esp n.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=502 3906"); 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, href: 'http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/ne ws/story?id=5023906' }); } A.userAction = I; gigya.services.socialize.showSh areUI(H,A); return false; } } ESPN.com news services Andy Reid has said Donovan McNabb is his starting quarterback headed into 2010.

But the trade rumors around the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback situation have persisted. And now Reid says that teams are in fact making offers for the Eagles' quarterbacks, the

Philadelphia Inquirer reports. “ People are entertaining us with offers. Nothing's been done, but we're evaluating all of them.

That's the truth.”-- Eagles coach Andy Reid Reid said the team is entertaining and evaluating offers, but did not say whether those offers were for McNabb, former Atlanta Falcons starter Michael Vick or backup Kevin Kolb, who is widely regarded as the Eagles' QB of the future.

"This is the truth: Our three quarterbacks are Philadelphia Eagles," Reid said Tuesday at the NFL owners' meetings in Orlando, according to the Inquirer. "People are entertaining us with offers.

Nothing's been done, but we're evaluating all of them. That's the truth. There's not a lot really going on other than entertaining."

Reid would not address the team's specific plans, according to the report, but said from a coach's standpoint, the Eagles are in an enviable position.

"There are coaches who dream

to be in this situation," Reid said, according to the report.

"I'm not in any hurry to get rid of any of them. Have people talked? Yeah, people have talked. Have we listened? Yeah, we're in the process of listening.

The bottom line is if I have all three of them, that's great."

Reid has stated and reiterated that McNabb is the team's starter headed into 2010. But trade rumors have not died down as the team's supporters debate whether it would be best to stick with McNabb, who has brought the team to five NFC Championship Games and a Super Bowl, or turn the page and give Kolb the keys to the offense. And trade rumors about Vick heading to another NFL city where he could start sprung up before the 2009 season had ended.

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Feb New Home Sales reach record low Peter Boockvar (The Big Picture) Submitted at 3/24/2010 7:13:49 AM

Feb New Home Sales, a measure of contract signings, totaled 308k, 7k less than expected and down from an upwardly revised (by 6k) 315k last month, so taken together it’s in line but sales are at a record low. Taken with an increase of 3k in the absolute number of homes for sale, the inventory to sales ratio rose to 9.2 from 8.9, the highest since May ‘09.

Weather may have impacted traffic as sales fell in the Northeast and Midwest but they also fell in the South. The West however saw a gain to the most since Oct ‘09. The median home price did rise 5.2% m/o/m and also 6.1% sequentially even with the depressed volume of sales. With tremendous competition from foreclosures, the law of diminishing returns with the first time home buying tax credit and still uncertain labor market, sales of course are suffering. Ideally with still high inventories, we don’t need any more new homes for the time being.

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The Count: NFL’s Ineffectual OT Proposal (WSJ.com: The Daily Fix) Submitted at 3/23/2010 11:12:18 AM

The NFL’s controversial sudden-death overtime system had major playoff implications this winter. After his New Orleans Saints won the coin toss in their NFC Championship against the Minnesota Vikings, quarterback Drew Brees led a drive that culminated in a gamewinning field goal. Brett Favre never got his hands on the ball.

And if Peyton Manning had completed a fourth-quarter drive that nearly reached the Saints’ end zone, instead of throwing a game-turning interception, the fate of his Indianapolis Colts and the Saints may have been decided in part by yet another coin flip. Associated Press The Saints marched down the field to set up this winning field goal without the Vikings getting the ball in OT of the NFC championship game.

Now the NFL is considering tweaking the system, at least in the playoffs. “The new overtime would still end if the offensive team scored a touchdown, but if it only makes a field goal, the other team would get a possession,” as the print Journal’s Count explained

recently. “If both teams kick field goals, the next team to score would win.” It’s essentially the same idea floated

by ESPN’s Bill Simmons just after the Super Bowl. The proposal “tries to rebalance the advantage that’s been gained [by the team that wins the coin flip] since ‘94 based on fieldgoal accuracy being greatly improved,” Rich McKay, a cochairman of the league’s competition committee, said in a recent conference call.

UPDATE: NFL owners voted 28-4 on Tuesday in favor of adopting the proposed new OT rules.

This would help reduce the edge for the team that gets the ball first, but not by that much.

At Advanced NFL Stats, Brian Burke crunched the numbers, and found that this lucky team would still win about 56% of the time, down from about 60% now. Burke points out, though, that the other team is quite

likely to be able to match the first team’s output, given the chance, because teams that have to score in a given situation, making full use of the four downs, are far more likely to score. “I think the NFL will be surprised how often an overtime game under the new rules reverts to the sudden death format,” Burke writes.

David Roher, of the Harvard Sports Analysis Collective, argues that the increase in fairness isn’t worth the downsides to a rule change, such as lengthening overtime.

He suggests instead ditching the coin flip and letting the home team decide whether to kick or receive. This would increase the home-field edge in the playoffs, which would put a greater emphasis on the regular season.

It would also push the road team to play for the win in regulation.

One commenter on The Book blog, meanwhile, suggests that the team that must kick off to start the extra period should occasionally take the risk of an onside kick. As the Super Bowl demonstrated, that tactic can carry major benefits when it’s not expected.

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setback in his treatment Sunday, leaving the Nuggets to face the unpleasant prospect of entering the postseason without their coach on the bench. In an unusually restrained column at ESPN, Rick Reilly wrote about Karl’s punishing medical treatment and his determination to beat cancer for a second time.* * * The Sweet 16 is also set in the women’s draw of the NCAA tournament, but the unexpected results of the men’s side are nowhere to be seen. Connecticut continues to steamroll everyone, top seeds generally lord it over lower seeds, and 11-seed San Diego State is the only truly unexpected entrant. In other words, sort of like the regular season, but in a different month.

And yet the women’s collegehoops season has not been without its surprises.

In the New York Times, Jere Longman addresses the most unexpected of these: a marked uptick in on-court violence — that is, punch-you-in-the-face violence, not clear-path-foul violence — in the women’s game. “What is going on?”

Longman asks. “Experts say they cannot be precisely sure.

Little research has been done on excessive behavior of elite female athletes.”

At Jezebel, Katy Kelleher colors herself unsurprised.

“Given our society’s obsession with sports, dominance, and

aggression, it shouldn’t be remotely surprising that women entering into a male-dominated space will begin to measure their success in similar forms,” Kelleher writes. “And lash out in similar ways.”* * * Some items appear in the Daily Fix because they’re legitimately excellent pieces of writing.

Others are here because their subject is topical, or appeals to my biases (hint: Mets). But the only reason we’ve included this link to a MLB.com article about Ichiro Suzuki’s spectacularly, ridiculously excellent Willie Mays-ian catch in an exhibition game on Tuesday is that Ichiro’s catch is so spectacularly, ridiculously excellent. Yes, there are some nice quotes from the players who witnessed the catch — “[Ichiro] has GPS,” according to Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu — but really: watch the video. It’s why these words are here.

— Tip of the Fix cap to readers Don Hartline and Fixer emeritus Garey Ris. Found a good column from the world of sports? Don’t keep it to yourself — write to us at dailyfix@wsj.com and we’ll consider your find for inclusion in the Daily Fix. You can email David at droth11@gmail.com.

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section. But it’s safe to say that he hates the MLS way more.

And now that the season is under way, Goal.com’s Zac Lee Rigg offers some advice for Philadelphia’s expansion MLS team.* * * Karen Cunagin Sypher, the woman who helped the rest of the country realize that Louisville does, in fact, have Italian restaurants, will face trial June 1 for her involvement in the extortion of Rick Pitino.

Because the case is in federal court and the Feds don’t allow camera coverage, don’t expect to see too much O.J. Simpsonstyle, inside-the-courtroom drama. Instead, we’ll probably be treated to several slow pans of the courtroom artist’s renderings of Pitino when he is called to testify.

Depending on whom you believe, by the time the trial rolls around, Pitino could either be working on re-instituting the full-court press at Louisville, as C.L. Brown reports in the

Louisville Courier-Journal, or coaching the New Jersey Nets.

If Pitino does come to the Nets, he’s going to have plenty of company in the “Welcome to New York” category. St. John’s, Seton Hall, Fordham and Wagner all are looking to fill their head-coaching jobs.

Fox Sports’s Jeff Goodman thinks that Robert Morris coach Mike Rice is headed to either Seton Hall or Fordham. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Paul Schofield puts St. John’s in the mix for Rice, as well.

Meanwhile, the Record’s J.P. Pelzman throws Siena coach Fran McCaffery’s name into the ring for the Seton Hall job. Only the Albany Times-Union’s Pete Iorizzo seems to remember that Seton Hall already went down this road with a former Siena coach once before.

One name that may soon find its way into the New York coaching mix is Tom Penders, who resigned Monday as Houston’s coach. Penders’s

resignation was notable because he basically told the press that he wasn’t considering retiring; he just felt it was time “to move on.”

The Houston Chronicle’s Richard Justice shares his conflicting views on the job Penders did over six seasons at UH. Ronnie Turner of the Daily Cougar(yes, the student paper is safe for work) says the move is a win-win for Penders and the school.

–Tip of the Fix cap to reader Don Hartline and fellow Fixer David Roth Kenobi.

Found a good column from the world of sports? Don’t keep it to yourself write to us at dailyfix@wsj.com and we’ll consider your find for inclusion in the Daily Fix. You can email N a n d o a t nandodifino@yahoo.com.

Beijing struggles on Google censorship (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 3/24/2010 6:19:47 AM

Internet users experienced wild swings in access to results on Google’s Chinese search engine on Wednesday, in a sign that Beijing is struggling to decide

on the level of censorship for the site after Google moved the service out of the mainland.

At about 10am, users in Beijing were confronted with browser errors for every Chinese term they entered. Searches for “Xinhua News Agency”, “Ministry of Commerce”,

“Chinese”, and “Ministry of Health” returned a blank screen.

Some 30 minutes later the problem had disappeared.

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Buckeyes' Titus Boasts Trillion Stories John Walters (FanHouse Main) Submitted at 3/24/2010 2:00:00 AM

Filed under: Ohio State MILWAUKEE -- Moments before the tip-off of the 2007 national championship game between Florida and Ohio State, Mark Titus approached Buckeye head coach Thad Matta.

"I got five fouls to give," said Titus, who then pointed to the end of the bench where he would be sitting. "I'll be right down here if you need me."

Mind you, at the time Titus was a freshman on the Ohio State basketball team ... a freshman who had begun the year as a team manager ... and then quit.

But there he was with a courtside seat for the Buckeyes' first national championship game since 1962.

"I'm going to write a book about it all," says Titus, better known as the voice behind the cult-fave blog ClubTrillion.com. "But for now it'll just be on the blog."

Evan Turner may be the Oscar Robertson Trophy (one of the premier national Player of the Year awards) winner, but Titus, a 6-foot-4 senior, is the most popular player of the Sweet 16bound Buckeyes.

Less than a year and a half since its November 2008 debut,

ClubTrillion.com has received 2.7 million hits. A Titus appearance on a Bill Simmons podcast early in the blog's existence goosed its popularity, but there is little doubt that the primary reason lies with the fact that Titus -- the son of a principal and an English teacher -- is both hilarious and selfeffacing.

"When I arrived at Ohio State I wanted to stay involved in basketball, so I decided to become a manager," said Titus, whose AAU team in Indianapolis featured Buckeye classmates Michael Conley and Greg Oden. "I thought I'd be playing on a scout team or participating in drills, but that first week I was filling up water bottles and filming practices."

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Big East a Big Bust, So Far Brett McMurphy (FanHouse Main) Submitted at 3/23/2010 3:00:00 PM

Filed under: Big East Just one more win. That's all the Big East Conference needs out of either Syracuse or West Virginia for the Big East to extend its streak of having at least one team in the Elite Eight to nine consecutive years.

No other conference can match that current streak.

Yet as impressive as league teams have been in making deep NCAA tournament runs, the general consensus around the country -- except for those folks located in the Big East's offices in Providence, R.I. -- is that the

Big East's success in this year's NCAA tournament can be summed up in one word: bust.

The big, bad Big East received a NCAA record-tying eight bids -- tying its own record, of course. They had a No. 1 seed (Syracuse), two No. 2's (West Virginia and Villanova) and two No. 3's ( Georgetown and Pittsburgh) along with two No. 6's ( Notre Dame and Marquette) and a No. 8 ( Louisville).

Share All eight teams were favored to win their tournament opener, yet the league limped to a 4-4 finish.

The opening day was the worst as Georgetown, Notre Dame and

Marquette each were eliminated while No. 2 seed Villanova needed overtime to escape past No. 15 seed Robert Morris.

On March 18, the carnage for the Big East looked like this: No. 3 seed Georgetown, fresh off reaching the Big East tournament final, promptly lost to No. 14 Ohio. The same Ohio Bobcats, who were 7-9 in the Mid-American regular season and seeded ninth in the MAC tournament. They only made the NCAAs because they won the MAC tournament. Then they ran over and through Georgetown 97-83.

they learned the details. It became such a hot issue that the owners' vote was taken one day earlier than expected.

One of those coaches, Marvin Lewis of the Bengals, is on the committee. Hours before his team voted no, Lewis expressed approval of the alteration.

"There's a lot of elements that come into play," Lewis said.

"For all the proposals we've discussed, this is I think the most complete one."

McKay said it was critical in making the rule change that "no phase of the game" was "adversely affected."

The players' union has said it believes any change in overtime needs to be collectively bargained. Of course, the contract between the league and players expires next March.

While the competition committee briefly discussed potential OT changes with the

union in February, the NFLPA was not consulted this week.

Denver Broncos receiver Brandon Stokley doesn't like the rule change.

"I just think that they should keep it like it is," he said. "It makes things interesting. Some people don't like the coin toss, but that's just the way it goes. If you're on defense first and you don't have the ball, you've just got to stop them."

Chris Mortensen is ESPN's senior NFL analyst. John Clayton is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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New US home sales fall to record low (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 3/24/2010 8:16:14 AM

New US home sales fell to the lowest level on record in February, as buyers opted instead for foreclosed and distressed properties, official figures showed on Wednesday.

Separately, new orders for US

durable goods rose for the third month running in February, as companies continued to ramp up purchases to meet rekindling demand.

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E-reader News Edition

'Fantasyland' Gives an Inside Look Into Fantasy Baseball Craze R.J. White (FanHouse Main) Submitted at 3/24/2010 2:00:00 AM

Sam Walker once wrote a book entitled Fantasyland, which took a look at the fantasy baseball craze and in particular, Tout Wars. For those that don't know, the Tout Wars leagues are probably the most famous expert leagues in the world.

Their participants currently include baseball statistical pioneer Ron Shandler and ESPN fantasy guru Matthew Berry, among many others.

Walker's book followed him through his first season in Tout Wars, taking him around the league interviewing players and enlisting help from statistical minds such as research assistant Nando Di Fino(now a Tout Wars participant himself).

Though Walker initially struggled with the competition and the culture shock of hopping into fantasy baseball with some of the best, he went on to win the league in his second season and two titles in all. Watch F a n t a s y l a n d f o r F r e e a t Mike Schramm (Joystiq) Snagfilms| Become a Fan on Submitted at 3/24/2010 11:26:00 AM Facebook Peter Molyneux says that the biggest problem with Project Natal isn't the difficulty in programming for a new technology, but the potential users themselves. Speaking with the Times Online, Molyneux says that the Natal tech is "so 1 hour, 40 minutes ago different and new that trying to Five Filters featured article: get a focus group to look at it Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: a n d r e s p o n d i s a l m o s t PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, impossible." Perhaps it's not just Term Extraction. that people aren't responding to the likes of Milo, it's that they don't realize he will respond to

Sony drops Pocket Reader price to $169... are e-readers about to get super cheap? (Engadget) (Yahoo! News Search Results for e-readers) Submitted at 3/23/2010 1:34:04 PM

• Sony cuts price of Reader Pocket Edition, tries to duck iPad

Molyneux says Natal focus testing is 'almost impossible' them.

Molyneux clarifies that his team is still working on the tobe-announced project, which we saw " glimpses" of at E3, and that they've increased "emotional engagement" since then. "The only way I see you at the moment is through your thumbs," he says. But Natal lets a virtual character see everything from body movement to facial expression, and that, says Molyneux, allows his team to "design experiences that truly resonate with you as an individual, rather than with a mass of people." While its an

intriguing concept, such an open -ended design makes for a lot of pressure on the developer to ensure accessible to all kinds of individuals. Good thing there's plenty of time to pencil in more focus groups before Natal's holiday launch.

[Via TVGB] Molyneux says Natal focus testing is 'almost impossible' originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 24 Mar 2010 11:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Koller says Sony keeping 3D on PS3, Nintendo 3DS is 'bit of a stretch' JC Fletcher (Joystiq)

game publishers is off the charts. We know we have a hit with 3D on PS3, and we're It doesn't sound like Sony's going to concentrate our efforts going to jump on the 3D there." handheld bandwagon right While that in itself isn't a a w a y . S C E A D i r e c t o r o f definitive dismissal of adopting Hardware and Marketing John whatever 3D tech is in the Koller told IGN that Sony's Nintendo 3DS for a new PSP interest in 3D technology is m o d e l , K o l l e r ' s f o l l o w u p limited to the PS3 -- you know, statement makes clear his the system that can sell Bravias. s k e p t i c i s m a b o u t t h e "Our focus on 3D right now is competitor's new strategy: "I on the console," Koller said. think it remains to be seen "There's a tremendous amount where Nintendo goes with 3D of opportunity on PlayStation 3 on a portable," he said. "Having with 3D. The amount of interest been in the portable space for in 3D from the retail side and quite awhile, I think it's an Submitted at 3/24/2010 10:28:00 AM

interesting move, but one I'd like to see where they go from a demographic standpoint. 8- and 9-year-olds playing 3D is a little bit of a stretch given where

suspicion that a new DS could be a massive hit -- as Nintendo handhelds tend to be -- and create a market for 3D handhelds. In the meantime, PSP players looking for a 3D experience have the third-party V-Screen and Solid Eye peripherals at their disposal.

Koller says Sony keeping 3D on PS3, Nintendo 3DS is 'bit of a stretch' originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 24 Mar 2010 some of our research is right 10:28:00 EST. Please see our now." terms for use of feeds.

Of course, having been in the Read| Permalink| Email this| portable space for quite awhile, Comments Koller must have some

PSA: Microsoft Game Room now available (you just can't play games yet) [update: workaround discovered] Richard Mitchell (Joystiq)

load up the games and let you start playing.

Unfortunately, Game Room The good news: Microsoft's simply hangs on the loading new cross-platform Game Room screen, allowing you to enjoy service is now available. It's free the retro music playing in the to download and gives you background, but not the actual access to 30 different classic retro games. Major Nelson has arcade games that can be played stated via Twitter that Microsoft on Xbox 360 or PC. The bad is aware of the issue and it is news: You can't actually play " b e i n g i n v e s t i g a t e d . " H e any of those games. Upon the reminds users that the Game initial Game Room load, users Room application itself is still are prompted to download at available, and it should be okay least one of two game packs, to download it now and wait for after which the service should the issue to be resolved. We'll Submitted at 3/24/2010 9:56:00 AM

update this post once we hear any new information.

Update: As some of our commenters have pointed out, there is a workaround. First,

sign in with an offline profile or disconnect your internet source (ethernet or wireless). Then load Game Room. It should get past the initial loading screen. Once

everything is loaded, you can then sign into Xbox Live and all the games should be accessible.

PSA: Microsoft Game Room now available (you just can't play games yet) [update: workaround discovered] originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 24 Mar 2010 09:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Euro plunges on doubts over Greece aid (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 3/24/2010 8:19:57 AM

15:15 GMT: Worries that the eurozone debt crisis was spiralling out of control rattled markets on Wednesday, causing the euro to plunge as investors pared risky bets.

“There appears to be an accelerated and impending sense of doom about the status of the euro,” said Andrew Wilkinson, senior market analyst at Interactive Brokers.

Five Filters featured article: ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) “comeback” might be a hard pill Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: condition and include manuals t o s w a l l o w , b u t i n t h e i r PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Submitted at 3/24/2010 8:10:02 AM and cases.

Spring/Summer collection, Term Extraction.

And here's the bad news: The The clog took center stage as a Sanita has turned the wooden sale comes to an end on March major trend on the runways for s h o e ’ s u n c o n v e n t i o n a l 3 0 . A l s o , o u r i n d u s t r y i s spring—most notably at Chanel. quirkiness into something woefully ill-equipped to produce But for anyone looking for the genuinely fashionable—the a product called "Bionic Batman real deal, look no further than retailers’ pick is the “Vela” and the Brütal Beatles" and will S a n i t a . T h e m a k e r s o f platform, which includes an s u c c u m b t o c r e a t i v e a n d handcrafted originals since artful grommet detail. Riding financial bankruptcy long before 1907, Sanita can take credit for the emerging wave of the clog’s you ever get to play something inspiring the new generation of return, Sarita has indeed carved of such magnificent magnitude. wood platform. The Danish- a refreshingly modern sole out Oh well. based clog maker has taken the of an offbeat trend. Whether it’s GameFly sale: Bionic Batman old world handcraftsmanship nouveau or '70s retro, this and the Brutal Beatles originally they’re known for and infused it season’s humble clog will leave appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 24 with modern flair—their newest your soul renewed.

Mar 2010 11:02:00 EST. Please collection brings that decidedly — K y l e A n d e r s o n , S e n i o r see our terms for use of feeds.

Scandinavian mix stateside.

Accessories Editor ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Read| Permalink| Email this| Hearing the words “clog” and Submitted at 3/23/2010 4:04:39 PM Comments

GameFly sale: Bionic Batman and the Brutal Beatles Ludwig Kietzmann (Joystiq) Submitted at 3/24/2010 11:02:00 AM

Here's the good news: According to our budget-minded buddies (budgies?) at CAG, GameFly has a sale on several appealing Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 titles, including Batman: Arkham Asylum(360 / $19.99), Bionic Commando(360 / PS3 / $9.99), Brütal Legend(360 / $14.99) and The Beatles: Rock Band(360 / $21.99). We also spy some stellar deals on R ed Faction: Guerrilla(360 / PS3 / under $15) and 2D fighter BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger($19.99 / $24.99). GameFly games are guaranteed to be in working

Sanita Clogs: The Original Danish Clog

Marc Jacobs Talks Fashion at the French Institute MARC page 73

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MARC continued from page 72

“I could never call myself an artist; I think that’s pretentious.

But you could call me an artist,” quipped Marc Jacobs last night at the final installment of the French Institute’s Fashion Talks series. Jacobs joined Patricia Mears, deputy director of the Museum at FIT, for a discussion on his career trajectory, his Parisian dream home, and the aesthetic of his eponymous line versus that of Louis Vuitton (ELLE Editor-in-Chief Robbie Myers offered opening remarks). Here are some highlights from what the iconic designer had to say.

On two of his sartorial heroes:“I do think Ralph Lauren is the greatest American designer—he creates a world, and everything within that world is that very particular and

singular vision. But I think my greatest hero in fashion will probably always be Yves Saint Laurent, and that’s for a completely different reason: The darkness and the decadence and glamour are more appealing to me on a fashion level. But the world Ralph created is just flawless.”

On his creative process:“I love things that are banal. I love clichés. I like things that are awkward. I like imperfection.

But what that means within a given season, I don’t know. We say, 'Is it good in a bad way or bad in a good way?' There are all these weird conversations that no one who isn’t in fashion would understand.”

On his personal style:“Two years ago, I asked Casey, who works with me, to go to Barneys

and buy me a funny pair of pants—something that would put me in a good mood. And he came back with this Comme des Garçons kilt. And I loved it so much that I’ve been wearing kilts for two years now.”

On whether inanimate objects can have sex appeal:“I don’t find clothes sexy at all. I find people sexy and I find personalities fascinating and sexy and appealing and charming. So a sexy girl wrapped in a sheet is still a sexy girl. And a non-sexy girl in a low-cut dress is still a non-sexy girl.”

—Erin Clements Photo: Junenoire

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Around the Net In Media: Time Warner Bids For MGM (MediaPost | Media News)

ends March 31.

Additionally, MGM is hoping to strike a forebearance Time Warner has submitted an aggrement for its separate $250 all-cash $1.5 billion offer for million revolving credit facility Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., with JP Morgan Chase, which is j o i n i n g t w o o t h e r k n o w n due in full on April 8. Another bidders, independent studio option: MGM could wind up not Lions Gate Entertainment and accepting any of the bids and industrialist Len Blavatnik's opt instead for a prepackaged Access Industries. MGM said is bankruptcy or Chapter 11 will evaluate the bids over the protection. next several weeks, while Five Filters featured article: working with its lenders to Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: extend the current forebearance PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, period for paying interest on its Term Extraction. $3.7 billion bank debt, which Submitted at 3/23/2010 9:05:15 PM

Business Booms and Depressions Since 1775 Barry Ritholtz (The Big Picture)

following previous wars can, in a measure, act as a partial guide to the future — at least avoid a Submitted at 3/24/2010 8:00:12 AM hasty step into the unknown.

Here is a fascinating piece of The general pattern of these investing arcana — from the St. reactions is outlined in this chart Louis Fed FRASER archives. by the Red or Green squares A history of booms and busts which block out and high light from 1775- 1944. Emphasis is the trends that have followed on post war economies. As previous major wars. described by the paper: These diagrams indicate a more follows: first, a brief period of A study of the reaction of or less definite pattern of uncertainty, then a year or more business activity immediately reaction that points up as

of business recovery followed by a short depression; then a period of prosperity extending over several years.

Summing up a comparison of these postwar years we find that they cover a space of from eight to ten years each, showing less than three years of business recessions and an average of 7 years of prosperity.

The chart is quite complete and astonishing — rather than

attempt to show the entire 170 year time line, here is a about a quarter of it: > click for ginormous graphic > Hat tip Invictus Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Around the Net In Media: Fox News Positions Itself As Upscale Ad Buy (MediaPost | Media News) Submitted at 3/23/2010 9:04:46 PM

For years, Fox News' pitch to advertisers and the press was that it was bigger than other cable-news network. Now the network intends to pitch itself against mainstream cable networks -- and convince media buyers cable news isn't a downscale ad buy -- and that its audience consists of more than Republican retirees.

Paul Rittenberg, exec VP-ad sales for Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network and Fox News Digital, said: "For the last six months, we've been trying to position ourselves as more than just direct competition with CNN; that's over for us in a way," he said. "The general perception among media buyers, especially the 25-year-olds who Reserve’s expire. If the market open-ended backstopping of don't watch TV news anyway, is is left to its own devices, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that it's downscale. But there's affordability will recover not and via the mortgage-backed n o n u m b e r t h a t d o e s n ' t when financing costs fall or s e c u r i t i e s o n t h e F e d e r a l contradict that." CNN continues when subsidies intended for the Reserve’s balance sheet, the to command a higher price for buyer but in fact captured by the housing overhang will remain a many of its programs despite seller increase but rather when drag on economic expansion for r a t i n g s a t t r i t i o n i n 2 0 0 9 ; however, Fox News is the most sale prices fall. the foreseeable future.

This will have the effect of Five Filters featured article: profitable sector of Rupert maintaining high levels of Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: Murdoch's News Corp. mortgagor delinquency. As PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: m o r t g a g e f i n a n c i n g h a s Term Extraction.

PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, remained a public affair via the Term Extraction.

Has Home Affordability Peaked?

Barry Ritholtz (The Big Picture) Submitted at 3/24/2010 7:30:57 AM

We looked at the issue of home affordability as measured by the National Association of Realtors in July 2009. As always, the indices for both composite fixed/adjustable mortgages and fixed-rate mortgages (red columns, left-and right-hand charts, respectively) are a

lagging function of existing home sales (blue line, both charts). The NAR has not published a separate affordability index for adjustable-rate mortgages since November 2008; quelle dommage.

If the observed eleven-month lead time holds, we should see a decline in affordable during the window when the first-time homebuyer’s tax and the Federal

Picture/ E-reader News/ Finance/ Media/

E-reader News Edition

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Welcome the National Archives UK to the Commons!

Research Brief: Forceful, Soothing or Persuasive Voice: Which to Pick For Ad?

Cris Stoddard (Flickr Blog)

(MediaPost | Media News)

Submitted at 3/24/2010 7:49:56 AM

Join us in welcoming the National Archives UK as the newest member of the Commons on Flickr. Located in Kew, in the west of London, they are the UK government’s official archive.

Holding over 900 years of history, they bring a smattering of images from parchment to digital media. Churchill? Got him! World War II archives?

Got them! Fun on the beach in

Barbados? They’ve got it! Jane Austen’s will? Yes! The Commons on Flickr holds the world’s public photography archives that you can annotate

add the National Archives as a contact and make a few faves.

They welcome geotag suggestions, too, which you can do by adding machine tags as follows, if you know the coordinates of where the images were taken: geo:lat=1.2345 geo:lon=1.2345 Photos from the National and access. These photos have Archives UK. No Known Copyright Five Filters featured article: Restrictions.

Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: We hope you’ll tag them with PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, information, comment on them, Term Extraction.

Submitted at 3/24/2010 6:15:52 AM

According to a new Adweek Media/ Harris Poll by Harris Interactive, 48% of Americans believe a male voice is more forceful selling a product or service in an advertisement, while 46% believe a female voice is more soothing. But, almost half of U.S. adults also say it makes no difference to them and neither voice is more RESEARCH page 76

Sony Lowers E-Reader Get More Time to Claim the Home Price to $170--For Now (PC Buyer Credit (Kiplinger Personal Finance) contract by April 30, 2010, and direct deposit, according to the World via Yahoo! News) close on the property by June IRS. (Yahoo! News Search Results for e-readers) Submitted at 3/23/2010 2:29:00 PM

jc buzzed up: Irish bishop resigns, apologizes to abuse victims (AP)

45 seconds ago 2010-0324T08:27:42-07:00 Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Time is running out to buy a home and still qualify for either of the home buyer tax credits.

Time also is running out to file your tax return to claim the credit. To complicate matters, the tax-filing deadline precedes the deadline for signing a contract on a new home to qualify for the credit.

To qualify for the $8,000 firsttime home buyer credit or $6,500 credit for longtime homeowners who buy a new home, you must sign a binding

30, 2010. As I’m sure you know, the tax-filing deadline is April 15.

What to do? Ask the IRS for a six-month extension to file your 2009 tax return. Then you won’t have to rush to sign a contract before April 15. And you’ll have until October 15 to file your return and claim the credit.

File Form 4868 to request an extension. Even with an extension, taxpayers could file electronically and receive their refund in as few as ten days with

If you’ve already filed your return but sign a contract on a new home by April 30, be sure to file an amended return to claim the credit.

For more information about qualifying for the credits, see FAQs on the New Home Buyer Tax Credits.

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RESEARCH continued from page 75

forceful or more soothing. Not an easy choice for a marketer, says the report.

If the advertisement is trying to persuade someone to do something, one in five Americans believes a female voice is more persuasive while 18% say they believe a male voice is more persuasive.

Almost two-thirds say the voice's gender makes no difference in persuasion.

When it comes to actually selling a specific thing, twothirds of Americans say it doesn't make a difference and neither voice is more likely to sell them a car or a computer.

Among those who believe it makes a difference, over onequarter believe a male voice is more likely to sell them a car and say a male voice is more likely to sell them a computer.

Only 7% say a female voice is more likely to sell them either.

Effect Of A Voice In Commercial,(Base: All U.S. adults, % of Respondents) Type of Voice Preferred Voice Effect MaleVoice FemaleVoice Makes no difference More forceful 48% 2% 49% More soothing 8 46

46 More persuasive 18 19 64 More likely to sell me a car 28 7 66 More likely to sell me a computer 23 7 69 Source: Adweek Media/Harris Poll, March 2010 Men and women do think similarly on the tone of the two types of voices, with one major exception. Over half of men believe a female voice is more soothing, compared to 38% of women who say the same.

Effect Of Voice In Commercials, By Gender(Percent Saying "Female Voice," Base: All U.S. Adults) Rounded % Saying Female Voice Effect of Voice Total Men Women More forceful 2% 2% 3% More soothing 46 54 38

More persuasive 19 20 18 More likely to sell me a car 7 9 5 More likely to sell me a computer 7 10 5 Source: Adweek Media/Harris Poll, March 2010 One in ten women believes the tone of a male voice is more soothing while 5% of men say the same. The only other real difference between men and women is on the selling of a car.

One-third of men (32%) say a male voice is more likely to sell them a car compared to 23% of women who say this.

Effect Of Voice In Commercials, By Gender(Percent Saying "Male Voice," Base: All U.S. adults) Rounded % Saying "Male Voice" Effect of Voice Total Men Women More forceful 48% 51% 46% More soothing 8 5

11 More persuasive 18 21 15 More likely to sell me a car 28 32 23 More likely to sell me a computer 23 24 23 Source: Adweek Media/Harris Poll, March 2010 The report concludes by noting that "... overall, the American consumer does not believe that, for most things, one type of voice is more or less likely to sell them a certain product or service... (though) male voices are more forceful while female voices are more soothing... when it comes to cars and computers... the tenor of the ad will matter more than the gender of the voice."

For additional information, please visit Harris Interactive here.

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MediaDailyNews: Fledgling Ad Bureau Places Bet On, Well, Place: OVAB Becomes DPAA (MediaPost | Media News) Submitted at 3/24/2010 5:30:07 AM

The Out-of-home Video Advertising Bureau, or OVAB, the fledgling ad trade association, which for the past three years has been working to bring structure, standards and a marketplace presence to the burgeoning digital out-of-home media marketplace, is changing its name -- and a little bit of its mission -- and it's going a little old school in the process. The new name, ratified by its board on Tuesday, is the Digital Placebased Advertising Association (DPAA).

Pronounced D-P-A-A, the new name emphasizes the placebased video networks that compromise the bulk of its membership -- companies like CNN's Airport channel, Captivate's elevator network, and CBS' Outernet - which are basically focused on extending the reach of TV-like video MEDIADAILYNEWS: page 77

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advertising into public places.

The term "place-based" is a bit old school, because it was a term first popularized in the late 1980s and early 1990s to describe an earlier generation of out-of-home video networks, many of which failed -- like Turner Broadcasting's Checkout Channel, or NBC's On-Site -but DPAA President Suzanne La Forgia says the term more aptly expresses the focus and the mission of the association at a time when a plethora of other digital media options are extending out-of-home. The mission of DPAA, she says, will not emphasize things like static digital billboards, point-ofpurchase media, "shopper media," or mobile media, which may fall under the charter of other trade associations, but will be aimed specifically at the type of advertisers and agency executives who "influence television investment and digital investment."

To some extent, the

repositioning of the DPAA reflects a broader rethinking that has been influencing Madison Avenue, which is starting to move away from the term "television" in favor of "video" to describe the multiplatform nature of its long-dominant medium of choice. That rethinking also reflects the push by many traditional TV companies into online, mobile, and increasingly, out-of-home locations. And it's no coincidence that some of DPAA's members include CBS, Nielsen and Turner Broadcasting.

La Forgia says DPAA won't be turning its back on other platforms, and considers things like mobile and online part of the interactive backbone that enables some of the programming and advertising features of the place-based video networks that it represents. It just won't be representing them as distinct advertising platforms.

"Places are the distinguishing factor that helps to cultivate audiences and help cultivate interaction," she explains. "It isn't just something that is on a roadside, or on the side of a bus.

It's in places where people congregate, and how consumers and venue visitors are experiencing these networks."

One thing that won't change, La Forgia says, is DPAA's charter.

She says it will remain focused on issues that influence how advertisers and agencies incorporate place-based video networks into their media plans and budgets, including research, metrics, formats, standards, and "figuring out ways of improving operations."

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What Health Polls Say - and Don't Say (Kiplinger Personal Finance)

The conservative blogger's headline on a CNN poll released after the historic House vote seemed to say it all: 59% Oppose Health Care Bill.

Or did it? A closer look showed that 13% opposed the bill because they thought it wasn’t “liberal enough” (the survey’s words). That 13% is hardly likely to desert Democratic candidates and vote Republican in November. And if you add that 13% to the 39% who favored the bill, the tally was 52% on the Democratic end of the political spectrum on health and 43% on the GOP side. Not exactly bad news if you’re a Democrat. Even if you assume the 13% who are unhappy that the bill isn’t more liberal will sit out the elections, it’s still a wash come November. (The numbers don’t add up precisely because 3% opposed the bill but declined to say why.)

But the poll has other interesting results. Asked who do you trust to “handle major changes in the country’s health care system,” President Obama or congressional Republicans,

Obama came out on top, 51% to 39%. And Democrats in Congress outscored Republicans, 45%-39%.

More troubling for Democrats is that 62% think their costs will likely increase under the bill, and 47% think their family will be worse off under the bill. But 42% think other families will be better off. The question for Democrats is whether voters will be willing to sacrifice some of what they have to help the uninsured get on the rolls.

The CNN poll was taken March 19-21, just before the final vote, and of course represents a snapshot in a volatile period.

But it belies the notion that the polls show a big majority of Americans have strong, overwhelming opinions against what Congress has done. Of course, as politicians are known to insist, the only poll that matters is on Election Day, and much could change by then. The question is how.

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Tiny Mini-Generators Scavenge Energy From Ambient, Random Vibrations Clay Dillow (Popular Science New Technology, Science News, The Future Now) Submitted at 3/23/2010 2:01:34 PM

Finding large-scale sources of kinetic energy to turn turbines isn't easy. But while there are only so many roaring rivers and flat, windy plains from which to harvest nature's natural motions, there's no shortage of tiny, random vibrations all around us.

Now researchers at the University of Michigan have developed mini-generators that harness these.

Miniature kinetic generators aren't new; for instance, many wristwatches are powered by energy gathered from the rhythmic swinging of our arms when we walk. Some piezoelectric generators have even been integrated into fabrics, meaning that your jacket could someday top off your cell phone battery or iPod, provided you move around enough.

Related Articles Flexible Nanocrystal Fibers Can Harness Tidbits of Waste Energy to Create Hydrogen Fuel Portable Hydro-Electric Backpack Generator Goes Where the Grid Can't A Fabric That Will Charge Your Gadgets Tags Science,

Clay Dillow, health, medicine, piezoelectricity, sensors, University of Michigan, vibrations But many of these approaches require pronounced movements to harness any real degree of energy. The new Parametric Frequency Increased Generators from the U of M team have a huge advantage over other kinetic energy harvesters because they can scavenge the arbitrary, ambient, non-repeatable vibrations that are far more common in the world around us.

For instance, the vibrations caused by traffic passing over a bridge could power wireless structural sensors on the underside of the structure, and everything from lampposts to skyscrapers could harness energy from wind vibrations to power -- at least partially -- their day-to-day operations. Placed in stairwells, the generators could harness the kinetic energy of climbing to power the emergency lighting, and on electric cars they could feed some of the energy lost through engine rattle back into the energy loop. They could even be used to power sensors in far flung, off-the-grid locales, like

fire-detecting sensors deep within forests.

The human body is also a great potential energy source for these kinds of micro-generators.

Typical amplitudes found on the human body can produce 500 microwatts, enough to run dozens of wristwatches or ten pacemakers, opening the door to better, more energy intensive medical devices that don't require periodic surgical battery swaps. Which, as anyone with a pacemaker will tell you, is a good thing.

Of course, the technology has a ways to go before it is deployed -- there are only three prototypes in existence right now, with a fourth on the way. But the future of self-sustaining little electronic monitors looks quite busy as we rely more and more on sensor driven data to monitor everything from our infrastructure to our bodies.

Being able to unplug from the grid/battery paradigm and harvest energy locally is a big part of that equation. [ PhysOrg]

The Next Best Phone: HTC's Evo 4G Smokes the Competition Corinne Iozzio (Popular Science - New Technology, Science News, The Future Now)

earlier today it was hard not to take notice.

The wind has been blowing more and more towards Android over the last several months, Submitted at 3/23/2010 9:10:16 PM With the power of a next-gen starting with the Motorola Droid n e t w o r k , H T C ' s A n d r o i d right on through to T-Mobile's handset makes the most of its Nexus One. Still, neither of snappy hardware. these handsets has truly It's not often that one phone can triumphed, leaving me skeptical cram in as many buzzwords as about whether or not an "it" the Sprint HTC Evo 4G. Next- handset will ever be anything gen 4G network speed? Check. other than an iPhone. But if the One-gigahertz processor? Yup. reception so far is right, the Evo Google Android 2.1? Of course. is a full-on Android tornado. It's That phrase so oft-repeated-- no wonder Apple is worried and iPhone killer? Well, at least an f l u n g a a t t h e T a i w a n e s e e x c e e d i n g l y c a p a b l y company earlier this month. alternative... Yes, when Sprint NEXT page 80 and HTC unveiled their handset

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Clever Math Puts a Firm Number on the Amount of Dark Matter in Existence Stuart Fox (Popular Science New Technology, Science News, The Future Now) Submitted at 3/23/2010 12:37:16 PM

Counting up the missing mass Dark matter, the material that makes up the majority of the matter in the universe, remains so mysterious that scientists don't even know how much of it there is, let alone how it behaves. However, using new calculations about the interaction between black holes and dark matter, scientists have deduced an upper limit on the amount of dark matter in the Milky Way. The researchers calculate that the maximum dark matter density comes in with around seven times the mass of the sun dispersed through a cubic-light year of space. If a section of dark matter that dense filled the space of our solar system, it would weigh about 14,000 times

more than the mass of the eight planets, the asteroids, and the Sun combined.

By maintaining a relatively high mass, our galaxy's dark matter generates enough gravity to hold the stars and nebulae together. Without that mass, everything in the galaxy would spin off into the void. However,

if the dark matter within a particular cubic-light-year-sized volume of space reaches a density higher than 7 times the mass of the Sun, it would feed the super-massive black hole at the center of the galaxy so quickly that the black hole would grow out of control and devour the entire galaxy.

Interestingly, these findings also imply that the density of dark matter must remain relatively constant to prevent either of those outcomes. That means either dark matter isn't getting sucked into the black hole, or replacement dark matter is replacing whatever does fall into the black hole. Since nothing science has ever observed can resist the pull of a black hole, and since we also don't know where dark matter comes from in the first place, it looks like these new calculations might have raised as many questions as they answered. [ Science]

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In First Successful Human Trial, Nanotech Robots Deploy Cancer-Fighting RNA Stuart Fox (Popular Science New Technology, Science News, The Future Now) Submitted at 3/23/2010 2:40:43 PM

RNAi, also known as "gene silencing," is a cellular mechanism that blocks the production of proteins, and has tantalized doctors as a potential medicine for a number of years now. However, by placing payloads of RNA in a polymer nanobot, scientists have finally shown that this technique can work against tumors in human patients.

Specially constructed molecules could potentially block the expression of genes critical to the reproduction of viruses and the spread of cancer. But until now, doctors had been unable to direct those molecules to the

taken from the melanomas showed both the presence of the RNA, and a reduction in tumor gene expression.

This technology still has a long way to go before it becomes a routine medical treatment.

However, by targeting the epigenome, the expression of genes, as opposed to DNA itself, it has much more practical potential than genetic therapy.

Plus, since RNAi can work against any transcription, RNAi nanobots could potentially disable both DNA viruses, like smallox, and RNA viruses, like SARS. [ Reuters]

right cellular nuclei. Scientists from the California Institute of Technology solved this problem by placing the RNA molecules in a specialized polymer robot with a chemical sensor. When the environment of a cancerous cell triggered the chemical

sensor, the robot releases the RNA. The trial involved three people with melanomas who received the RNA-load nanoparticles intravenously four times, for 30 minutes, over three weeks. At the end of that time, samples

would all that media love be worth without an HDMI out port, so it's got one of those, too.

Not bad, huh?

What pushes the Evo over the edge, though, is seeing what those components can pull off on a wireless network that can be as speedy as some wired connections. Running on Sprint's 4G network in a demo this afternoon, the Evo played high-def YouTube videos completely jutter-free--and it did

so alongside the Droid, which know more as we approach the sputtered through the clip.

Evo's Summer release.

It also has the oomph to create HTC Evo 4G Browser: Corinne a mobile hotspot stronger than Iozzio any other. Past phones limited tethered devices to 5, but the Evo ups its count to nine.

What we don't know, however, is what could torpedo the Evo: Sprint hasn't released any pricing information for the phone or its 4G data plans, and hefty price tags on either end could hold sales back. We'll

NEXT continued from page 78

Taken together (or even separately) its specs are impressive. Its guts center on a 1GHz processor, one gig of built -in memory, 512 megs of RAM, and a battery larger than even the most advanced HTC handset out there. On the outside are a 4.3-inch, 480-by-800 pixel touchscreen LCD, and eightmegapixel camera capable of 720p high-def video, and an additional front-facing 1.3megapixel lens. And what

Bending Gravity, Researchers Capture Star -Birthing Region 10 Billion Light Years Away Clay Dillow (Popular Science New Technology, Science News, The Future Now) Submitted at 3/24/2010 7:11:38 AM

Using a little astrophysical magic and the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment Telescope in northern Chile, astronomers at Durham University in England captured the best view yet of individual star nurseries in a galaxy a full 10 billion light-years from Earth. And all they had to do was bend a little light.

The star birth region above -SMMJ2135-0102, for those of you keeping cosmic score -- is about 300 light-years across and contains concentrations of stars 100 times greater than similar regions in our own galaxy.

Follow up snapshots taken with the Submillimeter Array in Hawaii further sharpened the BENDING page 81

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view, revealing four starforming factories in the galaxy.

But while images of the far cosmos are nearly always visually appealing, this one is especially intriguing because of the way it was captured. This faraway galaxy normally couldn't be seen in such dramatic detail, but as chance would have it a huge cluster of nearer galaxies drifted into our line of sight to SMMJ21350102. Because massive bodies -like huge clusters of galaxies -bend light, the further galaxy

appeared 16 times larger to telescopes here on Earth.

This view shows the nursery at its star-birthing peak when the universe was about 3 billion years old. And it's true what they say: the miracle of birth is a beautiful sight to behold. [ Discovery News]

info@greentechmedia.com (Greentech Media: Headlines) Submitted at 3/23/2010 6:04:08 PM

In the future, you may not screw in light bulbs. You might snap them in instead.

LED manufacturer Bridgelux along with Molex has created the Helieon Light Module, an LED light mounted onto a fixture that clicks into a lamp. It won't fit into normal lamps or sockets, but Bridgelux is working with designers and lighting contractors to create equipment and a sales channel for the product. The first units ship in May and lamps

A Consumer Group for Smart Grid info@greentechmedia.com (Greentech Media: Headlines)

talked about the promise of the technology but not the people who would need to use it to Submitted at 3/23/2010 1:53:44 PM make that promise a reality.

Consumers are A) angry, B) “It’s really quite shocking how unfamiliar, C) scared or D) little focus there’s been on excited when it comes to smart educating the consumer on what grid. smart meter technology is,” said The answer is E) all of the Walker. “Most consumers don’t above, as far as we know. understand why they should Enter the Smart Grid Consumer even care about this stuff.”

Coalition, a new nonprofit The SGCC hopes to listen then coalition of utilities, academics, educate, and fast. Jesse Berst, smart grid companies and acting executive director of the consumer advocates that is SGCC, managing director at hoping to find out what the GlobalSmartEnergy, said that customer knows and wants the organization is already when it comes to a 21st Century planning studies of consumer electrical grid, and how players behavior and doing a lot of can deliver their messages so listening. It hopes to start consumers will listen and learn. research in April.

This collection of smart grid The good news is there is interests is overdue, as backlash already some data on what about the pricing, safety and they’re up against. Besides the engineered for the fixture will privacy concerns of smart concerns in California and come out around the same time. meters gains momentum in Texas over smart meters, GE The Helieon sort of resembles a California, Texas and beyond. recently conducted a study in small smoke alarm and clicks Richard Walker, President of Australia and the U.S. that into its socket in much the same Control4 Energy Systems, one found more than three-quarters way. The difference is that there of the founding members of the of consumers are not familiar is a bright light in the middle of coalition, found that when his wit the term smart grid. On the the puck. It puts out as much c o n s u m e r - o r i e n t e d h o m e upside, of the 11 percent of light as a 40 to 100 watt bulb, networking company entered the people who do know about it, depending on the model, but smart grid arena, everyone nearly all of them were positive uses only 20 to 30 percent of the power.

It's also somewhat cheap. The first Helieons will sell to light manufacturers for around $20 to $25, said Bridgelux CEO Bill Watkins. A single bulb can save

Bridgelux Trots Out LED Replacement for Light Bulbs

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about the benefits they would get from the technology.

Berst said the coalition is actively recruiting more members. Current members include Future of Privacy Forum, IBM, Control4, Silver Spring, GE, NREL and various utilities. The organization will share best practices amongst members as they are developed.

For now, Walker admitted that the coalition will have to play catch up to allay the concerns (and outrage) that are already out in the public sphere before they can move into crafting public service messages, which the group is planning to do in the near future.

“You’d like to put your best foot forward. But there are a lot of groups who’ve raised valid concerns. So yes, you’ve got to start by attacking that,” said Walker. “If we don’t have the consumer to embrace smart grid, we’re going to be in a whole lot of hurt as an industry.”

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around $12 a year in power costs, according to general industry estimates. Two years ago, LED bulbs cost $100 or more in retail settings.

"LEDs are now bright enough.

The color is good. There is no mercury, no lead. The only thing that is needed now is to get the installed price to where the payback period is less than two years," Watkins said. "Once you hit the $20 barrier, the next one is $10. Once you hit the $10 barrier, it's all over. The $100 billion lighting market becomes all LED." The long-awaited shift toward solid state lighting has begun to occur, say Watkins and others.

Regulations in Australia, the U.S. and the EU have created conditions to encourage adoption. At the same time, the technology has improved and the costs have declined. The traditional bluish "alien autopsy" light of LEDs has

given way to the more familiar warm light of incandescent bulbs. (See video of the Helieon in action.)

Networking LEDs to save energy is also fairly straightforward: whereas traditional bulbs are vacuum tubes, LEDs are chips. Redwood Systems, among others, wants to power and link lights with computer cable for remote control. Smoke alarms and sensors will likely become linked or integrated into light fixtures as time goes on and builders want to exploit these new-found communication links. A Roadmap to New Lighting has more details.

"Someday we will put smoke detectors in there," Watkins said.

Down lighting, i.e., streetlights, lamps and that thing above your head, account for 20 percent of the electrical consumption in the U.S. Swapping them all with

LEDs could drop it to four percent, Watkins asserted.

Bridgelux will initially target commercial customers with the bulb. Besides cutting power consumption, LEDs only have to be replaced every decade or longer, which reduces maintenance. Some cities with LED streetlights have estimated that half of their savings come in lower maintenance and replacement rates.

The Helieon is based around the light arrays Bridgelux came out with initially in 2009. The light arrays combine several LEDs under a single lens. By combining components, Bridgelux managed to drop the cost of the overall package.

Putting more LEDs into the package increases the intensity of the light.

Bridgelux has raised millions from investors. Recently, it closed a $62 million round (it sought $50 million) to buy and

equip a fabrication facility in Silicon Valley. It is the first fab built in the area in about 25 years. The company picked it up from Lam Research. The first chips from the fab come out in June.

Still, the company -- along with lighting start-ups like Luminus Devices, Redwood, Luxim, Topanga Technologies Eden Park, Lunera, Renaissance, Soraa and Kaai -- will have to contend against lighting heavyweights like Philips, General Electric, Toshiba and Osram, which are all cranking up their LED efforts.

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EnerNoc Acquisition Number 3: A ZigBee Building System info@greentechmedia.com (Greentech Media: Headlines) Submitted at 3/24/2010 6:00:08 AM

In an effort to diversify its portfolio of services, EnerNoc has bought SmallFoot, a Colorado company that specializes in ZigBee- and low power-based equipment for managing energy in buildings.

It marks the third in a series of acquisitions for the company. It bought Cogent Energy in December to accelerate the push into building management and it purchased eQuilibrium Solutions, a carbon accounting company, before that.

Historically, EnerNoc has garnered its revenue from demand response services sold to utilities. It's a growing ENERNOC page 83

Volkswagen Shows off its First Hybrid in U.S. Next Week info@greentechmedia.com (Greentech Media: Headlines)

not to have a hybrid on the road.

Stefan Jacoby, president of Volkswagen US, and Walter da Submitted at 3/23/2010 3:58:59 PM Silva, who runs design, will This Touareg is not like the preside over the event, which others. takes place Tuesday, March 30 Volkswagen group will show at the IAC Building. off its first hybrid in New York It will also be one of the last to City next week, a 2011 Touareg, put electric cars on the market. and in effect usher itself into the The Volkswagen Group will new car market. Volkswagen is come out with an all-electric one of the few major car makers Audi sports car, the E-Tron, in

2012 and follow it up with the Volkswagen-branded E-Up!. an economy car with an electric scooter in the trunk, in 2013.(Audi also has a hybrid with lithium ion batteries coming.)

Nissan and General Motors plan to launch the Leaf and the Volt, respectively, later this year. The Leaf is all-electric while the Volt is a plug-in

hybrid but the Volt will mostly operate as an electric car, GM anticipates. Ford has a variety plug-ins and all-electrics coming over the next 2.5 years. Toyota has a plug-in on the way too.

Why is Volkswagen bringing up the rear? The market is still in its infancy for one thing.

Even though Nissan and others will be earlier to market, none of these major manufacturers

believe their markets will be dominated by electric cars soon.

Renault-Nissan said that 10 percent of its cars will be allelectric by 2020. Ford says that 25 percent of cars sold by 2020 will be hybrids or electrics with the vast majority of that slice constituting standard hybrids.

Ergo, a manufacturer can VOLKSWAGEN page 83

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business. EnerNoc currently has control over 3.5 gigawatts of power that it can deliver to utility clients. However, demand response companies are wholly dependent on utilities--that is who pays the bills. There are only around 2,100 utilities in the U.S. and some of them move incredibly slow. Some also want to control their own demand response services--Tendril Networks CEO Adrian Tuck has theorized that software developers could start to displace demand response service providers.

By moving into building management, EnerNoc can sell its software, hardware and services to a wide array of corporate clients and businesses.

In fact, if you put the three acquisitions together, EnerNoc now has networking equipment for controlling appliances (SmallFoot), software to manage the process (Cogent) and more software to see if the first two things are really worthwhile (eQuilibrium).All three were fairly small before EnerNoc gobbled them up.

What will the company buy next? It's hard to say, but one could imagine EnerNoc trying to buy companies with particular specialities, such as Optimum Energy, which makes software that controls air conditioner chillers, or Lumenergi, which has an application and equipment for dimming those hard-to-dim

fluorescent tube lights.

Competitor Comverge, which has historically concentrated on providing demand response services to small businesses and homes, is also diversifying into providing software to utilities.

EnerNoc reported$190.7 million in revenue for 2009, compared to $106.1 million for 2008. It went public in 2007 and had its first profitable quarter in the third quarter last year.

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engine.) As a result, electrics sometimes sound like an afterthought at Volkswagen.

"We will be in the market with this car [the E-Up!] in 2013," Ulrich Hackenberg, a member of the VW board, told us last year at the Frankfurt Auto Show. "The reason we are looking at EVs is the American market. EVs will be necessary to sell cars in the USA." Still, the company is intrigued by electric. It hired Tesla cofounder Martin Eberhard

(reported here first.). Dr. Ferdinand Porsche also built the first hybrid, in 1902. Porsche became part of Volkswagen last year.

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probably be a little late and still not get swept behind.

Second, Volkswagen loves diesel. Last year, the company sold out of diesel Audis and Volkswagens in the U.S. "We think that diesel could grow to around 15 percent of the [U.S.] market," Johan de Nysschen, president of Audi of America, told us last year. Why not lead with your strengths. (Similiarly, most of Ford's efforts in energy efficiency are really wrapped around the efficient EcoBoost

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Health Care: 10 Frequently Asked Questions (Kiplinger Personal Finance)

either health care insurance or pay a fee of up to $2,000 per full The health care bill is more -time employee if any of their than two thousand pages long -- w o r k e r s g e t s g o v e r n m e n t with hundreds more to come subsidized insurance coverage from regulators filling in the in the exchanges. The first 30 details. It will literally take workers would be excluded years before all the details are from the assessment. set and everyone can see how • I’m self-employed and buy t h e p l a n w i l l a f f e c t t h e i r insurance on my own. Last year, particular situation. But here are it went up $200 a month, and 10 commonly asked questions I’m worried it will go up more that can be answered now: in the future because of this bill.

• I own a business with 35 Will it? That is hard to predict. employees. I don’t provide T h e l e g i s l a t i o n d o e s health care insurance, but I’m immediately create a process for hoping to soon. How will this reviewing increases in health bill affect me? Because you plan premiums and requires have more than 25 workers, you plans to justify any increases. won’t get the employer tax A n d o n c e t h e s t a t e - b a s e d credits that start right away. A m e r i c a n H e a l t h B e n e f i t Instead, you’ll have to wait until Exchanges are up and running in 2014, which is when states start 2014, you will be able to shop operating the Small Business for health insurance among Health Options Program, or competing carriers.

SHOP Exchanges, where small • My employer has a good businesses will be able to pool health plan. Will I have to pay together to buy insurance. The more? Not as a result of the Congressional Budget Office legislation. Your costs may go forecasts that the exchanges up in the next few years, but would bring premiums down as rising medical costs are mostly much as 4% while still adding to blame for what’s driving up more people to the rolls of premiums now. The health insured. reform law does contain cost • What if my business grows to control provisions, but they more than 50 workers? Starting won’t have much of an effect on in 2014, firms with 50 or more HEALTH page 84 workers will be required to offer

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Investors Are Missing the Bull Market (Kiplinger Personal Finance)

Suppose they gave a bull market and nobody came? That pretty much sums up the response of individual investors to the past year’s run-up in share prices. Left stunned and frightened by the preceding collapse of share prices, individual investors have lightened up on stock funds and shoveled money into bond funds.

Those who exited stocks have missed a breathtaking rally.

Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index returned 50% over the past 12 months through March 18. During the same period, the MSCI EAFE index of developed -market foreign stocks galloped 61%, the Russell 2000 index of small companies soared 66%, and the MSCI Emerging Markets index surged 89%. It doesn’t get much better than that.

But fear of more losses has been a more potent consideration for most investors.

The Leuthold Group, a Minneapolis-based research firm, computes that from the start of 2009 through March 10, 2010, investors, in aggregate, sold $6 billion in stock funds and purchased $446 billion in bond funds. Only in the past few weeks, as major averages have continued to rise, have stock funds finally begun to see net

inflows (meaning more cash has been coming in than going out).

To be sure, many investors have simply stood still during the bull market, which celebrated its first birthday on March 9. A total of $4.8 trillion is invested in stock mutual funds. But, as a group, investors have been selling, not buying, during one of the most powerful rallies in history.

What’s more, investors rushing into bond funds may well hit a buzz saw. By keeping shortterm rates near zero and pumping money into the nation’s moribund economy, the Federal Reserve may be planting the seeds of a significant jump in inflation at some point in the future. When that happens, bond yields are likely to rise, pushing down bond prices.

When it comes to making decisions about mutual funds, bad choices are standard operating procedure. Whether due to poor timing, poor fund selection or both, the average investor tends to earn a good deal less in the stock market than the reported returns of funds would indicate.

How can that be? An example will help. Suppose you have a fund with $100 million in assets.

Over a 12-month period, it gains 40%, so its asset base climbs to $140 million. The fund garners a ton of positive media

attention, investors rush to buy, and assets climb to $500 million. But in the ensuing year, the fund loses 28.6%. The fund itself has broken even at the end of the two years. But far more investors have lost money than have made money.

That, in a nutshell, is what happens in the real world.

Morningstar figures that over the ten-year period through the end of 2009, the average mutual fund returned an annualized 3.2%. But the average dollar invested in mutual funds earned an annualized 1.7%. U.S. stock funds returned an annualized 1.6% over this period. But investors, on average, earned an annualized 0.2% -- an average of 1.4 percentage points per year less. Foreign stock funds returned an annualized 3.2%; investors earned an annualized 2.6%, or 0.6 point per year less.

The bottom line: Investors don’t do as well as mutual funds by roughly 0.5 to 1 percentage point per year. And, as we know, over long periods twothirds of actively managed mutual funds fail to match the returns of the index they’re trying to beat. Combine the two factors, and investors are earning a whole lot less than what the market offers (see Why Your Results Stink).

How to improve your returns Do you see yourself in this picture? We all make investing

mistakes. Even Warren Buffett, in his annual reports, spends a lot of time discussing the mistakes he made over the previous year. But, over time, he has made far more smart moves than dumb ones.

How can you invest more like Buffett and less like the average investor? He gives one important clue: Analyze your mistakes. Try to figure out what went wrong and why so that you can, perhaps, avoid making the same error again. (See Learn From the World's Great Investors.)

A good deal of investing is common sense. Keep your costs low, invest small amounts regularly, shun investments you don’t understand. For more ideas, see our Investor Psychology special report and 5 Lessons From the Crash -- and Recovery. Unless you plan to spend serious time on investing, stick to a portfolio of index funds, such as the one provided in Don't Abandon Stocks.

Perhaps most important, don’t try to time the market’s shortterm moves. No one can, as the numbers in this article so sadly illustrate. Steven T. Goldberg is an investment adviser in the Washington, D.C., area.

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medical costs for at least five years.

• I’m a Medicare beneficiary.

Should I expect to pay more?

That’s certainly possible later on, but in the short term, you’ll pay less for preventive services and for prescription drugs.

Starting in 2011, those in Medicare will receive free preventive care services, such as screenings for colon, prostate and breast cancer. Plus the threshold for income related Medicare Part B premiums for 2011 through 2019 will be frozen.

At the same time, those beneficiaries who have high drug costs and fall into the “doughnut hole” coverage gap will get a $250 rebate this year.

In 2011, beneficiaries in the gap will be able to get a 50% discount on brand-name drugs.

By 2020, the gap would be eliminated. That means that seniors, who now pay 100% of their drug costs once they’re in the doughnut hole, will pay 25%.

But, Medicare Part D premium costs would be higher for highincome beneficiaries -individuals with incomes above $85,000 and couples with more than $170,000.

• My Medicare is supplemented by my former employer. Is that in danger? If your former employer offers prescription HEALTH page 85

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drug coverage to Medicare eligible retirees, that benefit may be in danger. Starting in 2013, the tax break employers get for providing that benefit to retirees will be eliminated, increasing the likelihood that employers will drop it.

You may have to pay more if your supplemental coverage is through Medicare Advantage, since government payments to those plans will be decreased over the next three years, to bring payments on a par with traditional Medicare. You could lose extra benefits such as free eyeglasses and hearing aids.

• I make $300,000 a year and have a very generous employer paid health plan. How much more will I have to pay? You do face higher taxes. Starting in 2013, individuals will pay a higher Medicare payroll tax of 2.35% on earnings of more than $200,000 a year and couples earning more than $250,000, up from the current 1.45%. You’ll

also face an additional 3.8% tax on unearned income such as dividends and interest over the threshold. Furthermore, starting in 2018, the law also will impose a 40% excise tax on the portion of most employer sponsored health coverage that exceeds $10,200 a year for individuals and $27,500 for families.

• I just graduated from college. I don’t have a job and can’t afford insurance. Will I be affected?

You will be eligible for coverage under your parents’ health care plan as long as you are single, under age 26 and are not eligible for other employer provided health coverage. This will be available for plan years beginning six months from now or later.

• My family has income of about $60,000, but we haven’t been able to afford health insurance. Can we get it now?

You might be eligible for government subsidies to help

you pay for private insurance that will be sold in the new health exchanges that will begin operation in 2014. Premium subsidies will be available for families with incomes from $29,327 to $88,000. But there’s no help until then.

• My insurance coverage was canceled last year when I exceeded the lifetime cap. Can I get back on it now? You probably would qualify for the new high-risk pools, which will be effective within 90 days of the bill’s enactment. A participant will pay the full cost, but the premiums will be set as if the person does not have a preexisting condition.

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