Liberty Newspost May-18-10

E-reader News Edition

- 18/05/10

http://www.LibertyNewspost.com

Pennsylvania primary: undecideds may decide it Tabassum Zakaria (Front Row Washington) Submitted at 5/17/2010 11:03:43 AM

The Pennsylvania Democratic primary may end up decided by the undecideds.

Senator Arlen Specter and Congressman Joe Sestak are vying for the Democratic vote in Tuesday’s primary, which will determine who runs against the Republican candidate for the Pennsylvania Senate seat in November.

A Quinnipiac University poll released Monday shows the race is too close to call — with Sestak at 42 pecent versus Specter at 41 percent. Add to the mix 16 percent undecided and 25 percent saying they might change their mind, and the vote could go any which way.

“Sen. Arlen Specter has the party organization behind him, which should help with turnout.

But Congressman Joe Sestak could benefit from the relatively large group of undecided voters.

Generally, incumbents don’t do all that well with undecideds, who are more likely to vote for the challenger or not vote,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

“Moreover, as we have seen elsewhere this spring, there is an anti-incumbent mood in the electorate and Specter, with 30 years in the Senate, is the ultimate incumbent,” he said.

The survey of 951 likely Democratic primary voters was conducted May 12-16 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.

votes to prevent Lincoln from getting 50 percent, that would force a June 8 rematch with Halter.

Kentucky Senate Republican primary polls show Rand Paul, son of Ron Paul and supported by the Tea Party movement, leading Trey Grayson, who is backed by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. Public Policy Polling has Paul ahead 52 -34.

For more Reuters political news, click here.

Photo credit: Reuters/Tim Others to watch on Tuesday: Arkansas Senate Democratic Shaffer (member of U.S. Navy primary, which pits incumbent Leap Frogs jump team sails past Blanche Lincoln against Lt. a L i b e r t y B e l l s i g n a t o p Gov. Bill Halter. The most r V e t e r a n s S t a d i u m i n ecent polls show Lincoln in the P h i l a d e l p h i a ) lead, but if the other candidate, D.C. Morrison, captures enough

Submitted at 5/18/2010 2:39:25 AM

Melvin buzzed up: Taliban

suicide bomb hits NATO convoy, kills 18 (AP) 1 minute ago 2010-0518T07:20:24-07:00

(Reuters: Top News) Submitted at 5/18/2010 9:10:28 AM

[ fivefilters.org: unable to retrieve full-text content] WASHINGTON (Reuters) With voter anger running high, two veteran senators face potential career-ending challenges on Tuesday in primary contests that could measure the anti-Washington mood before November's midterm elections.

Movie Industry Videos (HowStuffWorks Daily Feed) Submitted at 5/18/2010 9:00:00 AM

(more info) Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK Five Filters featured article: tools: PDF Newspaper, Full General Election. Available The Art of Looking Prime Text RSS, Term Extraction. tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Ministerial - The 2010 UK Text RSS, Term Extraction.

General Election. Available

Search on for Briton's body in Everest mystery (AFP) (Yahoo! News: Most Viewed)

Specter, Lincoln face strong tests in primary contests

2

Headline/ Business/ Culture/

E-reader News Edition

Ask away, Obama says, without answering reporters questions Deborah Charles (Front Row Washington)

Melly Alazraki (BloggingStocks)

Submitted at 5/17/2010 11:46:12 AM

Freedom of the Press is all well and good, but don’t expect President Barack Obama to always answer journalists’ questions.

That’s what the president made clear in the Oval Office after he signed the Daniel Pearl Freedom of Press Act — a new piece of legislation named after the Wall Street Journal reporter who was kidnapped and beheaded in 2002. The new law requires the State Department to identify countries and governments that restrict press freedoms.

Seated at his desk surrounded by members of the Pearl family, Obama made a little speech talking about how important journalists were and how vital a free press was to keep the world informed.

In the name of press freedom, one reporter asked if the gathered pool of reporters could ask some questions.

Before the Bell: Futures Higher Ahead of Housing, PPI Data Submitted at 5/18/2010 8:10:00 AM

“You are free to ask them,” Obama said.

But when asked if he would actually answer any of the questions the free press asked, Obama said: “We won’t be answering …I’m not doing a press conference today.”

Despite continued attempts to ask about energy giant BP which owns a well that is spewing huge amounts of oil in the Gulf of Mexico and Iran’s

nuclear program, Obama stuck to his word. He didn’t answer any questions.

For more Reuters political news, click here Photo credit: Reuters/Jason Reed (Daniel Pearl’s son Adam reacts with his mother Mariane after Obama signs Freedom of Press Act)

Filed under: Before the Bell, International Markets, HewlettPackard (HPQ), Wal-Mart (WMT), Home Depot (HD), Market Matters, Abercrombie and Fitch (ANF), Economic Data U.S. stock futures advanced Tuesday as investors eye key economic and earnings results. The Home Depot has already reported strong results and Wall Street awaits results from Walmart. Several key economic reports, including readings on inflation and housing will also be in focus this morning.

Economic data will start pouring in at 8:30 a.m. Eastern.

At that time, a report on April housing starts and building permits is due. Housing starts are expected to have risen to a seasonally adjusted annual unit rate of 675,000 from 626,000 in

March, according to Briefing.com. Building permits are expected to have risen to 715,000 from a 680,000 annual unit rate.

Continue reading Before the Bell: Futures Higher Ahead of Housing, PPI Data Before the Bell: Futures Higher Ahead of Housing, PPI Data originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 18 May 2010 08:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink| Email this| Comments Wal-Mart- Home DepotHewlett-Packard- Abercrombie & Fitch- Briefing.com

Wise Words: Stand Up and Speak Up WomansDay.com Editors (Daily Woman's Day Blog) Submitted at 5/18/2010 6:30:00 AM

Here's a little bit of inspiration to make your day fun, fabulous

and full of joy.

If you don’t go after what you want, you’ll never have it. If you don’t ask, the answer is always no. If you don’t step forward, you’re always in the

same place. –Nora Roberts How do you get what you want in life?

Have a favorite quote? Send it t o u s a t wdwisewords@gmail.com with

your name, city and state. You General Election. Available m i g h t b e f e a t u r e d i n a n tools: PDF Newspaper, Full upcoming Wise Words post! Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK

E-reader News Edition

Business/

3

Hot or Not? Technology Entrepreneurship in New York City Mike Katz (Business Insider)

community’s optimism, eagerness to defy odds, and diversity, New Yorkers have Mike Katz is in a Venture entrepreneurship wired into their C a p i t a l S e m i n a r c l a s s a t DNA. Columbia. Below is an excerpt However, other variables such from his final paper. We've as (i) the amount of capital lightly edited his intro, and available for investment, (ii) the reprinted the rest from his blog ability to attract and retain with permission. employees, and (iii) leadership For the past six months, in several subsectors to foster a prominent players in the New community, are essential to Y o r k C i t y t e c h n o l o g y turning ideas into thriving community have loudly – and companies. Early Dollars: increasingly – asserted that V i b r a n c y o f t h e S t a r t u p NYC is “hot,” or “exploding,” I n v e s t m e n t C o m m u n i t y or “insert any other dramatic Angels and Seed Funds adjective here.”

In terms of investors, New The individuals making these York has a plethora of seed claims are as smart as they are funds, micro venture capitalists, savvy, and are astutely aware of and wealthy individuals to the value of increased attention financially help companies at on the blogosphere. Although the most embryonic stages. The provocative, these declarations Center for an Urban Future, a have generally lacked hard nonprofit that studies the overall evidence and usually have been health of New York City, inspired by biased anecdotes estimates that these angel from a select few. investors and their associated I set out to go beyond one-off funds have “$250-500 million observations by analyzing available for investment” over concrete macroeconomic data the next decade. Assuming an about t e c h n o l o g y average angel/seed investment entrepreneurship in NYC. As o f $ 2 5 0 , 0 0 0 ( w h i c h i s part of this process, I conducted conservative), this current 3 5 i n t e r v i e w s w i t h l o c a l aggregate pool of capital will investors, start-up founders, and fund somewhere between 1,000 government officials. It might and 2,000 companies in NYC. be a long list of some of the Of note is that most of these who’s-who of New York, but it funds are small and tend to i s u n f o r t u n a t e l y f a r f r o m diversify risk by co-investing exhaustive. with other angels. This practice If the lifeblood of an innovative increases overall activity, and e n v i r o n m e n t l i e s i n a hopefully speeds the rate at Submitted at 5/18/2010 8:34:21 AM

in sectors common to NYC (see the below section analyzing the leading technology areas in New York), these investment sizes tend to creep into the low seven digit range, and the active VC firms in NYC often form syndicates of two to three firms per deal. Unlike other hotbeds of entrepreneurship – such as Silicon Valley, Boston, or the Research Triangle – venture capitalists in New York are reasonably accessible. This accessibility means that even entrepreneurs with poor social networks – but exceptional products – can still get meetings with investors. which this pool is deployed. not have as many chances to Conversely, many However, getting funding is impress this group. Mireless entrepreneurs complain there are o n l y p a r t o f a t h r i v i n g says there is “no learning on the not enough investors in NYC technology startup community; job; you better wow them right capable of writing “real” Series entrepreneurs need advice and out of the gate” or they will talk A checks. The evidence guidance as much as they need to each other and the company suggests they are probably right money. In this area, New York will never get funding. Although (see below), but many non-NYC appears to only have a nascent, many in the community would based firms have slowly crept albeit growing, network of disagree with him (or at least into the five boroughs to fill this e x p e r i e n c e d e a r l y - s t a g e say he's over the top), the crux investing gap. Some Boston investors. In the words of of Mireless’s thesis appears true.

VCs that are active in New York outspoken entrepreneur, Matt In short, the money is out there include Matrix Partners, Spark Mireless of SpeakerText, “good for young companies in New Capital, Polaris(through Dog luck finding angels in NYC who York City, but the community Patch Labs), Softbank, and understand early-stage tech needs more seasoned very earlyGeneral Catalyst(far from a investing. Technically, they’re stage investment professionals complete list). Silicon Valley out there somewhere… But I and outlets for mentorship. investors are also increasing haven’t seen them.”

Traditional “Series A” Venture their time in New York with Mireless also scolds the tight Capitalists Battery Ventures being k n i t n a t u r e o f t h e a n g e l Once startups pass the initial particularly active. Finally, c o m m u n i t y i n N e w Y o r k funding hurdle and build a proof other tri-state area firms such as because although it enables easy of concept, many will require Edison and Updata, both of New collaboration amongst investors, more substantial capital from a HOT page 4 it also means entrepreneurs do VC. For businesses competing

4

E-reader News Edition

HOT continued from page 3

Jersey, have enriched the entrepreneurial community of New York by investing here for many years.

Despite this interest from firms based outside the Big Apple, it is difficult to determine what percentage of these non-NYC firms have earmarked assets for investments in New York.

Confounding this ambiguity further are firms like Bessemer which are based locally but have offices around the globe.

Consequently, to assess how much “pure” New York VC money exists, I assembled the following table: As mentioned in the caption, this data is simply a back-of-theenvelope analysis using public sources. In fact, I previously worked/interned for two of these firms and back then loved laughing at how wrong outsiders could be when trying to draw conclusions from fuzzy private information. I would never reveal confidential data, but I think this analysis – although likely extremely incorrect – provides some interesting insights.

With that said, this data comes from Capital IQ and details the two most recent funds for venture capital firms that meet the following three requirements: (1) the most recent fund exceeds $100 million, (2) the firm’s primary offices are in New York City, and (3) the firm has a bias to

invest in NYC above other regions. In the far right column, I also attempted to estimate the capital that remains from the most recent fund (note: assumes half of the fund is reserved for follow-on investments, fees, etc. and the remainder is invested equally over five years. This equal allocation clearly happens infrequently in reality and five years is likely too long, but I tried to estimate variables that seemed consistent with trends in NYC).

As shown, all but one New York VC will need to raise a new fund in the next few years, and the aggregate estimated Series A capital available for investments in new startups is $197 million. Considering VCs have likely delayed deploying capital through the economic crisis, there is a respectable amount of dry powder remaining. Also, capital will increase further once fundraising returns to traditional levels. Interestingly, the data suggests the sum of NYC venture capital funding closely approximates the sum of angel/seed capital available (although this ignores entry by non-native firms as mentioned above and the creation of new vehicles such as AOL Ventures). Scaling Headcount: Educational Support & Finding Talent Perhaps even more difficult for startups than finding helpful

investors is attracting and retaining talented employees.

New York has the largest consolidated workforce in the country, yet, like any other city, has challenges matching candidates with companies that can fully leverage employees’ skills. Also, Silicon Valley has long been a draw for the best engineering talent because that is where the startups were.

However, as Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures likes to half-joke, “nobody graduating in the top of his or her class from MIT, Carnegie Mellon, or Columbia actually wants to move into the California suburbs at age 22, buy a car, and commute every day to a nondescript office park. These kids would much rather enjoy the New York lifestyle of living in Williamsburg and hopping on the subway to code in an airy loft/office in SoHo.” As a result, the tide of this “westward migration” of technical talent is starting to turn due in large part to changing practices at New York’s schools as well as altered attitudes about the financial services sector.

Powerhouse Academic Institutions In my chat with Mayor Bloomberg, he pressed that NYC’s universities have created “legendary inventions with no real companies.” Although this represents some hyperbole, Columbia, NYU, Pratt, Parsons,

SVA, etc. are poor incubators for commercial enterprises. For example, in 2007, the most recent year for which data is available, the Center for an Urban Future noted that “NYU was number one among all U.S. universities with $791 million in royalties, while Columbia was number two, with $135 million.

No other university topped $100 million.” Further investigation by the CUF suggests New York schools are unwilling to “swing for the fences” like Stanford, Harvard, and MIT do. This is a fundamental problem for New York – both inside and outside of schools – and an issue discussed in more detail in the below conclusion.

The Curse of Wall Street Thousands of high-quality engineers and computer scientists might graduate from New York’s world class schools every year, but “these individuals have historically flocked to write algorithms for hedge funds rather than work on manipulating open APIs,” says David Lerner of Columbia University’s Technology Ventures Lab. With these Wall Street jobs come high wages and annual cash bonuses and the top talent is not accustomed to being paid in stock options. This is a hindrance for New York because founders make significantly below market salaries until they have a successful exit, and although the

long run financial benefit might be on the side of founders, the difference in the interim is so stark (i.e. the dramatic change in lifestyle) that few technologists are willing to take the plunge.

The collapse of the financial community has changed this slightly with so many “quants” out of work, but the attitude is still pervasive in NYC. Technology Leadership: Finance and Media + 5 Exciting New Sectors New York has always been a center for finance and media, but from these two behemoth industries have emerged five sectors where New York is currently leading the technology world: 1) Advertising Technology.

Google acquired NYC-based DoubleClick for its superior ability to match advertisers and publishers down the long tail of the curve. Out of this firm, a number of other companies like ContextWeb and MediaMath have been spawned or encouraged. Additionally, New York businesses outside of technology spend huge portions of their budgets on advertising and web promotions so it is not coincidental that the leading search marketing firms (such as Conductor, Altruik, and Clickable) are also based in Manhattan.

2) Advancements in Finance.

HOT page 8

Business/

E-reader News Edition

5

Fannie And Freddie Need To Go -- NOW Jim Boswell (Business Insider) Submitted at 5/18/2010 8:38:17 AM

No institution or group of institutions should be held more accountable for the current financial crisis in America than the Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) with the endearing names of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. And it is long past time that we put these culprits out of our misery.

Management of long term mortgage debt is too important to the U.S. economy (and thus the world’s economy) to leave in the hands of two entities that make up less than one percent of the Fortune 500 companies in America. Although supposedly sponsored by the Government, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac never worked for the Government, nor did they ever serve the general welfare of the American public.

As private companies, whose stock is still being bought and sold on the New York Stock Exchange, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were out to make money for themselves and their stockholders. By manipulating mortgage rates to their advantage, lowering credit standards, holding their own securities funded by ultra-cheap treasury debt, and trading on inside information, the two GSEs intentionally strategized on ways to increase mortgage

debt beyond reasonable means.

Because of the oligopoly-like control over mortgage lending given to the GSEs by Congress (and conceded by the Federal

Reserve), mortgage debt in the U.S. grew nearly three fold from $2.8 Trillion to $10.2 Trillion in the fifteen-years between 1992 and 2007 (See Exhibit). This

growth in mortgage debt grew larger and faster than the better known National Debt which grew from $4.1 Trillion to $9.0 Trillion during the same time

period.

In truth, without the housing bubble collapse, there would FANNIE page 7

6

Business/

E-reader News Edition

Hey, New York Times: You Can Change The Game In Online Advertising Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry (Business Insider)

in their excellence at getting people to sellers' sites and leading them to buy stuff.

Submitted at 5/18/2010 9:00:00 AM These ads, however, form only The most meaningful equation one part of the ad landscape. in business is that sales minus The rest is brand advertising. costs equals profits. And it's the Brand advertising tells a story one that sums up why so many and conveys emotion. And this old media outlets have such is why, for the most part, brand difficulty switching to the advertising has stuck to TV and internet: their costs are too high hasn't moved enough to the and their profits too low. internet: the TV medium is great In particular, while they're for telling stories. Internet ads, trying to implement paywalls, or at least classic IAB banner something which we think will ads -- not so much. fail for all but a few (business) You get where I'm going with newspapers, ad rates for news, this. e v e n q u a l i t y n e w s , a r e For brand advertising to get its abysmally low. just deserts on the internet -- to Why is that? become nicer and better at Part of it is simple supply and telling stories, which is good for demand: the supply of news to consumers and brands, and more put ads against is infinite. But a expensive, which is good for big part of it is because ads next publishers -- it needs to move to to news are stuck in the wrong a different paradigm. paradigm.

This is the issue that Steve The promise of online ads for Jobs, who is unrivaled when it the past 15 years has been that comes to cutting to the core of a everything is measurable -- problem -- tackled with iAds, views, clicks, etc. -- and so t h e i P h o n e a d f o r m a t h e advertisers will know which of introduced. TV ads have no their dollars are wasted. interactivity, but are great at But the problem is that this conveying emotion, he said. p a r a d i g m h a s o n l y r e a l l y Meanwhile internet ads can w o r k e d f o r o n e k i n d o f have interactivity, but are advertising. Online ads are great c r a p p y w h e n i t c o m e s t o when it comes to generating conveying emotion. iAds does transactions directly. The key both. Boom. example of that is Google's Steve Jobs is a great salesman, search ads, which are unrivaled but there's no reason that the

online. Because of its prestige and scale, only can the New York Times establish this as the new standard. Only can the New York Times say to the agencies: "We're sorry but if you want to run ads on our website this is what the format will be and this is what the rates will be."

What are they going to do? Not run ads on the New York Times? Well, maybe some of them would. We're not saying this wouldn't be a gutsy move.

But with a little cojones, just as Steve Jobs set a new benchmark ( and price!) for mobile ads with the stroke of a pen, so can the New York Times change the paradigm he introduced with Ok, but what does that have to game for online brand iAds can't come to the web. do with online news and the advertisers and publishers by In fact, it's already here: New York Times? establishing a new online brand companies like Sprout and Simple: news is one of the best advertising standard based on V i d e o E g g c r e a t e v e r y places to put immersive, quality, richness, interactivity compelling ads that unfold into engaging brand ads next to! and engagement. videos, games or other creative, News are a bad place to put Once these new formats move interactive content. VideoEgg normal online ads next to out of the "experimental" ghetto doesn't use CPM (cost per because people aren't thinking and into the production rooms of thousand views) to charge for about buying stuff when they're every large agency, the new their ads; instead they use a new reading news. But when they're reality will proliferate outside of metric called CPE, or Cost Per reading news they're highly NYTimes.com and onto the rest Engagement. attentive, so they can be of the web. Everyone will be Ads like these are the brand ads engaged by the right brand ads. better off. of the future. And that ought to Making these ads the new Ideally the New York Times be worth a lot of money to standard would be a big help to would come out with their own advertisers and publishers. But online news outlets.

SDK, based on HTML5, for to do that we have to move to a And this is where the New agencies to create rich, paradigm of online display York Times comes in. We don't immersive, engaging ads for a d v e r t i s i n g t h a t v a l u e s know of any other news interactivity and engagement organization that has such a HEY, page 7 over other metrics. strong brand both offline and

E-reader News Edition

7

FANNIE

HEY,

continued from page 5

have been no bank bailouts, no Lehman bankruptcy, no Countrywide failure, no Fed lending, no AIG (the list could go on and on). And if you are looking for the people most responsible for the housing bubble, then that leads you right to the front doors of Fannie and Freddie.

If it had not been for the selfserving business strategies of the GSEs’ to increase debt and keep housing prices escalating for their own company gains, the housing bubble that caused the recession would never had occurred in the first place. And even though GSE Executive Management may not have intended to create a global financial crisis with criminal intent in mind, that same management must still be held accountable for the global financial crisis none-the-less.

Either through ignorance or a need to satisfy their own personal greed, the GSEs mismanaged their power over mortgage rates and their underwriting systems for nearly a thirty-year period going back as far as the early 1980s. And no one should overlook the fact that the GSEs regularly used inside information to purchase their own securities prior to selling the remainder to unsuspecting global investors, thus enhancing their bets on how their securities would pay down over the counter bets of

continued from page 6

those unsuspecting investors.

Now here is the solution to our current dilemma about what to do with the GSEs. Abolish Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Replace them with a much smaller and more conservative government agency modeled after that of Ginnie Mae. Ginnie Mae (with less than eighty government employees) managed the risk of its MBS programs better than the GSEs. In fact, this little guy, unlike the GSEs who have now accrued more than $200 billion in losses since 2007, managed to make money during the same time period.

Put some respected financial person in charge of the new Federal entity, not some “political hack”. Treat this position like you would when choosing a Federal Reserve Chairman or Secretary of Treasury. Mortgage debt in the United States has grown to be one of the most important factors that we need to manage for a growing economy.

Keep this new entity simple and operate it like Ginnie Mae operates. In fact, merge Ginnie Mae into this new agency.

Ginnie Mae doesn’t purchase its own product, but instead, sells it all to investors. Compare annual reports. You’ll find it fifty times easier to understand the business model behind that of Ginnie Mae compared to the business models of the GSEs.

End the government’s involvement in subprime and outright purchase subsidies.

These activities just put houses in the hands of people who ultimately cannot afford them.

Instead, the government should encourage and reward financial responsibility. And here’s how to do that.

Have the new agency establish a 30-year 4.0% fixed rate mortgage program for highly qualified purchasers and refinancers with a minimum of 10-15% equity and good credit for “primary” residences under $500,000. This approach offers two major advantages: (1) it will reduce our long term debt obligations; and (2) it is a way to stimulate the economy better than we have been able to in the last eighteen months through increased government spending.

Back these loans and securitize them with the Full Faith and Credit Guaranty of the United States Government. Think of these new securities like long term U.S. Treasury Notes.

Marginal borrowers that don’t meet new strict underwriting standards used by the new agency must go to the private sector banks for their mortgages which “will not” carry the same Government Guaranty.

One thing we should learn from this latest financial crisis. Not everything has been all bad.

During this latest recession, heroes have stepped forward,

and I would like to tip my hat to two of the most important: (1) the FDIC, which despite the TARP bailouts, has continued doing its essential job like it has in the past—shutting down the riskiest and most dysfunctional banks in America; and (2) maybe the most important of all, those American homeowners who month after month continued making their monthly principal and interest payments despite their deteriorating financial circumstances during the crisis. It is because of heroes like these that we are continuing to recover from the Greatest Recession since the Great Depression.

Jim Boswell (MBA, MPA, BA) directed the analytical risk monitoring activities of Ginnie Mae’s $500 billion portfolio of mortgage-backed securities for twelve years (1988-2000), including the period of the S&L crisis. His recent book, Crush Depth Alert, published by Fourth Lloyd Productions, explains in detail with supporting exhibits, graphs, and tables the factors that led up to the financial crisis while offering solutions on how to move forward.

Join the conversation about this story »

NYTimes.com, and new analytical tools to describe (and price) engagement. In time, they could move up the value chain to create their own creative material for advertisers, as Condé Nast, Vice, Monocle and others are doing. Of course, if they come up with tools and frameworks that are much better than what already exists, they could expand it off their site into an ad network, but that would be a whole other ballgame.

So anyway, that's my pitch, New York Times: you can change the game in online advertising. For that you have to take a stand and take a big risk - that if you dare the ad agencies not to follow you, they'll call your bluff. You have to venture out into the unknown. But you know what? You don't have a choice anyway.

So think about it.

Join the conversation about this story » See Also: • So Here Are All The Crazy People Who Might Buy Newsweek...

• Steve Jobs Hates The New York Times iPad App • Suddenly, Google Is An Underdog In Mobile Advertising

8

Technology/ Culture/

E-reader News Edition

HOT continued from page 4

Maybe Goldman Sachs’ innovation of credit default swaps is not a praise-worth advancement in recent news, but New York is home to the most innovative “fintech” firms in the world. SecondMarket, an online portal for shares in private companies, is the first of its kind to scale and is now experiencing significant network effects.

Fynanz(a private student loan platform) and ProtEquity(a firm focused on creating downside protection tools for homeowners) both could not be born anywhere else.

3) Next Generation ECommerce. New Yorkers have always needed to be creative to survive, so serving as home to the next generation of ecommerce is a perfect fit. Gilt Groupe, Etsy, VillageVines, Kickstarter, Quirky, etc. are redefining how transactions are sourced and executed in our changing economy.

4) Creative Content. In addition to finance, media is the second logical strength of New York. NYC is home to the cutting edge of what some have coined “Creative Content 2.0,” with Gawker, The Huffington

Post, Daily Candy, Thrillist, LearnVest, JauntSetter, and countless others are eroding marketshare daily from “old school” media.

5) Collaboration & “Real” Social Interactions. New York City’s diverse neighborhoods, bustling restaurants, and crowded bars are examples of how the city’s residents crave social interaction. Maybe people like to get out because the apartments are so small, but NYC is the ideal playground for entrepreneurs developing tools that enable individuals to collaborate. FourSquare, Hot Potato, and Meetup all embody New York’s leadership in this sector. Moving Forward: New York’s Key Areas for Improvement & Potential Solutions Mentorship & Employee Development To support younger and less experienced entrepreneurs, programs like Silicon Valley’s Y-Combinator and TechStars need to take hold in New York.

I would like to see the Mayor’s office fund these initiatives, but VC firms should consider financing them too. These

efforts will attract more entrepreneurs to NYC (and keep the ones we have) while providing tools vital startup success.

Also, the gap between new and seasoned entrepreneurs seems unfathomably wide in NYC. We need to close this. The Columbia Venture Community has already started formal mentorship programs, but opportunities for informal meetings and hands-on learning need to be more commonplace.

Perhaps the Ace Hotel or Tom & Jerry’s can play the role of Buck’s of Woodside in Silicon Valley to facilitate this.

Need to Swing for the Fences The most common remark shared by all three groups of people I interviewed was that New York needs, in the words of Joe Einhorn (CEO of Thingd), an “ecosystem for a few runaway successes.” As California has seen with the “PayPal Mafia,” and more recently with Google and Facebook, big successes lead to the next generation of new startups when employees leave and start new companies. These departing employees can tap an

established network to avoid “reinventing the wheel” and also offer an opportunity for creative talent to remain in the economy and not get bored or retire to a desert island.

DoubleClick was a homerun, but it would be phenomenal for New York City to see other thriving businesses such as FourSquare, RecycleBank, Etsy, Gilt Groupe, and SecondMarket go public or be acquired for multiple hundreds of millions of dollars. These exits are the essential next step in furthering the community.

Join the conversation about this story » See Also: • The 20 Hot New York City Startups You Need To Watch • Great News, Startups: New York Is Finally Taking Its Coffee Seriously • The SAI 50+: World's Most Valuable Internet Startups

Go To Barnes & Noble, Get A Free E-book Nicholas Deleon (TechCrunch) Submitted at 5/18/2010 7:25:11 AM

Do you have a nook or the less elegantly named iRex DR800SG? If so, get thee to a Barnes & Noble store to participate in the new Fun and Free e-books promotion. It's a pretty simple concept: you waltz into a Barnes & Noble store, get an access code, then download a free e-book. Done and done.

The promotion runs for the next five weeks, and is also compatible with the B&N ereader software that runs on your laptop, BlackBerry, or iPhone (or whatever).

Street Chic: New York ELLE.com (ELLE Fashion Blogs) Submitted at 5/18/2010 6:00:00 AM

Glam-up casual cargos and a t-

shirt with fringe and chain details. In this look: Myne shirt, Bellarana pants, Camilla Skovgaard shoes, bag from Manhattan Vintage Show, and Chloe sunglasses.

Photo: Courtney D'Alesio Think you are Street Chic? Email us your photo and you could appear in ELLE.com's Street Chic Daily.

Follow ELLE on Twitter.

Become our Facebook fan!

Business/

E-reader News Edition

9

Windows Live Hotmail: Completely Re-Invented (Read: It Actually Looks Good Now) Dan Nosowitz (Fast Company) Submitted at 5/18/2010 9:21:22 AM

Hotmail seems like one of those relics of the early Internet, like AOL, that I'm always surprised to find out still exists. That's my fault in Hotmail's case, really, because despite its current lousiness (compared to Gmail, say), it's still the biggest email client in the world. But Gmail's better interface, features, and ease of use have led to a quickly growing userbase, and Microsoft had to act. The new Hotmail is the result, and it looks surprisingly excellent.

Let's get to the big features.

The interface. The new Hotmail looks good, taking a page out of the Zune and Windows Phone 7 design book. That means pastels, big text, horizontal submenus, and simplicity. It also means Hotmail does a boatload of things you will be surprised to learn it couldn't do before, like threaded messages, a suggestion search box, and some decent spam protection.

Basically, it's pretty, and it behaves like a modern email Web client should behave-meaning, really, that it looks a lot like a Microsoft version of Gmail.

Folders. Microsoft's version of folders goes a lot further than

Gmail's, though, with features called Sweep and Hotmail Highlights. Sweep lets you check a checkbox to automatically shuffle a particular type of email (by sender, say, or subject) into a particular folder. Tired of getting Gilt Groupe's daily deals? Sweep them into a Gilt Groupe folder and check them a couple times a week.

Hotmail Highlights is even cooler. It automatically creates

and files certain types of email.

All daily newsletters will go in one folder; all shipping notices (from UPS, FedEx, whatever) go in another; all updates from social networks ( Facebook friend requests) go in another. I love that feature--I'm sure Gmail has an extension or something that can do it, but it's not built-in nearly as nicely as it looks in Hotmail.

Office. We've covered Office 2010's Web client before. This

is an obvious integration, pretty much like Gmail works with Google Docs. Hopefully Office 2010 brings better file compatibility or something to make up for its comparative lack of features (like simultaneous editing).

The Social. Microsoft is adding a feed of Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, and every other network you can thing of, directly into Hotmail. You can send and reply to messages from

within the Web client.

Powerful inbox. Microsoft is using their muscle-bound tools, Silverlight and SkyDrive, to provide a flashier and more capable inbox experience. If somebody sends you photos, you won't have to dick around with saving files or opening them in a new tab, like in Gmail --there's a built-in, flashy-as-hell slideshow photo browser, right WINDOWS page 14

10

Business/ Culture/

E-reader News Edition

Amazon Posts Dozens of New Job Listings Implying a New Kindle Is on the Way Dan Nosowitz (Fast Company) Submitted at 5/18/2010 9:25:18 AM

Amazon has been posting dozens of job listings on its site over the past few weeks, most notably for positions that have nothing to do with the company's core retail business.

"Hardware platform engineer"?

"Advanced materials specialist"? "Product design manager"? These are not online retail positions: These are for the next-gen Kindle.

Frustratingly, they're all very vague. Just once, I'd like Amazon to put out a job listing for, I don't know, "LCD multitouch display engineer," with job requirements including, "2+ years experience with 10inch, Samsung-made OLED displays." That kind of thing would really make my job easier. But Amazon is damnably clever, and steadfastly refuses to do my job for me, so let's do some analysis.

Lab126 is the division of Amazon responsible for the Kindle, so we can safely assume all of these listings are in some way Kindle-related. There are several signs here that Amazon is in a fairly late stage of development with a new Kindle-a "Software quality assurance engineer" and "Software development test engineer" both suggest that, as the New York Times says, "a product needs to

be tested." An ad went up yesterday seeking a "Product design engineer," and the posting itself implies the work will be for accessories rather than a primary device.

In terms of clues as to what features might be coming, we're mostly in the dark. There are several positions open for those tinkering with wireless, but it's unclear if that's Wi-Fi or 3G (the Kindle line already has 3G), and

honestly, that's not the most important piece of the puzzle here. What we really want to know has less to do with hardware than software--the interface and underlying OS will decide what kind of device the next Kindle is.

So we can't really tell much from these ads, but the fact that there are hardly any ads posted for designers of either hardware or software definitely implies

that something in the Amazon labs is nearing completion. You can check out our wish-list of what we'd like the Kindle 3 to be over here.

Dan Nosowitz, the author of this post, can be followed on Twitter, corresponded with via email, and stalked in San Francisco (no link for that one-you'll have to do the legwork yourself).

10 Drinks Your Kids Should Not Be Drinking (HowStuffWorks Daily Feed) Submitted at 5/18/2010 9:00:00 AM

Many kids have a drinking problem that could be harming their health: sodas, energy drinks, lattes and even chocolate

milk. From innocuous-seeming bottles of flavored water to sports drinks that seem to populate every Little League dugout, we uncover the truth about what your kids (and ours) are drinking. The truth is that

the silent calories and surprising ingredients in these and other beverages are often the equivalent of liquid dessert -- or worse. In fact, most Americans get 450 calories a day and an extra 23 pounds (10 kilograms)

a year from what they drink, a University of North Carolina study reported.

So, when it comes to what your kids are drinking, what are the 10 worst offenders? Some of the answers may surprise you.

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Business/

E-reader News Edition

11

Study Links ADHD in Children to Pesticide Exposure Ariel Schwartz (Fast Company) Submitted at 5/18/2010 9:35:52 AM

No, the increase in ADHD over the past decade or so isn't just your imagination. It might even be linked to the food we eat every day. A recent study in the journal Pediatrics claims that children with high levels of exposure to a group of pesticides called organophosphates are nearly twice as likely to end up with ADHD as kids with minimal levels of the pesticides in their urine.

Reuters explains that researchers analyzed the urine of 1,139 children between the

ages of 8 and 15. The kids represented the average incidence of ADHD in the general population--1 in 10 met the criteria for the disorder. The results: For children with aboveaverage levels of dimethyl triophosphate, a common breakdown product of organophosphates, the chance of having ADHD nearly doubled.

And a 10-fold increase in one class of organophosphates increased the odds by over a half. So how do kids end up with organophosphates in their urine? A 2007 article from Beyond Pesticides reports on the insecticide chlorpyrifos, an organophosphates manufactured

by Dow AgroSciences:

Although chlorpyrifos was outlawed from residential use in 2001, it is still applied intensively on corn, wheat, and soy through a product called Lorsban. In Florida, 41% of the

corn in 2004 had been treated with chlorpyrifos, according to a report by the National Agriculture Statistical Service.

A study led by an Emory University researcher found that

chlorpyrifos can enter children’s bodies through dietary exposure.

The foods that are treated with chlorpyrifos—corn, wheat, and soy—are used in a variety of processed foods.

But exposure to these pesticides isn't inevitable. In the Emory University study, organophosphate levels dropped to nearly undetectable levels when children were put on an organic diet. Kids living near farms that use the pesticides, however, are out of luck. All the more reason to ramp up organic farming.

The New American Consumer Is Terrified Of Debt Even As The Economy Grows Vincent Fernando, CFA (Business Insider) Submitted at 5/18/2010 9:11:11 AM

Carpe Diem highlights how credit card delinquencies are falling nicely, down four months in a row.

"With fewer consumers late on their bills, the outlook for credit losses over the summer may be improving," says Reuters.

Moreover, credit card debt fell to a 45-month low, as shown by

Carpe Diem's graphic the right.

Overall, as we've highlighted before, U.S. households reduced their total debt (inclusive of everything, mortgages, credit cards, etc) by$239 billion in 2009. Yes much of this is due to people defaulting on their obligations, but much needed financial adjustments are being made in the U.S., even if painfully.

Moreover, given the latest credit card data shown above,

we're confident that the overall deleveraging trend of 2009 is continuing in 2010 even though the larger, total household debt

number isn't out yet from the Federal Reserve.

Despite an economic recovery post-crisis, hard times are still

driving Americans to reduce their financial leverage. The new American consumer will likely be more conservative than we've been used to over the last decade, even as the economy gets better. Which is a good thing in the long-term given how extreme things got.

Join the conversation about this story »

12

Business/

E-reader News Edition

Martin Armstrong: The "Flash Crash" Delta CEO Sells Stock: Was A WATERFALL Event Like The No Signs of Turbulence One That Preceded The Fall Of Rome Ahead Joe Weisenthal (Business Insider)

Wade Hansen (BloggingStocks)

Submitted at 5/18/2010 9:07:00 AM

The famous market philosopher Martin Armstrong, who is currently in prison in Ft. Dix New Jersey, has turned his attention to the "Flash Crash" of May 6, which he sees as a profound event.

He describes the event as a waterfall -- the opposite of a blowoff bubble top -- that presages the start of a profound shift in the world economy.

He calls the "fat finger" or glitch theories nonsense, saying it's all about Greece, and the global debt crisis. This is what a market "waterfall" looks like.

Image: MartinArmstrong.com Source: Martinarmstrong.org The pundits got it all wrong, thinking that this is somehow an unusual fat finger error.

Image: MartinArmstrong.com Source: Martinarmstrong.org Waterfalls have been with us through the ages. The collapse of Roman Silver occurred before the collapse fo the Roman empire Image: MartinArmstrong.com Source: Martinarmstrong.org

Submitted at 5/18/2010 9:00:00 AM

This is a distinctly different pattern than other major peaks (such as the blowoff peak in Gold or the Nikkei) Image: MartinArmstrong.com Source: Martinarmstrong.org The WATERFALL is far more devastating Image: MartinArmstrong.com Source: Martinarmstrong.org The cause of the crisis: Greece.

Image: MartinArmstrong.com Source: Martinarmstrong.org And DEBT! Image: MartinArmstrong.com Source: Martinarmstrong.org This is not about the world

Filed under: Delta Air Lines (DAL) Delta Air Lines ( DAL) CEO Richard Anderson recently made a cool $1.3 million by selling 100,000 shares of his company's stock at an average price of $13.47 per share.

Obviously, this was a nice payday for Anderson, but should this stock sale be a red flag for Delta investors?

Analysts and traders love to watch insider stock transactions because they believe it will give coming to an end, as other them insight into the health of doomsayers say. the company. If insiders are Image: MartinArmstrong.com buying stock in their own Source: Martinarmstrong.org company, it is viewed as a And after capital rushes to bullish sign for the company. If America, it will rush out, insiders are selling stock in their leaving us in crisis. own company, it is often viewed Image: MartinArmstrong.com a s a b e a r i s h s i g n f o r t h e Source: Martinarmstrong.org company. After all, who has Read the whole report At more information about how MartinArmstrong.org... well the company is doing than Join the conversation about this story Âť

the CEO or some other member of senior management, right?

Unfortunately, it's not that cut and dry.

Continue reading Delta CEO Sells Stock: No Signs of Turbulence Ahead Delta CEO Sells Stock: No Signs of Turbulence Ahead originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 18 May 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink| Email this| Comments Delta Air Lines- BusinessStock- Investing- Stocks and Bonds

Business/ Politics/

E-reader News Edition

13

Real-Time Feeds Coming to a Web Site Near You, Courtesy of Google Dan Nosowitz (Fast Company)

change on their side. Once that's done, the next time a visitor to the site reloads the page, they'll Submitted at 5/18/2010 9:14:51 AM see the new content.

Google's Feed API lets Web The new version was revealed site owners easily pop different after ReadWriteWeb spotted a types of data onto one page, by video Google had accidentally simply adding a few lines of uploaded to YouTube, a few JavaScript code. It's pretty great, days ahead of the new product's really; you can add a Twitter d e b u t a t G o o g l e ' s I / O feed, blog, news updates, or all conference (this Wednesday in kinds of other feeds to a Web S a n F r a n c i s c o ) . G o o g l e page really easily. It currently confirmed that the video's legit, works like the rest of the and that the feature would Internet is indexed: Google (or indeed be unveiled at I/O, whoever) essentially looks to which, while obvious, is nice of see if the feed in question has them. The video: any updates, then makes that [youtube 9FhVKx6-C6w]

We'll hear more at I/O on Wednesday (though, let's be honest: Google TV could well overshadow everything else at the conference).

Dan Nosowitz, the author of this post, can be followed on Twitter, corresponded with via email, and stalked in San Francisco (no link for that one-you'll have to do the legwork yourself).

Instead of waiting for Google to crawl a feed, then reloading, Google's Feed API will be upgraded to allow feeds to be pushed to any given Web site.

That means feeds will be

constantly uploaded within seconds, sort of like how push email works on a smartphone.

It's a really nice feature for smaller Web sites that can't afford to hire skilled designers.

iPhone's In2Pay Case Turns Your iPhone Into a Credit Card Dan Nosowitz (Fast Company)

out your iPhone and swipe it over Visa's PayWave consoles.

PayWave is fairly common Submitted at 5/18/2010 9:10:58 AM already--many grocery and retail U s i n g y o u r i P h o n e a s a stores use it, and I've played membership card or even a with it in my hometown at the plane ticket is nothing new, but Wawa deli chain (I mention soon you will be able to use it as Wawa because my barometer of a Visa card too. DeviceFidelity's how useful a new payment I n 2 P a y i P h o n e a c c e s s o r y , system is is heavily based on its a n n o u n c e d y e s t e r d a y , i s ability to buy a hoagie). basically a paired case and app Visa says it's expanding that allows you to simply whip PayWave nationwide, to include

No word on exact release date or price yet.

Dan Nosowitz, the author of this post, can be followed on Twitter, corresponded with via email, and stalked in San Francisco (no link for that one-you'll have to do the legwork yourself).

previously underserved regions, and DeviceFidelity insists they're working hard on security --according to Gizmodo, they'll

be generating a unique ID number for every single transaction, which should put minds at ease.

these guys can possibly be for real. The movement has variously been described as a “front group for the Republican

party” and a “media creation”; manufactured by the usual Paul Krugman has called Tea suspects.”

Party rallies “AstroTurf (fake grass roots) events,

Tea Minus Zero John B. Judis (The New Republic - All Feed) Submitted at 5/17/2010 11:00:00 PM

Liberals have responded to the Tea Party movement by reaching a comforting conclusion: that there is no way

14

Business/ Culture/

E-reader News Edition

WINDOWS continued from page 9

in your inbox. Same with videos --YouTube and Hulu will both embed naturally instead of showing up as external links.

Microsoft is also using their cloud storage service, SkyDrive, to offer up to 25GB of free storage, which means you can send files of pretty much unlimited size. Note: The complete series of Planet Earth, in high-def Blu-ray rips, is just slightly too large, at 26GB, to email to all your friends. Why does Microsoft hate nature?

We'll never know.

There's a lot we don't know about yet--the new service isn't due to launch for "a few weeks," and the integration with mobile devices (not just Windows

Phone 7, but iPhone and Android as well) will be vital.

Windows Live Hotmail looks to continue Microsoft's recent hot streak--will it pull users away from Gmail? Maybe, and maybe not. But it won't be for lack of trying.

Dan Nosowitz, the author of this post, can be followed on Twitter, corresponded with via email, and stalked in San Francisco (no link for that one-you'll have to do the legwork yourself).

Nouriel Roubini Feels European Crisis Isn't Over Mark Fightmaster (BloggingStocks)

Total Commander 7.5 RC Speeds Up Tabbed File Browsing [Updates]

Submitted at 5/18/2010 9:40:00 AM

Filed under: Economic Data, Financial Crisis New York University professor Nouriel Roubini, often dubbed Dr. Doom, has given his analysis of the financial issues in Greece and Europe, and I am not sure that his comments are welcome.

Roubini told the BBC that the crisis is "not over" and that the situation in the eurozone "is a second stage of a typical financial crisis."

Roubini noted that the EU's rescue package has not calmed the markets and he worries that the governments are not "strong enough to implement the austerity measures required."

Continue reading Nouriel

Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker) Submitted at 5/18/2010 7:00:00 AM

Roubini Feels European Crisis Isn't Over Nouriel Roubini Feels European Crisis Isn't Over originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 18 May 2010 09:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink| Email this| Comments NourielRoubini- European Union- New York UniversityEconomy- Professor

Windows: Total Commander, our readers' favorite alternative Windows file manager, has updated a lot of its geekier and more powerful features, including FTP and file comparison tools. But what fans of Total Commander will really notice is how snappy it moves.

More Âť Total Commanderfilemanagement- File managerWindows- FTP

Target's Q1 Report: What Should We Expect?

Steven Mallas (BloggingStocks)

retailer that competes with Best Buy Co., Inc. ( BBY), Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. ( WMT), and others, Submitted at 5/17/2010 6:00:00 PM is getting ready to report firstFiled under: Earnings Reports, quarter numbers. They should Wal-Mart (WMT), Target Corp. arrive on Wednesday, May 19. ( T G T ) , B e s t B u y ( B B Y ) , Are you going to buy or sell GameStop Corp (GME) ahead of the event? stock has been performing over Target Corporation ( TGT), a Let's take a look at how the

the last twelve months to get a cursory feel of the situation.

Right now, as of this writing, Target is trading at roughly $55.

Such a value is definitely closer to the 52-week high of $58.52 than to the 52-week low of $36.36.

Continue reading Target's Q1

Report: What Should We Expect?

Target's Q1 Report: What Should We Expect? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 17 May 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Business/ Top News/ Technology/

E-reader News Edition

Good News! Housing Starts at Highest Level Since 2008 Connie Madon (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 5/18/2010 10:10:00 AM

Filed under: Economic Data, Housing In the battered housing market, here's some good news.

Housing starts rose to a 672,000 annual rate last month, up 5.8% from March. A Bloomberg News survey of 77 economists had predicted median starts to be lower, at a 650,000 rate.

The housing market got a special boost from the $8,000 first time home buyer incentive.

To qualify, buyers had to sign contracts by March 31 and close their deals by June 30.

Here are some interesting figures of several sub categories: Continue reading Good News!

Housing Starts at Highest Level Since 2008 Good News! Housing Starts at Highest Level Since 2008 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 18 May 2010 10:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments Real estate economics- Housing starts- Good News- BusinessReal estate

Pfizer to trim 6,000 jobs, shut 8 plants worldwide (AP) (Yahoo! News: Most Viewed)

"The restructuring of our global plant network is critical to our efforts to remain competitive so NEW YORK – Pfizer Inc. said that we can continue to meet Tuesday it will cut 6,000 jobs as patient needs and expand the it trims its manufacturing access and affordability of our c a p a c i t y w o r l d w i d e a f t e r medicines," said Pfizer global acquiring smaller rival Wyeth manufacturing president Nat last year.

Ricciardi, in a statement.

The world's biggest drugmaker Under the plan, Pfizer will cut says it will cease operations at operations at pharmaceutical eight plants in Ireland, Puerto plants in Caguas, Puerto Rico; Rico, and the U.S. by the end of Loughbeg, Ireland, and Rouses 2015, and reduce operations at Point, N.Y. The company plans six other plants over the next t o s h u t d o w n i n j e c t i b l e several years. The plants make a medicines plants in Carolina, range of pharmaceutical and Puerto Rico and Dublin, Ireland. consumer health products. O t h e r s h u t d o w n s i n c l u d e Overall, the company operates b i o t e c h n o l o g y p l a n t s i n 78 plants internationally and Shanbally, Ireland along with employs about 116,000 workers. consumer health care plants in The New York-based company Richmond, Va. and Pearl River, said in April it would cut 20,000 N.Y. jobs as part of the Wyeth Pfizer said the timing of integration. specific exits will depend upon Submitted at 5/18/2010 8:43:39 AM

Virgin's Branson does battle with carbon (CNET News.com) Submitted at 5/18/2010 7:46:02 AM

Virgin chief Richard Branson has seen the enemy and it is carbon.

Branson is touting the Carbon War Room, a group of entrepreneurs, public sector officials, and industry leaders as a way to "remove gigatons of

carbon out of industry."

Branson, speaking at the SAP Sapphire conference, a coordinated Orlando-Frankfurt powwow with customers, Branson said: Basically the enemy is carbon.

There was no war room to coordinate to fight carbon.

When asked where information technology fits into this war on

15

carbon, Branson noted that the industry plays a big role.

Information technology companies and industry leaders need to tackle sustainability-especially since data centers will increasingly use more resources and emit more carbon. Branson noted that IT is creating more carbon output than the shipping and airline industries.

Read more of " Virgin's Branson: The enemy is carbon and here's IT's role" at ZDNet's Between the Lines.

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

the complexity of operations, the amount of time required for product transfers, and other business requirements.

The company has also recommended reductions in several other plants, including Guayama, Puerto Rico; Newbridge, Ireland; Andover, Mass.; Sanford, N.C.; Havant, U.K.; and Illertissen, Germany.

Also, Pfizer said it is evaluating options for its animal health manufacturing sites and recommendations are expected by the end of June.

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Tuesday primaries: four crucial questions (The Christian Science Monitor) (Yahoo! News: Most Viewed) Submitted at 5/17/2010 1:59:33 PM

Washington – Both Republican and Democratic establishment prestige is on the line Tuesday, as voters go to the polls in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and TUESDAY page 16

16

Culture/

E-reader News Edition

TUESDAY continued from page 15

Arkansas.

Here are four things to contemplate as the candidates make their final pitches Monday: 1. What will the race to fill Democratic Rep. John Murtha’s House seat in Pennsylvania tell us about November?

When Congressman Murtha passed away in February after 35 years in the House, conventional wisdom held that the Democrats would have a hard time holding onto this conservative-leaning district.

But Democrat Mark Critz and Republican Tim Burns are neck and neck, as Mr. Critz has turned his time as a Murtha aide into a plus – ironic, given all the anti-Washington feeling out there. But Critz’s time as Murtha’s economic development director allows him to channel part of why Murtha was so beloved in his district: He knew how to bring federal money home.

Critz also gains from the competitive Senate primary race, which will turn out Democratic voters. (The Republican primary is not competitive.)

The stakes could not be higher for each party. If Mr. Burns wins – and the Republican wins in Hawaii’s special House race on May 22, as expected – the GOP can credibly claim momentum toward November and possible takeover of the

House. If Critz wins, that assumption goes out the window, giving Democrats a boost of confidence and greater hope of keeping their House majority.

2. What will undecided voters do in Pennsylvania’s Democratic Senate primary?

With 16 percent undecided and 25 percent of the decideds saying they could change their mind, according to the latest Quinnipiac Poll, the race between Sen. Arlen Specter(41 percent) and Rep. Joe Sestak(42 percent) is too close to call.

Turnout will be critical. For Senator Specter, the ideal scenario is high turnout in Philadelphia and low turnout statewide. Analysts assume Specter will do better among black voters, who are concentrated in Philadelphia – Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell’s home base. ( Governor Rendell and President Obama are firmly behind Specter.) Statewide, though, low turnout means undecided and marginal voters are staying home.

Typically, voters who are still undecided this late in a campaign go against the incumbent.

3. Should top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell take it personally that his chosen candidate is likely to lose the Kentucky GOP Senate primary?

The polls show political novice – and “ tea party” movement

favorite – Rand Paul is ahead of state Secretary of State Trey Grayson, Senator McConnell’s recruit, by double digits. The only suspense, at this point, is which Democrat Mr. Paul will face in November, Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo or state Attorney General Jack Conway.

There’s no doubt the expected voter rejection of Mr. Grayson is an embarrassment for McConnell, but does it portend problems for McConnell’s future in Kentucky? Probably not. By the time he’s up for reelection again, in 2014, the 2010 elections will be a distant memory.

But just to be sure, McConnell compared himself to President Obama on NBC’s “ Meet the Press” Sunday. The current situation “reminds me of when the president went into Massachusetts, a state he carried by 26 points, and tried to elect the candidate running against Scott Brown,” McConnell said.

“I don’t think anybody seriously thinks the president won’t carry Massachusetts next time.”

The situations aren’t exactly parallel, of course. But if nothing else, this cycle may end up proving that big-name endorsements are next to meaningless.

4. If Sen. Blanche Lincoln(D) of Arkansas survives her primary battle, does she go into the general election battle-tested or battle-weary?

Probably the latter, given that she may not get the requisite majority of votes on Tuesday in her primary with Lt. Gov. Bill Halter. If she doesn’t, she will face a runoff on June 8.

Lieutenant Governor Halter, who is challenging Senator Lincoln from the left, has helped cement Lincoln’s image as a centrist for the general election, if she gets there. But no incumbent wants to face a primary, which siphons money and energy away from what is expected to be an uphill battle in the general.

The front-runner in the eightcandidate Republican primary is Rep. John Boozman. The Real Clear Politics average of recent polls shows Congressman Boozman beating Lincoln by 20 points. Related: Kentucky Senate race looks set to boost the 'tea party,' Rand Paul Why Arlen Specter is in trouble A primary fight for Sen. Blanche Lincoln: Good for Republicans?

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Javier Brings Gorgeous Penelope to the Premiere of Biutiful PopSugar (PopSugar) Submitted at 5/18/2010 6:00:00 AM

Penelope Cruz was all dressed up but skipped the red carpet for the premiere of Javier Bardem's Biutiful at the Cannes Film Festival yesterday. The hot couple left the screening together and made their way to dinner at the Majestic Hotel hand in hand. Javier's busy day started with the morning photo call alongside the film's director who also replaced Penelope as his date on the way into the premiere. Penelope is a memorable Cannes staple and recently looked luminous during a birthday photo shoot in Paris, so we're eager to see if she adds to the star power at any of the Sex and the City 2 events to support her cameo in the movie.

To see more Javier and Penelope, just read more.

View 10 Photos ›

Top News/ Culture/

E-reader News Edition

17

Bo disclosed as a $1,600 gift in White House financial forms (The Newsroom) (Yahoo! News: Most Viewed)

worth of shares in Vanguard's FTSE Social Index Fund — which " invests primarily in Bo is the Sixteen Hundred l a r g e r U . S . c o m p a n i e s Dollar Dog, according to Barack independently screened to meet Obama's newly released s t r i n g e n t s o c i a l a n d financial disclosure form for environmental criteria" — and 2009. In the White House's moved it to a generic index fund reckoning, that's the market that tracks the S&P 500. value of the dog the Obama The idea behind socially family received as a gift from responsible investing is that you the late Sen. Ted Kennedy and can do well by doing good. In his wife. But naturally, there are Obama's case, that also means many more intangible measures you don't have to own shares of of Bo's worth — shortly after the big bad corporations you're joining the First Family last doing battle with as president April, he served as a welcome every day in order to save for distraction from the two wars your retirement. (Though the and tanking economy Obama FTSE Social Index Fund, which faced upon taking office. And includes shares of McDonald's that's all to say nothing of what and Procter & Gamble, neither he's meant to Obama's o f which fits the daughters, Sasha and Malia. environmentally conscious, [ Photos: See Bo with the first locally centered ideals of family] socially responsible investing, Other interesting tidbits from stretches that notion somewhat). the White House disclosure Now Obama is completely out form include Obama's apparent of that game. abandonment of the "socially All told, Obama reported r e s p o n s i b l e i n v e s t i n g " between $2.2 million and $7.6 movement. Last summer, the million in assets and between president sold somewhere $4.1 million and $12.1 million between $115,000 and $250,000 in income for the year. Those Submitted at 5/18/2010 9:05:29 AM

figures include the $1.4 million haul from his Nobel Peace Prize— which the White House says has been donated to charity. In January, he signed a contract for a $500,000 advance from Crown Publishing for an upcoming young-adult version of his memoir " Dreams From My Father." His royalties for the published version of "Dreams" and his second book, " The Audacity of Hope," totaled between $2 million and $10 million.

Joe Biden's disclosure was much more modest — he reported no single asset worth more than $100,000 and carries between $190,000 and $465,000 in debt. But he did receive as a gift a signed, first-edition copy of a book called " Anna Livia Plurabelle" — an early serialization of part of James Joyce's " Finnegan's Wake." The gift was from Margaret Spanel, an anti-nuclear activist and Democratic donor. No word on whether he read it.

Correction: This post originally incorrectly said that President Obama invests through a blind

trust. That was true when he was a Senator but isn't anymore.

This post also initially said Obama was paid $500,000 in January for an advance from Crown Publishing. Obama did sign a contract for that amount in January, but has not yet been paid.

— John Cook is a senior national reporter/blogger for Yahoo! News.

Follow Yahoo! News on Twitter and join us on Facebook (click "Like").

Other popular stories on Yahoo!: • Superfoods for both men and women • Outrage over governor's bill for rental home • Financial ruin looms for nonprofits Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Zac Takes Flight For the Friendly Skies, St. Clouds, and MTV PopSugar (PopSugar) Submitted at 5/18/2010 4:00:00 AM

Zac Efron was solo at LAX Sunday wearing shorts and a tight gray t-shirt for his departing flight to Vancouver.

He's been in LA for the past few weeks working out around his home, popping up at parties with Vanessa Hudgens, and starring in MTV Movie Awards promos with funny host Aziz Ansari. He's set to be a presenter at the June 6 show where he's also nominated for his performance in 17 Again! It's shaping up to be a big Summer for Zac who will be showing us a new side of his acting scope with Charlie St. Cloud- ICYMI, watch the intense trailer herewhich has the same release day as Vanessa's Beastly on July 30.

Fact or Fiction: Cellulite (HowStuffWorks Daily Feed) Submitted at 5/18/2010 9:00:00 AM

Cellulite -- and the dreaded

cottage-cheese thighs it causes - how do you get rid of it?

General Election. Available To see more photos of Zac, just - is a fact of life for women Five Filters featured article: tools: PDF Newspaper, Full read more. everywhere. What is cellulite, The Art of Looking Prime Text RSS, Term Extraction. View 10 Photos › anyway? And, most importantly, Ministerial - The 2010 UK

18

News Wire/

E-reader News Edition

Florida tar balls fuel fears of oil slick spread (Reuters: Top News)

Taylor State Park found some twenty tar balls on the shore on Monday. The balls ranged from H O U S T O N / B U R A S , three to eight inches in diameter.

Louisiana(Reuters) - A Tests were under way to d i s c o v e r y o f t a r b a l l s o n determine whether the tar blobs Florida's Key West fanned fears on Key West, the southernmost on Tuesday that a massive Gulf tip of the popular Straits of o f M e x i c o o i l s p i l l w a s Florida island chain, came from s p r e a d i n g t h r o u g h o c e a n the BP-owned blown out Gulf currents, as energy giant BP Plc well. If confirmed, it would be worked to capture more of the t h e s o u t h e r n m o s t a n d crude leaking from its gushing easternmost impact reported deep-water well. from the massive oil spill.

U.S.| Green Business| Hot Experts have forecast the risk Stocks of the spilled oil being caught BP, after managing to insert a up in the powerful Loop Current mile-long siphon tube into the curling around the Florida leaking riser pipe of its ruptured Peninsula, taking it into the well, said it was now capturing Keys and possibly up the East an estimated 2,000 barrels per Coast. This has stirred fears of day. an impact on Florida's This was about 40 percent of multibillion-dollar tourism the 5,000 barrels (210,000 industry, as well as on the only gallons/795,000 liters) BP has living coral barrier reef in the estimated to be leaking daily. continental United States.

BP hopes to increase this BP's stock was up more than 1 containment. percent in London on Tuesday, Held squarely responsible by even as the company estimated the Obama administration for an the bill for the oil cleanup at environmental calamity that is $625 million, $175 million hitting Gulf Coast economies higher than a few days ago, with and ecosystems, the London- analysts saying costs could based company is moving ahead reach into the billions. with other undersea attempts to 'TAKING OUR LIVELIHOOD' shut off the leaking well.

BP spokesman Tom Mueller A Coast Guard helicopter and said company engineers, who N a t i o n a l O c e a n i c a n d are using undersea robots to try Atmospheric Administration to control the seabed well, were experts planned to scour the looking to carefully ramp up the Florida Keys on Tuesday for amount of leaking oil being signs of additional pollution c a p t u r e d , w h i c h i s b e i n g after rangers at Fort Zachary pumped to a surface tanker ship.

Submitted at 5/18/2010 8:50:24 AM

"We'll see how much that flow increases today, and are looking for steady operations with incremental increases over time," he said.

Officials say the spill has so far had only a small pollution impact on the shoreline and wildlife along the Gulf Coast, but oil debris and tar balls had been reported earlier in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi.

With oil creeping into rich fishing grounds and oyster beds off Louisiana, and commercial and sports fishing suspended across a swath of the Gulf, local residents are worried that their way of life is under threat.

"They're not only taking our income, they're taking our livelihood. They're taking the food straight out of our mouths, because the food we eat come out of this bayou," said Cajun fisherman and deckhand Randy Arceneaux, 28, of Cocodrie, Louisiana.

Obama was expected to announce on Tuesday a presidential commission to probe the disaster as the oil industry and its practices come under sharp scrutiny.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is due to face questions from the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee about the agency's failings on issues surrounding the oil spill and how the Interior Department will be reformed.

A Senate Commerce Committee hearing Tuesday on the oil spill is also due to question BP America President Lamar McKay and Steven Newman, president of Transocean, which owned the rig that exploded and was working on behalf of BP. "Whether it's a nuclear meltdown at Three Mile Island or an oil blowout one mile deep, appointing an independent review panel is critical to reduce the risks of future accidents," said Rep. Edward Markey, chairman of a House of Representatives committee on global warming and energy independence.

The presidential commission will investigate issues related to the spill and its aftermath, including rig safety and regulatory regimes at the local, state and federal levels.

It will also look into the federal government's oversight role, environmental protections, and the Minerals Management Service, the Interior Department agency that has been heavily criticized for regulatory lapses.

With a shakeup of the agency imminent, Chris Oynes, the top official overseeing its offshore oil and gas drilling, announced he would retire at the end of the month.

BP'S IMAGE TARNISHED "I do feel that we have, for the first time, turned the corner in this challenge," BP Chief

Executive Tony Hayward said in Florida on Monday, referring to the containment efforts.

Investors have knocked $30 billion off BP's value over the spill, which followed the April 20 rig explosion that killed 11 workers and the fallout it faces is ramping up.

The disaster has hurt BP's image, already tarnished in the United States from a 2006 spill in Alaska from a BP-owned pipeline and a 2005 fire at the company's Texas City refinery that killed 15 workers and injured 180.

Battling to salvage its reputation, BP said on Monday it was providing grants to Gulf coast states to help them promote tourism, which, along with fishing, is a mainstay of the region's economy.

"People are freaking out. They see the news and think oil is everywhere, but it is not," said Michael Dorie, co-owner of Wild Native and Five Rivers Delta Safaris, which takes people on eco-tours of Alabama's Mobile Tensaw Delta.

"If it all dries up and disappears, well the highlight of my tours is wildlife and pretty flowers. Take that away and my tour becomes just a boat ride. If people see oil slicked birds, how many more will not come?"

(Additional reporting by Steve FLORIDA page 19

News Wire/ Products/

E-reader News Edition

Thai government dismisses talks to end deadly protest (Reuters: Top News)

looking visibly worn down.

"Sure I want to go home but I want democracy first," said BANGKOK(Reuters) - The Chamlat Ladlao, a protester in Thai government dismissed his 50s from central Lopburi p r o p o s e d p e a c e t a l k s o n province. "I'd rather stay here, Tuesday to end a nine-week be proud and die fighting than crisis that has killed 67 people die in my village when I'm old." and threatened to tear the Government officials criticized c o u n t r y a p a r t , c a l l i n g o n a proposal from a group of 64 thousands of anti-government senators in the 150-member protesters to disperse. upper house who have offered to World| Thailand mediate peace talks and have As talks unraveled, fighting urged a ceasefire. erupted again in the Din Daeng Satit Wongnongtaey, minister district north of a central to the prime minister, said talks B a n g k o k s h o p p i n g a r e a could only take place if the red occupied for six weeks by shirts end their protest -- a protesters seeking to topple condition the protesters have P r i m e M i n i s t e r A b h i s i t consistently rejected.

Vejjajiva, who they accuse of "The government says we can subverting democracy. only negotiate when the protest Troops fired warning shots as ends," he said in a televised protesters burned tires and statement. hurled petrol bombs, but the The mostly rural and urban violence was substantially less poor "red shirts" accuse the intense than in recent days.

British-born, Oxford-educated Several thousand protestors, Abhisit of lacking a popular who have adopted red as a mandate after coming to power protest color and broadly in a controversial parliamentary support former premier Thaksin vote in 2008 with tacit backing S h i n a w a t r a , r e m a i n i n a from the military. barricaded encampment in Authorities warned the red Bangkok's high-end shopping, shirts to leave their barricaded hotel and diplomatic district, e n c a m p m e n t b y M o n d a y r e f u s i n g t o l e a v e , t h o u g h afternoon, but the deadline came Submitted at 5/18/2010 8:41:56 AM

and went, raising questions over how long the military operation would continue and whether talks would work.

Public holidays have been declared until Friday.

WOMEN AND CHILDREN Troops have thrown a cordon around the protest site, a "tent city" at the Rachaprasong intersection, paralyzing the heart of Bangkok. Hundreds of women and children have taken refuge in a temple inside the protest area.

On the outskirts of their encampment, small groups of protesters continue to challenge the soldiers, hurling petrol bombs and stones at a checkpoint on Rama IV Road leading to the business district, and burning tires in Din Daeng, scene of intense fighting over the weekend, Reuters witnesses said.

Army spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said "terrorists" have tried to stir trouble through random killings, targeting innocent people at rallies, rescue workers and journalists, including an incident on Monday in an apartment block under construction.

"A group of snipers dressed as

soldiers were hiding on floors 24 to 27 aiming randomly at people, and that is being blamed on soldiers," he told a televised briefing.

Thai media reported a fire was raging in a row of deserted shops in the same area on Tuesday and firefighters were struggling to get into the area because of barricades.

Erawan Emergency Medical Center said on Tuesday that 38 people had died in the flare-up of violence since May 13 and 67 have been killed people since trouble started in April.

The protesters, mostly drawn from the rural and urban poor, and supporters of ousted expremier Thaksin Shinawatra, had initially demanded immediate elections.

(Additional reporting by Ambika Ahuja and Nopporn Wong-Anan. Writing by Jason Szep; editing by Bill Tarrant) Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

19

FLORIDA continued from page 18

Gorman in Cocodrie, Louisiana, Anna Driver in Houston and Sarah Young in London, Writing by Pascal Fletcher and Ed Stoddard; Editing by Doina Chiacu) Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

String Trimmers - from Consumer Reports Press Room (Consumer Reports) Submitted at 5/17/2010 9:00:59 PM

String Trimmers - from Consumer Reports To put the finishing touch on a wellgroomed, you'll need a string trimmer. Consumer Reports rated more than thirty models for the May issue. String Trimmers Podcast Subscribe now!

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

20

News Wire/ Technology/

E-reader News Edition

Housing starts hit 1-1/2 year high (Reuters: Top News)

last month following a 0.7 percent rise in March, the Labor Department said. That compared WASHINGTON(Reuters) - to market expectations for a 0.1 Housing starts touched a 1-1/2 percent gain. year high in April, but a drop in U.S. stock index futures held permits to a six-month low gains after the data, while suggested housing market Treasury debt prices remained recovery will remain slow. flat. The U.S. dollar stayed Small Business| Housing lower against euro.

Market Groundbreaking for singleHousing starts rose 5.8 percent family homes rose 10.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual last month to an annual rate of rate of 672,000 units, the 593,000 units after a 2.1 percent Commerce Department said on increase in March. Starts for the Tuesday, likely supported by the volatile multifamily segment looming expiry of a home buyer tumbled 18.6 percent to a tax credit. March's housing 7 9 , 0 0 0 - u n i t a n n u a l p a c e , starts were revised to show a 5 partially reversing the prior percent increase, instead of a 1.6 month's 24.4 percent surge. percent gain.

A National Association of Markets had expected housing Home Builders survey on starts to rise to 650,000 units. Monday showed home-builder Compared to April last year, sentiment rose to its highest starts were up 40.9 percent, the level in more than 2-1/2 years in largest increase since March M a y , e n c o u r a g e d b y t h e 1994. strengthening economic "It is still a very moderate recovery, which builders hope recovery in housing, it is not a V will support home construction -recovery. But it is supporting when the incentives end. growth now, which is good Investment in new home news," said Kurt Karl, chief construction contracted in the U.S. economist at Swiss Re, in first quarter after two straight New York. quarters of growth. A flood of Separately, prices paid by farms f o r e c l o s e d p r o p e r t i e s i s and factories dipped 0.1 percent hampering the housing sector's Submitted at 5/18/2010 9:16:12 AM

recovery from a three year slump.

New building permits, which give a sense of future home construction, dropped 11.5 percent to a 606,000-unit pace last month, the lowest level since October 2009 the Commerce Department said.

With the housing market still shaky, inflation subdued and worries over the debt outlook in Europe, the Federal Reserve has room to extend its ultra low interest rate policy.

Core prices, which exclude food and energy goods, climbed 0.2 percent from the prior month, and were up just 1 percent compared to a year earlier, at the bottom of the Fed's presumed comfort range between 1 percent and 2 percent.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani and Pedro Nicolaci da Costa; Editing by Neil Stempleman) Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

ShopSocially Taps Into Your Social Graph For Product Recommendations Leena Rao (TechCrunch) Submitted at 5/18/2010 7:30:52 AM

As e-commerce and social networking continue to intersect, consumers are increasingly turning towards Facebook or Twitter for product recommendations. ShopSocially is a product recommendation portal launching to the public today that aims to allow users to socialize shopping decisions with their “circle of trust.”

The idea behind ShopSocially is that it brings your Facebook friends into its system, and you can choose which friends you’d like to “shout” your potential purchase to get feedback on the site. You can also publish your purchase to the site, a la Blippy.

In order to publish your desired product, you simply publish the link to the item and ShopSocially will include a picture and link in the update.

Users can post comments on friends’ items and you can push your posts to Facebook.

Of course the idea behind ShopSocially is that you can elicit product recommendations from your friends as opposed to

complete strangers on the sites where you are looking to purchase an item. Founder Jai Rawat says that the site has seen considerable user engagement although it is still in private beta. An average post for a product recommendation is getting over 3 responses and visitors are averaging more than 8 minutes per visit. The site also implements privacy controls for sharing only what they want and with whom they want.

While consumers are pushing their retail purchases more and more to Facebook and are even engaging in sites like Blippy to publish their shopping history, it may be difficult for ShopSocially to gain the traffic that product review sites like Retrevo or even Amazon see.

That being said, the idea behind the startup is compelling and it looks like it has already gained a loyal userbase. CrunchBase Information ShopSocially Information provided by CrunchBase

World News/

E-reader News Edition

21

Bangkok braced for bloodshed as Red Shirts vow no surrender (World News from Times Online)

several thousand people remained in the protest area, which has been sealed off and Submitted at 5/18/2010 6:59:20 AM fortified with towering Hospitals in Bangkok are barricades of rubber tyres and preparing for bloodshed after bamboo poles. anti-government Red Shirt “If you insist on brutality, we protesters ignored an ultimatum will stay here persistently, and to abandon their occupation of we will tell out people, ‘Do not central Bangkok, but there were b e a f r a i d ’ , ” s a i d W e n g faint signs of a last minute Tojirakarn, a senior Red Shirt compromise between the two leader. “Stay here, do not fight sides. back, and let them shoot us.”

The chief negotiator for the The Rajvithee Hospital, which Government told a senior is closest to the protest site, protest leader that the Royal confirmed that it had 40 Thai Army will stop firing on ambulances on standby and had Red Shirts if they withdraw to made ready 190 beds in case of t h e i r m a i n c a m p i n t h e a crackdown by the Thai army, Ratchaprasong district of central which has killed at least 37 Bangkok. “If they call their people and injured close to 300 people back to Ratchaprasong more since last Thursday. there will be no single bullet “The operation [to disperse] will fired by the soldiers,” said b e e x e c u t e d a s s o o n a s Korbsak Sabhavasu. “”If he is p o s s i b l e , ” s a i d S a t i t s e r i o u s a b o u t s o l v i n g t h e Wonghnongtaey, a minister problem he is capable of doing attached to the office of the it. He can simply call back his P r i m e M i n i s t e r , A b h i s i t people.”

Vejjajiva. “The authorities will The contact between the two do everything possible … sides came as leaders of the Red including broadcast radio Shirt demonstration promised messages, police loudspeaker to die rather than give in to the trucks and leaflets.” But both authorities. sides still held out the faint An aeroplane dropped leaflets possibility of a compromise, urging protesters to leave suggesting that even at the immediately and warning that moment of greatest tension a anyone caught inside the area peaceful solution was being faced two years in prison. But discussed behind the scenes. after the 3pm deadline passed, “The Government is ready to go

forward with negotiation when the situation is defused, when the protest ends, violence ends and attacks on authorities end,” said Panitan Wattanayagorn, spokesman for Mr Abhisit. “We insist they have to be sincere to make every effort to return the country to normality … This sincerity must be reflected by their action to bring back peace.”

Yesterday, doctors announced the death in hospital of Major General Khattiya Sawasdiphol, a militant supporter of the Red Shirts, who was suspected by many Thais of organising a covert militia to fight off attempts to break up the demonstrations. General Khattiya was shot in the head last Thursday during an interview with an American reporter by an unidentified sniper. Yesterday, Red Shirts in the central stronghold in the Ratchaprasong district wept as a song was sung to honour him.

At his funeral a few hours later, mourners angrily tore apart bouquets sent by the Thai armed forces.

Despite the existence of a supposed blockade, supplies of food, water and tires for constructing barricades were still entering Ratchaprasong. A new protest base has been established to the south-east at

the Bon Kai intersection beneath one of Bangkok’s elevated expressways, and young men continued to play a dangerous cat and mouse game with soldiers along the Rama IV road in front of it, throwing fireworks and petrol bombs and ducking down side alleys when the soldiers fire their rifles.

The Government has frozen 106 personal and business bank accounts of leading Red Shirts and of companies associated with Thaksin Shinawatra, the former prime minister whose ejection from power in a 2006 coup was the beginning of the protest movement. The Reds are demanding that Mr Abhisit, whose party was repeatedly defeated by Mr Thaksin, step down and call a general election.

The authorities have been encouraging women and children to move from the protest area to the sanctuary of a nearby Buddhist temple, but the suggestion was largely ignored.

“My children are worried about me, but I am not afraid,” said Rojanee Cheepacrarat, a 57-year old volunteer nurse at one of the medical and first aid stations in the protest area. “I smile at the soldiers – I call them my sons. They are innocent, and they are scared – it is just their officers who tell them to shoot.”

Mr Thaksin issued a statement demanding that the United Nations be allowed to mediate an end to the crisis – a possibility that has been rejected by the Government. “The present action of the Government dishonour our history and will forever weaken our institutions and democracy,” said Mr Thaksin, who lives in exile, through his lawyers.

“The pictures that I have seen go beyond any nightmares that could have been envisaged. I have no choice but to state resolutely the need for all sides to step back from this terrible abyss and seek to begin a new, genuine and sincere dialogue between the parties.”

The UN’s human rights chief, Navi Pillay, called on the two sides to negotiate an end to the violence. “Ultimately, this situation can only be resolved by negotiation,” she said. “I urge leaders to set aside pride and politics for the sake of the people of Thailand.”

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

22

World News/ Culture/ Featured/

E-reader News Edition

Greek minister Angela Gerekou quits over husband’s £4.7m tax bill (World News from Times Online)

take Greece to the verge of bankruptcy.

Mr Voskopoulos and Ms Submitted at 5/18/2010 6:42:14 AM Gerekou, 51, had filed joint tax As Greece took stock of its declarations for many years, but b u d g e t c a t a s t r o p h e , i t s a government statement on her glamorous deputy tourism r e s i g n a t i o n s a i d t h a t M s minister – once a model for Gerekou claimed to have no Playboy– promised that she, like knowledge of her husband’s tax everyone else, could live a life affairs. of austerity.

“Angela Gerekou submitted her “The measures are painful for resignation out of sensitivity and e v e r y o n e , ” s a i d A n g e l a to avoid causing any damage to Gerekou, a protégée of the the Government,” the statement P r i m e M i n i s t e r G e o r g e said.

Papandreou, in March.

Last week the Greek But now she has been forced to Government launched a highresign as her husband, one of profile campaign against what Greece’s best-known nightclub the Prime Minister called “a s i n g e r s , f a c e s c r i m i n a l culture of tax evasion”. prosecution over €5.5 million It published the names of 60 (£4.7 million) of unpaid taxes. doctors and dentists who faced Tolis Voskopoulos, 70, who legal action for under-reporting has starred in films including their incomes, and said it would My Brothers, Footloose Tramps use satellite photos to locate and Marijuana Stop!, was swimming pools that could be a exposed by a daily newspaper sign of undeclared wealth. this week as owing the huge “ T h i s i d e a t h a t y o u ’ r e a sum in taxes and fines. successful tough guy if you It is the latest embarrassment evade taxes and deceive the for a Government that swept to state has got to change,” Mr power in October last year Papandreou said last week. promising to clean up the Ms Gerekou had initially corruption that has helped to r e f u s e d t o c o m m e n t o n

revelations of her husband’s tax status in the liberal daily newspaper Eleftherotypia, and a government spokesman claimed yesterday that it was a private matter.

However, the Finance Ministry has now taken up the case, freezing Mr Voskopoulos’s real estate assets and investigating with a view to a criminal prosecution.

“Measures taken to collect this big amount have obviously not been sufficient,” the ministry said.

Mr Voskopoulos had a series of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, most famously the 1969 song Agony. He lives with Ms Gerekouin Corfu, where he frequently gives charity concerts.

Greece receives the first slice of its €110 billion rescue package later today, just in time to prevent it defaulting on its debts.

The country’s budget crisis forced other eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund to step in and create the bailout package.

In exchange, the Greek

Government has promised to cut salaries and pensions, raise consumer taxes, and crack down on tax evasion and corruption.

Protests over the austerity measures turned to violent rioting earlier this month, and on May 3 three people died in a fire at a bank that had been firebombed by protesters.

Ms Gerekou is the second member of Mr Papandreou’s cabinet to be forced to quit. In December, the deputy interior minister stepped down amid claims that he had tried to secure favours for army and police officers.

On the Troktiko blog, one contributor wrote: “Shame, shame, shame. I asked the tax office for a week to pay my dues and it said no, but they got off the hook for 17 years. The rest of us are all idiots.”

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

t h e f a n t a s t i c M e s h 1 0 Times and blogging in NYC. conference, so Jeremy Zilar of the NY Times filled in as guest. http://mp3.morningcoffeenotes.c We talked about blogging at the om/reboot10May17.mp3

A teeny bit of Angry Birds was thrown in for fun. :-)

Rebooting the News #52 (Scripting News) Submitted at 5/17/2010 12:03:41 PM

Jay is traveling to Toronto for

Hulu Subscription Plan Delayed, But Likely Still Coming [Delays] Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker) Submitted at 5/18/2010 5:30:00 AM

The "Hulu Plus" subscription plan, nearly confirmed to be on its way, would give viewers greater access to back episodes for $10 per month. But that won't happen by Monday, May 24, according to MediaMemo.

As Peter Kafka reports, there are many players and many rights to be worked out, but when it does, one insider claims it will be "revolutionary." It might have to be. Lifehacker readers, certainly among the earliest of Hulu adopters, are fairly divided, but leaning toward free-only for their favorite streaming service. [ MediaMemo] More » Hulu- HuluPlus- BusinessSubscription business modelBusiness and Economy

World News/ Technology/ Culture/

E-reader News Edition

23

German girls freed in Yemen raid (World News from Times Online)

dead.

“The girls are unharmed and in a stable condition. They will be Submitted at 5/18/2010 9:29:00 AM transferred to Germany as soon Two German girls aged 3 and as possible,” General Mansour 5, who were kidnapped in al-Turki, a spokesman for the Yemen last year by suspected al Saudi Interior Ministry, said.

-Qaeda militants, have been An unnamed British engineer freed by security forces from w a s a l s o a m o n g t h o s e Saudi Arabia in a cross-border kidnapped. His whereabouts are raid. still unknown.

The two sisters, named only as Two German nurses from the Anna and Lydia, were among a party, Anita Stewjab, 25, and party of nine foreigners seized Rita Julie, 24, and a South in June last year during a picnic Korean teacher, Eom Youngin Yemen’s mountainous Saada Son, 34, were found murdered province, known to be a haven soon after the kidnapping took for al-Qaeda. place. They had been shot and Their parents, Johannes and stabbed.

Sabine, along with their brother Saudi troops were tipped off by Simon, aged 1, were also local tribesmen that the two girls captured. had been separated from the The girls are being treated in a other hostages and were being Saudi hospital and will be flown held in a village close to home to Germany this week. Y e m e n ’ s b o r d e r w i t h t h e T h e i r p a r e n t s a r e s t i l l kingdom. u n a c c o u n t e d f o r b u t a “Our security forces received spokesman for the family said intelligence that the two little today that Simon was probably girls were being held very close

to the border. It was decided we must do something to save them,” General al-Turki said.

“We have no information at the moment on the rest of the family or the other hostages.”

The Foreign Office said today that it remained “very concerned” for the safety of the British hostage. Sources in Yemen confirmed that negotiations were ongoing to establish the whereabouts of the remaining hostages.

In January, the Yemeni Government said that it had received information that the remaining hostages were still alive. Reports in Germany at the time claimed a ransom of $2 million (£1.4 million) had been demanded for their release.

No group has ever claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, but sources in Sanaa, the Yemeni capital, say it is believed the hostages are being held by a group affiliated to al-Qaeda.

Al-Qaeda has regrouped in Yemen behind the jihadist preacher Anwar al-Awlaki.

With the Government facing an uprising by Shia Houthi rebels based in Saada province, and a growing separatist movement in the south, the country has provided an ideal location for alQaeda to reopen the training camps destroyed by coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Sanaa agreed an uneasy truce with the Houthis in February this year after a six-year conflict, but initially blamed the rebels for the kidnapping. The tribe has always denied any involvement.

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

"Start Drawing Your Ideas" [Quotables] Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker) Submitted at 5/18/2010 6:00:00 AM

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey recently described how working as an emergency dispatcher in New York City inspired Twitter's model, citing paper sketching as the key behind turning ideas, even non-visual ideas, into moving products.

More » Twitter- Jack Dorsey- Social network- Online CommunitiesNew York City

MacBook gets a stealthy update Chris Rawson (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

Vietnamese leak a few days ago: 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor Submitted at 5/18/2010 5:30:00 AM 2 GB RAM Filed under: MacBook I didn't 250 GB 5400 RPM hard drive even see the Apple Store go NVIDIA GeForce 320M down, did you? Well, no matter: i n t e g r a t e d g r a p h i c s c a r d the MacBook has been updated. The one feature not consistent Its base specs are virtually with the Vietnamese leak: the identical to those from the updated MacBook has gained

"wireless productivity" according to Apple's estimates.

The MacBook box from the Vietnamese leak showed the old 7-hour battery graphic, which led us to believe the battery the same 63.5 watt-hour battery might not have been updated. as the 13" MacBook Pro, The MacBook's price remains leading to up to 10 hours of unchanged: US$999 for the base model.

TUAW MacBook gets a stealthy update originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 18 May 2010 05:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

24

World News/ Technology/

E-reader News Edition

China jails home appliance magnate Open source video Huang Guangyu for 14 years for blimp controlled by an bribery iPad (World News from Times Online)

benefits” for Gome Electronics and other businesses controlled

by Huang, the agency said.

Submitted at 5/18/2010 7:06:00 AM Huang was also convicted of The founder of China’s largest insider trading in the shares of home appliance chain was Centergate Technologies, a sentenced today to 14 years in Beijing-based IT group in which prison for bribery and other he was the majority shareholder. crimes.

He allegedly earned more than Huang Guangyu, 41, the former 300 million yuan in illegal head of Gome Electronics, was profits from the trading. also convicted of insider dealing The court said that, although and other unspecified “illegal H u a n g ’ s c r i m e s w e r e operations” at Beijing No 2 “extremely serious”, it had Intermediate People’s Court. shown “leniency” because he Famed for his rags-to-riches had admitted his guilt and cot a l e , H u a n g h a s b e e n i n operated with investigators, detention since November 2008, Xinhua reported. the year in which he topped the Security was so tight at Hurun Rich List of China’s Huang’s trial last month that wealthiest for the third time with only family members and one a fortune estimated at $6.3 journalist from Xinhua were billion (£4 billion). allowed in the courtroom. Pens, He became the country’s richest paper, cameras and mobile man in 2004. It took prosecutors phones were confiscated from until February this year to bring those entering the court. charges against him. Huang was Prosecutors had collected so c o n v i c t e d o f b r i b i n g f i v e much evidence in the case that a government officials with 4.56 series of vans were required to m i l l i o n y u a n i n c a s h a n d transport the paperwork. properties from 2006 to 2008, The son of poor devout according to the Xinhua news Christian peasant farmers from agency. southern China, Huang built his The bribes were offered in nationwide chain of several e x c h a n g e f o r “ i m p r o p e r hundred stores from a single

street stall selling radios and watches in Beijing in the 1980s, when the Communist Party allowed private entrepreneurs to do business.

He became known as the “Price Butcher” for his cut-price merchandise. However, his high profile left him vulnerable in a system that continues to favour state-owned firms and the status of entrepreneurs remains uncertain.

Many newly rich property developers and private businessmen have been snared in corruption cases after making their fortune in a country in which bribing officials is often necessary to get ahead.

Huang’s case has netted several senior officials, including the mayor of the southern boom town of Shenzhen, on the border with Hong Kong, as well as a deputy minister of police.

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Mike Schramm (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 5/18/2010 10:00:00 AM

Filed under: iPad So far, we've seen a car, a helicopter, and even a Dalek controlled by an Apple device, so here's another form of transportation: a blimp, this time controlled by an iPad. Bonus points for making the video interesting and fun, too -- we get a well-edited and shot video montage of how the iPad got hooked up via code to a blimp, equipped with a propeller, a camera, and even some lights.

The blimp is actually a "Blimpduino," a low-cost open source blimp design connected to an arduino controller. This blimp's controller is connected to an iPad's accelerometer, so tilting the iPad determines the blimp's movement.

Plus, it looks like they even threw in some basic augmented reality through the camera, too, just for the heck of it. Very cool.

Speaking of augmented reality, Yelp's Ben Newhouse suggested a while back that the relatively inexpensive iPad could be used for all sorts of tasks that previously required much more specialized computers, and something like this proves that the iPad makes an excellent and cheap touchscreen and accelerometer-based interface for any kind of remote control. I don't know if we'll be flying real blimps with iPads in the future, but any sort of remote interface could definitely make use of a quick app that hooks up our actions to mechanics on the other end. [via MacStories] TUAW Open source video blimp controlled by an iPad originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 18 May 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Technology/

E-reader News Edition

25

Microsoft Brings Enhanced Security Features, Large Attachments & an Uncluttered Inbox to Next Version of Hotmail Frederic Lardinois (ReadWriteWeb)

make up somewhere between 15 to 30% of all mail in Hotmail users' inboxes. In addition, Submitted at 5/18/2010 12:00:00 AM email users now send out Microsoft just announced the b i l l i o n s o f p h o t o s a n d next version of Hotmail, which documents. Microsoft alone will bring a large number of stores over 15 billion office new features to the world's most documents on Hotmail and its popular email service. Hotmail's users send out close to 1.5 360 million users will soon get billion photos every month. enhanced security features, a Bigger Attachments Gmail-like conversation view, Integration with Office Web automatic filters for status Apps updates from social networks, Today's update tackles these i n t e g r a t i o n w i t h t h e n e w changes head-on. Hotmail users Microsoft Office Web Apps and will now, for example, be able numerous other new features to send up to 10 GB of photos that are meant to make using and documents in a single Hotmail safer and reduce the message. Instead of sending amount of clutter in Hotmail these messages as attachments, users' inboxes. however, Hotmail will simply Sponsor route these files to the sender's Email has Changed Windows Live SkyDrive As Walter Harp, Microsoft's account (Microsoft's free online director of product management storage service), where the with Windows Live, told us recipients can access them earlier today, this redesign of through a link. Thanks to the Hotmail evolved as Microsoft n e w O f f i c e W e b A p p s , started to think about how email recipients will also be able to has changed over the last few see and edit Office documents years. According to Harp, the right in the browser. Less last major revolution in email Clutter in Your Mailbox was the arrival of Gmail in In order to make it easier for 2004. Since then, however, the users to wade through lots of way people use email has social network status updates c h a n g e d . S o c i a l n e t w o r k and unclutter their Hotmail u p d a t e s f r o m s i t e s l i k e inbox, Microsoft is introducing Facebook and LinkedIn now a new feature called "1-click

Hotmail email and data from your Windows Live Calendar directly to the iPhone, for example - as well as a unified contact list for all Windows filters." These filters will allow Live services and third-party users to just see messages from services like Facebook and services like Facebook and MySpace. Improved Security shipping updates from the On the security front, Microsoft USPS. is introducing full-session SSL Other new features that will encryption for all accounts and a help to keep Hotmail users' feature that will identify and inboxes organized include a new highlight trusted senders (like Gmail-like conversations view known banks and online stores) (which will be an opt-in feature in order to prevent phishing and turned off by default), as scams. Microsoft has also well as the ability to quickly see managed to bring down the all the emails from a given average number of spam emails sender while reading an email in its users' inboxes to only 4% from this sender. Hotmail users (down from 35% in 2006). will also be able to just see all Another nifty new security the new emails that contain feature is the introduction of a photos. single-use code that allows users Microsoft has also partnered to log in from a public computer with a number of third-party at an airport or coffee shop s e r v i c e s , i n c l u d i n g H u l u , without having to fear that their YouTube, JustinTV, the USPS, passwords could be stolen.

SmugMug and Flickr to provide Users will receive these codes additional functionality through by SMS or through an alternate a feature called "active views." email account. Microsoft Wants T h i s a l l o w s M i c r o s o f t t o to be #1 in the U.S. i n t e g r a t e s o m e o f t h e As Walter Harp pointed out functionality of these sites when we talked to him today, directly into the emails.

Hotmail is the #1 email service Other new features include in the world, but in the U.S., it is Exchange ActiveSync push currently only the second-most email for Hotmail - which used service after Yahoo Mail. means that you can now push With this new version of

Hotmail, Microsoft hopes to be able to close this gap. Email, of course, tends to be a very sticky service and users aren't likely to abandon Yahoo for Hotmail anytime soon. Thanks to today's updates, however, chances are that many new users will choose Hotmail over Yahoo.

In terms of functionality, however, the real competition for Hotmail isn't Yahoo but Google. Google, after all, also offers integration with its online office suite and photo service.

Unlike Google, however, Microsoft doesn't plan to offer a small business version of Hotmail and prefers to steer people towards Microsoft Exchange and Outlook instead.

Microsoft's services - and especially the Office Web Apps - are competitive with Google's services (and, in many respects, better). Thanks to the integration with SkyDrive and Office Web Apps, Hotmail now presents a very viable alternative to Gmail and it will be interesting to see if Microsoft will be able to capitalize on this.

Discuss

26

Technology/

E-reader News Edition

Russian module joins space station via 'hole in one' (CNET News.com) Submitted at 5/18/2010 8:52:11 AM

JOHNSON SPACE CENTER, Houston--Using robotic precision in place of brute force, astronaut Garrett Reisman attached a nine-ton Russian module loaded with U.S. supplies and equipment to the International Space Station early Tuesday after an orbital "hole in one."

Appropriately, robot arm operator Reisman waited until orbital sunrise to dock the "Rassvet"--Dawn--compartment to the Earth-facing port of the Russian Zarya module as the shuttle Atlantis and the space station sailed 220 miles above Argentina.

The Russian Rassvet module, top, is poised for capture by the docking system of the space station's Zarya module.(Credit: NASA TV) "Capture," astronaut Piers Sellers called at 7:20 a.m. CDT. "Contact. And Houston, ISS robo. It looked like a pretty good docking. We never got 'contact 1,' straight down the middle and got capture and contact."

"Houston copies," astronaut Steve Swanson replied from mission control.

"And Houston, ISS robo. Just to follow up on [readings from the Russian] laptop," Sellers called.

"We said before 'contact 1' never came on and it's still not

and pilot Dominic Antonelli, operating Atlantis' robot arm, pulled the mini-research module from the shuttle Atlantis' payload bay around 4:50 a.m.

Reisman then locked on and took over, maneuvering the squat module into position for attachment to the Zarya module.

The Rassvet module in position for docking. The multiwindow cupola, visible at left, gave robot arm operator Garrett Reisman a bird's-eye view of the docking.(Credit: NASA TV) Russian modules normally dock autonomously, using more force than NASA typically employs.

Using momentum to overcome alignment errors, a probe on the front end of a Russian module can hit anywhere in the receiving cone and still end up in the correct central position for capture.

The station's robot arm could not deliver the normal docking force, but more than made up for that shortcoming by showing. And also we got a With the attachment of Rassvet, this point and we're very happy precision alignment ahead of the fault, a yellow block, 'no auto also known as the mini-research that we now have MRM-1 final capture sequence. The docking signal' statement under m o d u l e M R M - 1 , t h e docked to the station." approach was so precisely the ADS faults."

International Space Station now Reisman and Sellers, speaking aligned that the Russian laptop " A n d s t a t i o n , t h a t e r r o r ' s masses 816,349 pounds and is Russian, both then thanked the Sellers was using to monitor the expected," Swanson replied. 93 percent complete by mass Russian mission control team. docking sequence did not even "Everything looks good at this and 98 percent complete by "Houston, Moscow, thank you register several intermediate time to us...The reason you habitable volume, with more for delivering a new module," steps. didn't get 'contact 1' is because than 29,500 cubic feet of station commander Oleg Kotov With Rassvet in place, the Garrett did too good of a job pressurized volume. radioed, speaking English. "We Atlantis astronauts planned to flying. He went right down the Reisman thanked station flight really enjoy work with excellent spend the rest of the day gearing middle and got a hole in one." director Emily Nelson and the crew and they did excellent job. up for a spacewalk Wednesday "He knows that and he's loving rest of the U.S.-Russian team, Thank you very much."

RUSSIAN page 28 it," Sellers replied. saying "great job getting us to Shuttle commander Ken Ham

Technology/

E-reader News Edition

27

Building Silicon Cape: How Much of a Difference Can One Guy Make?

Sarah Lacy (TechCrunch)

Vinny Lingham while I was in Cape Town last week and came away impressed for a few S o m e p e o p l e , a h e m , a r e reasons. For one thing, this guy predicting a big resurgence in knows more about acquiring business software. Given how traffic than a lot of people in outdated most tools are, that’s Silicon Valley have forgotten. probably a safe bet – whether it He spent the bulk of his career happens now or in the next few building search campaigns for years. While software as a huge multinational companies service and open source have and made a pretty sweet living plugged many holes, most large at it. (Check out his BMW companies still run themselves c o n v e r t i b l e i n t h e v i d e o on one of two companies: below–those cost about double Oracle or SAP. That can’t last in Cape Town.) forever.

That business was lucrative, but But the amazing thing is, when Lingham soon saw what many it comes to small business entrepreneurs in emerging software, the market is still markets are realizing: Services pretty wide open, with most companies don’t scale the way b u s i n e s s e s s t i l l r u n n i n g product companies do. And themselves on pen-and-paper or Lingham wants to build a big Excel spreadsheets. There is a company. A big company reason that Intuit has managed helping small businesses build to keep a stranglehold on small Web sites. business software—because it is You may be thinking, doesn’t hard to build and even harder to everyone who wants a Web site market to such a huge, h a v e o n e b y n o w ? fragmented market with so Astonishingly, no. Yola has a many different needs. Especially few competitors—most notably when the revenues per customer Y Combinator graduate Weebly are necessarily puny. and Israel’s hometown darling So, it’s a huge market but, let’s Wix. (Lingham–who carries his face it, it’s not a sexy one. And iPad everywhere–is quick to that’s one reason a company point out Wix is Flash-based, like Yola doesn’t get more while Yola bet on HTML5.) But press. ( Here’s our previous ultimately, this is a business that coverage.) will be won on distribution not I hung out with Yola’s founder n e c e s s a r i l y p r o d u c t , a n d Submitted at 5/18/2010 7:30:59 AM

Lingham is pretty relentless when it comes to bringing people to his site and converting them.

Here’s the other thing notable about Lingham: He really wants Cape Town to be a tech hub. He moved to Silicon Valley to get greater access to deals, talent and money, but he returns to Cape Town several times a year and invests in and mentors companies there. I’ve written before that one of the reasons India has gotten so much US venture capital is because of the Indians who made it in the Valley and were determined—either out of nationalism or opportunity—to

pay that forward to the home country. I’ve also theorized that the paucity of huge, Brazilianborn startup successes in the Valley is a big reason that Valley VCs largely ignore Brazil and South American generally. Simply put: No one is hounding them to go. The famed Israeli Web investor Yossi Vardi calls it “profitable patriotism.”

To Lingham, success is Yola becoming a billion dollar business. But equally success is Cape Town giving rise to lots of other successes. I don’t mean to suggest he’s alone in this effort. I was in Cape Town last week to speak at an excellent

conference on African Web entrepreneurship called Net Prophet where more than 800 people crowded in a hall to share ideas and absorb advice from those like Lingham. Still, how much of a difference can one guy make? In my experience traveling to more than a dozen markets in the last year, one guy (or girl) can make more of a difference than most well-meaning government institutions. Good entrepreneurs need role models, mentorship and angels more than any other raw materials.

Here’s a short video I shot with Lingham on the way to the airport my last day in town.

(Yeah it gets dark, get over it.

I’m on the road.) We talk about the Silicon Cape initiative, why you should care about small business software and how his wife feels about him spending all his money on startups.

CrunchBase Information Yola Information provided by CrunchBase CrunchBase Information Wix Information provided by CrunchBase CrunchBase Information Weebly Information provided

by CrunchBase

28

Technology/ Food/

E-reader News Edition

RUSSIAN

Kindle for Android is Coming Sarah Perez (ReadWriteWeb)

continued from page 26

Android phones in general as yet another example of how Apple's application restrictions lead to a less than ideal experience for its smartphone owners. However, it's unclear if that's the case from the way both the Kindle for Android website text and the press release text is worded (i.e. " the Kindle Store optimized for your Android phone").

Also, the screenshot included with the press release shows the Android Kindle Store which looks identical to the mobile

website the iPhone sends you to when you want to find a new book.

Of course, that's not to say that the Android app doesn't wrap the mobile site into the application itself as opposed to kicking you out of the app and redirecting you to the mobile web browser. The Kindle Blackberry application keeps you in-app, so it's likely that the Android app will as well. But to be sure, we've contacted Amazon for clarification.

In any event, what we do know about the coming Kindle for Android app is that it will be out "later this summer" and will provide access to 540,000 books, plus tens of thousands of free classics. As mentioned above, the app supports Whispersync and it also will offer five different font sizes, the ability to read the beginning of a book prior to purchase, multiple ways to flip through pages and support for both portrait and landscape reading modes.

Instead Android phone owners can sign up here to be notified when the Kindle for Android application becomes available.

Discuss

These cool, refreshing sides will add color and flavor to your Ultimate Summer Cookbook: favorite summer meals.

Sides Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime

Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Submitted at 5/18/2010 10:11:20 AM

Good news, Android owners!

One of the iPhone and iPad's best mobile applications, the Amazon Kindle app, is coming soon to phones running the Google Android mobile operating system. Like all Kindle products, the Android app will include Amazon's Whispersync technology, which synchronizes reading progress, notes and bookmarks across devices including Kindle brand e-readers, desktop software and mobile applications.

Sponsor Techcrunch, who reported the news late last night when the press release hit the wires, notes that the new Android app will include a native Kindle bookstore that operates within the mobile application itself(at least that's what the headline appears to imply: "You Can Buy Books in It.") This would be a bit different than how the iPhone and iPad Kindle apps work - they redirect you to the device's web browser so you can purchase Kindle books from Amazon's mobile-optimized website.

Many have suspected that the reason Amazon's Applecompatible applications do this redirection is so they don't compete with Apple's own venture into mobile e-books: Apple iBooks. Originally released alongside the new iPad, the Apple iBooks mobile application is now available for iPhones and iPod Touch devices, too. Native Bookstore?

A native bookstore within the Android app would be ideal, and definitely a selling point for not just the app itself, but for

Summer Cookbook (Cooking Light: Editor's Picks)

to begin replacing six aging batteries in the station's oldest set of solar arrays.

Reisman also planned to use the station arm to pull the shuttle's heat shield inspection boom from the orbiter's payload bay, handing it off to Atlantis' arm.

Interference with a cable in the pan-and-tilt mechanism of the primary sensor package on the end of the boom forced the astronauts to use a backup procedure to inspect the shuttle's nose cap and wing leading-edge panels the day after launch.

Additional inspections may be necessary later.

But engineers have developed a repair plan to move the offending cable and tie it out of the way. Repair plans were uplinked to the crew overnight for possible use during the crew's second spacewalk Wednesday.

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Technology/

E-reader News Edition

Google Buys Real-Time Video Communications Company Mike Melanson (ReadWriteWeb)

time web. Whether it's adding Twitter and Facebook updates to its search results or making Submitted at 5/18/2010 9:58:13 AM Google Reader and the Google Google announced early this index itself real-time with morning that it would acquire could also create a direct PuSH, Google has consistently Global IP Solutions Holding. competitor with Skype by moved away from the old way The company provides the adding video capabilities to of doing things, wherein updates VOIP engine behind Yahoo, Google Voice (such as are occur on a timed schedule.

A O L , W e b E x a n d L o t u s already possible with GChat, but Yesterday, Marshall conferencing and had said last with mobile capabilities). At the Kirkpatrick broke the story on a month that it would be the first same time, Google could offer new version of Google's Feed to bring video chat to Android the technology to developers via API, which will push updates API in an attempt to become a directly to a user's browser. He phones.

Google has offered $68.2 defacto place to look when argued in that article that it was million for the company, which deciding to add real-time a sign of the times: "No more it has said it will use for real- c o m m u n i c a t i o n s t o W e b refreshing pages to see when t i m e v i d e o a n d a u d i o applications. new content is available - the Larry Dignan at ZDNet also real-time web comes to you live, communications. brings up an interesting point - nearly instantly as soon as it's Sponsor "The Web is evolving quickly as what will become of GIPS' published." a development platform, and multitude of other clients, all of An API from Google real-time video and audio which happen to be Google incorporating this real-time communication over the Internet competitors? According to the video communication, pushing are becoming important new joint statement, GIPS CEO content in the same way as it tools for users," said Rian Emerick Woods said that "we will with its Feed API, would Liebenberg, an engineering are confident that our existing further enable this possibility. d i r e c t o r a t G o o g l e , i n a customers will continue to be With Google's developing fully supported while we capabilities with speech statement.

The question now is, what does continue to enhance and extend recognition and translation, an Google plan to do with this our products and technology at embeddable and linked real-time acquisition? The company can Google." video communication protocol The purchase is part of a could be revolutionary. Discuss keep hold of it and use it to p o w e r r e a l - t i m e v i d e o general push at Google in communication on Android. It moving to an increasingly real-

29

LinkedIn Adds Netflix Marketing Chief Leslie Kilgore To Board Leena Rao (TechCrunch) Submitted at 5/18/2010 8:41:09 AM

Professional social network LinkedIn is adding another member to its board, Netflix Chief Marketing Officer Leslie Kilgore. LinkedIn, which has 65 million members, recently named former Ask.com CEO Skip Battle to its board, joining founder and chairman Reid Hoffman, current CEO Jeff Weiner, Greylock’s David Sze, and Sequoia’s Marc Kvamme.

Kilgore joined Netflix in 2000 and has helped the company grow its subscriber base from fewer than 100,000 to more than 13 million subscribers. Prior to joining Netflix, Kilgore was director of marketing for Amazon.com, and also held positions at Procter & Gamble and Booz, Allen and Hamilton.

Of course, the appointment of Kilgore and Battle to the board is interesting when you consider that both executives have significant experience in advising technology companies through the IPO process.

Kilgore, of course, has helped Netflix go public and Battle serves on the board of OpenTable, Expedia and Netflix.

Is an IPO in LinkedIn’s future?

CEO Jeff Weiner isn’t ruling out any possibilities, but the idea has certainly been bandied about quit a bit. While LinkedIn is a strong IPO candidate, LinkedIn co-founder and Chairman Reid Hoffman told us at TechCrunch50 last fall that he’s not in any rush to go public.

Later, Hoffman told Reuters that the company plans to pursue an IPO at some point, but not any time soon.The company was valued at around $1 billion in its last round of financing in 2008, and has been profitable since 2007. CrunchBase Information LinkedIn Information provided

by CrunchBase

30

Technology/ Food/

E-reader News Edition

Read/write APIs redefine content (CNET News.com)

features, the NPR API will soon provide access to NPR blog content, providing developers National Public Radio, which access to blog content using the produces popular programs such same API that provides access as "All Things Considered," to NPR stories and transcripts.

"Talk of the Nation," and Generally speaking, it's much "JazzSet," was an early adopter easier to provide an API that of Web technology, making its allows consumption without content available through a publishing (or read-only), but s t a n d a r d s - b a s e d A P I , o r services such as Twitter that rely a p p l i c a t i o n p r o g r a m m i n g on third party clients and interface. services to post to their stream APIs are at the heart of many wouldn't have nearly the scale cloud services that provide for or user base they do without the t w o - w a y , o r r e a d - w r i t e , publishing functionality built communication such as Twitter into APIs. In fact, the Twitter or Salesforce.com.

API has roughly 10 times more A firehose of content (meaning usage than the Web interface read-only) is all well and good, garnering 75 percent of tweet b u t h a v i n g t h e a b i l i t y t o traffic. integrate and tweak content into NPR's approach to read-write new forms makes it much more news is a logical step in the interesting. evolution of news gathering and E a r l i e r t h i s y e a r , N P R dissemination through and announced API Ingest, an between a variety of trusted update that allows for not only sources. In keeping with NPR's the consumption of NPR shows, mission, content accessed but for read-write publishing through the API is available to from authorized sources. In registered users for personal, addition to these new read-write noncommercial use, or for Submitted at 5/18/2010 8:33:36 AM

noncommercial online use by nonprofit organizations.

The big picture on read-write APIs is the potential for other news outlets to follow suit and allow for broader integration of stories across multiple properties in a similar model, a role that RSS has largely filled.

In addition to read-write functionality, APIs can offer a number of advantages over RSS in that they can be designed to better enhance content with metadata or other criteria (such as location) that bring additional value to the content. And while more complexity is usually not better, a number of new services, such as Apigee, provide tools and analytics to ensure that APIs remain stable and functional.

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Tim Ferriss Joins Startup Evernote As Strategic Advisor Robin Wauters (TechCrunch) Submitted at 5/18/2010 8:41:05 AM

Multi-platform memory enhancing service provider Evernote(granted, you have to use it to know what that means) has added author, speaker and angel investor Timothy Ferriss to its already quite impressive circle of company advisors.

In case you’re not familiar with Evernote: its self-stated goal is to give its users near-perfect memory by allowing them to save and find their ideas and experiences whenever and wherever they like. The company must be doing something right: they’ve attracted over$25 million in funding from VCs and prominent angel investors and recently surpassed 3 million users.

PayPal co-founder and Slide CEO Max Levchin sits on the company’s board, along with Esther Dyson and others.

(Cooking Light: Editor's Picks) foods that can help ward off Next Tomatoes Ferriss, a productivity and life osteoporosis, heart disease, Five Filters featured article: m a n a g e m e n t e x p e r t , w i l l The first step in any healthy breast cancer, and even tone The Art of Looking Prime provide strategic counsel as diet is eating a balanced variety down a Ministerial - The 2010 UK Evernote continues to develop of foods, so everyone should hot flash or two. Find seven General Election. Available and grow its service into new start there. But for women, “wonder women” foods and tools: PDF Newspaper, Full s c i e n c e recipes to get them cooking in Text RSS, Term Extraction. is showing that there are some your kitchen.

Foods for Women

regions and markets, reads the official press release. Ferriss, says he was introduced to Evernote through Twitter, and that he found it be “a fantastic asset” while he wrote his last book, The 4-Hour Workweek.

We recently had an interesting conversation with Ferriss about his angel investment and advisory activities, which we captured on video. You might be inclined to check it out as well. CrunchBase Information Evernote Tim Ferriss Information provided by CrunchBase

Technology/ Culture/

E-reader News Edition

Google Will Push Real-Time Feeds to Browser (Updated) Marshall Kirkpatrick (ReadWriteWeb)

it appears more significant. It will also likely seem like a significant change to the Submitted at 5/17/2010 10:54:51 PM publishers and web users who Updated at 9:30 PM PST with /push, isn't live yet. This will come in contact with the API's comment from Google. Google probably be one of the things pushed content. posted an unlisted video to announced later this week at the Update: Google contacted us YouTube tonight showing G o o g l e I / O d e v e l o p e r s ' after publishing this story and details of a 2.0 version of its c o n f e r e n c e . confirmed that the technology Feed API, a simple tool for This Spring we reported that would be unveiled at Google I/O displaying recent headlines from Google has plans to transform this week. Interested parties a syndicated feed on any web its index of the web with the should attend this session page. The new version will addition of real-time feed Wednesday morning. Google accept real-time PubSubHubbub consumption, in addition to the says that the Feed API is one of feeds and will publish new standard spider crawl it has used its most popular APIs and that headlines to a site visitor's for years. Last year, Google the new version will be rolled browser within seconds of their Reader began offering real-time out slowly starting next week. feeds of user feedback to Reader We were also told that Google being published to the feed.

This new version turns the Feed items, but that was outbound software engineer Brett Bavar API from cool to super-cool. and not a case of Google decided to build the technology It's a good example of the way consuming real-time feeds. after being inspired by the much of the web is likely to go Google Buzz supports both ReadWrite Real-Time Web in the near-term future. No i n b o u n d a n d o u t b o u n d Summit in October. That's more refreshing pages to see PubSubHubbub feeds. It plans pretty awesome to hear and when new content is available - on offering read/write API might persuade the savvy reader the real-time web comes to you access via Hubbub in the future. to consider attending our next The inclusion of Hubbub Real-Time Web Summit on live, nearly instantly as soon as consumption into the Feed API June 11th in New York City. it's published. may seem like a small move, but Discuss Sponsor The URL for more information, put in the larger context of http://code.google.com/apis/feed Google moving toward real-time

Best Buy's internet movie store launches this month under the CinemaNow brand Richard Lawler (Engadget) Submitted at 5/18/2010 8:17:00 AM

That Best Buy is ready to launch its entry into the online video on-demand game is not at all a surprise, but we weren't expecting to see such a familiar name. The retail giant purchased the CinemaNow brand away from Sonic Solutions (explaining the latter's sudden switch to RoxioNow) and will start selling movies sans-disk to web connected devices later this month, starting with LG Blu-ray players (where buyers won't see the Best Buy logo at all) and home theater in a box systems, followed by Samsung's internet connected home theater equipment and of course the house Insignia brand. As planned, it will have"first run" movies for sale as soon as they arrive on DVD, with rentals for $2.99 - $3.99 per movie and purchases at $9.99 to $19.99, including HD titles and some

Turn a Suction Cup into a Phone Stand [DIY] Jason Fitzpatrick (Lifehacker) Submitted at 5/18/2010 6:30:00 AM

A frequent complaint with DIY stands for iPhones—among

other expensive phones and portable devices people watch movies on—is the lack of sturdiness. Who wants their $$$ device to slide off the table?

This stand suctions right onto

31

the back. More » Shopping- IPhone- Consumer Electronics- CommunicationsBusiness and Economy

available in 1080p. Apparently the name game is how Best Buy plans to sneak boxes with its store embedded through other retailers, we'll see how Walmart / VUDU, Amazon and the rest respond to the challenge.

Continue reading Best Buy's internet movie store launches this month under the CinemaNow brand Best Buy's internet movie store launches this month under the CinemaNow brand originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 May 2010 08:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| | Email this| Comments

32

Technology/

E-reader News Edition

As expected, The Pirate Bay returns (CNET News.com) Submitted at 5/18/2010 8:40:09 AM

The Pirate Bay, the highly controversial BitTorrent search engine, reemerged Tuesday in typical defiant fashion after Hollywood film studios helped trigger a day-long blackout of the site.

A screen shot of The Pirate Bay's remade front door on Tuesday.(Credit: Screen shot: Greg Sandoval/CNET) The Web site, which is targeted for destruction by content owners nearly the world over, presumably has found a new bandwidth provider. The service, which has helped millions locate and eventually download scores of pirated films, saw German authorities order its former Internet host to cease providing Web access to the site.

On Tuesday morning, the Pirate Bay posted a photo of a cat and a note to those who pursue a strategy of taking down the site: "Ims ins yours skynets, lollings aways ats yours futile attempts ats controllings ours Internets."

The cat photo is appropriate because The Pirate Bay has

Google's VOIP buying spree continues with Global IP Solutions offer Tim Stevens (Engadget)

played a cat-and-mouse game with content providers for years.

This is at least the third time a bandwidth provider was forced to take down the site and the third time the site has returned.

One has to question whether the studios don't play into the the hands of The Pirate Bay operators with these attempts to knock out the site. Every time they do, The Pirate Bay rises and to the file-sharing community these comebacks boost their reputation as unconquerable heroes.

Later this year, Swedish courts are expected to rule on an appeal made by the four founders of The Pirate Bay. The four were found guilty of copyright violations last year, sentenced to a year in jail and ordered to pay the equivalent of $3 million.

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

the OS, but that's pure, unfounded speculation. This Submitted at 5/18/2010 10:17:00 AM offer still needs to be approved We're not entirely sure what b y 9 0 % o f G l o b a l I P ' s Google is up to, but we're shareholders but, since that inclined to think that there's an $68.2 million represents a nearly awful lot of voice over IP magic 3 0 p e r c e n t b o o s t i n t h e coming, with the company company's stock price last week, announcing the anticipated we don't think there will be any acquisition of another VOIP problem there -- but there we go company. Back in November it speculating again. acquired Gizmo5 for about $30 Continue reading Google's million, and now it has made a VOIP buying spree continues $68.2 million offer for Global IP with Global IP Solutions offer S o l u t i o n s . T h a t c o m p a n y Google's VOIP buying spree provides VOIP solutions for a c o n t i n u e s w i t h G l o b a l I P number of clients, including S o l u t i o n s o f f e r o r i g i n a l l y Yahoo, and recently announced appeared on Engadget on Tue, plans to release an Android 18 May 2010 10:17:00 EST. library that would enable easy Please see our terms for use of video conferencing in apps. feeds. Permalink mocoNews.net| We're guessing someone in | Email this| Comments Menlo Park liked what they saw and decided to bake it right into

Technology/ Food/

E-reader News Edition

Booyah raises $20m, aims for 6m users Mike Schramm (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

million virtual item impressions a day. Along with selling virtual items, they're also putting Submitted at 5/18/2010 9:00:00 AM together high-profile Filed under: iPhone I've lately partnerships with companies been guessing that Booyah like H&M and The Travel might eventually hook up with Channel.

Ngmoco, since they're both And they've done all of this iPhone gaming/app companies while still standing in the with somewhat similar goals shadow of more well-known that could help each other out. check-in services like Gowalla But it looks like Booyah doesn't and Foursquare. There's a heck need any help any more -- it's of a lot of activity and potential just raised a whopping $20 coming out of Booyah, and with million from investors in a new this big chunk of funding, round of funding. Booyah was they're set up to do some more originally included in the iFund amazing things with their next investment, but that contribution app. We'll have to keep an eye pales in comparison to this one, on them. which sets Booyah up as one of growing by 100,000 users a TUAW Booyah raises $20m, the heaviest single-brand hitters week, and they're aiming to hit 6 aims for 6m users originally million users by the end of the appeared on The Unofficial in the app market.

Booyah is made up of a few ex- summer (presumably with a new Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, B l i z z a r d d e v e l o p e r s ( w e app coming as well, not all 18 May 2010 09:00:00 EST. interviewed CEO Keith Lee inside just MyTown). Their user Please see our terms for use of back at GDC), and the growth of investment is huge as well -- feeds. its second app, MyTown, has they say that average usage of Read| Permalink| Email this| been amazing -- a little while the app was over an hour a day, Comments back, they said the app was and they're now hitting 8.3

Top-Rated Chicken (Cooking Light: Editor's Picks)

The rules: Keep it clean, and stay on the subject or we might delete your comment. If you see inappropriate language, e-mail

us. An asterisk* indicates a required field.

Your Name Your Comment* 500 characters remaining Five Filters featured article:

The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

33

Washington Post iPhone app not winning very many friends Mel Martin (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 5/17/2010 8:30:00 PM

Filed under: iPhone Somehow in my recent comments on News apps I missed the Washington Post effort, which has been recently updated. It's not a home run, combining a subscription cost and intrusive ads.

The app, called Wash Post costs US$1.99 a year. Wash Post contains articles and photos, and it allows you to share content via Twitter or e-mail. The app has built in search, which helps to make up for some of the shortcomings I'll detail later.

The Washington Post is a bit schizophrenic about their content. You can pay for this app, or you can go to their iPhone-friendly website for free.

That's right -- you get the same content and pictures for free at the website that you pay for on the iPhone. Like many media companies, the Washington Post is eagerly awaiting the time when they can charge for all online content. What I don't understand is why they're

charging for the content in the iPhone app and giving it away for free at the website? Why not be just a bit consistent?

TUAW Washington Post iPhone app not winning very many friends originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 17 May 2010 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

34

Technology/

E-reader News Edition

TUAW's Daily App: Strike Knight Mike Schramm (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

your shots while an arcade board flashes your high score as you play.

Submitted at 5/18/2010 8:00:00 AM The game is free-to-play, so it's Filed under: App Store I saw definitely worth a try. The ads Backflip Studios' Julian Farrior are slightly distracting (aside speak at GDC earlier this year, from the banner ads, currently and while there, he showed a all advertising the rest of few upcoming App Store games Backflip's other titles, there are of his in a quick slide. Strike interstitials as well), but for a 99 Knight was one of those, and it's cent in-app purchase, you can now out in the App Store in all get rid of them, so if you like the of its glory. It's a simple game, you might as well make shuffleboard bowler game -- the buy. Aside from the regular you grab a puck at the bottom of singleplayer action, the app the screen, and flick it up allows pass and play multiplayer towards the pins at the top, for up to four people, and the hoping to hit at just the right gameplay's quite addictive -angle and knock them all down. that knight really pushes you to Presentation is solid -- a bar do better and better each time crowd in the background cheers you play. Plus+ integration or boos you appropriately, and rounds out the experience, and the titular Knight reacts to all of there are awards to earn and

leaderboards to top.

Farrior and his team at Backflip are doing a great job pinning down some solid, quick experiences on the iPhone, and Strike Knight is nice addition to the company's lineup. If all of the apps he promised this year are as worthy as this one, they'll have an impressive stable of apps in the store.

TUAW TUAW's Daily App: Strike Knight originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 18 May 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Tranquil PC serves up a pair of high-end but laid -back HTPCs Tim Stevens (Engadget) Submitted at 5/18/2010 9:33:00 AM

We haven't heard from the folks at Tranquil in some time, the UK-based firm's employees surely too busy watching all the As Time Goes By episodes they stuffed onto their last five-bay media server, but they've sent Gene and Lionel on their way and are back to announce two new HTPCs. First is the T7MP2, a tiny, fanless Ion- and Atom-powered machine that offers HDMI output for direct connectivity to your HDTV and up to 1TB of storage, starting at a rather pricey ÂŁ479 (about

$700). The other is a more powerful beast, the ixVL, coming sometime next month with either an Intel Core i3 or i5 CPU inside and an optical drive (DVD or Blu-ray), but still no fans for quiet operation. No price on this one yet, but expect it to cost, you know, more than the other one.

Tranquil PC serves up a pair of high-end but laid-back HTPCs originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 May 2010 09:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| T7MP2, ixVL| Email this| Comments

Technology/

E-reader News Edition

35

ASUS Eee PC 1215 with Ion receives Optimus and USB 3.0 augmentation Tim Stevens (Engadget) Submitted at 5/18/2010 8:56:00 AM

When we found out that the Ion 2-packing Eee PC 1201PNs lacked NVIDIA Optimus tech for switching graphics hardware on the fly, well, it was a bit of a bummer to say the least. But, ASUS is at least fixing its successor, the Eee PC 1215. It's largely the same machine as the 1201, packing a dual-core Atom D510 processor and Ion graphics to complement the onboard graphics. This one, though, will have the Optimus

hardware to switch betwixt the two, saving battery life all the while. The case has also been subtly refreshed but, most interestingly, ASUS saw fit to throw in a pair of USB 3.0 ports,

their cerulean insides shining like beacons to guide us toward the future of high-speed file transfers. We're not sure when the 1215 is destined to hit retail and make the 1201PN obsolete,

nor how much of a premium it will cost when it does, but there are plenty more pictures of the thing and even a few benchmarks at the source link.

ASUS Eee PC 1215 with Ion receives Optimus and USB 3.0 augmentation originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 May 2010 08:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink| NetbookReviews.net| Email this| Comments

iPad used to replace Apple IIe data cassette, feels seriously underutilized (video) Joseph L. Flatley (Engadget)

named Stewart Smith asked a Mac software developer called Panic to run some software on You know how we much love their in-house Apple IIe, he our old Apple IIe around here, provided them with the source and whether it's being used to code as an audio file -- but he create chiptunes or as an 8-bit failed to supply them with a Twitter station, we're always cassette player to load it from. tickled when the venerable The solution? Panic played the isn't just any old program either h o m e c o m p u t e r m a k e s a n program off its iPad. As you can -- it's a homebrew video for appearance. When an artist see from the video below, this Submitted at 5/18/2010 9:55:00 AM

Jed's Other Poem (Beautiful Ground) by Grandaddy. Thanks for amusing us, guys. And thanks for reminding us how much we enjoy The Sophtware Slump.

Continue reading iPad used to replace Apple IIe data cassette, feels seriously underutilized (video) iPad used to replace Apple IIe

data cassette, feels seriously underutilized (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 May 2010 09:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Wired| Panic| Email this| Comments

36

Technology/ Economy/ Culture/

E-reader News Edition

YouTube Enters Africa BofA's Rosenberg: Expect German Reprisals When They Realize What Trichet Is Doing At The ECB Marshall Kirkpatrick (ReadWriteWeb)

Submitted at 5/17/2010 8:48:52 PM

Africa doesn't get enough attention. That's one reason to celebrate the launch of YouTube's first country channel in Africa. The company announced its new South African channel in a blog post minutes ago, bringing the total number of country channels globally to 23.

"In practice, this means that South Africa-based channels like Freshlyground and Khayav should enjoy more profile locally, and at the same time should also find it easier to

identify other local users," wrote Divon Lan, YouTube Product Manager for Africa. "From now on when users in South Africa visit the localized site they will see, for example, the Most Popular and Most Viewed videos in South Africa along with local content that closely matches their interests."

Sponsor African competitors include ZedClips, Zoopy, and My Video from South Africa, and Nigerian Naijoo.tv. See also Afrigator, an excellent pan-African media aggregator. Discuss

Hotmail Reboots with InboxClearing Functions and Office Webapp Integration [Webmail] Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker) Submitted at 5/18/2010 5:00:00 AM

What can Hotmail offer over a certain emerging webmail standard? A good bit, it turns out. Windows Live Hotmail now offers inbox-cleaning Sweep and filter functions, More » Exchange support, direct Office Hotmail- Microsoft- ClientWeb App tools, in-message Email- Office Web App slideshows and video, and more.

Joe Weisenthal (The Money Game) Submitted at 5/18/2010 8:29:48 AM

A lot of folks are calling out ECB chief Jean-Claude Trichet for his claim that buying European government debt on the secondary market is not the same as quantitative easing.

Yesterday John Hussman called him out, noting that despite plans to "sterilize" the purchases by withdrawing liquidity, there's still the phenomenon of rotating the ECB's balance sheet away from healthy debt to toxic debt.

BofA's Jeffrey Rosenberg (via ZeroHedge) sees the same thing: We believe undermining the Euros valuation vs. the dollar stands the threat of indirect debt monetization of Greek and other periphery debt. Despite its claims to the contrary, today’s ECB announcement on operational details of its Securities Markets Programme of direct secondary market purchases of sovereign debt suggests the possibility the ECB could end up effectively

sterilizing its own sterilization.

This occurs as the term deposits used for sterilizing the EUR16.5bn of purchases last week itself are eligible as collateral against ECB repo liquidity. To us that means that the liquidity drain of collecting deposits from banks could be effectively unwound in the scenario whereby the bank used those term deposits as collateral against ECB repo lending, a possibility explicitly permitted in today’s announcement. While we believe such a scenario is highly unlikely, the perception it

creates of debt monetization nevertheless is the larger issue to the near term outlook for the Euro, in our view.

The only thing mitigating the likelihood of "reprisals" is the fact that the Germans already know they're getting screwed.

Remember, they call themselves the "schmucks of Europe" (or at least the famous Bild headline did) because they're bailing everyone else out.

Join the conversation about this story »

Economy/

E-reader News Edition

37

Martin Armstrong: The "Flash Crash" Was A WATERFALL Event Like The One That Preceded The Fall Of Rome Joe Weisenthal (The Money Game) Submitted at 5/18/2010 9:07:00 AM

The famous market philosopher Martin Armstrong, who is currently in prison in Ft. Dix New Jersey, has turned his attention to the "Flash Crash" of May 6, which he sees as a profound event.

He describes the event as a waterfall -- the opposite of a blowoff bubble top -- that presages the start of a profound shift in the world economy.

He calls the "fat finger" or glitch theories nonsense, saying it's all about Greece, and the global debt crisis. This is what a market "waterfall" looks like.

Image: MartinArmstrong.com Source: Martinarmstrong.org The pundits got it all wrong, thinking that this is somehow an unusual fat finger error.

Image: MartinArmstrong.com Source: Martinarmstrong.org Waterfalls have been with us through the ages. The collapse of Roman Silver occurred before the collapse fo the Roman empire Image: MartinArmstrong.com Source: Martinarmstrong.org

Eastern Europe's Past Disaster Shows Why Fears Of Greek Default Are Way Overblown This is a distinctly different pattern than other major peaks (such as the blowoff peak in Gold or the Nikkei) Image: MartinArmstrong.com Source: Martinarmstrong.org The WATERFALL is far more devastating Image: MartinArmstrong.com Source: Martinarmstrong.org The cause of the crisis: Greece.

Image: MartinArmstrong.com Source: Martinarmstrong.org And DEBT! Image: MartinArmstrong.com Source: Martinarmstrong.org This is not about the world

coming to an end, as other doomsayers say.

Image: MartinArmstrong.com Source: Martinarmstrong.org And after capital rushes to America, it will rush out, leaving us in crisis.

Image: MartinArmstrong.com Source: Martinarmstrong.org Read the whole report At MartinArmstrong.org...

Join the conversation about this story »

The Economist (The Money Game) Submitted at 5/18/2010 8:01:47 AM

FOR anyone from the excommunist world with a medium-term memory, the frantic efforts under way to save Greece (and the other wobbly southern members of the euro zone) are rather puzzling.

For a start, what is so bad about default and restructuring? In the 1990s Russia restructured $32 billion worth of Soviet debt into PRINs and IANs (both are now stored in the Museum of

Financial Archaeology and may be viewed on application to the curator). In 1998 it defaulted on those debt instruments. People said Russia’s financial credibility would never recover.

One banker said he would rather eat nuclear waste than invest in Russia again. But within a couple of years, Russia was flavour of the month.

Continue reading at The Economist > Join the conversation about this story »

38

Economy/ Culture/

E-reader News Edition

Bill Ackman Has Been Holding An Investment In Yum Brands Since Well Before The Double Down Premiered (YUM, KFT, YUM, GGP, CXW) Courtney Comstock (The Money Game) Submitted at 5/18/2010 8:10:07 AM

Bill Ackman's 13f filing is always a fun one because he keeps very few positions that he believes strongly in on his portfolio; he's "activist investing."

Last quarter, in Q1, Ackman's Pershing Square fund sold out completely of a ~$80 million stake in Hyatt and a ~$5 million investment in Automatic Data Processing (ADP).

He picked up a huge new investment in Kraft, around $1 billion, which we knew about already because he made a big case for why he thinks the Kraft and Cadbury merge will be successful.

We also discovered Pershing's ~$600 million investment in YUM brands (lots of delicious food brands are owned by YUM like, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and KFC - maybe Ackman knew the Double Down would be a hit??

What existed before the big bang?

(HowStuffWorks Daily Feed)

slower for a human on Earth's surface than a satellite in orbit.

The difference is too small to It is difficult enough to imagine notice, but time even runs more a time, roughly 13.7 billion slowly for someone standing years ago, when the entire next to a large boulder than it universe existed as a singularity. does for a person standing alone According to the big bang in a field. The pre-big bang t h e o r y , o n e o f t h e m a i n singularity possessed all the contenders vying to explain how mass in the universe, effectively the universe came to be, all the bringing time to a standstill. matter in the cosmos -- all of Following this line of logic, the space itself -- existed in a form t i t l e o f t h i s a r t i c l e i s smaller than a subatomic f u n d a m e n t a l l y f l a w e d . particle.

According to Einstein's theory Once you think about that, an of relativity, time only came even more difficult question into being as that primordial arises: What existed just before singularity expanded toward its ), which they made sometime in 5. Corrections Corp of America the big bang occurred? current size and shape.

Q4 but only disclosed in a 13F (CXW): 6.55% The question itself predates Case closed? Far from it. This amendment last month.

6. Landry's Restaurants (LNY): modern cosmology by at least is one cosmological quandary Marketfolly has a breakdown of 0.84% 1,600 years. Fourth-century that won't stay dead. In the how Pershing's entire Q1 7. Borders Group (BGP): t h e o l o g i a n S t . A u g u s t i n e decades following Einstein's portfolio is made up: 0.55% wrestled with the nature of God death, the advent of quantum 1. Target (TGT): 32.79% 8. Greenlight Capital Re before the creation of the physics and a host of new 2. Kraft Foods (KFT): 29.89% (GLRE): 0.20% universe. His answer? Time was theories resurrected questions 3 . Y u m B r a n d s ( Y U M ) : Join the conversation about this part of God's creation, and there about the pre-big bang universe.

17.56% story Âť simply was no "before" that a Keep reading to learn about 4. General Growth Properties deity could call home. some of them.

(GGP): 11.62% Armed with the best physics of Five Filters featured article: the 20th century, Albert Einstein The Art of Looking Prime c a m e t o v e r y s i m i l a r Ministerial - The 2010 UK conclusions with his theory of General Election. Available relativity. Just consider the tools: PDF Newspaper, Full effect of mass on time. A Text RSS, Term Extraction. planet's hefty mass warps time - making time run a tiny bit Submitted at 5/18/2010 9:00:00 AM

Economy/ Culture/

E-reader News Edition

The New American Consumer Is Terrified Of Debt Even As The Economy Grows

Josh and Diane Join the Glee Cast, Keri Russell For Fox Bash!

Vincent Fernando, CFA (The Money Game)

Molly (PopSugar)

39

Submitted at 5/18/2010 9:00:00 AM

Submitted at 5/18/2010 9:11:11 AM

Carpe Diem highlights how credit card delinquencies are falling nicely, down four months in a row.

"With fewer consumers late on their bills, the outlook for credit losses over the summer may be improving," says Reuters.

Moreover, credit card debt fell to a 45-month low, as shown by Carpe Diem's graphic the right.

Overall, as we've highlighted before, U.S. households reduced their total debt (inclusive of everything, mortgages, credit cards, etc) by$239 billion in 2009. Yes much of this is due to people defaulting on their obligations, but much needed financial adjustments are being made in the U.S., even if painfully.

Moreover, given the latest

credit card data shown above, we're confident that the overall deleveraging trend of 2009 is continuing in 2010 even though the larger, total household debt number isn't out yet from the Federal Reserve.

Despite an economic recovery post-crisis, hard times are still driving Americans to reduce their financial leverage. The

new American consumer will likely be more conservative than we've been used to over the last decade, even as the economy gets better. Which is a good thing in the long-term given how extreme things got.

Join the conversation about this story Âť

The stars of Fox TV present and future stepped out in NYC last night to celebrate the Upfronts announcement of their Fall schedule. Fringe's Joshua Jackson brought Diane Kruger to the party, just the latest stop in their loved-up world tour featuring their popular PDA. Keri Russell is another welcome face in the crowd to celebrate her new sitcom Running Wilde alongside Will Arnett. Bones duo David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel stuck together as his relationship with his wife makes frequent headlines. Lea Michele continued her reign of the red carpet in a short, colorful number after the Glee creator Ryan Murphy denied rumors that she's difficult or a diva on set. He also said that they are talking to Britney Spears about tapping into her musical archive! Dianna Agron looked adorable in red before the whole cast hits the road when their tour kicks off in LA on Thursday.

Tonight's Joss Whedon directed episode features Neil Patrick

Harris which may convert even more fans into full-fledged Gleeks.

To see lots more from the party including Cat Deeley, Cory Monteith, Hugh Laurie, Jane Lynch, and others just read more.

View 35 Photos › Images include: Keri Russell, Cat Deeley, Colin Hanks, Cory Monteith, David Boreanaz, Diane Kruger, Dianna Agron, Emily Deschanel, Hugh Laurie, Jane Lynch, Jayma Mays, Joshua Jackson, Kara DioGuardi, Kevin McHale, Lea Michele, Mark Sailing, Matthew Morrison, Randy Jackson, Will Arnett

40

Culture/

E-reader News Edition

Microsoft Seeks to Put Hot Back in Hotmail With New Features Ryan Singel (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 5/18/2010 7:34:00 AM

Microsoft is unveiling a major upgrade to Hotmail this summer, in an attempt to become the top webmail provider in the U.S. by outdoing the innovations that Google’s Gmail brought to the online inbox.

Now nearly 15 years old, Hotmail serves more users worldwide than any other online e-mail service, with 360 million users.

Despite reports to the contrary, e-mail isn’t going away anytime soon, Microsoft said, noting that even avid users of social media services check their e-mail more often than other users, and Hotmail users share 1.5 billion photos a month.

But a year ago, the Hotmail team looked around and realized that Hotmail was lacking features (particularly in comparison to Gmail, which remains in third place among webmail providers, though its numbers continue to grow).

“Hotmail wasn’t doing the best job it could to serve customers,” Microsoft vice president Chris Jones told reporters Monday at a briefing in San Francisco. “We were behind on features and we felt like being number in the

U.S. market was important for us.”

So now Microsoft wants to make e-mail simpler, automatically divvying up emails into convenient categories, such as e-mails from contacts, ones from e-mail lists, ones from social media services, ones with photos, others with Office documents, etc.

Starting in July or August, users

will encounter a first screen that’s on overview of new messages, sorted into categories, with e-mails from known contacts in the top heap, updates from services like Facebook and Twitter at the bottom, and a bar up top that lets you send a status message to whatever online service you like.

Once you are past that into the typical view of an inbox, there

are one click options on the top bar and the left bar to view messages of different types.

Users can easily categorize messages and even permanently rid themselves of annoying marketing messages using what Microsoft calls “Sweeping,” which moves all messages — past and future - from selected marketers or annoying contacts into the trash.

But perhaps the most interesting part of the upgrade comes with messages involving photos or Office documents.

Hotmail will soon open emails with multiple photos attached by displaying them in a row on the screen, and users can click to launch a graceful slideshow right inside the browser (see the MICROSOFT page 41

Politics/

E-reader News Edition

MICROSOFT continued from page 40

top image) using Microsoft’s own Flash-like platform Silverlight, which users will have to install to get the full shebang.

The online gallery and preview also works with links to public galleries on SmugMug and Flickr, and Microsoft says it’s working on doing the same for galleries that aren’t public that a user has the right to see.

Users can also open a Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint document into Office Live, an online service that pairs with Skydrive to give users 25GB of online storage. Once you open the document and make a change, the versions are saved online and you are prompted to e-mail the original recipient a link to the changed document.

Neither user needs to have Office installed on their local machines to use the service.

Hotmail will let you watch video links from Hulu and YouTube right in the e-mail you are reading, and you can easily find videos to send to people using a Bing search drop down box in the compose window.

Sending a large selection of images is easy in the new Hotmail as well, since the images aren’t attached to the email and instead are uploaded

into a user’s 25GB SkyDrive.

Recipients get an HTML e-mail with thumbnails of the image and a specially crafted link to look at a gallery online.

Recipients will need a Microsoft Live ID to leave a comment on the photos, but don’t need one just to see or download them as a zip file.

A view of a photo gallery sent by a Hotmail user.

For those worried about security, Hotmail says it’s getting good at preventing phishing attacks aimed at stealing your online passwords and will offer users the option to use HTTPS for full e-mail sessions if they want to protect their accounts from snoopers at a wifi cafe or at their work or school. (Gmail is the leader, using full HTTPS sessions as the default for all users).

Microsoft also wants Hotmail users to have a great experience on mobile devices, so it makes it easy to use via POP and IMAP pull protocols or its push email service ActiveSync. The company is not planning native apps for Android and Apple mobile products, saying users like the built-in tools and can easily use Hotmail on those services.

Still, Microsoft’s new product

retains hallmarks of the company’s long-standing legacy of pushing users towards its proprietary formats. For instance, if a user gets a PDF, text or Open Office file in an email, there’s no option to open them online — something that Gmail users can do now. The company says such support will come in future versions, but it’s telling that even a format as simple to convert as .txt can’t be opened into Microsoft’s online version of Word from a Hotmail account.

Overall, the revamp is impressive and should keep current users from jumping ship for Google’s Gmail. Like Yahoo Mail, Hotmail will retain display ads, which run in a vertical bar on the right side of the screen.

Those seem far more distracting than the simple text ads Gmail uses, but unlike Google’s product, the ads are not based on a computer analysis of the contents of your mail. Users can also pay $20 a year for an adfree service.

Many of the new features will sound familiar to Gmail users (like seeing attached images rendered without downloading them and being able to open attached documents online). But to its credit, Microsoft has

created some thoughtful features that outshine those that remain roughly implemented in Gmail.

Many may shy away from using Hotmail as many see the name as just one step up above having an AOL address. For those who want the new features without the Hotmail name, Hotmail will let you send and recieve mail using a different address. For those still tooling around with an AOL e-mail address, moving to Hotmail would be a definite upgrade.

See Also: • Google vs. Microsoft: What You Need to Know • Google Turns on Gmail Encryption to Protect Wi-Fi Users • Most Common Hotmail Password Revealed!

• Microsoft Aims to Use the Cloud to Outdo Apple and Google

41

Kyl, McCain Plead with Obama: Send Troops to Border (Newsmax - Inside Cover) Submitted at 5/18/2010 4:00:42 AM

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., have called on President Barack Obama to send 6,000 National Guardsmen to the ArizonaMexico border, according to rollcall.com.

The lawmakers argued that troops are needed because violence from the Mexican drug war has “crossed the border and escalated to a point where many Arizonans do not feel safe within their own homes or on their own property. They feel that they live in a lawless area of the country and have been abandoned by the federal government, which has a duty to protect its citizens by securing the nation’s borders.”

Five Filters featured article: “We again urge you to deploy at The Art of Looking Prime least 6,000 National Guardsmen Ministerial - The 2010 UK to protect our southern border, General Election. Available with 3,000 of these troops tools: PDF Newspaper, Full focused on the Arizona/Mexico Text RSS, Term Extraction. border,” McCain and Kyl added.

To read the full rollcall.com report Go Here Now. © All Rights Reserved.

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

42

Culture/

E-reader News Edition

How to Transfer Your Stanza E-Book Library to iBooks for iPad Charlie Sorrel (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 5/18/2010 8:14:00 AM

Stanza, our favorite iPhone ereader application, has not yet been updated for the iPad. Maybe it’s coming soon and will be awesome, or maybe the current owner, Amazon, has killed it to reduce competition for its money-making Kindle app. Either way, unless you want to read your e-book collection on a blocky, pixeldoubled screen, you’ll have to switch readers. But what of all the books you already have in your Stanza library? Here we show you how to extract you books from Stanza, pretty them up and put them into iBooks on your iPad. Getting books into Stanza is easy. You can beam them across your Wi-Fi network using the companion desktop application or with the clunky but powerful e-book manager Calibre. You can buy them from within the application itself, or you can add online repositories of varying legitimacy. Once the books are on there, though, they’re stuck.

You can jailbreak your iPhone and go fishing around in the file system, looking for the books.

Or you can download a Java app that will churn through the iPhone backups on your

computer and sift out the books within.

Download the app, called “Stanza Book Restore Tool”, from Lexcycle, the developers of Stanza. Point it at your backup folder (on the Mac you’ll find it in Users/you/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup), choose a destination and hit “Recover Books”. All the books will be copied to your computer.

But what then? Now you have a bunch of EPUB files littering your desktop. You could drag them straight into iTunes, where

they’ll be imported into your book collection, but the lovely cover artwork you enjoyed in Stanza will be gone, replaced by text on a generic, plain book cover. What you need is the aforementioned Calibre, previously seen on Gadget Lab in the service of adding Instapaper and other newspapers to your Kindle.

Download the free Calibre app for Mac or Windows, drag in the EPUB files and then go to work.

Your books’ title and author data should be cleanly filled out already, but if you right click on

a book (or hit the “e” key) you can edit the metadata. The easiest way is to let Calibre pull the info down from the internet.

Once this is done, click the “Download cover” button to do just that. Calibre gets it right 99% of the time. If you don’t like the cover, you can add your own from an image file.

The next step is essential if you want to import all the new keywords and cover art along with the books into iTunes. You need to convert the books to EPUB. But wait. They’re already EPUB files, right? Yes,

but right now the newly added metadata isn’t baked into the files. Running an export won’t create new files, but it will replace the old one with the newly enriched versions. Do this as a bulk action and go make a coffee. If you’re using a Mac, don’t get too scared when its fans start to spin like a leafblower.

Next, you need to separate out all the EPUB files and just drag them into iTunes. The problem is that they’re stuck inside HOW page 46

Culture/

E-reader News Edition

43

May 18, 1952: Carbon-14 Dates Stonehenge as 3,800 Years Old David Kravets (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 5/17/2010 11:00:00 PM

1952: An analysis of the carbon -14 radioisotope in a piece of charred oak from an excavated pit at Stonehenge estimates that the mysterious structure on England’s Salisbury Plain is 3,800 years old, plus or minus 275 years.

The carbon-dating process that dated Stonehenge to about 1848 B.C. was conducted by the technique’s godfather, Willard Libby. The University of Chicago professor developed radiocarbon dating in the late 1940s and won the 1960 Nobel Prize in chemistry for it.

When plants or animals die, they no longer exchange their carbon with fresh atoms from their environment. Thus, as the radioactive carbon-14 in dead matter decays to the more plentiful isotope carbon-12, the proportion of C-14 to C-12 declines. Carbon-14 has a halflife of about 5,600 years, so measuring the proportion of C14 that’s still present in dead organic matter, and comparing it to the known proportion of C-14 in living matter, will indicate the age of the sample.

To be sure, carbon dating has its skeptics. Libby assumed C14 broke down at a constant

rate. However, the Archeology Expert website notes, “experimental evidence indicates that C-14 decay is slowing down and that millennia ago it decayed much faster than is observed today.”

The site points out that live mollusk shells in Hawaii were dated as 2,000 years old and a “freshly killed seal” in Antarctica dated 1,300 years.

Improved techniques now date the earliest stone structures at Stonehenge to about 2600 B.C. Whatever its exact age, as Time magazine noted when reporting the 1952 dating, Stonehenge has

been “credited, at one time or another, to the Phoenicians, Celts, Romans, Sumerians, Druids and early Christians.”

Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer, who co-discovered helium and founded the journal, Nature, wrote in 1901 that the Heel Stone section of Stonehenge “ had been originally aligned with the summer solstice” and calculated that it was built in 1800 B.C. Further investigations have suggested that Stonehenge was an astronomical observatory, a place of worship and healing or perhaps a cemetery. Whatever

its exact history, origins or age, thousands each year flock to Stonehenge to welcome the sun on the summer solstice.

Source: Various Photo: technowannabe/Flickr See Also: • Spinal Tap’s Nigel Tufnel Knows How Stonehenge Was Built • Video: Spinal Tap on Stonehenge - Video - Wired • May 2, 1952: First Commercial Jet Flies From London to Johannesburg • May 7, 1952: The Integrated Circuit … What a Concept!

• July 22, 1952: Genuine Crop-

Circle Maker Patented • Sept. 20, 1952: Kitchen Blender Pegs DNA as Stuff of Life • Nov. 4, 1952: Univac Gets Election Right, But CBS Balks • Dec. 1, 1952: Ex-GI Becomes Blonde Beauty • May 18, 1953: Jackie Cochran, First Woman to Break the Sound Barrier • May 18, 1980: St. Helens Blows Its Top Off Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime MAY page 44

44

Culture/

E-reader News Edition

Gallery: Polaroid Archives Provide a Jake Gyllenhaal and Tom Cruise Honor Jerry at Snapshot of History Priya Ganapati (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 5/17/2010 7:00:00 PM

Polaroid has one of the world’s most iconic brands: The selfdeveloping snapshots, with their classic white borders, are nearly as recognizable as the red CocaCola logo, the Campbell’s soup can or the Burberry plaid.

The company’s cameras delivered instant visual gratification long before digital cameras arrived on the scene, making them an early photographic sensation.

But Polaroid’s fortunes have waned. The company, which was founded in 1937, has declared bankruptcy twice and was sold to two different buyers.

Its assets have long been dispersed, and its factories were shut down. Polaroid even announced in 2008 that it would stop making its instant film, prompting some enthusiasts to

MAY continued from page 43

Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

create their own Polaroidcompatible film packs.

Now a company called PLR IP Holdings has rights to the Polaroid brand and has said it will revive some iconic Polaroid cameras. The company recently introduced a new camera, the Polaroid PIC-300.

Last month, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based MIT Museum announced that PLR Holdings has donated a massive collection from Polaroid’s archives.

The archive has some fascinating objects. There are boxes of rare Polarized glasses dating from the 1939 World’s Fair, original newsprint sketches

by Polaroid founder Edwin Land, a historic bellows camera the size of a filing cabinet and the SX-70 cameras that defined the instant-photography era.

Overall, the collection has more than 1,800 boxes containing 10,000 items.

“For anyone interested in science, technology, art or consumer culture, this is an unprecedented opportunity to look at a series of products and watch their design unfold from every aspect,” says Deborah Douglas, curator of the collection at the MIT Museum.

Polaroid is unusual among American companies in that it has extensively documented its products and maintained archives of its work, says Douglas.

“This is one of the top five company collections out there, along with IBM, Bell Labs, DuPont and Boeing,” she says.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 View All Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Prince of Persia Premiere!

Molly (PopSugar) Submitted at 5/18/2010 8:00:00 AM

Jake Gyllenhaal wore a polkadot tie to triumphantly bring his Prince of Persia home to LA last night. He was full of smiles and happy to sign autographs between posing with his beautiful costar Gemma Arterton. Jake has already been around the world with the movie including when they managed to premiere it in three cities in one evening. Jake also famously showed off his dance moves during his stop in Russia. Now, they're back in the states for one more big push before the May 27 release. The Grauman's Chinese Theatre red carpet wasn't just about the screening, however since Prince of Persia's producer Jerry Bruckheimer had his hand and footprint ceremony!

Tom Cruise also came out to honor Jerry, his Top Gun producer, who is simultaneously being celebrated with a series of star-studded screenings of his films this week. Nicolas Cage, Jon Voight, Ben Kingsley, and Billy Bob Thornton rounded out the group of guys. Tom is on his

own promotional tour for Knight and Day starting with last week's Oprah so we'll be seeing a lot more of that famous grin over the next month.

To see lots more from the premiere including Alanis Morissette, Jaime King, Billy Bob Thornton, and others just read more.

View 50 Photos › Images include: Alanis Morissette, Ben Kingsley, Gemma Arterton, Jaime King, Jake Gyllenhaal, Jerry Bruckheimer, Jon Voight, Michelle Monaghan, Tom Cruise, Nicolas Cage, Tom Skerritt, Billy Bob Thornton

Culture/

E-reader News Edition

45

Call of the Wild: Ahmed Akkad's Lit Fix: The One-Week Party-Perfect Jewelry Collection for Job Project HSN WomansDay.com Editors (Daily Woman's Day Blog)

ELLE.com (ELLE Fashion Blogs)

favorites?

AA: Actually, I have two. The IT Ring is fantastic. It’s a jetSubmitted at 5/17/2010 4:57:31 PM black marquise stone that I built After over two decades of up with smaller square crystals d e s i g n i n g i n in a Deco-inspired setting. The Manhattan—whether it’s Glamorista Stretch Bangle is clothing, interiors, furniture, or just instant glamour! It has jewelry—Ahmed Akkad makes alternating swirls of gold slivers his move to television today for and stones set in black rhodium. the debut of his party-perfect You can slip it on with a pair of collection for the Home jeans and a T-shirt, and your Shopping Network. With 24 look is finished instantly. styles of gold-plated costume ELLE: Are you an HSN jewelry all under $200, we’re the line, I also have a much customer yourself? positive phones are ringing off greater color range to work with AA: I have become an the hook as we write this. Here, which is very exciting. obsessive HSN shopper—I E L L E : W h a t w e r e y o u r watch constantly! My wife the charming designer spills i n spirations? about his newest endeavor.

Susan buys clothes there and I AA: All of my work is inspired bought a ton of home and ELLE: Tell us about your new collaboration with the Home by the same two ideas: exotic gardening items including floor and vintage. I love Indian and steamers, vacuums, hedge Shopping Network AA: My AKKAD collection African artwork as well as the trimmers—you name it! It’s available exclusively at HSN Rococo, Art Nouveau, and Art become my one-stop shop! has a more diversified look than Deco design movements, but —Alexa Brazilian my own line of semi-precious ultimately the pieces must be To shop the AKKAD for HSN stone jewels. Creatively, it modern and wearable. For me, collection, click here. allows me to do more castings i t ’ s a l w a y s a b o u t e x o t i c Follow ELLE on Twitter. and settings. Since I used e v e r y d a y g l a m o u r .

Become our Facebook fan!

ELLE: Do you have any crystals and simulated stones for

Submitted at 5/17/2010 4:00:00 PM

Today's book review is from Woman's Day reader Annemarie Conte. She read The One-Week Job Project by Sean Aiken.

Thanks for submitting, Annemarie!: If you're the type who's ever looked at a directionless 25-year -old and thought (or said), "Get a job, you hippie!" this book is for you. Sean Aiken was that man. And he got a job––52 of them, to be exact. In what has become a memoir genre of it's own, the "I'll do this particular thing for a year" (pioneered but by no means invented by A.J. Jacobs and his quest to read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica in The Know-It-All), Sean Aiken attempts lots of jobs to see what he really wants to be when he grows up. It's sort of like a cleaner, more Canadian Dirty Jobs with a dreadlocked version of Mike Rowe at the helm. Sean seems like a good guy, and it's not easy to cram descriptions of 52 jobs into a 300-page book (or actually experience what a job is like after only a week––he becomes a stock trader, for goodness sake), but this is an entertaining

read, especially if you've got a slacker of your own living in your basement (Sean was, by the way, Valedictorian of his class, so we'll use the term slacker loosely here). Pass it along. It may just inspire some greatness.––Annemarie Conte We'd love to hear about what you're reading, too. Send your r e v i e w s t o LitFix@womansday.com and we'll post them right here on the blog.

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

46

Culture/

E-reader News Edition

Flywheel Sports Spinning Studio's Butt-Kicking Workout ELLE.com (ELLE Fashion Blogs) Submitted at 5/17/2010 4:36:52 PM

Spinning class always seemed a little aggressive for my yogatypical taste, but as I was walking on the street one recent evening I overheard a woman loudly and proudly proclaim her spin instructor “is God—he helped me lose 35 pounds like that.” Like that, I was suddenly intrigued. Fast forward a month and I’ve visited New York City’s Flywheel Sports spinning studio for four classes, each time enjoying my experience more than the last. You can even add a yoga or Pilates class to the start or end of your ride for the

ultimate ying and yang experience. Yes, it’s hard, and, yes, it can be torturous—but you feel really, really, really good when you are done. (And, surprisingly, you feel great the next day, too.) “When you ride

with the proper posture and instruction, there’s very little stress on the joints,” explains Ruth Zuckerman, co-founder and instructor at Flywheel Sports. “A properly taught indoor cycling ride balances

high resistance climbs with low resistance flats, allowing riders to release muscle tension and flush out their legs while riding.” A forty-five minute butt kicking, calorie-torching workout that doesn’t leave me out of commission the next day?

The woman on the street was right—spinning is some sort of divine intervention and I am now a believer. Amen!

To start your conversion visit flywheelsports.com for more info.

—Janna Johnson, Beauty Assistant Follow ELLE on Twitter.

Become our Facebook fan!

Daily Buzz: Laura Bush Book Offers Suprising Revelations WomansDay.com Editors (Daily Woman's Day Blog) Submitted at 5/17/2010 3:32:26 PM

Ever since Laura Bush released her memoir Spoken from My Heart on May 4, we've gotten a lot more insight into the former first lady than we did during her years as Mistress of the White House. And a lot of it has been very different

from what we'd expect.

In a recent interview with Larry King, for instance, Bush said she disagrees with her husband on both abortion and gay marriage (she's pro-choice and feels gay marriage should and will happen). And Sunday, she expressed support for Obama's Supreme Court Nominee Elena Kagan, or at the very least, in support of another

woman sitting on the bench.

"I think it's great," Bush said.

"I'm really glad that there will be three if she's confirmed. I like to have women on the Supreme Court."

But putting politics aside, I'm curious what you think about Mrs. Bush keeping her opinions to herself during her husband's presidency.

While all husbands and wives have

disagreements over everything from child rearing to political and social issues, not everyone is married to the President of the United States.

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

HOW continued from page 42

subfolders. On a Mac, the best way is to run a spotlight search on the Calibre catalog folder, choosing “file extension=epub” as your search term. Drag those files onto the iTunes icon and wait. Once the import is done, you’ll see a beautiful library of e=books ready to sync to iBooks on the iPad. Restoring Stanza books from iTunes backup[Lexcycle] Calibre[Calibre-ebook] Stanza[Lexcycle] See Also: • Stanza v2.0: The iPhone's Best E-Reader Just Got Better • IPhone Stanza Downloads May Top Kindle Sales • Gadget Lab Guide: How to Un-Cripple Your International Kindle …

• iBooks Store Loaded with Project Gutenberg Titles at Launch …

• Apple's Tablet E-Book App Rips off Indie Dev's Creation Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Culture/

E-reader News Edition

Slow-Cooker Monday: Carnitas WomansDay.com Editors (Daily Woman's Day Blog) Submitted at 5/17/2010 3:00:00 PM

My goodness, slow-cooking has changed! Go to the bookstore and, alongside that old favorite Fix-It and Forget-It, you'll find slim volumes of carefully curated recipes with lush photos and thick cookbooks full of techniques for things like baking cakes and cobblers. I even found a recipe for mac and cheese! The skeptic in me awoke, along with her counterpart, that urge to experiment and prove myself wrong. I've never been a big fan of slow-cookers, but when the editors at Woman's Day asked me to write a weekly post on the subject I felt it was time for me to take a fresh look. Will you help me?

My slow-cooker, a wedding gift from more than a decade ago,

Chopard Brings Out Beauties Like Naomi, Kate, LL, and Paris Who Cannes Celebrate!

Molly (PopSugar) Submitted at 5/18/2010 7:00:00 AM

Lindsay Lohan bucked the gown trend and opted for a short, tight, white dress for the Chopard 150th Anniversary Party during Cannes last night.

LL has been partying all over the Riviera while she's in trouble back home in LA, where her lawyer reiterated that broke last year and I didn't setting. I'm excited to put it to Lindsay needs to be back for her Thursday court date. Kate bother at the time to replace it, the test. so the kind folks at Sunbeam Find out how my carnitas fared Beckinsale continues to grace as have sent me a new one. It's a in the slow-cooker and see the many red carpets as possible as one of the festival's judges. big, sleek and shiny Crock-Pot, recipe below: with simplified controls: I Five Filters featured article: Naomi Watts is in France to choose 4, 6, 8 or 10 hours and The Art of Looking Prime premiere both Fair Game and once the cooker has run the Ministerial - The 2010 UK her Woody Allen project You recommended time it shifts to General Election. Available Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger warm, counting up to let me tools: PDF Newspaper, Full while Marion Cotillard was know how long it's been on that Text RSS, Term Extraction. fresh off the Christian Dior cruise show in Shanghai. Paris Hilton twittered updates throughout the evening, and was especially excited to tell Nicole

Richie that her dad Lionel performed.

To see more from the party including Meg Ryan, Naomi Campbell, Margherita Missoni, and others, just read more.

View 25 Photos › Images include: Billy Zane, Kate Beckinsale, Lindsay Lohan, Margherita Missoni, Marion Cotillard, Meg Ryan, Naomi Watts, Naomi Campbell, Nicky Hilton, Paris Hilton, Rick Hilton, Barron Hilton, Kathy Hilton

Is Skinny Too Hot? ELLE.com (ELLE Fashion Blogs) Submitted at 5/17/2010 3:35:16 PM

SD: If I was a girl I think I might trade in my hot chaffing skinny jeans this summer and give myself the gift of an easy

47

breezy pair of Current Elliott cropped cotton chinos. Are you ready to give skinny a vacation this Summer?

JZ: YES let’s retire the skinny (for a minute at least). Who wants such a second skin in all this summer heat? I’m loving all

Chic and American. The best way to dress if you ask me.

SD: Sounds like you are having a Lauren Hutton '70s moment....

JZ: Total’s '70s! It’s that time again! the great chinos right now, SD: But not for a disco especially the Current Elliotts. polyester jumpsuit revival.....

SHOP THESE TROUSERS Follow ELLE on Twitter.

Become our Facebook fan!

48

Politics/

E-reader News Edition

Morning Bell: The New START Threat to Missile Defense Conn Carroll (The Foundry: Conservative Policy News.)

constrain the United States from deploying the most effective missile defenses possible.”

Submitted at 5/18/2010 8:40:28 AM Notice the change? The Obama On March 26 the White House administration has backtracked released a fact sheet on the New from “does not contain any START Treaty. It claimed that c o n s t r a i n t s o n t e s t i n g , t h e a g r e e m e n t s i g n e d b y development or deployment of President Barack Obama and current or planned U.S. missile R u s s i a n P r e s i d e n t D m i t r i defense programs” to “does not Medvedev “does not contain constrain the United States from any constraints on testing, deploying the most effective development or deployment of missile defenses possible.” So current or planned U.S. missile are only the “most effective defense programs.” missile defenses” allowed by But the Russians seem to have a New START? As determined by different interpretation of the whom? By the Russians? By document they signed. Russian O b a m a ’ s n o m i n e e t o b e Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Associate Director for the told reporters in Moscow on N a t i o n a l S e c u r i t y a n d April 6th that Russia would exit International Affairs, Office of the treaty if “the U.S.’s build-up Science and Technology Policy of its missile defense strategic Philip Coyle? Coyle, by the potential in numbers and quality way, has made a name for begins to considerably affect the himself by questioning whether efficiency of Russian strategic missile defense is technically nuclear forces. … Linkage to possible, despite a proven track missile defense is clearly spelled record of repeated successes by out in the accord and is legally the Pentagon’s Missile Defense binding.”

Agency. If a new U.S. President So which is it? Does New who actually believes in missile START place limits on U.S. defense is elected, would that missile defense or not? While an C o m m a n d e r i n C h i e f b e April 8th State Department fact constrained by what President sheet on “Ballistic Missile Obama and anti-missile defense Defense and New START advocates like Coyle thought Treaty” mirrored the March qualified as “effective missile 26th language, an “updated” defense”?

April 21st State Department fact This morning at 10 AM EST, sheet showed significant the Senate Committee on movement towards the Russian Foreign Relations will hold its position. It says, “The New first hearing on the New START S T A R T T r e a t y d o e s n o t Treaty. The first witness is

scheduled to be Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Maybe she can explain why the April 8th State Department fact sheet had to be updated with the April 21st version. Maybe she can explain why Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Ellen Tauscher used the April 8th language “the Treaty does not constrain U.S. missile defense programs” as opposed to the equivocal April 21st language when she testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on April 22nd.

And New START’s problems do not end with its constraints on missile defense. An independent assessment by the New START Working Group has identified other key problems with the agreement including: the possible exclusion of rail-mobile ICBMs from coverage under the Treaty’s launcher limits, the lack of a proper definition of air-launched ICBMs under the counting rules and the fact that the U.S. and Russia have failed to agree on the matter of limitations on the U.S. missile defense program.

David J. Kramer, who spent more than eight years at State and now works as a fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, told Heritage’s Robert Bluey: “The Russians have to spin this at home as saying they have laid down markers on missile defense.

Here in the United States, the administration is going to underscore that this in no way ties the administration’s hands on missile defense. These are rather contradictory messages coming from Moscow and Washington on a fairly critical issue.” The Senate needs to start sorting these contradictions out.

Today.

Quick Hits: • Iran reached a surprise nuclear agreement with Brazil and Turkey yesterday, undermining the Obama administration’s plans to impose economic sanctions on Tehran.

• The Obama administration’s signature housing bailout program, Making Home Affordable, is dropping homeowners from the program at an increasing rate.

• A 2002 Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel memo concluding that state police officers have “inherent power” to arrest undocumented immigrants for violating federal law is making it difficult for the Obama administration to challenge Arizona’s new immigration law.

• President Barack Obama refused to take questions from the press at the official signing ceremony for the Press Freedom Act. • Echoing President Obama’s call for conservatives to “get out of the way,” Woody Allen told a Spanish language newspaper

that he too wished “the Republican Party should get out of his way” and that “it would be good…if [Obama] could be a dictator for a few years because he could do a lot of good things quickly.”

Tags: Missile Defense, Morning Bell, New START, Philip Coyle, Russia 3 Responses to “Morning Bell: The New START Threat to Missile Defense” • Mary…. WI on May 18th, 2010 at 9:40am said: Kind of like the “keystone cops”! Better yet, it’s like the skit done by Abbott and Costello….”Who’s on Second, What’s on First”.

• Blair, Franconia, NH on May 18th, 2010 at 9:40am said: This is disconcerting. What was Obama thinking?

• Richard H. Irish, Edmond, OK on May 18th, 2010 at 9:40am said: So, the Obama administration continues to lie, what ELSE is new?

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Politics/ TV/

E-reader News Edition

49

Candidates Cut Back Bucks for Hill Seats (Newsmax - Inside Cover) Submitted at 5/18/2010 2:21:08 AM

For all the talk of the growing role of money in American politics, the nation's congressional candidates appear to be on track to spend less on their campaigns for the second straight election cycle, according to official data.

The nearly $1.38 billion spent by the 2,382 House and Senate candidates seeking office in 2008 was almost 3 percent below the cumulative tab for the 2006 elections, according to the Federal Election Commission.

And the $1.42 billion in receipts — including donations and even overpayment refunds from vendors — represented a 1 percent decline compared with the previous election cycle, according to the Federal Election Commission.

The agency has offered no official explanation for the drop in 2008, when candidates Barack Obama and John McCain raised a record $1.8 billion for their presidential race — four times more than in 2004.

Private analysts have offered their own explanations for the drop and about where the trend might go. The recession, which hurt donors in both parties, and the meteoric rise of free social networking sites such as Facebook to replace traditional paid media advertising are seen as prime causes.

Times remain tough, and the early signs are that the 20092010 cycle will also not be setting any new records for congressional political spending.

Though 2010 has no presidential race, cash on hand for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is significantly down compared with the same period in 2008. The group has $26 million compared with $44.3 million for 2008, according to information supplied to The Washington Times. The National Republican Congressional Committee has $9.9 million, compared with $7.2 million in 2008.

Campaign finance experts said the recession had cut into how much supporters were willing and able to contribute to the 2007-08 campaigns, which coincided with the start of the worst economic downturn in decades.

"Clearly that's when the economy went down," said Dick Wadhams, chairman of the Colorado Republican Party.

"People couldn't give money."

He noted that the tightest 2008 races still proved very expensive, particularly the unsuccessful Colorado Senate campaign he managed for former Rep. Bob Schaffer against then-Rep. Mark Udall, a Democrat.

Mr. Schaffer spent $7.2 million and Mr. Udall spent $13 million,

compared with the average cost of $8.7 million to win a Senate seat in 2008, according to FEC records.

"That was a competitive race, as you know, and Senate races cost more," Mr. Wadhams said.

Experts say that Republican losses in 2008 were in part from the excitement generated by Mr. Obama's candidacy and by his unprecedented fund-raising machine, which may have inhibited spending by congressional and other candidates of both parties.

"Maybe some of the [Democratic] candidates rode on the coattails of the massive amount Mr. Obama was spending," said Jessica Levinson, director of political reform for the Los Angelesbased Center for Governmental Studies. "And that race really sucked the air right out of the room. There could have been less need — or reason — to spend as much money as in 2006 because there's only a finite amount of time a voter can spend on politics."

Ms. Levinson pointed out the 2008 races also marked the real emergence of social media networks on the Internet in politics and fundraising.

"Facebook, blogging, e-blasts — it's free media and has the potential to get bigger as candidates look for lessexpensive ways to reach voters," she said.

But while congressional incumbents and challengers hold the line on spending, the same restraint is not evident for outside groups. Campaign finance experts are watching closely to determine whether the recent Supreme Court ruling striking down some federal restraints on political advertising by private independent groups will affect expenditures in the upcoming midterm elections.

The nonpartisan Campaign Media Analysis Group in a new study found that independent political groups have spent $62 million on political advertising so far in the 2009-2010 electoral cycle, triple the amount compared with the same point four years ago.

The Wall Street Journal reported this week that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, labor interests such as the AFL-CIO and interest groups from the Sierra Club on the left to the new American Crossroads on the right are promising to spend freely this year as Republicans make a push to reclaim control of Congress. © Copyright 2010 The Washington Times, LLC Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

'Gossip Girl' - 'Last Tango, Then Paris' Recap (Season Finale) Laura Prudom (TV Squad) Submitted at 5/18/2010 3:22:00 AM

Filed under: Recaps, Finales(S03E22) "Miss Blair, I defriend Mr. Chuck in Facebook and in life, but this is pretty romantic thing he's doing." Dorota Welcome back, 'Gossip' girls and guys; there's nothing more explosive than a season finale on the Upper East Side, so I hope you're strapped in for a bumpy ride -- it seems our scandalous socialites really did save the best for last this year.

Little J is once again wearing one of Nate's shirts and wearing out her welcome after a platonic night in his bed, which I can only imagine she spent staring dreamily at his perfect eyelashes while he slept, like the creeper she is. Huge sighs of relief all around that despite his despair with Serena, Nate still doesn't want to touch that hot mess with a ten foot pole.

Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments

50

Politics/

E-reader News Edition

Deal with Fannie and Freddie Now or We’ll Pay Later David John (The Foundry: Conservative Policy News.)

Submitted at 5/17/2010 5:00:18 PM

What’s the main selling point for the financial regulation bill Congress is debating? That it would end taxpayer bailouts.

The Senate even added an amendment directly noting that the bill is intended to “prohibit taxpayers from ever having to bail out the financial sector.”

But don’t breathe a sigh of relief too quickly. Because the bill’s many problems include this frequently overlooked fact: It does nothing to fix the problems with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, both of which A) played a major role in the meltdown of 2008 and B) are asking for more money.

Ignoring Fannie and Freddie would be a huge mistake. More than a year after going into receivership, they still dominate the housing finance market by buying mortgages from lenders, packaging them into bond issues, and then reselling them to investors worldwide. Last year, the two financed or backed about 70% of single-family mortgage loans. They hold about $5 trillion in their investment portfolios.

Most importantly: Both are losing money fast, with those losses being covered by the U.S. taxpayer. About a week ago, Freddie announced it had lost $8 billion in the first quarter of

2010 and would be asking for another $10.6 billion in taxpayer help. Not to be outdone, Fannie announced an $11.5 billion loss and asked for another $8.4 billion from taxpayers.

That’s atop the nearly $145 billion of your dollars that Fannie and Freddie have already received. And the total is sure to go higher: Last December, the Obama administration lifted caps on how much total bailout money the two can receive. The old limits were $200 billion each (though those estimates were widely understood as fiction). The new limits {hellip} well, there are no new limits.

Moreover, requirements that the two shrink their portfolios were watered down.

There seems to be no end in sight — the two firms’ own management admits that there is no prospect for ending the red ink in the foreseeable future.

The crisis should have come as no surprise. Experts have warned for decades that both entities lacked sufficient capital — made up of both investors’ money and retained earnings — to protect against losses. Back when they were privately owned, Fannie and Freddie had only $1 for every $20 in assets, while most banks had $1 in capital for every $12 in assets.

Congress considered higher standards in the 1990s, but many of the same congressional leaders who head their oversight

to Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), a plan to tame Fannie and Freddie will have to wait until at least next year. An effort by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), to amend the pending financial regulation bill to address the problem was defeated last week, replaced by a call for a “study” of the issue.

The issue has also been slowtracked by the Obama administration, which only recently opened a formal proceeding to examine options for the two firms. In fact, rather than resolving the pair, the administration is making them a key part of its economic arsenal, using them to prop up the housing markets. As support from TARP and by the Fed shrinks, Freddie and Fannie seem — at least in part — to be taking their place.

Fannie and Freddie haven’t been coy about their new role.

In a financial statement released last year, Fannie Mae was unusually blunt about what the administration was asking, and what the financial effects were: “Our financial results are likely to suffer, at least in the short committees today bowed to a done overnight. Realistically, term, as we expand our efforts h i g h - p o w e r e d l o b b y i n g this will take several years. But to assist the mortgage market, campaign that derailed reform. t h a t o n l y m a k e s i t m o r e thereby increasing the amount Enough is enough. Fannie and important that the process begin of funds that Treasury is required to provide to us and Freddie should be partly wound now. down, the rest broken up and Yet, reforming these two further limiting our ability to sold off — not replaced, g o v e r n m e n t - s p o n s o r e d r e t u r n t o l o n g - t e r m reformed, or rejuvenated. Such a enterprises isn’t a priority for p r o f i t a b i l i t y . ” process of course cannot be many policymakers. According DEAL page 51

Politics/

E-reader News Edition

DEAL

SESTAK vs. SPECTER Jesse Zwick (The New Republic - All Feed) Submitted at 5/17/2010 11:00:00 PM

Whether you like the old codger or not, Arlen Specter knows how to win elections. At least that’s what he and his surrogates have been telling Pennsylvania voters—over and over again—in his dead-heat senatorial primary race with Joe Sestak. “People recognize that I am the only guy who can beat” GOP challenger Pat Toomey, Specter told CNN on Sunday.

Sestak “can’t do it.” Meanwhile the state Democratic chairman, T.J. Rooney, has been drumming up similar visions of apocalypse, remarking to Politico that a Sestak primary win would be “cataclysmic” for Democrats’ chances to keep the seat blue in the fall.

Recent poll numbers don’t exactly bear this out—the May 13 Quinnipiac poll actually shows Sestak performing better than Specter in a matchup against Toomey, while Franklin & Marshall has both Democrats polling virtually the same. Still, it’s an argument that’s not entirely without merit. Specter’s got over 30 years of experience winning statewide elections in Pennsylvania, and he’s acquired

a cadre of deep-pocketed campaign donors in the process.

State-level officials on both sides of the political aisle generally know and respect the rascally senator, and he’s maintained the backing of Biden and Obama to boot.

More than the facts, however, it’s the perception that Arlen Specter is unbeatable that seems to be keeping his faltering campaign afloat. He constantly invokes his narrow win over Pat Toomey in a heated 2004 Republican primary as evidence that he’s got the guy’s number, and Democrats are buying it.

The same Quinnipiac survey that showed Sestak outpolling Specter in a fall matchup against Toomey also found that 54 percent of Democrats nonetheless figured Specter was more likely to beat Toomey, with only 29 percent placing their confidence in Sestak.

Specter, in other words, has been successful in convincing voters that he’s the practical choice. The only problem is it’s probably not true.

Signs that Specter isn’t a sure bet in November have been around for months, long before Sestak’s recent 20-point surge in the polls. First, there’s the matter of Specter’s favorability

51

continued from page 50

numbers, which have steadily declined since he switched parties last year. At the end of April 2009, 52 percent of Pennsylvania voters had a favorable impression of him, while 34 percent had an unfavorable one; now, he’s at 36 percent favorable and 50 percent unfavorable, according to Quinnipiac( other polls follow the same trend.) Indeed, Specter’s unfavorable ratings have hovered in the 45 percent range since last November—high negatives that reveal a dangerously low ceiling to his support.

That there are consistently fewer undecided voters in Specter’s hypothetical matchups with Toomey than in Sestak’s underscores the same point: that Pennsylvanians have already made up their minds about the 30-year incumbent—and that they’re not thrilled. Sestak, on the other hand, possesses a much less-defined public persona and therefore has room to grow, especially against Toomey, who coasted through the Republican primary, but who has some ultra right-wing views that could prove troublesome in the general.

Specter’s party flip has also left him without a natural political

base. Sestak’s devastating ad campaign linking Specter to George W. Bush has planted plenty of distrust among the left, while moderate Republicans have flocked to Toomey out of a sense of betrayal. “I would say the most honest candidate is Sestak,” one disgruntled Toomey supporter told me in Philadelphia. “The deceiver is Specter.” And what about independents—Specter’s fabled bread and butter? They put his unfavorable rating at 58 percent, according to Quinnipiac.

A lot can happen between a primary and a general election, but it seems increasingly unlikely the Specter will be able to redeem himself in the eyes of Pennsylvania voters. Add to that an anti-incumbent fervor sweeping the nation, and one thing is pretty much clear: no matter what he says, Arlen Specter is very far from a sure thing in November.

Jesse Zwick is a reporterresearcher for The New Republic.

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

This must stop. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have distorted housing markets enough. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be put on a path to resolution. And Congress should ensure that no successor institution be provided with the implicit guarantees that allowed these two to play havoc with financial markets.

Otherwise, we can look forward to many more bailouts in the future.

Co-authored by James Gattuso.

Cross-posted at USA Today.

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

52

Politics/

E-reader News Edition

Can U.S. Avoid Greek Disaster if Washington is Asleep at the Wheel?

Kathryn Nix (The Foundry: Conservative Policy News.)

Submitted at 5/17/2010 6:00:55 PM

Greece’s recent escapades in economic disaster are a sobering example to the United States of the consequences of allowing government spending to far exceed revenue. But though Americans’ concern regarding the financial outlook of the federal government grows, those with the power to act something seem largely unaffected.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently released a report that the United States’ debt could surpass 100 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as early as 2015.

According to the Hill, “The IMF predicts that the U.S. would need to reduce its structural deficit by the equivalent of 12% of GDP, a much larger portion than any other country analyzed except Japan. Greece, in the midst of a financial crisis, needs to reduce its structural deficit by just 9% of GDP, according to the IMF’s analysis.”

As depicted in Heritage’s 2010 Federal Budget Chart Book, the national debt is on its way to unprecedented and unsustainable new levels. The Congressional Budget Office predicts that the budget deficit in 2010 will be 10.3 percent of

GDP—the historical national average is 2.9 percent. The end of the recession will mean increased revenues and deficit reductions, but it is nevertheless on track to climb dramatically in future years.

These numbers prove that it’s time to get serious about government spending, and the recent case in Greece serves as the supporting evidence.

However, lawmakers didn’t seem to get the memo. Writes Robert Samuelson in the

considers them at all it, would be in a lame duck session, make this a weak approach at best to reversing the government’s deficit spending problem.

Moreover, the Commission will exclude interest payments from its considerations, real spending that rivals spending on government programs and will climb to$768.2 billion by 2020.

A serious proposal would not disregard this serious expenditure.

Writes Samuelson, “The message from Europe is that this ultimately fails. Intellectually elegant evasions are still evasions.” Samuelson claims both increases in taxes and decreases in spending are necessary to balance the budget–However, new taxes would have deleterious effects on the growth of the Washington Post, “The lack of find a way to balance the U.S. economy, likely without seriousness is defined by three budget. Instead, they have been e v e n p r o d u c i n g e x p e c t e d missing words: “balance the charged to “stabilize the debt-to- revenue s. Controlling deficits budget.”

GDP ratio at an acceptable should thus focus on reducing In fact, for the first time since level.” According to Samuelson, reckless spending. It’s time for 1 9 7 4 , t h e H o u s e o f this is “…the language of Washington to wake up and get Representatives failed to even “experts”, employed to deaden real about seeking solutions to create a budget this year, a bold debate and convince people that the nation’s pending fiscal and reckless move that throws “something is being done” when crisis. fiscal responsibility to the curb. little, or nothing, is being done.” Five Filters featured article: Instead, all expectations of T h e C o m m i s s i o n ’ s w e a k The Art of Looking Prime reversing the poor fiscal outlook objectives and the fact that its Ministerial - The 2010 UK have been placed with the proposals will carry little General Election. Available President’s Deficit Commission, weight, will be delivered after CAN page 53 which isn’t even expected to the election and if Congress

Politics/

E-reader News Edition

Iran’s “New Deal” on its Nuclear Stockpile: A Real Turkey

53

CAN continued from page 52

tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

James Phillips (The Foundry: Conservative Policy News.)

outcome.

Under these circumstances, the arrangement would only deflate the perceived Submitted at 5/17/2010 4:00:32 PM urgency of imposing sanctions Iran announced today that it on Iran while allowing Tehran had reached an agreement with to advance its nuclear weapons Turkey and Brazil to exchange program with impunity. As a some of its stockpile of low spokesman for the French enriched uranium for more Foreign Ministry warned: “Let highly enriched uranium that us not deceive ourselves, a can be used to fuel its research solution to the (fuel) question, if reactor in Tehran. Iranian it happens, would do nothing to President Mahmoud settle the problem posed by the Ahmadinejad announced the Iranian nuclear program.” The controversial deal in a three way Obama Administration must press conference with Turkish immediately reject the proposed Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan deal and denounce it as yet and Brazilian President Luiz sanctions on Iran. Tehran’s Iran has been trying to talk its another Iranian ploy to stall Inacio Lula da Silva in Tehran. latest ploy is entirely consistent way out of another round of e f f o r t s t o i m p o s e f u r t h e r Under the proposed deal, Iran with its past strategy for sanctions for several years now. sanctions, without addressing would send 1200 kilograms minimizing the international The problem is a lack of action the core problem of Iran’s drive (2,646 pounds) of low enriched reaction to its nuclear defiance: – Iran has failed to comply with for nuclear weapons. uranium to Turkey within a “ cheat, retreat, and delay.” By repeated U.N. Security Council Tags: Brazil, iran, Luiz Inacio m o n t h i n r e t u r n f o r 1 2 0 trumpeting a cosmetic deal that resolutions that require it to halt L u l a d a S i l v a , M a h m o u d k i l o g r a m s o f 2 0 p e r c e n t does not address the central uranium enrichment efforts and Ahmadinejad, nuclear weapons, enriched uranium that would be problem of Iran’s continued refute charges that it is using its Turkey, United Nations Security d e l i v e r e d w i t h i n a y e a r , uranium enrichment, Tehran civilian nuclear program as a Council ostensibly to fuel a medical hopes to block another round of smokescreen to build a nuclear You can follow any responses sanctions by strengthening the weapon. research reactor. to this entry through the RSS 2.0 This last-minute deal does not cynical argument, made by While it lauds the deal as a feed. s a t i s f y t h e l o n g s t a n d i n g Russia and China, that imposing “breakthrough,” Iran’s defiant Five Filters featured article: demands of the U.N. Security sanctions now will obstruct regime insists that it will The Art of Looking Prime continue to enrich uranium to Ministerial - The 2010 UK Council for Iran to halt its diplomatic “progress.” uranium enrichment activities, Before traveling to Iran, the 20 percent level, despite the General Election. Available but would help Tehran by Brazilian President da Silva said fact that it does not have the tools: PDF Newspaper, Full throwing a monkey wrench into that the problem was that capabilities to transform that Text RSS, Term Extraction.

U.S. and European diplomatic “People aren’t talking. I’m uranium into fuel rods for its efforts to impose another round going there to talk.” But the own reactor. o f U . N . S e c u r i t y C o u n c i l real problem is not lack of talk. This is not an acceptable

Obama's Aunt Granted Asylum (Newsmax - Inside Cover) Submitted at 5/18/2010 2:42:52 AM

A U.S. immigration court has granted asylum to President Obama's African aunt, allowing her to stay in the country, her attorneys announced Monday.

The decision was mailed Friday and comes three months after Kenya native Zeituni Onyango, the half-sister of Mr. Obama's late father, testified at a closed hearing in Boston, where she arrived in a wheelchair and two doctors testified in support of her case.

The basis for her asylum request hadn't been made public.

People who seek asylum must show that they face persecution in their homeland on the basis of religion, race, nationality, political opinion or membership in a social group.

Her attorney, Margaret Wong of Cleveland, said last year that Ms. Onyango first applied for OBAMA'S page 54

54

Politics/ TV/

E-reader News Edition

Kagan Courts Potential GOP Ally During Hill Visits (Newsmax - Inside Cover)

legislation, which was struck down by the Supreme Court.

Graham voted "pass" last year Supreme Court nominee Elena when the Judiciary Committee K a g a n o n c e c l a s h e d w i t h approved Kagan's nomination to R e p u b l i c a n S e n . L i n d s e y be solicitor general, then missed Graham over the treatment of her final confirmation vote. But terrorism detainees. he hinted last week that he Now she's looking for his might be persuaded to vote support in her drive to win "yes" on making her a justice. c o n f i r m a t i o n a s P r e s i d e n t "I have been generally pleased Barack Obama's choice to with her job performance as replace retiring Justice John solicitor general, particularly Paul Stevens. regarding legal issues related to Kagan is returning to Capitol the war on terror," Graham said Hill on Tuesday to resume in a statement, adding he would courtesy calls with senators, be "fair and firm" in questioning including Graham, a potential her.

GOP ally despite their past Graham has shown a differences. willingness to buck his party on The South Carolinian was the big issues. He broke with most architect in 2005 of a measure Republicans last year to back that strictly limited the rights of Obama's first Supreme Court G u a n t a n a m o p r i s o n e r s t o pick, Justice Sonia Sotomayor. challenge their detentions. Kagan, who stepped aside Kagan, then the dean of Harvard Monday from her post as the Law School, signed a strongly government's top lawyer, has so w o r d e d l e t t e r w i t h o t h e r far met with more than a dozen academics criticizing the senators — most of the Submitted at 5/18/2010 3:17:00 AM

members of the Judiciary panel that will hold her confirmation hearings. Democrats have more than enough votes to confirm her, and Republicans, seven of whom voted to make her solicitor general, say for now they're not inclined to try to block a vote.

Kagan's meeting schedule Tuesday also includes a strong critic, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, as well as two Democrats who are backers, Sens. Al Franken of Minnesota and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island. © Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

OBAMA'S continued from page 53

asylum "due to violence in Kenya." The East African nation is fractured by cycles of electoral violence every five years.

In a November interview with the Associated Press, Ms. Onyango said she was disabled and was learning to walk again after being paralyzed from Guillain-Barre syndrome, an autoimmune disorder.

Ms. Onyango moved to the United States in 2000. Her first asylum request was rejected, and she was ordered deported in 2004. But she didn't leave the country and continued to live in public housing in Boston.

Ms. Onyango's status as an illegal immigrant was revealed just days before Mr. Obama was elected in November 2008. Mr. Obama said he did not know his aunt was living here illegally and believes laws covering the situation should be followed.

A judge later agreed to suspend her deportation order and reopen her asylum case.

Ms. Wong has said that Mr.

Obama wasn't involved in the Boston hearing. The White House also said it was not helping Ms. Onyango with legal fees.

In his memoir, "Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance," Mr. Obama affectionately referred to Ms. Onyango as "Auntie Zeituni" and described meeting her during his 1988 trip to Kenya.

Ms. Onyango helped care for the president's half brothers and sister while living with Barack Obama Sr. in Kenya. © Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Aviana is the first child for Adams, 35, and her fiancé, actor Darren Legallo. The two met in an acting class in 2001 and got engaged seven years later.

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime

Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Amy Adams Welcomes a Daughter (TVGuide.com: Breaking News) Submitted at 5/18/2010 8:36:00 AM

Amy Adams, Darren LeGallo It's a girl for Amy Adams.

The two-time Oscar nominee

gave birth to daughter Aviana Olea on Saturday in Los Angeles.

Amy Adams pregnant with first child "Mom and baby are home and "Everyone's healthy and happy." doing great," her rep said.

TV/

E-reader News Edition

55

Fall 2010 TV Scorecard: Which Shows Are Returning? Which Aren't?

(TVGuide.com: Breaking News)

Friday Night Lights(NBC) Fringe(Fox) Glee(Fox) Submitted at 5/18/2010 9:11:00 AM Gossip Girl(CW) Zachary Levi and Elizabeth The Good Wife(CBS) Mitchell Grey's Anatomy(ABC) It's that time of year, folks: pilot How I Met Your Mother(CBS) season! To make way for the Human Target(Fox) new shows, the networks have Law & Order: SVU(NBC) s t a r t e d t o t r i m t h e f a t , Lie to Me(Fox) announcing cancellations and The Middle(ABC) reduced episode orders left and Modern Family(ABC) right. Have your favorites made NCIS: Los Angeles(CBS) the cut? See the list below and The Office(NBC) check back often for the latest Parenthood(NBC) renewal/cancellation news: Parks and Recreation(NBC) RENEWED Private Practice(ABC) 30 Rock(NBC) The Simpsons(Fox) 90210(CW) Smallville(CW) The Amazing Race(CBS) Supernatural(CW) American Dad(Fox) Survivor(CBS) A m e r i c a ' s N e x t T o p Two and a Half Men(CBS) Model(CW) V(ABC) The Big Bang Theory(CBS) The Vampire Diaries(CW) Bones(Fox) LOOKING GOOD Brothers & Sisters(ABC) Accidentally on Purpose(CBS) Castle(ABC) American Idol(Fox) Chuck(NBC) The Bachelor(ABC) The Cleveland Show(Fox) The Biggest Loser(NBC) Community(NBC) Celebrity Apprentice(NBC) Cougar Town(ABC) Criminal Minds(CBS) Desperate Housewives(ABC) CSI: Crime Scene Family Guy(Fox) Investigation(CBS)

CSI: Miami(CBS) CSI: NY(CBS) Dancing with the Stars(ABC) Gary Unmarried(CBS) Ghost Whisperer(CBS) House(Fox) Medium(CBS) The Mentalist(CBS) NCIS(CBS) New Adventures of Old Christine(CBS) One Tree Hill(CW) Rules of Engagement(CBS) NOT LOOKING SO GOOD Cold Case(CBS) The Deep End(ABC)

The Forgotten(ABC) Life Unexpected(CW) Melrose Place(CW) Miami Medical(CBS) Numb3rs(CBS) CANCELED/ENDING 24(Fox) The Beautiful Life: TBL(CW) Better Off Ted(ABC) Brothers(Fox) Dollhouse(Fox) Eastwick(ABC) FlashForward(ABC) Hank(ABC) Heroes(NBC) Law & Order(NBC)

Lost(ABC) Mercy(NBC) Past Life(Fox) R o m a n t i c a l l y C h a l l e n g e d ( A B C ) Scrubs(ABC) Sons of Tucson(Fox) Three Rivers(CBS) 'Til Death(Fox) Trauma(NBC) Ugly Betty(ABC) PILOTS PICKED UP Body of Proof(ABC) The Cape(NBC) Chase(NBC) The Event(NBC) Friends with Benefits(NBC) Love Bites(NBC) No Ordinary Family(ABC) Off the Map(ABC) Outlaw(NBC) Outsourced(NBC) Perfect Couples(NBC) Undercovers(NBC) Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

56

TV/ Food/

E-reader News Edition

Charlie Sheen Returning to Two and Matt Nix's 'The Good Guys' Rocks Cop Dramas, a Half Men (TVGuide.com: Breaking News) Submitted at 5/18/2010 8:34:00 AM

Charlie Sheen Charlie Sheen will return to Two and a Half Men for two more seasons.

"To put a fitting end on the two and one-half months of whirlwind speculation, I'm looking forward to returning to my CBS home on Monday nights," Sheen said in a statement. "I want to thank [CBS President and CEO] Les Moonves for his support."

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Calls to CBS and Warner Bros. were not immediately returned, but CBS will unveil its fall lineup Wednesday.

Charlie Sheen: If I leave Two and a Half Men, "so be it" The actor's future with the hit sitcom — which was already renewed for two more years —

was uncertain after he publicly stated last month that he was ready to walk away should contract negotiations fall through. Sheen earned $825,000 per episode last season and was ranked the highest-paid actor on TV. He denied reports that he was demanding a bigger paycheck as a last-minute

negotiating tactic, saying that he submitted his terms for Season 8 last June.

Two and a Half Men's production order cut by two episodes The deal caps a tumultuous season for Sheen, who faces domestic violence charges stemming from a Christmas Day fight with wife Brooke Mueller.

He has pleaded not guilty and is due back in court July 21.

Production on Men halted for three weeks in February when Sheen entered rehab as a "preventative measure." He returned to work March 16, and the show's production order was later reduced by two episodes.

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Dallas and 'Staches Danny Gallagher (TV Squad) Submitted at 5/18/2010 5:08:00 AM

Filed under: Features, TV Previews Cop shows have been in serious need of a humor transfusion. Ever since the hard nosed days of'Dragnet" in which Joe Friday would lecture young punks on the dangers of drug use, grand theft and bad grammar, cop shows have always had a hard time finding the funny in the lives of the boys and girls in blue. Although,'Cop Rock' made me laugh harder than most of the sitcoms of the '80s, but I'm sure that wasn't intentional.

It's easier said than done. Police work is dirty business and mining it for humor is like trying to find hay in a needle stack. It's possible but you still have to dig through loads of misery and suffering that comes with every shield for that one lone nugget of comedy hidden

in the pain pile.

'Burn Notice' creator Matt Nix has found it.'The Good Guys,' premiering Wednesday on Fox, offers a fresh take on the buddy cop comedy that does for police shows what Thomas Magnum did for bushy mustaches: made them hilariously cool.

Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments

Quick Vegetarian Dinners (Cooking Light: Editor's Picks)

Time: 30 minutes Simple Sub: In place of chipotle chile powder, you can use ½ teaspoon regular chili powder plus 18 teaspoon ground

red pepper.

Serve with Guacamole and Chips: Place 1 ripe peeled avocado in a bowl; mash with a fork. Add 1 tablespoon minced -onion, 1 tablespoon chopped f r e s h c i l a n t r o ,

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice, ½ Burritos teaspoon salt, 1 minced garlic clove, and ½ jalapeño pepper, • Watch Video Demo seeded and minced. Stir until well blended. Serve with baked Next Eggplant and Goat Cheese tortilla chips.

Sandwiches View Recipe: Chipotle Bean Five Filters featured article:

The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

TV/ Products/

E-reader News Edition

2010 Upfronts: ABC Mike Moody (TV Squad) Submitted at 5/18/2010 4:28:00 AM

Filed under: TV News ABC has announced its new fall schedule ahead of its upfront presentation later to day in New York City.

The network has picked up five new dramas including 'No Ordinary Family,' 'Detroit 187,' 'The Whole Truth,' 'Body of Proof' and 'My Generation.'

The new comedy 'Better Together' has also made the schedule as well as the reality game show 'My Secret Millionaire,' which previously ran on Fox. All in all, it looks like ABC has greenlighted 10 new shows for next fall, including comedies 'Mr. Sunshine' and 'Happy Endings' and drama 'Off the Map' for mid -season

57

Q&A: Can I use glucosamine by itself—without chondroitin? rss@consumerreports.org (Consumer Reports) Submitted at 5/18/2010 6:55:13 AM

Q&A: Can I use glucosamine by itself—without chondroitin?

Can I buy glucosamine by itself—that is, when it’s not combined with chondroitin? — L.S., Larchwood, Iowa Network staples like 'Grey's courtesy of The Live Feed, Yes, but you should look for Anatomy,' 'Castle,' 'Desperate below and head back to TV products that contain Housewives,' and the mega hit Squad after 4 PM ET today for glucosamine sulfate, which has 'Dancing With the Stars' are all m o r e c o v e r a g e o f A B C ' s better supporting evidence than coming back, and, of course, u p f r o n t s . other forms, including ABC has renewed all of its Permalink| Email this| Linking glucosamine hydrochloride and c u r r e n t W e d n e s d a y n i g h t Blogs| Comments Nacetylglucosamine. Some comedy lineup, led by the hit clinical trials have found that 'Modern Family.' people with osteoarthritis who Check out the new schedule,

take glucosamine sulfate have slightly less joint pain and better function than those taking a placebo, though other trials have shown no benefit.

Glucosamine may not be safe for people taking blood thinners.

Read more on managing arthritis with natural remedies, and learn about the safety and effectiveness of glucosamine sulfate(subscribers only).

Subscribe now!

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

'Lost' Weekend Fan Party: Cast & Crew Help Raise Funds for Charity Jo Garfein (TV Squad)

of the cast and crew attended, and helped to raise almost $5,000 for the charity!

Filed under: Features Over the Charity Auction weekend in Los Angeles,'Lost' Items ranging from hats to fans from around the world action figures to messenger bags gathered for an event called Lost were donated the to auction by Weekend to celebrate the final ABC, J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot s e a s o n o f t h e s e r i e s a n d production company and various p a r t i c i p a t e i n a n a u c t i o n actors and crew. Also up for Emerson, Matthew Fox, Jorge b e n e f i t i n g t h e C h i l d r e n ' s bidding were autographed T- Garcia, Yunjin Kim, Evangeline Defense Fund. Several members shirts by'Lost' stars Michael Submitted at 5/18/2010 4:00:00 AM

Lilly and Terry O'Quinn, as well as a few copies of the pending 'Lost Encyclopedia,' which will be released in August. Authors Tara Bennett and Paul Terry were in attendance and sweetened the pot by having the books autographed by some of the'Lost' cast.

Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments

Greg Grunberg Promoted 'Love Filed under: TVto News GREG page 58Fresh off of NBC's recently Submitted Chris c a n c eHarnick late 5/18/2010 d ' H e(TV r o4:45:00 eSquad) s , ' AM G r e g Grunberg is joining the cast of

58

TV/ Sports/

E-reader News Edition

Chris Daughtry, Wife Expecting Twins (TVGuide.com: Breaking News) Submitted at 5/18/2010 8:40:00 AM

Chris and Deanna Daughtry Chris Daughtry and his wife, Deanna, are expecting twins via a surrogate.

"Deanna and I are overjoyed about this double blessing," the American Idol alum announced on his band's website. "Thank you for your expressions of love and support and for respecting ... our privacy during this special time."

Watch videos of Chris Daughtry The babies, who are due in November, were conceived via in vitro fertilization due to Deanna's partial hysterectomy and were transferred to a gestational surrogate.

Daughtry, 30, and Deanna are already parents to Hannah, 13,

GREG continued from page 57

TV Guide has confirmed.

Grunberg appears in the pilot of NBC's love anthology series from 'Sex and the City' writer Cindy Chupack as a married man who has a steamy in-flight encounter with guest star Jennifer Love Hewitt, who plays herself.

Meanwhile, fans hoping for some resolution to 'Heroes' and its sweeping mythology are not out of luck. NBC has made it know it wants to wrap up the series in some manner. Check out the full report here.

'Love Bites' also stars Becki Newton from 'Ugly Betty' and Jordana Spiro of 'My Boys' fame. The series follows several different stories of love and romance. 'Love Bites' will air Thursday nights at 10PM, beginning this fall.

Check out the trailer ...

Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments

Boston's Run Prevention Plan in Tatters

and Griffin, 11.

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Dan Graziano (FanHouse Ministerial - The 2010 UK Main) General Election. Available Submitted at 5/17/2010 11:36:00 PM tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. Filed under: Red Sox, Yankees, AL East NEW YORK -- The 2010 plan for the Boston Red Sox, they told us, was run prevention. They might not hit the way they'd hit in their championship glory years, but they'd shored up their pitching and defense enough to overcome that. John Lackey for

the starting rotation. Mike Cameron and Adrian Beltre for the defense. The Yankees and Rays can score runs, but the Red

Sox were going to go a different direction. They were going to keep runs off the board.

Well, after Monday night's excruciating 11-9 loss to the Yankees-- a game in which starting pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka gave up five runs in the first inning and closer Jonathan Papelbon gave up four in the ninth -- it's time for Plan B.

Products/

E-reader News Edition

Daily electronics deals Paul Eng (Consumer Reports)

Lighting Remote Controller 300 w/ Omnilink $89.99 Free Shipping Daily electronics deals • Dell Home: Sony Cyber-Shot Today's electronics deals, DSCS2100 12MP 3X Digital courtesy of The Consumerist: Camera $69 Free Shipping • Amazon: Creative Vado HD • Sony Style: Vanns Jamo Camcorder (new 3rd gen) + Speaker Sale (Jamo SUB 550 FREE battery & charger $179 + 10in 500W Subwoofer $199.88, free shipping MORE) • Buy.com: Motorola Motonav TN20 3.5-inch GPS w/ Text-to- Entertainment Speech $87.72 + free shipping • Amazon: MLB 2K10 $19.99 • Electronics-Expo: Sony STR- • Target: Nintendo DS Lite w/ D H 8 0 0 7 . 1 - C h a n n e l A / V Starter Kit Bundle - Crimson Receiver $195 + free shipping R e d f o r $ 1 3 4 . 9 9 w / F r e e • Adorama: LG 50" Plasma S h i p p i n g 720p HDTV for $699.99 w/ • Game Stop: Super Street Free Shipping Fighter IV Xbox 360 or PS3 + • Epson: Epson Stylus All-in- $10 Video Game Credit for One Printer (Refurbished) for $25.49 [w/ Coupon 2D15] w/ $35 w/ Free Shipping Free Shipping • Dell: Kodak 10MP 10X Optical Zoom Digital Camera Neither Consumer Reports nor for $99.99 [w/ Coupon The Consumerist receive PD4LK$JNN7WVCC] w/ Free a n y t h i n g i n e x c h a n g e f o r Shipping featuring these deals; the posts • Adorama: Monster MCC are intended to be purely AVL300-S Home Theater & informational. These deals are Submitted at 5/18/2010 6:20:56 AM

often fleeting, with prices changing or products becoming unavailable as the day progresses.

These posts are not an endorsement of the featured products or the Web sites that sell them—though some of the sites may be included, and recommended, in our Ratings of retailers for computers and other major electronics(both available to subscribers). Price shouldn't be your only criterion. Be wary of lower-priced deals that seem too good to be true, and check return policies for restocking fees and other gotchas.

For general buying advice for many of the products on sale above, check out our free Buying Guides. Subscribe now!

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

59

Children and technology health news roundup Artemis Dibenedetto (Consumer Reports) Submitted at 5/18/2010 1:59:59 AM

Children and technology health news roundup Toddlers and too much TV A new study suggests that each additional hour of TV a toddler watches per week, the more difficulty he or she may have with math, bullying, and overall engagement in the classroom at age 10. The study also found that watching more TV at an early age may engender habits that lead to a less active lifestyle and poorer diet. (See Prospective Associations Between Early Childhood Television Exposure and Academic, Psychosocial, and Physical Well-being by Middle Childhood.) The AAP advises that children under age 2 watch no television. Learn more in the full Health blog post.

Personal music players, ear buds, and youth hearing loss "The use of personal music players has grown faster than our ability to assess their potential health consequences," says Dr. Peter Rabinowitz with Yale University, who expressed serious concern about potential hearing loss from these devices

in a recent editorial. Surveys in the United States and Europe show that more than 90 percent of young people now use these devices, and many listen at maximum volume for several hours a day. Earphones that insert into the ear canal further amplify the sound, which can e x c e e d 1 2 0 decibels—comparable to the noise of a jet engine. Learn more in the full Health blog post.

Related: • Discover the power of play (instead of watching TV or DVDs)• Got a new TV? Be careful where you put the old one• Protecting children from hearing loss: Drew Brees sets a good example• To protect your kids’ ears, tone down the volume

Subscribe now!

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

60

Products/ Sports/

E-reader News Edition

Tip of the Day: Cut cooling costs with ceiling fans Consumer Reports Shopping Blog (Consumer Reports)

• Run the ceiling fan only when you're in the room. The breeze will make you feel cooler but Submitted at 5/17/2010 9:00:59 PM won't lower the temperature of Tip of the Day: Cut cooling the room. costs with ceiling fans Become a • Set the fan so that the blades fan of ceiling fans to save some rotate in the correct direction for money. cooling. Most ceiling fans have Since they use only 75 watts on a switch to set the direction. average, according to the GE You want to feel the air blowing Home Appliance Energy Use quiet, but you might want to downward for cooling. tool, ceiling fans can help you consider models as low as 1.0 or Essential information: Tune up keep cool this summer without 0.5 sones for use in your your window air conditioner(s) boosting your utility bills. Even bedroom, family room/TV or central-air system for best b e t t e r , b y t u r n i n g u p t h e room, or other spot where quiet performance. Visit out Energy t h e r m o s t a t o n y o u r a i r operation is key. Fans with Saving & Green Living guide conditioner a few degrees and blades that have ridges, bumps, for more advice on lowering letting the ceiling fan carry more or other surface texture tend to energy costs this summer and of the load, you can cut your be noisier on high than models join in the discussions in our air with smooth blades. cooling costs. c o n d i t i o n e r / a i r • When shopping for a fan, • If you're buying a model with purifier/dehumidifier forum. choose the right size and style lights, choose an Energy Star- Subscribe now! for your application. Consider qualified unit that uses compact S u b s c r i b e t o buying the largest fan that works fluorescent lightbulbs designed ConsumerReports.org for expert in the space, since you'll be able for use in a ceiling fan, not Ratings, buying advice and to run it on lower speeds, halogen bulbs, which can double reliability on hundreds of minimizing noise. Check the or triple energy use. If your fan products. Update your feed noise level of each model you're has incandescent bulbs, replace preferences them with CFLs designed for considering.

A noise rating of 1.5 sones is use in a ceiling fan.

Beginning of the End for Suns?

Sam Amick (FanHouse Main)

than most and was offering statistically-based assistance to the savvy veteran who was now Filed under: Lakers, Suns, NBA charged with that assignment.

Playoffs Forty Bryant points and one LOS ANGELES -- Before steamrolling Lakers win later G a m e 1 o f t h e W e s t e r n (128-107), it was clear the Conference finals, Houston message didn't get through. small forward Shane Battier sent "I didn't seek it; he just sent it," Phoenix small forward Grant Hill said of the correspondence.

Hill a series of lengthy text "[But] I'm not good with messages. numbers. I couldn't even They were, in essence, a digital u n d e r s t a n d i t . " CliffsNotes version of how to Hill and the Suns couldn't guard Kobe Bryant from Battier. figure out the Lakers, either.

Houston's heady player has slowed the Lakers star more Submitted at 5/18/2010 2:45:00 AM

Sports/

E-reader News Edition

61

Source: Chicago Bulls not discussing LeBron James-John Calipari package deal Andy Katz (ESPN.com) Submitted at 5/17/2010 11:41:19 PM

A source with direct knowledge of the Chicago Bulls front office's plans says the team believes it has the right players in place -- namely, Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah and Luol Deng-- to surround LeBron James when it makes its case with the free agent-to-be on July 1.

But the source said there has been no discussion of bringing Kentucky coach John Calipari in with James as part of a package deal.

The Chicago Tribune reported Monday that according to league sources, basketball power broker William Wesley -a friend of both James and Calipari -- has been quietly contacting NBA teams that have coaching vacancies and salarycap space about the possibility of bringing in James and Calipari together.

Mike & Mike in the Morning ESPN NBA insider Chris Broussard talks about Mike Woodson being fired in Atlanta and Mike Brown being on thin ice in Cleveland. Broussard also says he doesn't think LeBron James and John Calipari will be a package deal.

But the source with knowledge of the Bulls front office's

thinking insisted that the team hasn't been approached about packaging Calipari to get James to come to Chicago. The source also said that bringing Calipari along to get James would lessen Calipari's status in the locker room, because of the perception that he was James' handpicked coach.

Another league source told the Tribune that another person, described as an "unknown Calipari connection," contacted the Bulls over the weekend.

However, ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard reported Monday on "SportsCenter" that according to his sources, James is not demanding Calipari coach him on whichever team he plays for next season. And a source close to Wesley told ESPN.com that Wesley had not contacted the Bulls or any other team about a James/Calipari package deal.

A source with knowledge of the Los Angeles Clippers' thinking denied there had been any contact with Wesley or any other inquiries about Calipari.

The source called the report linking Wesley to the Clippers "inaccurate." Another Western Conference front-office executive questioned the validity of the story, telling ESPNLosAngeles.com via text message, "Nobody's buying

that."

Calipari has publicly stated that he is coaching at Kentucky next season.

NBA teams cannot formally contact free agents until the league signing period starts at 12:01 a.m. ET on July 1.

James and Calipari have become friends through their mutual friendship with Wesley, who is considered one of the most powerful men in basketball. Wesley is part of the "family" that James referred to repeatedly in his postgame comments after the Celtics knocked James' Cleveland Cavaliers out of the playoffs.

Wesley was also reportedly involved in steering Rose and Tyreke Evans to Memphis when Calipari was coaching there.

Calipari, who completed his first season at Kentucky this year, said Friday on his Twitter feed that he will remain in Lexington to coach the Wildcats in 2010-11.

"I've said many times that I've got the best job in the country.

Still the speculation runs wild and I can't stop that. I want to address this with the Big Blue Nation one last time, I will be coaching at Kentucky next year.

Now let's finish what we started!" Calipari said Friday on Twitter.

Calipari has one NBA stop on

his coaching rĂŠsumĂŠ, with the Nets from 1996 to '99, making the playoffs in 1997-98. He coached two full seasons and was fired 20 games into the 1998-99 season, finishing with a 72-112 record in 184 games.

But a source close to Wesley said it was "insulting" to assume that Calipari could get an NBA coaching job only with James' help. The source also said that it would take between $5 million and $6 million to pry Calipari from Kentucky, where he earns $3.5 million.

Multiple sources close to Calipari have also recently said it would take at least $5 million a year to bring him back to the NBA. On Monday in response to the report, Calipari said on Twitter: "Now, do I have to respond to these rumors too?"

James, meanwhile, has declined to address whether he will return to the Cavs or sign with another team, as speculation about his future mounts. The Bulls, Nets, Clippers and New York Knicks are all among teams expected to make a full-court press for James, the NBA's two-time defending MVP. The Daily Herald of Arlington Heights, Ill., reported Sunday that according to league sources, James has contacted Rose to express interest in playing with

him.

Fans in Chicago appear confident that James will choose the Bulls. In the first 24 hours after the Celtics eliminated the Cavaliers from the NBA playoffs on Thursday, the Bulls sold more than 500 new fullseason tickets and a team official estimated call volume at about 50 times the normal level, according to the Tribune.

But the source close to Wesley said James has not made a decision and that leaving Ohio won't be easy.

"He has a $30 million compound there and with all his friends and family there that aren't going to just leave for another city, it's not easy to just leave," the source said, pointing out that James has spent his entire life in the AkronCleveland area.

The source said that anyone who says what James is going to do is "lying, because he doesn't know now."

Cleveland's second-most popular athlete made his pitch to James.

Browns Pro Bowl return specialist Josh Cribbs, whose connection with Cleveland fans helped get him a new contract, said Monday night that he would hate to see James bolt as SOURCE: page 63

62

Sports/

E-reader News Edition

Despite knee, Kobe erupts as Lakers work Suns Associated Press (ESPN.com)

opened the series with ruthless offensive efficiency in a 128107 victory on Monday night.

Submitted at 5/18/2010 1:51:07 AM "Just being aggressive, playing LOS ANGELES -- Kobe my game," Bryant said. "Got Bryant dribbled toward the shots, took them. Got lanes to Lakers' bench, luring Channing the basket, took them."

Frye and Jason Richardson Pau Gasol had 21 points for the along with him. Bryant leaned top-seeded Lakers, who won back and launched a feather-soft their seventh straight playoff jumper over Phoenix's double game and snapped the Suns' sixteam, neatly beating the first- game streak with a phenomenal quarter buzzer. second half, highlighted by That's about when the Suns Bryant's 21-point third quarter. should have noted the bright He barely stepped on the Lakers' yellow brace on Bryant's right practice court during the past knee is the color of a caution week to rest his ailing knee, sign. ankle, finger and back -- all More from ESPN.com minor impediments to a major Kobe Bryant turned this into his talent. game -- and put his name at the "I practice so much during the top of the playoff storylines, season," Bryant said. "In the writes J.A. Adande. Daily Dime offseason, I work a lot. To take The Suns slinked away from a week off, I'm not going to lose G a m e 1 o f t h e W e s t e r n all the work I put in prior to Conference finals with as many that." worries as 48 minutes can Game In A Quarter generate, writes Marc Stein. Game 1 was decided in the Story third quarter as Kobe Bryant • McMenamin: Odom's effort nearly matched the entire Suns key team point-for-point. • TrueHoop: Lopez is back The defending NBA champions Even with a balky knee and a beat the third-seeded Suns at litany of additional woes, Bryant their own uptempo game when s t i l l i s a m o n g t h e m o s t necessary, fluidly running the dangerous postseason scorers in court to set up baskets for NBA history -- and he had no Bryant in his sixth straight 30problem giving Los Angeles an point game. Bryant then rested early leg up in the Western for most of the fourth quarter in Conference finals. the 11th 40-point game of his Bryant scored 40 points, Lamar playoff career.

Odom added 19 points and 19 "They played great, one of the r e b o u n d s , a n d t h e L a k e r s best games I've seen them play

in the playoffs this season," Suns coach Alvin Gentry said.

"Kobe kind of controlled the whole game. I thought we could have withstood the game that he had ... but when he's making his jumper like that, there's not a whole lot you can do about it."

Game 2 is Wednesday night at Staples Center.

Amare Stoudemire scored 23 points and Steve Nash had 13 points and 13 assists for the Suns, who hadn't lost since April 24. Robin Lopez started at center and scored 14 points in his playoff debut, but Phoenix couldn't keep up with the champs' height and 58-percent shooting in the Suns' first conference finals appearance since 2006.

2010 NBA Playoffs The 2010 NBA playoffs have begun. Keep track of your favorite team here: Playoff index Los Angeles committed just nine turnovers in Game 1 -- its third straight single-digit turnover game -- while outrebounding the smaller Suns 42-34.

"They're probably going to continue to be taller than us as the series goes on, so we've got to ... make everything as tough as possible," said Nash, whose injured eye didn't bother him.

"We played hard, but we didn't make enough shots, and we had a few too many breakdowns."

Both teams swept their second-

round series to earn their third postseason date in five years, but the Lakers didn't allow a week off to affect their remarkable execution. They scored easily and often, even with center Andrew Bynum managing just four points while playing shakily on his own sore knee.

After a 62-point first half for the Lakers, Bryant alternated jumpers and strong drives while Los Angeles pulled away, making a 13-2 run in the third quarter. His 13-for-23 shooting performance included three 3pointers and 11 free throws with just one miss.

"Kobe carried a lot of the offense tonight, no doubt," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said.

"I will say he was going to shoulder the game. He was going to take it on. He's been very optimistic through the whole week. He felt like he had the amount of rest and shooting he had to have. He was attentive and involved [in practice]."

The Suns sent Bryant, Odom and the Lakers home for the summer in 2006 and 2007, and Los Angeles' veterans acknowledged a measure of revenge in their minds -- as long as they're healthy enough to do it.

Jackson revealed before the game that Bryant's right knee was drained "a while ago," moving it to the top of the injury list for last season's NBA finals

MVP. But Bryant showed no ill effects, and he even bounced back up after hitting his head on Richardson's knee during a drive in the first quarter.

"He's the best scorer in the league," said Odom, who set a career playoff high for rebounds in his most assertive game of the current postseason. "Drives, fadeaways with his back to the basket, inside-outside, with his left hand. Time off is exactly what he needed."

Game notes Bryant last scored 40 points in the postseason during the opener of last year's NBA finals against Orlando. ... Lakers G Sasha Vujacic appeared in his first game of the postseason after missing the first two rounds with a sprained ankle. ... Bryant and Grant Hill got technical fouls for arguing with officials 57 seconds apart in the third quarter. ... Larry David watched the game from the same eightseat courtside section where his fictional alter ego infamously tripped Shaquille O'Neal during a first-season episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm."

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Sports/

E-reader News Edition

Pittsburgh Steelers to resume OTAs minus Ben Roethlisberger

63

SOURCE: continued from page 61

a free agent.

Cribb says Cleveland "wouldn't be the same" without James.

ESPN.com news services 1-3 and June 8-10. a big supporter of the charity. conduct policy who has not been "He's the king here. LeBron (ESPN.com) There was a Roethlisberger "Ben lost his mother early in his arrested or charged with a James is king, being in this city sighting on Monday, however, life, and he has been a main crime. Goodell said the league's and growing up in the Cleveland Submitted at 5/18/2010 8:42:48 AM as the quarterback played in the contributor," Ward told WTAE. conduct policy gave him the area. If he goes anywhere else, The Pittsburgh Steelers are set Hoge Starks Ward Celebrity Ward said the golf event was a right to impose discipline he'll just be a phenomenal, to resume voluntary organized Golf Classic for Children. g o o d f i r s t s t e p f o r r e g a r d l e s s o f w h e t h e r extraordinary athlete. team activities on Tuesday and The charity event benefits the R o e t h l i s b e r g e r .

Roethlisberger broke the law. "But he will not be the king in they likely will do so without Highmark Caring Place, which "Now, it's working on how to The suspension can be reduced any other city but Cleveland."

Andy Katz covers college Ben Roethlisberger, who is still benefits grieving children. Since get things back on the right to four games if Roethlisberger not cleared by the NFL after his 1994, the event has raised track. Having him out here c o m p l e t e s a n e v a l u a t i o n b a s k e t b a l l f o r E S P N . c o m . mandated behavioral evaluation. almost $2 million for the [Monday] -- I'm glad to have mandated by the league, any Information from Ramona Roethlisberger has reportedly charity. him here. His suspension is action that is mandated by that S h e l b u r n e a n d D a v e o f completed his evaluation and "Ben has always been here, what it is. Life isn't over for evaluation and he remains out of M c M e n a m i n the Steelers are still waiting for always supported us," former him. He has to go on," Ward trouble. He can practice during ESPNLosAngeles.com and The word when the quarterback will Steelers running back and told WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh. training camp and play in Associated Press was used in b e c l e a r e d b y N F L current ESPN NFL analyst O n A p r i l 2 1 , G o o d e l l preseason games, but cannot this report. commissioner Roger Goodell to Merril Hoge told WTAE-TV in suspended the two-time Super return to game action until at Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime resume workouts.

Pittsburgh. "I think, in visiting Bowl winner for the first six least Oct. 17.

AFC North blog with him in the last week or games of the season and also I n f o r m a t i o n f r o m T h e Ministerial - The 2010 UK ESPN.com's James Walker two, I see a different energy ordered him to undergo a Associated Press was used in General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full writes about all things AFC about Ben. It is kind of a behavioral evaluation following this report.

North in his division blog. platform for him to, you know, a March incident in which a 20- Five Filters featured article: Text RSS, Term Extraction. • Blog network: NFL Nation reconcile with the fans and show year-old college student accused The Art of Looking Prime Besides the voluntary practices them he has changed and he h i m o f s e x u a l a s s a u l t i n Ministerial - The 2010 UK scheduled to begin Tuesday and wants to be not just a better Milledgeville, Ga. The case will General Election. Available c o n c l u d i n g T h u r s d a y , t h e player, but a person." not be prosecuted. tools: PDF Newspaper, Full S t e e l e r s a l s o h a v e O T A s Receiver Hines Ward said that Roethlisberger is the first player Text RSS, Term Extraction. scheduled for May 25-27, June Roethlisberger has always been suspended by Goodell under the

Thunder Series a Distant Memory as Lakers Hit Groove Chris Tomasson (FanHouse Main) Submitted at 5/18/2010 2:00:00 AM

Filed under: Lakers, Suns, NBA Injuries, NBA Playoffs LOS ANGELES -- When those on the Lakers got up following a 110-89 April 24 pounding in

Oklahoma, they weren't singing, "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning.''

The team's season was at a crossroads. After a lackluster 47 finish to the regular season, the top-seeded Lakers were tied 2-2 in the first round of the Oklahoma City Thunder. p l a y o f f s w i t h t h e N o . 8 Everybody was wondering,

what's wrong with the Lakers?

How much was Kobe Bryant hurting after that strange Game 4 in which he didn't take a shot for the first 15 minutes?

Lakers forward Pau Gasol challenged his teammates that night. He said they needed to win Game 5 of the series

"convincingly.''

So let's flash forward a little more than three weeks. What's wrong with the Lakers?

64

Sports/ Gaming/

E-reader News Edition

Tiger Woods adds British Open to summer schedule ESPN.com news services (ESPN.com)

he returned from a five-month layoff at the Masters, and that it was not related to the Nov. 27 Submitted at 5/18/2010 7:23:08 AM car accident when he ran into a Neck injury or not, Tiger tree, setting off revelations of Woods added the British Open infidelity. to his schedule.

Tests last Wednesday showed Woods filed his entry form, an inflamed neck joint that according to Golf Digest, and causes pain and makes it hard added the British Open to the for him to turn his head, an s c h e d u l e o n h i s w e b s i t e injury that will require little Monday. more than medicine, massages Woods has a chance to become and rest. the first player in the 150-year Woods had an MRI exam that history of the British Open to revealed inflammation in a facet win three times at St. Andrews, joint of his neck. He said on his w h e r e g o l f ' s o l d e s t website that when facet joints championship will be held July are inflamed, it causes pain in 15-18. the area along with headaches Woods, the 2000 and 2005 and difficulty rotating the head.

British Open winner, withdrew "I now need to take care of this from the final round of the condition and will return to Players Championship on May 9 p l a y i n g g o l f w h e n I ' m after a week in which he was physically able," Woods said seen stretching and rolling his last Wednesday. neck. Woods said his neck had The British Open entry marks been bothering him since before t h e t h i r d t o u r n a m e n t

commitment Woods has made for this summer. He has already committed to the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and the AT&T National at Aronimink, where he is the defending champion.

Woods said in a news conference last week that he hoped to be able to defend his title at the Memorial, which starts June 3 at Muirfield Village in Ohio.

His next tournament will be his first without swing coach Hank Haney, who stepped aside last Monday.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Exploring a 'Cyber Renaissance' in Deus Ex: Human Revolution Mike Schramm (Joystiq)

genres and settings for the third Deus Ex game, Belletête and the team landed on the phrase When Art Director Jonathan "Cyber Renaissance" to describe Jacques-Belletête sat down to the look they chose. In a pre-E3 design the overarching look of presentation this week, Belletête Deus Ex: Human Revolution, he t a l k e d a b o u t " C y b e r had two big criteria for his R e n a i s s a n c e , " a n d h o w i t designs to meet. First, he wanted defined the art and architecture to choose "illustration over of Square Enix's Deus Ex title. simulation" -- rather than Continue reading Exploring a creating something exactly real, 'Cyber Renaissance' in Deus Ex: he wanted to make a game that Human Revolution had a definite style. And second, Exploring a 'Cyber he adhered to the theory that R e n a i s s a n c e ' i n D e u s E x : "design distinction creates Human Revolution originally desire" -- if a game (he used appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 18 Bioshock and Team Fortress 2 M a y 2 0 1 0 0 4 : 0 0 : 0 0 E S T . as examples) has a distinct art Please see our terms for use of style, it will already start to feeds. stand out in players' Permalink| Email this| imaginations.

Comments And so, from all of the various Submitted at 5/18/2010 4:00:00 AM

Sports/ Food/

E-reader News Edition

65

More Questions Emerge in McCourts' Tussle Over Dodgers Jon Weinbach (FanHouse Main) Submitted at 5/17/2010 11:28:00 PM

Filed under: Sports Business and Media Over the past 18 months, the Los Angeles Dodgers paid nearly $4 million in "consulting services" to an entity that has done virtually nothing for the club, even as the team has made a concerted effort to raise ticket prices, trim payroll and acquire players on the cheap. Moreover, the club paid two of Frank and Jamie McCourt's adult sons large salaries -- $400,000 and $200,000 per year, respectively -- for services that are undefined and could not be described by either Frank or Jamie McCourt, according to court documents filed in the couple's divorce case.

FanHouse has also learned that the Dodgers' ownership includes two limited partners who provided loans to help the McCourts finalize their purchase of the club in 2004, according to people familiar with the matter.

One of the limited partners is

Spanish Tortilla (Simply Recipes) Submitted at 5/18/2010 12:43:44 AM

To a native Californian like myself, "tortilla" is round and flat, and comes in only two styles, flour and corn. So the concept that a tortilla could also be a thick potato omelette, took some getting used to. But that is Franklin Weigold, a long-time "sizable" equity in the team in Reached at his home in Beverly t h e d i f f e r e n c e b e t w e e n a executive with Analog Devices, the event of a default on the Hills, Weigold had no comment Spanish tortilla and a Mexican Inc., a Norwood, Mass.-based loans, according to the source. and referred all questions to tortilla. The Spanish version is maker of electronic equipment. (The McCourts have not missed Frank McCourt. The Dodgers made by frying thinly sliced Weigold lives part of the year in any of the payments since they d i d n o t c o m m e n t o n t h e potatoes in olive oil, then Los Angeles and was also part became owners six years ago.) consulting payments or loans. layering those slices in a pan of the McCourts' failed bid to There has never been any "Frank McCourt is the 100 (preferably a cast iron frying purchase the Boston Red Sox in previous mention of the limited percent owner of the Dodgers, pan), covering with beaten eggs, 2001. partners, their loans or their as confirmed by Major League and cooking until set. It's It is not clear who the other potential stake in the club by Baseball," a team spokesman perfect for a weeknight meal, limited partner is, but that entity either the McCourts or the said via e-mail during the team's a n d o n l y r e q u i r e s a f e w a n d W e i g o l d b o t h o w n Dodgers. Weigold is not listed Monday night home game ingredients which you likely c o n v e r t i b l e b o n d s i n t h e anywhere in the club's media against the Houston Astros. have in your pantry. It's good Dodgers that would transfer into guide or on its website. warm, room temperature, or cold, and makes for great leftovers.

Continue reading "Spanish Tortilla" Âť

66

Sports/ Gaming/

E-reader News Edition

Kobe's Physical Toughness One-Ups Phil's Foolishness Jay Mariotti (FanHouse Main) Submitted at 5/18/2010 2:15:00 AM

Filed under: NBA LOS ANGELES -- So gushers of fluid were drained from his right knee, forcing him again to wear a protective wrap. In Kobe Bryant's voluminous medical journal, isn't that the equivalent of a hangnail or pulled earlobe?

Lost in the LeBron James tanking debacle last week was how Bryant, once derided as the NBA's most petulant punk, has endured so much pain and treatment this season that we're starting to view him as one of the baddest asses ever to play basketball.

What does LeBron go, 6-9 and 260 with the body of a Hummer? And what does Kobe go, 6-6 and 205, built like a Testarossa? And yet, who's the tougher guy in crash scenarios?

I still don't know what look he was going for in that regrettable Los Angeles Times photo shoot recently, the first -- and hopefully last -- time in the history of fashion that a man would wear a headband, top hat

Team Fortress 2 + Portal gun = Team Portress David Hinkle (Joystiq)

reloading, you can manually kill any active portals in the game Submitted at 5/17/2010 10:00:00 PM world.

N o t s i n c e w e ' v e s e e n a Peer past the break to check out DeLorean in Crysis have we a bunch of videos showcasing been so in love with a mod. the mod, courtesy of 3 Point Team Portress, a 3 Point Games Games and Pixelated Geek.

Community mod for Team [Via Pixelated Geek; thanks, Fortress 2, adds the iconic gun Jessica] and bow tie in the same way- overmatched Phoenix Suns. from Portal into the mix. As Continue reading Team funky portrait. And we thought What about the knee, the index you'll see in the multiple videos Fortress 2 + Portal gun = Team Alex Rodriguez was narcissistic. finger, the back spasms, the past the break, nothing stops a Portress But a bad idea will be forgiven ankle? "I practice so much Scout dead in his tracks like a Team Fortress 2 + Portal gun = quickly if Bryant, the last during the season," he said after nice portal trap.

Team Portress originally megastar left in the NBA leading the Lakers to a 128-107 Some necessary changes had to appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 17 playoffs, keeps ignoring his blowout that should revive be made from how the portals M a y 2 0 1 0 2 2 : 0 0 : 0 0 E S T . injuries and scores 40 points confidence that they are the usually operate. For example, Please see our terms for use of seemingly without effort. favorites to repeat. "In the there's a timer for each portal, feeds.

As fools whispered about offseason, I work a lot. To take instituted in order to keep Read| Permalink| Email this| troubling news, Bryant simply a week off, I'm not going to lose players from being stuck in Comments drained jump shots and drew all the work I put in prior to perpetual loops. Also, by fouls Monday night against the that." straining, reaching and

Gaming/

E-reader News Edition

67

Nintendo registers Report: Industry missing out on several '3DS' trademarks revenue from aging, disabled gamers in Japan Richard Mitchell (Joystiq)

players that are more prone to disability than the young.

Finally, Baby Boomers -- those A c c o r d i n g t o a r e p o r t born between 1946 and 1964 -coauthored by the Able Gamers have much more disposable Foundation and 7-128 Software, i n c o m e t h a n y o u n g e r the game industry is losing out demographics, adding up to on up to $3 billion in revenue by billions in potential revenue. failing to cater to older or "If the gaming industry does not disabled gamers. The report realign their priorities to include a l l e g e s t h a t t h e g a m i n g accessible gaming," notes the population is getting older, report, "then a collision will noting that the ESA pegged the happen in the next five years," average gamer's age at 35 in resulting in "lost sales and lost 2008, up from 33 in 2007 and customers." The report proposes 30 in 1995. It states further that that game developers begin more and more homes have implementing accommodations access to game consoles and for disabilities in their games, internet-connected PCs, opening including variable font sizes, the industry to a wide potential color blind modes, variable audience of older players -- speed settings and more in order Submitted at 5/17/2010 11:00:00 PM

to cater to the disabled market.

"By making video games accessible to gamers with disabilities, which includes older gamers," writes co-author Eleanor Robinson, "game manufacturers will unlock a lucrative, paying market of consumers for years to come."

[Via The Escapist. Image: AbleGamers.org] Report: Industry missing out on revenue from aging, disabled gamers originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 17 May 2010 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Griffin McElroy (Joystiq)

stereoscopic handheld?

More importantly, do they really think they can make the Though Iwata recently alluded shorthand version of the device's to the fact that a "formal" name "N3DS" and not expect us moniker for the Nintendo 3DS to exclusively refer to it as a h a r d w a r e w o u l d s o o n b e "Ned's?" Because, heads up announced, a set of trademarks guys, that's exactly what we're recently filed in Japan seem to going to call it. "It might be a hint that the device won't long car ride, Billy," we'll say. actually undergo a name change. "You'd better bring your Ned's."

Siliconera reports that Nintendo Nintendo registers several recently registered Japanese '3DS' trademarks in Japan trademarks for "Nintendo 3DS," originally appeared on Joystiq " N 3 D S , " " 3 D S P l a y " a n d on Tue, 18 May 2010 09:55:00 "3DSWare." There's a lot of EST. Please see our terms for room for conjecture in those use of feeds. listings -- for instance, is Read| Permalink| Email this| N i n t e n d o p l a n n i n g o n Comments implementing a separate online store specifically for the Submitted at 5/18/2010 9:55:00 AM

68

Gaming/ Science/

E-reader News Edition

Massive, Cataclysmic Star Death Now Available in 3-D Clay Dillow (Popular Science New Technology, Science News, The Future Now) Submitted at 5/17/2010 2:57:35 PM

Simulated 3-D Star Death About 0.5 seconds after initial core ignition, the supernova blasts outward in an uneven, lumpy manner. The whitish, transparent outer layer is the blast front. Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics Massive stars live for a very long time, so when their lives finally do come to an end they like to go out with a bang -- a bang that can become brighter than the whole galaxy for a Ben Gilbert (Joystiq) kid, Brits!). AP is due to hit time. Astronomers have studied retailers in under two weeks-- and modeled these supernovae Submitted at 5/18/2010 12:30:00 AM just enough time for Thorton to for decades, but for the first time When he's not busy being tour the globe three or four more researchers at the Max Planck f o r m a l l y i n t r o d u c e d o r times. We'll be watching our Institute for Astrophysics have eloquently headslamming foes, backs just in case he stops by. created a 3-D computer sim of a Alpha Protocol's Michael C o n t i n u e r e a d i n g A l p h a star undergoing core collapse Thorton is hopping on planes, Protocol's Michael Thorton goes over a timescale of hours after trains, and automobiles around globetrotting in latest trailer the initial explosion. the globe. In the game's latest Alpha Protocol's Michael This wasn't just an exercise in trailer (found after the break), Thorton goes globetrotting in modeling one of the more Thorton travels to exotic locales latest trailer originally appeared sensational events in the cosmic the world over ... and kills on Joystiq on Tue, 18 May 2010 catalogue. Researchers wanted people! He's a lot like that 00:30:00 EST. Please see our to know why supernova blasts James Bond fella, but without terms for use of feeds. are uneven, with some elements the namby pamby English Permalink| Email this| accent getting in the way (we C o m m e n t s

Alpha Protocol's Michael Thorton goes globetrotting in latest trailer

like nickel asymmetrically blasting outward from the core.

The team found significant differences in their 3-D model form their previous work in two dimensions, shedding light on exactly how some metal rich clumps are flung out of the center of the star at much higher velocities than other gases and elements present in the dying star.

The 3-D models could answer a

lot questions about how those asymmetries form at the beginning of a supernova event.

Future simulations will model the supernova of a wide array of progenitor stars so researchers can try to get a better grasp on what traits are common to all supernovae, as well as what characteristics make them unique. [ Science Daily]

Science/

E-reader News Edition

69

Largest-Ever Study On Cancer and Cellphones Finds "No Increase in Risk" James Geary (Popular Science - New Technology, Science News, The Future Now) Submitted at 5/17/2010 4:25:47 PM

Electro-Magnetic Model Electro-magnetic waves from the phone's antenna penetrate the brain several centimeters deep. Paul Wootton But the long -term effects of prolonged cellphone use require further study-and will spark fresh controversy When I was reporting my March 2010 PopSci feature story on the possible health effects of cell phone radiation, I was particularly interested in learning about the Interphone project, a collection of 13 different national studies coordinated by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), part of the World Health Organization.

Interphone is the largest completed analysis to date of brain tumor (glioma and meningioma) risk in relation to mobile phone use. When I was writing my piece, none of the scientists I interviewed could or would say much about the study, since it had yet to be published. So not much about Interphone ended up in my story. But when I asked one source familiar with the study's progress what we would learn

once the results appeared, this person said: "We'll learn how to do better studies."

Well, the Interphone study has right. f i n a l l y a p p e a r e d a n d , The paper, published this week unfortunately, my source was in the International Journal of

Epidemiology, concludes: "Overall, no increase in risk of either glioma or meningioma was observed in association with use of mobile phones.

There were suggestions of an increased risk of glioma, and much less so meningioma, at the highest exposure levels ‌ However, biases and errors limit the strength of the conclusions we can draw from these analyses and prevent a causal interpretation."

This result is in line with the majority of other published studies, which also observed no increased risk of brain tumors in association with cell phone radiation and cite biases and errors in those studies that do show a correlation. But the publication of the Interphone results does not address the two main concerns of those who believe cell phone radiation may have an impact on human health: namely, that the effect of long-term exposure, especially on children, is still unknown and that brain tumor rates alone are not the proper metric by which to measure risk.

Methodological failingsespecially recall bias; i.e. people incorrectly remembering past cell phone use-have long plagued research on this topic.

LARGEST-EVER page 71

70

Science/

E-reader News Edition

New X-Ray Security Scanners Present Radiation Risk, Scientists Say Rebecca Boyle (Popular Science - New Technology, Science News, The Future Now) Submitted at 5/17/2010 4:20:41 PM

Airport Security The security screening area at Denver International Airport. via Flickr/ sixmilliondollardan A group of scientists from the University of California-San Francisco is worried that a new generation of airport security scanners could present a cancer risk, NPR reports. But skeptics say people flying at 30,000 feet are already bombarded by cosmic rays, so a brief trip through an X-ray machine on the way to the plane is a drop in the radiation bucket.

After the "underwear bomber" incident on Christmas, the Obama administration ramped up deployment of advanced scanners that can spot explosives or weapons, NPR says. Some 1,000 new machines will be in use by the end of next year, roughly half of which are X-ray back-scatter scanners.

The machines, which can look beneath passengers' clothes, expose passengers to ionizing radiation for about six seconds.

So far, much of the concern about the scanners has come from privacy advocates -- the scanners produce a detailed image of a person's body

without clothes. But David Agard, a biochemist and biophysicist at UCSF, says they may present a health risk, too.

He wrote a letter last month to Obama science adviser John Holdren, asking for a more thorough review of the scanners' potential health risks.

"Ionizing radiation such as the X-rays used in these scanners have the potential to induce chromosome damage, and that can lead to cancer," Agard says

in the letter.

The scanners' potential harm comes from the low energies at which they operate. Most of the energy is delivered to the skin and immediately underlying tissue, Agard writes. If the dose were distributed throughout the entire body, it would be safe, but a targeted dose to the skin is too high, he says.

Certain people might be at a particularly high risk of cancer from radiation exposure,

including the elderly; a small percentage of people with DNA anomalies, who represent about 5 percent of the population; HIV and current cancer patients; and children, Agard says.

But the Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Army Public Health Command and researchers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory have said the machines are safe, according to the Transportation Security

Administration.

NPR quoted an FDA radiation specialist who said the scanners put out far less radiation than what passengers get from cosmic rays. He told NPR one screening would be equivalent to spending four minutes in the air.

But Agard attacks that assumption, too, saying cosmic rays and chest X-rays are absorbed by the whole body. Xray scanners that deposit their energy into the skin represent a different dose, targeted to a certain area, and their effects are not as well understood, he says.

David Brenner, head of Columbia University's Center for Radiological Research, also expressed concern about the scanners during a recent a congressional hearing. He said the government should invest in millimeter-wave scanners, which have no known radiation risks. They produce images using radio waves rather than Xrays, and the TSA says the images are comparable in quality to the X-ray scanners.

The cost is comparable, too, according to NPR. The government has prepared a response to Agard's concerns, but he hasn't gotten it yet, according to NPR. Agard says NEW page 71

Science/

E-reader News Edition

71

LARGEST-EVER continued from page 69

The Interphone authors once again cite bias as preventing any firm conclusions about the effects of long-term use: "The possible effects of long-term heavy use of mobile phones on risk of brain tumors require further investigation," the paper states, "given increasing mobile phone use, its extension to children and its penetration world-wide." To that end, the IARC will carry out a comprehensive review of all published epidemiological and experimental evidence and the European Union will fund MobiKids to investigate the risk of brain tumors in childhood and adolescence.

Studies like Interphone and MobiKids take a long time to conduct and, of course, by the time they are finished the technology has already moved on, which raises doubts about the usefulness of the results.

Since Interphone was launched, for example, cell phone usage

has increased dramatically but radiation levels from cell phones have decreased.

Plus, the scientists who believe there could be a risk from cell phone radiation believe that risk could involve the immune system as a whole rather than a direct cause-and-effect relationship between radiation and brain tumors. So many of these scientists suspect studies like Interphone don't give the full picture.

One thing is clear, though: After Interphone, opinion will be just as polarized and passions will run just as high as before Interphone.

Browse through some of the comments posted to my original story for a taste of the debate.

Many people ridiculed the very idea of risk from cell phone radiation, and accused Per Segerbäck, a Swedish former telecoms engineer who suffers from electro-hypersensitivity (EHS) and whom I profiled in

NEW continued from page 70

further studies are needed.

[NPR] "After review of the available data we have already obtained, we suggest that additional critical information be obtained, with the goal to minimize the potential health risks of total body scanning," he writes.

the piece, of inventing his condition. Several EHS sufferers wrote back, explaining their condition and citing studies that suggest it's real.

Segerbäck's daughter even responded with a comment of her own: "Maybe you never heard anyone say anything bad about your dad, but … reading you comments made me cry …

I'm sorry if you don't understand the illness, but I promise you that a lot of people has it. But please do not think that he is just making this up. That breaks my heart."

I do not believe Segerbäck invented his condition, but I am not able to cite a study that provides a scientific explanation for it either. There is evidence to suggest possible mechanisms for a health effect from cell phone radiation; these are outlined in my story. None of the scientists who did this research and whom I interviewed for my story said their work ‘proved' that cell

phones have an impact on human health. They all did say, however, that the evidence merited further research-which is exactly what the IARC is saying.

Research into the potential health effects, if any, of cell phone radiation is so hotly contested in part because the technology is relatively young, but also because the research itself is so difficult to carry out.

I don't know if cell phone radiation has an effect on human health, but I do know it's not good science to dismiss the unproven as impossible. In fact, we could do a lot worse than to take Segerbäck's own advice: "Be careful, weigh the evidence, and make your own decision."

Computer Algorithm Can Recognize Sarcasm (Which Is Just Soooo Cool) Clay Dillow (Popular Science New Technology, Science News, The Future Now) Submitted at 5/18/2010 8:38:04 AM

Recognizing Sarcasm with Computer Algorithms The pursuit of machine intelligence means we have to come up with ways to communicate with our computers in a way both entities can understand. But while computers process verbal commands in a straightforward fashion, humans tend to use more sophisticated speech forms, employing slang or symbols to convey an idea. So an Israeli research team has developed a machine algorithm that can recognize sarcasm.

SASI, a Semi-supervised Algorithm for Sarcasm Identification, can recognize sarcastic sentences in product reviews online with pretty astounding 77 percent precision.

COMPUTER page 72

72

Science/

Northern Arizona University To Use RFID Tags to Monitor Student Attendance

E-reader News Edition

COMPUTER continued from page 71

To create such an algorithm, the team scanned 66,000 Amazon.com product reviews, with three different human Rebecca Boyle (Popular Science - New Technology, annotators tagging sentences for Science News, The Future sarcasm. The team then Now) identified certain sarcastic patterns that emerged in the Submitted at 5/17/2010 3:46:46 PM reviews and created a RFID Attendance-Taker RFID classification algorithm that puts chips like this one could soon be each statement into a sarcastic integrated into student ID cards class. at Northern Arizona University.

The algorithms were then Flickr/ Oskay trained on that seed set of 80 Lazy college students are sentences from the collection of Arizona's latest target of identity reviews. These annotated -tracking. Students at Northern sentences helped the algorithm Arizona University are learn what sorts of words and protesting a plan to monitor patterns distinguish sarcastic their attendance using radioremarks - those that mean the frequency ID chips embedded in opposite of what they literally their student IDs. convey, or that convey a A university spokesman told sentiment inconsistent with the Government Technology the dorms, the Republic reports. literal reading. magazine that the intent is to smaller classes would have to the Arizona Republic reports. e n c o u r a g e p r o f e s s o r s t o f i n d a n o t h e r w a y t o t a k e As of Monday, about 1,500 So it's probably not worth They then turned the algorithm loose on an evaluation set. incorporate attendance into attendance. Given that class NAU students had joined a trading with a friend. sizes shrink as a student's Facebook group protesting the It remains to be seen whether Pattern evaluation efficiency grading systems. More frequent attendance leads to higher education progresses, the policy cards' use, saying it violates the chips would contribute to scored accurately 81 percent of grades, the university says. The would likely impact freshmen their rights as students to choose i n c r e a s e d a c a d e m i c the time, while the overall whether or not to go to class. performance. After all, as every p r e c i s i o n o f t h e p a t t e r n system, purchased with $85,000 and sophomores. in federal stimulus funds, would Students wouldn't have to take Privacy advocates are also student knows, just showing up r e c o g n i t i o n / s a r c a s m their ID cards out, because the voicing concern, Government for class doesn't mean you're categorizing algorithm was start this fall. awake. accurate in 77 percent of The idea is to install card readers would be sensitive Technology reports. enough to pick up signals from Although some students might [IEEE Spectrum, Government instances. Not bad for a readers in all classrooms that computer's first shot at seat 50 or more students -- those anywhere in the room. Data try to subvert the system by Technology] interpreting the human sense of in which it'd be difficult or time- from each class would be having a friend carry his or her humor. consuming to take attendance recorded, and instructors would card, the cards are also used to get reports on who was in class, pay for food and gain entry to This isn't all just so your every day. Professors who teach Roomba gets the joke when you tell it it sucks. Computer programs that can recognize COMPUTER page 73

Social Media/

E-reader News Edition

73

COMPUTER continued from page 72

sarcastic statements could generate better personalized content and make better recommendations to human users by not mistaking a product review titled "keep your receipt" with a sound piece of online shopping advice. It could also benefit opinion-mining systems

that troll the Web trying to measure public sentiment about a product or idea. [ Slashdot]

Microsoft Reinvents Hotmail with an Onslaught of New Features Stan Schroeder (Mashable!)

which gives you a quick overview of what’s new in your inbox organized by source, such Microsoft has announced a as e-mail contacts or social huge slew of upgrades to contacts from Facebook or H o t m a i l t o m a k e i t m o r e Twitter. This reminds me of the competitive with Gmail, and we way Windows 7 “simplifies” the h a v e t o a d m i t t h e l i s t i s control panel and many other impressive.

Windows features, and I prefer W i t h 3 4 3 m i l l i o n u s e r s , to skip to the real thing. But this Hotmail is still the top e-mail new view is definitely clean and service provider. Gmail is much simple, and I’m sure many users smaller, with approximately 150 will get used to it quickly. million users as of September The Sweep function is touted as 2009. a simpler alternative to e-mail Gmail has been adding features filtering, enabling you to relentlessly in the past couple of quickly organize the e-mails years, however, and the sleek which aren’t exactly spam, but integration with other Google’s you don’t want at the top of services has made it the fastest y o u r i n b o x . I t ’ s n o t growing webmail. And just like groundbreaking, but it’s simpler many other Google services, it than Gmail’s filtering options. also happens to generate the The new Hotmail is also most buzz in the media. integrated with Office Web Among the new Hotmail Apps, meaning that you can edit features are Hotmail Highlights, documents directly from your Submitted at 5/18/2010 4:07:42 AM

inbox. You can also store the documents and photos you send on Microsoft SkyDrive, which means you don’t have to worry about size constraints because your documents reside in the cloud.

Microsoft also took document integration a step further when it

comes to consuming content. If you receive a video from Hulu or YouTube, you can view it right there in the inbox. If you receive attached photos, you can see them in the form of a nifty slideshow, provided you have Silverlight installed.

Finally, Microsoft mentions

some other features it hasn’t discussed in detail, including: enhanced account protection, full-session SSL, multiple email accounts, subfolders, contact management and ever-growing storage. All in all, you could say it’s a catchup effort, but we’ll give Microsoft the benefit of the doubt and call it a complete overhaul. It’ll be hard to steal users away from Gmail — which still has dozens of minor features that Hotmail doesn’t (just check the Labs) — but Hotmail will most likely be a worthy competitor after the new version is launched this summer. [img credit: Lohb] For more technology coverage, follow Mashable Tech on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook Tags: hotmail, microsoft, trending

74

Religion/ Social Media/

E-reader News Edition

The Pirate numbers Episcopal Bay to RIAA: gamesWe in greater Are LA Kindle Arrives on Unsinkable Android This Summer tmatt (GetReligion)

questions, right?

Speaking of obvious questions: A day or so after writing my Stan Schroeder (Mashable!)

A S U MITE HA S READ OR Ben Parr (Mashable!)

We are going to play a little earlier post(about the Baltimore NOTICD, PEEP S ON C E Submitted at 5/18/2010 1:25:50 AM Submitted 5/18/2010 AM numbersat game for7:35:33 a minute, so Sun’s puffy piece on Glasspool), AGAIN R TRYIN 2 SHUT US please hang in there with me. one key detail in the story We must admitiswe’ve predicted DOWN. DIS WI L L NOT It’s official: Kindle is coming started nagging me like a lowThe following totally fiction, The PiratedoBay’s downfall ages SUCCED, L O L. OURS RLY an Android phone near you grade toothache. Here’s the so please not get hung up on ago, but it still hasn’t happened.

N I C E W E B H O S T W U Z sometime this summer. the details. reference: Things were indeed looking THREATE N D WIF RLY Kindle is already available on “The Diocese of Los Angeles is Let’s say that a big, important, grim for thebody file sharing service: HUGE FINE, S O WE DECIDD t h e i P h o n e , i P a d , a n d tremendously exciting to me,” powerful in Southern first, there was the lawsuit from Baptist life — the Baptist the Pirate Bay is online again, 2 MO OV TEH SIET SO DAT BlackBerry, but Android will said Glasspool, who spoke of the entertainment industry that this time hosted by the Swedish THEY DIDNT GOT INTO T R join the mobile lineup in the sign up for updates on the app.

General Convention of Texas, the “very creative ways in which Oh, and for those with older left the Pirate Bay’s team Pirate Party. “We got tired of OUBLE, LOL. TEH DEC I next few months. The free app for example — did something the churchphones, there does its mission Android there’s good scattered and struggling stay Hollywood’s cat and mouse SHUN 2 MOOV WUZ T A comes with all of the features really controversial that to makes and ministry,” and the fact that news: Kindle for Android works the course they’veJust charted for game with the Pirate Bay so we KEN BY US, TEH PIRATE B you’d expect in a Kindle app: global headlines. thinking on any given Sunday across the themselves.

Then the news access to Amazon’s half a on phones running Android 1.6 out loud, let’s pretend that that the d e c i d e d t o o f f e r t h e s i t e A Y, LOL. diocese, the liturgy is being or better. the entire service waswingers to be bandwidth. It is time to take the TEH PIRATE BAY IZ AN million e-books, automatic sync BGCT is run by right celebrated in some 40 sold(the sale never happened) to bull by the horns and stand up UNSINKABLE SHIP. IT WILL o f b o o k m a r k s , n o t e s , a n d With Apple and other book (this is going to take lots of lretailers a n g u a gchallenging es.

Amazon’s aimagination) Swedish Gaming and thatCompany they pass f o r w h a t w e b e l i e v e i s a SAIL TEH INTERWEBS 4 AS highlights, and the ability to dNow, it o m i n a n cwould e o f tappear h e e - b othat ok seemed to have scattered the r e a d b o o k s i n p o r t r a i t o r LONG AS WE WANTS IT 2. a resolution calling for the legitimate activity,” said the Glasspool is the source largest of that market, the world’s Pirate Bay’s fans, too. l a n d s c a p e m o d e .

REMEMBR DAT, K THX. impeachment of President Pirate Party’s Rick Falkvinge in amazing “40 languages” All these Obama. storms have come and a statement.

While Kindle for Android online retailer is responding by TPB, ONLY IN IT 4 TEH Barack number. I started listing some went, and BGCT the service seems very similar to its iPhone spreading its virtual library onto Then the plans astill big TPB itself was, as usual, in the LULZ SINCE 2003 o b many v i o u splatforms l a n g u a gase spossible. to be as stands, more resilient event inseemingly a media-friendly arena mood for mocking the RIAA. We’ll leave it up to you to and iPad counterparts, it does included in the mix, whilegame also It’s all part of a chess than ever.

Yesterday, the Pirate in, oh, Plano that seats about Here’s the entire text of today’s decipher the hidden message. come with an additional feature: remembering that we are talking Bay went downByfollowing the message from The Pirate Bay’s For more technology coverage, the ability to buy books through between Apple and Amazon for 30,000 people. coincidence, about trying to populate services the e-book market. pressure from the RIAA, which follow Mashable Tech on the app itself. iPhone and iPad control or not, they schedule their event blog: — I assume using translations of For more mobile coverage, threatened to day slapas TPB’s hosting PLZ LEARN: TPB CANT BE Twitter or become a fan on users currently have to buy on the same the opening tfollow e x t s fMashable r o m T h e Mobile B o o k on of provider with huge Kindle books via the Safari Facebook of a weekend offines.

Tea Party SHUT DOWN Common Prayer— for But once again, it was only a mobile web browser because Twitter or become a fan on Tags: piracy, riaa, the pirate events drawing in thousands of LOL! Episcopalians in one set region. matter ofbswitching Amazon doesn’t want to give up Facebook bay anti-O a m a a chosts, t i v i sand ts.

I had trouble getting above a 30% of its book sales to its new Reviews: Android, Facebook, Nevertheless, after doing their dozen I mean, you Safari, languages.

Twitter e-book rival. advance homework, Baptist could have services in Russian, There still aren’t a lot of details Tags: amazon, android, Google, leaders realize they cannot fill Turkish, Greek, German or Kindle about Kindle for Android, but the giant hall — so they prepare French, but who would be Amazon has created a landing to set it up for a crowd of served by these rites? page where Android owners can 12,000, while opening the doors Note, for example, that the to all comers. Then the big event homepage of the absolutely arrives and about, oh, 5,000 gigantic Catholic Archdiocese people show up. of Los Angeles lists Masses in My question: Would the press 30 or so languages, and that covering the event do the math includes “African-American and ask even the most basic of focus” and “Native American questions about the health and focus” rites. happiness of people — on both bishops, one of whom is the first England ringed the arena, each draws 3,000 when the room was Submitted at 5/17/2010 2:53:57 PM

Religion/

E-reader News Edition

75

Getting the cold shoulder Mollie (GetReligion)

teenager, makes food from scratch, reads a lot (“every word in every paragraph”), and loves The Washington Post is known to wash dishes. Here was a for puffy Style-section profiles sample from that hagiography: of movers and shakers in the Kate Michelman is the face of Washington area. A few years reproductive rights. It’s a thin ago, we looked at the puffiest face with high cheekbones, dark Washington Post Style profile I eyes that can light up and a can recall. It was about Kate mouth with a corner that upturns Michelman, the former head of at comic moments.

NARAL Pro-Choice America. Or there was the much more We learned from that piece that informative, if no less puffy, she organized sales to benefit treatment of Cecile Richards, Mexican farm workers as a the head of Planned Parenthood.

Submitted at 5/17/2010 10:01:25 AM

It began and ended with references to her vocation as mother and included nothing but positive information about a woman who oversees the largest provider of abortions in the country. Instead, it’s just nice: To get the job done, she has been traveling and seeking advice. Thursday she was back in Washington, where she lives with her husband and 15-yearold twins, until they all move to New York this summer. She met with George Washington

University students, then with a group of teens at a health clinic in Northeast. She had lunch with a small group of professional women and stay-at-home moms in their thirties and forties. As she rode from place to place, she asked her driver, Ron Evans, for an update on the NCAA tournament so she could talk brackets with her husband.

At the end of the story, she’s actually playing Foosball with kids from the projects. More recently, there was this story

about Emily’s List — a PAC that supports candidates who support abortion rights — that read like a press release.

Compared to these puff pieces, last week’s story about Marjorie Dannenfelser, who heads the pro -life Susan B. Anthony list, is just odd. (It might have run because Sarah Palin, pictured, spoke at an SBA List function last week.) The best thing I can say about it is that, unlike all of GETTING page 77

76

Religion/

E-reader News Edition

Seriously spiritually ‘Lost’ Sarah Pulliam Bailey (GetReligion)

easy to read into the show and look for religious references.

For example, did Sayid look like Submitted at 5/17/2010 11:30:43 AM Jesus when he came out of the I can’t express my love for Lost water in cross-like fashion? Tim enough. For a while, I was Townsend explored some of the almost convinced The Onion religious-related theories in his produced the clip“Final Season weekly column on Saturday.

Of ‘Lost’ Promises To Make Here’s a teaser for the rest of the Fans More Annoying Than” column: about me.

Is it a show about a modern-day In fact, I’m still stinging from shipwreck, featuring misfit tmatt’s description of his friends castaways trying to survive who have “consumed a bit too i n c r e a s i n g l y b i z a r r e much Kool-Aid.” I’m not alone, circumstances on an island t h o u g h . A b o u t 1 0 - 1 5 somewhere in the Pacific Christianity Today International O c e a n ? employees meet over lunch each Or is the island just a week to discuss theories. What metaphor? Is it really a show is the smoke monster? Why about faith, redemption, evil, doesn’t Richard Alpert ever predestination, love, suffering, age? Is shirtless Sawyer f r e e w i l l a n d h u m a n necessary? These are the u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f t h e probing questions that keep us s u p e r n a t u r a l ? awake at night. For those who Either way, when “Lost” ends aren’t caught up, there are no in just over a week, what will spoilers in this post. remain is the debate — By now, most of you should conducted in offices, gyms, know the show’s premise. A coffee shops, elevators, taxis plane crashes on a mysterious and especially on thousands of island in the middle of the blogs across the country—about Pacific ocean. The characters the religious themes sprinkled were originally just trying to throughout the series’ six survive as their stories were told seasons. through flashbacks. Then their All of this brings me to an purpose evolved into some interview The New York Times larger meaning as a character did with the show’s executive n a m e d J a c o b s u p p o s e d l y producers Damon Lindelof and brought them to the island. Talk Carlton Cuse. That’s a lot of to me after Sunday’s finale, and pressure to put on interviewer I may be disgusted with the Lorne Manly because fans want show if it’s all Hurley’s dream. to know a lot of answers to a lot Because theories abound, it’s of questions. I was pleasantly

kind of connect into “live together, die alone,” which is that these people were all lone wolves who were complete strangers on an aircraft, even the ones who were flying together like Sun and Jin. Then let’s bring them together and through their experiences together allow themselves to be redeemed.

When the show is firing on all pistons, that’s the kind of storytelling that we’re doing.

I think we’ve always said that the characters of “Lost” are deeply flawed, but when you look at their flashback stories, they’re all victims. Kate was a victim before she killed her stepfather. Sawyer’s parents killed themselves as he was hiding under the bed. Jack’s dad was a drunk who berated him as a child. Sayid was manipulated by the American government into torturing somebody else.

John Locke had his kidney stolen. This idea of saying this bad thing happened to me and I’m a victim and it created some bad behavior and now I’m going to take responsibility for that surprised to see religion asked there’s one word that we keep and allow myself to be about up front and center. coming back to, it’s redemption. redeemed by community with Q. Your show traffics in a lot of It is that idea of everybody has other people, that seems to be big themes — fate versus free something to be redeemed for the theme that we keep coming will, good versus evil, faith and the idea that that redemption back to. v e r s u s r e a s o n , h o w o f t e n doesn’t necessarily come from Later in the interview Lindelof Sawyer should be shirtless. a n y w h e r e e l s e o t h e r t h a n said that the characters’ names Ultimately, what were the most internally. But in order to come from a mix of their important themes for you in this redeem yourself, you can only favorite stories, including “Bible series? do it through a community. So SERIOUSLY page 78 D A M O N L I N D E L O F : I f the redemption theme started to

E-reader News Edition

77

GETTING continued from page 75

the other profile pieces you read day-in and day-out in the Washington Post style section, this one is not puffy. But it’s also rather distant … and cold. I don’t know Dannenfelser and I didn’t really feel like I knew her any better after reading this piece. It’s not that it has many errors, or completely fails to discuss Dannenfelser’s religious views, it’s just written as if the reporter and the subject inhabit different planets.

We learn a bit about the group’s political strategy, an interesting topic these days when those who oppose abortion have been dealt some tremendous defeats at the federal level. But it certainly seems as if the issue is personal for reporter Jason Horowitz.

Note this paragraph: Dannenfelser, wearing a striped beige jacket and a necklace of silver spheres, came out of her small office, where books about the importance of women in the life of Pope John Paul II (“Wojtyla’s Women”) and an anti-Democratic screed (“The Party of Death”) sat in a short bookcase. She spoke in a warm Southern accent, and as she fiddled with a pink packet of Post-it Notes, declared that the

abortion issue is back on the nation’s radar.

I’ve read “ Party of Death.” I’m pretty sure that Mr. Horowitz hasn’t. It’s the opposite of a screed. It has an aggressive title — one that refers not to a political party but to a movement that, Ponnuru argues, has overtaken the Democratic Party, the media, many courts and other institutions — but the book itself is very calm and reasoned. The author, who I know and who is actually a Post contributor, is unique. He lays out his case without personal invective, something that’s almost unheard of in modern political writing. Ponnuru’s book, which is about many aspects of modern bioethics and political history is just not a screed. Ponnuru is a tough opponent. His book certainly angered pro-choicers as much as it delighted pro-lifers. But no matter what your personal view of abortion politics, screed is just not an appropriate word to use about an important book like “Party of Death” in a profile piece about a pro-life activist.

Of course, whether Horowitz is writing on the front page of the Post or in his normal Style

section digs, I think he lets too much of his own politics into his writing.

Anyway, back to the profile.

Here’s a sample: Dannenfelser, a native of Greenville, N.C., and former debutante, grew up as Marjorie Jones, an Episcopalian and defender of a woman’s right to choose. One summer spent in a Georgetown house for Republican interns changed that, when a bitter schism erupted between social conservatives and libertarians over a pornographic video. That domestic dispute began the gradual transformation that led Dannenfelser to her current antiabortion crusade, her conversion to Catholicism and the founding of a society named after the suffragist who, according to historians, hardly made abortion a signature issue.

OK, the last line is also interesting to me.

I remarked last week how funny it is that the media never ever discuss that the founder of Planned Parenthood — one Margaret Sanger — was a major league eugenicist. Sometimes when I’ve criticized that absence of information, a reader

will say “Come on! Everyone knows she was a eugenicist.”

I’ve come to wonder how everyone “knows” something that is never mentioned by the mainstream media.

You will note that in that long, puffy profile of Cecile Richards, current head of Planned Parenthood, no one mentioned that the organization’s founder had some (in my view, at least) pretty disgusting things to say about some people. Nope, not even in a profile of the current head of Planned Parenthood.

But this article includes several paragraphs complaining that the suffragist Susan B. Anthony didn’t make abortion her “signature issue.” I think — I hope — we all know what Susan B. Anthony’s signature issue was. It’s also undeniable that she was an outspoken critic of abortion. All suffragists of that era were against the practice of abortion, of course.

Abortion as a political issue is a modern invention but abortion as a signature political issue is of even more recent vintage. Pro -choicers have been complaining about pro-life feminists using the anti-abortion writings of the suffragists for

years — they concede Anthony was morally opposed to abortion but say it’s unclear whether she would have supported the right to commit what she called “child murder.” Fair enough — it’s a legitimate issue to highlight, I guess. But I just find it fascinating that so much space is devoted to examining Ms. Anthony’s views (and, implicitly, the motivation of this particular pro-life activist group) when the more recent views of Margaret Sanger never seem worthy of being explored or analyzed.

Anyway, perhaps this tepid profile of Ms. Dannenfelser is an indication that the Post’s Style section is going to drop it’s slobbery puff pieces.

Somehow I don’t think so, however.

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

78

Social Media/

E-reader News Edition

SERIOUSLY continued from page 76

stories from Sunday school.”

Jacob and Esau anyone? The interviewer asks the producers about the seasonal shift.

Q. Last season you guys doubled down on the science fiction with the time travel, and this year you introduced a much more religious overview. What drove that shift?

CUSE: We view each season of the show like a book in a series, and so last year was the time travel book, and that story had a beginning, middle and end. This season is significantly spiritual.

We felt the mission of the final season of the show was to bring the show full circle. And that if we were going to be discussing what was really important to us, which was how do these characters’ journeys conclude, that journey is a spiritual journey.

I wish there were time for more follow-ups, because “spiritual journey” seems so vague. Still, I’m glad the interviewer found time to ask about the religious themes. What questions would you have asked the show’s writers? In tmatt fashion, please express your opinion on the following: Which question do you most want answered? (a) Which side is good and which is evil? (b) Who will replace Jacob? (c) Is there fate or free will on the island? (d) When and what created/formed the island? (d) What’s with the sideways time line? (e) Will Juliet and Sawyer get a coffee date? (f) Something else In other words, if you were the Times interviewer, what

question would you find most important?

Update: Melissa Nann Burke has an excerpt from Entertainment Weekly about the show’s producers, who describe themselves as “men of faith,” “intensely spiritual people, and that ‘Lost’ is ultimately a deeply spiritual show.” She also pointed me to this fascinating feature at USA Today, including a video interview with the producers.

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

New MacBook Promises 10 Hour Battery Stan Schroeder (Mashable!)

Submitted at 5/18/2010 8:26:06 AM

Apple has refreshed its MacBook line, offering Nvidia’s GeForce 320M graphics and Intel’s 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo CPU, all for the price of $999.

The price is interesting because the 13” MacBook Pro with similar specifications costs $1,199. The MacBook seems like a really good deal, but the Pro does bring a lot of goodies for the extra 200 bucks: 4GBs of memory instead of 2GB, a FireWire port, a memory card reader, an audio in jack, and the unibody aluminum enclosure.

The Future of Musical Instruments [VIDEO] Jolie O'Dell (Mashable!)

Submitted at 5/18/2010 8:58:19 AM

The intersection of music and technology is a wild, fascinating frontier. Ever since the first computer-synthesized sounds were created, people have struggled and succeeded — to varying degrees — to reshape how we think about musical instruments.

Today, thanks to innovators such as Ray Kurzweil and

Robert Moog, we have a wider range of digital music machines than the inventors of keyboard instruments could have ever dreamed.

But the innovation didn’t stop there. Drum machines, musicmaking software and even mobile phones now compose melodies, thanks in a large part to the men in this video. One of the creations included in these demos is the LinnStrument we told you about recently.

Check out this showcase of futuristic instruments and the philosophies of those who make them, and let us know what you think about the future of musical

instruments in the comments.

Footage was shot at the SF MusicTech Summit. Special thanks to the Summit’s Executive Producer, Brian Zisk.

For more technology coverage, follow Mashable Tech on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook Tags: iphone, music, musical instruments, touch

However, the really interesting bit about the new MacBook is Apple’s promise of a 10-hour battery life – same as the Pro. So, if long, uninterrupted, battery-powered sessions on your laptop are a top priority, the little guy no longer takes the NEW page 78

NEW continued from page 78

back seat to its aluminum brother.

For more Apple coverage, follow Mashable Apple on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook Tags: apple, computer, laptop, macbook