Liberty Newspritn Jan-06-10

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05/01/10 - 06/01/10

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Washington chatter: who loses job over security scares?

By Tabassum Zakaria (Front Row Washington) Submitted at 1/5/2010 1:14:47 PM

It’s the question ricocheting around Washington: which official gets to step down for family reasons or to pursue other opportunities after recent security scares?

There was White House crashergate — the Salahis who sashayed into President Barack Obama’s first formal state dinner bedecked in red sari and tuxedo but missing one key item — an invitation.

Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan fell on his sword before Congress and shouldered the blame. White House social secretary Desiree Rogers was shielded from a public appearance on Capitol Hill by the White House.

Both are still in their jobs and not seeing any smoke signals about change.

There was certainly smoke on Christmas Day when a Nigerian passenger tried to bring down a Detroit-bound airplane by igniting an explosive substance in his underwear. And now the maze of intelligence agencies is trying to explain to the president why the suspect wasn’t on the terrorism no-fly list when his own father tried to warn the U.S. Embassy of his son’s radicalism.

In a “not connecting the dots” problem it is usually difficult to lay blame at any single agency’s feet because bits and pieces of information were floating in various hands and were not joined together to provide a clearer picture.

So will there be a shake-up after the reports are in? The White

House line at the moment is that the president has full confidence in the Director of National Intelligence, the CIA Director, and the Secretary of Homeland Security.

Question at White House press

briefing: “And there’s been no sounding out of people outside the administration to wait in the wings for a possible shakeup?”

Answer from White House spokesman Robert Gibbs: “No.” Traditionally when there is a big

brouhaha (reminder it’s an election year) someone usually decides to step down for family reasons or to pursue other opportunities several months after the fact.

Sally Quinn, in a column in The Washington Post titled “time for accountability at the White House,” says if the President’s People don’t take the fall, then he ends up bearing the brunt of public blame.

Would it politically benefit/hurt/have no impact on Obama if one of the officials bowed out? Who should it be?

For more U.S. political news click here Photo credit: Reuters/Yuri Gripas (Obama at White House in late December), Reuters/Yuriko Nakao (artist illumination polka-dot pattern on pavement in Yokohama in 2007)

CENTURY-21 of China Shoots for an IPO

By Tom Taulli (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 1/6/2010 3:40:00 PM

Filed under: China, Initial public offerings

The name of the company is fairly ordinary: IFM Investments Limited. Yet, it is the exclusive franchisor of the CENTURY 21 brand in China (since 2000).

And to capitalize on the growth, IFM has filed to go public. In

fact, this is one of the first filings in 2010.

Continue reading CENTURY-21 of China Shoots for an IPO CENTURY-21 of China Shoots for an IPO originally appeared on

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Obama admits security “screw up,” but some wonder who’ll pay

By David Morgan (Front Row Washington)

By Tom Taulli (BloggingStocks)

Submitted at 1/6/2010 6:49:16 AM

President Barack Obama may have hoped to limit the political fallout from last month’s attempted bombing of a Detroitbound airliner by admitting there was a“screw up.” Will firings follow? Some think Obama’s unusually sharp rhetoric raises the odds that heads will roll.

One such observer is U.S. Rep. Peter King, an influential New York Republican.

“If the situation is as bad as the president says it was, as far as so many dots not being connected, so many obvious mistakes being made … I would think once the president set that stage, that to show that he’s serious, someone will have to go now,” King told ABC’s Good Morning America.

But the top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee says he can’t tell which official should pay because the Obama administration hasn’t let Congress know who did (or didn’t) do what, when.

“There are so many moving parts here,” King said. “The president has not disclosed anything.”

According to King, that means

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the ax could fall on anybody at the top of the U.S. national security leadership: the secretary of homeland security; the directors of national intelligence, CIA, NSA, NCTC; or various White House advisers.

Whatever happens on the firing front, Obama won’t see the real political fallout until November when the congressional elections decide who controls Congress in 2011 and 2012 — a period that runs straight through the next presidential election.

Republicans are already using the attempted bombing to make voters think the president and Democrats are soft on security.

Meanwhile, Democrats face

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According to a report in the Wall Street Journal(subscription required), the firm is angling to control Highland Hospitality.

This was done by making a clever purchase of outstanding debt from Wachovia.

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other challenges, including the impending retirements of Senate stalwarts Christopher Dodd and Byron Dorgan. Their departures could pose a direct security threat to the fragile 60member Senate coalition that Democrats need to push through Obama’s legislative agenda against near-monolithic Republican opposition.

Photo Credits: Reuters/White House handout (Obama and his (CNET News.com) 3 minutes 58 seconds n a t i o n a l s e c u r i t y t e a m ) ; Submitted at 1/6/2010 10:36:26 AM January 6, 2010 10:36 AM PST Reuters/Kevin Lamarque (Dodd Five Filters featured article: and Dorgan) Google unveils the Nexus One, Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: Click here for more political ESPEN goes 3D, and a new line PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, coverage from Reuters of Internet radios can link to your Term Extraction.

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Monsignor Graham Leonard obituary (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk) Submitted at 1/6/2010 11:29:00 AM

Bishop of London who turned to Catholicism after showing strong opposition to the ordination of women Monsignor Graham Leonard, successively bishop of Willesden, Truro and London, who has died aged 88, was third in the Church of England hierarchy and one of its leading bishops. He evoked strong support in many parishes and among Anglo-Catholic clergy, and was widely influential. He was chairman of many church bodies, including the Board of Education and the BBC and IBA Central Religious Advisory Committee. As bishop of London, he was a privy counsellor and a member of the House of Lords, was frequently involved in reunion discussions and visits to other parts of the Anglican communion, and was a representative at the World Council of Churches.

However, in 1994, three years after his retirement from London, and after conversations with the Roman Catholic archbishop of Westminster, his friend Cardinal Basil Hume, he was received into the Roman Catholic church and was ordained priest sub conditione. At Leonard's own consecration in 1964, an Old Catholic bishop from the small churches that have separated from the Roman Catholic church,

but are in full communion with the Church of England, had joined the bishops who consecrated him. This eased his reception into the Roman Catholic church, and he was made a monsignor.

Leonard was brought up in his father's evangelical parish and at Monkton Combe, Somerset, a school which then emphasised individual conscience, a literal interpretation of the Bible and male leadership in the church. At Oxford, like his wife, Priscilla, whom he married in 1943, Leonard read botany. He served in the forces from 1941 to 1945.

He reacted against the evangelicalism of his home and school and against the mainstream Anglicanism of the William Temple mission to Oxford that he attended. He warmed to Anglo-Catholic worship, remembered the processions and incense that he witnessed in a south London mission when he was 11, "and knew that was right for me".

During his time at Westcott House theological college in Cambridge, he turned away from the theology of the faculty and from the more catholic Anglicanism of Sir Edwin Hoskyns and later Michael Ramsey. Leonard relied on the earlier, pre-critical works of the Right Rev Charles Gore as his standard authority. The disciplines of New Testament study and the history of the development of doctrine never

attracted him. He was unsympathetic with the English reformers, and with Bunyan and Wesley.

Leonard's career in the 1950s and 60s as curate, incumbent, director of church schools and archdeacon was exemplary. He was energetic, efficient, caring and prepared to face down the "Sir Humphreys" in Whitehall, among the church commissioners and in the town halls. He was assiduous in visiting and publishing devotional books, urging frequent communion. He used to say, "you don't kiss your wife once a week, do you?", with the implication that the Eucharist should be attended daily. He produced a new parish communion book of his own devising.

Older priests occasionally found the former adjutant slightly laughable and questioned his assumption that his way to holiness was the only way. But he was young and enthusiastic, and so they forgave him as much nicer than some pompous ecclesiastics. He was greatly admired by Anglo-Catholics for his stress on "objective revelation".

As bishop of Willesden (196473), Leonard became involved in church politics, especially the ecumenical plans suggested by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey, the most catholic archbishop the church had seen that century. Their minds did not fuse. Perhaps the

stress on literalness and individualism that Leonard had imbibed in his evangelical days made it hard for him to get alongside his archbishop, eccentric, learned and wise.

Leonard was urged by some of his followers to defeat the ecumenism of the archbishop, casting Leonard in the role of "Athanasius contra mundum". To be Catholic in their eyes was to take no risks in befriending Protestants and to adopt a narrowly defensive stance.

Many Anglo-Catholics who were hoping for rapid reunion with Rome hailed Leonard's form of leadership. He was a beacon for priests who longed for the authority of Rome and distrusted historical and theological research, which they viewed as weak liberalism. Leonard also welcomed support from conservative evangelicals. His refusal to moderate his fixed positions was respected by many.

He had no fear of being in a minority. The difficulty for the archbishops of his time and for his episcopal colleagues was that he claimed that his views were "absolutes" and that reunion with Methodists, covenanting with the free churches or ordaining women would damage the church. He opposed the admission of divorced women to the Mothers' Union.

His individuality showed in his clothes: he had a strong sense of theatre. As a curate, he startled the Cambridge parishioners of St

Andrew's, Chesterton, by bicycling in a cassock and a biretta, though eventually the bicycle chain chewed up the cassock. As diocesan education secretary, he raised eyebrows at the "ministry" (as it then was) in Curzon Street, central London, by appearing in a black, Spanishstyle, broad-brimmed priest's hat.

In Truro (1973-81), full of firm Methodists and Atlantic storms, he might appear at an ordination attired in mitre, ceremonial gloves and gremial (a silk apronlike covering for the lap of bishops). He was deeply disappointed during his tenure at Truro not to be nominated for Canterbury. He was never comfortable with the practice of shared responsibility in the Church of England.

As bishop of London (1981-91), Leonard was an unwise picker of men as suffragan bishops and canons. Against Archbishop Robert Runcie's advice, he went to take a confirmation service at a church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, no longer recognised by the Episcopal church, enraging American bishops, not least because the bishop of London seemed to be harking back to colonial days when London was bishop to all American churches.

Although the English House of Bishops did not formally rebuke him, they did not endorse his action. Mainstream Anglicans in London felt that their bishop was MONSIGNOR page 7

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These protests should shame the west into a change of policy on Iran | Timothy Garton Ash

By Timothy Garton Ash (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

reply by comparing him to the Caliph Yazid, responsible for the death of Muhammad's grandson Hussein, and hence the original hate-figure of Shia Islam.

Submitted at 1/6/2010 12:00:00 PM Though Khamenei's most Political change in Tehran is not formidable clerical critic, Grand just a moral matter. It's our best Ayatollah Ali Montazeri, recently hope of achieving Obama's died, other senior clerics do not nuclear objectives conceal their hostility to the path While the west has been on Khamenei has taken. holiday, Iranians have again As former supporters of the risked their lives to protest regime peel away, close relatives against an increasingly desperate, of leading reformists and of the oppressive regime. America and Nobel peace prizewinner Shirin Europe now need to consider Ebadi are arrested, in a practice urgently if our Iran policy is still of intimidation that recalls the the right one.

Nazis' Sippenhaft. The nephew of Seven months after a rigged the presidential candidate Mir election, the political struggle Hossein Mousavi is shot dead in inside Iran not merely continues what looks like a targeted b u t b e c o m e s s h a r p e r . T h e assassination. At least 14 other number of demonstrators may people die in bloody clashes that not be as large as it was last defile religious ceremonies to summer, but those who persist mark the death of Hussein in the are bolder, angrier and more year 680CE – and that of radical. This is no longer just M o n t a z e r i i n 2 0 0 9 C E . about the fraudulent re-election M a r t y r d o m i s p i l e d u p o n o f P r e s i d e n t M a h m o u d martyrdom. Alas, some protesters Ahmadinejad; it is about the abandon their earlier velvet policies and authority of the discipline, to meet violence with Supreme Leader himself, as he violence. Comparisons to the increasingly relies on the naked revolution that toppled the shah force of the Basij militia and the in 1979 may still be hyperbolic, Revolutionary Guards. but this is the deepest crisis of the The office of the Supreme Islamic Republic since that Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, revolution in which it was born. says those who protest are True, the regime has not yet "enemies of God" and will be cracked down with all the force punished accordingly. Defying theoretically at its disposal. Some all taboos, radical demonstrators speculate this is because it is not

sure it can rely on the rank and file of the Revolutionary Guards, let alone of the army. Moreover, a deteriorating economy is likely to exacerbate popular discontent, beyond the country's already angry educated youth. When Ahmadinejad has to start cutting the lavish consumer subsidies that he could only afford because of high oil prices, his own working-class and rural supporters will no longer have much to thank him for.

This is one of those protorevolutionary situations where, because its development depends on the interaction of unpredictable mass behaviour and regime decisions taken by a very small circle behind closed doors, nobody – not even the best Iranian expert in the world – knows which way things will go.

But one thing is certain: this is an Iranian crisis, made in Iran, and to be resolved by Iranians. The 60 so-called subversive western organisations just anathemised by Iran's intelligence ministry, including at No 27 "Yale university" and at No 50 "Yale university and all its affiliates", have little or nothing to do with it.

After seven months of deepening regime crisis, however, America and Europe do need to adjust their policy sets. Since he came to power last January, President Barack Obama has been single-

mindedly intent on trying to prevent the Islamic Republic from acquiring nuclear weapons.

He has adopted a twin-track approach in which the offer of negotiation, without preconditions, is linked to the threat of tighter sanctions if those negotiations do not succeed. In a year, this has got almost nowhere. Meanwhile, the people of Iran have shaken their regime to its foundations. Obama himself has just spoken out to condemn Iran's "iron fist of brutality".

Now, the twin-track approach on the nuclear issue was right a year ago and it is not altogether wrong now. But something big has changed in the meantime. The truth is that the best chance we have of stopping Iran's covert march to the threshold of becoming a nuclear weapons state is a change in the way Iran is governed. What so many Iranians want is a political system that is more open to its own people and to the world; one in which the representative, republican parts of the Islamic Republic's hybrid constitution gain the upper hand.

Such a system would almost certainly produce a government more open to negotiation with the rest of the world, and more likely to abide by the results of such a negotiation than the present one is. That is now a better bet than

the implausible notion that China and Russia will agree to UN sanctions sufficiently stringent to bring this unstable, hypernationalist regime – which thrives on images of western imperialist encirclement – to give up its covert pursuit of the capacity to make nuclear weapons, as well as its support for cross-border terrorism, kidnappings etc. Yet recent interviews with senior members of the Obama administration suggest that they want to try to exploit the weakness of the Iranian regime to win some inches on the nuclear negotiation, neglecting the mile that might be gained by political change. That is the wrong balance.

There is not all that much we can do directly to help political change inside Iran – beyond keeping open the channels of information and communication, including the internet, satellite television and mobile phone networks, on which Iranians rely to tell each other what is happening in their own country.

But through those very channels, Iranians also listen carefully to what the west is saying. At this critical moment, it would be shaming if what Iranians who are risking their lives for more freedom heard was, in effect, "the west only really cares about the THESE page 9

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Iceland will vote against repaying UK and Netherlands in referendum, poll suggests

By David Teather (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk) Submitted at 1/6/2010 11:31:25 AM

• Finance ministers to meet to discuss €3.8bn debt • IMF bailout suspended until dispute is resolved Almost two-thirds of people in Iceland are expected to vote against repaying a €3.8bn (£3.4bn) debt to Britain and the Netherlands to compensate for the money lost in Icesave accounts, according to a poll published today.

Ministers are expected to meet their Icelandic counterparts, possibly as early as tomorrow, after the tiny nation's finance minister spoke to the chancellor, Alistair Darling, to reassure him that it was committed to meeting its obligations.

After a cabinet meeting, Steingrímur Sigfússon told reporters in Iceland: "I've had talks with the UK finance minister and the Dutch finance minister today because of this issue. [The talks] have been amicable and the tone less sharp than in the debate here at home."

The Icelandic government has set 20 February as the date for

the vote and recalled parliament to deal with the crisis.

The island nation, with a population of 330,000, is looking increasingly isolated after the president, Olafur Grímsson, refused to sign a bill to repay the money, drawing an angry response from London and The Hague. Grímsson, at odds with the prime minister, Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir, has forced the bill to a referendum, invoking a rarely used presidential power.

Polling firm MMR said that 58% of respondents in a referendum would vote against the legislation and 42% for it.

Supporters of the bill, which had narrowly passed on 30 December, said its failure could jeopardise an international bailout of Iceland's shattered economy as well as scuppering an application to join the EU. It was confirmed that a $2.1bn bailout from the International Monetary Fund has been suspended until the dispute has been resolved.

A spokesman on the enlargement of the EU, Amadeu Altafaj Tardio, said the Icesave issue would be "closely analysed" in considering Iceland's application for

membership, while officials were already examining whether it had breached rules of the European Economic Area.

The British and Dutch governments compensated savers who lost money when Icesave's parent, Landsbanki, filed for bankruptcy and have made it clear that they expect to be reimbursed. Paul Myners, the City minister, suggested yesterday that Iceland would cut itself adrift from international aid if it fails to pass the bill.

A second credit agency, Standard & Poors, warned that the political turmoil in Iceland might cause it to downgrade the country's debt, making it far more costly to service, after a downgrade to junk status by Fitch earlier this week.

Iceland's economics minister, Gylfi Magnússon, said the IMF bailout "has been put on ice until the problem has been solved …

We had envisioned a slow economic recovery. If no external financing is available then almost certainly the planned investment will not materialise and that means … we will almost certainly have a contraction this year." The Icelandic economy contracted at an annual rate of

7.2% in the third quarter.

An official from Finland said that the next tranche of a $2.5bn loan from Iceland's Nordic neighbours was also likely to be put on hold.

Critics have denounced Britain and the Netherlands for bullying by exerting influence on the IMF and in Brussels. Many Icelanders believe they should not be on the hook, for around €12,000 each, for the mistakes of a privately owned bank.

Almost 300,000 British savers had deposits with Icesave, attracted by market-beating interest rates. Their accounts were frozen in October 2008, starting a diplomatic row between Britain and Iceland.

Britain invoked anti-terrorist legislation to freeze the UK assets of Landsbanki.

Sigurdardóttir, elected to run the ruling centre-left coalition government in April, said the government remained committed to agreements with Britain and the Netherlands and it was not "reneging on its obligations to repay" the loans. The bill had caused heated exchanges in parliament, with some MPs shouting "treason" as it went through.

Physicist: Predicting Insurgencies Is Easy. Just Oversimplify

By Katie Drummond (Wired Top Stories)

Insurgencies are easy to predict — no matter where they occur, or why they begin. You just have to

m a k e c e r t a i n a s s u m p t i o n s , surprising amount of attention for according to one New Zealand his off-kilter theories. physicist who's getting a

Iceland, which had enjoyed one of the highest standards of living in the OECD, suffered economic collapse in October 2008, when all three of its big banks were forced into bankruptcy. They had borrowed heavily to make investments and acquisitions overseas, and when the credit crunch hit, found it impossible to refinance their debts.

A bill agreeing to repay the debt to Britain and the Netherlands was passed in August, but subsequent amendments as it went through parliament angered UK and Dutch officials and the latest bill was intended as a replacement.

In a televised address in Iceland on Tuesday, Grimsson had said that the "people are the supreme judge" and should decide on the validity of the law.

• Icesave • Iceland • Banking David Teather guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

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Four-leg footprints recast evolution

By Karen McVeigh (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

and described its effect as akin to "lobbing a grenade" into the previous consensus of when the shift from water to land occurred.

Submitted at 1/6/2010 11:06:01 AM Until now, experts had believed Fossil footprints in an old quarry that the earliest tetrapod fossils, lead to a radical rethink of the traced to about 375 million years evolution of the first four-legged ago, had split from their fishy animals or 'tetrapods' ancestors a few million years The oldest footprints ever made earlier and then gone on to by four-legged creatures have conquer the land. been discovered by scientists, "These prints push back the forcing them to reconsider a divergence of fish and fourcritical period in evolution: the legged vertebrates by almost 20 point at which fish crawled out of million years," said Janvier. "The the water onto land to evolve into evolutionary tree as we consider reptiles, mammals and eventually it now remains the same, but the humans. timing of the tree changes."

The "hand" and "foot" prints are Tetrapods are thought to have 18m years older than the earliest, evolved from a family of fish previously confirmed fossil known as elpistostegids, which remains of "tetrapods" or four- had a similar body and head legged vertebrates and were left shape to tetrapods, but paired fins by lizard-like creatures up to 2.5 rather than four feet. metres long.

However, the footprint tracks are The discovery, reported in 10 million years older than the tomorrow's issue of the journal oldest elpistostegid body fossils.

Nature, was made in a former They suggest that the fossil q u a r r y i n t h e H o l y C r o s s elpistostegids were late-surviving Mountains in south-eastern relics rather than transitional Poland. The fossil footprints can forms. be reliably dated to the early Janvier, who said he is Middle Devonian period, around convinced that no animal other 395 million years ago. than an "elusive tetrapod" could Philippe Janvier of the Muséum have left such imprints, said: "It's National d'Histoire Naturelle in really the first evidence we have Paris said the finding was as of an animal with legs and digits significant as "the first footprint walking on land at that time." of Neil Armstrong on the moon" The paper's co-author, Professor

Per Ahlberg from Uppsala University in Sweden, describes several tracks of different sizes and characteristics as well as a number of isolated prints around 15cm wide. There are distinct "hand" and "foot" prints, with no evidence of a dragging body or tail, because the animals' body weight would have been partly supported by water.

Ahlberg and his co-authors, mainly from the Polish Geological Institute in Warsaw, say their findings highlight how little we know of the earliest history of land vertebrates. They write that the prints "force a radical reassessment of the timing, ecology and environmental setting of the fishtetrapod transition, as well as the completeness of the body fossil record".

The prints will further "shake up" scientific thinking over human origins, said Janvier, because they show tetrapods thrived in the sea, which is at odds with the long-held view that river deltas and lakes were the necessary environment for the transition from water to land during vertebrate evolution.

"The closest elpistostegids were probably contemporaneous with these tracks," he said. "We now have to invent a common ancestor to the tetrapods and

The Rarefied Air of Spruce Creek

By Zach Rosenberg (Wired Top Stories)

It's a crazy mix of airport and suburban subdivision where residents taxi from their homes to

the runway.

elpistostegids."

Jenny Clark, a palaeontologist at Cambridge University, echoed Janvier's belief that the findings would force scientists to reexamine their beliefs about the timing of the transition to land.

"It blows the whole story out of the water, so to speak," she said.

Clark added that it may also give pause for thought over what drove fish from water to land in the first place. Some theorised that tetrapods originally went ashore to lay their eggs out of reach of aquatic predators, or that their ancestors grew legs to scurry from pool to pool. She had favoured the notion that fish emerged from oxygen-deprived waters in order, quite literally, to catch their breath.

None of those theories was supported by the Polish find, she said.

• Fossils • Evolution • Zoology • Poland Karen McVeigh guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Twitter Starting to Pop Up in Ad Deals

By Tom Johansmeyer (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 1/6/2010 3:00:00 PM

Filed under: Internet, New York Times'A' (NYT), Media World, Technology The New York Times( NYT) is putting its 2.3 million followers to work. It isn't ready to start charging a la carte for Twitter advertising, but it is including the channel in the comprehensive packages it presents to advertisers. And, the Times isn't alone. Several media outlets (including BloggingStocks) have ads running through their Twitter streams, but this is still virgin territory, for the most part, and media companies are still feeling their ways through it.

Continue reading Twitter Starting to Pop Up in Ad Deals Twitter Starting to Pop Up in Ad Deals originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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MONSIGNOR continued from page 3

unsympathetic and his sermons detached from their real problems.

Politically, he was fortunate in Margaret Thatcher. She was in the habit of saying, rather loudly, that Leonard was the only man in the Church of England who made the kind of sense she was looking for. He had shrewd political judgment and was an excellent negotiator. Whereas Lord (William) Whitelaw, who was losing influence in government circles, was a friend of Runcie, Thatcher felt she could do business with Leonard. She had been astute in appointing him to London instead of the Right Rev John Habgood, archbishop of York, whom many had hoped could be a mediator to calm the divisions in the diocese.

Leonard's attitude to ecumenism was sympathetic to Rome, but critical of the churches of the Reformation. He would not cooperate with Methodists in London. Early in his ministry, in 1952 at Ardleigh, Essex, his parish was preparing for the customary remembrance service with the Methodist minister preaching. In the words of the local British Legion chairman: "Graham Leonard put a peremptory stop to all that. To

him, the Methodists were dissenters from the form of worship practised in the church."

Leonard argued that only the reordination of Methodist ministers would give them validity. By rejecting the proposed service of reconciliation, he humiliated both his own archbishop and the Methodists. He led the opposition of those who defeated both reunion with Methodists and the covenanting proposals.

The crisis of his career began in 1984 when the General Synod, after decades of discussion, started to legislate to ordain female priests. Leonard had been admirable in his pastoral concern for female staff at Church House.

He had an unusual number of female workers in parishes in his diocese. He was notably honourable in ordaining 71 women as deacons at St Paul's Cathedral on 22 March 1987.

This ordination weakened the arguments against the ordination of women as priests, but he went ahead. Still, he was hesitant about allowing women to exercise authority. He appointed an area bishop to Kensington who directed that no woman should be in the sanctuary when he was celebrating, even though

Kensington had many female deacons and female servers.

Leonard once used the law of trespass to prevent 100 men and women accepting the ministration of a female priest ordained abroad. After his retirement, when the London ordinations of female priests finally took place in St Paul's in 1994, more than 5,000 worshippers crammed the cathedral. Instead of acting as a focus of unity, he left the diocese of London with an unhappy, unreconciled minority.

Leonard was a compassionate and painstaking confessor and adviser. He would spend time with the victims of injustice or misfortune. Before and after services and on parish occasions, he was warm, friendly and goodhumoured.

It was his misfortune to be summoned to London, the diocese of which he had dreamed, just when two opportunities – a new ecumenism and a new status for women – were opening to Christianity in England. His childhood and early education had led him to believe profoundly that to make changes in favour of women would be to compromise the gospel. Had he been able to engage in open-

minded dialogue and research, he would have been a leader who could have greatly enriched the Church of England – such was the strength of his inner convictions and his commitment to be a bishop.

Leonard retired to Witney, Oxfordshire, celebrating mass as a Roman Catholic parish priest and helping out wherever needed.

He also did a great deal of retreat work, leading conferences, giving lectures and engaging in spiritual direction.

He is survived by Priscilla and two sons.

• Graham Douglas Leonard, Anglican bishop and Roman Catholic priest, born 8 May 1921; died 6 January 2010 • Alan Webster died in 2007 • Anglicanism • Religion • Catholicism guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Firefox 3.5.7 fix could 'goose' browser upgrades

By Stephen Shankland (Webware.com)

Mozilla expects that the latest Firefox tweak will lead more people to upgrade. Also: that first

Firefox 3.6 release candidate could arrive Friday.

Originally posted at Deep Tech

Sharp's BD-HP70U Blu -ray player adds a little red with Netflix support

By Ross Miller (Engadget) Submitted at 1/6/2010 3:30:00 PM

Two new Blu-ray players straight from the brightly-lit, cemented halls of Sharp HQ. The BD-HP70U outputs at 1080p at 24 frames per second and boasts Wireless LAN with Netflix support (always a selling point).

The BD-HP24U doesn't boast online love, but both do feature Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio support. The latter is coming first quarter for $280, the former in Q2 for $500. We don't have a picture of the player just yet, but really it's not gonna be the casing that sets your heart aflame here, right? Press release is after the break.

Continue reading Sharp's BDHP70U Blu-ray player adds a little red with Netflix support Sharp's BD-HP70U Blu-ray player adds a little red with Netflix support originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| | Email this| Comments

8

World/ Business/ Gadgets/

E-reader News Edition

Grimsson's gamble over Icesave bill

By Larry Elliott (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk) Submitted at 1/6/2010 11:33:04 AM

Larry Elliott: The Icelandic president is betting that a big no vote next month will lead to a softening of the compensation deal Imagine you are a voter in Iceland. After months of negotiations, your government has just agreed – albeit reluctantly – to a $5bn compensation package with Britain and the Netherlands over the collapse of the Icesave bank in 2008. The deal will cost you just over £10,000. The International Monetary Fund has dropped plenty of heavy hints that acceptance of the tough terms imposed by the Dutch and the Brits is a condition for financial help to rebuild your bombed-out economy. From Brussels, the message is that you will be refused membership of the European Union unless you pay up.

Then, out of nowhere, your

president says that he is not prepared to sign the deal into law without the backing of voters in a referendum. How do you vote?

You don't need to be a psephologist to know the answer.

The deal will be rejected by a thumping majority. A quarter of the population signed a petition opposing the terms imposed on Iceland by Britain and the Netherlands and recent opinion polls have indicated that 70% of Icelanders would vote no given the opportunity. Ólafur Grimsson, Iceland's president, was well aware of what he was doing. When the Swedes held a referendum over membership of the euro, the country's political elite said yes; the people said no. When the French and the Dutch passed judgment on the first stab at the new European constitution, the elite was all in favour; the voters were not. It was the same story, first time round at least, when Ireland voted on the Lisbon treaty.

In Iceland's case, the stakes are much higher. The deal, finally

accepted by the prime minister, Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir, represents 40% of Iceland's GDP and is due to be repaid over 14 years at an interest rate of 5.5%.

Voters have a strong personal interest in sending ministers back to the negotiating table – and will almost certainly do just that.

The question, of course, is whether the result of a referendum will make any difference. From London, the message has been that it will not.

The City minister, Lord Myners, warned Iceland that it risked becoming an international pariah by reneging on the agreement.

Britain and the Netherlands want their money, and intend to get it.

What's more, the argument that British and Dutch taxpayers should not have to foot the bill for Iceland's egregious financial mismanagement in the bubble years is a sound one.

Even so, Grimsson is gambling that a big no vote next month will lead to a softening of the agreement. Firstly, it will allow Iceland to play the plucky underdog card, with a country of

330,000 people lined up against Britain, the Netherlands, the IMF, the European Union, and the credit rating agencies. There is a real sense of outrage that Britain used anti-terrorist laws to freeze Iceland's assets in 2008, in effect bracketing the country's central bank with al-Qaida.

Secondly, the Icelanders can deploy the case made on behalf of ordinary citizens in heavily indebted poor countries: that they were badly let down by greedy bankers and incompetent politicians.

Finally, Britain and the Netherlands are normally at the forefront of demands for leniency when it comes to debt. They are entitled to their pound of flesh, but make unlikely Shylocks.

• Icesave • Iceland Larry Elliott guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Get Wood With Design Hara's Home Theater PC [PC]

By Kat Hannaford (Gizmodo) Submitted at 1/6/2010 12:09:30 PM

Amongst the deluge of mediocre CES product updates this week, let's take a breather here with this eco-friendly Design Hara home theater PC. It comes in cypress and rose wood options, and the front cover is encased with sheep's leather.

There are no details on just how much this'll set you back, but doesn't it look great pared with a set of Ferguson Hill speakers?

Internally it's running on an Intel Core 2 Duo chip, has 4GB of RAM, a 1TB HDD and has an integrated Blu-ray player. [ Design Hara via Yanko Design]

For Growth With Safety, Consider AT&T

By Joseph Lazzaro (BloggingStocks)

my buy rating for the company's shares, first recommended on February 11, 2009 at a price of Submitted at 1/6/2010 3:20:00 PM $25.89.

Filed under: AT and T (T), AT&T's successful (but Stocks to Buy The growth-with- company subsidized) iPhone safety story continues at AT&T ( providership has added more T), which is why I'm reiterating than 7 million iPhone customers

since mid-2007 -- a major reason

why wireless revenue growth should exceed 10% in both 2009 and 2010; further, AT&T's 3G phone portfolio stacks up versus its competitors.

Continue reading For Growth With Safety, Consider AT&T For Growth With Safety,

Consider AT&T originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 15:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

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THESE continued from page 4

nuclear issue". And that would only be reinforced by photographs of their leaders meeting with high European and American officials – again to talk only about the nuclear issue.

Words and images matter as well as diplomatic deeds. Sometimes they matter more, especially when the diplomatic deeds are going nowhere. At this moment, the message Europe and America together should send to Iran is: "We are keen to negotiate, without preconditions, with a great nation that we wish to welcome back into the wider community of nations. But so long as Iran's current rulers are treating their own people like this, so long as they are flagrantly

violating their citizens' basic, universal (not just western) human rights, so long as the hand they extend to us has just been wiped clean of a protestor's blood – we are in no hurry to shake it."

That message would accord better with both our values and our long-term interests.

Since Obama seems wedded to his current tactics, and since Europe has more economic leverage than the US in Iran, it is Europe that should take the lead on this. And isn't Europe supposed to have a new, stronger, more united foreign policy, articulated by a new high representative, Catherine Ashton? Step forward, Lady Ashton. In Europe's name, take

on the torturers. Show us what you can do.

• Iran • US foreign policy • Obama administration • Protest • Nuclear weapons • Middle East Timothy Garton Ash guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

9

What do you guys want to see?

By John Biggs (CrunchGear) Submitted at 1/6/2010 11:53:00 AM

We have multiple live streams going on right now, people, and it’s getting serious. My question is this: do you guys like watching the full press conferences or just the stand up afterward talking about all the goodies we already saw or a combination of both.

Also, is the live stuff fun?

Valuable? Can you actually watch it at work?

Obviously this would be better if all of us were better looking, but those are genetics and beer.

LG’s new TVs are thin and full of Skype

By Devin Coldewey (CrunchGear) Submitted at 1/6/2010 10:58:40 AM

Watch live streaming video from crunchgear at livestream.com What do you want in a TV? Good picture? Low price? Or… video chat? Well, LG thinks you want video chat, though to be fair their new TVs are also quite delicious-looking. The real star of the show was the “LEF,” however, a 1/4-inch thick display that out-thins Panasonic’s surprise from last year.

Unfortunately, nobody knew a thing about it. “Straight out of Korea,” said one LG rep. “I’ve never even heard of this thing,”

said another. So basically, it’s a prototype and not for sale, which isn’t that much of a surprise. It also had a huge brick for a base, which I assume held the guts. By the way, in the video above, I say that the LEF is an OLED display, but I really have no basis for that.

Just completely making it up.

And the little ones aren’t OLED either. Just small household LCDs. The new LE line of LED-backlit TVs, however, is welldocumented. They’re quite large and fairly expensive, but that is the way of the HDTV world. If you think back to last CES, we saw the beginnings of the “connected TV” movement, and

this is LG catching up. The TVs offer Skype, Netflix, Napster (!), Vudu, YouTube, and those Yahoo Widgets we saw debut with… was it Samsung, last CES? I think so. They look like

regular TVs, so no pictures of them necessary! Besides, LG’s press kit site is being unreliable.

The Infinia series, basically the top end of the LED line, is led by the LE9500, which goes at a

ridiculous 480Hz and is, of course, 1080p. The other two (8500 and 7500) have a piddling 240Hz, and the non-Infinia TVs are a totally unacceptable 120Hz. No matter that a ton of content looks like garbage at those refresh rates, it’s all about the numbers!

I’m not going to go over every model; they’ve updated the whole line of TVs from 15-inch little guys to 55-inch ultra-lux models. The details are all here.

Dive in.

10

Business/

E-reader News Edition

How Google (or Apple) Can Win the Great Super Phone War of 2010

By Robert Fabricant (Fast Company)

future of two public companies (Palm and Sprint) were riding on the product launch. And they Submitted at 1/6/2010 1:49:47 PM seemed to get a lot of things right Forget the smartphone. How with the design, right? The demo about an AppPhone? Or a Superat CES was flawless, even AppleSmart Phone? Yes, it's a SUPER like. They had a UX designer PHONE Smackdown! The battle show it off (to the delight of is heating up with Google many of my colleagues at frog). (finally) firing on all cylinders Lots of nice tech and design, but with the release of its Nexus One. what was the value proposition: Nice to see a worthy competitor "The Pre is the only phone that to Apple emerge after almost lets you run multiple live three years of wimps. On a applications at the same time." feature level the Nexus offers the What? right firepower. But this is battle Why didn't Palm think about for hearts and minds as much as how to position their product--in processing power. These SUPER what would undoubtedly be a communication devices represent crowded market--before rushing intense, emotional and personal to copy the iPhone? And why did commitments. We dont just buy Motorola following them down them, we adopt them. They are the exact same path with the more a part of our identity than Droid ("iDont run simultaneous any previous digital technology. apps")? Will the rest of the pack We are merging our own (Microsoft, RIM, Nokia, idenities with Apple, Google, or Samsung, Dell) come up with whomever. That's right, this is a anything better? And what about brand war as much as a Google? technology one. Google will have Winning Waterloo Apple to figure out how to compete changed the game, not just with with Apple on that level if they their technology, but with the are to succeed with their mobile way they marketed the benefits strategy. enough, but most tech companies So it is no wonder that all of the service level (Ovi, MotoBlur). o f t h e i P h o n e s o f t w a r e My colleague at frog, Hans still go about their product new super phones seem to be They rarely taking holistic view. experience. Touch screens have Neubert, calls this approach strategy in the opposite way: competing for exactly same T h e l o n e e x c e p t i o n been around for a long time, yet Brand-Led Innovation. With so defining a set of features by mindshare (with an extra curve, b e i n g . . . A p p l e , o f c o u r s e . t h e y s u c c e e d e d i n m a k i n g many new smartphones coming i m i t a t i n g w h a t ' s a l r e a d y keyboard, voice feature or Pre-paring for Battle This brings "touch" seem both revolutionary to market with similar features it successful in the market; adding megapixel thrown in). They tend to mind a moment this past a n d m e a n i n g f u l . T h a t g o t i s c r i t i c a l t o d e f i n e a a few, minor twists; and then to look at the brand problem in summer, after the Palm Pre people's attention but then Apple differentiated brand promise and figuring out a 'brand' at the last isolation, at a product level launched (or was that 2008?

HOW page 11 then deliver on it! Seems simple minute (Storm, Instinct, CLIQ...). (Droid) and occasionally at a seems sooooo long ago). The

E-reader News Edition

11

HOW continued from page 10

quickly switched gears to market the phone through an endless stream of software apps that showcase the value of the iPhone platform in new and powerful ways. Nice! Not only did Apple fundamentally shift the economics of the mobile phone business they fundamentally shifted the software marketing game as well, forcing everyone to compete with their app store juggernaut. Try to come up with a unique value proposition for your smartphone and it is likely that Apple offers dozens of apps that deliver that same benefit.

Game over, right?

It is tempting to think that Apple has all the bases covered with 100,000 apps and counting.

There is nothing for Samsung and the others to do but ramp up an app store in hopes of eventually catching up. But this is exactly what Steve Jobs wants the rest of the industry to think.

He wants to turn the smartphone game into an apps game that he will clearly win. We are seeing most of the major manufacturers like Nokia and RIM take the bait.

If the smartphone is a computer then value must be in the apps, right?

This is home turf for Apple which knows more about computers and apps than just about anyone (including Google, I would argue). But is the app model the right one?

Smartphones play a fundamentally different role in our lives than PCs. It is not selfevident that the PC/app value

proposition is the right path forward. Apps are important, but they are not the whole story.

Apps cut up our experiences and relationships into a million different modalities, one place to share movies, a different place to tweet and a different place to find a restaurant recommendation.

But, all these apps can't conceal the fact that Apple has neglected some of the fundamentals. What is desperately missing is the glue between these apps. The shared intelligence and integrated services that will transform the overall experience. What does Apple offer there?

Trash Your Product Requirements Document and Start Over I would argue that Apple has music and media cornered--which is big! That is the one place that they will continue to offer a more intelligent and integrated experience, and maybe in games, too. The rising tide of iTunes and OS X will continue to enhance their entertainment offering--just look at the Genius feature. But, as people invest more and more of their time into these gadgets their expectations increase, creating new opportunities for integration unlike anything the iPhone offers. And these are profound opportunities not just to sell phones, but to redefine what a phone (and a brand) is! What do I mean? Here are some of the obvious ones. Each represents an overarching model for interacting with communications and information that is much broader

than a single app or even a suite of apps. More importantly, each one also aligns well with a differentiated brand identity: The IQPhone: "The phone that makes you smarter" This should be the Nexus, if Google can just stop talking about different versions of Android for a second. The integration of location and voice throughout the product, not as siloed apps, will make the phone a whole lot smarter. And, thus, make the user feel a whole lot smarter. Google indexes everything, so they are in an ideal position to augment our experiences and conversations.

Through a combination of voice input, voice output, semantic analysis and location based data the phone can continue to cache relevant data to suit the context with ever-increasingly intelligence. This is seriously powerful! The phone is a cluster of sensors that can listen all the time. Google can also index that data and migrate it to the cloud through Android's background processing to increase the precision and relevance of their services. I don't see Apple competing with that anytime soon. The WePhone: "Staying in touch was never easier!" When I turn on my phone I want to see people, not a bunch of apps.

Almost everything I do from a phone has to do with people either directly (calling or texting) or indirectly (sharing media, links, recommendations or other fun stuff). Contacts are the glue for 90% of what I do on a phone.

So why has no one successfully designed and delivered a peoplecentric phone? A lot of companies have been chasing this from T-Mobile's Fab Five to MotoBlur. But no one has gotten it right. Maybe Facebook should acquire Skype and get into the game with their own Super Phone? The LifePhone: "The phone that knows you better then you know yourself!" This is the one that interests me the most. As Facebook has demonstrated, we are endlessly fascinated by information about ourselves.

Phones provide a unique window into our lives because they are with us all the time. This capability is being leveraged by a wave of new applications like WideNoise and augmented by a host of sensors (like GPS, accelerometer, cameras) that are standard on more and more devices. So why cant my phone become the ultimate tool for measuring and optimizing my behavior – and competing with my friends? This version would bring the social competition of XBox, Nike+ and WiiFit to everything I do, from texting to shopping to dieting to commuting. Life will become the ultimate game. You can already see this trend emerging in apps like foursquare, and frog's forthcoming temptd. It is ripe for an overarching play.

For all of the investment in new smartphone platforms there remains a huge lack of imagination that is crippling the category. These opportunities I

have described are not that novel.

Some have been tried. But none have been done well enough to create a lasting identity in the market. While Apple sits on the sidelines and lets its developer community drive innovation, there is a growing opportunity for other companies to create integrated offerings that put the iPhone to shame and redefine the rules of engagement. There are tremendous opportunities for differentiation in the smartphone market for companies that stop focusing on the iPhone and resist the temptation to compete with Apple on their terms.

With the Nexus, Google still has not shown that they are serious about that.

Read Robert Fabricant's Design4Impact blog Browse blogs by our other Expert Designers Robert Fabricant is a leader of frog's health-care expert group, a cross-disciplinary global team that works collectively to share best practices and build frog's health-care capabilities. An expert in design for social innovation, Robert recently led Project Masiluleke, an initiative that harnesses the power of mobile technology to combat the world's worst HIV and AIDS epidemic in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. Robert is an adjunct professor at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts where he teaches a foundation course in Interaction Design. In 2009, he HOW page 12

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Business/ Tech News/

E-reader News Edition

Les Franรงaises Adorent L'iPhone, Because Their 3G Net Doesn't Suck?

By Kit Eaton (Fast Company)

that it has completed upgrading its entire 3G grid to the faster 7.2Mbps HSPA 3G capability ahead of schedule. Which might have sounded like a success for the company, except for the fact that much of Europe has enjoyed this sort of 3G speed for ages already. And there's also the question of AT&T's broken promise to get iPhone data

21Mbps system due in the Summer) with an argument along the lines of "well, they've got a bigger area to serve, and more customers," because that also means the company has more revenues and more employees to get the job done too.

On second thought, so many U.S. iPhoners are disgruntled with AT&T's poor performance I doubt anyone will even attempt that defense. That in turn has me wondering, now we're in a new decade, and Google's fronting up to Apple with the Nexus One on several networks, whether this will be the year we see the end of AT&T iPhone exclusivity in the tethering to work " in 2009" and States? Could be. It might even the embarrassing delay between be kicked off with a multi-carrier promising iPhone MMS and model for the iSlate (assuming actually delivering it. Meanwhile, some of the rumors of built-in 3G my Euro 3GS had MMS out of powers are true.) Because if that the box the day I bought it last device sells like hotcakes, and it year. too is tied to AT&T, then that And don't go defending AT&T company is going to be seriously (and even T-Mobile, which also up the famous creek and paddleconfirmed its 3G grid update to free.

7.2Mbps yesterday, and teased a [Via 9to5Mac]

Journal, and Wired.

Do Your Part and Put Some Art on Your Smart

Submitted at 1/6/2010 1:48:01 PM

Listen up U.S. iPhoners: The French may love l'iPhone even more than you, since over three quarters of phones sold over Christmas on one network were Apple ones. And that company's chief is merely shrugging off the extra data load.

With admirable Gallic cheek, the CEO of Orange owner France Telecom, Didier Lombard, revealed the surprising sales stats to newspaper Les Echos, but noted that the company and its 3G network are sturdy, and not "at the mercy of Apple." He admitted that the new Apple phones (comprising 77% of all contract phone sales on the Orange network over Christmas) were indeed burdening the grid, but the system remained live and serving data to all those new customers because unlike some foreign mobile phone operators Orange has "not hesitated to invest in infrastructure."

Here, of course, Lombard is pointing an extremely unsubtle finger at AT&T (and O2 in the U.K. to a lesser extent) which has so far failed miserably in keeping up with the new modes of 3G data consumption sparked off by the Web connectivity of the iPhone. His words come at just about the same time as information direct from AT&T

HOW continued from page 11

joined the faculty of the School of Visual Arts in New York and is a faculty member of the Pop!Tech Social Innovation Fellowship Program. A regular speaker at conferences and

events, Robert recently gave a keynote speech at the 2009 IxDA Interaction Conference. He is a frequent contributor to a wide variety of publications, including I.D. Magazine, The Wall Street

By Keith Barry (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 1/6/2010 11:30:00 AM

Design the coolest arty Smart car

and win 1,500 euro. To make it easy for non-designer folks, there's a design configurator you can use to mock up your vision.

Business/ Gadgets/

E-reader News Edition

13

Cooper-Hewitt Names Laptop Inventor and IDEO founder as Chief

By Cliff Kuang (Fast Company)

museum.

And what might the museum begin focusing on? Moggridge's Submitted at 1/6/2010 2:40:52 PM own career offers a clue: He's a A grand-daddy of interaction guru of human/computer design will lead the National interactions and technology Design Museum. design in general. With any luck, The Cooper-Hewitt National the museum will refocus itself on Design Museum loves them design as an everyday solution some Bill Moggridge. They've for pressing challenges being just tapped the 66-year-old, who's wrought by societal change. (For fresh from being awarded the example, How do you design so Lifetime Achievement Award at much interactivity and content their National Design Awards, as into something as tiny as a touch director. He'll assume the role screen phone?) this coming March.

Perhaps on a related note: The Moggridge is a leading figure of Cooper-Hewitt just got interface and technology design. a$600,000 grant to revisit Design In 1982, he designed the world's for the Other 90%, a landmark first laptop computer, the GRiD 2007 exhibition that surveyed Compass, whose clamshell design solutions for the design has become an industry documentary, Objectified.) For a presenting a vision for the d e v e l o p i n g w o r l d . standard. In 1991, he merged his (long) taste of Moggridge's mind museum and a public face. Could we maybe suggest a first own design studio with that of at work, here's a video of him In the latter respect, Moggridge project? Renaming the so-called David Kelley to form a little speaking at Stanford's Design arrives at a pivotal time: He'll be "Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt, design firm called IDEO. But in School, where he's a professor, overseeing the final stretch of National Design Museum"--yes, the past decade or so, he's about important moments in the $64 million capital campaign, the comma is in the formal namebegun in 2006, which has already -to something that actually primarily been an educator and history of interaction design: writer, having penned Designing It should be noted that director raised $54 million. Once that conveys it's role in the public Interactions, a bible of interaction of the museum has less to do money's in hand, Moggridge will sphere. design. (He also just appeared in with day-to-day curating of presumably help guide a 60% t h e e x c e l l e n t d e s i g n - exhibitions, and more to do with increase in exhibition space at the

Crapgadget CES, round 1: polar bear TV

By Nilay Patel (Engadget) Submitted at 1/6/2010 3:42:00 PM

ATSC tuner, 720p resolution, remote control, switchable cuddle / mauling modes. But where's the giraffe?

P.S.- This isn't even Hannspree's craziest TV -- that honor goes to the 42-inch fire truck monitor, which we still want.

Crapgadget CES, round 1: polar bear TV originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 15:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| | Email this| Comments

Live from Sharp's CES press event

By Richard Lawler (Engadget)

with Sharp the next up to flaunt its wares for the coming year.

Submitted at 1/6/2010 3:02:00 PM Last year the company ducked It's CES week and that means t h e W i d g e t o n s l a u g h t a n d the press conferences never stop, continued its own AquosNet path, we'll see what 2010 has in

store.

Continue reading Live from Sharp's CES press event Live from Sharp's CES press event originally appeared on

Engadget on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 15:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| | Email this| Comments

14

Business/ Gadgets/

E-reader News Edition

Pixel Qi: The Screen Tech Behind CES' Most Buzzworthy Gadgets

By Erica Westly (Fast Company) Submitted at 1/6/2010 1:50:28 PM

Ever tried to read an email on your smartphone in direct sunlight? Well, if you haven't, don't--because it's pretty much impossible. That's because the screens on most computers and cell phones are backlit, especially now that both types of devices are increasingly used for color photos and video. Some ereaders, most notably the Amazon Kindle, skip the backlight, but the tradeoff is that they don't have color either.

But Pixel Qi's new multitouch LCD screens are about to change all that, giving consumers the best of both worlds. The display technology allows computers and cell phones to switch back and forth between HD color videomode and ultra-readable, blackand-white e-reader mode in an instant, saving battery life in the process. Last spring, Gizmodo declared the technology "amazing", and earlier this month Pixel Qi made the winners list IEEE Spectrum Magazine's

More Confirmation Apple Will Use Its Own Chips For the Apple Tablet [Apple Tablet]

By Jason Chen (Gizmodo) Submitted at 1/6/2010 12:35:19 PM

annual winners and losers issue.

And this week during CES 2010 we'll finally get to see Pixel Qi's screens integrated with real devices.

The partnership that has tech bloggers salivating is the new tablet PC code-named Adam that's coming from an Indian company called Notion Ink later this year. The multitouch tablet will run on Google's Android software and, thanks in part to Pixel Qi's screen, is said to offer

enough battery power to surf the net for 16 hours or watch HD video for 8 hours straight. Notion Ink has yet to release a price or name of the tablet, but industry sources predict a June release date and a price tag of about $300 (a heck of a lot less than the$1,000 price tag of Apple's rumored iSlate).

Pixel Qi was founded by Mary Lou Jepsen, the MIT-trained electrical engineer who helped create the $100 laptop for the

The Street has learned, by way of an analyst who talked to Apple's design manufacturing partners, that Apple won't be using Intel on their upcoming tablet. Instead, they're going to use chips made by PA Semi, their One Laptop Per Child project, so own chip foundry. the fact that affordability was a It's basically what everyone priority in developing the LCD thought since Apple bought the screens comes as no surprise. chip company—since there Jepsen's OLPC laptop helped haven't been any products out yet spark the netbook trend. Will that have used the chips. It'd be multitouch tablets using Pixel interesting to see what PA Semi Qi's screens make the Kindle and comes up with for the tablet; Nook obsolete this year? Check since Apple can dictate exactly back on Friday for video of Pixel what hardware they want, it'll Qi's CES demo. In the meantime, definitely be more optimized than here's a demo of the tech filmed just using an Intel solution. [ The in Taipei last June.

Street]

Hands-on with the Monster Cable MCC AV50

By Matt Burns (CrunchGear) Submitted at 1/6/2010 11:42:10 AM

This is Monster Cables’ second

line of remotes. The first were a candybar-style Harmony clone.

Just like the rest of Monster’s line, it was expensive at $600, but yet nice. I got a chance to

spend a few minutes with Monsters’s new line after its presser today, and well, this one seems different. It’s inexpensive

at $100 and feels cheap. Well, done Monster.

Business/ Gadgets/ Tech News/

E-reader News Edition

15

Next Week's Auto Show: Just What We Needed (Also--Let the Good Times Roll)

Hands-On: Twin Screens Pack Potential in eDGe Netbook, EReader Combo

By Maccabee Montandon (Fast Company)

By Priya Ganapati (Wired Top Stories)

Submitted at 1/6/2010 2:48:25 PM

It may seem a little weird to say about an industry that has received more than its share of lumps of late but this year's North American International Auto Show, jump-starting on Monday in Detroit, is shaping up to be pretty exciting. Why? Several reasons. First there is the raw data: The 2010 edition of the show will feature products from 61 manufacturers of equipment and parts, compared with 50 from last year. And industry experts are speculating that domestic car sales could top 11.5 million this year, a considerable jump from 2009's 10.4 million in sales. Ford's stock price hasn't been this high since the

beginning of Bush's second term.

So there's that.

There are also more sublime reasons to look forward to next week's event. Drivers will soon be able to download songs much easier from their souped-up radios. Chrysler will demo a tiny

new electric car, the Fiat 500 (pictured here somewhere in Europe), which can go 70 miles before requiring a seven-hour recharging. (It is not yet clear if that model will be available in the States.) They are, by the way, far from alone in thinking small.

All of which bodes well for commuter vehicles in our less oily era. And as if you needed yet more news to get you pumped for the show: Nancy Pelosi!

Oh, and finally: local '80s rockers The Romantics are headlining this year's auto show.

They play January 15 at downtown Detroit's Cobo Center.

That means if you start now you should have just enough time to tease your hair sufficiently, pack yourself into those buried leather slacks and re-learn all the lyrics to "Talkin' in Your Sleep." That's cool and all but we have to ask: Ric Ocasek and the boys weren't available?

I m a g e : http://www.flickr.com/photos/blu etigger// CC BY 2.0

Submitted at 1/5/2010 11:57:00 PM

The nifty eDGe "dualbook" from enTourage Systems does double duty, offering web surfing and ebook reading in a single $490 hybrid device.

3M improves their pico projector line with the new MPro150

By Devin Coldewey (CrunchGear)

such as onboard storage, that its competitors had. The new version, apparently skipping a Submitted at 1/6/2010 10:49:39 AM few digits, is the MPro150, and it You remember the MPro120, fixes a lot of those little issues. It right? 3M’s little pico projector. I comes with a gig of onboard reviewed it some time ago and memory and has a MicroSD slot found it perfectly delightful, but for you to fill with movies, It’s also got a real menu system it was missing a few features, music, powerpoints, and so on. instead of the rather piddling

NASA's Contest to Design the Last Shuttle Patch

By Alexis Madrigal and Besty Mason (Wired Top Stories)

NASA chooses the 15 finalists to design the 30-year commemorative space shuttle

patch.

options present in the 120.

We tested it out while on a whirlwind tour of CES Unveiled, and it looks pretty much the same. It’s a little brighter than its little brother, and of course it has the new features, but other than that it’s the same old device.

Looking forward to reviewing

this thing.

Oh, it costs $395, which is pretty steep, but that’ll probably come down. The pico projector wars have begun.

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Texas Instruments Applies Its WVGA Resolution DLP Pico Projector to Cellphones and Digital Cameras [Projectors]

By Sean Fallon (Gizmodo) Submitted at 1/6/2010 11:56:00 AM

Because of its super-compact size, DLP Pico projectors are ideal to cram into all kinds of gadgets. Texas Instruments is doing just that by applying it's new Pico WVGA resolution chipset into everything from cellphones to digital cameras.

It's not the first digital camera with a projector, but the prototype developed by TI and Asia Optical could mean a significant bump in performance with DLP. Other notable new Pico technologies include: a snap on Pico accessory for the LG Expo mobile phone from AT&T ($179), a followup to the picoenabled W7900 from Samsung and the Brightboxe gaming projector ($199).

Texas Instruments' DLP® Pico™ Technology Enables More Than a Dozen New Pico Products From World's Leading Brands New WVGA DLP Pico™ chipset delivers incredible, native DVD images from the palm of your hand Las Vegas, NV – Jan. 6, 2010, 11:00 a.m. PST: Today at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Texas Instruments (TI) (NYSE:TXN) DLP® Products is showcasing a spectrum of more than a dozen new products featuring its award-

winning DLP Pico™ technology.

Also being announced is the production delivery of the new WVGA resolution (854x480) DLP Pico™ chip that provides native DVD images from the palm of your hand. Products using DLP Pico™ technology feature superb image quality, brightness and efficiency in such diverse consumer product categories as mobile phones, cameras, personal media players, toys, gaming, notebook accessories and multimedia pocket projectors.

"We are thrilled to see the breadth of new products coming to market all enabled by DLP Pico™," said Frank Moizio, DLP Emerging Markets business

pico projector enabled by DLP Pico™. Media players with embedded DLP Pico™ projectors are breaking into uncharted territory in terms of lumens, with Optoma and LG each announcing media player/projectors with 50 and 300 lumens, respectively.

Finally, HP's DLP Pico™ notebook accessory product is the first to achieve 100 lumens, making it an ideal solution for business professionals on the go.

While the advancements in DLP technology are providing consumers with increasing brightness and resolution from smaller form factors, the industry -low price points enabled by DLP Pico technology continue to bring the cost of projector manager. "Not only do these friendly $199 price point. products to very affordable products feature incredible DLP DLP Pico's entry into these levels. Some best-selling DLP image quality at compelling price exciting new product categories Pico products even feature price points, but they are delivering is coupled with a deepening of points below $200, including new levels of entertainment and the commitment to innovation in Optoma's PK100, the new productivity to consumers and categories where DLP Pico™ Brightboxe gaming projector and business users." projectors are already leading the the new projector snap-on DLP Pico™ technology is way. Samsung is following up on accessory for the LG eXpo™ making an impact on several new the success of its DLP Pico™ mobile phone. product categories, including projector-embedded W7900 Groundbreaking and innovative cameras and gaming. At CES, mobile phone in 2009 with the new DLP Pico™ products are DLP Products will showcase a release of a new mobile phone, showcased in more categories prototype camera with embedded using the latest DLP Pico™ than ever at CES this year, Pico projector from Asia Optical, WVGA resolution chipset. LG including: a leading manufacturer of digital will be showing its recently MOBILE PHONE cameras. Another new category announced eXpo™ mobile phone LG eXpo™/AT&T Pico for DLP is multimedia gaming, with an optional DLP Pico™ projector snap-on accessory: where Brightboxe is the first p r o j e c t o r a s w e l l . N T T (HVGA) $179; Available on gaming projector to feature DLP DOCOMO recently announced Pico™ technology, boasting the availability in Japan of the FTEXAS page 18 WVGA resolution at a consumer- 04B phone with an attachable

E-reader News Edition

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Sharp's Fanciest New TVs: The 4-Color LE920 Series [Home Theater]

By Mark Wilson (Gizmodo)

faithfully rendering nearly all colors that can be discerned with the unaided human eye. Four1080P, 240Hz, LED edge-lit and primary-color technology enables employing an industry-first 4the display to reproduce colors color filter (the secret extra color that have been difficult to portray is yellow), Sharp's latest LE920 using conventional LCD Series LCDs, measuring up to 68 displays, such as the golden diagonally, are the best displays yellow color of brass Sharp can sell you. And they instruments. even support Twitter!

When combined with Sharp's Their price is still unannounced, 1080p X-Gen LCD panel, which and the LE920 Series won't be incorporates UV2A Technology, available until May. the displays offer dramatic The sets look like big iPod reduction in energy consumption touches in person, from a compared to conventional distance, because of the chrome fluorescent-backlight LCD TVs. rim.

Continuing Sharp's history of In the meantime (this March, innovation and originality, the actually), you can pick up an new AQUOS LEDs offer a LE820/810 Series TV starting at stunning new contemporary $1800. They'll range from 40 to design that pushes the envelope 60 inches and keep the price inch (68 1/32" diagonal) screen u n v e i l s a r e v o l u t i o n a r y sizes, thin designs and Internet for flat-screen television artistry. down by using a normal 3-color class technology, introducing never- c o n n e c t i v i t y , " s a i d M i k i o At only 1.6-inches thin, the fullfilter and operating at 120Hz. • Newly developed dramatic, before-seen colors to the TV Katayama, president and chief front panel glass (on the LE920 But you should decide for contemporary design sets the i n d u s t r y . U n v e i l e d b y t h e o p e r a t i n g o f f i c e r , S h a r p and LE820 series) extends to yourself whether or not 240Hz is standard c o m p a n y a t t h e 2 0 1 0 Corporation. "We have changed meet the slim border for a subtle really worth the hassle.

• Flagship LE920 Series offers I n t e r n a t i o n a l C o n s u m e r the way an LCD TV produces an edge that befits the elegance of a SHARP® EXPANDS THE LCD AquoMotion 240 for clearer fast- Electronics Show (CES), Sharp's image with the new four-primary modern home theater.

COLOR GAMUT WITH A moving video proprietary four-primary-color -color technology, allowing us to These advanced AQUOS LED G R O U N D B R E A K I N G • AQUOS Net™ adds streaming technology enables more than a broaden the visual experience LCD TVs also include Sharp's TECHNOLOGY IN THREE video for enhanced home theater trillion colors to be displayed for and immerse consumers in a new newest version of AQUOS Net, NEWLY DESIGNED AQUOS® enjoyment more sparkling golds, Caribbean world of color." which delivers streaming video LED LCD TV SERIES LAS VEGAS, January 6, 2010 – blues and sunflower yellows.

Four Primary Color Technology with Netflix®. AQUOS Net • Revolutionary four-primary- Sharp unveils three new AQUOS "As a pioneer in the LCD This four-primary-color display gives users instant access to color technology enables more LED LCD TV series, breaking industry, Sharp continues to employs a four-color filter, for customized Web-based content than one trillion colors new ground in LCD technology a d v a n c e t h e t e c h n o l o g y , the first time in the industry, that as well as AQUOS Advantage • Three UltraBrilliant Edge-lit and design. Premiering in the introducing it's first LED- adds the color Y (yellow) to the Live real-time customer support.

AQUOS LED LCD TV Series U.S. in early 2010, this next- backlight LCD TV on the market three colors of R (red), G (green), The new AQUOS LED LCD TV with sizes ranging from 40- (40" generation set of UltraBrilliant less than two years ago and and B (blue). This combination SHARP'S page 19 diagonal) to an industry-first 68- Edge-lit AQUOS LED LCD TVs paving the way for larger screen e x p a n d s t h e c o l o r g a m u t , Submitted at 1/6/2010 12:12:58 PM

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TEXAS continued from page 16

AT&T's Web site NTT DOCOMO Pico projector phone dock F-04B: (WVGA) Availability to be announced Samsung Embedded Pico Projector: (WVGA); Availability to be announced CAMERA Asia Optical Prototype: Demonstration of embedded camera prototype at CES PICO PROJECTORS Optoma PK100: (HVGA); $199; Available at Amazon.com Optoma PK101: (HVGA); now $229; Available at Amazon.com and Apple Stores WowWee Cinemin Swivel: (HVGA); $299; Available at Amazon.com, Brookstone PICO PROJECTION MEDIA PLAYERS Foryou Media: (WVGA) Availability in China to be announced JCO-Hite: (HVGA) Availability in China to be announced Optoma PK102: (HVGA); $249; Available at Amazon.com and Apple Stores Optoma PK201: (WVGA); Availability to be announced Optoma PK301: (WVGA); Availability to be announced Samsung SP-H03: (WVGA); Availability to be announced GAMING/MUTLIMEDIA Brightboxe: (WVGA) $199; Available at select Target stores NOTEBOOK COMPANION HP Notebook Projection

Companion: (SVGA/480p); Availability to be announced MULTIMEDIA POCKET PROJECTORS LG HS200G: (SVGA); $499; Available at online retailers LG HX300G: (XGA); Availability to be announced Samsung SP-P410M: (SVGA); $540; Available at online retailers Detail on the Asia Optical camera prototype: First Digital Camera With DLP® Pico™ Projection Showing at CES Leading Digital Camera Manufacturer Asia Optical Selects Texas Instruments' DLP Pico™ for Its Embedded Camera Products Las Vegas, NV – Jan. 6, 2010, 11:00 a.m. PST: Today at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Texas Instruments (TI) (NYSE:TXN) DLP® Products and Asia Optical are demonstrating the first digital camera with award-winning DLP Pico™ projection technology.

The camera and embedded pico projection module were developed by Asia Optical, a leading manufacturer for optical technology and a major worldwide supplier of digital cameras. The embedded Pico projector module for digital cameras will be available to the Asia Optical customer base, composed of the most esteemed

camera brands, in the second half of 2010.

The DLP Pico™ projection feature within cameras provides a completely new dimension of social interaction and sharing that has previously not been possible.

Today, cameras are limited to viewing pictures on a screen confined by the dimensions of the camera itself. The pico projection feature, while completely transparent to the size of the camera, unleashes that constraint providing incredible viewing options. Consumers can instantly project their pictures to sizes up to 40 inches (in normal indoor light conditions) and in excess of 60 inches (in dark conditions). As a result of DLP Pico™ technology, the paradigm of digital camera use has the potential to change from delayed satisfaction to immediate enjoyment.

"Following an extensive comparison of all pico technology options we selected DLP Pico™ as the most compelling solution to provide our customers due to its superior image quality, small form factor and energy delivering efficiency," said Robert Lai, founder, chairman and CEO of Asia Optical. "We believe the market opportunity for embedded displays in consumer electronics products, such as digital still cameras and digital video

cameras, is significant and we are excited to launch the first product with DLP very soon."

Each consumer electronics category requires unique considerations when embedding Pico projection. DLP's newest chipset, yet to be announced, is targeted to meet the specific requirements associated with digital camera applications. Asia Optical has taken advantage of its extensive experience and knowledge in the digital camera space to design an optical engine that is completely optimized for this application.

"We are proud to work closely with Asia Optical, a leader in the digital camera field who can bring deep insight into the special requirements needed when adding projection to enhance the digital camera experience with no compromises," said Frank Moizio, DLP Emerging Markets business manager. "DLP is committed to pushing innovations in the pico category and continues to optimize the pico chip image quality, form factor and power efficiency to deliver the best consumer experiences." [ Texas Instruments]

Contest: Guess what John just sat in

By John Biggs (CrunchGear) Submitted at 1/6/2010 11:44:54 AM

I have a great prize (I don’t know what it is yet. Maybe it’s a headset or some iPhone cases. I’ll tell you next week when I get home.) if you guys can identify what I just sat in and explain to me why I continued to sit in it even as its juices seeped into my socks.

Another image after the jump.

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SHARP'S continued from page 17

product lines are all compliant with Energy Star® Version 4.0 standards which become effective in May 2010 and are equipped with Sharp's OPC function that automatically adjusts the unit's brightness based on the lighting of the room.

LE920 Series The LE920 AQUOS LED LCD TV Series represents the flagship line of this new suite of AQUOS products, offering the pinnacle in image quality and connectivity.

This Full-HD 1080p LCD TV Series, available in an industryfirst 68-inch (LC-68LE920UN) screen class size, as well 60- (LC -60LE920UN) and 52-inch (LC52LE920UN) screen class sizes (68 1/32", 60 1/32" and 52 1/32" diagonals respectively), combines Sharp's Full HD 1080p X-Gen LCD panel with its UltraBrilliant Edge-lit LED backlight to display vibrant colors and deep blacks.

Additionally, this 1080p TV offers outstanding performance for fast-action imagery, employing AquoMotion 240, which virtually eliminates blur and artifacts on fast-moving video. Offering extreme flexibility, the LE920 Series includes a USB media player for digital video/music/photo

enjoyment.

LE820/810 Series Offering additional large-screen AQUOS LED LCD TV options, the LE820 and LE810 Series are available in 60- (LC60LE820UN and LC60LE810UN), 52- (LC52LE820UN and LC52LE810UN), 46- (LC46LE820UN and LC46LE810UN) and 40-inch (LC40LE820UN and LC40LE810UN) screen class sizes (60 1/32", 52 1/32", 45 63/64" and 40" diagonals respectively).

Similar to the LE920 Series, these models combine Sharp's XGen LCD panel with an UltraBrilliant Edge-lit LED backlight. Sharp's proprietary Fine Motion Enhanced technology is included for 120 Hz Frame Rate Conversion, as well as fast response time (4 ms).

Advanced Connectivity • Four HDMI™ with Instaport™ quick switching to avoid delay when switching between sources • 1080p component video input • RS-232C input for custom installations • PC input so the TV serves a dual purpose as a PC monitor • Ethernet jack for high-speed Internet • USB input for

music/photos(LE820/810) Availability • The LC-68LE920UN will be available in May, pricing is TBD • The LC-60LE920UN will be available in May, pricing is TBD • The LC-52LE920UN will be available in May, pricing is TBD • The LC-60LE820UN will be available in March for an MSRP of $3,999.99 • The LC-52LE820UN will be available in March for an MSRP of $2,999.99 • The LC-46LE820UN will be available in March for an MSRP of $2,399.99 • The LC-40LE820UN will be available in March for an MSRP of $2,199.99 • The LC-60LE810UN will be available in March for an MSRP of $3,499.99 • The LC-52LE810UN will be available in March for an MSRP of $2,599.99 • The LC-46LE810UN will be available in March for an MSRP of $2,099.99 • The LC-40LE810UN will be available in March for an MSRP of $1,799.99

Fiancee of Cincinnati Bengals' Chris Henry will not be charged in his death

By Associated Press (ESPN.com)

[ fivefilters.org: unable to retrieve full-text content] Police will not charge the fiancee of

Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chris Henry in connection with his death.

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Parrot unveils the AR.Drone, an iPhone-controlled microcopter, at CES

By Mike Schramm (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 1/6/2010 3:30:00 PM

Filed under: Gaming, Hardware, Peripherals, Other Events, iPhone, App Store Probably the coolest iPhonerelated product to come out of the festivities at CES so far this week is the AR.Drone, created by a company called Parrot. It's a little working microcopter that's remote-controlled by an iPhone app, and it's decked out with all sorts of interesting gadgetry, including an accelerometer, gyroscope, and two cameras. A key feature is Wi-Fi integration, so the AR.Drone can actually be controlled by any Wi-Fi device, not just an iPhone.

Release is rumored to happen as early as March of this year, although the product itself is still somewhat surrounded in mystery -- we don't know a price, and even some of the features sound a little fantastical. Apparently the drone has an "autofly" setting, in which it'll follow certain visual stimuli in the environment, and it apparently also watches the floor for flight stabilization. The

features go even further than that, with the cameras on the real-life drone providing an augmented reality game feed (like shooting robots around your house as you explore with the drone) back to the iPhone.

Like I said, the features are fantastical. Parrot hasn't actually been able to show off controlling the copter with the iPhone in anything but the video above -apparently there's too much WiFi permeating the air around CES. But this is the most-hyped item coming out of the first few days of CES for sure. It'll be interesting to see how the actual product looks and works as we get closer to the expected release.

Boy, a price would be nice to hear, though it'll probably be high!

TUAW Parrot unveils the AR.Drone, an iPhone-controlled microcopter, at CES originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sped-Up Bacteria Could Transform Carbon Dioxide into Natural Gas [Bacteria]

By Popular Science (Gizmodo) Submitted at 1/6/2010 12:09:34 PM

Bacteria naturally turn carbon dioxide into methane gas over billions of years. Now Japanese researchers want to give that process a speed boost, to help counter global warming and create some much-needed natural gas.

Agence France-Presse reports that Japan hopes to reduce the transformation period from billions to about 100 years.

The researchers at the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology plan to develop a method within five years for

speeding up the bacterial transformation. Their target: produce methane gas from carbon dioxide buried about 6,600 feet (2,000 m) beneath the sea bed, just off the northern tip of Japan's main island.

Many nations have already built massive carbon sequestration plants that can store carbon dioxide underground, as part of a worldwide effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions. And some researchers have

experimented with synthetic trees that can soak up carbon even better than the real things.

Few would probably complain if the Japanese can pull off this neat trick and produce some natural gas in the bargain. But we'll keep our fingers crossed that the new super-strain of bacteria doesn't cause any unforeseen consequences. [via Agence France-Presse] Popular Science is your wormhole to the future.

Reporting on what's new and what's next in science and technology, we deliver the future now.

Tim Allen is Douglas Fir in the new Disney movie Arbor Daze

By Bob Sassone (TV Squad) Submitted at 1/6/2010 3:01:00 PM

Funny or Die has become one of the top destinations where TV and movie stars can go to make fun of themselves. Tim Allen spoofs himself and Disney films in general with this trailer for the fake movie Arbor Daze. From the plot to the narration, this is all too real.

Hey, we've already had a movie where Michael Keaton comes back to life as a snowman, so is this so far-fetched?

Filed under: Video, Web, Celebrities, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

Sharp debuts 60-inch 240Hz Aquos LED LCD TV, 68-inch set with a touch of yellow in its RGB

By Ross Miller (Engadget)

world. The LE920 flagship series comes in 52, 60, and 68-inch models with Aquomotion 240 Like the steady hand on your and edge-lit LED; those are due wristwatch, Sharp is arriving at in May with prices listed firmly CES with a handful of new as TBD. The LE820/810 series television sets... so let's get on hits the slightly tinier, 60, 52, 46, with the show! This year, the and 40-inch screen size markets Aquos LED LCD TV series is and boasts 120Hz frame rate touting an impressive 1.6-inch conversion and 4ms response thin frame, Energy Start Version time. They're slightly more 4 compliancy, and "four primary within your reach, debuting in color technology" -- in a nutshell, March with prices ranging it's a "RGB-meet-Y for yellow" between $1,800 and $4,000.

Submitted at 1/6/2010 3:30:00 PM

Looking for something even faster? Meet the 60-inch E88UN with a 240Hz refresh rate alongside a X-Gen panel --

mum's the word on pricing, but it'll be the first of these out, in February. Presser after the break.

Continue reading Sharp debuts

60-inch 240Hz Aquos LED LCD TV, 68-inch set with a touch of yellow in its RGB Sharp debuts 60-inch 240Hz Aquos LED LCD TV, 68-inch set with a touch of yellow in its RGB originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| | Email this| Comments

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Nokia 'Mystic' leaked, collides E72 heritage with Centro-esque design

By Paul Miller (Engadget) Submitted at 1/6/2010 3:16:00 PM

Here's a bit of confusion for the eyes: a new Nokia hand has surfaced at the Vietnamese tech site iTech.vn which marries the traditional E-series candybar form factor with a big dash of Palm Centro-style face buttons.

There aren't many details so far, other than the 5 megapixel camera around back and the spooky fact that the phone is temporarily going by the

"Mystic" moniker. While that legendary keyboard looks delicious as ever, we can't say we're digging much of the rest of

this handset's looks -- or lack of expanded functionality implied in the form factor -- but we'll reserve judgement for when we know more and get a chance to play with this in person.

[Thanks, Duy] Nokia 'Mystic' leaked, collides E72 heritage with Centro-esque design originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 15:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| iTech.vn| Email this| Comments

21

Sneak Peek: the singing and dancing episode of How I Met Your Mother

By Bob Sassone (TV Squad) Submitted at 1/6/2010 1:38:00 PM

More and more shows are doing musical episodes now. We've had The Simpsons doing several over the years, and then Buffy The Vampire Slayer had one too. Eli Stone had a lot of music and of course Glee takes it to a whole new level. Now How I Met Your Mother is getting into the act this

Monday for its 100th episode.

Here's a sneak peek. The episode is called "Girls vs. Suits" and you can see why.

Soon every show will have Neil Patrick Harris singing and dancing on it. [via Pop Candy] Filed under: Video, How I Met Your Mother, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

Is Inline Linking To An Image Copyright Infringement?

By Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

But, no, instead, this appears to be a serious "warning" claiming Submitted at 1/6/2010 7:28:00 AM that most bloggers are risking the Copycense points us to a writeup potential of $150,000 fines by by a patent attorney named Steve using images they find online.

O'Donnell about copyright and Copycense points out the irony blogging. Why a patent attorney that O'Donnell uses an image in is writing about copyright is not the post itself and notes that the clearly explained. Initially, since image appears to be in the public the title of O'Donnell's post was domain, but isn't sure. However, "How many copyrights does your I think a bigger issue with the blog infringe?" I thought the post post is hidden in this sentence: If might be one of those blog posts you find a picture on Flickr, that reminds us how frequently another blog, or somewhere else everyone "technically" infringes online and upload it to your own on copyright incidentally and blog (or worse yet, inline link to how this demonstrates how it from your blog) without screwed up copyright law is. permission, you're committing a

copyright violation. First of all, that's not necessarily true.

Obviously it depends on lots of other factors -- but I really question the parenthetical.

Would inline linking (usually called "hotlinking") to an image be copyright infringement under any circumstance? I understand that it's considered rude and generally frowned upon in internet circles (and, in some cases the hoster of the original file will "get back" at the hotlinker by changing the image to something different... and potentially nasty). But is it copyright infringement?

Technically, a hotlinked image is no different than a link to an image. The difference in code is minimal. The image itself is never "copied" onto your server.

All you are doing is telling a computer to go visit the original version of the image, which was put there on purpose.

We've had similar discussions in the past about whether or not it could be copyright infringement to embed an infringing video on your site -- and the situation is basically the same with hotlinked images. The content still resides on the original server and is not copied to the new server at all. If

the content itself is infringing, then perhaps there's a (really, really, really) weak case for contributory infringement, but in O'Donnell's post, he seems to be implying that even hotlinking to an authorized image would be copyright infringement, and I just don't see how that makes sense from a technological or legal perspective at all.

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Game Marketer Insists That Every Downloaded Copy Of Modern Warfare 2 Is Stolen By Immoral Thieves

By Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

copy" equation that went out of style around a decade ago: That's right, over 300 million dollars Just last month, we were stolen just of the one game, defending Bruce Everiss over a Modern Warfare 2, in 2009. ridiculous libel tourism attempt Obviously Activision had much to have him tried for libel more stolen from them with other halfway around the world from titles, but MW2 is by far the where he lives. We still defend worst affected. According to that post -- libel tourism is TorrentFreak 4,100,000 copies of terrible -- but many in our the PC version of MW2 were comments pointed out that there stolen and 970,000 copies of the may be more to the story, and Microsoft Xbox 360 version. one of the biggest things was that Thieves using bit torrents are Everiss simply hated the fact that indulging in the biggest orgy of Evony -- the company trying to theft in the history of humanity. sue him -- came up with a When they can steal with no business model that involves chance of getting caught then exactly the sort of thing we like: they will. How they justify this giving stuff away for free, and appalling lack of moral fibre to coming up with more advanced themselves is beyond me. I have reasons to buy. That still doesn't heard a whole litany of empty excuse the libel claim, but excuses from the thieves to try Everiss does seem to have a bit and justify their actions but the of trouble understanding basic fact remains that they are economics of digital goods. A benefiting from other people's whole bunch of you have sent in labour that they should have paid his recent rant about how many for but haven't. So they are people "stole" Modern Warfare thieves. Yes, according to Mr. 2. It's the sort of thing we had Everiss, "benefiting from other thought went out of style years people's labour that they should ago, when people realized that have paid for but haven't" means every download wasn't a lost you are a thief. Everiss' article is sale, and there were lots of about to get traffic from us. He's r e a s o n s t h a t p e o p l e m i g h t about to benefit from us linking download other than a lack of to his article. He hasn't paid us. "moral fiber." Everiss is having I think he should. According to none of it, however, insisting that his own reasoning, he is a thief. over 300 million dollars was You might spot the logical flaw "stolen" from Activision based in that, and it's the same in on a "one download = one stolen Everiss' own argument. It's that Submitted at 1/6/2010 8:44:00 AM

because one party believe others should pay for their work, you are to assume that that other party must pay for the work. That's not how transactions work, however.

The economy is based on mutually agreeable transactions where one party only pays if they find it worthwhile to pay, and it is the job of the entity trying to make money to give people a reason to buy. Don't give them a reason? Too bad.

Everiss goes on to then talk up DRM and three strikes as the best "solutions" to piracy, suggesting that he apparently hasn't paid attention to pretty much all of technological history, and how well such "solutions" have (not) worked. He does (thankfully!) suggest that better business models are another option, but seems to think that's a lot less important than DRM and three strikes.

The first reader who sent this story in, the creatively named TechWeasel, also wrote up a rather detailed response that he tried to post as a comment to Mr. Everiss' rant, but for some reason it was not allowed, so I'll republish it here:"I'm happy to see more attention being paid to the problem of video game piracy, but I find this analysis questionable.

1) One pirated game does not equal one lost sale. People pirate games for a number of reasons

(the litany of excuses referred to in the article), and not all of those reasons amount to "I would totally buy this game if I couldn't download it for free." First, there is no mechanism in the video game publishing industry to redress a lack of customer satisfaction. If somebody shells out $60 for a game and ends up not liking it or being plagued by technical issues, they can't get their money back like they can for most goods. Thus, a tempting solution is to download a copy of the game almost as a trial version, and then to purchase if it turns out to be worth the price.

This is only one example.

Another reason to pirate is if legitimately available versions of the game are censored in the user's country (India, China and Australia are heavy on the censorship), thus denying the user the ability to pay for a legimate copy. I am not speaking to the ethics of these reasons, but only trying to point out the fallacy behind the "1 download = 1 lost sale" argument.

2) Where are all the great DS games? Being written for platforms that don't require the same degree of game design tailoring (two screens, touchscreen w/stylus, low hardware requirements), or which have online distribution channels and thus lower overhead (i.e.

WiiWare, iPhone, PSN, XBL).

Post hoc, ergo propter hoc.

3) Technical protection is not the best solution, because it punishes legitimate users and drives them away. I did not buy Spore specifically because of its use of invasive DRM (SecuROM) and I have passed over several other games because of their DRM or activation limits. I own multiple computers and often reinstall games when swapping parts.

These are lost sales.

4) A mandate for ISPs to stop torrents through disconnection of their customers is akin to the power company cutting off the electricity to somebody's house because their usage patterns match those of somebody else who runs heat lamps. Internet access is a utility that's essential for education and work. This is why we have due process.

Companies lack the expertise to make these judgments and it would be a financial and ethical burden on them to force them to.

There are some good points here, such as business model migration towards subscriptions or microtransactions. This is the way to go, moving forward. The idea is to minimize deadweight loss - let the publishers do whatever they can to ensure that everyone pays as much as they are willing to for their games, while having the best experience GAME page 24

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23

Tablet speculation: How could a tablet connect to the world?

By Erica Sadun (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

municipal Wi-Fi, new Wi-Fi for pay services on airplanes, and other commuter-based Wi-Fi services, you can easily imagine Submitted at 1/6/2010 1:00:00 PM an urban tablet that works in Filed under: Portables, Odds and most major cities around the ends globe.

Do you know what word Dave A Wi-Fi-only approach, though, Caolo is hearing in his sleep? cuts out a lot of possibilities for Tablet. What phrase is trending tablet use on the go, when users mightily on Google Search? move away from cities. 3G/4G Tablet. What is every Apple access, similar to the kinds of fanboy and fangirl dreaming of deals currently offered on Dell for...um...some new gift-giving netbooks and laptops, might be a holiday in the March/April way for Apple to go as well. Of timeframe? Tablet. It's what good course, that would involve little geeks hope to find on their signing up for 2-year contracts at doorstep if their credit cards are outrageous prices (it doesn't not maxed out and Apple ships matter who does the service, the on the rumored schedule. prices are outrageous across In addition to bringing world vendors). That could seriously peace, universal vaccination, and put off existing iPhone contract rainbow puppy unicorns, the holders, who might not be tablet carries its own compliment w i l l i n g t o e x p a n d t h e i r of mobile issues: specifically, obligations to another multi-year h o w a n d h o w w e l l w i l l i t commitment. connect? This is a question we Unless the tablet offers a USB w e r e k i c k i n g a r o u n d t h i s port (doubtful) and supporting morning in the TUAW chatroom, software, it's pretty unlikely that after encountering a number of Apple might support using s p e c u l a t i v e r e p o r t s i n o u r solutions like the new United morning RSS feed. Rather than States-based DataJack service, predict which way Apple is going which provides unlimited 3G to go, we thought we'd run down data for 40 bucks a month. The the most likely possibilities.

MiFi router solution would work We all agree that a tablet would to provide 3G connectivity over be, at a minimum, no less Wi-Fi, as it currently does with connected than an iPod touch. iPod touches and laptops. MiFi That is, none of us think that service isn't particularly cheap, Apple will ship a tablet sans Wi- involves carrying around an extra F i c o n n e c t i v i t y . A n d w i t h hardware device, and is best McDonalds now offering free Wi suited to the hardened road -Fi at over 11,000 restaurants warrior who doesn't mind paying world wide, let alone sponsored $60/month for the convenience.

I've heard iPhone tethering floated around as a possible solution to augment built-in WiFi, as well. Users carrying both an iPhone and a tablet could use the 3G connectivity of the former to power the net services of the latter, when out of W-iFi range.

It's a nice thought -- but in the United States, would AT&T really welcome a further strain on its 3G network without additional revenue? Of course, if Apple did manage to swing a deal (say $10/month extra for tablet tethering only), it might explain why AT&T missed its "tethering this year (2009)" deadline.

Regardless of how the tablet might hook up to the net, it's likely to be just as bandwidthhungry as the iPod touch and the iPhone, if not more so. With more pixels to fill, any streaming video content will demand more data to display. Add in an e-book store for reading on the go, as well as movie rentals and the App Store, and tablets will continue to expand the way Apple mobile devices consume purchasable media. And that's not even considering the everpresent rumors about front-mounted cameras and possible video conferencing.

Apple's iPhone and iPod touch business model has put a lot of emphasis on end-user shopping.

Purchasing on the go has go to be a big part of Apple's tablet business plan moving forward.

Consider Amazon's Whispernet service. It allows end-users to

purchase media on the Kindle device. Powered by Sprint EVDO service in the US and by AT&T internationally, Whispernet downloads content from Amazon regardless of where users are. You can buy books while commuting, while at home, while at work, or at the park for lunch. Ubiquitous purchases form the backbone of Amazon's Kindle success story.

There are constraints to ubiquitous data network access, however. Whispernet limits Internet access to purchasing and downloading Kindle titles. Users cannot easily use this service to generally access the Internet (although the Kindle does have a basic browser). Amazon is providing a convenience that benefits both itself and customers, but these conveniences do not extend that to the kinds of day-to-day tasks like checking e-mail and fullfeatured web browsing that are so common on the iPhone and iPod touch. Users who want to read particular websites are allowed to subscribe to them, usually for a small monthly fee.

Even on the Kindle, Amazon's approach works, in our opinion, mostly because E-books are tiny.

Shopping and product fulfillment place little demand on providers.

Could Apple offer a similar shopping service for its tablet?

Hard to say, because audio (not to even mention video!) would require a much higher load on services.

It's imaginable that Apple might launch a text-only "purchase wherever you are" system to take on the Kindle head-on, and expand that to audio and video as 4G (and later) infrastructure grows. It's also imaginable that Apple has evaluated the tradeoffs between sales, commissions, contract terms, and rights owners and decided this is not a feasible path due to their relatively tiny margins. And, it's extremely imaginable that Apple has evaluated the strength of the jailbreak community, which opens up the iPhone's underlying Unix operating system for general computing use, and decided that a Whispernet-like approach would be too easy to exploit.

In the end, where "mobile" and "media" meet, which is where I envision the Apple tablet playing to its strengths, connectivity is going to have to play a huge role.

Buying on the go, accessing already purchased data on the go, and general net access will be the questions raised and the solutions needed. I'm looking forward to seeing how Apple has realized tablet connectivity and where it will take us as media consumers.

TUAW Tablet speculation: How could a tablet connect to the world? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Should enterprise IT piggyback on consumer Web? (CNET News.com)

consumer-facing applications, as Alfresco CTO and co-founder (and my colleague) John Newton For all the billions enterprises highlights: spend on IT each year, they The whole idea of enterprise arguably get far inferior software software in the 21st century than Facebook, Twitter, Google, seems anachronistic. The term a n d o t h e r c o n s u m e r W e b enterprise really only took hold companies make available for in the 90s in order to describe free. In part, the consumer Web systems that were able to scale can deliver exceptional value for beyond the department. It meant so little because it piggybacks on big, powerful, flexible, but it also the expensive infrastructure built m e a n t b i g , c l u n k y , a n d by others. expensive.

Is it time for enterprise software As Web 2.0 sites with their to "pull a Google" and build cheap (read free), simple, but solutions on the consumer Web? scalable platforms scaled to Your new Enterprise Content millions of users in a matter of M a n a g e m e n t / C o l l a b o r a t i o n months, the whole idea of only s y s t e m ? I t m a y s o u n d being able to support thousands preposterous, but consider just of users and take years to how good the software you use at implement became ludicrous. work is compared to the software Being enterprise--meaning you you use at home. It's not even can support your heavyweight close. The consumer Web wins infrastructure of other enterprise every single time. parts--also seems less interesting For those who think there must when you consider that the be some trade-off in software largest databases on the planet quality when brown-bagging run on MySQL using a concept with the consumer Web instead called "Sharding." of using white-glove dining with Sure, there are problems with the expensive SAP or Oracle, they're consumer Web. ZDNet, for right. There is. example, points out that Twitter's B u t t h e t r a d e - o f f f a v o r s security model isn't fully formed Submitted at 1/6/2010 11:35:00 AM

TABLET continued from page 23

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should build applications on top of the consumer Web. Or maybe a security overlay is all that's needed. Something that secures the communication endpoints while leaving employees free to interact with their peers at other companies using the consumer Web. yet, and could introduce security Novell is doing this with its breaches into enterprise software Pulse service for Google Wave, a testament to just how innovative that leverages it.

But let's not kid ourselves that software can be when it isn't enterprises aren't already at risk-- locked behind a firewall by IT. and, perhaps, equally at risk-- Others should follow suit, and from the "secure, enterprise- not create clones of the consumer grade" software they shell out Web as Tibco has with its Twitter thousands or millions of dollars clone, Tibbr.

Web 2.0 Journal notes six for every year.

And let's also not pretend that megatrends affecting enterprise enterprise workers are going to IT, including now-familiar ignore the sleek, highly usable t h e m e s l i k e o p e n - s o u r c e consumer Web in favor of the d e v e l o p m e n t a n d c l o u d clunky systems IT foists upon computing. The consumer Web should be there, too. It may well them. They're not.

Nor should they. I already find be the future of enterprise myself communicating with software. And perhaps it should colleagues, customers, and be. partners over Facebook and Five Filters featured article: Twitter, and I imagine you are, Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: too. It's simply more efficient PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. that way.

Rather than fight this, IBM et al.

GAME continued from page 22

possible. Zynga, the maker of Farmville, Mafia Wars and a host of other Facebook and iPhone games, is doing a good job with this. So is Turbine, the maker of Dungeons and Dragons Online free to play, with microtransactions for items, perks and other features.

ATVI chose to launch the PC version of MW2 with total understanding that it was a lesser version, that the PC as a platform wasn't worth the work of adding features that PC gamers expect from their games (dedicated servers, ability to mod, high degree of settings flexibility). As a PC gamer, I reject that, and chose not to buy (or pirate) the game. Others chose to pirate it, probably in part as a form of protest, but also because the neutered PC version of the game just wasn't worth the price tag that ATVI slapped on it. Good God, Activision doesn't even make $59.99 off a copy of a game purchased at Best Buy; at least make the math believable. I understand that this stance on the issue is a little too complicated to land easily beneath the headline Bruce chose, but an issue this complicated deserves more analysis."

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A Case That Has It All: Kim Kardashian, Twitter, Libel, Cookie Diets... And The New FTC Sponsorship Rules

By Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

some fans in Hollywood, and a variety of media have covered Submitted at 1/6/2010 11:14:53 AM the story. Some of those media Oh boy. Here's a fun one. You reports claimed that Kardashian had to expect that there would be (among many others) were fans more defamation lawsuits about of the diet. The Cookie Diet Twitter following the first one people -- like you would expect involving Courtney Love, but - have a page on their website this one is quite impressive, that links to news coverage, considering of all the twists and including a story (which they had turns that must be followed. It nothing to do with) that said i n v o l v e s s o m e c o m p a n y Kardashian used the diet. At promoting something called "The some point, they also sent Cookie Diet" (which appears to Kardashian's publicist a box of be exactly what you would think) the cookies. suing Kim Kardashian for libel. At some point towards the end If you don't keep up with pop of last year, Kardashian saw the culture, Kim Kardashian is one of link on the website and got upset, those people famous for being posting two Twitter messages famous. The details of the saying the following: lawsuit, though, are somewhat • "Dr. Siegal's Cookie Diet is complex, and it's difficult to falsely promoting that I'm on this figure out who to side with in this diet. NOT TRUE! I would never trainwreck in progress (and, yes, do this unhealthy diet! I do it seems pretty likely that the QuickTrim!" whole thing is a publicity stunt • If this Dr. Siegal is lying about for all involved, but that doesn't me being on this diet, what else mean it's not worth covering). are they lying about? Not cool!"

So, basically, the story is that this "cookie diet" supposedly has After that, her lawyers sent the

Cookie Diet people a letter demanding that it remove the link to the story. It's unclear on what legal grounds the demand was made, as the diet company insists it had nothing to do with the story, did not supply the information and, in fact, had no knowledge that Kardashian had tried the diet. However, they did remove the link. It was only then that they noticed the Twitter messages and... then we get the lawsuit.

OK. So far we've already got some confusion about whether a link to a news article is actionable, combined with a Twitter libel claim. But then the story gets even more bizarre.

You see, there's been a lot of talk lately about Kardashian being the most high profile client of some company that gets people to post sponsored Twitter messages. In fact, reports claim that some companies are paying her$10,000 per sponsored message. This may or may not be true, but if it is true, then the companies

paying that money are likely getting seriously ripped off because they don't understand how Twitter works and how follower counts are grossly inflated.

So, what does this have to do with the cookies? Well, the cookie people are noting in the legal filing that Kardashian is paid to promote QuickTrim, but that she failed to note this. How does that become important?

Well... you may recall last year's kerfuffle over the new FTC "guidelines" about paid endorsements online. While the cookie people don't specifically bring this up, it's certainly implied that Kardashian's paid sponsorship had something to do with her messages against the cookie people.

It's hard to see either side as being worth defending here, but sit back, grab a cookie and enjoy watching the legal arguments fly.

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Barbasol + trucks + hot wife = America

By Bob Sassone (TV Squad) Submitted at 1/6/2010 12:36:00 PM

You know what's weird about Barbasol shaving cream? Their

cans come without a cap. That has always struck me as odd, as if they got lost in shipping and the store decided to put them on the shelves anyway.

That has nothing to do with this new commercial though. I don't know how effective it is. I thought it was a beer commercial at first, or possibly a truck ad.

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25

Why Does Microsoft Limit Netbooks?

By Mike Masnick (Techdirt) Submitted at 1/6/2010 6:00:00 AM

This is hardly a new issue, but an LA Times review of three new netbooks once again brings up Microsoft's odd limitations on netbooks, in which the company will only sell its operating system to be put on underpowered netbooks, with the belief that this will somehow "protect" its other markets. Those sorts of claims tend to have a way of backfiring - and I'm a bit surprised that we haven't seen more alternativelypowered netbooks. Yes, there are a bunch of Linux netbooks on the market (and the original netbooks were Linux-based) but Microsoft machines have since taken over the market. It's encouraging to see companies like Lenovo now pushing much more powerful netbooks using a Linux-based OS, but I'm still trying to figure out Microsoft's reasoning. If the fear is that it will somehow cannibalize Microsoft's market for more powerful OSes on more powerful machines, it's difficult to see how ceding the market to others will help.

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UFC Plans To Sue Individuals, Despite The Cost Being More Than Any 'Loss'

By Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

have to wonder how any executive at the company keeps Submitted at 1/6/2010 9:58:00 AM his job. That's a recipe for There's something that just getting fired: "Hey, I'm going to drives some executives nuts undertake an action that will cost about the idea that someone us more than not taking this might access their content action -- oh, and it's likely to piss "without paying" directly for it. off a bunch of our biggest fans as We saw this last year when music well." industry execs kept saying they This isn't a huge shock. Last had to stop going to war against month, a UFC exec was at that consumers, but immediately Judiciary Committee hearing followed that up by saying that about unauthorized access to live none of that mattered if they streaming sporting events, and couldn't stomp out "piracy." It's p l a y e d t h e r o l e o f t h e as if the second any sort of RIAA/MPAA lobbyists claiming unauthorized use occurs, the "them stealers are destroying our entire "cost-benefit" analysis business." Given that, it's no goes out the window. If it's surprise that UFC is gearing up costing you more to try to stop to go after both sites like Justin.tv unauthorized access, and it's not and the individuals themselves. working, and there are ways to Apparently, UFC's fight-first, embrace it that makes you more think-later execs haven't noticed money, the solution should be how badly similar plans have simple: you stop worrying and backfired. Most of the streaming start embracing. websites have pretty strong Apparently that message hasn't DMCA safe harbor protections, gotten through to the folks who and suing users hasn't worked out o w n U l t i m a t e F i g h t i n g particularly well for the RIAA. Championship (UFC). Perhaps Furthermore, pissing off your it's not too surprising that such a fans? Yeah, not such a hot move. group's only reaction is to fight, Meanwhile, the Torrentfreak but when they even admit that article above does a really nice fighting unauthorized access will job breaking down just how cost more than any "losses," you many people willingly pay huge

sums to watch UFC events on Pay-Per-View, and how that number keeps on growing. There was apparently a dip in a recent fight, but TF notes that it probably had more to do with one of the headlining fighters having to back out. What does become clear is that UFC has no problem convincing huge numbers of people to pay up huge amounts to watch its events.

Pissing off a lot of fans with ridiculous lawsuits doesn't make anyone more likely to buy.

Hell, even Joe Rogan, the comedian (and notorious hater of"joke stealers") who also acts as commentator for UFC seems to think this is a bad idea, saying: "I think that kind of stifles innovation. It stifles the direction the internet is going. I like things being out there. I think people are always going to buy UFC payper-views. You're going to get a much better experience watching it on your television than all stretched out looking fuzzy and pixilated. They're trying to protect their money, but the internet is a strange animal."

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Munster: Apple will sell more than 36 million iPhones worldwide in 2010

By Steven Sande (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 1/6/2010 12:15:00 PM

Filed under: Apple Financial, iPhone The wizard of tech on Wall Street, Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster, is bullish on AAPL. Not only does the senior research analyst (who looks nothing like our artistic portrait at right) project that the company will sell 36 million iPhones in 2010, but he believes that the number is conservative for international sales and doesn't take into account any expansion to other U.S. cell carriers -Verizon, for instance. Munster's prognostications were published in a note to investors this morning, where he noted that this will be the first full year of sales with new carriers in the U.K., Canada, and France, and also the first full year of sales in China.

Munster also believes that a new iPhone model will arrive around the usual June - July time frame, and that will drive sales as well.

While the estimates seem rather optimistic, Munster says that his models are actually quite conservative, particularly when international sales are taken into account. For example, the Piper Jaffray models show that AT&T alone will sell 15.8 million

iPhones to their customer base of 82.5 million customers, while a composite figure for three Russian carriers shows 1.8 million iPhones being sold to a combined base of 160 million subscribers.

Looking ahead for calendar year 2011, Munster sees a worldwide total sales figure of 48.5 million iPhones, once again based on a model that he considers conservative. [via AppleInsider] TUAW Munster: Apple will sell more than 36 million iPhones worldwide in 2010 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AppZapper: a great big upgrade for a “Twilight: Eclipse” small utility Script Leaked: Reality Check

By Brett Terpstra (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

zapping sound when performing a delete. I recommend you jump straight into preferences and disable that (before it scares the Submitted at 1/6/2010 2:15:00 PM whole house in the middle of the Filed under: Software, Cool night because you forgot to turn tools your speakers down when you I discovered AppZapper years were testing it out). ago. It was a huge boon for me, Lastly, there's a whole license helping me keep my support management section built into folders a little cleaner as I began AppZapper now. It's not just for the early stages of my habit of apps you hate anymore, but the installing 2 or more new apps a panel, though, is a switch flips ones you love. Just drag items day, trying them, and usually the panel around, revealing the from Finder or out of the Hit List deleting them. It let me drag an "Hit List." This clever screen lets to indicate you own them. It will application to its interface, and you sort a grid of all your create a card for the app, and would then search for related applications, plugins, preference clicking the card flips it around files that application may have panels and widgets (all together and allows you to enter purchase left around the hard drive. A or individually) based on their info, license details and attach quick double-check (by me) to last-opened date and file size. files. Not as full featured as make sure it wasn't mistaken, one You can, for example, see all the something like 1Password or c l i c k a n d p o o f , a l l t r a c e s apps on your drive that are larger LicenseKeeper, but it's a really removed. than 50MB and haven't been well-executed touch on this new I ' v e t r i e d o t h e r , s i m i l a r touched in the last two months. incarnation of an old classic. applications over the years ... From there, you can click on one, My license of old seemed to C l e a n A p p h a s s o m e g r e a t see its related files in the bottom upgrade fine, so I believe existing features, and Amnesia is pretty bar, and click the "Zap" button to owners of AppZapper can enjoy cool, but AppZapper "just say goodbye. You can also the upgrade for free. New users worked." I managed to stay loyal launch apps directly from this can try out a free download, and to it long after I had assumed its screen, which is helpful for those pay $12.95US if you love it. development had gone dead. moments when the app's name TUAW AppZapper: a great big Then, to my pleasant surprise, a sounds familiar, but you can't for upgrade for a small utility major update dropped yesterday. the life of you remember what it originally appeared on The My AppZapper is not only does. These are 90% sha-na-na- U n o f f i c i a l A p p l e W e b l o g freshened up, it's bursting with na, hey hey for me, but it's (TUAW) on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 some very cool features.

14:15:00 EST. Please see our always nice to be sure.

The standard drag and drop Random warning: the new terms for use of feeds. panel of old is still around, and version of AppZapper makes a Read| Permalink| Email this| its automatic search is snappier. rather loud, somewhat grating Comments Up at the top corner of that first

By Christina Warren (Mashable!)

Submitted at 1/6/2010 12:20:03 PM

The web is abuzz with news of a leaked script from Summit Entertainment’s The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, which is scheduled to land in theaters in June 2010.

However, before you get too excited about the script (which probably won’t be too different from the book, anyway), it’s time for a reality check, thanks to the always knowledgeable Nikki Finke.

Last night an alleged copy of the Eclipse script was leaked to the Internet. The script was watermarked with the name Jackson Rathbone — the actor who plays Jasper Hale in the franchise.

PopCrunch cites Summit Entertainment (in a comment to MTV News) as responding: “There is absolutely no merit to this claim. We noticed it over the holiday on multiple message boards and sites, and it appears that some of this was spam.”

Nikki Finke wouldn’t call the script spam — she says that the leaked script is real and did belong to Rathbone. However, it

wasn’t the shooting script, but an earlier draft. So if you were expecting to find specific shooting directions for R-Patz and K-Stew, think again.

Frankly, considering that Eclipse is based on a book, and because the series has remained relatively faithful to those books (from what we hear, anyway), it’s doubtful that there would be any earth-shattering revelations in any script leak.

In the interest of Internet security, we do suggest being careful before downloading any file purporting to be the leaked script. Nikki Finke reported that this was a leaked PDF file, while other sites have said that a Word file is floating around. The potential for malware authors to take advantage of the situation is pretty strong, so be careful!

Tags: Movies, nikki finke, twilight, twilight: eclipse

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Netflix, Warner Bros., rejigger Web movie renting (CNET News.com) Submitted at 1/6/2010 11:53:19 AM

Reed Hastings does some significant horse trading with Warner Bros.(Credit: Greg Sandoval/CNET) Netflix subscribers who stream films over the Web will soon be getting access to a greater number of movies from Warner Bros.

In a groundbreaking deal for online movie rentals, Netflix and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment announced Wednesday that they have reached a deal that calls for Netflix to get access to more of the studio's catalog content.

In exchange, Netflix agreed to do something it has never done before. The movie-by-mail service won't offer new releases from the studio on DVD and Bluray for a period of 28 days after they go on sale.

Before you new-movie fans go berserk, listen to what the deal means for the studio and the Web's No. 1 movie-rental service. Let's start with Netflix.

Netflix needs content for the company's streaming service.

CEO Reed Hastings has proved he can obtain plenty of physical film discs, even when the studios have tried to stop him. But to stream films, Netflix needs licensing rights and those are much tougher to come by than discs. With the Warner Bros. deal, he has secured those rights from one of the major Hollywood film studios. In addition, Warner

Bros. has promised to provide Netflix with a greater number of DVD and Blu-ray discs to rent once the "sales-only" period on a title runs out.

"We're able to help an important business partner meet its objectives while improving service levels for our members by acquiring substantially more units...after a relatively short sellthrough window," said Ted Sarandos, chief content officer at

Netflix. "At the same time, we're able to extend the range of choices available to be streamed to our members."

It's likely that the only way for Netflix to have obtained the rights to stream more films is to pay big money, which likely would have to be made up in subscription fees. With film distributors flooding to the Web, including some of the cable and video-on-demand services that

pay huge fees to obtain movie rights, the studios aren't just going to give Internet rights away.

It likely would be hard for Netflix to bid for those rights and continue to offer customers allyou-can-eat movie screening for $9 a month.

But by offering to help Warner protect a sales-only window, Reed is striking a deal that shouldn't affect the fees subscribers pay, while at the same time nurturing the streaming service, which is the company's future.

Jan Saxton, an analyst with Adams Media Research, called the deal "brilliant."

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

Firefox 3.6 RC1 Released

By Mike Melanson (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 1/6/2010 8:16:51 AM

Mozilla has made the first release candidate for Firefox 3.6 available for download this morning, following a recent

announcement that further releases would be delayed.

Firefox 3.6, codename "Namoroka", looks to improve startup time and general responsiveness, among other issues.

Sponsor

For those of us who aren't in the

know about software versioning, as a "release candidate", Mozilla is hoping this is what Firefox 3.6, without the asterisk, is going to look like.

"Should everything run smoothly during testing this is what will be released to our users as the

official version after a beta period," reads the description on Mozilla's development wiki.

Downloads are available for Windows, Mac and Linux from Mozilla's FTP site. Discuss

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Howdy! A social network for cowboys (CNET News.com) Submitted at 1/6/2010 11:34:35 AM

It used to be said that mamas shouldn't let their babies grow up to be cowboys.

In olden times, mamas were right. A cowboy's life can be lonely. You often commune more with animals than people. And then there's the problem of riding a horse in very tight Wranglers.

However, these days, cowboys don't merely pick blackberries, they send raunchy texts on them, too (on BlackBerrys, that is). So some enterprising bejeaned geniuses came up with CowboySyndicate.org.

It's an odd choice of name, sounding as if John Wayne and Marlon Brando had gotten drunk one night and merged their family businesses. Indeed, it's an extension of an already existing marketing company run by Chris and Kelly Cooper. And, disappointingly, not Gary.

This husband-and-wife posse told the Austin AmericanStatesman that they recognized a need for cowboys to be cowboys in their own private online saloon. Their common interests Chris Cooper described as "rodeo, equine interests, music, fashion, agriculture, and so on."

Cowboys are social networkers,too.(Credit: CC Greenbroke/Flickr) However, this isn't your mama's cowboy world any more. Chris

29

Don’t look for Texas vs.

Alabama BCS Championship to Top Texas vs. USC

By Robert Seidman (TVbytheNumbers) Submitted at 1/6/2010 12:33:17 PM

via Nielsen Wire: When the Longhorns dramatically stunned the USC Trojans in 2006, it became the most watched national championship game (35.6 million viewers) of the BCS era. But heavy star power – with names like Young, Leinart, and Bush – and an opponent from the second highest media market (Los Angeles) had a lot to with that.

One thing’s for sure: the teams’ home markets will certainly be watching in full force. When Alabama defeated Florida in the SEC Championship Game last Cooper described his network's hail from all over the world--the Painted Ponies. You know, those month, a whopping 50.2% of all vision as the "New Western U.S., Canada, the U.K., Japan, cute figurines of horses on your T V h o u s e h o l d s i n t h e Order." Which might, for all I Sweden, Australia, France, and mama's mantlepiece.

Birmingham market were tuned know, refer to a military coup more. All of our members, no I could find no postings from in. Meanwhile 32.3% of Austin’s cowboys are ready to stage in matter where they come from, cowboys who were looking for TV households tuned in to Texas. have a love for both Western and someone to complete them, but I Texas’s narrow 13-12 win over The membership appears to have mainstream lifestyles." feel sure that CowboySyndicate N e b r a s k a i n t h e B i g 1 2 taken to the intimate exchange of While you contemplate the main will be an important forum for C h a m p i o n s h i p G a m e . online chatter. But far more differences between "Western" the future development of a Read Full Story With Top Local interesting to the noncowboy are and "mainstream" let me tell you culture whose values have had Markets So Far For This Year’s the topics that the site covers. that on the CowboySyndicate such a profound effect on recent Bowl Season Goat tying, for example. And the forum, you'll find a lady cowboy world history.

Five Filters featured article: i n c o m p a r a b l y d e s c r i p t i v e poet, who helpfully explains: Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: "mutton busting."

"Can't call myself a cowgirl poet Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Kelly Cooper told the Statesman because I write most poems in PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. that participation comes from the male gender." You'll also find Term Extraction. parts far and near: "Our members c o w b o y D J s a n d e v e n a range in age from 16 to 75 and discussion about the Trail of

30

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Parrot AR.Drone in the Air at CES [VIDEO]

By Barb Dybwad (Mashable!)

Submitted at 1/6/2010 12:07:56 PM

We snagged some live footage of the AR.Drone in action and had a chance to chat with Parrot about this sweet little iPhonepowered drone. The remotecontrolled helicopter represents the company’s first foray into video gaming, as Parrot previously focused on producing wireless products including hands-free car kits, speakers, digital photo frames and others.

The two augmented reality games included with the kit (and shown in the “don’t miss” video demo) are just the tip of the iceberg, according to Parrot — they’re already talking with game

publishers about new titles, and have released an SDK to allow third-party developers to design games for the drone. They are also encouraging the development of alternative applications for the drone beyond gaming. Parrot seems highly interested in fostering a robust developer community for the device as a hardware platform, so

we may see some interesting new uses for this flying wonder before too long.

For now it’s iPhone/iPod controlled, but Parrot plans to work to make the device available to other mobile platforms as well. What we couldn’t pry out of Parrot was a price, but the AR.Drone will launch sometime later this year.

Check it out in flight at CES in the video below and let us know what you think — what would the price have to be to justify picking one of these up?

Tags: ar.drone, Augmented Reality, CES, CES 2010, helicopter, iphone, ipod, parrot, video games

Khloe Kardashian 'Not Doing Anything to Prevent' Getting Pregnant (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 1/6/2010 11:54:00 AM

After a whirlwind wedding with L.A. Laker Lamar Odom last September, Khloe Kardashian has revealed her plans for motherhood!

In a new interview with 104.3MYfm's Valentine in the Morning on Wednesday morning, Khloe revealed that she is not in a rush to become pregnant, but is not doing anything to prevent it.

Echofon 3.0 Gets With the Twitter Times

By Samuel Axon (Mashable!)

now fully supported in addition to the old method, which lets you Submitted at 1/6/2010 11:08:37 AM include commentary on what You have plenty of options you’re retweeting. You can also when it comes to using Twitter geotag your tweets now, and look on your iPhone. But Echofon just a t m a p s f o r y o u r f r i e n d s ’ made a big move for your g e o t a g g e d t w e e t s . attention by releasing version 3.0. Echofon 3 also overhauls the The naan studio blog details the app’s search tab. You can search changes, and they are many. for users by first name, last name, There’s a dedicated tab for username or company. Trends Twitter Lists now; you can are easier to sort through, and follow and unfollow Lists, and s e a r c h e s y o u ’ v e s a v e d a t smaller changes, too. check which Lists follow you. Twitter.com are accessible in the The new version of Echofon Pro The new retweet functionality is app. There are a bunch of other is already available in the Apple

App Store[iTunes link] for $4.99.

The free version will be available soon pending Apple approval, and it will have more features than the previous free Echofon.

The biggest difference between free and Pro now (apart from the inclusion of ads in the free version) is Pro’s capability to send push notifications of updates from non-Echofon users.

Tags: echofon, echofon 3, iphone, iphone app, iphone app store, naan studio, twitter

When asked if she want to be a mother, Khloe said: "I want to so badly. I mean, I’m not rushing it.

I don't need to right now, but I definitely, in my life, I guess I would say that's a goal for me. I do want to be a mom and a great mom and do that kind of stuff, but I'm 25. I’m not rushing it. I did just get married and we both want to have kids together. But I'm not rushing it, but I'm also not doing anything to prevent it."

Fierce Fashions: The Glittering Style of the Palm Springs Film Festival!

(ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 1/6/2010 12:03:00 PM

Hollywood's biggest stars donned their best duds to attend the 2010 Palm Springs International Film Festival gala.

Take a look at the glittering gowns and sexy superstars as they strut their stuff down the red carpet!

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31

Nintendo DS2 Will Nokia's Ovi Store comes Gary Coleman Have Motion Controls to AT&T Hospitalized But It Will Not Have 3G (CNET News.com)

Submitted at 1/6/2010 10:51:00 AM

By Samuel Axon (Mashable!)

Submitted at 1/6/2010 12:02:42 PM

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata talked to a Japanese newspaper called Asahi Shimbuni(the link is in Japanese) and revealed a few details about the successor to the Nintendo DS. Iwata said the DS2 (that’s what we’ll call it for now) will have motion-sensitive controls — think Wiimote, or at least iPhone accelerometer. He also promised it will have “highly detailed graphics,” which haven’t been a priority for Nintendo lately.

Maybe he just means they’ll be detailed compared to what we see on the DS right now, though.

He also said the DS’ successor will definitely not have a 3G Internet connection or monthly fees to accompany it. The iPhone poses a significant challenge to the DS and the PSP in the mobile gaming marketplace, and it has done so with an availableanywhere App Store full of small

LAS VEGAS--Nokia on Wednesday said its Ovi application and mobile-content store is now available in the United States for AT&T wireless customers.

Consumers using Nokia devices such as the E71x, the Surge, the Mural, the 6650, the 6555, and the 6350 are now able to download free and paid content from the Ovi Store. Paid content will be billed directly to their AT&T bill. Nokia said more devices soon coming to AT&T's network will be able to access the Ovi Store.

Nokia announced in May that AT&T would make the Ovi Store

affordable games, including social ones that take advantage of the 3G network.

A 3G connection on the DS2 would have been a step in a new direction for hand-held gaming consoles, but maybe people aren’t ready to pay a monthly fee just for portable games. Are you open to buying a DS2 anyway or do you think cell phones will take over your mobile gaming habits? [via Silicon Alley Insider] Tags: 3g, iphone, Nintendo, nintendo ds, nintendo ds2, video (ETonline - Breaking News) games, wiimote

available. AT&T customers will be able to access the Ovi Store via their Nokia phone's browser.

They then can download the store and to download content such as games, ringtones, productivity applications, and movie trailers.

The Ovi storefront is now up and running in nine countries: the United States, Australia, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Russia, Singapore, Spain, and the United Kingdom. And as of May, it was available on an estimated 50 million Nokia devices across more than 50 Nokia phone models, including the flagship Nokia N97.

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(ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 1/6/2010 9:29:00 AM

Just in from the ET news desk: Former child star Gary Coleman has been hospitalized.

A rep for the actor says that Gary was doing promotional work in Los Angeles when he stated he wasn't feeling well.

We're told he was then taken to the hospital as "a preventative measure."

According to the rep, who spoke with Gary this morning, he says he's fine but must remain at the hospital to undergo more tests before his release.

Jon Gosselin's Ex Hailey Glassman on Kate Gosselin's New 'Do ET talks exclusively to Jon Gosselin's ex Hailey Glassman, who has a surprising reaction to ET has the latest... the new 'do.

R e a l i t y s h o w m o m K a t e "I like it," she says. "It’s a little Gosselin is making headlines shocking due to how short it was with her new, longer hairstyle, before, but I think, new look, featured on the cover of the just new start, happier times. Jon’s released Peopl e magazine. Now poison. He plays the victim when Submitted at 1/6/2010 10:14:00 AM

he is the villain. Also a way to throw it in his face for her. Jon always gave her s*&%t about having short hair. Props to Kate.

She can now be a MILF." Hailey goes on to say how much she loves the long hair.

32

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This week's TUAW TV Dell to Launch Android Katy Perry Live moved to Thursday Smartphone in the U.S. Engaged to Russell Brand due to memory error on AT&T (ETonline - Breaking News)

By Steven Sande (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

By Barb Dybwad (Mashable!)

Submitted at 1/6/2010 3:00:00 PM

Filed under: Video, Podcasting It's Wednesday, which means that there's going to be another exciting episode of TUAW TV Live this afternoon!

Not. Coming back to reality after a few weeks of semi-comatose holiday "time off," your host set up an appointment with a client right at the same time as the weekly Ustream show. It won't happen again, since that time is now blocked off in iCal in bright, shiny red. This week's show, however, is going to happen on Thursday, January 7th, at the regularly scheduled time (5 PM ET).

If you'd like to watch one of the previous episodes, head over to

Submitted at 1/6/2010 9:31:00 AM

Submitted at 1/6/2010 11:16:42 AM

http://ustream.tv/TUAW and you can pull up the fun from either the December 23rd or the December 30th shows.

TUAW This week's TUAW TV Live moved to Thursday due to memory error originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This morning AT&T let fly the news that it will be the exclusive carrier for Dell’s first smartphone foray in the U.S. The handset will be the Mini 3, a device Dell has been selling only in Brazil and China since late last year.

Release date, pricing and final specs weren’t announced, but we assume the specs on the device will be similar to those on the existing Mini 3: 3.5-inch display (640×360 screen resolution), Bluetooth, GPS, 3-megapixel auto-focus camera with flash and a microSD storage slot.

The other big news here is AT&T finally stepping up to the plate with the Android platform.

Along with the Dell Mini 3, it also has plans to launch at least

four more Android phones in 2010, one made by Motorola and three to be manufactured by HTC. That puts an Android lineup on all the major carriers in the States, and continues the Google mobile OS’s quickening trajectory in the smartphone space.

Tags: android, att, CES, CES 2010, dell, dell mini 3, htc, Motorola

Pop star Katy Perry and British comedian Russell Brand are reportedly on their way to wedded bliss.

Russell proposed to Katy on New Year's Eve in a tent at the foot of a mountain in India, the singer's rep confirms to Glamour magazine.

Katy recently posted a pic on her Twitter handle of her and Russell in front of the Taj Mahal with a caption that read, "He built this for me."

Jason Alexander the latest Jenny Craig pitch man

By Allison Waldman (TV Squad) Submitted at 1/6/2010 3:29:00 PM

Nobody can accuse Jason Alexander of not being honest about himself. The actor has not been happy with the way he's been looking of late and he's

going to do something about it.

Jason Alexander is the new spokesman for Jenny Craig. Not only is it "no soup for you," Jason, it's also no more big salad, too. (Unless the size of Jenny Craig meals have been supersized and nobody told me about it!) celebrity pitcher, joining Sara Jason is the latest Jenny Craig

Rue and Valerie Bertinelli. I can't wait to see Jason in a Speedo like Valerie in the bikini! No, seriously, Jason's goal with the diet is clearly all about shrinkage.

He wants his old waistline, the one that made George Costanza such a catch.

Continue reading Jason

Alexander the latest Jenny Craig pitch man Filed under: OpEd, Commercials, Celebrities, Reality -Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

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33

Ryan Mauro and the Christian Action Network (Little Green Footballs)

he objected to the John Birch Society on grounds of political expediency, not principle.

Ryan Mauro claims that I called The, Mauro proceeds to admit him a racist — I didn’t — and the political agenda of CPAC posts yet another one of those was the main focus of his article. straw man attacks for which the And just for that extra right wing right wing has become: Darnit! e m o t i o n a l g o o d n e s s , h e Charles Johnson Catches Me concludes with a silly shot at the Being a Racist! Whatever Shall I shirt I wore. Now that’s how to Do? win an argument.

Oddly, he includes no link to Mr. Johnson, you should be LGF in his post. And he makes ashamed of himself[sic] for sure no one can accuse him of implying I was indifferent or racism by including an animated somehow supportive of racism. picture of a black child with the And next time you’re doing an c a p t i o n “ T h a t ’ s r a c i s t ! ” Internet show, don’t wear a shirt Oooohkay. that looks like one of those giant Y’know, I’m really glad that lollipops I used to try to win at C h a r l e s J o h n s o n o f the fair.

LittleGreenFootballs.com let me Sorry my shirt brought up such a know I was a racist, because if I bad memory for you, Mr. Mauro. don’t fix that soon, it’s going to Next time I’ll wear my purple cause me major social problems. hibiscus aloha shirt; maybe that No, I did not let him know any will remind you of something such thing; in fact, Mauro quotes more pleasant. what I said in the Bloggingheads Or maybe the color purple will interview, about his PJ Media i n v o k e o t h e r k i n d s o f article on the John Birch Society a s s o c i a t i o n s . at CPAC, and refutes his own Since you’re listed at PJ Media straw man argument: as “national security researcher “… [the article] wasn’t based on f o r t h e C h r i s t i a n A c t i o n the fact that John Birch Society Network,” perhaps you’d like to was an illegitimate group, or a defend these statements made by racist group, which they are. The the founder of CAN, Martin criticism was based on allowing Mawyer? them to attend was politically not Martin Mawyer, longtime editor very smart. So it wasn’t based on of Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority principle, it was based on Report, founded the Christian politics.”

Action Network (CAN) in 1990, Obviously, I didn’t accuse a year after Falwell folded the Mauro of being a “racist,” I said original Moral Majority.

Submitted at 1/6/2010 8:52:28 AM

In his “dirty and dangerous” battle against “militant homosexual groups,” Mawyer has not held back. In 1997, after Ellen Degeneres came out as a lesbian on her TV sitcom, Mawyer accused her of “DUMPING HER FILTHY LESBIAN LIFESTYLE RIGHT IN THE CENTER OF YOUR LIVING ROOM!! … If we allow the tidal wave of gay and lesbian smut to continue to pour into our homes, it will utterly consume us in no time at all!”

In 1999, he asked the Federal Communications Commission to put an “HC [homosexual conduct] warning label” on TV programs with gay characters.

The following year, CAN caused a national stir when TV stations refused to air its inflammatory ad attacking Hillary Clinton, who was then running for U.S. Senate.

Over ominous drumbeats, the narrator intoned: “It is rumored that Hillary Clinton is a lesbian.

It is rumored that Hillary Clinton supported homosexual marriage.

It is rumored that Hillary Clinton will leave her husband upon taking office. … Sometimes, rumors are true. Shouldn’t you know the truth? For more information on traditional family values, please contact the Christian Action Network.”

More recently, CAN protested “Gay Days” at Disney World and other theme parks — events that Mawyer’s wife and CAN partner,

Bonnie, says demonstrate “the true intent of these homosexuals: they are after our children!!”

A 2000 Mawyer mailing incorporated militia-like paranoia: “I am not ready to give this great nation over to oneworld government extremists … radical, disease-carrying homosexuals … anti-family lesbian feminists … or antiAmerican U.N. globalists!”

CAN activists today are familiar faces at Gay Days, videotaping “bad behavior.” In 2003, CAN turned its footage of “homosexual kissing, hugging and fondling” into a video tour of the Southeast, warning parents about the perils of Gay Days and warning that “homosexuals live in a pattern of sin and debauchery.”

Or perhaps you’d like to defend the Christian Action Network’s association with the BNPconnected English Defense League, as documented in this LGF post?

It’s more than a little ironic that Mauro is complaining he’s being accused of racism, when he works for an openly extremist, virulently anti-gay religious right organization like the Christian Action Network that’s been linked to neo-fascist groups in the UK.

Holocaust Museum Shooter Dead [And Now He's Dead]

By Pareene (Gawker) Submitted at 1/6/2010 12:37:57 PM

Holocaust shooter and neo-Nazi weirdo James Von Brunn died in prison. In additional being a killer, he was a known"multiculturalist." Cause of death is unknown, though it may have something to do with getting shot, or being 89. [ TPM]

Esquire: McCarthyism 2.0? The Right's Battle with ACORN (Little Green Footballs) Submitted at 1/5/2010 5:58:30 PM

Bertha M. Lewis, CEO of the dreaded right wing boogeyman ACORN, is interviewed by Esquire’s John H. Richardson, and mentions Andrew Breitbart’s crazy accusation (that he finally ESQUIRE: page 34

34

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ESQUIRE: continued from page 33

retracted yesterday after leaving it hanging out there for 6 days): Acorn Group vs Fox News Interview with Bertha Lewis of ACORN Group.

Still, Lewis seemed almost shellshocked: “We can’t understand this obsession, and the vehemence. They just make up something and keep repeating it over and over — yesterday, I’m cleaning my house and I get a call, someone from my office saying ‘This guy from Breitbart is going crazy saying you were in the White House!’ Apparently some woman named Bertha Lewis visited the White House in September, so automatically they assumed — but it wasn’t me.”

Lewis’s take on the infamous “sting” videos engineered by Breitbart is also interesting: By 2004, the hostility directed toward ACORN had become “very, very intense,” Lewis told me. But it was the Obama election in 2008 that really sent

things into overdrive. “We said, ‘Oh, we’re just a surrogate for Obama — first there was Jeremiah Wright, then there was Bill Ayres, now it’s us.’ We thought, naively, they’re running a campaign, and it’ll all die down. But it really was surprising to us how intense it became. After almost forty years of making some very powerful enemies, it was like a perfect storm. And it hasn’t let up. It’s pretty amazing to me how the right can keep this obsession going.”

The most surreal moment, in her words, were the infamous “pimp and prostitute” videotapes.

Although the videotapes do show ACORN employees giving tax and housing advice to people who seem to be flagrant criminals, Lewis insists that the videotape doesn’t show all that happened. “Our folks did say, ‘Do you want us to get the police, how can we help you?’

But when you look at it, the tapes are so clearly edited that the voiceover questions you hear are not what our folks are responding to.”

The larger question, in Lewis’s mind, was the idea of the sting itself. “You can disagree with registering people, with the policy stands we take — that’s fine, that’s what this country is about. But to make up this prurient scenario in order to keep us as a target, that is the most frightening. It’s incredible that folks would go that far.”

It does seem significant that the filmmakers have refused to release the raw footage, and unfair to condemn the entire organization based on the stupid behavior of a handful of lowlevel employees. (Imagine if the same standards were applied to Congress or the Catholic Church, much less a poverty group that relies on low-paid employees.)

But the result of the videotapes

was the vote in Congress pulling ACORN’s funding, a move that cost the group $2-3 million in government funding and maybe another $2-3 million in matching funds, Lewis says. “And not only did they say that you can’t apply for funding but also anyone associated with you — that sent out a chill.”

As a result, ACORN had to fire one hundred people (out of a total staff of about five hundred) and reduce another two hundred to part-time status. Among other things, this meant cuts in programs to help the poor with fire prevention, lead abatement, tax preparation, foreclosure counseling, and other housing problems that, again, needed listening to.

And this is — no other word for it — embarrassing.

the conclusion of this clip, accusing me of saying “everyone Submitted at 1/5/2010 3:57:21 PM on the conservative movement is A clip from my Bloggingheads a fascist” — which, of course, I discussion with Conn Carroll of have never said or written. the Heritage Foundation has been The full video is here at posted at the New York Times Blogginheads.tv, and also posted video page t o d a y : at LGF here.

Bloggingheads: Conservative I’ll take this opportunity to Fascism? - Video Library - The discuss another talking point New York Times.

Carroll tried to raise in our Notice how Carroll tosses in a discussion (which you can see in blatant straw man argument at the full video) — the idea that

creationism is a minor, unimportant issue and nothing anyone should worry about. This is a very curious argument for Carroll to put forth, since the organization he works for, the Heritage Foundation, spends quite a bit of time and money p r o m o t i n g creationism:‘intelligent design’ site:heritage.org - Google Search.

Heritage’s own search engine turns up more creationist

By Pareene (Gawker) Submitted at 1/6/2010 12:30:24 PM

This is Humam Khalil AbuMulal al-Balawi, the Jordanian triple-agent who killed seven CIA agents (and Blackwater contractors!) last week. It is quite the story!

Baltimore mayor to resign under plea deal (AP)

LGF Diavlog at New York Times (Little Green Footballs)

Look At This Al-Qaeda Spy [Espionage]

(Yahoo! News: U.S. News) propaganda, using ‘Darwin’ as the search term: Search Results: darwin.

Other Google searches that reveal more of the far right social conservative agenda of the Heritage Foundation: homosexual site:heritage.org Google Search lesbian site:heritage.org Google Search

Submitted at 1/6/2010 12:34:07 PM

J buzzed up: Losing 2 senators, 1 gov equals worries for Dems (AP) 6 seconds ago 2010-0106T12:40:44-08:00 Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Florida GOP Chairman Bails (Little Green Footballs)

impetus for the coup.

In a conference call this afternoon announcing his The far right creationist wing of decision, Greer accused his the Republican Party is a step opponents of attempting to closer to taking control of the destroy him at the expense of the party in Florida tonight: Florida party. “While some are more GOP Chairman Resigns. interested in tearing and The resignation of Florida shredding the fabric of the Republican Party Chairman Jim Republican Party to pieces, I will Greer today — a decision that not be a participant in this came after weeks of calls for his destructive behavior,” Greer said. head from conservatives — raises Crist moved quickly to get the question of whether Gov. beyond the Greer controversy, Charlie Crist’s already embattled releasing a statement praising his Senate candidacy has sustained a ally for a “selfless dedication” to blow from which it cannot the party” before quickly adding: recover.

“I call on Florida Republicans to Greer’s status as one of Crist’s unite behind our common values closest allies — and a leading of less government and more voice for the moderate wing of personal freedom and sincerely the party — was the main reason hope that we can move forward for his ouster although his foes together to ensure statewide cited spending decisions and Republican victories in 2010.” w h a t t h e y t e r m e d a s Privately, Crist allies noted that disappointing fundraising as the the Greer controversy had Submitted at 1/5/2010 8:47:58 PM

become a considerable distraction to the governor’s campaign and that its end — even though it cost a friend and ally his job — ultimately will be a good thing for Crist’s candidacy.

A source close to former state House Speaker Marco Rubio, whose primary challenge to Crist has picked up considerable momentum in the past few months, said that the implications for the governor are far more wide-ranging — and negative.

“Jim Greer’s resignation represents the total collapse of an entire wing of the Charlie Crist house of cards,” said the Rubio source. “There’s blood in the water and Charlie Crist now finds himself on a smaller boat.”

And the right wing continues its plunge into the abyss.

Dawson Lone Inductee to Cooperstown

By Ed Price (Fanhouse Main) Submitted at 1/6/2010 6:06:00 AM

Filed under: MLB Hall of Fame Andre Dawson ended a long wait for induction, making the Baseball Hall of Fame in his ninth year of eligibility as results of the 2010 balloting were announced Wednesday.

In the annual voting by 10-year p e r c e n t o f b a l l o t s t o e a r n members of the Baseball Writers' induction. Dawson was named on Association of America, players 77.9 percent of the 539 ballots. needed to be named on 75

Players who came closest to election without reaching 75 percent: Bert Blyleven (74.2), first-time eligible Roberto Alomar (73.7), Jack Morris (52.3) and Barry Larkin (51.6).

Mark McGwire got 24 percent of the vote after receiving 24, 24 and 22 percent in his first three years of eligibility. Dave Parker, who got 15 percent of the votes and peaked at 25 percent in 1998, will be on the ballot for the final time a year from now.

35

Facebook's Former CTO Launches Stealth Startup & We've Got Invites

By Jolie O'Dell (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 1/6/2010 11:13:34 AM

Quora, the super stealthy startup that was started by Facebook's first CTO Adam D'Angelo and that is now in private beta, is beginning to crack its doors open for press, and the ReadWriteWeb crew is impressed and already mildly addicted.

It's a user-generated Q&A with real-time elements. It's useful and fascinating, with similarities to apps such as Google Wave, Aardvark, FormSpring.me - but it's beautifully built and easy to use off the bat. Read on for details on how to get your invitation for this still-private site.

Sponsor Topic experts in all areas of technology, design, startups and other areas are quickly populating the site. Users follow topics and other users, then get to participate in conversations around those topics or with those people. One of our favorite aspects of the site so far is that you can ask and answer provocative questions anonymously.

To get an idea of how the site works and what it looks like, check out these screenshots: Since the invite process is a lot

like Google Wave (each user gets a small number of invitations to email to friends), we've decided to pool our invitations and give them to our Facebook friends.

So, if you go to the ReadWriteWeb Facebook page(and if you're a fan, please add us and leave us a comment so we know who you are!), you'll see a short screencast from Marshall Kirkpatrick with the email address for your to request your Quora invitation.

We've got 100 invites to give away. The first 100 folks who email the address Marshall gives in our Facebook video will get them. Good luck, and thanks for reading and watching!

UPDATE: Invites are gone, folks! If you didn't see one, check your spam folder. If you don't see one, try asking around Twitter or in the comments here.

If you got your invite and are now inside Quora, leave us a comment and let us know what you think! We'll be posting an indepth analysis of the site later today, and we'd love to know what you think. Discuss

36

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Tea Party Leader Warns GOP Pols: We're 'Turning Our Guns' On You (Little Green Footballs)

be very clear publicly” if they don’t listen.

“If they continue to do things like Man. This is just classic. The they did in Florida, it’s not going Washington Times reports that to be good for them,” Mr. “tea party leader” Dale Robertson Robertson said. “If they don’t get is warning the GOP that the that and their party chairmen teabaggers are “turning their don’t get that, they are going to guns” on Republicans who aren’t be ostracized.” far enough to the right.

If the name “Dale Robertson” A founder of the Tea Party sounds familiar, it’s because we movement said Wednesday he featured him just last Monday, had a warning for Republican for showing up at the February leaders: Back conservative 2009 tea party in Houston with candidates or else other states this sign: will suffer the same backlash that The Washington Times doesn’t toppled Florida’s Republican mention this little embarrassing Party chairman this week. incident, of course.

“We are turning our guns on movement nearly two years ago.

These are the people who think anyone who doesn’t support He declined to say which states they have the GOP by the short constitutional conservative are next on the Tea Party’s hit and curlies. And the sad, pathetic candidates,” said Dale Robertson, list. He said party leaders in those fact is that … they do. who operates TeaParty.org out of states would be warned privately, (Hat tip: KT.) Houston and helped start the but the movement’s wrath “will Submitted at 1/6/2010 11:38:30 AM

It's time to start worrying about One Life to Live

By Allison Waldman (TV Squad) Submitted at 1/6/2010 2:02:00 PM

In 2009, the television industry closed shop on Guiding Light. In 2010, CBS will pull the plug on As the World Turns. Is it time to start worrying about One Life to Live, too? I'm afraid so. Over the holidays, One Life to Live posted horrible Nielsen numbers, the lowest ever in fact.

There are other reasons to be concerned about One Life to Live. All My Children was the New York soap opera that ABC decided to move to Hollywood. It was also the show that was transitioned to HD. One Life was not only left behind in New York -- in AMC's old studio space -but the plans for it to begin broadcasting in high-def was

delayed. ...It doesn't take a Rhodes scholar to see that One Life to Live is vulnerable and the network is not doing much to alter that impression.

Continue reading It's time to start worrying about One Life to Live Filed under: Programming, OpEd, Daytime, Cancellations, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

SpongeBob Absorbs New Year With Top Cable Entertainment Telecast

By Bill Gorman (TVbytheNumbers) Submitted at 1/6/2010 10:48:04 AM

via press release: NICKELODEON RATINGS HIGHLIGHTS WEEK OF 12/28/09-1/3/10 Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob

SquarePants rang in the New Year on top, earning basic cable’s top entertainment telecast for the week (12/28/09-1/3/09) with 5.1 million total viewers (behind only ESPN’s NFL and College Football and USA’s WWE). SpongeBob SquarePants helped fuel Nickelodeon’s win

this week as the number-one basic cable network in total day

with kids 2-11 (4.4/1.6 million), kids 6-11 (4.6/986,000), tweens 9 -14 (3.3/709,000) and 2.9 million total viewers.

Nick Jr. kicked off 2010 with its most-watched week with 631,000 total viewers and an average of 3.1/326,000 K2-5 for the week, up +24% with both

demographics.

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Use Multiple Exchange Accounts on Your Jailbroken iPhone [IPhone]

By Whitson Gordon (Lifehacker) Submitted at 1/6/2010 11:30:00 AM

Exchange is extremely useful for syncing your data live to your phone, especially since Gmail added Exchange—but iPhones still only allow one Exchange account at a time. If you're jailbroken, here's how to add as many accounts as you want.

The folks over at the Modmyi.com forums figured this one out through some trial and error, and since the instructions require sifting a thread and picking out the important steps, we've narrowed down the process here. It looks a little daunting at first (and you should proceed at your own risk), but all it requires is a little bit of copying and pasting. In order to do this, you'll need to have jailbroken your iPhone or iPod touch and installed OpenSSH on it, as well as already have an Exchange account set up.

First, you'll have to SSH into your iPhone (which we've covered how to do before) and g r a b t h e com.apple.accountsettings.plist f i l e from/private/var/mobile/Library/ Preferences/. Download it to your

computer and open it up with a plist editor (OS X has one built in, and there are a few for download on Windows). Be sure to back it up before you edit it, though, in case you mess up and need to go back to the original.

When you open it up, the Exchange account should be the first entry, and it should look s o m e t h i n g t h i s : ASAccountEmailAddress account1@gmail.com ASAccountHost m.google..com ASAccountMailNumberOfPastD aysToSync 0 ASAccountUseSSL ASAccountUsername account1@gmail.com ASLastKnownProtocolVersion

2.5 Class>/key> ASAccount DAAccountPersistentUUID 47F76882-2678-41C7-91B95 D 1 A D 5 F 7 6 B F A DAAccountVersion 2 DATrustSettingsExceptions b8fa0b7f 0e99494e e3210953 21fa4725 65454492 YnBsaXN0MDChAdICAwQFW 1NTTEhvc3RuYW1lWlNIQTFE aWdlc3QITxAUuPoLfw6ZSU7jI QlTIfpHJWVFRJIICg8b JicAAAAAAAABAQAAAAAA AAAGAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAA Pg== DisplayName Gmail Enabled Dataclasses com.apple.Dataclass.Calendars com.apple.Dataclass.Contacts com.apple.Dataclass.Mail

com.apple.Dataclass.ContactsSea rch Identifier F4EBDF4A-8C1E486E-89A8-766C1C5D8170 Short Type String Exchange Sync Identifier F4EBDF4A8 C 1 E - 4 8 6 E - 8 9 A 8 766C1C5D8170 Type Exchange Type String Exchange A c t i v e S y n c kASAccountVersionKey 7 Copy this whole section and paste it directly below itself—and then all you need to do is edit a few parts of the section you just pasted. Change the strings below ASAccountEmailAddress, ASAccountEmailUsername, and DisplayName to correspond to your second Exchange account.

You'll also have to change the last 4 digits of the DAAccountPersistentUUID to something else (it doesn't matter what it is, it just has to be different than the first account and have the same number of digits). You'll also have to change the last 4 characters of the Identifier string to something else—and make those same changes to the Sync Identifier string (so that the two strings match). Repeat this entire process (starting with the copying and pasting) for each new Exchange account you want to add.

When you're done, go back into your SSH client and upload your n e w l y r e v i s e d com.apple.accountsettings.plist file to the same folder you got it from, and you should be all set.

You don't even need to restart your iPhone, if you just wait a minute it should ask you for the passwords and start syncing.

Thanks, Jan! Two Exchange A c c o u n t s (ActiveSync)[Modmyi.com Forums]

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Resolved: Try New Software to Improve Your Experience (or Knowledge) [Resolutions]

By Whitson Gordon (Lifehacker) Submitted at 1/6/2010 12:30:00 PM

We all have our favorite programs, but we often ignore the possibility that something else is better. This New Year, as we're all trying new things, try some new software to make your life easier—or at least keep you informed.

On a recent whim, I downloaded and installed Songbird, just to see how far it had come since its 1.0 release. Surprisingly, I found myself liking it so much that I ended up ditching iTunes—a long-time dream of mine—and I haven't looked back since. On the flipside, I've also tried new software and not been happy—I've used every Twitter client known to man, but in the end, I can't help but return to Tweetie for Mac, because nothing else seems as good to me.

I share my experience not because I think anyone particularly cares which media player I use, nor to argue my

apparently futile case for Songbird, but to show how something as easy as downloading and trying out a new program can seriously improve one's computing experience, even if they go back to the original program they started with.

Many of you have commented (and I agree) that often the Hive Five polls we have every week aren't always the most accurate

way to find out what piece of software is the "best" at something—the top 5 are usually a pretty good indication, but the final vote normally indicates merely which tool is the most used. (For example, AVG was the most popular choice in our last Hive Five Best Antivirus Applications, but we still heartily recommend readers use Microsoft Security Essentials if they want free AV.) And, while

claiming the "best" isn't exactly the intent (rather, it is to find out which program Lifehacker readers use most), it seems likely to me (as I, too, am victim to this), that though we may defend our votes to the death, many of us probably haven't even tried the other competing options available. ( Ed. note: The main goal of the Hive Five has always been to highlight five of the best tools for

Under New Coach, Young Blues Must Mature

By Christopher Botta (Fanhouse Main) Submitted at 1/6/2010 4:00:00 AM

Filed under: Blues David Perron could not challenge or deny the recent buzz that his team is

having trouble keeping their latenight shifts short.

"I hope it's not a problem," the St. Louis Blues' 21-year-old left wing told FanHouse during a phone interview. "I don't think I've partied once this year. I

the rink. You know stories like this come up when you're not winning as much as you should. I don't think this is a major issue." hardly ever drink and pretty much keep to myself away from

a job, then let readers decide what they like best. The vote is just another bit of data to supplement the Hive.)

Given that, this is my challenge to all of us this New Year: try something new. My experiment with Songbird was a pretty hefty undertaking; you don't need to try something as involved as a new media player. Start small—try a new browser, or antivirus program, or IM client. Most of the stuff we feature on Lifehacker is free, so what do you have to lose? If you end up liking the new program more than your old staple, then you've just improved your user experience—and if you don't, then at least you're a bit more informed the next time you say "______ is by far the best ______."

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Arizona Cardinals' Anquan Boldin was not in pads for Wednesday's practice

By Pedro Gomez (ESPN.com)

second-round playoff game at Carolina. He wound up with 14 receptions, including eight in the Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Super Bowl against Pittsburgh, Anquan Boldin, who sprained his for 190 yards and one touchdown left ankle during Sunday's 33-7 during their run to the Super loss to the Green Bay Packers, Bowl. was relegated to the stationary Boldin caught 84 passes for b i c y c l e a t t h e s t a r t o f 1,024 yards this season. It was Wednesday's practice. the fifth time in seven seasons NFC West blog that Boldin has caught at least 80 ESPN.com's Mike Sando writes passes and gained 1,000 yards about all things NFC West in his receiving. division blog.

The Cardinals are scheduled to 窶｢ Blog network: NFL Nation host the Packers Sunday Boldin was injured while trying afternoon in at NFC wild-card to catch a pass over his head game. from backup quarterback Matt Pedro Gomez is a reporter for Leinart during the third quarter of ESPN. the regular-season finale. He was Five Filters featured article: not in pads Wednesday.

Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: Boldin also was injured during PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, last year's postseason run and Term Extraction. was inactive for the Cardinals' Submitted at 1/6/2010 12:01:16 PM

Save Your Credit Card Customer Service Numbers to Guard Against Identity Theft [Identity Theft]

By Lisa Hoover (Lifehacker)

any computer, anytime.

Wallet Garden is also a great place to store phone numbers for Credit cards have a phone your insurance cards, frequent number on them to call if your f l i e r p r o g r a m s , g y m card is stolen, but it's kind of memberships, and all those other difficult to find that number after assorted cards you have crammed someone lifts your wallet. Wallet in your wallet. The info is sorted Garden keeps those phone and stored according to category numbers at your fingertips, theft so you can prioritize who you or not. need to call first if you need to Wallet Garden is a free, easy-to- contact financial institutions in a use online service that stores only hurry. the name and customer service While we like what Wallet phone number of the companies Garden aims to accomplish, you where you have credit cards窶馬o certainly don't need to sign up for account numbers or other yet another web site to detailed information required. accomplish the same basic thing.

Once you register at the web site, Create a plain text file with the just drop in all the bank contact information and put it in your info you want to remember and Dropbox (or other file-syncing) save. You can access it later from folder and you've got the same Submitted at 1/6/2010 11:00:00 AM

basic anywhere-accessible information. For a decidedly lowtech approach, use a copy machine. Drop all the cards in your wallet face down on the screen and snag a copy. Then flip all the cards over and grab a second copy. Store both sheets in a safe place so you can pull them out quickly if you need to report lost or stolen cards.

Quick reporting is key to protecting your identity If someone snatches your wallet or (Yahoo! News: U.S. News) purse. What steps do you take to keep the personal information Submitted at 1/6/2010 12:30:34 PM you carry around safe? Share S.T. buzzed up: More exyour ideas in the comments.

Guantanamo detainees joining Thanks, Osman! Wallet militants: U.S. Garden[via Get Rich Slowly] 9 seconds ago 2010-01-

Nigerian man indicted in plot to blow up plane (AP) 06T12:40:02-08:00 Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Report: After Isiah Comments, Knicks Deny Tickets to Magic Johnson

By Anthony Olivieri (Fanhouse Main) Submitted at 1/6/2010 4:18:00 AM

Enna is an Attractive Linux Media Center Application [Downloads]

By Whitson Gordon (Lifehacker)

fanart, and information for you—and you don't have to switch in and out of a "Library Submitted at 1/6/2010 10:30:00 AM Mode" to see them, making L i n u x o n l y : P r e v i o u s l y navigation a bit nicer than some m e n t i o n e d m e d i a c e n t e r of its competitors. It's also added GeeXboX has finally released a books as a medium—and while stable version of their new one may wonder who would interface, called Enna. Used with want to read books on their GeeXboX or as a standalone television screen, comic books application, it handles all your a r e a n o t h e r m a t t e r . E n n a music, photos, videos, and even currently supports GoComics and ebooks—with style.

OneManga as content providers, Enna features a very attractive meaning you can read your interface, with direct access to all favorite comics in a whole new your hard drive's media in a very way. user-friendly way. It even Other than the bookstore, automatically fetches covers, though, and an arguably more

user-friendly interface, Enna is still relatively young, and it's missing some of the more advanced features, such as UPnP and DLNA support, that frontrunners like XBMC and Boxee have to offer. However, these and many other more advanced features are planned for the future, so Enna still has a chance of rivaling the top players one day—just not quite yet. If you do use Enna, let's hear what makes it your media center of choice in the comments. Enna[via DownloadSquad]

Filed under: NBA Rumors The New York Knicks apparently are still protecting Isiah Thomas.

The New York Daily News reported Wednesday that the Knicks denied Magic Johnson a comp ticket to their game against the Portland Trail Blazers on Dec. 7, due in part to Johnson's criticism of Thomas, the team's former coach and team president.

It is no secret that Thomas remains close to Knicks owner James Dolan, who gave the former star point guard a long leash despite catastrophic damage that was done to the franchise under Thomas' watch.

The Knicks would neither confirm nor deny the story to the Daily News, but the newspaper

reported that the club was looking to avoid a media firestorm if Johnson were present at a game. The Daily News also said that, according to a person close to the team, the Knicks did not respond to Johnson immediately, causing the iconic Hall of Famer to tell the team he had other plans.

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Track Gift Cards to Maximize Value South Florida Senior Says Joel Miller Gave Details and Use [Money]

By Jason Fitzpatrick (Lifehacker)

of Jim Leavitt's Slap

Submitted at 1/6/2010 12:00:00 PM

By Brett McMurphy (Fanhouse Main)

It's all too easy to lose, misplace, or under-use gift cards, leading to their expiration and the loss of the value on them. Don't let this holiday season's gift card bounty go to waste.

Photo by Rahim.

Whether it's because they're not cold hard cash or as painful to lose as a credit card, it's easy to lose track of gift cards—once when moving a piece of furniture I found a shocking bounty of Barnes and Noble gift cards stuck beneath it.

Over at MSN Money they have a list of tips for making sure you don't waste the value on your gift cards. The most obvious tip is to keep all your gift cards in the same location so they are less apt to go missing. You can also take advantage of online services for tracking the value and reminding

Submitted at 1/6/2010 2:35:00 AM

yourself to use them before they expire: Register card numbers and PINs at Leverage or Plastic Jungle, where you can track your balances and check expiration dates. You'll also have a backup in case you lose your piece of plastic.

Check out the article at MSN Money for additional tips,

including ways to donate the unused balance of your gift cards to charity. Have a tip or trick for using gift cards—my favorite trick is to wrap the receipt around the card so I always know the remaining balance—let's hear about them in the comments. 8 Ways to Avoid Wasting Gift Cards[via Free Money Finance]

Filed under: South Florida TAMPA, Fla. -- A University of South Florida senior said that sophomore Joel Miller told him that coach Jim Leavitt grabbed him by the throat and slapped him twice in the face at halftime against Louisville.

Wide receiver Colby Erskin(right) told FanHouse that Miller also asked for his advice on what he should do a few days after the Nov. 21 incident.

On Dec. 14, FanHouse initially reported that five members of the football program witnessed the incident and that Miller told his father, Paul Miller, and his high

Tom Brady Is NFL's Comeback Player of the Year

By Dan Graziano (Fanhouse Main) Submitted at 1/6/2010 2:40:00 AM

Filed under: Patriots, NFL Awards, NFL Quarterbacks FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Some elections are easier to predict than others. This one you could see coming as far back as

September. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has won the Associated Press NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award, one year after a knee injury sidelined him for 15 of the team's 16 games.

Brady received 19 votes from a panel of 50 NFL writers across the country, beating out Tampa

quarterback threw for 4,398 yards and 28 touchdowns while leading New England to a 10-6 record and an AFC East division title.

Bay Buccaneers running back Cadillac Williams, who got 14 votes. The Patriots' cover-boy

school coach, David Mitchell, that Leavitt struck him. That same day the university announced it would conduct an external investigation into the incident.

Gauging Mass Opinion: Don't Label it Social Media

By Alex Williams (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 1/6/2010 11:58:35 AM

In the first generation of the social Web, the marketing groups GAUGING page 42

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GAUGING continued from page 41

and public relations teams would develop reports to provide metrics for a particular campaign.

They were pretty much the sole users of "social media," technologies.

That's a problem as far as WiseWindow is concerned.

Social media is a poor label for describing how comments, blog posts, updates and other opinions can be leveraged to gauge views across social networks and thousands of Web sites.

"Labeling of it as social media has limited its potential up to now," said Marshall Toplansky, president of WiseWindow. "That is why we are calling it mass opinion business intelligence and not social media analytics."

Sponsor Now, the social Web is a realtime engine. Cloud computing is a reality and a new era is upon us that allows the enterprise to mine the vast sea of comments, reviews, updates and blog posts from millions of people. We're

entering an era where the social Web will serve as the main territory for performing predictive analytics.

WiseWindow is using artificial intelligence technology, web crawlers and the processing power of the cloud to get realtime results for enterprise customers. For example, this means that companies may leverage the social Web to make sales forecasts and gauge the opinions of mass society to immediately understand the current opinions about its brand or those of competitors.

WiseWindow calls the product Mass Opinion Business Intelligence, describing it as a service that goes beyond keyword search and clickthroughs to predict market movement.

According to WiseWindow, sentiment analysis has failed as a strategic research tool. When matching words, the context is lost. People use words differently

to describe their sentiments. The mass amount of data available makes the process overwhelming.

Instead, the WiseWindow web crawler will search for comments and other opinions across thousands of sites that are not blocked by privacy restrictions.

The artificial intelligence trains itself to look for a particular topic. It brings back all related opinions. The information is then distilled for the client or made available through a web portal where the data can be analyzed.

Recently, WiseWindow worked with a client from the film industry. WiseWindow used its technology to research 400 films, generating 4.5 million comments from 70,000 sites. They distilled the data to lean what is hot and what is not.

As another example, , WiseWindow did research for the film, Marley and Me, starring Jennifer Anniston and Luke Wilson. The pre-release promotions featured Luke

Wilson. But the comments from the Web demonstrated that Anniston had greater appeal than Wilson. As a result, the trailers were changed to feature Anniston more than Wilson.

WiseWindow was founded in 2007 by Rajiv Dulepet. He has an impressive background. He was a visiting scholar at Stanford's School of Management and Engineering, spearheading the development of presidential prediction projects for both the 2004 and 2008 elections.

WiseWindow started developing its technology in 2007 and began working with clients last year.

The company has four patents for its web crawling, autoclassifications of opinions, relevance recognition and in statistical language applications.

Discuss

Ricky Gervais sings lullabies to Elmo (Holy Kaw!) Submitted at 1/6/2010 9:21:48 AM

Elmo is no stranger to hobnobbing with celebrities — schmoozing with the likes of Heidi Klum and Jack Black — but now the fuzzy red Muppet will be the talk of the tabloids after taking a high-profile celeb to bed. Get your mind out of the gutter; it’s not an Ernie and Bert situation.

Ricky Gervais took a trip to Sesame Street to sing “n” themed lullabies to a pajama-clad Elmo and the result is pure Muppet-y awesomeness.

Entertain yourself for hours with oodles of videos.

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Gran Turismo 5 is real enough for box art

By Andrew Yoon (Joystiq)

successor to the self-described "real driving simulator." The evidence? Box art!

Click for high-resolution box art. Mercedes-Benz's gull-winged 2010 is totally the future. How SLS AMG has the honor of can we tell? Gran Turismo 5 will gracing the GT5 cover. It's a actually come out. Half a decade terrific marketing decision, if after Gran Turismo 4, Polyphony only to trick Back to the Future Digital is finishing up a true fans into thinking this is a game Submitted at 1/6/2010 2:30:00 PM

Check out a brand new video of Sony's long-awaited PS3 racer after the break.

Gallery: Gran Turismo 5 (SLS AMG) Continue reading Gran Turismo 5 is real enough for box art all about time travel. (It's not, Gran Turismo 5 is real enough we're afraid.) for box art originally appeared on

Joystiq on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Copia Challenges Amazon, B&N and Sony: Unveils New E-Book Platform and 6 E-Readers

By Frederic Lardinois (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 1/6/2010 11:33:03 AM

Copia, a new e-book platform, plans to take on the big players in the market by launching it's own e-book store and a set of touchscreen e-readers. Copia also wants to combine numerous social networking features with its e-book platform and plans to sell its services to OEM device manufacturers. Copia's e-book store will offer over 250,000 books from over 1,500 publishers, as well as 1,400 newspapers and over 750,000 free books from Google Books.

Sponsor Copia's private, limitedinvitation beta will launch this month. The company plans to expand this beta in March.

Copia bills itself as a hybrid solution, as the company plans to offer both consumer-facing ebook solutions as well as an open platform for OEMs. Focus on Social Networking Features On the consumer side, Copia wants to differentiate itself from its competition by giving its users a number of social networking tools. Community profiles on

Copia, for example, are linked to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. In addition, the service will offer collaboration tools that are mostly geared towards students.

Users can highlight and annotate books, for example, and share these annotations with other users. Copia will also implement a rating system for book reviews.

OEM's will be able to offer all of these features to their users as well. OEMs will also be able to integrate Copia's e-book store into their own devices. Copia's EReaders: Ocean and Tidal Copia plans to offer 6 different e -readers with prices ranging from $199 to $299. The 'Tidal' will offer a 6-inch ePaper display and the 'Ocean' will come in a basic 6 -inch version and two advanced versions with a 9-inch screens.

Both of these models will come in three different variations. The most basic models will not offer any wireless connectivity besides WiFi and won't offer a

touchscreen. The intermediate models offer touchscreens and the high-end versions will offer touchscreens and 3G connectivity. All models come with tilt sensors and 4GB of internal memory.

These devices will go on sale on Copia's site in April.

Can This Work?

We still have a lot of questions about Copia. We don't know at what price the company plans to sell books and what DRMsolution Copia plans to implement. At the same time, though, the company's plan to sell both e-books and compatible e-readers looks a lot like Amazon's strategy and there can be no doubt that Amazon has been quite successful with this strategy. Copia, however, doesn't have any name recognition yet and the e-book market is currently dominated by big companies like Amazon, B&N and Sony. If Copia is successful in getting enough OEM partners, though, it could establish itself as another major player in the market. The company's e-reader lineup also looks like a potential winner. Discuss

New Super Street Fighter IV Ultra Combos, alternate costumes revealed

By JC Fletcher (Joystiq) Submitted at 1/6/2010 1:27:00 PM

Recent Famitsu magazine scans have surfaced, revealing new Ultra Combos for Super Street Fighter IV's world warriors and friends. As an added bonus, Eventhubs has actually translated the descriptions of the attacks, so you can get a better idea of what you're squinting at. Chun-Li's Kikosho fireball returns, and now Ryu has a "Metsu-shoryuken" -a super-powerful Dragon Punch, duh. Most interesting, however, is Cammy's new Ultra Combo: the "Cammy Quick Combo" -- or "CQC" -- a counter move.

The Famitsu issue also features images of new alternate costumes for the upgraded fighting game --

Chun Li's, above, is the most visible from the scan. Thankfully, GameTrailers has posted a much clearer, wha-wha-wha-wooorld exclusive look at the costumes in action, along with some of the new Ultra Combos and rival battles, embedded after the break.

[Thanks, Will] Continue reading New Super Street Fighter IV Ultra Combos, alternate costumes revealed New Super Street Fighter IV Ultra Combos, alternate costumes revealed originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 13:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MailBrowser: Get More Out of Your Google Contacts

By Frederic Lardinois (ReadWriteWeb)

add this functionality in a future version. Currently, the service can only display details about a Submitted at 1/6/2010 9:57:03 AM is the "trend" section that appears contact's domain and website.

MailBrowser wants to make at the bottom of the sidebar. More Features Coming Soon Gmail and Google Apps more Here, two graphs show a timeline MailBrowser has big plans for useful by offering a consolidated view of how many emails you the future. The company plans to view of all your contacts and sent and received from any given offer support for more services attachments in a browser sidebar. contact.

(Yahoo Mail, Live Mail, etc.), In this sidebar, you can quickly MailBrowser stores all your data integration with enterprise apps search for contacts, see the latest locally on your hard disk, so no like Salesforce and integration emails you received from a information is ever shared with with social media services like specific contact, add calendar the service. Because all the data Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. events and attach notes and tags is stored locally, MailBrowser Verdict to a contact. In many respects, also keeps a copy of all your For now, MailBrowser works MailBrowser looks a lot like attachments on your machine. just as advertised. It doesn't yet Xobni for Gmail.

The application also syncs all the offer the rich feature set of Sponsor data back to Google Contacts in Xobni, but the company is clearly Features the cloud, so any changes you working on that.

MailBrowser is currently only make on one computer will If you have a very large mailbox, c o m p a t i b l e w i t h I n t e r n e t automatically appear on another i t c a n t a k e a w h i l e f o r Explorer and Firefox on the Mac machine. Xobni for Gmail MailBrowser to download and (OSX 10.5 and higher) and In many respects, MailBrowser index your information. Luckily, Windows, though the team is is very similar to Xobni- a the download process starts with working on Safari and Chrome popular Outlook addon. Xobni, your most recent email, so that versions as well. h o w e v e r , p u t s a s t r o n g e r you can be up and running long The plugin offers a rich set of e m p h a s i s o n g i v i n g y o u before your last email has been features, including support for additional information about a downloaded. multiple Gmail and Google Apps c o n t a c t b y l o o k i n g a t t h e Discuss accounts and rich previews of contact's social networking attachments. Another nice feature profiles. MailBrowser plans to

Rock Band 2 patched on PS3 to make way for Rock Band Network

By JC Fletcher (Joystiq)

hammer-ons and pull-offs" found in The Beatles: Rock Band, support for SingStar wireless Harmonix continues to show that m i c r o p h o n e s , s u p p o r t f o r it cares about Rock Band 2 fans velocity sensitivity with Ion with more than just weekly DLC. Drum Rocker drums, and the The developer has announced a ability to sort songs in Quickplay patch for the PS3 version of the by the number of stars you've game that adds support for the earned on each song. upcoming Rock Band Network The update will be available this Store -- the interface for selling Thursday. songs added to Rock Band by Rock Band 2 patched on PS3 to fans, musicians and record labels m a k e w a y f o r R o c k B a n d through the new Rock Band Network originally appeared on Network. If you were lamenting Joystiq on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 your current inability to purchase 15:00:00 EST. Please see our songs made by some dude, now terms for use of feeds. you can take heart!

Read| Permalink| Email this| The update also adds the "much Comments more robust handling of chord Submitted at 1/6/2010 3:00:00 PM

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21 iPhone Puzzle Games to Kill Time With

By Andrew Bednarz (TheAppleBlog) Submitted at 1/6/2010 10:00:41 AM

I think I’ve spent more time playing games on my iPhone than I have on my old Playstation, Playstation 2 or Wii. It simply boils down to the fact that whenever I’m standing around waiting in a line, waiting for the train or in a dentist’s office, I can pull out my phone and have a quick game of something. Having a great choice of games in your pocket means you never need to be bored again while waiting around.

Here are my 21 favorite games to wait around with. The key common features for these games are that they’re quick to start playing and that you can achieve goals quickly with available playtime of as little as a minute.

There are no long drawn out strategic battles, epic adventures or quests to get absorbed into.

Aztec Quest Website– iTunes: 99 cents– iTunes: Free My new favorite puzzler, Aztec Quest requires you to get the ball to the destination utilizing the available gadgets with some great physics based puzzles.

BeeCells Website– iTunes: $1.99– iTunes: Free BeeCells is a simple puzzle game where you need to clear the colors by moving at least six of the same colors next to each other. After each turn, more

colors appear and its a race to clear cells before they inevitably fill up.

Aurora Fient II: Arena Daemons Website– iTunes: $4.99 Aurora Fient offers an epic level -upping RPG with multi-player (of sorts) game play, based on a simple puzzle clearing game (matching three or more of the same blocks), offering the same gameplay with different twists, power ups and great sounds and graphics. This gives you quick gameplay wins with long gameplay goals to obtain. Aurora Fient costs $4.99 and is easily worth it in my opinion.

Toobz Website– iTunes: 99 cents– iTunes: Free Toobz is a simple pipe game where you try to get the water to the edge. While the graphics are plain, the game play can be addictive and good fun.

Geared Website– iTunes: 99 cents– iTunes: Free Geared presents you with gears you need to layout in the allowed spaces to make the required preset gears rotate.

Flood-It! Website– iTunes: 99 cents– iTunes: Free

Make the screen one color by flooding the pixels with colors in the least number of moves. The flood always starts in the top left and floods all matching colors.

Pocketball Website– iTunes: 99 cents– iTunes: Free One or more balls will drop from the top, leaving you to guide them to the correct bucket with ropes attached to pegs.

Gravity Sling Website– iTunes: 99 cents– iTunes: Free Send the astronaut back to the space shuttle by flinging him around planets.

TanZen Website– iTunes: 99 cents– iTunes: Free TanZen is very peaceful and relaxing, aligning up triangles into the silhouetted shape.

TimeLoop iTunes: 99 cents– iTunes: Free In TimeLoop you need to perform multiple actions at once, but you only have one guy. So you need to go back in time to help do all the necessary parts.

Tiki Towers Website– iTunes: 99 cents– iTunes: Free Build bridges and towers by assembling bamboo sticks, so your monkeys can get to where they want to go.

Toople & Topple 2+Plus Website– iTunes Topple 2+Plus: Free– iTunes Topple 1: Free Stack different shaped blocks and see how high you can go.

Topple 2+Plus enables online leaderboards and profiles. Both are now free.

KittyPuzzle Website– iTunes: $1.99 KittyPuzzle is a simple tile sliding game, but with gorgeous kitten pictures to reward you at the end. You can also use your own photos.

Peggle Website– iTunes: $1.99 Peggle shouldn’t need an introduction, a cross between pinball and color clearing games it is one of the most addictive games ever.

IPHONE page 48

46

Apple/ Game/ Fashion/

E-reader News Edition

A Plea for a Significant Aperture Update

By Nick Santilli (TheAppleBlog)

from Stockholm Syndrome, and are defending our captors rather than breaking free for greener Submitted at 1/6/2010 8:24:32 AM pastures.

Through the past three quarters, As a potential conflict of Aperture users (like myself) have interest, I co-manage a Denver only seen two updates to the pro- area Photoshop and Lightroom level photo processing and user group. It came about mostly organization application from out of my enjoyment of mingling Apple — and those have really with other shutter-happy folks, only been stability type releases. but has resulted in slowly A b o u t a y e a r a g o w e s a w painting me green with envy.

A p e r t u r e ’ s c o n s u m e r - l e v e l Lightroom does some seriously sibling get places and faces and awesome stuff! Starting with the some of us figured Aperture fact that it’s 64-bit (which is huge wasn’t far behind. Seems we may when handling large image have figured wrong. I think processing tasks), and it can Aperture users have been patient handle area-specific color editing enough — we want a meaningful with brushes, and so on. It’s a update already! super solid photo processing and First, to clear the air: I like organization tool. To boot, Aperture, and it works well for Adobe is very public about me. But it’s application envy making its beta release of the that’s got my level of rile slowly upcoming version 3 available for compounding, as I watch the anyone to try. It’s getting harder ‘little brother’ (iPhoto) get and harder to rationalize my powerful features, and the devotion to Aperture. competing Adobe Lightroom Look, I realize Aperture isn’t continue to wow and delight broken, but neither was my last users. And at a $200 investment MacBook when I replaced it. I in the software, I feel like I need think we’re all guilty (at some to stay committed to it and get level — I’m closer to the top, I’m my money’s worth. But I wonder sure) of wanting more. More at what point those of us using power, more bells and whistles, Aperture have begun suffering more better! But If Apple’s going

to offer a pro-level tool, it needs to give it care and feeding, thusly, showing some love to those who’ve shelled out good money for it. Here are some features I think Aperture needs to keep current users happy. 64-bit Snow Leopard supports it now, so what reason is there not to offer this? I had a post similar to this ready around Snow Leopard launch, and trashed it because I figured it was a no-brainer that we’d see an update along these lines to Aperture in the following weeks. I am Jack’s broken heart.

Faces & Places Aperture should at least keep up with its consumer level sibling.

Faces and places are very useful tools — and it drives me batty having to manually tag my

Aperture photos with this information. Fix Tethered Shooting To my knowledge, it’s probably limited to the Canon 40D, but Apple broke the ability to shoot in tethered mode for my dSLR a while back. This is lame. I want a fix!! Focused Editing Taking a page out of the Adobe book, I’d like to see the ability to apply edits to only select parts of a photo. Sometimes you only want to lighten, darken, or change color of a specific part, not the whole thing. I realize this is more an image editing feature, and not processing, but I’ve seen it in Lightroom, and I desire it.

These are just a few ideas, things that are ultimately important to me (though I think they’re general enough that others would agree). But what else? Let’s hear from the Aperture users, or potential Aperture users. What would you need to see in a hopefully sooner than later update to Aperture, to keep you happy and on board with Apple?

What would cause you to jump ship and pursue other solutions?

DKNY Launches Candy-Colored Shapewear Line

By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 1/6/2010 10:12:06 AM

And the undergarment as outer g a r m e n t t r e n d

continues...Starting in February, DKNY will be debuting “Smoothies,” support shorts that are meant to be seen. Considering the tough biker trend is candy-colored versions are for continuing to motor on, these

cheeky good girls who want to be a just little bad.

—Whitney Vargas Follow ELLE on Twitter.

Become our Facebook fan!

Add Mii to Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing

By JC Fletcher (Joystiq) Submitted at 1/6/2010 3:30:00 PM

You might not be able to play as Banjo and Kazooie in the Wii version of Sonic and Sega AllStars Racing, but you will be able to play as ... The Notorious B.I.G.! No, Sega hasn't added a selection of deceased rappers to the game's playable cast (no matter how many times we ask) - the publisher has merely announced Mii support.

Much like the racing Avatars in the Xbox 360 version, the Wii version of Sega All-Stars Racing allows your Miis to compete against Sonic, Knuckles, Ryo Hazuki, and the rest of the assembled Sega crew. Hey, this is one way to get Segata Sanshiro back in the game-- where he belongs.

Add Mii to Sonic & Sega AllStars Racing originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft to Reveal Tablet; Apple Speculation Now Shapes the Industry

By Darrell Etherington (TheAppleBlog) Submitted at 1/6/2010 8:31:39 AM

According to the New York Times, tonight at Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s CES keynote address, he will unveil an ambitious new tablet device that’s the result of a partnership between Microsoft and HP. Citing people familiar with Redmond’s plans, the NYT describes the tablet as a “novel take” on the format and says it will possibly be available midyear. Right around when Apple’s iSlate is rumored to also be available.

It’s just the latest in a recent crop of PC tablet announcements, all seemingly stemming from the desire to beat Apple at a game no one is actually sure they’re even going to be playing yet. Apple’s influence and consumer cache is now so powerful that the competition doesn’t want to be stuck endlessly going after an iDevice-killer, and are instead trying to beat Cupertino out the gate.

Little is known about what exactly Microsoft will be unveiling today, but the information gathered by the New York Times suggests that it will be competing with the Amazon Kindle as well as with whatever Apple has in store: My sources, however, say that Mr. Ballmer will show the as-yetunnamed H.P. device, which will be touted as a multimedia whiz with e-reader and multi-touch functions.

That sounds pretty much in line

risky play pays off or not will depend on a few key factors.

First is price point. The latest rumors put the Apple tablet somewhere around the $1,000 mark. The JooJoo, by contrast, is currently selling pre-orders for $499.00. I’d expect Microsoft’s offering to be closer to the JooJoo in pricing, but to offer a lot more in terms of functionality as well. In fact, even if this new slate device doesn’t threaten Apple’s plans, expect it to all but eliminate demand for the JooJoo. Never before has a company had the kind of power that Apple now w i t h t h e r u m o r s c u r r e n t l y wields. Simply by planting a seed circulating about what Apple’s about a potential upcoming iSlate will also be packing. In product development, they can fact, if I didn’t know any better, change the direction of an entire I’d think that Microsoft had been industry. Imagine if the Mac following the speculation and maker was never even planning theorizing about what Apple’s on creating a tablet to begin with, n e w w o n d e r d e v i c e w o u l d but just wanted to seem like it eventually look like as closely as was to draw competitors into a a I had, and then had rushed a money and time-wasting vortex rough approximation of that in a market that really has very same device into production to little growth potential. Probably match or possibly beat Apple’s not the case here, but scary, supposed timeline. nonetheless.

The key to whether Microsoft’s

Street Chic: New York

By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 1/6/2010 4:00:00 AM

A graphic tee adds attitude to

casual basics.

Photo: Kelly Stuart Think you are Street Chic? Email us your photo and you could appear in ELLE.com's Street

Follow ELLE on Twitter.

Become our Facebook fan!

Chic Daily.

Hold it! Phoenix Wright available on WiiWare this Monday

By David Hinkle (Joystiq) Submitted at 1/6/2010 2:00:00 PM

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is ready to head into the WiiWare courtroom this Monday, Capcom reveals. You'll be able to relive the classic lawyer-em-up for 1,000 Wii Points ($10), where your Hamilton will net you the first four episodes from the original GBA game -- Capcom says the final fifth episode will be available later as DLC for 100 Wii Points ($1).

And if you're scratching your noggin, wondering what the big deal is, feel free to check out some recent videos from the game.

Hold it! Phoenix Wright available on WiiWare this Monday originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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IPHONE continued from page 45

Zen Bound Website– iTunes: $1.99– iTunes: Free Relax and paint objects by covering them with rope.

Utilizing the accelerometer and touch screen perfectly, this is one of the best original games for the iPhone.

Zentomino Website– iTunes: $1.99– iTunes: Free Zentomino is the same concept as TanZen, filling the silhouette but with pentomino pieces instead of triangles.

Orba Website– iTunes: $1.99– iTunes: Free Orba is a color clearing game,

where each game does go on for a while, but is the type of game that can be put down, saves your position and can be instantly picked up to resume clearing to end with the highest score.

Simple and addictive.

Totemo Website– iTunes: 99 cents Clear the screen by matching various configurations of totems.

Vortex Website– iTunes: Free Get the spaceship back to earth by strategically placing black holes, planets or various gadgets to assist.

Polyhedra Website– iTunes: 99 cents– iTunes: Free

Fill up the screen by making shapes as big as you can in the available area, without letting them be touched by the critters while growing and using the accelerometer to change the direction of gravity to your advantage.

Minesweeper Classic Website– iTunes: 99 cents– iTunes: Free Figure out where the mines are in the field, in a perfect translation of the Windows classic game.

Chile copper miners' strike ends (BBC News | Americas | World Edition) Submitted at 1/5/2010 10:58:45 PM

Work is set to resume at the world's second biggest copper mine after workers voted to end a strike over pay.

Workers at the Chuquicamata mining complex in Chile have accepted a new pay deal and a bonus from owners Codelco ending two days of strikes.

Concern over the stoppage's affect on production had helped copper prices to soar to 16months highs.

Chuquicamata provides around 4% of the world's mined copper, with Codelco the biggest copper producer in the world.

Market reaction to the news was muted, however, with copper prices rising by another 1% on Wednesday - reaching a new 16month high on the London Metal Exchange.

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Whether Burning Strip Clubs or Just Laying Around Miserable, Let's Take Some Pride In What We Do [Recessionomics]

By Hamilton Nolan (Gawker)

why don't you give your job to someone unemployed, and try Submitted at 1/6/2010 12:41:14 PM starving while simultaneously T h e W a y W e L i v e N o w : stealing toilet paper from fast Ungratefully. Just like the mere food restrooms out of necessity, knowledge that Ethiopians were you ungrateful person? Hmm? starving did not make you enjoy [DO NOT NOTE HYPOCRISY your mom's gross turnips, neither HERE, OK.] d o e s t h e k n o w l e d g e o f And another thing! The whole widespread unemployment make freaking country is falling apart. you like your job. You ungrateful T a k e s o m e p r i d e i n y o u r bastard. surroundings, America. Take Just look at this, with disgust: some pride in your work. In Unsuccessfully. With rats and Only 45% of American workers Atlanta, strip clubs are trying to r o a c h e s a n d f a i l e d a r s o n are happy with their jobs. Well, shut down other strip clubs. attempts. It's a crime against

commerce, but more importantly, it's a crime against proud arsonists.

And what about this god damn recession-plagued cul-de-sac the New York Times keeps writing about? The people there are fucked up, optimistic, whatever, just like everyone else. Hey NYT, if I wanted to know what goes on in a suburban cul-de-sac, I would move to one, then kill myself shortly afterward.

Take some pride in your work, America.

There are no private sector left, anyhow. So you don't have to be all like "I'll never take pride in this dumb janitor service job."

Because you will own the janitor service, as an entrepreneur! Built in pride. You're the only janitor, but still. You have to start somewhere. We're on our way back down.

[Pic via]

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49

TruTV, TNT, TBS ratings notes for week ending 1/3

By Robert Seidman (TVbytheNumbers) Submitted at 1/6/2010 10:30:35 AM

via Turner: truTV Coming off its best year ever, truTV has begun 2010 in recordsetting fashion, delivering its best week ever in primetime delivery of adults 18-49 (675,000); men 18-34 (159,000); and men 18-49 (368,000). truTV also ranked among ad-supported cable’s Top 10 networks in primetime for the week with those three demos.

• Compared to same week in primetime a year ago, truTV was up 10% among total viewers, 23% among adults 18-34, 16% among adults 18-49, 23% among men 18-34 and 12% among men 18-49.

• The week was led by strong performances from various series and specials that ranked among cable’s Top 5 entertainment programs in their time slots among key adult and male demos, including Operation Repo(Monday, Dec. 28, 10 p.m.); the network’s latest Disorder in the Court special (Monday, Dec. 28, 10 p.m.); Most Daring(Wednesday, Dec. 30, 8 p.m.); C onspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura(Wednesday, Dec. 30, 10 p.m.); and The Smoking

G u n P r e s e n t s : W o r l d ’ s DVR viewing, with the Dec. 7 Dumbest…(Thursday, Dec. 31, premiere of the series growing its 10 p.m.). total audience by 36% in a comparison of Live + 7 to Live viewing.

• truTV is already continuing its record-setting success this week, with Monday, Jan. 4, scoring the • The Dec. 7 premiere, which network’s biggest night ever in holds position as ad-supported d e l i v e r y o f a d u l t s 1 8 - 4 9 cable’s top new series launch of ( 9 3 9 , 0 0 0 ) a n d m e n 1 8 - 4 9 2009 among households and (521,000). The night was led by adults 25-54, also boosted its the 10 p.m. episode of Operation delivery significantly in DVR Repo, which delivered the v i e w i n g a m o n g t h o s e t w o network’s biggest audience ever, categories. Households grew by with 2,286,000 viewers and 30%, and adults 25-54 grew by 1,301,000 adults 18-49.

43% when comparing Live + 7 to Live viewing. Meanwhile, the TNT premiere episode also grew its TNT’s new hit series Men of a delivery of adults 18-49 by 40% Certain Age continues to perform over Live viewing. extremely well, with the Monday, Dec. 28, episode delivering 3,123,000 viewers; 2,345,000 • For the first two episodes households; 1,186,000 adults 18- combined, Live + 7 vs. Live 49; and 1,526,000 adults 25-54. viewing of Men of a Certain Age • The series also enjoyed a great delivered 34% growth among performance this week. The t o t a l v i e w e r s , 3 0 % a m o n g Monday, Jan. 4, episode garnered households, 40% among adults 3,096,000 viewers; 2,365,000 18-49 and 41% among adults 25households; 1,290,000 adults 18- 54.

49; and 1,693,000 adults 25-54.

It ranked as ad-supported cable’s The Closer also earned top entertainment program for the outstanding growth for its first time period among viewers, two December episodes in Live + households and adults 25-54. 7 viewing, with extraordinary 70% growth among adults 18-49, 65% among adults 25-54 and • Men of a Certain Age has 45% among total viewers in a earned outstanding growth in comparison of Live to Live + 7

deliveries.

Especially noteworthy is the show’s Live + 7 delivery of adults 18-34, which nearly doubled Live deliveries, growing them by 97%.

The NBA on TNT continues to deliver strong ratings for the 2009-10 regular season, averaging a 1.1 national household rating, up 10% over the first 20 games of the 2008-09 NBA season (1.0 national household rating). In addition, total viewers are up 11% (1,723,000 vs. 1,551,000), and households are up 12% (1,313,000 vs. 1,175,000).

• The network’s NBA coverage has also seen significant increases in key demos, including: • Adults 18-34: +16% (558,000 in 2009 vs. 483,000 in 2008) • Adults 18-49: +7% (950,000 vs. 891,000) • Adults 25-54: +7% (857,000 vs. 798,000) • Men 18-34: +17% (412,000 vs. 351,000) • Men 18-49: +11% (678,000 vs. 613,000) • Men 25-54: +13% (612,000 vs. 540,000) TNT’s weekend telecasts of Sir Peter Jackson’s Oscar®-winning Lord of the Rings adaptations delivered ad-supported cable’s

top movie telecasts for the week among adults 18-49 and adults 25 -54.

• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was the top movie among adults 18-49 (1,376,000), followed by The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King(1,363,000).

• Among adults 25-54, the two films swapped places, with The Return of the King garnering 1,481,000 and The Two Towers delivering 1,412,000.

TBS The Wednesday, Dec. 30, 10:30 p.m. episode Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns scored as adsupported cable’s top sitcom for the first week of the new year, with 3,050,000 viewers; 810,000 adults 18-34; and 1,667,000 adults 18-49. In addition, the 10 p.m. episode ranked second among adults 18-49, with 1,391,000.

TBS claimed the top movie presentation for the week among adults 18-34, with the racing comedy Talladega Nights delivery 727,000 in that key demo.

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MTV Hires Scripted Content Czar

By Robert Seidman (TVbytheNumbers) Submitted at 1/6/2010 12:05:58 PM

via MTV release: DAVID JANOLLARI JOINS MTV AS EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT OF SCRIPTED DEVELOPMENT NEW YORK, NY/SANTA MONICA, CA– (January 6, 2010) – David Janollari has been hired as Executive Vice President of Scripted Development for MTV, it was announced today by Tony DiSanto, MTV’s President of Programming. Mr. Janollari will report directly to Mr. DiSanto and will be based in MTV’s Santa Monica office.

In this newly created role, Mr. Janollari will be responsible for overseeing the production and development of scripted projects at the network – comedies and dramas – and movies to serve as back door pilots for series. This key position will help round out the new development and production teams under Mr. DiSanto which includes Liz Gateley, Chris Linn, Brent Haynes, Dave Sirulnick and Steve Tseckares.

“David has a proven track record of commercial and critical success as both a buyer and a seller. He has incredible taste and creative instincts, along with

strong relationships in this business and great passion for making television. He is the perfect fit for this key role in our programming organization, as we put a laser focus on scripted content,” said Mr. DiSanto.

“I grew up with MTV and have always admired the power of the brand. I’m excited to help lead them into the scripted series world at a time when young audiences want entertainment that speaks to their generation,” said Mr. Janollari.

Prior to joining MTV, Mr. Janollari served as President of Entertainment for The WB Network where he was responsible for all facets of the network’s programming efforts, including development of new shows and movies and on-going series. During his tenure, he was responsible for developing the hit shows “Supernatural” and “Beauty and the Geek.”

An award-winning producer, prior to joining The WB, Mr. Janollari co-found the The Greenblatt Janollari Studio, an independent television production company, with producing partner Robert Greenblatt. As an Executive Producer, he produced several successful series, including the multiple Emmy and Golden Globe Award – winning “Six

Feet Under,” “The Hughley’s” starring comedian D.L. Hughley, “American Family” starring Edward James Olmos for PBS, and “Elvis” starring Jonathan Rhys Myers for CBS. Mr. Janollari has also been accredited with developing long-running hit, “Friends,” as well as “The Drew Carey Show,” “Living Single,” “Suddenly Susan,” “The Jamie

Foxx Show” and “The Wayans Bros.” while serving as comedy development chief at Warner Bros. Television, prior to The Greenblatt Janollari Studio.

Mr. Janollari graduated from New York University where he majored in film and television. ### About MTV Network: MTV is the dynamic, vibrant

experiment at the intersection of music, creativity and youth culture. For over 28 years, MTV has evolved, challenged the norm, and detonated boundaries — giving each new generation a creative outlet and voice that entertains, informs and unites on every platform and screen. Onair, MTV is the number one rated full-day ad-supported cable network for P12-24. Online, MTV.com averaged 8.5 million monthly unique visitors during the first quarter of 2009 — up +6% from Q4/2008 and up +6% year-over-year. Total video streams for the first quarter of 2009 increased 21% over the same time period last year. And MTV’s successful sibling networks MTV2, mtvU and MTV Tr3s each deliver unprecedented customized content, super-serving music fans, college students and young American Latinos like no one else. MTV is part of MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), one of the world’s leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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If TNT’s “Men of a Certain Age” Is a Hit, “Southland” Fans Should Be Optimistic!

By Robert Seidman (TVbytheNumbers) Submitted at 1/6/2010 11:11:26 AM

I still see some references out of TNT to “the new hit” Men of a Certain Age. I am not making any comments on the show’s quality here as I have not seen it.

I want the show to succeed if for no other reason than Baltimore Sun critic David Zurawik likes it and posting about it gives him a respite from obsessing over Kate Gosselin.

But I have seen a bit of the ratings and for its first Monday without having a new episode of The Closer as a lead-in it averaged 3.123 million viewers and a .9 with adults 18-49. I think it will be more interesting to see how it’s doing in another week or so when we’ve distanced ourselves from the holidays and competition from NFL and NCAA football (that men of a certain age certainly enjoy). The episode I’m citing ran up against

a high-rated Monday Night Football Game and the numbers from this past Monday (which I haven’t seen yet) ran against the Fiesta Bowl.

In the broadcast world, a show with a 1.9 adults 18-49 rating will still usually get you canceled, but a 1.9 would be a big hit for basic cable.

Not so much with a .9 though.

I’d be hesitant to make any opinion on the show’s renewal prospects on cable if the show had a 1.2 rating, but at a .9 rating it looks pretty gloomy, even for the basic cable world. On the other hand, if that really justifies “hit” status with the executives at TNT who make the scheduling decisions and not just with the people writing the press releases,

then Southland fans might indeed have reason for optimism.

While I wouldn’t encourage Southland fans to be optimistic about a .9 rating with adults 1849, I would encourage them to see keep an eye on how Southland is doing compared to Men of a Certain Age and also TNT’s Leverage, which returns next week too.

We should be able to do that beginning next week, though the first seven telecasts of Southland on TNT will be the episodes that already aired on NBC last spring. If those episodes do worse than original airings of Men of a Certain Age and Leverage there probably is absolutely nothing to make of it.

But if those episodes are doing as well as first-run episodes of Men of a Certain Age and Leverage, that can’t be bad news.

Update: via@TVBill: Men of a Certain Age had a slight uptick with adults 18-49 on Monday 1/4, up to a 1.0 rating, though it lost a few overall viewers (3.096 million).

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US 'museum gunman' dies in jail (BBC News | Americas | World Edition) Submitted at 1/6/2010 11:55:47 AM

A US white supremacist accused of murdering a guard at Washington DC's Holocaust Memorial museum has died in a

prison hospital, officials say.

They say James von Brunn, aged 89, died in Butner, North Carolina, where he had been awaiting trial.

Mr von Brunn had been charged with first-degree murder, killing in a federal building and bias-

motivated crime over the 10 June attack.

He was shot in the face during the incident.

Mr von Brunn died shortly before 1300 local time (1700 GMT), Butner prison spokeswoman Denise Simmons

was quoted as saying by the Five Filters featured article: Associated Press.

Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: Last September, Mr von Brunn, PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, a Holocaust-denier who ran a Term Extraction. racist, anti-Semitic website, asked for a "fair and speedy trial" when he appeared in court.

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AOL Lusts for the Brad Pitt of the Blogosphere (and His Company) [Rumormonger]

By Ryan Tate (Gawker)

brought up in meetings as possible driving force behind Submitted at 1/6/2010 12:15:56 PM Seed," said our AOLer, referring AOL is interested in buying the to the stats-driven system for world's largest tech blog, farming out editorial work to Mashable, we hear from a source freelancers. The notion that there at the internet conglomerate. And have been acquisition talks in fact the two sides have been between the two companies is talking, people outside AOL have mere rumor at this point, but it whispered to one another, and to has not escaped AOL's notice us. that Mashable writes the sort of A sale to the content-obsessed content advertisers pay for at a internet company would mean time when AOL's own editorial Mashable's founder Pete staff has been heavily reduced Cashmore really would have amid company layoffs, said our everything. Youth, being all of source, clearly no fan of Seed: 24 years old. Looks, of the dark "Mashable has been getting so and smoldering sort the Mainstream News, and their Scotsman pulls off so well (his writers get paid in Twitter current squeeze is said to be followers and air, so it just seems actress Lindsay Campbell, and like a good fit."

Inc. magazine popularized him as Disclaimer: Mashable writers do " t h e B r a d P i t t o f t h e and will update this post if and appeal, then, our AOL insider not literally get paid in Twitter blogosphere"). And cash, on the when we hear back.) UPDATE: tells us. The site excels not only followers and air. But then, they scale you don't get just by Cashmore wrote back with a sort at writing Google-friendly don't work for AOL yet. leaving TechCrunch in the dust of "no comment;" see bottom of content but also at earning a If you know more, email us, flood of links on social networks, to become the most popular tech post. we'd love to hear from you. blog on the internet, a feat A deal would work for AOL, most notably Twitter. That re- Especially on pricing. It's entirely Cashmore pulled off last year. newly spun off from Time tweeting, in turn, is driven by the possible, for example, that AOL T h e o n l y h i t c h m i g h t b e Warner, as well. CEO Tim party tours Cashmore stages, execs will try to pay Cashmore negotiating with AOL; visa Armstrong wants a " laser focus" which draw crowds of 400-500 in entirely in vests. But only if issues have had Cashmore for the company, on content. He's c i t i e s a c r o s s t h e c o u n t r y , they're smart! hopping back and forth between already bought a local content according to Inc, and which no UPDATE: Cashmore writes us, Silicon Valley, where Mashable company from himself and doubt have helped the site " W e d o n ' t c o m m e n t o n is based, and Scotland, leaving launched a strategy to tailor diversify beyond hard-cole young speculation, but we do hold our one Valley observer to wonder if content to internet statistics like male geeks (Mashable has drawn writers in high regard and pay a notice for its half female h e w o u l d r e a l l y a t t e m p t search queries. competitive salary for their Mashable's proven ability to audience, a rare thing among negotiating with AOL "from his tireless efforts." parent's basement in Aberdeen." generate great numbers and game Silicon Valley blogs).

(We've emailed Cashmore's staff Google and Twitter is part of the Mahsable has "definitely been

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High School Students in Trouble for Twin Towers Shirts (FOXNews.com) Submitted at 1/6/2010 5:27:05 AM

DEARBORN, Michigan At least nine Detroit area high school juniors are in trouble for wearing sweat shirts bearing a design that evokes the terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center's Twin Towers.

Dearborn Public Schools spokesman David Mustonen has told The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press that the shirts the boys wore to Edsel Ford High School on Monday are "offensive" and in "poor taste."

The boys are Arab-American, as are about half the school's 1,700 students.

They belong to the 2011 class.

On the shirts, the number 11 resembles two buildings, with the school's "Thunderbird" mascot flying toward them. Printed beneath the image are the words, "You can't bring us down."

The boys are to meet with school officials but suspensions are not planned.

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53

A Russian Oligarch's New Year's Eve Megaparty Photo Album, Starring Dr. Doom! [Party Gallery]

By Richard Lawson (Gawker)

these pictures and put them up on his own little Facebook page (where we found them), he's Menacing Russian oligarch oftentimes the least interesting Roman Abramovich threw the person in the photo. Go figure. banging-est celebrity-filled NYE Roubini (right) & the Oligarch, party in St. Bart's. We've read who was the basis for the angry about the St. Bart's bash, but now R u s s i a n r e a l e s t a t e we have pictures! All thanks to mogul/gangster in Guy Ritchie's grim economist Nouriel Roubini, RockNRolla. who despite our impending Roubini & former Quentin economic doom, partaayyyed. Tarantino producer Lawrence The party was lavish — about Bender, plus two other randos.

250 celebrities and their hangers- (Names, anyone?) on were flown, on private jets, to Roubini & omg is that Orlando Abramovich's Caribbean winter Bloom?? Well, that's definitely palace, where they ate millions of British action star Jason Statham dollars worth of gourmet snacks in the background. and enjoyed the musical stylings Roubini & Ron Perelman, a of Gwen Stefani, Beyoncé, and Lady, and the Waiter Prince. Who, lemme tell ya, do Roubini & A Young Girl (is she not come cheap (I'm trying to dancing on his feet?) plan my own bar mitzvah). There Roubini & Limon Zerga from were also crazy fireworks amid 'Ocean's Eleven'. (But seriously, the stormy weather and everyone can anyone identify this dude? danced and had a good time. He's in a lot of pics.) Also Though Nouriel posed for all pictured: Bored Asian Lady.

Submitted at 1/6/2010 12:06:18 PM

Gwen Stefani, does that mean you're dancing *with* Gwen Stefani?

Madam Yellowdress! Who are you??

That's fashion photographer Terry Richardson on the right.

Aw, Marc Jacobs (right) with his supposed husband Lorenzo Martone(left). Anyone know who the dude in the middle is? The waiter? He's everywhere in this gallery.

Marc, Nouriel, and a necktie.

Is that Rachel Zoe? Lorenzo Jacobs (???)

Dr. Cheekbones Fireworks hat! With Roubini is shady financier and douchebag Update: Limon Zerga is actually Shala Monroque.

Vivi Nevo.

J e a n P i g o z z i , a n I t a l i a n Oh look at all of these young, And now begins the Unnamed philanthropist and art collector. young women.

Other Women segment! Provide We're pretty sure that's the rarely Roubini & and someone we've names if you can.

-photographed Bigfoot of the art named Madam Yellowdress. Is he grabbing her? world Larry Gagosian, busting a She's in lots of pictures. beautiful move. Update: It is Told you.

Larry, dancing with his girlfriend If you dance awkwardly near

Mulberry Creates Bag in Honor of Alexa Chung

By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 1/6/2010 11:16:47 AM

Grace Kelly may have had the Kelly bag. (In 1956, the Princess of Monaco was photographed shielding her pregnant belly from the paparazzi with one, and Hermes decided to name the

carryall after her.) Now, thanks to Mulberry, Brit cutie pie Alexa Chung is getting her very own bag too. Designer Emma Hill decided to create the Alexa, after spotting the former MTV VJ with Mulberry’s vintage men’s briefcase, the Elkington. Come spring, the jolly good shape will come in regular and oversize

with snake trim (pink, black), bag, in oak shiny leopard print (oak, pink), Mulberry’s Alexa bag for you and summer tweed (beige). Until and me I can convince someone to create Follow ELLE on Twitter. the Whitney, the Alexa will Become our Facebook fan! absolutely do.

—Whitney Vargas Alexa Chung with Mulberry’s sizes, as well as in leather (oak, original Elkington briefcase navy, yellow, black), a lambskin Alexa carrying her new Alexa

54

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After Holliday’s Millions, How Much is Pujols Worth?

(WSJ.com: The Daily Fix) Submitted at 1/6/2010 7:34:25 AM

The St. Louis Cardinals answered one question Tuesday but might have raised another.

Getty Images This is how Matt Holliday felt about his bat before he reached a $120 million deal with St. Louis.

They signed power-hitting leftfielder Matt Holliday to a seven-year, $120 million contract. That’s the good news, Yahoo’s Jeff Passan writes, but Albert Pujols can become a free agent after the 2011 season. What kind of money will it take to sign him? “Because while Holliday is a great player with agent Scott Boras great work somehow leveraging the Cardinals into $17 million a year long-term when the market for Holliday was more zygote than full-term he does not, cannot and will not mean what Pujols does to the Cardinals,” Passan writes.

Sports Illustrated’s Cliff Corcoran says the Cards have no choice but to increase payroll. In the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jeff Gordon crunches the numbers on keeping financial sanity in St. Louis.

In another corner of the baseball world, a passel of top-notch major-league stars await the call Wednesday to be enshrined in Cooperstown, among them Roberto Alomar, Bert Blyleven and Don Mattingly. And, of course, Mark McGwire. The

slugger electrified baseball in 1998 by swatting a then-record 70 home runs, an achievement that’s been under a cloud of suspicion over allegations he used steroids. It’s hurt his chances to enter the Hall, but Sports Illustrated’s Joe Posnanski says McGwire is among eight this year who deserve entry.

“We can argue back and forth about whether McGwire a probable steroid user should get a Hall of Fame vote,” Posnanski writes. “People feel strongly both ways. I have felt strongly both ways. I have finally come to to this: The game was different then. There was no testing, and steroid use was tolerated AND accepted AND probably encouraged. It was part of the game the way spitballs were part of the game, the way gambling was part of the game, the way segregation was part of the game, the way amphetamines were part of the game and so on and so on.”

One man certain to gain Hall entry is left-hander Randy Johnson, the lanky 46-year-old pitcher who announced his retirement Tuesday after a 22year career that included a World Series title and a perfect game.

ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick writes that Johnson never embraced stardom but accepted it.

Tim Marchman calls Johnson the greatest left-hander ever in a Sports Illustrated piece.* * * The penultimate college game of

the season saw No. 9 Georgia Tech against No. 10 Iowa in the Orange Bowl Tuesday night. The normally high-flying, tripleoption Yellow Jackets offense managed a paltry 155 yards on a cool night in Miami, losing to the Hawkeyes, 24-14. Tech bombed on the big stage again.

“This makes two consecutive years Tech has fallen off a cliff in its final game,” Jeff Schultz grouses in the Atlanta JournalConstitution. “Does that qualify as a trend? Maybe a strong hint?

In Season 1 under Paul Johnson, the Jackets started out 9-3, only to get boat-raced by LSU in the Chick-fil-A Bowl 38-3. In Season 2, Tech went 11-2 on the way to an ACC championship, and one month later got smacked in the face by Iowa.”

In the Des Moines Register, Sean Keeler says the Hawkeyes proved themselves on the national stage. “Hang this one on the wall next to those Rose Bowl championships of 1957 and 1959, where it belongs,” he writes.

“The crown jewel of the Ferentz Era. The exorcism of the demons of January 2003, when Iowa was run over by USC in this very

building.”

Meanwhile, Yahoo’s Dan Wetzel argues President Barack Obama should invite Boise State, the Fiesta Bowl winners with the perfect 14-0 record, to the White House. With that move, Wetzel writes, Obama would be saying college football deserves a playoff to deserve to crown a national champion.* * * The Washington Redskins have missed the playoffs in eight of 11 seasons under Dan Snyder’s ownership, including an abysmal 4-12 record this season. His latest expensive stab at a turnaround?

Signing coach Mike Shanahan, a two-time Super Bowl champion with Denver, to a five-year contract.

Or maybe not. At CBS Sports, Clark Judge doesn’t see how Shanahan can work under Snyder, a notorious meddler.

“Norv Turner couldn’t do it.

Marty Schottenheimer couldn’t do it. Steve Spurrier couldn’t do it. Heck, even Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs couldn’t do it,” Judge writes. “ So why should Shanahan break the trend?

Because, Snyder supporters will contend, The Daniel has learned his lesson and will not be as meddlesome and as manipulative as he was in the past when he had acting GM Vinny Cerrato to push around. Cerrato is gone, and Bruce Allen has taken his place, and Snyder will do what he couldn’t when Cerrato was there which is to leave Allen and

Shanahan alone. At least, that is the plan.”* * * Gilbert Arenas turns 28 Wednesday. How much the Washington Wizard will celebrate after tonight’s game at Cleveland isn’t known, but the star’s bizarre behavior, which includes bringing guns into the team’s locker room, has the Washington Post’s Mike Wise wondering how Arenas became “the pariah of Washington sports” so quickly.* * * Canada has dominated the World Junior Hockey Championships for years, winning five straight titles. The last time Canada didn’t win gold, Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby was still a junior. On Tuesday, Canada lost a 6-5 overtime nailbiter to Team U.S.A., six years to the day since the Americans beat the Canadians for their first gold medal. In the Globe and Mail, Roy MacGregor says Canadians should admit that the U.S. is their biggest rival in hockey, not the Russians.

– Tip of the Fix cap to reader Don Hartline.

Found a good column from the world of sports? Don’t keep it to yourself — write to us at dailyfix@wsj.com and we’ll consider your find for inclusion in the Daily Fix. You can email Garey at ris84rap@gmail.com.

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55

Tom Brady of New England Patriots voted AP NFL comeback player award

By ESPN.com news services (ESPN.com)

he gives us are just top shelf.

Whether he did or didn't play last year, the fact that he didn't I Submitted at 1/6/2010 10:46:02 AM guess qualifies him for this Tom Brady has gone from award, but he brings those things record-setting MVP to injured on a daily basis, and they are superstar to The Associated Press exceptional."

2009 NFL Comeback Player of Brady received 19 votes from a the Year. nationwide panel of 50 sports Brady's strong return from a left writers and broadcasters who knee injury that sidelined him for cover the NFL, beating Tampa all but the first quarter of the B a y r u n n i n g b a c k C a r n e l l 2008 opener earned the New "Cadillac" Williams, who got 14.

England Patriots quarterback the A three-time Super Bowl winner award Wednesday. One of and a finalist for AP Player of the football's biggest stars, Brady has Decade, Brady led New England gone from NFL Most Valuable to a 10-6 record and the AFC Player in 2007, when he set East title this season. He threw several passing records, to f o r 4 , 3 9 8 y a r d s a n d 2 8 sidelined to earning his second t o u c h d o w n s . league award.

Most significantly, he got the Comeback Player of the Year Patriots back into the playoffs, Voting for The Associated Press and he showed more than a few comeback player of the year glimpses of the player who a w a r d , a s v o t e d o n b y a guided the Patriots to the first 16nationwide panel of media 0 regular season in NFL history, members: throwing a record 50 TDs that "Well deserved. He's had a year. tremendous year," Patriots coach "I think missing all of last season Bill Belichick said Wednesday w a s a v e r y c h a l l e n g i n g morning. "I think we all know experience because I love to play that Tom brings so much to this the game," Brady said during the team and our organization -- on season. "I love to play the sport, and off the field. His preparation, and to not have the opportunity his leadership, his performance, t o b e o u t t h e r e w i t h m y his unselfishness. All the things teammates in a season where we

had some great opportunities to repeat what we had done in the 2007 season ... things happen.

"It's a very physical sport, football is. I had an unfortunate injury, but I think it's really helped me grow in a lot of ways as a person, as a player, as a teammate. It really reinforces how much I enjoy playing the game and how much I love the game. And to have the chance to go out this year and play, it's great."

The Herd with Colin Cowherd Patriots QB Tom Brady has won the 2009 NFL Comeback Player of the Year award, but Doug Gottlieb explains why he doesn't deserve the honor.

More Podcasts Âť At times, Brady was great. In a 59-0 rout of Tennessee, matching the biggest victory margin since the 1970 merger, he threw for six touchdowns and 380 yards in the snow. Against Jacksonville in another lopsided victory, he went 23 for 26 for 267 yards and four TDs. His passer ratings were 152.8 against the Titans and 149.0 against the Jaguars, and he had six games with a 100-plus rating.

Other times, he struggled, particularly in losses to the Jets

and Saints, and Brady battled an assortment of injuries -- albeit nothing as devastating as the torn -up knee.

Williams tore the patellar tendon in his right knee in September 2007 and tore the patellar tendon in his left knee in the 2008 season finale, six games into his return. This season, he rushed for 821 yards and four TDs, adding 29 receptions and three scores.

Brady is the second Patriot to win the award; linebacker Tedy Bruschi shared it with Carolina receiver Steve Smith in 2005. He is the fifth quarterback honored since the award began in 1998, including Chad Pennington, who won in 2006 and 2008.

Also receiving votes were Titans quarterback Vince Young, Vikings quarterback Brett Favre, Bengals running back Cedric Benson and his teammate, quarterback Carson Palmer, and Saints defensive end Anthony Hargrove.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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Eeks!

Cartoons in real life (Holy Kaw!) Submitted at 1/6/2010 10:55:00 AM

Prepare for a case of the heebeejeebies after taking a gander at what your favorite cartoon characters would likely look like in the real world.

Apparently all that spinach didn't do much to save Popeye's skin.

Fair warning: the full gallery is all sorts of creepy.

A whole slew of animation tidbits.

Permalink| Leave a comment Âť

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The Count: Conference Winners and Losers in Bowl Season (WSJ.com: The Daily Fix)

account margin of victory, but Sagarin separately produces one Submitted at 1/5/2010 1:11:24 PM that does account for scoring Boise State’s victory over Texas margin, and is best, he’s found, at Christian in the Fiesta Bowl predicting game outcomes. He Monday was one of David over supplied me with the ratings of David and of non-BCS teams this Predictor scheme for each over naysayers. It was also a bowl game, along with a slight victory of a WAC team over a a d j u s t m e n t f o r h o m e - f i e l d Mountain West team. That was advantage when one team was important for the WAC, which playing much closer to its even counting the minor Fiesta campus. For each of the 62 teams Bowl upset, has had the most that have played in bowl games, I disappointing bowl season of any subtracted their victory margin conference with at least four from that predicted by the bowl games under its best. The Predictor; that represents how most pleasant surprise? The much a team outperformed Mountain West, even after TCU e x p e c t a t i o n s — or lost. Associated Press Boise State underperformed them, if the gave the WAC something to result is negative. celebrate in a rough bowl season. By that accounting, the biggest T o w e i g h b o w l - g a m e bowl surprise thus far was performance by conference, the Southern Methodist’s 45-10 rout typical step is to report the record of Nevada. Sagarin’s system saw of that conference’s teams. But Nevada as a 13-point favorite in that equates a narrow win by a the game. Meanwhile, the most heavy favorite with a rout by an predictable game was Texas Tech u n d e r d o g . N o t a l l b o w l -Michigan State. Despite all the opponents are created equal, nor drama surrounding the Red are all victory margins, so not all Raiders, they beat the Spartans bowl wins are equivalent, either. by 10 points; Sagarin predicted a I tried to account for this margin of 10.08 points. complexity with the help of Jeff Supporters of a particular Sagarin, who produces ratings for conference who insist their teams USA Today and for the Bowl a r e b e t t e r t h a n a n o t h e r Championship Series rankings. conference’s they don’t often get The BCS only includes computer to play might be particularly rankings that don’t take into interested in the grouped results.

Ten conferences have had more than one bowl team play so far, and all 10 have had at least four representatives. And among those 10, the WAC has been the biggest bummer. Nevada’s disaster and Fresno State’s loss by a touchdown to Wyoming in a game it was expected to win by 16.27 were too much for Boise State’s 11-point positive surprise to overcome. The WAC was nearly 15 points per game worse, on average, than expected. The Mountain West, meanwhile, has been more than 15 points per game better than expected, thanks to Wyoming and big wins

by Air Force, Utah and Brigham Young.

If you were wondering, the Big 10 has been the next best at exceeding expectations, despite its checkered recent bowl history, followed by the ACC. The Pac10 has been disastrous, more than 10 points per game worse than expected, and the Mid-American has been almost as bad. The Big

12 has averaged a -4.3.

Meanwhile, the SEC, Conference USA and the Big East have all pretty much performed in line with expectations, on average, though some teams were big outliers. Three of Texas’s Big 12 opponents — Oklahoma State, Missouri and Texas A&M — were routed in bowl games that were expected to be close, which may give Alabama fans even more reason for optimism ahead of the Texas-Alabama game Thursday for the national title.

Of course, some of these results may reflect other factors not captured by the ratings, such as weather, injuries and team motivation. Also, the outcome of any single sporting event is based on a lot of luck and randomness.

Sagarin’s Predictor rating has gone a pedestrian 18-14 in games so far — though he notes that his own calculations of probabilities for each game suggests he could have expected to get roughly 20 games right. ( Vegas odds suggest the same degree of confidence from the bookmakers.) So he hasn’t been as disappointing as the WAC. “Very fun bowl season,” Sagarin said, “and humbling!”

Euro wobbles as Stark says EU will not bail out Greece (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 1/6/2010 12:07:08 PM

19:45 GMT. Bourses in the US and Europe struggled to make headway on Wednesday after overnight Asian trading provided little fresh impetus and as investors nervously awaited Friday’s crucial jobs data.

A sudden tumble in the euro, following reported comments from a European Central Bank executive board member, Jürgen Stark, that the European Union would not save Greece from its fiscal problems, added to the uncertainty. The single currency soon recovered, however, after investors digested a report that showed the region’s service sector was expanding at its fastest pace in more than two years.

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Baseball Hall of Fame: Andre Dawson the sole inductee for 2010

Iceland’s president fights to contain fallout

By ESPN.com news services (ESPN.com)

(Financial Times - US homepage)

(539 votes were cast; 405 were needed for induction). Mark McGwire, in his fourth year of Submitted at 1/6/2010 12:26:41 PM eligibility, received 10 more NEW YORK -- Andre Dawson votes than last year, and matched was elected to the Hall of Fame, the total from his first two times while Bert Blyleven and Roberto on the ballot.

Alomar fell just short of earning Blyleven had 400 votes, up from baseball's highest honor.

338 last year, and likely will get Dawson, nicknamed "The in, what with two more tries on Hawk," received 420 of 539 the BBWAA ballot. The highest votes in voting announced percentage for a player who Wednesday by the Baseball wasn't elected in a later year was Writers' Association of America, 63.4 by Gil Hodges in 1983, his 15 more than the 75 percent final time on the ballot. necessary to gain election.

"Hopefully, next year will be my Five of the ballots sent in were time," Blyleven said in an blank. interview on the MLB Network.

T h e e i g h t - t i m e A l l - S t a r , Alomar received 397 votes (73.7 appearing on the ballot for the percent) in the second baseman's ninth time, had fallen 44 votes f i r s t a p p e a r a n c e , a n d w a s short last year. followed by pitcher Jack Morris "It was well worth the wait. I with 282 (52.3 percent), a big can't really describe the elation," increase from the 237 votes he Dawson said during a telephone got last year. conference call. "If you're a Hall "I feel disappointed, but next of Famer, eventually you're going year hopefully I make it in," to get in, no matter how long it Alomar said at his home in New takes."

York. "At least I was close."

HAWK FLIES IN AT LAST Cincinnati shortstop Barry Eight-time All-Star Andre Larkin, also making his first Dawson, on his ninth try, got in appearance, was on 278 ballots with 77.9 percent of the vote (51.6 percent), followed by

reliever Lee Smith at 255 (47.3 percent) and Edgar Martinez at 195 (36.2 percent).

Martinez, on the ballot for the first time, is viewed as an early test of how voters will receive players who were primarily designated hitters.

Mark McGwire received 128 votes (23.7 percent), 10 more than last year and matching the total from his first two times on the ballot. Eighth on the career list with 583 homers, he has been stigmatized since evading questions from Congress in 2005 about the use of performanceenhancing drugs.

Dawson, who won eight Gold Gloves and four Silver Slugger awards, had a 21-year career with the now-defunct Montreal Expos, Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox and Florida Marlins.

He will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on July 25 in Cooperstown, N.Y., along with manager Whitey Herzog and umpire Doug Harvey, who were elected last month by the Hall's Veterans Committee.

A victim of the owners' conspiracy against free agents

after he left the Expos, Dawson signed a blank contract with the Cubs during spring training.

Then-general manager Dallas Green filled in the dollar amount of $500,000, making Dawson the second-lowest paid regular on the team.

Dawson stayed with the Cubs through 1992, then spent two seasons apiece with Boston and Florida. He had a .279 career average with 1,591 RBIs and 314 steals, playing through 12 knee operations.

He is one of only three players with at least 400 home runs and 300 stolen bases, joining Barry Bonds and Willie Mays.

The close calls for Blyleven and Alomar marked the first time in BBWAA balloting that two players fell fewer than 10 votes short in one year.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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Submitted at 1/6/2010 9:57:45 AM

Iceland’s president scrambled on Wednesday to contain the fallout from his decision to block legislation to repay Britain and the Netherlands more than €3.8bn ($5.5bn, £3.4bn) lost in a failed bank as the government proposed a date next month for the referendum on the controversial deal.

Olafur Ragnar Grimsson told the Financial Times he was living up to Iceland’s traditions as one of the world’s oldest democracies by referring the repayment plan to a national vote, amid warnings that his decision could plunge the country into international isolation.

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Japan names new finance minister (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 1/6/2010 10:10:27 AM

Japan’s prime minister, Yukio

Hatoyama, has moved swiftly to contain the damage caused by Hirohisa Fujii’s decision to step down as finance minister, naming Naoto Kan, deputy prime

minister, as his replacement.

Mr Fujii, 77, who was admitted to hospital late last month for high blood pressure and exhaustion, resigned for health

r e a s o n s . H e p r e s e n t e d M r Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: Hatoyama with a medical verdict PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, on his health and a resignation Term Extraction. letter on Wednesday.

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Mike Shanahan introduced as coach of Washington Redskins

Farc rebels admit governor murder

By ESPN.com news services (ESPN.com)

(BBC News | Americas | World Edition)

president and general manager Bruce Allen, but Shanahan will have the ultimate authority on Submitted at 1/6/2010 12:32:23 PM football decisions.

S h a n a h a n I n t r o d u c e d A s Asked if he will have final say R e d s k i n s C o a c h S h a n a h a n over football decisions, Shanahan Introduced As Redskins Coach indicated that he will -- but added Mike Shanahan was introduced that he does not intend to Wednesday as coach of the exercise that authority and that he Washington Redskins, saying will collaborate with Allen. he's "excited and honored" to "Maybe you can say that [I will take the reins of the franchise. have final say] but we will never Shanahan, who won back-to- use that, because we will work back Super Bowl titles with the together as a team," Shanahan Denver Broncos, succeeds Jim said.

Zorn, who was fired Monday Shanahan is Washington's after two seasons. seventh coach since Daniel Tuesday, Shanahan signed a five Snyder bought the team in 1999.

-year contract to become the The Redskins are 82-99 on his team's executive vice president watch, missing the playoffs in and head coach. Shanahan's eight of 11 seasons. contract is worth approximately Snyder has been a hands-on $7 million a year, The Denver manager yielding a strong Post reported. influence on roster decisions. But NFC East blog three weeks ago he hired his first ESPN.com's Matt Mosley writes general manager and didn't even about all things NFC East in his present his new coach at the news division blog. conference -- the first time that's • Blog network: NFL Nation happened since he bought the Under the terms of the new deal, team in 1999. New GM Bruce S h a n a h a n w i l l t e a m w i t h Allen handled that duty.

R e d s k i n s e x e c u t i v e v i c e Shanahan made the playoffs in

half of his 14 seasons in Denver, with only two losing seasons -- 6 -10 in 1999 and 7-9 in 2007. His greatest successes came early, with back-to-back Super Bowl titles after the 1997 and 1998 seasons with running back Terrell Davis and quarterback John Elway.

His career regular-season record is 146-98, including 138-86 with the Broncos from 1995 to 2008 and 8-12 with the then-Los Angeles Raiders in 1988-89.

Shanahan's playoff record is 8-5.

Shanahan's son, former Houston Texans offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, will be the Redskins' new offensive coordinator.

Zorn went 12-20 in two seasons, missing the playoffs both years.

Information from ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter and The Associated Press was used in this report.

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between... Luis Francisco Cuellar and paramilitaries, the aim of holding him was not to kill him Submitted at 1/6/2010 3:08:29 AM nor demand a ransom but to put Left-wing rebels in Colombia him on trial for corruption," the have said they killed a provincial statement, dated 24 December, governor shortly after seizing said. him from his home at gunpoint Mr Cuellar's death had been a on 21 December. direct consequence of President A Farc rebel statement said the Alvaro Uribe's order to use force a i m h a d b e e n t o t r y L u i s to rescue hostages being held by Francisco Cuellar for corruption the guerrillas, the Farc said. and paramilitary ties.

But Colombia's peace His "tragic" death had resulted commissioner, Frank Pearl, told from a government order to use El Tiempo newspaper: "They are f o r c e t o r e s c u e r e b e l - h e l d trying to justify with absurd h o s t a g e s , t h e r e b e l s s a i d . words an absurd and unjustifiable Government officials and Mr crime."

Cuellar's family said the rebels The guerrillas were thought to w e r e t r y i n g t o j u s t i f y t h e number some 16,000 fighters, but unjustifiable. analysts suggest their ranks have Mr Cuellar, the governor of the fallen to about 9,000. southern province of Caqueta, They suffered a series of defeats was found dead less than a day at the hands of the security forces after he was seized. in 2008, but they are still holding He was the highest profile more than 20 police officers and politician to be kidnapped since soldiers, often referred to as 2002. "high-profile" hostages, seized The authorities immediately more than a decade ago. blamed the Revolutionary Armed They are also believed to have Forces of Colombia (Farc) for his kidnapped hundreds of other murder, and said he had probably people, mainly for ransom. been killed as troops closed in on Print Sponsor his kidnappers.

Five Filters featured article: The Farc statement appeared on Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: Tuesday on the Anncol news PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, agency website, which regularly Term Extraction. carries rebel communications.

"Despite the obvious links

Fashion/ Popular News/ Economy/

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Burj Tower Opens in Dubai

By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 1/6/2010 9:43:13 AM

Happy new year to ELLE.com readers! I have been traveling the world over the holidays and ended up in the Middle East for the opening of the Burj Tower in Dubai, now officially the world's tallest skyscraper.

By 7pm the night of the opening, everyone was packed like sardines. Literally, there was no place to walk on the sidewalks: People were pressed body-to-body, with women pushing strollers unable to maneuver through the masses. I had to stand almost 20 minutes on a crowded stairway at the foot of a bridge, sandwiched between strangers and pushed against a barricade, just to get back to my hotel. It seemed hopeless at one point, but once past the guards, I felt victorious. I looked at my watch: T minus 56 minutes to the opening of the tower, and I needed to get back to the hotel

and get showered for the festivities.

In and out asap, hair perfectly blown-out, I went down to the hotel's pool area, which was nestled right along the water where the Burj was about to be christened in front of the entire world. Champagne bottles popped as lavishly dressed ladies lay on lounge chairs laughing

fireworks department with our Fourth of July spectacular, but this was like nothing I have ever seen.

Fireworks shot up, down, around and about the building, spiraling, shining, and cracking away. At times, it seemed impossible that the Burj would be able to withstand that much firepower, but of course, it made it.

The most pleasing thing about it was that the building itself is magnificently designed and a wonderful example of modern architecture. Had it not been the case, all the hoopla would have resonated as being a overpompous show for a bout of while their mates sprawled out mediocrity. So glad it wasn't so. under the clear sky. Speeches What a way to start the decade. were made and songs were sung, — Rebecca Suhrawardi Austin all leading up to what would Follow ELLE on Twitter. b e c o m e o n e o f t h e m o s t Become our Facebook fan! spectacular openings I have seen to date. Nothing could prepare me for the fireworks display that shot off from every bit of the almost-3,000-foot tower. I thought New York owned the

59

M Stanley settles Chinese derivatives lawsuit (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 1/6/2010 11:25:54 AM

Morgan Stanley has ended a confrontation with a Chinese company over disputed hedging contracts in an out-of-court settlement that may, however, provide a worrying precedent for similar disputes.

The Morgan Stanley dispute with China Haisheng Juice Holdings was the most public of many between foreign investment banks and dozens of mainland Chinese companies over loss-making derivatives deals.

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Nigerian charged over plane plot (BBC News | Americas | World Edition) Submitted at 1/6/2010 12:36:30 PM

A US grand jury has indicted Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on six counts over an alleged plot to bomb a plane over Detroit on Christmas Day. The charges against the 23-year-

old include attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and attempted murder of 289 people on board the plane.

Mr Abdulmutallab allegedly tried to detonate a bomb on Northwest flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit.

The plane landed safely after crew and passengers overpowered him.

There were 279 passengers and 11 crew on board.

Mr Abudmutallab allegedly concealed two explosives - PETN and TATP - in his clothing with other ingredients to make a bomb, according to the court document.

The indictment said the bomb was designed for him to detonate at a time of his choosing.

The counts are: • attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction • attempted murder within the special aircraft jurisdiction of the US • willful attempt to destroy and wreck an aircraft • willfully placing a destructive device in or near an aircraft which was likely to endanger the

safety of the aircraft • two counts of possession of a firearm, ie the bomb, in furtherance of violent crime.

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60

Fashion/ Popular News/

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Gansevoort South Beach New Year's Eve

By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog)

TVs so we could still share the excitement of the ball dropping in Times Square. By the time the Submitted at 1/5/2010 2:54:55 PM countdown began and we raised I’m probably not the only partyour glasses to bring in the New goer out there who’s developed Year, I realized, “Wow, I’m an apprehension about New having a really good time!”

Year’s Eve. It’s just one of those Although we never know what celebratory holidays that New Year’s Eve will bring, this everyone puts so much effort and year I can honestly say I enjoyed concern into that the night myself. In one of the most inevitably ends up being beautiful cities, at a most lackluster. NYE 2009 was no amazing party, surrounded with different, but I still decided to all the best of friends in a one of give Joonbug.com’s New Year’s of cultures, and the grand lobby t h e g o r g e o u s a q u a p o o l ; a kind hotel, it was a night to Eve Plunge party hosted by of the hotel was already buzzing beautiful, sun-kissed people remember.

Brody Jenner a shot, because, with people who had flown in mingled, having a great time; our —Jade Frampton, Market Editor hey, why not? f r o m a l l o v e r t h e w o r l d . cabana was perfectly set up with Follow ELLE on Twitter.

So, on a beautiful balmy evening Continuing up to the roof deck, I white plush couches and an array Become our Facebook fan!

I arrived at the South Beach was pleasantly surprised by the of vodkas, juices, and delicious Gansevoort Hotel entrance, ready relaxed cool atmosphere: elegant champagnes. Each cabana was to at least try and have fun. I’ve blush-lit cabanas wrapped around also equipped with flat screen always loved Miami and its mix

Dodd, D-Conn., retiring from Senate; AG to run (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News) Submitted at 1/6/2010 12:23:36 PM

EAST HADDAM, Conn. – Christopher Dodd, saying he was in "the toughest political shape" of his career, announced Wednesday he will retire from the U.S. Senate, ending a fourdecade career in Congress.

Dodd, speaking outside his home in East Haddam, said he would not run for a sixth term.

His political stock fell after a controversy involving low-rate mortgages he received under a VIP program, the financial meltdown and his failed 2008 presidential bid. The 65-year-old DODD, page 63

Holocaust Museum Shooter Dies in Prison Hospital (FOXNews.com) Submitted at 1/6/2010 12:05:22 AM

The 89-year-old man charged with a deadly shooting at Washington's Holocaust museum died Wednesday in a prison hospital, authorities said.

At Butner federal prison in North Carolina, spokeswoman Denise Simmons announced that James von Brunn died shortly before 1 p.m. Wednesday.

SLIDESHOW: Holocaust Museum Shooting Simmons said von Brunn had "a long history of poor health which included chronic congestive heart failure and sepsis." She said he was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Von Brunn's lawyer, A.J. Kramer, called the death "a sad end to a tragic situation," but declined further comment.

Von Brunn had been awaiting

trial for the killing of security guard Stephen T. Johns at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on June 10. Von Brunn had been wounded by return fire.

LiveShots: Holocaust Museum Gunman Dies Officials at the prison hospital had previously said chronic medical problems had complicated a psychiatric evaluation for von Brunn, a white supremacist who prior to the

shooting had written racist and anti-Semitic screeds on the Internet.

One of the two guards who fired back at von Brunn said he had mixed feelings about his death.

"I'm shocked. I'm glad he's gone.

I wish he had his day in court but it'll never come," said Harry Weeks of White Plains, Md. Weeks returned to work in August and said he thinks often about his dead colleague.

"He was a good man. There's not a day that goes by that I don't miss him," he said of Johns. "It's been very hard, there's not a day that I don't think about him when I'm on post."

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61

Authorities Suspect $30M Fla. Lottery Winner Was Killed (FOXNews.com)

payment of $16.9 million instead of annual installments.

He bought a Nissan Altima, a LAKELAND, Fla. In 2006, Rolex from a pawn shop, a $1 Abraham Shakespeare — a truck m i l l i o n h o m e i n a g a t e d driver's assistant who lived with community. He talked about his mother — won $30 million in starting a foundation for the poor the Florida lottery. His good and insisted the money wouldn't fortune may have cost him his change him. life.

"I'm not a material person," he Shakespeare vanished months said in 2007. "I don't let material ago. His mother hopes he is things run me. I'm on a tight somewhere in the Caribbean, budget." lying on a beach and enjoying the The money quickly caused him good life away from all the problems. hangers-on who were constantly A former co-worker sued him in hitting him up for money.

2007, accusing Shakespeare of The sheriff has a more ominous stealing the winning ticket from theory: Shakespeare was killed. him. Six months later, a jury "There are a lot of odd and r u l e d t h e t i c k e t w a s bizarre circumstances in this S h a k e s p e a r e ' s . case," Sheriff Grady Judd said. Then there were the people "We fear and are preparing for constantly asking him for a piece the worst. We're working this of his fortune. case as if it were a homicide." "They didn't wait. They just came Shakespeare, 43, won the big right after they found out he won jackpot after buying a lottery t h i s m o n e y , " h i s m o t h e r , ticket at a convenience store in a Elizabeth Walker, said recently. town called Frostproof, claiming She said her son was generous, later that he gave the last $3 in paying for funerals, lending his pocket to a homeless man just m o n e y t o f r i e n d s s t a r t i n g before the winning numbers were businesses and even giving a announced. million dollars to a guy known Shakespeare — who had a only as "Big Man." criminal record that included Not long after he bought the arrests and prison time for million-dollar home in early burglary, battery and not paying 2007, he was approached by a child support — took a lump-sum woman named Dee Dee Moore, Submitted at 1/6/2010 4:37:35 AM

said family and officials.

Moore — who could not be reached by The Associated Press — said she was interested in writing a book about Shakespeare's life. She became something of a financial adviser to Shakespeare, who never graduated high school.

Property records show that Moore's company, American Medical Professionals, bought Shakespeare's home for $655,000 last January. His mother said the last time she saw him was shortly afterward, around her birthday in February.

The sheriff said the last time anyone saw Shakespeare was in April — but it wasn't until Nov. 9 that he was reported missing, by a police informant.

And the story gets more bizarre.

According to The Ledger of Lakeland, the 37-year-old Moore contacted reporters at the newspaper in April, saying Shakespeare was "laying low" because people tried to suck money out of him.

That made sense to Shakespeare's mother — sort of.

"I remember once, talking with me over the phone, he said he might go to Jamaica," she said.

On Dec. 5, a sobbing Moore told The Ledger that she helped Shakespeare disappear, but now

wants him to return because detectives were searching her home and car and looking for blood on her belongings.

One reason he wanted to leave, she said, was a child support case for a child he allegedly fathered after winning the lottery.

"Abraham sold me his mess to get a better life," she told the paper.

She even gave the paper a video that she said she took of Abraham. In the video, he says he is tired of people asking him for money. "They don't take no for an answer," he says.

"So where you wanna go to?"

Moore asks in the video.

"It don't matter to me. I'm not a picky person," Shakespeare replies.

Moore told the paper that she took the video to "protect herself."

Moore said she filed paperwork to take over five mortgages totaling about $370,000 that had been owed to Shakespeare. She said she sold the loans at a loss to another person. She added that many of the people who borrowed from Shakespeare have refused to pay, and she feels threatened by some of them.

Moore's past includes a year of probation after she was charged with falsely reporting that she

was carjacked and raped in 2001.

Officials said she concocted the scheme so her insurance company would reimburse her for the SUV, which she claimed had been stolen.

The woman did not answer several calls placed to a number listed for her in public records.

During a recent visit to the home she bought from Shakespeare, a security box rang to a phone number that had been disconnected.

Sheriff's officials won't comment on Moore's involvement in Shakespeare's life.

The sheriff said that Shakespeare spent the bulk of his lottery winnings. The fact that he didn't call his mother on Christmas reinforces the theory that Shakespeare is not just hiding, Judd said.

"I hope so much that he is alive somewhere," said his mother.

"And I want people to know, if they ever win the lottery, I hope they know how to handle the people that come after them.

They can be dangerous."

Click here for more from MyFoxTampaBay.com.

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62

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Fla. sheriff fears missing lottery winner killed (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News)

payment of $16.9 million instead of annual installments.

He bought a Nissan Altima, a LAKELAND, Fla. – In 2006, Rolex from a pawn shop, a $1 Abraham Shakespeare — a truck m i l l i o n h o m e i n a g a t e d driver's assistant who lived with community. He talked about his mother — won $30 million in starting a foundation for the poor the Florida lottery. His good and insisted the money wouldn't fortune may have cost him his change him. life.

"I'm not a material person," he Shakespeare vanished months said in 2007. "I don't let material ago. His mother hopes he is things run me. I'm on a tight somewhere in the Caribbean, budget." lying on a beach and enjoying the The money quickly caused him good life away from all the problems. hangers-on who were constantly A former co-worker sued him in hitting him up for money.

2007, accusing Shakespeare of The sheriff has a more ominous stealing the winning ticket from theory: Shakespeare was killed. him. Six months later, a jury "There are a lot of odd and r u l e d t h e t i c k e t w a s bizarre circumstances in this S h a k e s p e a r e ' s . case," Sheriff Grady Judd said. Then there were the people "We fear and are preparing for constantly asking him for a piece the worst. We're working this of his fortune. case as if it were a homicide." "They didn't wait. They just came Shakespeare, 43, won the big right after they found out he won jackpot after buying a lottery t h i s m o n e y , " h i s m o t h e r , ticket at a convenience store in a Elizabeth Walker, said recently. town called Frostproof, claiming She said her son was generous, later that he gave the last $3 in paying for funerals, lending his pocket to a homeless man just m o n e y t o f r i e n d s s t a r t i n g before the winning numbers were businesses and even giving a announced. million dollars to a guy known Shakespeare — who had a only as "Big Man." criminal record that included Not long after he bought the arrests and prison time for million-dollar home in early burglary, battery and not paying 2007, he was approached by a child support — took a lump-sum woman named Dee Dee Moore, Submitted at 1/6/2010 8:05:21 AM

said family and officials.

Moore — who could not be reached by The Associated Press — said she was interested in writing a book about Shakespeare's life. She became something of a financial adviser to Shakespeare, who never graduated high school.

Property records show that Moore's company, American Medical Professionals, bought Shakespeare's home for $655,000 last January. His mother said the last time she saw him was shortly afterward, around her birthday in February.

The sheriff said the last time anyone saw Shakespeare was in April — but it wasn't until Nov. 9 that he was reported missing, by a police informant.

And the story gets more bizarre.

According to The Ledger of Lakeland, the 37-year-old Moore contacted reporters at the newspaper in April, saying Shakespeare was "laying low" because people tried to suck money out of him.

That made sense to Shakespeare's mother — sort of.

"I remember once, talking with me over the phone, he said he might go to Jamaica," she said.

On Dec. 5, a sobbing Moore told The Ledger that she helped Shakespeare disappear, but now

wants him to return because detectives were searching her home and car and looking for blood on her belongings.

One reason he wanted to leave, she said, was a child support case for a child he allegedly fathered after winning the lottery.

"Abraham sold me his mess to get a better life," she told the paper.

She even gave the paper a video that she said she took of Abraham. In the video, he says he is tired of people asking him for money. "They don't take no for an answer," he says.

"So where you wanna go to?"

Moore asks in the video.

"It don't matter to me. I'm not a picky person," Shakespeare replies.

Moore told the paper that she took the video to "protect herself."

Moore said she filed paperwork to take over five mortgages totaling about $370,000 that had been owed to Shakespeare. She said she sold the loans at a loss to another person. She added that many of the people who borrowed from Shakespeare have refused to pay, and she feels threatened by some of them.

Moore's past includes a year of probation after she was charged with falsely reporting that she

was carjacked and raped in 2001.

Officials said she concocted the scheme so her insurance company would reimburse her for the SUV, which she claimed had been stolen.

The woman did not answer several calls placed to a number listed for her in public records.

During a recent visit to the home she bought from Shakespeare, a security box rang to a phone number that had been disconnected.

Sheriff's officials won't comment on Moore's involvement in Shakespeare's life.

The sheriff said that Shakespeare spent the bulk of his lottery winnings. The fact that he didn't call his mother on Christmas reinforces the theory that Shakespeare is not just hiding, Judd said.

"I hope so much that he is alive somewhere," said his mother.

"And I want people to know, if they ever win the lottery, I hope they know how to handle the people that come after them.

They can be dangerous."

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

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63

DODD, continued from page 60

chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, who also served three terms in the House, was trailing former Republican Congressman Rob Simmons in the polls.

He acknowledged that 2009 was a tough year for him.

"I lost a beloved sister in July and, in August, Ted Kennedy. I battled cancer over the summer, and in the midst of all of this, found myself in the toughest political shape of my career," he said.

Connecticut's popular Democratic attorney general, Richard Blumenthal, quickly announced he would run to replace Dodd. Blumenthal, 63, said he has had his eye on the Senate for years.

"People in Connecticut know I have never walked away from a fight, and I have always put them first," said Blumenthal, who has been attorney general since 1990.

Blumenthal praised Dodd for his service and said he had learned of Dodd's decision within the previous 24 hours. He said the U.S. Senate had long been a personal career aspiration, and that he wanted to go to Washington to fight against scams and special interests.

Dodd's banking committee was at the center of efforts to deal

with the economic meltdown.

And Dodd has played a prominent role in the debate over overhauling health care, taking over for Kennedy during his illness and then after his death.

Some of the home-state backlash came when, during his presidential bid, Dodd moved his family to Iowa several weeks before the caucuses there.

The mortgage controversy dogged him for several months.

The Senate ethics panel cleared him of breaking rules by getting the Countrywide mortgages, but scolded him for not doing more to avoid the appearance of sweetheart deals. Dodd insisted the mortgage rates he received were available to other consumers with good credit.

The controversy faintly recalled the troubles that brought down his late father, former Sen. Thomas J. Dodd, who was censured by his colleagues in 1967 for using campaign money to pay personal bills. Thomas Dodd served two terms in the Senate.

"You have honored me beyond words with your confidence," Dodd said. "Let me quickly add that there have been times when my positions and actions have caused some of you to question that confidence. I regret that."

Dodd led his primary challenger, businessman and former Air Force officer Merrick Alpert, in the polls, but those surveys suggested his Republican challengers stood a chance of knocking him off in the November election.

"He really was not able to budge his low honesty and trustworthy number and that's something really hard for an elected official to change," Quinnipiac University Poll Director Douglas Schwartz said. "Once people don't trust you, it's a tough thing to turn around."

Dodd said he was "very aware of my present political standing here at home, but it is equally clear that any certain prediction about an election victory or defeat nearly a year from now would be absurd."

A spokesman for Dodd said the senator spoke with President Barack Obama before making Wednesday's announcement.

Details on what was said weren't released. Dodd didn't take questions at his news conference.

Obama said in a statement that Dodd's work isn't finished, but that his leadership would be missed.

"He has worked tirelessly to improve the lives of our children and families, support good jobs

for hardworking Americans, and keep our nation strong and prosperous," Obama said.

The three Republicans running for Dodd's seat said his decision to drop out of the race won't hurt their chances.

"Whoever the Democratic nominee is, he or she will have to defend the failed Democratic policies of higher taxes, bigger government, exploding debt and a misguided approach to national security," Simmons said.

Republican candidate Linda McMahon, the former chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment, said Dodd's leaving the race doesn't change anything for her.

The third GOP candidate, Peter Schiff, said Blumenthal's ideology is so similar to Dodd's that it will harm the attorney general in the race.

"He praised Chris Dodd for his services to the state and all the great things he's supposedly done, which obviously shows me he doesn't understand Chris Dodd's role in bringing about the economic conditions that are so dire," Schiff said.

With Blumenthal as the candidate, Democrats have the edge, Schwartz said. His lowest job approval number since 2001 was 71 percent in November

2004. His highest was 81 percent in March 2009.

"It's not over, but certainly the Democrats are in much better shape," Schwartz said. "The race has flipped from leaning Republican to leaning Democrat."

Howard Reiter, a University of Connecticut political science professor emeritus, said Blumenthal starts out in a strong position, but "I don't think he's had a tough campaign in a long time."

Blumenthal, a former Marine who lives in Greenwich with his wife and four children, is a former federal prosecutor and former state legislator. ___ Haigh reported from Hartford, Conn. AP writers Liz Sidoti and Andrew Miga in Washington, D.C., and Dave Collins in Hartford contributed to this report.

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Study Finds Most U.S. Terror Suspects Are Young Men (FOXNews.com)

homegrown terror, the report identified 139 American Muslims who were accused in the last A study released Wednesday of eight years of planning or A m e r i c a n M u s l i m s a n d carrying out violent attacks homegrown terror found that motivated by extremism. The most of the publicly known cases cases include Army Maj. Nidal since the Sept. 11 attacks Hasan, charged with the Fort involved young men who were H o o d m a s s s h o o t i n g l a s t U.S.-born or naturalized citizens. November, and the five young More than half of the suspects men from Virginia who were were radicalized as part of a recently arrested in Pakistan, group. allegedly on their way to get The analysis by researchers from terrorist training and join the D u k e U n i v e r s i t y a n d t h e Taliban in Afghanistan.

University of North Carolina at The largest number of cases by Chapel Hill found the accused far occurred last year, with a total were almost evenly divided in o f 4 1 s u s p e c t s , a l t h o u g h terms of ethnicity. researchers say it's too early to Although Arabs formed the know if that is an aberration or a largest group of suspects, their trend. The 2009 increase is partly numbers were only slightly due to the cases of young Somali higher than African-Americans, -Americans in Minneapolis South Asians, Somalis and believed to have joined Somalia's whites. About a third were al-Shabab jihadist, or holy war, converts to Islam. movement, the report's authors The statistics were part of a said. U.S. Muslims accused of report, "Anti-Terror Lessons of sending money to overseas Muslim-Americans," that aimed terrorist groups were not part of to learn why American Muslims the study. seem less prone to extremism Even with the common threads than Muslims in Europe and among the cases, researchers said elsewhere. they found no definitive pattern The researchers concluded that o f h o w t h e a c c u s e d w e r e American Muslim self-policing radicalized and no geographic has helped stem radicalization. center of extremism in the U.S. Using a broad definition of In addition to reviewing criminal Submitted at 1/5/2010 11:46:10 PM

cases, researchers conducted indepth interviews with more than 120 American Muslims in Houston; Seattle; Buffalo, N.Y.; and around Raleigh and Durham in North Carolina. Each of the four areas had some cases of alleged radicalization.

The study found that the planned targets of most of the violent plots were overseas. Seventy percent of the conspiracies were pre-empted by law enforcement well before anyone was hurt.

All but one of the suspects were male and most were under age 30. Most were U.S.-born, naturalized citizens or legal residents of the country.

The report urges civil authorities to increase their support for American Muslims who are starting youth groups, building Islamic schools and starting other projects that reinforce the message that extremism is contrary to Islam. The study was funded by the National Institute of Justice, the research arm of the U.S. Justice Department.

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Christmas Bomb Suspect Indicted by U.S. Grand Jury (FOXNews.com) Submitted at 1/6/2010 12:02:40 AM

DETROIT A grand jury has indicted a Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a Detroitbound Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas Day. The six charges against Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab include attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and attempted murder. The indictment was filed Wednesday at 2:20 p.m. local time.

The indictment confirms that Abdulmuttalab was carrying a "concealed bomb" made with explosives PETN and TATP, as well as "other ingredients."

The indictment reads: "The bomb was concealed inside Defendant Umar Farouk Abdulmuttalab's clothing. The

bomb was designed to allow [him] to detonate it at a time of his choosing, and to thereby cause an explosion about Flight 253."

Authorities say the 23-year-old Abdulmutallab was traveling to Detroit from Amsterdam when he tried to ignite an explosive aboard the airliner. Passengers pounced on him and prevented disaster.

He is being held at a federal prison in Milan, Mich.

Abdulmutallab is set to appear in court on Friday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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65

Obama Senate ally Dodd steps down What the duck?

(BBC News | Americas | World Edition)

Connecticut.

"I have been a Connecticut senator for 30 years. I'm very Submitted at 1/6/2010 10:56:58 AM proud of the job I've done and the US Senator Chris Dodd, a key results delivered," Mr Dodd told ally of President Barack Obama, reporters. has announced that he will not "But none of us is irreplaceable. seek re-election in November. None of us are indispensable.

In a statement, Mr Obama And those who think otherwise thanked him for his service and are dangerous," he added. said his leadership on Capitol "In the long sweep of American Hill would be missed. history there are moments for Mr Dodd's move follows the each elected public official to decision by fellow Democratic step aside and let someone else Senator Byron Dorgan not to step up. This is my moment to stand again. step aside."

The Democrats have 60 Senate Embattled votes, just enough to overcome The 65-year-old Connecticut Republican efforts to block senator has been a key figure in legislation. efforts to deal with the financial The balance of power could crisis, and the healthcare debate. change after November's But Mr Dodd, a former elections, when a third of the 100 presidential hopeful, has been Senate seats will be contested. increasingly embattled since Voters will also elect all 435 2008 amid criticisms over a loan m e m b e r s o f t h e H o u s e o f he received from a subprime Representatives. lender.

Senator Dodd, who chairs the Opinion polls have suggested Senate banking committee, made that he would not win re-election the announcement that he would in November and Mr Dodd not be seeking re-election for a appeared to acknowledge this as sixth term outside his home in he admitted he found himself in East Haddam, in the state of the "toughest political shape of

my career".

He said personal challenges, including battling with prostate cancer and the death of his sister over the past year, had also influenced his decision.

Correspondents say his decision to retire will allow the Democratic Party to field a stronger candidate.

But Senator Dorgan's decision not to seek re-election in North Dakota is being seen as a big blow to the Democrats.

The Democrats, with the help of two independents, currently have a 60 to 40 seat majority in the Senate - the threshold number that allows them to override Republican attempts to hold up legislation.

The party in power in the White House tends to lose congressional seats in mid-term elections.

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Dodd decides against re-election bid (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 1/6/2010 10:08:52 AM

Chris Dodd, the Democratic head of the Senate banking committee, will not fight for reelection in November, a decision

that throws open his seat in Connecticut and could influence financial regulatory reform.

Mr Dodd has suffered from consistently poor polling numbers and his withdrawal from the US mid-term elections is unlikely by itself to dent the

Democrats’ chances of holding their 60-seat super-majority in the Senate.

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Clockwise vaginas thwart counterclockwise penises (Holy Kaw!) Submitted at 1/6/2010 10:17:00 AM

Hold onto your private parts because researchers at Yale have discovered a new form of birth control: vaginas that spiral clockwise to thwart penises that spiral counterclockwise. (Or is that countercockwise?)

Patricia Brennan, the lead author of the research, explains: “In species where forced copulation is common, males have evolved longer penises, but females have coevolved convoluted vaginas with dead-end cul-de-sacs and spirals in the opposite direction of the male penis. This coevolution results from conflict between the sexes over who is going to control fertilization.”

Not only that, but the study determines that erection occurs in less than half a second. Oh, by the way, all this refers to duck sex.

More on science.

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Cold tightens grip, all the way to Fla. iguanas (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News)

some locally heavier amounts Wednesday afternoon through Thursday.

N A S H V I L L E , T e n n . – A In a rare turn for the South, persistent arctic chill tightened its forecasters warned that snow and grip on the nation Wednesday ice were possible Thursday from and reached deep into the South, South Carolina to Louisiana and where it was blamed for at least wind chills in the region could five deaths and threatened to get down to near zero at night. freeze crops and bring snow to "This air mass originated on the places more accustomed to ice cap at the top of the world," winter sunshine. said Bobby Boyd, a weather Authorities said four people in service forecaster in Nashville.

Tennessee and one in Mississippi He said the cold shot wouldn't be have died from the cold since the s p e n t u n t i l i t p l u n g e d weekend, including a man with southeastward and moved well Alzheimer's who wandered out beyond Cuba into the Caribbean. into his yard in Nashville and In Maine, a pilot died Monday froze to death. That doesn't after he reported ice buildup on include people who died in car the wings of his small plane and accidents on icy roads and in it crashed into a river channel. fires started by stoves and space Searchers were also looking for heaters. an 18-year-old snowmobiler who The deep freeze was expected to disappeared on New Year's Day. linger through the weekend. The And in Wisconsin a 7-year-old N a t i o n a l W e a t h e r S e r v i c e boy died when he fell through ice expected the heaviest snow from into a river while sledding with the fast-moving system to fall on friends.

Iowa, Missouri and Illinois, with Southern supermarkets were 4-6 inches predicted along with doing a brisk business in staples Submitted at 1/6/2010 12:00:11 PM

like bread and milk.

Ann Warden of Brentwood, Tenn., loaded eight grocery bags into the trunk of her black luxury car Wednesday morning and worried about a snowy forecast.

"You know Nashville gets paralyzed with just one snowflake," she said. "I couldn't be caught without milk. And I got some nice wine at the liquor store."

In central and south Florida, farmers were trying to salvage citrus and vegetable crops by spraying them in protective layers of ice and covering them in plastic.

It was so cold in Florida, freezing iguanas were seen falling out of trees.

In coastal North Carolina, volunteers were scrambling to save endangered sea turtles that were stunned by the cold and stranded off the Outer Banks.

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Dive deeply into the Flickrverse

By Cris Stoddard (Flickr Blog)

content you may not have noticed before and photographers who rarely post to groups; this is a Plunge into the App Garden on personalized Explore! You can Flickr and you’ll discover new even discover your Flickr Twins, content with Deep Dive. users who share the largest With this application, you can number of common favorites catch up with your contacts (it with you. remembers where you left off), The video below provides a brief check out the most recent or most tour: interesting photos in your groups, Application by Mez, Kornél. and – most importantly – uncover Five Filters featured article: n e w c o n t e n t a r o u n d t h e Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: Flickrverse based on your tastes. PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, The Chain function digs up Term Extraction.

Submitted at 1/6/2010 9:13:21 AM

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Analogies; or, how to explain your computer to your father (Holy Kaw!) Submitted at 1/5/2010 10:43:00 PM

TechRepublic has a great article on analogies, covering both when they are applicable and some of the best analogies to use from IT experts on explaining one's computer. Here are a few examples: Why do I need disk space and RAM? Think of your kitchen. The cabinets hold the dishes you're not using at the moment (hard drive) and the countertop is used for items you are using (memory).

Why can't I put everything on the desktop?

Everyone has a junk drawer,

usually in their kitchen. Imagine EVERYTHING you own is in that one drawer. You'd never be able to find anything! We organize our computers like we do our lives. If I want a pair of socks, I go to the bedroom

(directory), go to the dresser (subdirectory), top drawer (subdirectory).

Why should I listen to you, IT guy?

I have a key to start my car every day, but if the car runs

slow or does not run at all, I rely on an auto mechanic because THAT is his expertise. However, it's also useful for you to tell me what's going on. If you just come to me and say, “You're the expert, YOU figure it out”, it would take me a lot longer than if you were to immediately tell me information on what's going on.

That's also the reason why I would ask you more questions to narrow down what the problem is.

Check out all ten of the helpful analogies for explaining common user issues over at TechRepublic!

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67

Art.view: Don’t be greedy (The Economist: Daily columns) Submitted at 1/6/2010 1:56:36 AM

Art.view Jan 6th 2010 From Economist.com Successful auctions follow certain rules, even in an overheated market THERE were two lessons to be learned from the Asian art sales in Paris in mid-December. The first was about timing, the second about estimates.

Unlike the market for Chinese ceramics and decorative works of ART.VIEW: page 68

Good Samaritan behavior influenced by smiles (Holy Kaw!)

street, a different associate dropped his/her diskettes on the Submitted at 1/6/2010 9:59:00 AM ground. The researchers kept If you stroll around with a track of which study subjects had grouchy face, you might want to seen a smile and those who did consider turning that frown not and found that 50 percent upside down because researchers more of the grin-receivers s a y a s m i l e e n h a n c e s t h e stopped to help than the nonwillingness of strangers to help. smilers.

In a study conducted by French The researchers summarized: researchers, a research associate Our results show that being either smiled or didn’t smile at a smiled at by a stranger enhances passerby and then, down the subsequent helping behavior

towards another person. These findings are congruent with [previous research] and confirm the influence of smiling on

helping behavior in a new situation.

Furthermore, these findings show that smiling enhances

helping behavior toward a person who is not the smiler. These findings are congruent with other results concerning the effect of nonverbal behavior on helping behavior.

Smile! It’s contagious.

All sorts of interesting psychology news and views.

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ART.VIEW:

American intelligence: Spooked (The Economist: News analysis)

was also created. But critics of that approach think that centralisation and “all-source” Submitted at 1/6/2010 2:51:11 AM analysis that is meant to produce American intelligence comprehensive, authoritative Jan 6th 2010 | NEW YORK reports, are inadequate. Rather, From Economist.com The spies and decision-makers (such troubles of American intelligence as consular officials who decide ON TUESDAY January 4th, whether to grant visas) need Barack Obama met officials more flexibility and fluidity, the related to counterterrorism to ability to share information more discuss how Umar Farouk Abdul quickly and freely without going M u t a l l a b , a N i g e r i a n , w a s through central channels. allowed to board a Detroit-bound In the wake of the attempted plane and try to blow it up, Christmas attack, further attempts despite the fact that America’s to shake up intelligence methods spies had useful information on and organisation will follow. So him. His father had told the far, they have been piecemeal: American embassy in Abuja, the government has decreed that Nigeria’s capital, that his son was travellers from 14 countries being radicalised. The CIA had where al-Qaeda is thought to heard about plans to develop a have recruits will undergo fullNigerian suicide bomber. And it body screening before flying to was known that Mr Abdul America. But it is unclear Mutallab had travelled to Yemen whether other countries will for training. But as Mr Obama i m p l e m e n t t h e s e r u l e s said after the meeting, there was immediately. The CIA, State “a failure to integrate and Department and the NCTC are all understand the intelligence that reviewing what went wrong and we already had”. are likely to come up with Some have blamed the office of differing conclusions. As for t h e D i r e c t o r o f N a t i o n a l more substantive intelligence Intelligence. The post, created in shake-ups in the wake of the 2004, was meant to get spies to Christmas attack, Mr Obama is stop thinking in terms of “need to under pressure for quick action know” and instead to think that which may include sackings, they “need to share”. A National even if such steps may not lead to Counterterrorism Centre (NCTC) good policy.

Less reported, but causing more devastation, was the bomb attack on the CIA’s base in Khost, in Afghanistan. A Jordanian suicide bomber killed seven American employees and a Jordanian spy, the worst CIA death toll since a 1983 bombing in Beirut. It emerged on Monday that the CIA had not only been bloodied but duped. An Islamic extremist had pretended to be turned by Jordanian intelligence and apparently fed American and Jordanian handlers enough reliable information to make himself trusted. When he claimed to have urgent intelligence, he was whisked through security into the base.

This is a new kind of threat to the CIA. Few had suspected that al-Qaeda would be sophisticated enough to develop a double agent who could fool both the Jordanians and the CIA. Jordan’s intelligence service is one of the most professional and trusted partners of the CIA. The agency depends strongly on other friendly spy services for cultural, linguistic and other kinds of expertise. The CIA will now have to add countering al-Qaeda’s spy activities and worrying whether its allies are doing the same to its already daunting list of tasks. The government of Yemen, in

continued from page 67

particular, has become an important, if somewhat dubious, ally in the fight against al-Qaeda.

Its security forces have claimed victories against al-Qaeda, but some worry that these too have been penetrated by the terrorist group.

The list of challenges goes on.

The head of American military intelligence in Afghanistan complained in a report this week that American spies there are too focused on killing terrorists, and not on understanding the country's politics, economy and society. The spooks are rethinking a 2007 National Intelligence Estimate that said Iran had given up working on a nuclear-bomb design; they now think that low-level work may indeed be going on. Spies like to say that their failures are known to the world, their successes hidden. At least half of that is true beyond a doubt.

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art, which is crowded with Chinese buyers from Hong Kong and the mainland energetically seeking out treasures to bring home, the markets for Japanese and Korean works of art are dominated by Western collectors.

This is a small and highly specialised group who tend to buy through dealers rather than at auction. Anyone trying to lure such buyers into the saleroom should not repeat Christie’s mistake and schedule a sale on December 21st, or even, as Sotheby’s did, on December 18th. Western collectors have other things on their minds in the week before Christmas.

Both Paris sales were weak, especially Christie’s, where nearly 60% of the 125 lots of Japanese works failed to sell.

This included a lovely piece of 20th-century lacquer, a handmade box by Nishimura Hikobei with a case shaped like a teahouse (pictured above). With Korean works the bought-in rate was even worse, at well over 70%.

In a fragile market a poor sale can have serious consequences.

Potential sellers, discouraged by low prices and high bought-in rates, will hold on to their treasures and wait for confidence to return to the market. So a weak sale today often means an uninteresting sale tomorrow, benefiting neither sellers nor buyers.

The contrast with the Chinese ART.VIEW: page 70

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Japanese politics: Bad blood (The Economist: News analysis) Submitted at 1/5/2010 9:49:54 PM

Japanese politics Jan 6th 2010 | TOKYO From Economist.com A change of finance minister shows who wields power in Japan's ruling party WHEN Japan’s 77-year-old finance minister submitted his resignation on Tuesday January 5th, the reason given was poor health. The week before he had been admitted to hospital complaining of exhaustion and high blood pressure after drafting the 2010 budget.

But illness was not Hirohisa Fujii’s main problem. Instead it appears to have been a case of bad blood at the top of Mr Hatoyama’s ruling clique. Mr Fujii, people who have spoken to him say, grew increasingly frustrated with the power Ichiro Ozawa, secretary-general of the ruling party, had over Mr Hatoyama, and a festering feud between the two men eventually boiled over in the budget-drafting process.

After some hesitation, on Wednesday Mr Hatoyama accepted Mr Fujii’s resignation

and replaced him with Naoto Kan, the deputy prime minister.

Mr Kan already has a wideranging government portfolio, but the main alternatives for finance minister were also no friends of Mr Ozawa. That may have ruled them out.

Mr Ozawa occupies an unparalleled position in Japanese politics. As architect of the historic victory of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) in the election in August, which ended five decades of one-party rule, Mr Hatoyama and the party believe they owe him a debt of gratitude. He is also considered crucial for delivering a big win for the party in elections for the upper house this summer.

Yet he is also widely seen as a dark presence, whose influence hardly squares with a party that came into office vowing to improve the transparency of Japanese politics. All requests to DPJ lawmakers for publicspending projects are channelled through him, and he often appears to put the party’s interests before those of the government. Recently, he has flaunted his authority by taking more than 100 DPJ lawmakers on an official and inviting them to a

banquet at his home on New Year’s Day, engaging in a highly publicised dispute with the imperial household and making damning comments about Christianity. Increasingly, the “shadow shogun”, as he is known, is stepping out into the light.

The incident that appears to have slighted the finance minister came in the midst of budgetdrafting last month. Mr Ozawa single-handedly persuaded the prime minister to scrap a campaign promise to cut petrol taxes without Mr Fujii’s agreement, says Osamu Sorimachi, a news presenter on Fuji TV. But the hostilities date back further.

Last year Mr Fujii led a successful campaign to stop Mr Ozawa becoming the DPJ’s prime-ministerial candidate after it became clear his office was under investigation over a political-funding scandal. People close to him continue to be quizzed by prosecutors over funding issues; on Wednesday, the Asahi Shinbun reported that a Tokyo district court would summon Mr Ozawa for questioning. Some believe Mr Ozawa’s recent assertiveness

may be a shot across the prosecutors’ bows.

In choosing Mr Kan as the new finance minister, Mr Hatoyama has picked a man whose relations with Mr Ozawa are considered neutral, but who lacks the financial experience of Mr Fujii and at least one other of the candidates. Mr Kan was a prominent social activist before entering politics and is a former health minister. Since the new government took office, he has been in charge of developing a long-term strategy to deal with Japan’s huge debt and other matters, and has been increasingly outspoken on the need to tackle deflation. His appointment is unlikely to destabilise Japan’s financial markets. However, it will not dispel the impression that Mr Hatoyama is, at times, worryingly like a puppet on Mr Ozawa’s string.

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69

Google’s smart phone: Phoney war (The Economist: News analysis) Submitted at 1/5/2010 10:27:37 PM

Google’s smart phone Jan 6th 2010 | SAN FRANCISCO From Economist.com Google unveils a rival to the iPhone FOR much of past year, Google told anyone who would listen that it really didn’t intend to launch its own mobile phone, in spite of persistent rumours to the contrary. But on Tuesday January 5th it proved the rumourmongers right by unveiling Nexus One, a Google-branded smart phone that represents the company’s first direct foray into the handset market. The new device, which runs on the web giant’s Android operating system, puts Google on a collision course with Apple, Nokia and other big purveyors of smart phones.

All of these firms have set their sights on capturing a big chunk of the fast-growing market for mobile-internet services, which is being driven by a proliferation of web-enabled devices such as smart phones and e-readers.

Many of those services are likely to attract a lot of web-based advertising, a business at which GOOGLE’S page 71

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ART.VIEW: continued from page 68

portion of both sales could not have been greater. Chinese dealers and collectors have been quick to recognise how much porcelain, jade and cloisonné there still is in private French collections, much of it unknown and uncatalogued. And they pay attention to all Chinese sales, not just those in Paris but in the country too. At Sotheby’s Paris sale 294 lots of Chinese works of art were offered, at Christie’s slightly fewer—233 lots.

Although Sotheby’s bought-in rate was higher (at just under 30%, whereas Christie’s was just under 20%), what did sell went spectacularly well, most of it to Chinese buyers.

Nearly two-thirds of the Chinese art in Sotheby’s auction sold for more than the top estimate. At Christie’s over 70% of the lots surpassed the high estimate, some for as much as 12 times the price they were expected to fetch.

A rare pair of white porcelain bowls, decorated with a copperred pattern of peach, pomegranate and persimmon, seemed to push all the buttons (pictured left). The fruit symbolised longevity, fertility and riches for the Ming Chinese,

and the bowls bore a rare sixcharacter sealmark from the reign of Qianlong, the 18th-century emperor. Consigned from a private French collection, where they had been for 40 years, the bowls were expected to earn €6,000 ($8,600), but went on to sell for €73,000, including commission and taxes.

Dealers have come to believe that anything Chinese will sell in this market, as long as there is nothing wrong with it. The Paris sales were proof that they are right. At Christie’s only three of the 192 lots that sold fetched less than the low estimate. This also means the estimates were set at a sensible level. The sales at Bonhams and Christie’s in Hong Kong earlier in December showed just how much can go wrong when estimates are pitched too high: lot after lot in both auctions failed to reach the expected prices, including two pieces of magnificent white jade that should have had Chinese buyers queuing up to bid.

In Christie’s Paris sale a small lotus water-dropper made of pale celadon jade was sensibly described in the catalogue as being from the 18th or 19th

centuries (it lacked reign marks by which to date it). Yet two bidders decided it was more than 200 years old, and pushed the price up from a top estimate of €6,000 to €43,000.

Even lacquer, which is a more uncertain market than either porcelain or jade, went with a swing. The top lot, a rare early green and red plate from the 14th -century Yuan dynasty, had the advantage of coming from a private Japanese collection, where it would have been exceptionally well cared for. The piece had been expected to fetch as much as €100,000. In the end it sold for €241,000, proof that for sellers it pays not to be greedy.

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Next-Gen Mars Rover Gets Carbon-Sniffing Experiment to Detect Ingredients of Life

By Jeremy Hsu (Popular Science - New Technology, Science News, The Future Now) Submitted at 1/6/2010 9:57:04 AM

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory will check extraterrestrial environments possibly favorable to the development of life NASA's SUV-sized Mars rover now has the ability to check for possible ingredients or signatures of life. The U.S. space agency recently approved a new instrument for the Mars Science Laboratory(MSL) that can closely study carbon-containing compounds, if any show up in the dozens of planned soil and rock samples.

The Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument will carry out the initial search for organic compounds once MSL lands in 2012. A robotic arm on the rover will scoop soil and drill rocks for samples, and a separate device deposits the samples in a carousel -like device containing 74 tiny tubes. Each filled tube then gets a turn inside an oven that bakes the sample material and releases gases for SAM to analyze.

"Our experiment preserves information on how these molecules formed," said Jennifer Eigenbrode, a scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight

Center. "What we'll get are key observations that tell us about organic carbon sources and processing on Mars -- shedding light on the planet's carbon cycle."

Related Articles After EarthBased Sandbox Tests, NASA Trying One More Time to Get Spirit Rover Unstuck Testing a Super-Sized Parachute for Mars–Rover Sorry, Colbert – No Mars Rover For You Tags Technology, Jeremy Hsu, biosignatures, extraterrestrials, life, Mars, mars science laboratory, msl, Red Planet, robots, rovers But heating normally breaks down carbon bonds and destroys molecular information.

Eigenbrode found a solution in t h e f o r m o f tetramethylammonium hydroxide in methanol (TMAH), a chemical that can preserve a sample's molecular structure despite heating -- and can also survive the higher radiation levels on Mars.

Such experiments should help MSL figure out if conditions on Mars look good for life, even if they aren't designed to directly identify past or present life. Let's just hope that this rover survives its descent and doesn't end up mired in a Martian sand trap. [ NASA]

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GOOGLE’S continued from page 69

Google excels. Its plan to launch a range of phones beginning with Nexus One is designed to protect its lead in the online-advertising arena as traffic switches from personal computers to smart phones and other portable devices.

The plan is not without risks.

Google will have to tread carefully in order to avoid upsetting firms such as Motorola that are using the Android system in their own smart phones.

Several gadget gurus have already anointed Nexus One, which boasts some innovative features such as extensive voiceto-text translation capabilities, as the best Android-powered phone on the market—an accolade that will hardly endear it to rivals using the same system.

Google will also have to keep mobile-phone network operators happy, at least for a while, in order to maximise distribution of its new gadget, which is being built by HTC, an experienced Taiwanese manufacturer. Google

is selling an “unlocked” version of Nexus One directly to consumers who can then choose their own wireless service plan, but it has also struck deals with firms such as T-Mobile in America and Vodafone in Britain who will bundle it with their own services and market it through their traditional outlets.

If Google can churn out a series of hit mobile devices it will inevitably butt heads more often with Apple, whose wildly popular iPhone has stolen an increasing share of the smartphone market. The tension between the two firms has been growing as both manoeuvre to grab a bigger share of the mobileadvertising business. As Google unveiled its new phone, it emerged that Apple had bought Quattro Wireless, a firm whose technology allows advertising to be placed on the screens of phones and other mobile devices.

Quattro competes with AdMob, a company that Google successfully bid $750m for last

November.

It may be no coincidence that the Quattro deal has been struck now. Rumours abound that Apple will soon launch a tablet-style mobile device that combines wireless connectivity with a sizeable screen that lets users read e-books and newspapers, watch films and run software programmes. This would be an obvious vehicle for carrying online ads. Assuming the iTablet or whatever it is called turns out to be another smash hit for Apple, it may not be long before it has a Google Tablet to contend with too.

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71

Manned and Unmanned Helicopters Most Efficient When Working Together

By Jeremy Hsu (Popular Science - New Technology, Science News, The Future Now)

fly the RQ-7 Shadow drone.

Related Articles Air Force Reveals Identity of Mysterious Skunkworks Stealth Drone Boeing's Latest Mobile Laser Submitted at 1/6/2010 12:24:49 PM Weapon Tracks and Shoots Flying alongside drones might D o w n D r o n e V i d e o : A n seem a bit strange for U.S. Army Annotated Predator Drone Strike chopper pilots, but it has major in Afghanistan Tags Technology, payoffs. The U.S. Army found Jeremy Hsu, army, drones, that a mixed flight force of helicopters, kiowa warrior, m a n n e d a n d u n m a n n e d manned, pilots, robots, uas, uav, helicopters could locate and kill unmanned 90 percent of targets, compared These efforts to integrate to manned helicopter forces that manned and unmanned systems located just 70 percent of targets, signal the 21st century battlefield according to DOD Buzz. where humans and robots Word of the study came from actively cooperate and share the Colonel Chris Carlile, head of the same ground, sea or airspace.

Army's effort to create an The U.S. Air Force has continued unmanned aerial systems (UAS) to revamp its ranks by training roadmap. He mentioned one new drone pilots, and many more example of the lethal boost footsloggers are getting their provided by drone cooperation -- hands on technologies that allow an unmanned Kiowa Warrior them to access or control drone helicopter was able to fly several buddies. m i l e s a h e a d o f t h e m a i n We only expect to hear more helicopter force and tip off stories like this in the near future, piloted Kiowas to eliminate given how well drones and enemies before the helicopters humans have cooperated so far. were spotted.

But James Cameron must not The Army anticipates a major have read the tea leaves for his boost in unmanned aircraft with l a t e s t b l o c k b u s t e r A v a t a r , the Quadrennial Defense Review, because those futuristic human and is considering whether to mechs and gunships seemed combine piloted or unpiloted sadly lacking in drone support.

Kiowa Warriors with units that [via DOD Buzz]

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Media Magazine: The Dying of the Light (MediaPost | Media News) Submitted at 1/6/2010 12:12:32 PM

Has the sand run out of the hourglass at last, or will soaps return to their roots?

There is no denying that daytime soap operas - once the cash cows of the broadcast networks - have seen better days, and it's safe to say that we'll never see a return to those heady times when 30 million viewers tuned in for Luke and Laura's wedding on General Hospital back in 1981. The genre famous for people returning from the dead, evil twins, amnesia and babies switched at birth has suffered a steep ratings decline that began in the mid-1990s when the O.J. Simpson trial hijacked television, preempting the soaps and disrupting viewing patterns. More women returning to the workplace, a plethora of syndicated shows and cable programming to compete with, and the rise of online media also hit the soaps hard.

Going back to the early 1990s, The Young and the Restless, the top-rated soap for the last 20 years, averaged more than 10 million viewers per episode during the '91-'92 season - now the show brings in around 5 million viewers per episode.

Guiding Light, which had 6.5 million viewers watching each episode during the '91-'92 season, was drawing little more than 2 million viewers per episode when the show was cut from CBS' lineup last year.

The cancellation of Guiding Light- produced by TeleNext Media, the production arm of Procter & Gamble - wasn't a surprise, given its chronically last -place ratings amongst the other soaps and an ill-conceived decision to shoot much of the show on location in recent years in an attempt to make it look like MTV's The Hills(no kidding).

But it was still a blow to soap fans and the industry when CBS pulled the plug on what was one of the most beloved soaps. First broadcast on radio from 19371956 before transitioning to television in 1952, Guiding Light ultimately became not only the longest-running soap opera, but also the longest-running drama in television history.

A few months after Guiding Light was extinguished, CBS pulled the plug on As the World Turns late last year. The second longest-running soap opera has until September to play out.

TeleNext Media is reportedly in search of a new home for As the World Turns, but industry insiders don't see much hope, especially given that there were no takers for Guiding Light.

When As the World Turns stops spinning, six daytime soap operas - ABC's All My Children, General Hospital and One Life to Live; CBS' The Bold and the Beautiful and The Young and the Restless; and NBC's Days of Our Lives- will remain on network television.

But the question is: for how

OWN cable network.

Like Winfrey, could the soaps jump to another platform whether it is cable or the Internet - to ensure their survival? Is it possible that we might not see soaps on the broadcast networks, say, 10 years from now? "I can't predict what's going to happen a year from now," says Bruce Evans, senior vice president of current series at NBC. "Everything is changing so rapidly. Certainly, there's always much longer? Looking at the don't think that the death of a going to be a desire for content, media coverage in the wake of show that hadn't won its time and there's always going to be a the cancellation of Guiding Light period in 20 years is a harbinger desire for what viewers get out of and then As the World Turns, the of anything other than a late daytime serials. Where there's a general consensus is that the reaction by CBS to the reality of will, there's a way to get the daytime soap opera is, well, dead. that particular program's ratings." programming out there."

Last year, NBC started But Soap Opera Digest editor Brad Adgate, senior vice Stephanie Sloane, who has president and director of research streaming Days of Our Lives covered the industry for 19 years, for Horizon Media, has this to online and making it available for maintains that there is life in the say: "The soap opera isn't dead viewing on mobile devices; ABC genre. "Neither Guiding Light yet, but it is withering on the is already airing its own soaps, as well as shows from other n o r A s t h e W o r l d T u r n s vine." performed well in the all- To be fair, soap operas aren't networks on SOAPNet, its own i m p o r t a n t 1 8 - 4 9 - y e a r - o l d alone in facing a shrinking cable network; and you can demographic, which is what audience on daytime television. watch almost all of the soaps determines ad dollars, but other Even a powerhouse like The online nowadays. shows are. It's not bad news all Oprah Winfrey Show has lost a Meanwhile, entrepreneurial soap over the landscape. Success s u b s t a n t i a l p o r t i o n o f i t s stars are striking out on their own stories are out there," Sloane audience. The show, which to produce soap-themed content says, citing Days of Our Lives, averaged 12.6 million viewers for the Internet. Eden Riegel of which surged in the women 18- during the '91-'92 season, brings A l l M y C h i l d r e n a n d h e r 34 demo last year. in just over 6 million per episode h u s b a n d , A n d r e w M i l l e r , launched an online soap called Brian Frons, president of today. daytime for the Disney-ABC While she didn't cite declining "Imaginary Bitches" in 2008, and Television Group, also insists ratings as a reason, Oprah the show was nominated for a that the end of Guiding Light and Winfrey recently announced that daytime Emmy in the new As the World Turns don't spell her syndicated show will come to approaches category. Late last doom and gloom for all daytime an end in 2011, and she will year, As the World Turns alum soaps. Speaking specifically of reportedly debut a new program MEDIA page 75 Guiding Light, Frons says, "We on her soon-to-be-launched

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past season saw attendance down, albeit slightly. He also has ideas how to boost revenues Tony Ponturo could connect the t h r o u g h T V - s t y l e p r o d u c t gridiron and the Great White placement and sponsorships Way in ways even Joe Namath common in corporate marketing. never dreamt of Broadway's appeal differs from The office is sparsely decorated, many of the marketing venues but exemplifies the dichotomy towards which Ponturo directed between a career left and a new A-B. While the company was one beginning. A replica Super heavily involved in wide-appeal Bowl trophy is on one side. programming, 70 percent of the Directly across are two framed budget was spent in sports. They P l a y b i l l s f r o m B r o a d w a y were deeply committed to productions he's involved in. N A S C A R , f o r e x a m p l e ; Tony Ponturo sits in a swivel succeeded in putting Bud Light chair in the middle. The Madison on the mat in Ultimate Fighting A v e n u e m a y p o l e l e f t h i s Championship jousts, but failed longtime post as Anheuser- to establish an edgy Bud.tv Busch's marketing chief in late online content network.

2008, a role that gave him sway And Ponturo may be best known over one of the largest sports for making A-B part of the marketing budgets around. zeitgeist every year come Super On this chilly morning, the Bowl time. A cool $20 million affable 57-year-old looks relaxed annually gave it the most spots in and satisfied, but eager for a new the game, which usually had challenge. And he conveys an people talking the day after. easy optimism about what the As an entrepreneur and avid next decade will bring. theatergoer for years, Ponturo's Ponturo formed his own multi- entrĂŠe into Broadway began with faceted firm a year ago. He made the revival of "Hair" last spring, some investments and joined where he and his wife are some boards. But more than associate producers. Those soanything, his passion now seems called "below the title" roles to be landing shows in the famed m e a n s t h e y w e r e m o s t l y theater strips off Times Square. investors, but with some This is no dalliance; no vanity involvement in decision-making. play. He's investing some of the "Hair" led to a larger, coproducer millions of dollars he left A-B role in "Memphis" this fall. The with. And he's looking to bring show, set during the early days of some of his marketing acumen to rock 'n' roll, is likely to be a energize an industry that often contender for a best musical overlooks the promotional part of Tony this year. "You don't want the business. It may need it; the to jinx anything," Ponturo says.

Submitted at 1/6/2010 12:12:32 PM

he's got."

"I think he loves the business of it, but I think he loves the art of it, too," says Sue Frost, a lead producer on "Memphis."

As Ponturo chatted that December morning in his office, he was awaiting a script readthrough and meetings with potential directors. There was also a get-together with David Maraniss, whose 1999 biography of Lombardi is the underpinning for the play.

Choosing a director and a cast of six - including the man who will play Lombardi - is expected to be completed sometime around "But I think there's a good chance March. Same goes for a final script from Eric Simonson, who we'll be nominated."

But while those shows keep did a previous play about the running, Ponturo is moving full 1960s Green Bay coach that bore into another project that received lackluster reviews.

Lombardi's journey - from finds him in a leading role: a 90minute play about iconic NFL afterthought to the most famous coach Vince Lombardi, planned coach in the country and winner of Super Bowls - is an unlikely for a late 2010 debut.

Ponturo is a coshow runner with one. A mystique unlike any other fellow general partner Fran surrounds him.

Kirmser, a Broadway veteran he With Ponturo moving ahead on a met working on "Hair." Yin to project that could cost $3 million Ponturo's yang, Kirmser is -plus just to get to opening night, handling much of the creative he is flexing his marketing side, while Ponturo oversees the acumen by linking with the NFL, business end, though he's also one of the most powerful brands closely involved with the artistic. around. Details are still being "A lot of times in theater there hammered out, but the league has are people like me who were increasingly embraced its past of dancers and actors that have sort late, and Lombardi is something of worked their way to the other of its patron saint (his name is on side of the stage," Kirmser says. the Super Bowl trophy).

"So, we don't come from a The league is not expected to be business background and don't an investor, but Ponturo hopes to have the marketing knowledge draft off its promotional heft -

somewhat of a new tactic for Broadway. The NFL could promote the play on its Web site (maybe offer a link to buy tickets), while airing related programming on its network.

There's also talk of displaying memorabilia, such as classic uniforms, in the theater lobby and the notion of giving a portion of ticket sales to an NFL charity.

Borrowing an approach common in corporate America, there could also be downstream opportunities for executives at league sponsors to attend premiere nights and receive other special benefits something A-B would often do with distributors and high-level customers at events with which it was involved.

Ponturo knows that to make the Lombardi show a hit, it will need to attract both devoted theatergoers as well as football fans that may never have gone to a Broadway show before.

Ponturo uses a metaphor of appealing to both a left and right side of the orchestra. (Potential benefit: Green Bay fans are known as some of the most rabid in the NFL and just might sell out the theater by themselves.)

A sign how Ponturo's connections forged through 33 years in advertising are likely to serve him well in Broadway is how the NFL first became involved. A breakfast conversation with Roger Goodell sufficiently intrigued the league's MEDIA page 76

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months of Guiding Light, announced that Jessica Leccia, the actress who played her Watching episodes of today's girlfriend on GL, would play her low-budget, limited-run Web lover on the Web series. Sure soaps (with their average running enough, "Venice" opened with a times of approximately five PG-13 bedroom make-out scene minutes), it is difficult to imagine between the two, indicating that t h e g e n r e d e v e l o p i n g i n t o Chappell meant what she said in something that might rival or recent interviews about taking replace the daytime dramas of advantage of the greater creative b r o a d c a s t t e l e v i s i o n . B u t freedom the Web can provide. ( remember, television soaps in GL fans had clamored for love their infancy ran for only 15 scenes between the two, but minutes and were shot with static physical contact between them cameras in black and white (and was kept to a minimum.) Filmed those were a quantum leap from on location in Venice Beach, the radio serials before them). In Calif., "Venice" also features the '50s and early '60s, it was Galen Gering of Passions, Nadia unimaginable that soaps would Bjorlin of Days of Our Lives, blossom into the handsomely Tina Sloan and Jordan Clarke of p r o d u c e d , b i g - b u d g e t Guiding Light and Hillary B. extravaganzas that they became Smith of One Life to Live, in the '80s and early '90s. among other soap stars. It looks Still, there is much for soap great, though the first two opera enthusiasts to be excited episodes are compromised by about as a new decade in Internet uneven sound quality. content development begins. " G o t h a m , " c r e a t e d b y a n d ( T h e s a m e h o l d s t r u e f o r starring As the World Turns advertisers who understand that alumna Martha Byrne, opened in there are no viewers of video November on a somewhat quieter entertainment who are as loyal to note, moving a bit too quickly in shows and sponsors as soap its premiere to introduce a fans.) The two latest entries in handful of its characters and plot the Web soap arena, "Venice" threads in under three minutes. and "Gotham," are well-stocked But its lush settings and fine with popular stars from past and fashions (supplied by Nicole present daytime dramas.

Miller, with much onscreen "Venice" became an online credit) made clear that with time s e n s a t i o n l o n g b e f o r e i t s and resources it could develop December debut when cocreator into a slick, sophisticated serial. and star Crystal Chappell, who The soap stars on its roster was featured in a popular lesbian include Michael Park and Paolo love story during the final Seganti of As the World Turns, Submitted at 1/6/2010 12:12:32 PM

Kin Shriner of General Hospital, Lisa Peluso of Loving, Anna Stuart of Another World, Kurt McKinney and Maeve Kincaid of Guiding Light and Brianne Moncrief of All My Children.

Most Web soaps are taking shape with early (and minimal) financial backing and no active business model, though "Venice" is an exception. Chappell decided early on to charge viewers $9.99 for each season of 12 episodes.

(The first episode is free.) Should "Venice" amass enough subscribers through this pay-perseason model to finance production, Chappell will have indeed broken new ground.

There has recently been a significant migration of soap opera talent from television to the Internet, particularly actors who are looking to develop their own material and, ideally, create new jobs for themselves. (They're also seeking to remain visible in the entertainment community and hold on to as much of their fan base as possible.) Former All My Children star Eden Riegel paved the way in 2008 with "Imaginary Bitches," an online series about a lonely young woman who creates two imaginary friends that turn out to be very outspoken and demanding. More a comedy than a true soap opera, "Bitches" was

nominated for a Daytime Emmy i n t h e N e w Approaches/Entertainment category and was honored in 2009 with two Webby Awards.

The first season is now available on DVD and a feature film adaptation is in development.

Guiding Light veterans Lawrence Saint-Victor and Karla Mosley have also hit the Web with "Wed-Locked," a series about a young couple humorously navigating the minutiae of modern marriage.

Much like Riegel with "Bitches," Saint-Victor and Mosley aren't so much trying to produce a soap opera for the Internet as deliver something new that would likely never be seen on television.

Perhaps because of its relative intimacy, "Wed-Locked" has a certain sexy charm about it that the more ambitious "Venice" and "Gotham" are missing.

Meanwhile, former General Hospital star Tristan Rogers is developing a multiplatform online serial titled "Reality Bytes." One Life to Live actor Nicholas Gonzalez can be seen in "Then We Got Help!" an ongoing Web drama about four couples in therapy that should appeal to fans of HBO's In Treatment. Another General Hospital alumna, Vanessa Marcil, one of the most

popular soap opera actresses in the history of the genre, stars in the upcoming action-drama "The Bannen Way," set to debut in January on Crackle. (If the sensationally cinematic trailer for "Bannen" is an accurate depiction of what's to come, this series could do for Web programming what Avatar will do for movies.)

"Bannen" isn't a Web soap, but Marcil's involvement and her enduring connection to the soap opera community are doing a lot to help generate publicity for it.

And then there's "Empire," an instantly addictive serial drama that doesn't feature any soap opera stars in its cast, but should.

It plays like a soap; it is great fun and it deserves the kind of attention it would receive if a soap actor or two were featured on its canvas.

So far, none of these Web soaps come close to the slick professionalism of "The Lake," a teen serial that debuted last summer on thewb.com. "The Lake" was produced and directed

by Jason Priestley and sponsored

by Johnson & Johnson's Clean & Clear skin care for teens. Filled with fresh-faced young actors and actresses frolicking in the sun, some of whom were seen using the product line during the drama of it all, "The Lake" was the perfect Web union of serial and sponsor. Which puts the soap right back where it started.

Read more about soaps in " The MEDIA page 75

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Martha Byrne debuted "Gotham," while Crystal Chappell, of Days of Our Lives, produced "Venice: The Series," for which she hopes to sell subscriptions or fund through sponsorships.

Clearly, these three soap stars see potential for the soap outside of broadcast television. In fact, for all of the talk about the soap opera being dead, the genre is abuzz with activity these days.

Film star James Franco began a guest stint on General Hospital in November at his request, and he penned an op-ed on the experience last month for The Wall Street Journal(guess Soap Opera Digest or Entertainment Weekly would have been stooping for the Columbia University student), maintaining that his excursion into the world of daytime soaps qualified as performance art. "My hope was for people to ask themselves if soap operas are really that far from entertainment that is considered critically legitimate," he wrote.

While Franco's thesis was rather pretentious, it certainly stirred up talk about the often-maligned soap.

In other news, All My Children is shifting production from New York City to Los Angeles this

month - okay, technically, it is a cost-cutting move, but Pine Valley's production values will actually go up, and the show will be seen in HD come February; and SOAPNet has also had some good news ratings-wise - ABC's soap cable network posted its seventh consecutive quarter of viewership increases last November, with the third quarter of 2009 becoming SOAPNet's most-watched quarter in total viewers in prime and total day.

And let's not forget that despite audience erosion in the United States, The Bold and the Beautiful is still a huge hit all over the world. Syndicated in 100 foreign markets, the show is estimated to have a daily worldwide audience of 450 million - that's right, 450 million - viewers.

There are plenty of advertisers who still see value in the daytime soap, especially when it comes to product integration, which, after all, is how the form originated first in newspapers and then on radio serials. You're seeing more of it on the soaps these days, marking a return to the glory days when the soaps - the original branded content - were sponsored by the soap manufacturers.

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ABC, for one, has done a number of integration deals lately, including one that had references to the Rob Marshall feature film Nine written into episodes of All My Children, One Life to Live and General Hospital in December. Those Nine mentions got extra play because each episode was shown an additional four times on SOAPNet. The ABC soaps - as well as The View- were also part of a fourshow story line and product integration for Campbell's in support of the American Heart Association's Go Red for Women Movement. Mediaedge:cia brokered the deal for the program, which ran in February 2009 as well as February 2008.

"The reality is, soap operas are the place to be if you want to reach older women," explains Christine Tiranno, Mediaedge:cia's director of national television, noting that ABC soaps delivered Campbell's message to two key demos: women 35 plus and women 2554.

Campbell's and Mediaedge:cia worked on the story lines with the writers of the shows: On All My Children, Pine Valley Hospital opened a cardiac wing,

and Campbell's was featured as an in-show sponsor of a luncheon celebrating the new wing; One Life to Live found iconic characters Viki Davidson, who has a history of heart disease, and Dorian Lord putting aside their differences to cohost the secondannual Go Red Ball sponsored by Campbell's; and over at General Hospital, Maxie, the recipient of a heart transplant, got a look at what her life would have been like without the gift.

"In the final analysis, we wound up having over a half-hour's worth of daytime content just devoted to our story lines, and we thought it was a very impactful way to get the message out," Tiranno says, noting, "We wanted the viewers to be educated, but we also wanted them to be entertained, and the soap operas gave us a wonderful opportunity to do that."

Additionally, throughout the month, ABC Daytime talent delivered messages about heart health via interstitials that aired throughout the daytime lineup and on SOAPNet. There were also commercials running during each of the daytime soaps, touting Campbell's heart-healthy foods.

Mediaedge:cia brokered a

similar story line and product integration for the V8 brand through CBS last year, gaining exposure on all of the network's soaps. Over at NBC, Days of Our Lives has done product placement deals with brands such as Cheerios, and the show is currently working on an integration deal for an unnamed client that will have a social networking component to it, Evans reports.

Reaction to the increased amount of product placement on the soaps these days is mixed, though. "I've seen criticism of product placement from fans and people in the industry, but this is the new reality," Sloane says.

"There may be better ways to integrate the products, where it's not as glaring, but if we want these shows to succeed, and this is what they need to do, then so be it." Read about the future of the soap in " Will Webisoaps Keep the World Turning?"

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commissioner.

The NFL has had relationships with many films, notably the recent Sandra Bullock tearjerker The Blind Side, but never has it taken a gambit on the Broadway stage.

"The commissioner said 'Why don't we take a look at this and take it on; it seems like something that could be very interesting.'" says Tracy Perlman, who runs entertainment marketing for the league.

By the end of Ponturo's 26 years at A-B, he headed global media and sports marketing and ran the company's in-house media group.

He made multiple efforts in branded entertainment, and some minor attempts at Broadway ties.

Those included the musical "In the Heights," with which A-B envisioned a marketing partnership. Ponturo hoped the company could use the show to appeal to a Hispanic audience, which in turn would bring publicity for the show. But the producers wanted more cash upfront and didn't share his vision. "I felt they missed the real opportunity which was the marketing," Ponturo says.

Even as he was buying loads of sports advertising, Ponturo maintained a personal interest in theater, partly driven by his wife, Ruthe. He went to 27 straight Super Bowls, but was also going

to 10 to 20 Broadway shows a year.

When the couple lived in St. Louis - A-B's base - Ruthe taught high school and directed musicals. The pair met when they were both pages at NBC, when Ruth was aspiring to a Broadway career.

As Ponturo looks to bring some new marketing and revenuegenerating concepts to Broadway, high on the list is expanding product integration onstage. Weaving brands into film and TV has boomed in recent years - A-B has done its share - and Ponturo sees no reason why marketers can't be persuaded to get involved. That could stretch from rudimentary product placement to maybe a spot in a script, so long as it doesn't tinker with authenticity.

"It's a provocative channel from the standpoint of planning how to get a message across," says Gregg Pruitt, a MediaCom executive who has worked in theater.

A play may only reach 8,000 to 10,000 people a week, but it can bring an upscale, highly educated, captive audience advertisers chase elsewhere.

Ponturo is optimistic that the Lombardi show will yield some deals. The coach's era was before Gatorade dousings, but maybe he had a Pepsi machine in his office.

I would hope that we've found a decent way to do some things with the Lombardi project; there seems to be a natural opportunity there," Ponturo says. (A similar effort for "Memphis" with some beer brands didn't work out.)

To be sure, product integration is not entirely new on Broadway.

Hormel linked with "Monty Python's Spamalot," Red Bull appeared on stage in "Legally Blonde," and the musical inspired by the Tom Hanks movie "Big" was set in FAO Schwarz. And Ponturo's involvement in the Lombardi show, by sheer dint of his experience, might be enough to attract a CMO. "Tony is a smart marketer," says ESPN's head of sales, Ed Erhardt, a friend with whom he frequently attended Broadway shows. "He clearly looks at every situation as an opportunity to connect brands with the content in the right way.

That's one of the things I'm looking forward to watching going forward."

There is also a feeling on Broadway that new marketing methods are needed, and some are looking to Ponturo for guidance. There weren't many venues A-B didn't at least experiment with - giving him a wide vantage point.

"He's innovative and he looks at doing things in a fresh way," says Jim O'Connell, a NASCAR

marketing executive.

But the marketing budget on Broadway pales beside A-B's. On average, for a play, ticket sales need to pull in between $225,000 to $300,000 a week just to cover operating costs. Perhaps $40,000 to $50,000 of that is available for advertising, making efficiency key.

Broadway marketing is also increasingly moving online. A-B has boosted its budgets there in recent years with initiatives from the failed Bud.tv to social media.

"You can be much more specific in targeting an audience (via the Web) and more than half the tickets for Broadway are sold online," says Alan Wasser, who manages shows such as "Phantom of the Opera."

As Ponturo embarks on a new stage, he's eager for another act that could be "more interesting and more enlightening than just to rehash what I've already done.

"It's just moving the ball forward," he says.

That's a metaphor that fits.

Read Ponturo's thoughts on whether or not Bud will drop the bowl.

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Media Magazine: Fast Forward (MediaPost | Media News) Submitted at 1/6/2010 12:12:32 PM

January columns are always ones for waxing on about the year ahead. And, rest assured, I will, but first let me talk a little about the year behind - very little. It sucked. It sucked so much so, that I watched a lot of good people - really good people - get displaced.

Luckily, we at MEDIA mag, and our parent MediaPost, came away virtually unscathed. We didn't let a single person go. But we did tighten our belts, and you may have noticed our reduced midriff in the form of diminished frequency of this very magazine.

We didn't make any noise about it, but we went to an every-othermonth frequency in 2009, and we're going to get even less frequent in 2010. But in a way, that may be a good thing.

Following this January issue, we MEDIA page 77

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are going quarterly. The good news is that the issues will be bigger, and hopefully better.

Among other things, we're making the guest editor role that we previously have used for our annual Future of Media Issue a permanent fixture. So each of the upcoming quarterlies will have a special outsider working with us as editor. Some, as Bob Guccione Jr. did for our 2008 Future of Media issue, may play a pretty hands-on editing role (believe me, he did). Others, like 2009 FOM guest editor Alex Bogusky, may play more of a thematic, curatorial role, steering the overall idea behind the issue. In any case, I'm excited about all the possibilities, and possible guest editors. But I only know what I know, and as Bogusky put it this past September, I don't even know what I don't know. What do you know? More specifically, who can you think of who would make an interesting guest editor of MEDIA magazine? I'd love to

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hear from you about that, and, as always, you can reach me at joe@mediapost.com.

Some of the themes we're going to be addressing in the quarters ahead are: screens - how marketers are innovating and changing the way they think about and use media; and, of course, our annual FOM issue will be tied to its namesake forum during Advertising Week in September. Our sister magazine, OMMA, will continue to publish as a monthly.

(Apparently there's more demand for print magazines focused primarily on digital media - go figure.)

Meanwhile, you may notice something else that's different about this issue of MEDIA magazine: The inclusion of our annual Agency of the Year awards supplement. And, as you may already know, there's something unusual about those awards, too. For the first time in the six years I've been at

MediaPost, we did not pick some unit of Starcom MediaVest Group as our Agency of the Year. Don't get me wrong, SMG was good - really good - in 2009.

There were just some organizations that did a better job of delivering on the criteria we use for selecting them: strategic vision, innovation and industry leadership. Read on, and hopefully you'll agree with our rationale for choosing Havas' MPG as Media Agency of the Year, and Interpublic's Mediabrands as Media Agency Holding Company of the Year for 2009, not to mention Publicis' Spark as Media Boutique, and Hulu as Media Supplier of the Year. We did have one repeat again this year. Actually, it was a threepeat that went to Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, for Media Department of the Year.

But the most unusual part of this year's awards probably is our selection for Media Client of the Year, which went not to a

conventional marketing organization, but to an array of innovative, but also quite insidious, marketers known as "malvertisers," who have found loopholes in online advertising business practices and technology that have enabled them to propagate in new and alarming ways.

As for 2010, well, anything's got to be better than the year we've left behind. But I think it's going to be better than many people expect. While the macro economy will be the ultimate determinant, I do believe that the media industry is going to help stimulate, not be a drag on its growth.

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networks. It argues that the amount is "substantially lower" than the rates for networks with comparable performances.

Scripps argues the cable company's latest offer to keep the networks on its air would still make Food Network among the "lowest paid" on its line-up.

Cablevision maintains the rate increases Scripps is seeking are excessive.

"If Scripps wanted people in this market to see "Iron Chef," they shouldn't have irresponsibly yanked their programming off Cablevision, effectively holding their own viewers hostage in pursuit of a $20 million annual rate increase," Cablevision said in a statement. "That's not 'pennies,' as Scripps has claimed."

Scripps and Cablevision have been running a substantial number of ads in order to build support for their positions in the MEDIADAILYNEWS: page 78

MediaDailyNews: Food, HGTV Nets Air On Tribune (MediaPost | Media News) Submitted at 1/6/2010 12:29:02 PM

With Scripps' networks group pulling HGTV and Food Network off the Cablevision system in a fee dispute, the company has turned to an ally -Tribune -- for help.

Scripps will air re-runs on Tribune-owned broadcast stations, hoping to remind people

of its networks' popularity and prompt them to lobby Cablevision to alter its demands in the increasingly contentious matter.

Tribune has a financial stake in the contretemps; it has a 30% ownership stake in the Food Network. The channel, along with HGTV, has been dark in millions of Cablevision homes in the extended New York area

since the beginning of the year.

The Tribune stations in New York and Hartford, Conn., both in Cablevision territory, have each cleared two prime-time hours this Sunday for a re-airing of a Food Network "Iron Chef" special. (It aired on Food on Jan. 3.)

The "Iron Chef" special involved the head White House chef and notables Emeril Lagasse and

Bobby Flay.

Both Food and HGTV are top20 networks by one measure in It would appear to be a good the cable rankings in the adult 25 deal for the stations, which run -to-54 demo and are experiencing the programming free from large ratings increases.

Scripps and get to sell the ad time Scripps is seeking higher and garner the full revenues. carriage fees from Cablevision, Each CW affiliate normally airs saying the operator has been movies in the time slot. paying it 25 cents a month per In addition, an HGTV special subscriber to offer the two will also air on the stations at 3 MEDIADAILYNEWS: page 77 p.m. on Friday.

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debate.

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E-reader News Edition

Will E-Readers Help Spread Knowledge, Or Wall It Off? Here's A Scorecard That We Can Use (paidContent.org via Yahoo! Finance) (Yahoo! News Search Results for e-readers)

knowledge than arguably anything else in history. Ideas and arts once only accessible to Submitted at 1/6/2010 9:15:07 AM the wealthy and privileged DMC Worldwide Upendra Shardanand is the Chief became available to everyone.

Introduces Suite of Executive Officer and Founder of The e-book movement could be a Daylife, which helps publishers force to democratize knowledge COPIA E-Readers add content and inventory even further – or not.

(Business Wire via without additional staff or There are plenty of scorecards to Yahoo! Finance) engineering. He also co-founded compare the myriad technical (Yahoo! News Search Results Firefly Network, a spinoff from specifications of e-readers. Now his work at the MIT Media Lab, we need one to help evaluate for e-readers) that he sold to Microsoft. whether a particular set of e-book Submitted at 1/6/2010 5:01:00 AM Plenty of holiday shoppers spent rules would be a net positive or LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS hours puzzling over which e- negative for society at large.

W I R E ) - D M C reader to purchase, comparing In my view, the rise of e-books Worldwide(DMCWW), a leading traits like screen size and battery will have a profoundly positive e n t e r p r i s e a n d c o n s u m e r life, and weighing non-tech specs impact on the world if: technology company, today like the utility of being able to 1.Books are cheaper. The less introduced its suite of COPIA ( lend a book once for 14 days expensive they are, the more www.thecopia.com) e- (Nook) and the whether it matters people can read them. readers and related accessories. that a company (Amazon) can 2.There is a better secondary The e-readers, branded OCEAN delete a customer's books if it market. Used books are more affordable and circulate long and TIDAL, are full-featured chooses.

But there's another, more after the title is out of print. wireless reading devices that enable users to connect with profound question about e- 3.Books are easier to share. Or the COPIA ( www.thecopia.com) readers that gets very little hand down to your kids, donate community to discover, enjoy, attention from the army of to a book drive, or leave on your share and purchase digital journalists scrutinizing every bell stoop for passers-by to take. content including books, and whistle on the devices. E- 4.There are more books. And book sales will disrupt not just m o r e k n o w l e d g e , m o r e newspapers and magazines.

The COPIA e-readers offer an the publishing industry and the information, more perspective. immersive and connected reading a c t o f r e a d i n g – i t w i l l 5.Free options are more widely experience.

The suite dramatically alter the availability available. Such as a library includes both monochrome e- to knowledge in our society. Will (thanks to robber baron Andrew paper-based touchscreens and this disruption be for better or Carnegie for building thousands). worse?

6.Books are harder to censor. Or The printing press and public recall or delete. Censorship has DMC page 79 libraries did more to democratize been a consistent threat as long as

we've had writing and is everpresent even today (see churches burning Harry Potter, fatwas against Danish cartoonists, and China).

7.Books last longer. At least as long as a paper book.

Today, e-books are such a small percentage of the book market that they really have no impact at all. But just for kicks, and because the Kindle is the dominant e-reader (with an estimated six out of every 10 devices sold), let's tally how the hit Amazon (NasdaqGS: AMZNNews) device fares using this scorecard.

1.Books are cheaper. Only if you are a bookworm and buy enough books to defray the cost of the Kindle. For the average reader, FAIL 2.There is a better secondary market. Not only not cheaper, but actually nonexistent. Amazon's terms of service explicitly doesn't allow you to "sell, rent, lease, distribute, broadcast, sublicense or otherwise assign any rights" to your e-books. FAIL 3.Books are easier to share. Not unless you're willing to part with your Kindle for a few days. FAIL 4.There are more books. Given trivial reproduction costs and infinite shelf space, it's safe to assume more books will be available. WIN

5.Free options are more widely available. There are a few libraries experimenting with lending Kindles, but this is a violation of Amazon's Terms of Service. FAIL 6.Books are harder to censor.

Amazon answered that one when it magically caused 1984 to disappear from customers' Kindles. When the Chinese government asked Google (NasdaqGS: GOOG- News) to get rid of all references to the Falun Gong and Tiananmen Square massacre, Google complied. FAIL 7. Books last longer. Digital books can last forever. (Provided Amazon doesn't choose to follow the music industry and work hard to make your old media obsolete.) WIN Two up, five down. It's clear that if we're going to do well on this scorecard, the e-reader market will have to be a competitive one.

As an optimist and technophile, I hope for the best. But some vigilance couldn't hurt.

What do you think? Will there be a happy ending to the story?

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DMC continued from page 78

panels with robust Wi-Fi or 3G wireless connectivity and advanced color e-readers designed for rich content. Each device is designed to extend the collaborative online experience of COPIA, a deviceagnostic platform that DMC Worldwide unveiled today.

“The COPIA platform – including the online community, e-commerce engine and broad suite of devices – were designed to satisfy consumers’ ferocious appetite for content consumption, as well as a shared experience,” said Ben Lowinger, EVP, DMC Worldwide. “The devices match perfectly to the experience of reading a book, magazine or newspaper, and both TheCopia.com and COPIA e-readers offer a compelling online and hardware platform to deliver entertainment content through an experience which creates communities, drives commerce and fosters collaboration.”

Key features of the COPIA ereaders include: The Connected Experience COPIA e-reader users can instantly connect to TheCopia.com, a deviceagnostic, online destination that enables readers of all ages to experience a completely new way to discover, enjoy, share and purchase books, newspapers, magazines and a wide variety of digital content. COPIA combines

a compelling social networking experience, collaboration and intuitive shared discovery with meaningful reading content.

Students, as well as book groups, can highlight, annotate and connect to each other directly from the COPIA ereaders to the online COPIA community.

Broad Access to Content The COPIA e-reader users will have access to a compelling array of content across best-sellers, popular titles, textbooks, public domain titles and an array of additional entertainment content, with new content being added daily. Current and future content agreements can be f o u n d a t www.thecopia.com/press.

Pricing and Availability The COPIA e-readers will be available for purchase online in April 2010 and at retail by June 2010 with prices ranging from $199- $299 (MSRP).

TheCopia.com will begin its private, limited-invitation beta in Jan. 2010. The public beta will launch in March 2010.

For more information on the COPIA e-readers, including hiresolution images and a press release on the entire COPIA solution, please visit TheCopia.com media web site at www.thecopia.com/press.

DMC Worldwide will display the COPIA e-reader lineup and demo the COPIA experience at

CES 2010, Central Hall, Booth #9817. To schedule a briefing, please contact dmc@cohnwolfe.com.

Product Specifications The COPIA lineup of OCEAN and TIDAL e-readers consists of six devices designed to meet the needs of all reading levels.

Specs for each device include: OCEAN 9 OCEAN 9 3G OCEAN 6 TIDAL TIDAL TOUCH TIDAL TOUCH 3G • ePaper display • 9”capacitive touchscreen • 768 x 1024 pixels • Size: 162.8 x 207.8 x 11 mm • 4-directional tilt-sensor • Robust WiFi (802.11b/g) • 4 GB internal memory • Micro SD card slot • Earphone jack and microphone • ePaper display • 9”capacitive touchscreen • 768 x 1024 pixels • Size: 162.8 x 207.8 x 11 mm • 4-directional tilt-sensor • 3G connectivity • Robust WiFi (802.11b/g) • 4 GB internal memory • Micro SD card slot •Earphone jack and microphone • ePaper display • 6” capacitive touchscreen • 600 x 800 pixels • Size: 125 x 170 x 11 mm • 4-directional tilt-sensor • Robust WiFi (802.11b/g) • 4 GB internal memory • Micro SD card slot • Earphone jack and microphone

• ePaper display •QWERTY soft keypad • 6” screen • 600 x 800 pixels • Size: 124 x 170 x 8.9 mm • 2 GB internal memory • ePaper display • 6” capacitive touchscreen • 600 x 800 pixels • Size: 124 x 170 x 8.9 mm • 4-directional tilt-sensor • Robust WiFi (802.11b/g) • 4 GB internal memory • Micro SD card slot • Earphone jack and microphone • ePaper display • 6” capacitive touchscreen • 600 x 800 pixels • Size: 124 x 170 x 8.9 mm • 4-directional tilt-sensor • 3G connectivity • 4-directional tilt-sensor • Robust WiFi (802.11b/g) • 4 GB internal memory • Micro SD card slot • Earphone jack and microphone About Distribution Management Consolidators Worldwide DMC Worldwide (DMCWW) is a leading enterprise and consumer technology company with a heritage that spans more than 40 years investing in, developing, manufacturing and distributing cutting-edge consumer electronics products. The company holds deep expertise in sales channel development, supply chain management sales, marketing, distribution and customer service and support.

The DMC Worldwide family of companies has sold hundreds of millions of consumer electronics products by leveraging its robust mature infrastructure. The DMC Worldwide family of companies includes DMC Capital Funding, LLC, a leading private equity company focused on strategic investments in middlemarket, technology product companies; Xact Technology, LLC, a leading provider of GPS tracking solutions; and Cocoon Innovations, LLC, a leading provider of personal organization and protection systems. The company is headquartered in New York City with offices in Hong Kong.

For more information, please visit http://www.dmcww.com.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery A v a i l a b l e : http://www.businesswire.com/cgi bin/mmg.cgi?eid=6132591&lang =en MULTIMEDIA AVAILABLE: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi -bin/mmg.cgi?eid=6132591 Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Copia Challenges Amazon, B&N and Sony: Unveils New EBook Platform and 6 E-Readers (ReadWriteWeb) (Yahoo! News Search Results for e-readers)

Users can highlight and annotate books, for example, and share these annotations with other Submitted at 1/6/2010 11:54:40 AM users. Copia will also implement C o p i a ' s p r i v a t e , l i m i t e d - a rating system for book reviews. invitation beta will launch this OEM's will be able to offer all of month. The company plans to these features to their users as expand this beta in March. well. OEMs will also be able to Copia bills itself as a hybrid integrate Copia's e-book store solution, as the company plans to into their own devices. Copia's Eoffer both consumer-facing e- Readers: Ocean and Tidal book solutions as well as an open Copia plans to offer 6 different e platform for OEMs. -readers with prices ranging from Focus on Social Networking $199 to $299. The 'Tidal' will Features offer a 6-inch ePaper display and On the consumer side, Copia the 'Ocean' will come in a basic 6 wants to differentiate itself from -inch version and two advanced its competition by giving its users versions with a 9-inch screens. a number of social networking Both of these models will come tools. Community profiles on in three different variations. The Copia, for example, are linked to most basic models will not offer Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. any wireless connectivity besides In addition, the service will offer W i F i a n d w o n ' t o f f e r a collaboration tools that are touchscreen. The intermediate mostly geared towards students. models offer touchscreens and

the high-end versions will offer touchscreens and 3G connectivity. All models come with tilt sensors and 4GB of internal memory.

These devices will go on sale on Copia's site in April.

Can This Work?

We still have a lot of questions about Copia. We don't know at what price the company plans to sell books and what DRMsolution Copia plans to implement. At the same time,

though, the company's plan to sell both e-books and compatible e-readers looks a lot like Amazon's strategy and there can be no doubt that Amazon has been quite successful with this strategy. Copia, however, doesn't have any name recognition yet and the e-book market is currently dominated by big companies like Amazon, B&N and Sony. If Copia is successful in getting enough OEM partners, though, it could establish itself as another major player in the market. The company's e-reader lineup also looks like a potential winner.

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Democratic Support Dips Below Majority Level in 2009 (All Gallup Headlines)

by the 38.6% average of 2007.

Longer term, however, the 2000s showed a decline in political PRINCETON, NJ -- The year independence compared to the 2009 marked the end of a three1990s, with an average of 36.8% year run of majority Democratic of Americans identifying as support among U.S. adults. Last political independents from 1990 year, an average of 49.0% of -1999, compared with 34.8% Americans identified as from 2000-2009. Meanwhile, the Democrats or said they leaned proportion of Americans Democratic, the party's first identifying as Republicans was a yearly average below 50% since point higher in the 2000s (30.9%) 2005. Still, Democrats than in the 1990s (29.9%), while maintained an average eightDemocratic support was steady at point advantage in support over 33.3% in both decades.

Republicans last year, as 40.7% Gallup did not begin regularly of Americans identified as measuring leaned party Republicans or leaned identification until 1991. But the Republican. average percentage of The 2009 results are based on Republicans and Republicanaggregated data from all Gallup year. In the first quarter of 2009, several years of the George W. point drop in the percentage of leaning independents was similar and USA Today/Gallup polls coincident with the beginning of B u s h a d m i n i s t r a t i o n h a v e D e m o c r a t i c - l e a n i n g in the 1990s (42.5%) and the independents. c o n d u c t e d l a s t y e a r , the Obama administration, disappeared.

2000s (42.6%), as was the Democrats enjoyed one of the Gallup's Daily tracking data Rise in Independence in 2009 encompassing interviews with percentage of Democrats and more than 21,000 Americans. In largest advantages for either showed similar trends in 2009. One other notable development Democratic-leaning independents each poll, Gallup asks Americans party since 1991, 13 percentage Though total Republican support in the 2009 party identification (47.6% from 1991 to 1999, and whether they consider themselves points (51.7% of Americans did increase last year, this came d a t a i s a n i n c r e a s e i n t h e 47.9% from 2000 to 2009).

Republicans, Democrats, or identified as Democrats or leaned m o s t l y f r o m w h a t c a n b e p e r c e n t a g e o f A m e r i c a n s These decade-long averages independents. Independents are Democratic, versus 38.7% who considered "soft support." The identifying themselves initially as suggest much long-term stability subsequently asked if they lean to i d e n t i f i e d a s o r l e a n e d increase in overall GOP support political independents (regardless in party preferences, even though the Republican or Democratic Republican). In each subsequent is owing to an increase in the of whether they subsequently these preferences can move in the Party."The increase in overall q u a r t e r , t h e p e r c e n t a g e o f percentage of Republican-leaning said they leaned to either party). short term.

GOP support is owing to an Democratic supporters declined, independents, from 11% in the The 36.6% of Americans who Sign up for Gallup e-mail alerts increase in the percentage of and by the fourth quarter, the first quarter to 15% in the third i d e n t i f i e d t h e m s e l v e s a s or RSS feeds R e p u b l i c a n - l e a n i n g D e m o c r a t i c a d v a n t a g e h a d a n d f o u r t h q u a r t e r s . T h e independents in 2009 was up Get Gallup news on Facebook independents, from 11% in the shrunk to 5 points (47.2% to percentage of Americans with a from 34.9% in 2008. and Twitter stronger attachment to the GOP It is not unusual for the Survey Methods first quarter to 15% in the third 42.2%).

The five-point party gap in the - those who initially identify percentage of independents to Results are based on aggregated and fourth quarters."

The 2009 yearly averages do not fourth quarter of 2009 represents themselves as Republicans -- was increase in a non-election year. data from Gallup polls conducted tell the whole story of changes in t h e s m a l l e s t D e m o c r a t i c stable and, if anything, showed a But the 2009 average did mark in 2009, each based on telephone party support last year, as they to advantage since the second slight decline over the course of the second-highest percentage of interviews with 1,000 or more some degree obscure the sharp quarter of 2005. Thus, the gains the year. Also, there was a two- Americans calling themselves national adults, aged 18 and d e c l i n e i n t h e D e m o c r a t s ' the Democratic Party made in point drop in the percentage of i n d e p e n d e n t s i n t h e j u s t DEMOCRATIC page 83 advantage over the course of the public support during the last Democratic identifiers and a two- completed decade, eclipsed only Submitted at 1/6/2010 6:00:00 AM

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Obama Starts 2010 With 50% Approval (All Gallup Headlines) Submitted at 1/5/2010 8:00:00 PM

PRINCETON, NJ -- President Barack Obama begins his second year as president with 50% of Americans approving and 44% disapproving of his overall job performance. This is well below the 68% approval rating Obama received in his first few days as president, and matches his average for all of December -which included many days when public support for him fell slightly below that important symbolic threshold.

The latest job approval score is based on Gallup Daily tracking from Jan. 2-4, 2010 -- the first Gallup Daily survey conducted entirely within the new year."Obama enjoys 84% approval from Democrats, but closer to 50% approval from independents (currently 47%) and minimal support from Republicans (14%)."

President Obama has been walking the public opinion tightrope represented by the 50% job approval line since about mid -November, with his rating wavering between 47% and 53%.

However, even when 47% of Americans approved of Obama's overall job performance (in early December), slightly fewer Americans (46%) disapproved.

Obama has yet to see his job approval rating descend to the point that more Americans disapprove than approve.

Still, Obama's initial approval

rating in his second year as president is among the lowest for elected presidents since Dwight Eisenhower. Only Ronald Reagan -- who, like Obama, took office during challenging economic times -- began his second year in office with a lower approval score (49%).

However, Obama's disapproval rating is slightly higher than

Reagan's was (44% vs. 40%).

The 50% approval threshold is important because no sitting president whose average approval rating fell below this level in the year he ran for reelection succeeded in winning a second term. However, it may not have much significance relative to re-election at the beginning of year two, as the two

presidents (other than Obama) with the lowest approval ratings at this stage of their White House careers were both re-elected, and one of those with the highest approval ratings (George H.W. Bush) was not.

Generation and Gender Gaps According to the Jan. 2-4 data, views of Obama among various population subgroups are similar

to where they have stood in recent weeks. Obama enjoys 84% approval from Democrats, but closer to 50% approval from independents (currently 47%) and minimal support from Republicans (14%). A majority of nonwhites nationwide (76%) approve of the job he is doing, OBAMA page 83

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OBAMA

DEMOCRATIC

continued from page 82

compared with fewer than half of whites (41%). Regionally, support for Obama ranges from a high of 58% in the Middle Atlantic states along the East Coast, down to 35% in the Rocky Mountain states.

Women overall are slightly more positive about Obama's job performance than are men (54% vs. 47%), and adults under the age of 50 are more approving than those 50 and older. As a result, Gallup finds a stark difference in approval of the president between younger women and older men, with a solid majority of the former approving (58%), and a majority of the latter (55%) disapproving.

By contrast, younger men and older women have generally similar views about the president.

Bottom Line The New Year's tradition of resolving to make a fresh start in areas of deficiency doesn't readily apply to public opinion of presidents. For President Obama,

continued from page 81

that means his position with the American public in 2010 starts about where it left off in 2009, which is to say hovering precariously around 50% approval.

The meaning of the 50% threshold is somewhat relative. A 50% job approval rating would have been cause for major celebration by George W. Bush for much of his second term. But given the speed at which Obama descended to this level in his first year, today it is more of a warning light that this initially muscular administration remains on the threshold of losing majority support. At the same time, 50% is symbolically superior to 49%, and perhaps offers some encouragement to Obama's supporters that 2010 will bring some improvement in how Americans perceive the president.

Sign up for Gallup e-mail alerts or RSS feeds Get Gallup news on Facebook

and Twitter Survey Methods Results are based on telephone interviews with 3,032 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted Jan. 2-4, 2010, as part of Gallup Daily tracking. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is Âą2 percentage points.

Interviews are conducted with respondents on land-line telephones and cellular phones.

In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

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older. For results based on the total sample of 21,905 national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is Âą1 percentage point.

Interviews are conducted with respondents on land-line telephones (for respondents with a land-line telephone) and cellular phones (for respondents who are cell-phone only).

In addition to sampling error,

question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

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The Year 2020, As Seen By the Scientists Who Will Take Us There

By Clay Dillow (Popular Science - New Technology, Science News, The Future Now) Submitted at 1/6/2010 10:28:46 AM

Leading scientists present their 2020 visions The journal Nature, ever the forward-looking publication, is finished with all of this best-ofthe-last-decade nonsense. To celebrate the dawn of a new decade, the editors tapped experts across the scientific community, asking them simply "where will your field be ten years from now, and how will we get there?" Our favorite five predictions are collected below.

SEARCH Search is only ten years old, says Google's Director of Research Peter Norvig. So imagine what it's going to be like when it's twice the age it is today. "The majority of search queries will be spoken, not typed, and an experimental minority will be through direct monitoring of brain signals." But while the thought of beaming movie times and YouTube vids directly to the brain is incredible, the obstacles search faces in the next decade are the same fundamental ones it faces today. Google and its comrades/competitors need to refine search to measure quality and accuracy rather than just popularity, Norvig says. Agreed.

BIOLOGY David A. Relman, Chief of Infectious Diseases at Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, thinks medical research will turn away from the processes of the human body, about which we know much, and focus on the microbial processes that occur inside the body, of which we know very little. The various microbes that live and function within our own biology carry out some amazing science all by themselves, and learning about these microbial habitats could lead to myriad breakthroughs.

Only by understanding how these ecosystems within us keep us

healthy -- and make us unhealthy -- can we move toward a state of better overall health.

SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY "The challenge for the next decade will be to integrate molecular engineering and computing to make complex systems," says George Church, a professor of genetics at Harvard Med. By integrating great advances in computing power to biological processes, we can deliver drugs more effectively, engineer crops, cure cancer and engineer bacteria to carry out our bidding. We can even change the normal course of economic development in depressed

nations. Synthetically engineering parasite-resistant crops or photosynthetic organisms that churn out biomass, we can alter the economic landscape. "As costs drop, such technology will allow developing nations to leapfrog fertilizer-wasting, fossil-fuelintensive and disease-rife farming for cleaner, more efficient systems, just as they are leapfrogging costly landlines in favour of mobile-phone networks."

LASERS "Like the inventors of 1960, we are probably still underestimating the full potential and impact of

lasers," say Thomas M. Baer of Stanford and Nicholas P. Bigelow of the University of Rochester. As with everything, the future of lasers is size, and by that we're talking about the nano scale. Lasers with apertures no bigger than a single molecule will revolutionize everything from genome sequencing to hard disks, which could hold petabytes on a single PC. Even cosmology and physics will be upended.

Lasers will measure drift in fundamental constants in the universe, create forms of matter found only at the heart of stars and possibly even create fusion reactions that could provide limitless, non-carbon energy. Not bad for a decade's work.

RESEARCH But how do we get this all done?

Richard Klausner of the Column Group and David Baltimore of the California Institute of Technology have perhaps the most radical -- and amazing -vision for the next decade. It starts at the National Institutes of Health but calls for a change in the culture of how we treat science. When it comes to doling out funding, they argue, we need to focus on the researcher, not the research. The best way to make creative breakthroughs is to fund creative people. Awarding risktakers rather than good grant YEAR page 85

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Toshiba Cell TV Converts All Video to 3-D With Playstation 3's Processor

By John Mahoney (Popular Science - New Technology, Science News, The Future Now)

Sped-Up Bacteria Could Transform Carbon Dioxide into Natural Gas

Submitted at 1/6/2010 11:25:26 AM

When it comes to their home entertainment gear, Toshiba loves to do two things: stick Cell processors (the same brain powering the Playstation 3) inside them, and tout the ability to upconvert your crappy standard-def or web-streaming video to glorious high-def. Their Cell TV, just unveiled at CES, promises to do both things, but with an added selling point befitting this year's 3-D theme: upconversion of any twodimensional source into 3-D in real time.

Their are a few worn adages that come to mind: "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."

Or perhaps something about a pig in lipstick? Either way, we're obviously holding judgement on the quality of the 3-D conversion until we actually get to strap on our frame-sequential glasses and try these for ourselves.

By Jeremy Hsu (Popular Science - New Technology, Science News, The Future Now) Submitted at 1/6/2010 11:00:51 AM

But aside from the 3-D magic, the cell TV packs in plenty of other features: the included settop box (which houses the 3.2 GHz, 8-core Cell processor) essentially as a home theater PC, with its included Blu-ray player, 802.11N wi-fi, 1TB hard drive and a DLNA server and client (for playing back video from other devices on your network).

As for the picture quality, Toshiba's hyping the Cell's processing power with its ability

Japanese researchers tell pokey bacteria to hurry up and make with the methane to constantly tweak the picture video using the Cell processor, Bacteria naturally turn carbon while you're watching for the including the live feed of dioxide into methane gas over best possible quality. It will keep Grandma's face from the built-in billions of years. Now Japanese track of 512 local dimming zones videophone. Grandma HD! How researchers want to give that process a speed boost, to help in its LED backlight (quite a few nice. more than is standard now) to The Cell TV will be available in counter global warming and keep blacks as black as possible, sizes going from 46 to 65 inches create some much-needed natural and an ambient light sensor later this year. As is usually the gas. Agence France-Presse a d j u s t s c o l o r b a l a n c e a n d case at CES, there is no info on reports that Japan hopes to brightness according to the pricing or an actual release date. reduce the transformation period from billions to about 100 years. lighting conditions in your living [ PopSci at CES] The researchers at the Japan room. They're also, of course, promising even more impressive SPED-UP page 86 upconversion of standard-def

encouraging new generations of independent scientists to begin productive careers by aiding their development outside the usual academic routes." Take our

youngest, freshest, most open minds out of the grad studentdoctoral student-post doctoral hierarchy that keeps them tethered to the old ideas of their

YEAR continued from page 84

writers will fuel a new generation of scientists working on the kind of outside-the-mainstream ideas that landed America on the moon. As such, "we should be

elders? Radical indeed -- and we like it. [ Nature]

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Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology plan to develop a method within five years for speeding up the bacterial transformation. Their target: produce methane gas from carbon dioxide buried about 6,600 feet (2,000 m) beneath the sea bed, just off the northern tip of Japan's main island.

Many nations have already built massive carbon sequestration plants that can store carbon dioxide underground, as part of a worldwide effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions. And some researchers have experimented with synthetic trees

that can soak up carbon even better than the real things.

Few would probably complain if the Japanese can pull off this neat trick and produce some natural gas in the bargain. But we'll keep our fingers crossed that the new super-strain of bacteria doesn't cause any unforeseen consequences. [via Agence France-Presse]

CES Welcomes Press and Bloggers Today

By Lyn Slater (CEA Digital Dialogue) Submitted at 1/5/2010 2:16:05 PM

By Carolyn Slater I arrived in Vegas yesterday leaving behind a cold and windy Washington, DC with a brief stop at a freezing cold and snowing Cleveland. Seeing the clear blue skies, gently swaying palm trees and the huge (and already a hive of activity) Las Vegas Convention Center, it didn’t seem like a whole year had passed since the 2009 show. It’s good to be back!

This morning the press room staff all met to become reacquainted – it seems we’re all CES veterans this year. We’re blue-shirted and ready to serve you with your press needs whether it’s in the press rooms and blogger lounges, at CES Unveiled, press conferences and keynotes. Please note that if you submitted your press registration after December 7, 2009, you can

pick up your badge on-site at the press/analyst registration in either The Venetian (lower level lobby) or the Las Vegas Convention Center press room (S229).

Despite this feeling of déjà vu and camaraderie you only get at CES, some things have changed this year. For instance, the keynoter s will be at the Hilton Hotel, conveniently located right next to the LVCC. After our press room meeting this morning we went for a walking tour of the Hilton Center, where the keynotes will begin tomorrow evening with Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer. The Thursday keynotes: Alan Mulally of Ford and Paul Otellini of Intel, will also take place in the Hilton Center. Then on Friday, Dr. Paul E. Jacobs of Qualcomm will be in the Hilton Center but the Technology in Emerging Countries program and keynotes, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo of Nokia and Zhou Houjian of Hisense, will take place in the Hilton Theater.

There will be lots of CES staff on hand to help you direct you at both venues to help you find the line and then your seat but I recommend arriving early enough to secure a place in line.

Webcasts of the keynotes will be available on our website a short time after they take place live in case you can’t be here in person for them.

If you attend the Microsoft keynote tomorrow, there will be free shuttle buses waiting at the South Patio of the Hilton to carry you back to your hotel afterwards Then I recommend getting a good night’s sleep to be ready for the official show opening Thursday morning.

So if you’re a CES veteran, welcome back! And if you’re a first-timer, prepare to be amazed!

I hope to meet you at tonight’s CES Unveiled event.

Follow@IntlCES on Twitter for regular show updates.