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Poll suggests political consequences Baidu.com Chief from U.S. healthcare deal Technology Officer Resigns By David Morgan (Front Row Washington) Submitted at 1/19/2010 6:56:51 AM

Think today’s U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts could be bad news for President Obama? Then consider what pollsters are saying now about the healthcare reform debate’s potential effect on the November congressional elections. The latest ABC News/Washington Post poll shows little overall movement in public sentiment since August — only 44 percent of Americans favor healthcare reform vs. 51 percent who oppose it. But findings also show popular support for reform losing some of its cohesion. As recently as November, 30 percent of Americans “strongly” backed proposed changes. But people in that category now account for only 22 percent. That compares with 39 percent who are strongly

vote in close-fought elections. Part of the problem for Obama and his reform allies may be popular perceptions that a final deal would lack a public option and tax health plans instead of the wealthy. The poll shows that Americans would prefer to tax their wealthier fellow citizens by 58 percent to 22 percent. They also favor the creation of a public health insurance program by 47 percent to 41 percent. opposed. But will those who oppose The Jan. 12-15 telephone survey reform vote against reform- of 1,083 U.S. adults has a 3.5 minded lawmakers in November, percent margin of error. when Republicans hope to wrest Click here for more political c o n t r o l o f C o n g r e s s f r o m coverage from Reuters Photo Credits: Reuters/Jim Democrats? The poll says 24 percent of Young (Obama and Senate Americans would vote against a Democrats); Reuters/Change the lawmaker who backed healthcare Works handout (Healthcare Supporter); reform, compared with 12 R e f o r m percent who would vote for one. Reuters/Kevin Lamarque (AntiThe split is 26 percent vs. 10 Reform Protest Sign) percent among independents, who represent the key swing

By Brent Archer (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 1/19/2010 1:40:00 PM

Filed under: Major movement, International markets, Bad news, Management, China, Options, Technical Analysis Baidu.com ( BIDU- option chain) stock is trading lower today after the company's chief technology officer, Yinan Li, has resigned for undisclosed personal reasons. With this departure less than two weeks after Chief Operating Officer Peng Ye's resignation, analysts and traders alike are speculating that Li's resignation is related to the rollout of a new advertising tool that has given the company trouble. The WSJ ( supscription required) also speculates today that BIDU shares may have over-reacted to the recent Google ( GOOG) China showdown. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it

could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on BIDU. This morning, BIDU opened at $450.00. So far today the stock has hit a high of $452.02 and a low of $429.09. As of 11:55, BIDU is trading at $435.50, down $32.18 (-6.9%). The chart for BIDU looks neutral while S&P gives BIDU a 3 STARS (out of 5) hold ranking. Continue reading Baidu.com Chief Technology Officer Resigns Baidu.com Chief Technology Officer Resigns originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 13:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Obama talks race on Martin Luther King Jr. Day By Jeff Mason (Front Row Washington)

Morgan Stanley Earnings Preview: Another Quarterly Profit Coming? By Trey Thoelcke (BloggingStocks)

Submitted at 1/18/2010 1:31:46 PM

Barack Obama, marking his first Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as president of the United States, urged Americans on Monday to remember that the civil rights era is not ancient history. “Sometimes in celebration of Dr. King’s birthday, we act as if this history was so long ago,” he said at a White House gathering of black senior citizens and their grandchildren. Not for these people, who brought stories with them about the slain civil rights leader during a brief visit with Obama and his wife, Michelle, in the Roosevelt Room, just steps away from the Oval Office. One woman, Mabel Harvey, whom Obama described as a “spry” 102-year-old, was whispering into the president’s

Submitted at 1/19/2010 3:00:00 PM

Filed under: Earnings reports, Forecasts, Morgan Stanley (MS) Morgan Stanley ( MS), one of the world's top investment banks, is scheduled to discuss its fourthquarter 2009 financial results in a conference call Wednesday, Jan. 20, at 11:00 AM (ET), which will include CEO James Gorman. You can catch the live ear as journalists entered the first black president. webcast of the call on the room. Earlier in the day Obama and his company's website. “Ms. Harvey just now was family served food and drinks at During the three months that whispering in my ear as you a soup kitchen in Washington, ended in December, the New guys were walking in that, ‘This D.C. York-based firm launched its must be the Lord’s doing, Photo credit: Reuters/ Jonathan Morgan Stanley Private Wealth because we’ve come a mighty Ernst (Obama chats with visitor Management initiative, saw long way,’” Obama said. Mabel Harvey as part of Martin m a n a g e m e n t c h a n g e s a n d The president often tries not to Luther King Jr. Day at the White declared a quarterly dividend. focus on his race despite the House) Analysts surveyed by Thomson significance of being the nation’s Reuters are looking for Morgan Stanley to report earnings of

$0.36 per share, compared to loss of $2.34 per share a year ago and earnings of $0.27 in the third quarter. Fourth-quarter revenue is expected to total $7.8 billion. Continue reading Morgan Stanley Earnings Preview: Another Quarterly Profit Coming? Morgan Stanley Earnings Preview: Another Quarterly Profit Coming? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

MasterCard Keeps Rolling Along By Joseph Lazzaro (BloggingStocks)

Mastercard Inc. ( MA), and it goes without saying that I'm Reiterating my Buy rating for the Submitted at 1/19/2010 2:40:00 PM company's shares, first Filed under: MasterCard Inc'A' recommended on April 13, 2009 ( M A ) , S t o c k s t o B u y T h e at a price of $176.06. If you uptrend continues with credit bought MA in April 2009, you're card/payment solutions provider up about 48%.

MA has emerged from the nation's worst recession in more than 25 years in enviable shape, even amid the 'frugal consumer' era that's likely to restrict U.S. consumer spending. Look for transaction growth to continue, as a result of the U.S./global

trend toward increased credit card use. Revenue should increase an impressive 8-11% in 2010 after a likely 2-3% increase in 2009. Continue reading MasterCard Keeps Rolling Along MasterCard Keeps Rolling

Along originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 14:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Erich Segal obituary By Ned Temko (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

write. At Harvard, he coauthored the annual Hasty Pudding theatrical production. Alongside his teaching, he had Submitted at 1/19/2010 11:50:41 AM notched up several Hollywood Classics scholar whose multi- screenwriting credits, including faceted career was dominated by o n t h e B e a t l e s ' Y e l l o w his 1970 novel Love Story Submarine (1968) – where the The American writer Erich imprint of the rabbi's son was Segal, who has died of a heart particularly evident in his attack aged 72, will be best, and mischievously inserted line: most misleadingly, remembered "Funny, you don't look blue-ish". as the author of Love Story The Fab Four didn't get it. But (1970). The success he earned Erich insisted: "Trust me, they'll from his first novel and its laugh." And they did. Hollywood film adaptation He wrote Love Story over his would be accolade enough for Christmas break in 1969. By the most authors. But while it made end of the following year, his him rich, the skewed fame that it bestselling book and box-officebrought him shouldered aside a topping film about love and litany of other accomplishments: bereavement had made him a as classics scholar and teacher, celebrity. Its most famous line, l i t e r a r y c r i t i c a n d s p o r t s "love means never having to say commentator, essayist and you're sorry", instantly entered s c r i p t w r i t e r , h i s t o r i a n a n d popular culture. He not only practitioner of comedy. became a regular on TV When Erich wrote the book that c h a t s h o w s b u t , a s a n changed his life, he was 32. He accomplished marathon runner was a classics professor at Yale and all-round sports fan, was University, having earned his enlisted by the ABC network to master's and PhD from Harvard join its commentary team for a four years earlier. He left string of Olympic Games. Harvard as class poet and "Latin He went on to write more than salutary orator", a twin honour half a dozen other novels. All equalled only by one other were as deftly woven around s t u d e n t , T S E l i o t . I n h i s love stories as the first. But all academic career, Erich taught dealt with other themes, too: Latin and Greek literature not class and family, academic only at Yale, but at Harvard and i n f i g h t i n g a n d , i n e v i t a b l y , Princeton and, upon moving to r e l i g i o n . n e London with his British wife in Erich was not only the son of a the 1980s, at Wolfson College, prominent New York rabbi. He Oxford. was the grandson of an august But he had always wanted to rabbinical figure from Vilnius, a

city so steeped in religious tradition and disputation that it was known as the "Jerusalem" of Lithuania. Erich was born in Brooklyn. He attended a Jewish religious school, or yeshiva. His father had always hoped, and no doubt expected, that Erich would become a rabbi. But when he was a teenager, they came to a deal. He would be allowed to attend the excellent local state school, as long as he agreed to spend evenings studying the Bible at the city's Jewish Theological Seminary. His father was a Conservative rabbi, part of a religious movement that combined emphasis on Jewish learning and tradition, and a wider engagement with modern society and culture than in Orthodox Judaism. Erich, whose mastery of Hebrew equalled his command of Latin and Greek, never lost his interest and joy in Judaism. The annual Passover Seder meals in his London home were not only unfailingly moving – a gathering of family and of a diverse circle of friends united in shared enjoyment of Erich's warmth, humour and generosity. They represented, with a mix of references ranging from Hebraic to Shakespearean, an astonishing, though always self-deprecating, display of erudition. For the final quarter-century of his life, he suffered from Parkinson's disease, which limited his movement in his last

few years, though never his remarkable mind – exercised not only in his literary life, but in a continued engagement in wider cultural, and political, issues. During the US presidential election of 2000, he had the bizarre experience of watching two of his former students, Al Gore and George W Bush, vie for the Oval Office. Gore had been the slightly better student, he recalled, though neither of them was exactly a scholar-inwaiting. Despite inevitable phone calls from American journalists, he tried heroically to stay out of the fray – especially after Gore hinted publicly that he and his wife Tipper had been the models for Love Story. In fact, if any of his students had helped him model the characters, it was a Gore classmate, the actor Tommy Lee Jones. But Erich decided that not commenting would mean never having to say he was sorry. He continued to write as well. A few years back, he teamed up with his friend Jack Rosenthal to produce a new English translation of the opening Friday -night Hebrew prayer for the West London Reform Synagogue. His last major book was not a novel but a scholarly work. Its genesis lay in his Harvard PhD thesis four decades earlier. Called The Death of Comedy (2001), it traced the history of laugh-making, and of dirty jokes, from the ancient Greeks through

to Stanley Kubrick's Dr Strangelove. The thesis was that the 20th century had killed off comedy. It was a tantalising argument. But Erich never really believed it. "These things go in cycles," he remarked after the book was published. Comedy was only sleeping. And, he would add, with artists like Rosenthal, it never dozed off at all. It never left Erich either. It was present in his family, with friends, and perhaps most of all, in the gentle fun with which he saw himself. He was proud of his novels. But when asked by one interviewer to describe his literary life, he quipped: "I always had artistic aspirations, although not, I hope, pretensions." Writing was what he did, what he was. But the novels were only part of it. "Remember," he added, the academic in him suddenly resurfacing, "even Machiavelli wrote three comedies." He is survived by his wife and editorial collaborator, Karen, and two daughters, Francesca and Miranda. • Erich Segal, writer and classics scholar, born 16 June 1937; died 17 January 2010 • Fiction • Classics • United States • Judaism

ERICH page 7

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American women bring home the bacon as 20% earn more than spouses By Chris McGreal (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

educated partner is likely to be the wife. "Marriage has been a way for men to raise their economic Submitted at 1/19/2010 12:04:20 PM standing in recent decades when Five times rise in women traditionally marriage has been a earning more than male partners way for women to increase their as better education increases economic standing." female incomes In 1970, just 4% of American It used to be said that men wives earned more than their married for sex and women for husbands. That figure rose to money. But marriage is proving 22% in 2007. Men are still the a n i n c r e a s i n g l y p r o f i t a b l e bigger earners in one in four -enterprise for a growing number marriages but with a far smaller of -American men who earn less proportion of wives not working, than a -growing number of better the income gap is smaller. Most educated spouses – without married men did not have a enduring the social stigma that working wife 40 years ago. Now once afflicted husbands with they do. working wives. Andrew Cherlin, a sociology A study of married couples in professor at Johns Hopkins the US has revealed that the University who -specialises in proportion of American wives the study of marriage, said the earning more than their husbands findings showed a fundamental has risen more than five-fold change in marriage over recent since 1970. With that has come decades. greater control by women of "It shows a shift in the basic household finances. marriage bargain. Under the old The study, by the Pew Research bargain men earned the money Centre in Washington DC, and women took care of the shows that the shift -follows a house," he said. "Now the reversal in patterns of education. bargain is that they both work Today, a majority of wives are as and marriage is a pooling of well, or better, educated than income. The two-earner -couples their husbands. are the winners. Increasingly, "This is a portrait of gender role they are better off." -reversals in marriage," said one From about 1990, it made of the report's authors, D'Vera economic sense for men to get Cohn. married as the median income "The larger earner is increasingly for those who got hitched for the likely to be the wife, the better first time rose above those who

remained single. The median income of married women and men, and unmarried women, is about 60% higher than similar groups in 1970. But unmarried men, who once had the financial benefit of not having to support a family, have fallen behind. Their median income is only up by 16%. The report said the economic crisis was "reinforcing these gender reversal trends, because it has hurt employment of men more than that of women". The Pew study, based on US census -statistics for married couples aged 30 to 44, shows that the changing financial -fortunes of married couples reflects rising levels of education among women. Over the past 40 years, there has been a reversal in the pattern of education within marriage. The number of couples who have equal levels of education has stayed constant at about 53%. But in 1970, 28% of husbands were -better educated than their spouses while 20% of wives had the more advanced -education. Now those numbers are reversed. "Women had more access to -education in the 60s and 70s," said Cohn. "The 70s began an era of great change for women in education and working. Marriage changes reflect those changes." The report added that there was -evidence from other research

that women's growing economic clout gave them more power within marriage. A Pew study two years ago found that wives who earned more than their -husbands were more likely to have decision making power, especially over major purchases and household finances. In couples where the wife made more money she was then more than twice as likely to make most decisions on -household finances. But the report said there was an -important exception to the rule that -married people have fared better than unmarried ones. "Married women without a high school diploma did not make the same gains as more educated women," it said. "The stagnant incomes of married women without high school diplomas reflect the poor job prospects of less -educated men in their pool of marriage partners. These less educated married women now are far less likely than in the past to have a spouse who works: 77% did in 2007, compared with 92% in 1970." In addition, less educated Americans are less likely to get married. Forty years ago, education levels had little impact on who got married. That is no longer true, with university graduates significantly

more likely to marry – and each other. "The university-educated people have been marrying each other and separated from the rest of the population. We've seen a shift between the educated and less well off," said Cherlin. The report also found that the economic downturn was reinforcing the gender reversal trends as men were more likely to become unemployed. "Males accounted for about 75% of the 2008 decline in employment among prime-working-age individuals," the report said. How are men taking all this? Opinion polls show that there is an expectation among a clear majority of couples that both partners will work, something that was not true in polls as recently as 1988. "Certainly there are still some men who are insecure about women who earn more than they do," said Cherlin. "But increasingly they are pleased and less pressured than a generation ago. Fifty years ago a man would be -embarrassed and ashamed of a woman working. It was a sign he couldn't support his family. No one thinks that any more." • Gender • United States Chris McGreal AMERICAN page 8

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UN reinforcements sent in to Haiti to crack down on escaped gang leaders By Peter Beaumont, Mark Tran (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk) Submitted at 1/19/2010 12:09:18 PM

• 3,500 more police and soldiers approved • Pressure mounts to distribute food and water The UN security council voted unanimously today to approve an additional force of 3,500 police and soldiers for earthquakedevastated Haiti, amid rising concern over outbreaks of looting by desperate survivors and the re-emergence of notorious gang leaders who escaped when the country's prisons collapsed. The extra security forces will bolster the UN stabilisation force of some 7,000 troops who are already in the country. The vote came as relief efforts turned from the search for survivors buried under the rubble to the delivery of much needed food, water, shelter and medical assistance to some 250,000 Haitians in most need, many of them living on the streets ,who have seen little or no aid a week after the catastrophe. The reinforcement, requested by the UN secretary general, Ban Ki

-moon, who visited Haiti on Sunday, is intended to bring under control outbreaks of looting and violence that have slowed distribution of supplies to the survivors of the earthquake that killed an estimated 200,000 people. The police chief in Port-auPrince, Mario Andersol, said he could muster only 2,000 officers in the capital, down from 4,500 before the quake, and they were "not trained to deal with this kind of situation". On Monday the World Food Programme only managed to feed half the 100,000 people it planned to reach because security forces were not available to escort its trucks. The vote at the UN came as a further 2,000 US marines landed in Haiti, bringing the numbers who have deployed for the disaster to 11,000, including scores of US paratroopers who landed at the damaged presidential palace. Amid continuing concerns over a lack of co-ordination in the emergency efforts, which has seen only a trickle of promised aid reach hundreds of thousands of Haitians in desperate need, American commanders also announced that they hoped to open two more runways at Port-

au-Prince's airport within the next few days. The US military, which began limited airdrops of food and water, including some 14,000 ready-to-eat meals and 15,000 litres of water, said today it was now considering airdrops across Haiti. Previously it had ruled out airdrops because of fears they might spark riots. The U-turn has been forced by an acute shortage of fuel that has been hampering efforts to distribute aid that has already arrived in the country. Many motorists say they have tried for days to fill empty tanks or jerrycans at service stations that jacked up prices and rationed gasoline sales. Most of the people on the wrecked streets of Port-au-Prince are on foot because their motorcycles or cars have run dry. "Fuel has become a critical issue in terms of being able to get vehicles with water and food out to people," a spokeswoman for the World Food Programme, Emilia Casella, said in Geneva. The latest increase in US and peacekeeping forces came as paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division were landed by helicopter at the partly collapsed presidential palace.

Apple's Coy "Latest Creation" Press Event Set For Monday By Brian X. Chen (Wired Top Stories)

They then marched to Port-auPrince's nearby general hospital, apparently to protect international medical teams who are racing against time to tend seriously injured quake victims. While army paratroopers took charge of key sites in the capital, US marines were also landing south of the city to link up with UN peacekeepers and prepare to land a larger flow of troops and equipment. The increased US deployment, while applauded by some Haitians, was criticised by others who see it as an "occupation". Medical teams pouring into Port -au-Prince to set up mobile hospitals said today they were still overwhelmed by the casualties and warned of the immediate threats of tetanus and gangrene as well as the spread of measles, meningitis and other infections. The World Health Organisation said today at least 13 hospitals were now working in or around Port-au-Prince. The UN agency was bringing in emergency medical supplies today to treat 120,000 people over the next month, WHO spokesman Paul Garwood told reporters in Geneva. "We are not past the emergency phase yet, but we are starting to look at the

long-term," said Margaret Aguirre, of the International Medical Corps, whose staff had helped with 150 amputations so far. Taiwan and Venezuela - Haiti's main bilateral creditors - today came under intensifying pressure to cancel the impoverished Caribbean country's debts. Haiti owes $167m (£102m) to Venezuela and $91m to Taiwan. The Paris Club - an informal group of 19 creditor governments from industrialised countries that includes Britain agreed last July to cancel their claims on Haiti, totalling $214m.Britain was one of the first members of the Paris Club to cancel all dets owed to it by Haiti. • Haiti • United Nations • Natural disasters and extreme weather Peter Beaumont Mark Tran guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

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Kate McGarrigle obituary By Tony Russell (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

Sauveur des Monts, Québec, where they learned songs from their French-Canadian mother Gaby, and piano from their Submitted at 1/19/2010 11:44:21 AM father Frank and nuns in the Folk singer and songwriter at village. Later they picked up the the heart of an innovative music- guitar, banjo and accordion, and making family in the early 1960s, with a couple Kate McGarrigle, who has died of friends, formed a coffeehouse aged 63, was a luminous singer folk group, the Mountain City a n d s o n g w r i t e r w h o s e Four. After graduating from partnership with her sister Anna McGill University, where she produced some of the most studied engineering, Kate sang attractive and memorable music and played in a duo on the t o c o m e o u t o f t h e N o r t h folkclub circuit with Roma American folk scene in the past Baran, touring the north-eastern 35 years. Their first album, US. Their performance at the unobtrusively presented with a 1970 Philadelphia Folk Festival grainy black-and-white close-up elicited a song by Loudon; he photograph and simply titled a n d K a t e m a r r i e d s o o n K a t e & A n n a M c G a r r i g l e afterwards, went busking in (1976), captivated listeners with London, then settled in upstate its heart-rending harmonies and New York, where Rufus was anthemic songs such as Kate's born in 1973. Talk to Me of Mendocino and Kate's first experience of the Anna's Heart Like a Wheel. In N e w Y o r k f o l k s c e n e i n small print on the sleeve was a Greenwich Village had not thank you to friends and family impressed her. She contacted for looking after "Little Rufus", Anna, who was working in Kate's son with the singer- M o n t r e a l , a n d t h e y b e g a n songwriter Loudon Wainwright circulating tapes of their songs. III. Both Rufus Wainwright and Heart Like a Wheel was taken up his younger sister Martha have by Linda Ronstadt, who made it carried on the family tradition of the title of what would be a innovative music-making. hugely successful album, while The McGarrigle sisters, Kate, Kate's composition Work Song Anna and Jane, grew up in Saint was recorded by Maria Muldaur

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on the eponymous LP that succeeded her hit Midnight at the Oasis (1974). With songwriting credits such as these, the McGarrigles were on the way to their own recording deal, and in 1975 they signed with Warner Brothers and made their first album. The British were quick to appreciate it, and the sisters promptly gathered some friends to play with them and flew to London, where they gave endearingly ramshackle shows. Martha was born soon afterwards, but later that year Kate and Loudon Wainwright's uneasy relationship, which he charted in Red Guitar and other songs, splintered into an acrimonious divorce. Kate and Anna continued to produce finely crafted albums such as Dancer With Bruised Knees (1977), Pronto Monto (1978), Entre Lajeunesse et la Sagesse (1980) – also known as The French Record – and Love Over and Over (1982). The critic Robert Christgau echoed many of their admirers when he described them as "prim, wry and sexy all at once". They took a break from recording for much of the 80s, returning in 1990 with Heartbeats Accelerating, of

which The New York Times said, of Kate's song I Eat Dinner: "Had Emily Dickinson been a late-20th century songwriter, this might be just the sort of piece she would have written." Further albums in the 90s, Matapédia and The McGarrigle Hour, both won Juno awards as the best Canadian roots album of the year. A second Frenchlanguage album, La Vache Qui Pleure, appeared in 2003, and the sisters' last studio work together was The McGarrigle Christmas Hour in 2005. Between these occasional albums, Kate and Anna collaborated with Emmylou Harris on her album Wrecking Ball, with Joan Baez on Ring Them Bells, and with the Québecois singer Gilles Vigneault. In the late 90s, after the reissue on CD of the 1952 record set Anthology of American Folk Music, six LPs of early blues and country music that had inspired a generation of performers, the McGarrigles participated in concerts in New York, Los Angeles and London, organised by the producer Hal Willner, in memory of the records' compiler, Harry Smith, the ethnologist, film-maker and eccentric. The shows led to

collaborations with Geoff Muldaur and Nick Cave. Kate was extensively honoured, with her sister, in Canadian film and TV documentaries, and in 1994 they were both awarded the Order of Canada. Kate had suffered from cancer for several years and, in gratitude for the care she had received, had endowed a fund at her old university to support cancer research and care in Montreal. Last week Rufus cancelled a planned Australasian tour to be with her. He and Martha survive her, as do Anna and Jane. • Kate McGarrigle, singer and songwriter, born February 6, 1946; died January 18 2010 • Folk music • Rufus Wainwright • Martha Wainwright • Canada • United States Tony Russell guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

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US preparations for postwar Iraq planning 'chaotic', admits Geoff Hoon By Patrick Wintour (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk) Submitted at 1/19/2010 12:04:51 PM

Former defence secretary tells Chilcot inquiry he knew beforehand that preparations for aftermath were inadequate Britain should have appointed a single politician to take responsibility for postwar planning in Iraq, the former defence secretary Geoff Hoon said today. He also admitted he knew before the war that US preparations for the aftermath were inadequate. British military officials based in Washington repeatedly warned him that the US defence department's postwar preparations were chaotic, he told the Chilcot inquiry. He never felt that the risks involved were unacceptable, however, and said that British troops had a tradition of switching from fighting to peacekeeping. He also accepted that war planning had started too late in Whitehall and disclosed that he had written to Tony Blair complaining that no one had been identified to succeed Saddam Hussein. Hoon said he raised British concerns, relayed to him by Major Tim Cross, with the US

defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, in Washington in February 2003, and was told his concerns were being taken up. Cross had been embedded by the -British with US department officials -preparing for the aftermath. Hoon said his concerns were not acted on in the way he had expected, or on the timescale he had imagined. Cross has told the inquiry that he warned Blair that the postwar planning was so poor that the invasion should be delayed. Hoon said: "We were concerned that the planning for the aftermath was not as detailed or as comprehensive as we would have liked and, on a visit to the Pentagon in February, I took with me a list of things we hoped the US would take account of." He blamed "an institutional mismatch" between Washington and Whitehall for the issue not being fully pursued. In America in January 2003 George Bush handed reconstruction responsibilities to the defence department, but in Britain the task lay more with the Foreign Office and the Department of International Development, Hoon said. Hoon is the first elected politician to face questions over the inadequacy of postwar planning, seen as one of the

central failures in the Iraq war. He said that when he went to Basra, the area under British military occupation, in April 2003 the environment was initially relaxed. The security situation deteriorated through 2004, partly because it was not possible to improve infrastructure projects, such as building a new power station, due to lack of funding. He said the US government had set aside $18bn for reconstruction, but Hoon said "getting it spent, or hold of it, was difficult". He said that no UK civilian force had been available to help in Basra, adding that he had complained to the Foreign Office and the Department for International Development over their delay in sending civilian staff to take over the work of post-conflict reconstruction from the military. "I was increasingly frustrated at the failure of other government departments to provide the people who were supposed to take over these responsibilities," he said. Military reservists who were bankers were being asked to form a currency, those who were teachers to build a new education system. He also conceded that he was unable to recruit enough UK

police officers to train an Iraqi police force, an issue for which the British government was responsible. Hoon said he had opposed the decision of Paul Bremer, the head of the coalition provisional authority, to dismantle the army and civil service on the basis that they were full of Ba'athists loyal to Saddam. Hoon said many only joined the Ba'athist party because "they wanted to be civil servants, and not enthusiastic supporters of Saddam Hussein". The army's disbandment led to a group of disaffected people, he said, adding that "there is evidence that some of the military attacks subsequently became more sophisticated". • Iraq war inquiry • US foreign policy • Military • US military • Iraq • Geoff Hoon Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

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The Late Night Battle Goes Sci-Fi in 48 Hilarious Ways [Photoshop Contest] By Adam Frucci (Gizmodo) Submitted at 1/19/2010 2:00:00 PM

For this week's Photoshop Contest, I asked you to reimagine the current Late Night battle through the lens of your favorite sci-fi movies. And wow, some of these are absolutely epic. One of our best contests yet, to be sure. First Place—Greg Reese Second Place—Jelani Memory Third Place—Bobo the Teddy

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FBI 'fabricated terror emergencies to get phone records' By Chris McGreal (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

headquarters breached regulations designed to protect civil liberties. The FBI's general counsel, Submitted at 1/19/2010 12:06:18 PM Valerie Caproni, told the Justice department to accuse Washington Post that the agency FBI of invoking crises to obtain v i o l a t e d p r i v a c y l a w s b y details of more than 2,000 calls, inventing non-existent terrorist Washington Post reports threats to justify collecting the The US justice department is phone records. "We should have p r e p a r i n g a r e p o r t w h i c h stopped those requests from c o n c l u d e s t h a t t h e F B I being made that way," she said. repeatedly broke the law by Caproni said that FBI's issuing invoking terrorism emergencies of authorisations after the fact that did not exist to obtain more was a "good-hearted but not well than 2,000 telephone call records thought-out" move to give the over four years from 2002, phone companies legal cover for including those of journalists on handing over the records. US newspapers, according to After the 9/11 attacks, the USA e m a i l s o b t a i n e d b y t h e patriot act greatly expanded the Washington Post. government's ability to monitor T h e b u r e a u a l s o i s s u e d American citizens, including authorisations for the seizure of increased access to their phone records after the fact, in order to calls with the approval of lowerjustify unwarranted seizures. level officials than previously The Washington Post said the allowed. But the authorisation emails show how counter- had to be tied to an open terrorism -officials inside FBI terrorism investigation.

The Washington Post said two FBI officers had raised concerns. Special agent Bassem Youssef observed that the necessary authorisations were not being sought before phone records were seized and were sometimes only given later in response to complaints from phone companies. Another official, Patrice Kopistansky of the FBI's legal office, noticed a similar problem. She also raised concerns when she was unable to get investigators to provide her with an open terrorism case to justify issuing relevant authorisation. The Washington Post reported that Kopistansky and Youssef discussed the worsening "backlog" of cases without the necessary authorisations, or where false claims were made about terrorism emergencies. "I also understand some of these are being done as emergencies when they aren't necessarily

emergencies," Kopistansky wrote to Youssef in April 2005. The FBI subsequently issued a blanket authorisation covering all past searches, although its legality was questioned. The Washington Post said journalists on the newspaper and the New York Times were among those whose phone records were illegally searched. The FBI later apologised to editors of both papers. • FBI • Global terrorism • United States • Surveillance • Washington Post • New York Times • Newspapers & magazines Chris McGreal guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Trillian 4.1 for Windows gets more Twitter-social By Jessica Dolcourt (Webware.com) Submitted at 1/19/2010 10:45:00 AM

Don't let the small bump in version number fool you. Trillian's maker boasts 100 improvements to Trillian's multinetwork chat app, a chunk of them Twitter-related. Originally posted at The Download Blog

Digg reworks its browser extensions, Boxee app By Josh Lowensohn (Webware.com) Submitted at 1/19/2010 10:35:00 AM

Digg's browser extensions come to Chrome, as well as a number of small, but nice improvements to the Firefox version. Originally posted at Web Crawler

Japan Airlines Corp. Files for Bankruptcy Protection By Connie Madon (BloggingStocks)

Japan Airlines Corp. has been bailed out four times by the Japanese government in the past Submitted at 1/19/2010 2:20:00 PM ten years. JAL's 2.3 trillion yen Filed under: International bankruptcy is the fourth largest markets, Management, Industry, in Japan and the largest non Market matters, Japan, Politics, financial bankruptcy. Headline news, Recession The fact that JAL has been As background information, allowed to fail, marks a shift in

government policy. The four month old Democratic Party led

by Prime Minister Yuko Hatoyama, has refused to bail out JAL. However, Hatoyama's government said it would provide the necessary support for JAL. Continue reading Japan Airlines Corp. Files for Bankruptcy Protection

Japan Airlines Corp. Files for Bankruptcy Protection originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 14:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Why You Should Start a Company inâ&#x20AC;Ś New York By Laura Rich (Fast Company) Submitted at 1/19/2010 12:58:31 PM

It used to be, if you were serious about starting a tech company, you went to Silicon Valley. But emerging entrepreneurial hubs around the country are giving startup aspirants options. In this series, we talk to leading figures in those communities about what makes them tick. Here, part two of our five-part series. New York City is big, buzzing-and good for startups? Fred Wilson, a venture capitalist at Union Square Ventures, thinks so. He should know: Wilson's firm has backed brand-name, New York-based startups like social organizers Meetup, and he put his own money into Wallstrip, which produces business news videos, and which was sold to CBS for $5 million in 2007. Union Square has also placed a bet in Foursquare. (Not to be totally East Coast-centric, Union Square maintains leftcoast investments in startups such as Zynga and Twitter.) But New York, Wilson points out, has been a hotbed of entrepreneurial activity since its earliest days. It has played host to ventures in the garment business, banking, media and advertising, building those industries into powerhouses. More recently, Internet and technology growth has been helped in part by successful entrepreneurs from the first

Internet boom, as well as by city initiatives such as the investment fund NYC Seed and incubators aimed at helping laid off Wall Street workers forge an entrepreneurial path ahead. What's more, New York's eclectic mix of industries, and intermingling of individuals within them, gives entrepreneurs a breadth of views into how business works. Wilson sees all of this coming into maturity as

new generations of Internet entrepreneurs emerge and support one another. Wilson spoke with FastCompany.com about what makes New York's startup scene unique. Why is New York City a good place for startups? I think New York is a very entrepreneurial city first and foremost and I think it always has been--going back to when it

business, I think arguably is better centered here in New York than anywhere else in the world and that's the kind of thing that is the historical legacy of New York. You get a lot of advertising-oriented businesses like Double Click, a lot of Wall Street-oriented businesses like Bloomberg. Everybody talks about Google and Microsoft and Cisco and companies like that, but probably one of the greatest entrepreneurial success stories of the past quarter century is Bloomberg, you know, which was built as a New Yorkcentered company and Mike Bloomberg owns almost all of it. They didn't use venture capital-so talk about entrepreneurial success. We're [also] seeing a lot of other things. There's a lot of social media in New York, there's a lot of location-based, a bit of urbanlifestyle-based services that are coming out of New York and so, a lot of companies that are servicing the media industry and the entertainment industry are was originally settled. There's centered here in New York. always been a trading mentality There are a lot of different i n t h i s t o w n , a m e r c h a n t categories now that have some mentality in this town and it's real size. always been ethnically diverse. Why do these companies do People from all over the world better in New York? have settled here. The need is here, the people Are there particular types of who understand the need is here. startups that do better in New Most entrepreneurs start with an York than others? itch that they need to scratch, so Anything that touches Wall Street or Madison Avenue or the WHY page 12 entertainment and media

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Goodbye I, Hello We: The Decade of Interdependence By Valerie Casey (Fast Company) Submitted at 1/19/2010 1:30:23 PM

I have a guilty pleasure. I am addicted to the year-end lists: the round-ups, the best ofs, the tops, the bottoms. The decade turn has been especially delicious, though the debate over what to call the first part of the twenty-first century is endlessly grating--who thinks the riff on the aughts as "the naughties" is actually funny? But those lists do have value. They prompt us to reflect on progress (or lack thereof), and shifts in thinking (our own and in our culture). This year, as I started my own practice, I began to think through what the right formula might be for a new type of creative organization. What kind of structure could best cultivate the type of design and critical thinking skills that we need for the complex issues we face now? An MBA student interested in creative strategy and social impact recently asked me to recommend a standout firm in that area, and I honestly couldn't do it. Yes, I rattled off the usual suspects, but her guilelessness made me stop in my tracks. Stop marketing, I told myself, and start thinking. There isn't one firm which is good at everything, and despite our great sophistication in branding, we use a startlingly slim vocabulary to describe our services: design, innovation,

strategy, consulting, and often incomprehensively esoteric terminology to describe our organizational make-up and processes. (I've known some firms to spend half a pitch describing their internal structure. Here's a short cut: "we collaborate.") It's certainly easy to observe that over the last ten years, many firms have grown to unwieldy sizes. Studios now have small armies of business development people working around the clock to bring in new work to support large operational budgets. And it's recursive: the more work we do, the greater need for growth,

the more we grow, the more work we need. The collateral damage of this cycle is lawyerlike bill rates of leadership. This means that teams of freshly minted undergrads get less time with senior talent and their projects are often unchaperoned-which can be a good thing, but not when dealing with experienced clients. We also tend to take on project work that may more closely match how we describe what we do, rather than what we actually can do. Again, this may push us, but likely not in the right direction when dealing with experienced clients. Size can provide terrific scale

and reach. But how many projects actually take advantage of the geographical spread and sheer numbers of bodies? A typical design team model, for example, has three core members working in a semi-permeable shell, with advisors and specialist moving in and out at different stages. Teams expand and shrink. Whether your studio is 30 people or 300, the team makeup is fairly consistent, but the fee is drastically different: a few zeros separates working on a new startup concept and an internal corporate initiative. An analog to the infamous "toobig-to-fail" moniker of corporate

America might be that some industries are "too-big-tochange." One case-in-point from the design industry: I attended the Aspen Design Summit in November, and representatives from various foundations described their greatest problem in working with consultancies: 1) cost, 2) lack of racial diversity, and 3) the parachuting in of designers to various developing countries to do field work, followed by the quick exit. Even the scheme of the endearingly cranky Larry Keeley to get design firms to do foundation GOODBYE page 13

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if you're working inside a trading floor and they say, "Why isn't there a technology that allows me to trade faster? Well, I think I'll go build this"--and they'll go build it. Or, "Why can't we get video advertising the way we should?" And they leave and they go do it. So a lot of the entrepreneurs have spent time in those industries, understand the needs of those industries and they leave to start companies servicing those industry. The customers are here and that's why they tend to be focused here. Isn't New York a more expensive place to start a company than other cities? I don't think New York is more expensive. We have recruited many people out of San Francisco and the Peninsula to move to New York to work in our companies and, you know, a house in Westchester is not more expensive than a house in Palo Alto and an apartment or a small townhouse in Brooklyn is no more than expensive than a house or an apartment in San Francisco. I don't think it's a lot more expensive to do the things that you need to do to build a company versus say San Francisco, or Boston frankly.

What is the "bullshit factor" you mentioned in your talk not long ago at Clickable? Is that something that is uniquely New York? I didn't mean that it was unique to New York, I kind of meant it as it was in contrast to the Bay Area. The social lives that we live [in New York], we people who work in tech and Web and startup industries, the social lives we live are not dominated by people working in the same industry. If you really think about the Bay Area--it's very homogeneous. If you go to your kid's soccer game on the weekends, there's a pretty good chance that there might be another VC or two on the sidelines and a bunch of entrepreneurs and everybody's working at tech companies. Here in New York, when you go to your kid's soccer game on the weekends, I'm the only VC for sure and there might be one other person that works in the technology industry and everybody else works in lots of other industries. And so, there's a little bit of a groupthink that goes on out in the Bay Area --"social media is going to take over the world" or "mobile is going to take over the world"--or

whatever the big thing is and everybody's focused on that and you get this kind of echochamber groupthink. And when I go out to dinner with my wife and another couple or two [in New York] and I talk about the things that we're investing in, people just look at me like I'm crazy, they don't buy any of it and that's what I meant by the bullshit factor. What is happening in New York's entrepreneurial ecosystem that makes it sustainable? Well, I think New York's startup ecosystem is a sustainable thing-I've been in venture capital here for 23 years and for the first decade, from 1986 to 1996, there really wasn't much of anything to invest in here in New York. The second decade, from 1996 to 2006, there was a lot to invest in here in New York. The whole Silicon Alley thing that went on in the late 90s, there was a lot of energy around sort of stage one Internet investments. But nobody had the experience. Everybody made a lot of mistakes, and learned from them. Big companies were built. DoubleClick got sold to Google for $3 billion and I could go on and on. There were a lot of entrepreneurial success stories

here in New York from 1996 to 2006 which I would call the first real decade. And then, we're into the second decade now, and what the second decade is really turning out to be is serial entrepreneurs who've done it one, two, three, sometimes four times now, who can bring teams together very quickly, often teams that have worked together very quickly, can get on opportunities fast, can get money raised fast, can build companies pretty fast. And now you have role models. So the first time entrepreneurs can find angel investors. It's exactly what has been going on in Silicon Valley for three, four decades now. Marc Andreessen becomes hugely successful, makes a bunch of money, becomes an angel investor, backs a bunch of people, mentors them, becomes a VC. That migration path is now playing out here in New York, and so most of the investments we do at the first angel-round stage is ourselves and a bunch of serial entrepreneurs in New York who are now making twenty-five- to fifty-thousand dollar investments as angels in these companies, sometimes acting as informal advisers and mentors to the first-

time entrepreneurs. So now we have the best of both worlds. We can back first-time entrepreneurs and have mentors and role models for them and we have those role models in their second, third, and fourth startups and that's the magic--that creates a sustainable startup economy that Silicon Valley has had for four decades now. We're three or four years into our second decade and I think it's going to be a great period for New York. I feel like we have just taken it to another level sometime in the past couple of years. The number of interesting opportunities that are coming across my desk every single day coming out of New York, and the good deals, feel very different even from four years ago. Read more: Why You Should Start a Company In... Boulder I m a g e : http://www.flickr.com/photos/joi seyshowaa// CC BY-SA 2.0

Leaked: Alleged screenshot and details of iPhone OS 4.0 By Greg Kumparak (CrunchGear) Submitted at 1/19/2010 10:11:19 AM

I could really write this post in all of about eleven words, and it would still have the same effect. It'd go something like this "Apple, leak, new iPhone OS,

s c r e e n s h o t s , m u l t i t a s k i n g , around these parts. banshees, multi-touch gestures". However, I'm from the Internet, and we're paid by the word*

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GOODBYE continued from page 11

work at lowered rates misses the point that the time-and-material, "coin-operated" firms are simply not structured to do this work successfully. I don't have an answer for what the ideal formula is yet, but I was recently inspired by a short piece in Harvard Business Review that explored why corporate innovation projects, and those who lead them, often have a challenge in succeeding. Authors O'Connor, Corbett, and Pierantozzi outlined three phases of innovation: Discovery (coming up with fresh ideas), Incubation (shaping those ideas to make them viable), and Acceleration (growing and maintaining a real business). The rub is that each stage of idea development requires a very different skill set. Graduating leaders through these phases actually sets them up for failure. They suggest that instead, people with skills compatible to the very specific challenge at hand should lead the effort at that particular juncture. There is a lesson here. In my experience, as a professional and through my work in the Designers Accord, I have never

seen a firm strong in all of these phases. The firms I've seen do the best--and the best work-know in which part of the triptych they reside. Perhaps the difficulty our industry faces in taking on more complex challenges may not be mishandled growth or the timeand-material mentality, it might just be a general lack of selfawareness. We all know the phrase: You can do anything, but you can't do everything. Firms who want to create impact can do anything through the combination of a strong sense of self and a diverse set of partners. We rely on the network, now we have to start behaving like one. Firms that learn to articulate their real value, and share that with clients and partners alike will be the next leaders. If the last ten years in design was marked by autonomy, the next ten years will be about interdependence. Read Valerie Casey's blog Networked Culture Browse blogs by other Expert Designers Valerie Casey is a globally recognized designer and innovator. She works with start-

ups, governments, and companies all over the world on challenges ranging from creating new products and services, to transforming organizational processes and behaviors. Valerie is the founder of the Designers Accord, the global coalition of designers, educators, and business leaders working together to create positive environmental and social impact. Valerie's work has been highlighted in multiple publications, and she has been named a "Guru" of the year by Fortune, a "Hero of the Environment" by Time, and a "Master of Design" by Fast Company. Valerie lectures on design throughout the international community, and is an adjunct professor at California College of the Arts. She holds a master's degree in cultural theory and design from Yale University and a BA from Swarthmore College

JCPenney: Pull-Back Is Buy Opportunity By Joseph Lazzaro (BloggingStocks)

to the U.S.'s "frugal consumer" era. JCP has effectively aligned product quality/style with its Submitted at 1/19/2010 2:00:00 PM target demographic, and also Filed under: Penney (J.C.) prudently and tactfully invested (JCP), Stocks to Buy JCPenney's in new brands. ( JCP) shares have been rudely Continue reading JCPenney: treated since reporting more than Pull-Back Is Buy Opportunity 5% same store sales declines in JCPenney: Pull-Back Is Buy October and December, but I'm Opportunity originally appeared nevertheless reiterating my buy on BloggingStocks on Tue, 19 rating for the company's shares, Jan 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please first recommended on April 13, see our terms for use of feeds. 2009, at a price of $26.52. Here's P e r m a l i n k | E m a i l t h i s | why: Comments JCPenney has adroitly adjusted

Microsoft cuts Bing IP address storage to 6 months By Tom Krazit (Webware.com)

IP addresses stored as part of down from the current policy of Originally posted at Relevant search queries placed on Bing both Microsoft and Google of Results will be deleted after six months, keeping that data for 18 months.

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Del Taco's New Look: Babes, Little People, Exploding Meat By Ben Paynter (Fast Company)

a viral laughing stock. Until Del Taco decided to beat the haters at their own game. Submitted at 1/19/2010 1:32:35 PM Del Taco has just launched its When the online video clip o w n c o u r s e o f o n l i n e " H o w t o S c a m D e l T a c o " embarrassment called " The Del debuted to more than 20,000 hits Taco Super Special Show," a on YouTube earlier this year, the series of campy commercials Mexican fast food chain found "chock-a-block with Honeysheditself in an increasingly common, like oddities, double entendres, stomach-churning crisis. The scantily clad babes and oddball DIY spot, which shows three animations and puppetry" (not to guys punking a store manager by mention little people) aimed claiming their order has been s q u a r e l y a t t h e f r a t - h o u s e messed up, had become one of demographic, AdFreak reports. the company's top searchable "How to Scam Del Taco" still results. The company looked like wins out in the search results for

the company's name, but with new brand icons like "Timothy Tacohands," an Edward Scissorhands knock-off with far less durable tortilla shells for

appendages, there is little doubt that goofiness will soon unseat humiliation as the restaurant's meme. Domino's Pizza could have used

just this sort of approach last April when a homemade clip showing employees farting on delivery toppings became their own top-ranked devastation. To counter, the company did everything from publicly apologizing to amending its Wikipedia page. What it didn't do was give consumers something else to talk about. Timothy Tacohands getting his tortilla shells unexpectedly crushed in a handshake certainly does. [Via AdFreak]

Stem Cell Pork's Been Grown, but Not Even the Researchers Dared to Eat It

SimplyHired brings LinkedIn to job-search process

By Ariel Schwartz (Fast Company)

By Don Reisinger (Webware.com)

Submitted at 1/19/2010 1:34:40 PM

Scientists around the world have been kicking around the idea of making meat from stem cells for years now--a tantalizing (yet slightly disturbing) project for anyone who abhors the state of factory farms. Denmark's Invitro Meat Consortium has gotten the furthest with the project, however, having recently created strips of meat approximately half an inch long using stem cells from pig muscle cells. The meat is grown by putting

the stem cells in a nutrient-based soup that triggers cell replication. At its current rate, it would take approximately 30 days for the nutrient soup to grow a small pork chop. But the stem cell meat, which could one day be

used in sausages and hamburgers, is hardly ready for prime time. The meat only has an 80% protein content (compared to a 99% protein content in livestock meat), giving it an icky scallop-like texture because of

the excess water and nucleic acids. And then there's the issue of taste--none of the researchers have dared to eat the mock meat. Still, we're rooting for the project. Lab-made meat could potentially cut down on worldwide hunger, increase protein consumption, and cut down on the amount of land, water, and energy used to make food. If you're still grossed out, brace yourself. Lab meat will be on store shelves within a decade. [Via Physorg]

Submitted at 1/19/2010 3:00:00 AM

SimplyHired has decided to link social networks with its job search engine to improve user chances of finding their next gig. Originally posted at The Digital Home

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Whirlpool Is Whirling Higher By Joseph Lazzaro (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 1/19/2010 3:30:00 PM

New York's Architectural Eyesores Become Public Art By William Bostwick (Fast Company) Submitted at 1/19/2010 2:54:34 PM

Recession, shma-cession. New York City is booming with construction sites these days. Sure, they make just walking around into an obstacle course adventure, and yes, some of them are stalled, but hey, progress! In fact, there's even more reason not to cringe at the cranes and diss the dumpsters: just think of them as public art. Starting last week, the Alliance

for Downtown New York's Re:Construction project has been dressing up five sites around Lower Manhattan with work by artists like Katherine Daniels and Maya Barkai. It's a follow-up to the first phase of Re:Construction, started in 2007, which covered ten sites. Check out the new five at: the East River Waterfront Esplanade at South Street, 99 Church Street, West Thames Park in Battery Park City, Fiterman Hall at Manhattan Community College, and 56 Leonard Street.

My favorite is Barkai's: a 500foot-long mural of 99 "walk" symbols from cities around the world, submitted by visitors to her Web site. It's up at 99 Church St., the (stalled) future site of a Four Seasons hotel and condo. An ironic commentary on the diverted (or flat out closed) sidewalks that ring so many of these sites? Maybe. But at least it includes Ampelmännchen! Now, if only they could do something about the Chicago Spire hole...

Filed under: Stocks to Buy As expected, Whirlpool Corp's ( WHR) stock is rising in unison with the strengthening global economy, and that's a major reason I'm reiterating my buy rating for the company's shares, first recommended on March 13, 2009, at a price of $34.47. If you bought in March 2009, you're up an impressive 137%. However, this will probably be your last chance to purchase WHR and earn an outsized gain during this economic expansion.

Continue reading Whirlpool Is Whirling Higher Whirlpool Is Whirling Higher originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

Massachusetts Prepares to Drink the Tea (Little Green Footballs) Submitted at 1/18/2010 5:31:53 PM

Anybody want to talk about Coakley vs. Brown? It’s looking like right wing tea party candidate Scott Brown will ride

to victory on a wave of Fox News-fueled populist anger, so here’s a thread to discuss it. (Yes, I’m still traveling, and won’t be back on solid ground until late tomorrow.)

Some Social Skills May Be Genetic By Janelle Weaver (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 1/19/2010 10:30:00 AM

The ability to recognize who’s who in social situations may be

an inherited genetic ability, according to a new study. The research suggests that some mental abilities may be independent from each other and from general intelligence.

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Gadget Deals of the Day [Dealzmodo] By David Chaid (Gizmodo) Submitted at 1/19/2010 3:00:00 PM

If you're still hungover from your MLK day celebrations then these deals will dry you out in no time. A killer Acer laptop, a 24" Dell widescreen, and free granola bars to eat over a keyboard. Don't forget our tablet -prediction-sweepstakes! Top Deals: • 24" Dell ST2410 Widescreen Monitor for $189 with free shipping(normally $269). • 15.6" Acer AS5732Z-4280 2.2GHz Laptop for $399.99 with free shipping(normally $499.99). • Sunbelt Granola Bars box, BOGO Coupon for $0(use this form). Computing and Peripherals: • HP Pavilion p6380t Core2 Quad Desktop for $599.99 plus free shipping(normally $850). • 18.4" Toshiba Qosmio X505Q865 Intel Core i5-430M 2.53GHz Laptop w/ Geforce Graphics for $1049.99(normally $1299). • 17.3" HP dv7 Core i3 Laptop for $789.99 with free shipping(normally $949.99 - use coupon code SVP54664) • 17" Dell Inspiron 17 Core i5 Laptop with 4GB RAM for $649.98 plus free shipping(normally $1099). • 16" MSI Intel Core 2 Duo Laptop with 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD for $549.99 plus free shipping(normally $700). • 15.6" HP dv6t Core i3 Laptop for $729.99 plus free

shipping(normally $880). • 15.6" Lenovo IdeaPad Y550 Laptop for $569 plus free shipping(normally $998). • 15.6" Acer AS5732Z-4280 2.2GHz Laptop for $399.99 with free shipping(normally $499.99) • 15.6" Dell Vostro 1015 Laptop for $479.99 plus free shipping(normally $600). • 14" HP dv4i Core i3 Laptop for $679.99 plus free shipping(normally $830). • 13.4" MSI X-Slim Intel Atom Z530 Laptop (2.8lbs/0.7in thin) for $389.00 plus free shipping(normally $599). • 24" Dell ST2410 Widescreen Monitor for $189 with free shipping(normally $269). • 24" Acer D240H bmidp LCD Monitor for $288.63 plus free shipping(normally $310). • 23" AOC 2330V Widescreen LCD Monitor for $159.99 plus free shipping(normally $178). • 22" Hannspree HF229HPB Widescreen LCD Monitor for $149.99 plus free shipping(normally $200). • 22" Dell S2209W LCD

Monitor for $129 with free shipping(normally $159) • 19" Acer X193WCb LCD Monitor for $99.99 plus free shipping(normally $141). • Western Digital Passport 750GB Portable External Hard Drive w/ $20 Gift Card for $129.99 plus free shipping(normally $149). • 40GB Intel X25-V MLC Solid State Disk (SSD) for $114.99 with free shipping(normally $129.99) • Linksys WRT160N Ultra RangePlus 802.11n Wireless N Router (Recertified) for $29.99(normally $79). • Logitech Wireless Mouse M505 for $29.99 plus free shipping(normally $46 - use this form). • Microsoft Explorer Mouse for $37.99 plus free shipping(normally $45.10). • HP OfficeJet H470 Mobile Printer for $128.18 plus free shipping(normally $149.98). Gaming: • Xbox 360 Arcade Gaming Console for $169 with free

shipping(normally $199). • Microsoft Xbox 360 HDMI AV Cable for $29.99 plus free shipping(normally $40). • Xbox 360 60GB LIVE Starter Pack for $79.99 plus free shipping(normally $90). • Wii Speak Microphone for $19.99 with free shipping(normally $29.99) • PETZ: Crazy Monkeyz (Wii) for $9.99 plus free shipping(normally $16). • Guitar Hero Van Halen with Drum & Mic (360) for $79.99 plus free shipping(normally $99.99 - use coupon code 201001). • Celebrity Sports Showdown (Wii) for $9.99 plus free shipping(normally $20). • Disney High School Musical 3: Senior Year Bundle with Mat (360) for $15(normally $29.99). • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-Up (Wii) for $14.99(normally $22.99). • Xbox 360 Live 12 Month Gold Card for $30 plus free shipping(normally $34.99). • Dark Sector, Crackdown,

XBOX 360 Rechargeable Battery Pack (360) for $17.99 plus free shipping(normally $24.99). • Nintendo Wii Speak for $19.99 plus free shipping(normally $29.99). • NBA 2K10 (360/PS3) for $39.99 plus free shipping(normally $52.82). • Resident Evil 5 Collector Edition (PS3) for $44.99 plus free shipping(normally $51.99). • Bring Down the Sky and Pinnacle Station DLC for Mass Effect (360) for 240 points each(normally 400 points each). • DJ Hero Renegade Edition Featuring Jay-Z and Eminem (360/PS3/Wii) for $159.99 plus free shipping(normally $188). • Wolfenstein (PC) for $29.99 plus free shipping(normally $36.99). • Prototype (360/PS3) for $29.99 plus free shipping(normally $36.99). • Call of Duty: World at War (Wii) for $29.99 plus free shipping(normally $39.99). • Red Dead Redemption (360/PS3) + $10 Amazon Gift Card for $56.99 plus free shipping(normally $69). • Hinterland: Orc Lords (PC download) for $4.95(normally $20). • Logitech G9 Laser Gaming Mouse for $44.99(normally $60). • Alien Syndrome (Wii) for GADGET page 17

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$8.99 plus free shipping(normally $18). • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-Up (Wii) for $14.99 plus free shipping(normally $25). • NBA 2K10 (360) for $39.99 plus free shipping(normally $53). • The Price Is Right 2010 Edition (Wii) for $19.99 plus free shipping(normally $37). • Nintendo DSi Bundle (console,2 games,case,accessory Kit) for $189(normally $220). • Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles (Wii) for $29.99 plus free shipping(normally $47). • Band Hero featuring Taylor Swift Bundle (360/PS3) for $149.00 plus free shipping(normally $178). • Dark Sector (360) + Crackdown (360) + XBOX 360 Rechargeable Battery Pack for $17.99 plus free shipping(normally $40). • Scene It? Bright Lights! Big Screen! (360) for $14.99(normally $36.49). • NES Retro Classic Controller (PC) for $7.99(normally $26.98). Home Entertainment: • 52" Sharp AQUOS LC52D85U 1080p, 120Hz LCD HDTV for $1,149 with free shipping(normally $1300) • 46" Toshiba REGZA 46XV645U 1080p, 120Hz LCD HDTV for $799.99 with $29.99 shipping(normally $879) • 42" Panasonic Viera TC-P42C1 Plasma HDTV (720p) for

$494.99 plus free shipping(normally $549 - use coupon code: URTYJLI8). • 40" Sony BRAVIA KDL40VE5 1080p 120Hz Ecofriendly LCD TV, Plus Sony BDP-S360 Blu-Ray Player for $849.00 plus free shipping(normally $954). • 32" Panasonic VIERA TCL32C12 LCD HDTV for $359.99 with free shipping(normally $394.99). • 32" Sony BRAVIA KDL32L504 LCD HDTV for $359.99 with free shipping(normally $399.99). • 40" Samsung LN40B550 1080p LCD TV for $674.00 plus free shipping(normally $738 use coupon code EMCYZZX78). • Samsung BD-P1590 Blu-Ray Player (Refurb, Netflix/Pandora Streaming & BD-Live) for $98.99 plus free shipping(normally $149). • KEF KHT3005 6-Piece Home Theater Speaker System for $891 with free shipping(normally $1749 - use coupon code: BONUSBUY). • Western Digital WD TV Live Network-Ready HD Media Player w/ $10 Newegg Gift Card for $119.99 plus free shipping(normally $129). • Heroes - Season One (DVD) for $17.99(normally $25). • Road House, Blu-ray for $10 shipped(normally $16). • Ghostbusters (Blu Ray) for $12.99(normally $16.90).

• Little Miss Sunshine (Blu Ray) for $12.99(normally $23.33). • The Green Mile (Blu Ray) for $19.99(normally $28.69). • Casablanca [Blu-ray] for $14.99(normally $22). • Rocky: The Undisputed Collection (all 6 films) for $49.99 plus free shipping(normally $57). Personal Portables and Peripherals: • Aliph Jawbone PRIME JBT03 Bluetooth Headset for $72 with free shipping(normally $94 - use coupon code: bonusbuy). • Plantronics MHS213 Mobile Headset for $5 with free shipping(normally $20). • Logitech Pure-Fi Express Plus Speaker DOck for iPod/iPhone for $51.99 with free shipping(normally $86 - use coupon code logi_pfex_11810) • Etymotic Research ER6i Isolator In-Ear Earphones for $49.99 plus free shipping(normally $76.97). • Altec UHP326NP Lansing Backbeat Titanium Noise Isolating Earphones for $19.97(normally $34). • ooma Telo VoIP Home Phone Service for $199.99 with $7.99shipping(normally $226.99) • Philips HN 110 Folding NoiseCanceling Headphones for $19.99(normally $37.24). • GolfLogix GPS by Garmin for $189.99 plus free shipping(normally $206.94).

• TRENDnet TV-IP400 640 x 480 RJ45 Advanced Pan & Tilt Internet Camera Server for $79.99 plus free shipping(normally $144). • Magellan RoadMate 1412 4.3Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator for $99.99 plus free shipping(normally $120). • Apple iPod touch 32 GB 2nd Generation for $249.99 plus free shipping(normally $284.75). • Creative Vado HD (720p) 4GB Portable Video Camcorder 2nd Gen for $79.99 plus free shipping(normally $179). • Plantronics MHS213 Mobile Headset for $4.99 with free shipping(normally $19.99) • Magellan Maestro 4700 Bluetooth Capable Portable GPS for $139.99 plus free shipping(normally $196). • Casio Exilim EX-S5 10MP Digital Camera for $91.95 plus free shipping(normally $108). • 10.1-MP Canon PowerShot S90 Digital Camera w/8GB SD Memory Card for $389 with free shipping(normally $399 - use coupon code LOGICBUY10) • Logitech Rechargeable Speaker S315i w/ iPod Dock for $73.45 plus free shipping(normally $97 - use this form). •$25 iTunes card + $5 Best Buy gift card for $25 plus free shipping(normally $30). • Etymotic Research ER6i Isolator In-Ear Earphones for $49.99 plus free shipping(normally $79).

• Logitech Pure-Fi Express Plus ipod/iphone speaker dock for $51.99 plus free shipping(normally $85 - use coupon code logi_pfex_11810). • SENNHEISER VMX100 Titanium Mobile Headset for $24.99 plus free shipping(normally $44 - use this form). Hobomodo: • Download of Fresh Ram 5.0.0 for $0(use this form). • Zombie Pizza (iPhone) for $0(normally $1.99). • The Great City 11 Song Album by Revere (MP3) for $0(download here). • New Sounds Of Latin Music MP3 Album, 21 Songs for $0(use this form). • Sunbelt Granola Bars box, BOGO Coupon for $0(use this form). Contests: Tell Us Your Feature Predictions, Win an Apple Tablet. If a deal looks too good to be true, investigate the store and see if it's a good, reputable place to buy. Safe shopping! [ Thanks TechDealDigger, Dealzon, Logic Buy, GamerHotline, Cheap College Gamers, CheapStingyBargains and TechBargains.]

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Nokia N900 review By Chris Ziegler (Engadget) Submitted at 1/19/2010 1:30:00 PM

Today, Nokia stands at a fascinating fork in the road. Let's consider the facts: first, and most unavoidably, the company is the largest manufacturer of cellphones in the world by a truly sobering margin. At every end of the spectrum, in every market segment, Nokia is successfully pushing phones -from the highest of the high-end (see Vertu) to the lowest of the low (the ubiquitous 1100 series, which as far as we can tell, remains the best selling phone in history). The kind of stark dominance Nokia has built over its competition certainly isn't toppled overnight, but what might be the company's biggest asset has turned out to be its biggest problem, too: S60. In the past eight years, Nokia's breadand-butter smartphone platform has gone from a pioneer, to a staple, to an industry senior citizen while upstarts like Google and Apple (along with a born-again Palm) have come from practically zero to hijack much of the vast mindshare Espoo once enjoyed. Of course, mindshare doesn't pay the bills, but in a business dominated by fickle consumerism perhaps more than any other, mindshare foreshadows market share -- it's a leading indicator. Put simply, there are too many bright minds with brilliant ideas trying to get a

piece of the wireless pie for even a goliath like Nokia to rest on its laurels for years on end. Yet, until just very recently, it seemed content to do just that, slipping out incremental tweaks to S60 on refined hardware while halfheartedly throwing a bone to the "the future is touch!" crowd by introducing S60 5th Edition alongside forgettable devices like the 5800 XpressMusic and N97. A victim of its own success, the company that had helped define the modern smartphone seemed either unwilling or unable to

redefine it. Not all is lost, though. As S60 has continued to pay the bills and produce modern, lustworthy devices like the E71 and E72, the open, Linux-based Maemo project has quietly been incubating in the company's labs for over four years. What began as a geeky science experiment (a "hobby" in Steve Jobs parlance) on the Nokia 770 tablet back in 2005 matured through several iterations -- even producing the first broadly-available WiMAX MID-- until it finally made the

inevitable leap into smartphone territory late last year with the announcement of the N900. On the surface, a migration to Maemo seems to make sense for Nokia's long-term smartphone strategy; after all, it's years younger than S60 and its ancestry, it's visually attractive in all the ways S60 is not, and it was built with an open philosophy from the ground up, fostering a geeky, close-knit community of hackers and devs from day one. Thing is, Nokia's been absolutely emphatic with us

-- Maemo's intended for handheld computers (read: MIDs) with voice capability, while S60 continues to be the choice for purebred smartphones. So, back to that fork in the road we'd mentioned. In one direction lies that current strategy Nokia is trumpeting -- continue to refine S60 through future Symbian revisions (with the help of the Symbian Foundation) and keep pumping out pure-profit smartphones in the low to NOKIA page 22

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The Danger of Hackers Getting Into Boeing 787 and 747-8's Flight Computers [Rant] By Jesus Diaz (Gizmodo) Submitted at 1/19/2010 3:40:00 PM

As if we didn't have enough with crotchbombs and the TSA, the FAA is now saying that "[passenger networking] may result in security vulnerabilities" exposing flight systems to hackers. But, how serious is this danger? The FAA says that their airworthiness tests "do not contain adequate or appropriate safety standards for these design features." So basically, it seems that there's a grey area for now, leaving the responsibility to the airplane manufacturers. They gave these guidelines to Boeing, but that's about it: 1. Boeing must ensure electronic system security protection for the aircraft control domain and airline information domain from access by unauthorized sources external to the airplane, including those possibly caused by maintenance activity. 2. Boeing must ensure that electronic system security threats from external sources are identified and assessed, and that

effective electronic system security protection strategies are implemented to protect the airplane from all adverse impacts on safety, functionality, and continued airworthiness. In theory, the flight systems and passenger networks on the Boeing 747-8 and the everdelayed Dreamliner are separated. But Vijay Takanti, VP for Security for Exostar (which

is partially owned by Boeing, according to Runway Girl Mary Kirby), says that "there is some crossover and [the industry] is trying very hard to make sure the number of crossover points are very limited." What does Takanti mean with "crossovers points"? And why don't just keep both network separated? That would fix any potential security breaches,

right? Not the case, which is what the FAA is hinting in their guidelines: The mere existence of two networks in a plane—one accessible by the passengers—is a security hole in itself. The FAA says that Boeing should find a way to prevent "access by unauthorized sources external to the airplane, including those possibly caused by maintenance activity." That's the key. While

Top General: Despite 'Pockets of Violence,' Haiti Relatively Calm By Nathan Hodge (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 1/19/2010 7:48:00 AM

The networks are relaying

images of streetfights and chaos, and observers are arguing about the semantics of looting. So how serious, exactly, is the violence in Haiti? According to Army Lt.

Gen. Ken Keen, the commander of Joint Task Force Haiti, things aren’t so bad — as long as you factor in the country’s poor governance, weak rule of law

and history of violence.

it's difficult, tampering with the networking systems inside the plane is a possibility at the maintenance stage. And if history has taught us something is that any security system can be broken, no matter how well engineered it is. On top of that, the fact that the FAA doesn't have regulations for these systems makes me a bit nervous. It is not that their regulations or tests could make things hacker-proof, but the idea of leaving this responsibility to private companies is not good, as demonstrated in recent times. The only 100% secure option: Fly without any kind of passenger networking. But then again, would you live without your newly-acquired habit of viewing YouTube cat videos during flights? Would you sacrifice that, like you already sacrificed your dignity at the security checkpoint? Whatever it is, it sounds to me like we need to update the True Odds of Airborne Terror Attack chart. [ Runway Girl— Photo by Jeff McNeill]

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Apple rumor roundup: future of media edition ENUM: it's the new telephone number, but it's going nowhere fast

By Nilay Patel (Engadget) Submitted at 1/19/2010 12:50:00 PM

Now that Apple's officially announced an event to show off its "latest creation" on the 27th, the rumors and gossip are about to get even more out of hand -eventually we expect them to take flight and start raiding small towns for soda water and appetizers. In the meantime, however, we've got the latest batch of somewhat-sober whispers to tide us over, so let's run through 'em, shall we? The rumor: The iPhone Blog points us to a China Times piece setting the tablet's screen size at 9.7 inches. (We covered the 22inch touchscreen iMac rumor separately.) Our take: At this point we've heard pretty much every screen size from eight inches to 11, so we're not making a call either way on this one. We will say that the only other product with a 9.7 -inch screen we can think of offhand is the Kindle DX-- a relatively simple device that's still so large and heavy we

By Darren Murph (Engadget)

and their Twitter account second should they not answer. The Submitted at 1/19/2010 2:52:00 PM issue, however, is that the We've heard (ever-so-briefly) '"ENUM standard (RFC 3761) about ENUM before, which is demands that ENUM is a public generally described as an IETF- service and that the control of the s a n c t i o n e d s t a n d a r d f o r telephone number lies in the converting traditional phone hands of the end-user," and it numbers into IP addresses. But doesn't take an economist to generally hold it with two hands. OLED still has terrible daylight for the most part, even techies understand why ISPs and carriers Just something to think about. viewing issues. The Ars piece is would say that they aren't exactly wouldn't be fond of this. Indeed, The rumor: Ars Technica talks well worth a read, though -- it's a up to speed on what the protocol just nine nations have an ENUM o f f e r s a n d / o r p r o m i s e s . registry in production, and the to the director of the OLED nice look at the state of OLED. Association, who rules out a 10.1 Continue reading Apple rumor ArsTechnica has spent a good future isn't looking too bright for -inch AMOLED screen by roundup: future of media edition while underneath the mire, and it the rest of us. Don't fret, though s a y i n g " t h e r e ' s n o r e a l Apple rumor roundup: future of has arisen with an in-depth - chances are Google will have production of 10.1-inch panels." m e d i a e d i t i o n o r i g i n a l l y article that spells out how the this whole "multiple contact" Oh, and the only place to buy appeared on Engadget on Tue, standard can neatly collate a thing ironed out before the next those would be Samsung, really, 19 Jan 2010 12:50:00 EST. variety of contact options (email decade rolls around. and Sammy doesn't have the Please see our terms for use of address, mobile number, home ENUM: it's the new telephone capacity. feeds. Permalink| | Email this| line, Facebook account, ICQ number, but it's going nowhere name, etc.) into a single address fast originally appeared on Our take: We never thought a Comments t h a t ' s r e c o g n i z a b l e b y t h e Engadget on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 10.1 OLED screen was likely: internet that we so dearly love. In 14:52:00 EST. Please see our not only are prices insane, but fact, user ENUM even has the terms for use of feeds. Permalink capability to rank contact options Slashdot| ArsTechnica| Email by priority, so you could hit this| Comments someone up via the mobile first

Mozilla Speeds Up Firefox Factory, Plans More Updates More Often By Scott Gilbertson (Wired Top Stories)

Mozilla is revamping Firefox's development process, turning the browser into what's known as a

"rolling distro." Updates will be the next major version, similar to pushed out as they're ready, the model used by Google rather than waiting around for Chrome.

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Google postpones phone launch in China amid recent quarrel By Nicholas Deleon (CrunchGear) Submitted at 1/19/2010 12:00:53 PM

Looks like there won’t be a “Google phone” in China, not for a while at least. Well, an official phone; I’m pretty sure the gray market will take care of that. And yes, it has to do with the ongoing Google-China troubles. The deal is that the phone, presumably the Nexus One, was supposed to launch on Wednesday. Google has postponed the launch because it says the applications on it won’t work as well as they’re designed to because of the restrictions China places on Google. Google

it trying to get China to ease up on its restrictions, lest it pull out of the country altogether. It should be noted that Google is nowhere near as big in China as it is here in the U.S. (Baidu is the top search engine in China, and

losses and get out of here.” Neither Google nor any unnamed source claiming to speak on Google’s behalf have said how long the postponement will last. It could be a temporary thing just to pressure the Chinese authorities into backing off (fat chance), or it could be a more long-term indication that Google is not a happy camper in China. Again, as if the Chinese care that Google is upset. Google by quite a distance.) Now, can’t storm into the harbor Google may look at that and say, aboard gunships and demand “See, that means there’s plenty p o l i c y c h a n g e s , l i k e t h e of room for growth in China!” Europeans did back in the day. Or perhaps more pessimistically, “We’re throwing money down a bottomless pit, let’s cut our

Scientists Scramble to Analyze Haiti's Seismic Risk By Betsy Mason (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 1/19/2010 6:54:00 AM

In the aftermath of last week's devastating magnitude 7 earthquake near Port-au-Prince Haiti, scientists are rushing to understand the area's potential for future quakes.

Samsung MU200 caught on camera, begging for its screen to be touched By Joanna Stern (Engadget) Submitted at 1/19/2010 2:26:00 PM

Somehow we missed giving the Samsung MU200 a groping at CES, and we're pretty sure we'd forgive ourselves for that if NewGadgets.de hadn't caught some pretty incomplete video of the 20-inch touchscreen all-inone. Though it has some responsive touch buttons, we've got no idea how its multitouch display performs since the

German-chap forgot to test it out. We know CES can be an exhausting time, but we're not sure how you forget to try out the most important part of the machine (there's even a big cartoon finger demanding onlookers to touch it!). But we do learn from the video that the system packs a 2.2GHz Intel Pentium T4400 processor, 2GB of RAM, 320GB of storage, and GeForce G310 graphics and that it got a fair share of ports along

the backside and an optical drive on its right side. For now we'll just be left wondering what's its like to drag our fingers over that

digital fish pond, and if the MU200 will making it past the Korean market. Hit the break for the video.

Continue reading Samsung MU200 caught on camera, begging for its screen to be touched Samsung MU200 caught on camera, begging for its screen to be touched originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 14:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| NewGadgets.de| Email this| Comments

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NOKIA continued from page 18

Rock Band Network beta opening to Xbox 360 users, garage bands see 'their chance' By Darren Murph (Engadget)

the actual conversion process isn't a lesson in simplicity. In Submitted at 1/19/2010 1:57:00 PM fact, some outfits are offering Ever had the urge to crank out their services to take recordings some nasty riffs in the kitchen, from .wav files to ones that the record them, and then watch as game can understand, but with millions of Xbox 360 owners rates of $500 per minute (of rush to download your jam(s)? music), we're guessing that only Don't lie. In a move that marks serious artists will apply. And if the next logical step of the Rock you've ever heard "that local Band journey, Harmonix has band" willing to play shows for confirmed that an open beta free, you'll agree with us when registration of the Rock Band we say that this barrier to entry is Network will open up later today probably a good thing. for Xbox 360 users, enabling Rock Band Network beta amateur (or professional... or opening to Xbox 360 users, novice!) musicians to record, garage bands see 'their chance' convert and upload tracks to a originally appeared on Engadget network where gamers can judge on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 13:57:00 how awesome / not awesome EST. Please see our terms for any given song is. Reportedly, use of feeds. Permalink Pocketthose seen as "good enough" will lint| Destructoid| Email this| be made available for sale (you Comments can price each tune from $1 to $3), though we're hearing that

HP shows off 'wall of touch' concept, touching optional By Donald Melanson (Engadget) Submitted at 1/19/2010 3:20:00 PM

We're not quite sure why HP didn't bother setting one of these up at CES, but the company's socalled "wall of touch" is apparently already in use by a handful of companies in prototype form, and HP has now shown it off to The Wall Street Journal. Interestingly, while you're welcome to touch the wall all you want, you don't actually have to, as it makes use of a camera-based system and a magnetic strip to detect where you're pointing and when you near the wall. Of course, HP is mostly pitching this one towards companies intending to use these in public spaces (Continental

Airlines has one of the first at the Houston Airport), but HP does say that if there's enough interest it will turn it into a "mainstream product" -- albeit a mainstream product that costs anywhere from "a couple thousand dollars" to $100,000 for something with more advanced features like HD video conferencing. Head on past the break for a quick video overview. Continue reading HP shows off 'wall of touch' concept, touching optional HP shows off 'wall of touch' concept, touching optional originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 15:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Wall Street Journal| Email this| Comments

midrange while sprinkling the upper end of the market with a Maemo device here and there. In the long term, though, running two platforms threatens to dilute Nokia's resources, cloud its focus, and confuse consumers, which leads us to the other direction in the fork: break clean from Symbian, develop Maemo into a refined, powerhouse smartphone platform, and push it throughout the range. Our goal here is to test the N900, of course, but fundamentally, that's the question we tried to keep in the backs of our minds for this review: could Maemo ultimately become the platform of Nokia's future? Let's dig in. Gallery: Nokia N900 review Continue reading Nokia N900 review Nokia N900 review originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| | Email this| Comments

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Next Stab Proof Vests Could Be Inspired By Ocean Snails' Shells [Nature] Submitted at 1/19/2010 2:40:34 PM

This bad-boy-in-a-shell could be used as inspiration for body armor, according to scientists. Meet the Crysomallon Squamiferum, or ' scaly-foot gastropod.' He could end up By Nicholas Deleon elements. saving your life. (CrunchGear) Both Certa and Germany’s Hailing from the Central Indian Federal Office of Information Ridge, the snails can ward off Submitted at 1/19/2010 10:30:01 AM Security didn’t say what other attacks from crabs and other In the intricacies of high-level browsers to use in lieu of IE, but menaces thanks to what its hard European diplomacy, there’s two you can safely assume they mean shell is composed of. Inside things Paris and Berlin can agree the usual suspects: Firefox, hydrothermal vents iron sulphide on: Conan is better, and you’d Chrome, and Opera. (See, Opera particles are found, and better not be using Internet fans, we mentioned your favorite combined with a spongy middle Explorer. A French government browser!) layer it means that when agency is now advising citizens B u t f o r a l l t h e s e c u r i t y something strikes it—like a of the French Republic not to use precautions you could take, the mean crab's claw—it absorbs Internet Explorer because of b e s t s a f e g u a r d a g a i n s t energy by allowing the shell to security concerns. It’s 2010, and contracting an Internet disease is crack, or "microcrack" as the we’re still writing “IE isn’t common sense. Don’t download scientists at the Massachusetts secure!” stories. Amazing. shady files f r o m Institute of Technology are The French agency, Certa, has 0daycoolwarez.tk, don’t click warned against using all versions ads that say “HOT GURLZ IN of Internet Explorer, noting that, [TOWN NEARBY] 4 U~!” even if you activate the highest Seriously, common sense is level of security in the latest worth its weight in gold, which version of IE, you’re still at risk clocked in at $1,647 per ounce from some of the Web’s nastier yesterday.

4 Things That Could Keep 3-D TV Out of Your Living Room By Priya Ganapati (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 1/19/2010 10:30:00 AM

Four Robots, Four Different Ways To Climb Walls [Robots] By Kyle VanHemert (Gizmodo)

By Kat Hannaford (Gizmodo)

France and Germany agree: Don’t use Internet Explorer if you want to be safe online

The future of TV may be 3-D may not be as much fun as you but before you start saving to think. buy one, consider the downsides. The tech isn't for everyone and it

Submitted at 1/19/2010 3:20:00 PM

calling it. The shells also offer a form of attack, as well as defense. In a small way, at least. The iron sulphide will apparently make any attacking claws blunt, by grinding them down. Whether we'll see it on the next stab-proof vests is anyone's guess, but at least we now know to avoid these scaly-foot gastropods. I'm certainly not going to eat any when I'm next in France, anyway. [ New Scientist]

Here are four robots that leave me unsettled in four unique ways. The robots in this clip, developed at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, each employ their own distinctive method of wallclimbing. This snail-inspired bot uses hot glue. One of the robots is equipped with magnetic treads for sticking to any metal surface. Another, looking like some sort of terrifying mechanical arachnid, has four legs with fishing hooks for scuttling around on textured surfaces. I already worry about spiders crawling on my walls. Now, thanks to the roboticist behind the project, Amir Shapiro, I have to worry about robots creeping up on me too. The least menacing of the bunch, seen in the video climbing a white board, has four tiny wheels covered in 3M sticky tape, allowing it to roll slowly across smooth vertical surfaces. That guy? He's OK with me. [ Bot Junkie]

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You eat dinner on a folding table, why not use one for your computer? By Doug Aamoth (CrunchGear)

Want to hack the MiFi? You can! By Nicholas Deleon (CrunchGear) Submitted at 1/19/2010 11:30:53 AM

Team CrunchGear, with a 1-1 record with one no-contest (accidental headbutt in the first round), used one or more Mi-Fi units at CES this year. The Mi-Fi is a cute little portable Wi-Fi access point that you can use wherever you can get a cellphone signal. It takes the mobile data connection, then outputs it as plain ol’Wi-Fi, which you can then connect to from any computer. It’s also pretty hackable. The big thing you can do is

enable GPS on the device without the owner knowing, and then find out the user’s GPS coordinates. In the realm of remote attacks, this ranks, for me, at least, fairly well down the list. You can also find out the device’s access key, and from there you can do other nefarious things, like fire up something like ettercap and have the owner’s login credentials for whatever Web site be forwarded right to your screen. Not that I’d know anything about doing that. Oh, I’m sorry, this has nothing to do with the Apple Tablet; nobody cares now.

Submitted at 1/19/2010 12:30:00 PM

Acer Founder Is Not Impressed With His American Counterparts [Blockquote] By Brian Barrett (Gizmodo)

PC market there's still high demand for top-tier products, Submitted at 1/19/2010 2:52:22 PM and Dell and HP are still Stan Shih, founder of Acer, has h u g e — a n d hugely made a bold prediction with a p o p u l a r — c o m p a n i e s . cowardly timeline: that US The bigger problem, of course, c o m p u t e r b r a n d s a r e n ' t is that in twenty years anything competitive enough to stick it out can happen. Maybe we won't be another 20 years. That'd work using laptops at all by then. out just great for, let's see... oh, M a y b e w e ' l l d o a l l o u r right, Stan Shih! computing from the Google S h i h ' s c l a i m i s t h a t U S chips implanted in our brains. So manufacturers are incapable of before Stan Shih gets too excited putting lower priced products on about 2030, maybe he should the market, and so will die off focus first on making laptops like so much chaff. BUT: while that don't melt in 2010. [ companies like Lenovo and Acer PhysOrg] have made strides recently, in the

Work at home? Live in a shoebox? You don’t need a big computer desk! Just get one of these folding ones. At 9:00 every morning, set up your gigantic printer and your laptop on this multi-level computer cart. Hell, get a desktop computer and a CRT monitor while you’re at it! Then at 5:00 every evening, fold it all down to 4.75 inches thick and stuff it under the couch. I don’t know where you should put that huge printer, though. Why’d you even buy that thing? To print out driving directions? You live in the middle of the city in a tiny apartment and you don’t even have a car! Come on, man! So how much does the ultimate in computing mobility cost? It used to cost $90 but now it costs $70. The thing weighs 27 pounds, too. That’s a lot more than your TV tray. Fold-ez Computer Cart[SkyMall]

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5 Terrific Gadgets for the Social Media Shutterbug By Amy-Mae Elliott (Mashable!)

your iPhone 3GS can be quickly and easily shared online, while the new MobileMe Gallery Submitted at 1/19/2010 10:13:31 AM iPhone app from Apple lets you Rather than studying the cold, access and share your pics from hard spec lists, we think the best the iPhone for your social way to chose a new camera is to network to see. However, it will consider how you’ll use it. After be interesting to see how much all, there’s no point in having a t h e A n d r o i d - b a s e d G o o g l e sky-high megapixel count if Nexus One challenges the you’re never going to print your iPhone in this space. pics, or a huge optical zoom if Specs: 3-megapixels, 3.5-inch you only ever snap your friends touchscreen display, VGA video and family. Cost: From $199, plus 2-year With this in mind, we’ve service agreement 2. Kodak Slice r o u n d e d u p s o m e g r e a t Casio made headlines in 2007 photography options for social by offering a “YouTube” mode media types with a focus on in its compact cameras, but has connectivity that we think will since been overtaken by others suit bloggers and social quick to appeal to social n e t w o r k e r s a l i k e . T h e s e networkers. Boasting a snazzy selections will make it quicker 3 . 5 - i n c h t o u c h s c r e e n , t h e and easier than ever to get your forthcoming Slice has the ability content — be it stills or video — to store up to 5000 pics on board, uploaded to the web. Now, say offers a new search feature and cheese! 1. iPhone 3GS face recognition functionality Perhaps a slightly controversial from Kodak, which means users choice considering the hardware can sort through the pictures by specs — the 3GS only just person (it can remember 20 premanages a 3-megapixel camera tagged faces), place, date, or while the wider industry offers occasion. Tag photos directly on 12-megapixel beasts— it’s the the camera and use the “Share” s o f t w a r e i n t h e f o r m o f button for an effortless upload to thousands of available apps that Facebook, Flickr, YouTube or emakes us confident to name the mail via a PC or a Mac. iPhone 3GS a strong social Specs: 14-megapixels, 5x zoom, media contender in the mobile 3.5-inch touchscreen, 720p video snapper space. Cost:$349.95 when available in Photos or video captured with April 3. Sony Bloggie PM5

Perhaps more suited to the problogger than the casual YouTube user, this full-featured camcorder is the world’s first to offer builtin Wi-Fi and DLNA connectivity, and should make getting your cutting-edge content online a cinch — or at the very least, wire-free. It boasts a 64GB The new Bloggie cameras are solid state drive (as opposed to Sony’s take on the growing PVC its little brother model HMX(pocket video camcorder) S 1 5 ’ s 3 2 G B ) a n d g e t s market, which has so far been S a m s u n g ’ s “ A l l S h a r e ” dominated by the Flip. The functionality, which means pocketable PM5 offers simple content can be shared to other capture of 1920×1080, YouTube DLNA certified devices. The -friendly, H.264 MP4 video and integrated Wi-Fi connectivity 5-megapixel still photos, as well also allows for live streaming as a built-in USB port (losing the over the ‘Net via a DLNA-happy wire spaghetti) and easy web PC. sharing capabilities. The PM5 Specs: 10-megapixel stills, 15x also boasts a lens that can rotate o p t i c a l z o o m , 3 . 5 - i n c h 270 degrees for some artsy touchscreen display, 1080i video angles, or to capture yourself. Cost: TBD when it’s available The camera comes preloaded this Summer 5. Eye-Fi Memory with Sony’s PMB software that Card works with PCs and Macs to If you already own a favored make direct upload to Shutterfly, digi-cam, or want to stick with Picasa, YouTube, Dailymotion your high-end DSLR, but do and Photobucket easy-peasy. want to get more connected, then Stay tuned for a new content- these clever memory cards from sharing service and Facebook- E y e - F i c a n a d d s o m e integration to be launched in the connectivity to your existing kit, Spring. if it supports them. Specs: 5-megapixel stills, 4x Eye-Fi offers a whole range of digital zoom, 2.4-inch LCD SD and SDHC memory cards display, 1080i video that boast wireless connectivity, Cost:$170 4. Samsung HMX- meaning you can easily upload S16 your images and video over a Wi

-Fi network. Specs vary depending on the model, with some cards working only with JPEG files and your PC over a home network. Others specialize in video, while the new ProX2 can handle RAW files, and can geotag your pics and flicks as it sends them into the cloud. A good lower-end example is the 2GB Eye-Fi Share that uploads JPEG pics effortlessly to either your computer over your home network or directly to sites like Flickr, Facebook, Picasa and MobileMe. Cost: The 2GB Eye-Fi Share is $59.99 More social media resources from Mashable: - 5 Essential Sites for Professional Photographers - HOW TO: Create Custom Backgrounds for Twitter, YouTube, & MySpace - 20 Creative Apps For Your iPhone - 85+ of the Best Twitterers Designers Should Follow - 5 Ways Social Media Changed Fashion in 2009 Image courtesy of iStockphoto, flariv Tags: camera, eye-fi, facebook, flickr, gadgets, iphone, List, Lists, photography, Photos, sharing, shopping, social media, video, web video, wi-fi, Wireless, youtube

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Sometimes Protecting Free Speech Means Protecting Speech You Don't Like

CNET News Daily Podcast: Mystery Apple gadget coming next week

By Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

(CNET News.com)

blatantly racist, economically illiterate and at times disturbing, Submitted at 1/19/2010 4:50:28 AM in their attacks on skilled I'm a big fan of Vivek Wadhwa, immigration, specifically from who I think has done some India. excellent research showing the However, last month, when i m p o r t a n c e o f s k i l l e d some of those sites were taken immigration and how it helps the down by a court order, we were US economy and helps expand among the first to suggest this jobs, rather than take them away. was a major overstep by the I've also been an outspoken court. The lawsuit was about supporter of encouraging greater these sites posting a work skilled worker immigration into agreement from a company that the US, as I believe it's much e m p l o y s m a n y H - 1 B v i s a better to have those individuals recipients, suggesting that the working in the US, for US company abuses the visa system. companies, rather than working I'm all for exposing abuses of the at home against US companies. system, because I believe that a I've been regularly yelled at and skilled immigration program attacked for these views, often works better without such by a group of folks who all are abuses. Oddly, the company, on a particular mailing list of anti Apex, accused the sites of both -immigration supporters that libel and copyright infringement often runs into extremely racist o v e r t h e p o s t i n g o f t h e territory. The people on that list documents. If it were libel, it seem to be under the belief that would mean the postings were the world owes them high paying not accurate. If it were copyright jobs, and they do not need to infringement, then that means keep up on new technologies nor Apex is admitting the contents c o m p e t e i n t h e g l o b a l were covered by copyright marketplace. Some of those (meaning, they were accurate). folks have set up a series of But rather than just demand the rather horrific websites that are takedown of the specific content

in question, the judge ordered the sites taken down completely, and even a Facebook group closed. That's way over the line and goes well beyond what the lawsuit was about. It was great to see the EFF take up the case, but it's a shame to see others miss the bigger picture. Esahc writes in to point out that Vivek Wadhwa has penned a column for TechCrunch blasting the EFF for defending these sites. I can understand why Wadhwa is upset about the sites. The sites are undoubtedly racist and despicable. They are also ignorant and economically illiterate. Some of the posts are, clearly, hate speech, and inciting violence against certain individuals. If the lawsuit filed by Apex was about that, then he might have a point. But it was not. The lawsuit targeted a specific piece of information on three sites, and because of that, the court shut down all three sites, and related Facebook pages. It's an overreach. Yes, the sites are dreadful, but the EFF is absolutely right to try to prevent

such a judicial overreach. One of the reasons so many immigrants want to come to the US and want to work here is because of our respect for free speech principles and not condoning overly broad censorship, even of speech that we find repugnant. In the past, I've stepped forward and supported the free speech rights of even those who have attacked me the most on certain topics, when they were also attacked. I think that Wadhwa is going too far in attacking the EFF in this case. I certainly don't agree with the EFF on everything it does -but in this case, it has made the right decision. The antiimmigration websites are disgusting, vile, racist and ridiculous -- but that doesn't mean we should allow a court to shut them down completely over a single complaint over some specific information. Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

Here's the trailer for MacGruber (MacGruber!) By Bob Sassone (TV Squad) Submitted at 1/19/2010 2:30:00 PM

Oh, this could be really funny or it could be really awful. It's

MacGruber, the big-screen movie based on the Saturday Night Live sketch, and we know how often those things turn out well. By the way, this is a red-

band trailer so it's NSFW (funny name for Val Kilmer's character though). Filed under: TV on the Bigscreen, Video, Reality-Free

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Submitted at 1/19/2010 12:26:00 PM

The rumors that Apple would be holding a press event this month have panned out. On Monday the company sent out invitations to an event that's slated to take place next week in downtown San Francisco that will show its "latest creation." All the rumors point to it being the long-awaited tablet computer. Listen now: Download today's podcast Today's stories: Apple officially announces January 27 event Google postpones phone launches in China EMI licenses songs to new adsupported site Microsoft cuts Bing IP address storage to 6 months Mozilla releases second Firefox release candidate Bungie: Play Halo and help Haiti Report: New York Times to charge online readers Segway now owned by British millionaire Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Analyst: Intel Netbook growth to slow (CNET News.com) Submitted at 1/19/2010 11:39:00 AM

Growth of Intel-based Netbooks will slow this year, and the emergence of "smartbooks" based on chips from Intel rivals will also be poky, according to analysts. Just-released HP Mini 210: Overall Netbook sales will slow, analyts says(Credit: HewlettPackard) Though Intel Chief Executive Paul Otellini was upbeat about Netbook growth in 2009 during the chipmaker's earnings conference call last week, standard laptop shipments will outpace Netbook growth in 2010, according to Avian Securities. "The big surprise over the past couple years has been the emergence of Netbooks. However we believe regular notebooks will likely outpace the growth in Netbooks in 2010," according to a research note from Avian published Monday. "For 2010 we expect regular notebooks to grow to 180+MM (million) from 140MM in 2009, with Netbooks growing to 47MM from 37MM," Avian said. The fact that PC makers need to make more money is one of the factors driving this trend. Netbooks are inexpensive--

Semiconductor, and Texas Instruments, are still more concept than product. "Fewer-than-expected actual products were announced, and most of the demonstrations were still in the prototype stage...We maintain that the smartbook market will take some time to develop, and semiconductor vendors will need to plan to be in the market for the long haul to get their return," Gartner said. Gartner noted that the most interesting smartbook announcements were the Qualcomm Snapdragon chipbased Lenovo Skylight and smartbooks based on Nvidia's typically about $350--and not as Maloney echoed this sentiment Tegra processor. profitable as more standard t o s o m e e x t e n t w h e n h e Avian Securities also wrote laptops. "PC (makers) have not addressed the ultrathin laptop Monday that smartbooks are not given up on trying to find ways market--a segment slotted just y e t r e a d y f o r p r i m e t i m e . to recapture some of the margin above Netbooks-- in a CNET "Though we acknowledge some lost when Netbooks became very interview at the 2010 Consumer of the advantages of smartbooks popular over the past couple Electronics Show. Maloney said over Netbooks, at this stage we years." the ultrathin laptop market is feel that most consumers have to T h e n o t e c o n t i n u e d . now beginning to take off after a m a k e t o o m a n y m a j o r " W i t h . . . r e g u l a r n o t e b o o k s slow start in 2009. compromises for the promise of becoming smaller/sleeker in size, And smartbooks, the nascent longer battery life, which we w h i l e s t i l l o f f e r i n g a rival to Intel-based Netbooks, think many are unlikely to performance advantage versus may get off to a slower-than- accept." Netbooks and selling for as little expected start this year. Gartner's Five Filters featured article: as $100 more for a basic model, "Semiconductor DQ Monday Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: we think that more consumers Report," which focused on the PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, may be tempted to migrate back 2010 Consumer Electronics Term Extraction. towards regular notebooks," Show, said that smartbooks Avian analyst Dunham Winoto based on power-efficient ARM wrote. chips from companies like Intel Senior Vice President Sean Q u a l c o m m , F r e e s c a l e

Are CNN reporters covering the story or becoming the story? By Hemal Jhaveri (TV Squad) Submitted at 1/19/2010 1:00:00 PM

I don't know who else is mesmerized by the news coverage of Haiti, but I imagine that many people are still watching the devastating footage blanketing the news networks. As much as I want to turn it off, I can't. I'm compelled to look. A part of me thinks that it's my responsibility to bear witness to the horror. Anyway, with all my CNN viewing, it's becoming clear that CNN reporters are slowly becoming part of the story, rather than just covering it. Yesterday, on The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, 3 reporters put aside their journalistic hats and pitched in to help the quake victims. Continue reading Are CNN reporters covering the story or becoming the story? Filed under: News, OpEd Permalink| Email this| | Comments

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Project Pink: Microsoft’s Answer to Will Rupert Murdoch Pay Me For Making Money Nexus One? By Barb Dybwad (Mashable!)

experiences and divisions: Windows Mobile, the Zune and the Xbox. That kind of synergy The rumor mill is churning could be exactly what the today around a device that is not company needs to steal back the Apple Tablet, for once. This some of the thunder it’s slowly time it’s Windows Mobile 7, lost to new smartphone platforms Microsoft’s promised nextlike the iPhone, and now, generation smartphone mobile compiled a number of Windows increasingly, Android. Still, all Mobile 7 (supposedly to be signs point to a long wait until operating system. The idea of a “Microsoft Zune referred to officially as simply we see Seven running on any Phone Experience” has been “Seven”) tidbits, perhaps most production device — perhaps as floating for some time, and importantly the reported plan to late as 2011. according to All Things Digital offer at least two separate With the Mobile World that rumor has been circulating editions of the mobile operating Congress and CTIA events just anew. Microsoft is allegedly system. A Business Edition (BE) around the corner, though, we’ll working on a mysterious project would support cloud syncing hopefully get some more clarity codenamed “Pink” that vaguely with multiple devices, including on all the above, plus a better involves Windows Mobile and your home or office PC. sense of the timeline we’ll be the Zune, MS’s portable music A Seven Media Edition (ME) is looking at for WinMo7. Are you rumored to include more Zune- a current or past Windows playing answer to the iPod. To congeal all the rumors like features, such as a similar Mobile user? What should together, the analysis seems to m e d i a p l a y e r , H D v i d e o , Microsoft do to come out suggest that Project Pink, a.k.a. possibly streaming TV, Xbox swinging in the next version of the Zune Phone Experience, Live integration, Facebook and its mobile OS? w o u l d t h e o r e t i c a l l y b e Twitter interfaces (similar to [ i m g c r e d i t : W M P o w e r Microsoft’s answer to the Nexus what is already live on the Xbox User(please note they are leaked O n e b y G o o g l e : a p h o n e 360), and support for Silverlight s c r e e n s h o t s a n d m a y n o t developed with a heavy amount and Mediaroom. The support for represent the final version of of direct input from its parent Xbox Live dovetails nicely with Windows Mobile 7)] company. AllThingsD’s sources some earlier job postings from Tags: CTIA2010, microsoft, indicate that phone could debut Redmond looking for new hires MWC2010, Project Pink, Seven, as early as mid-February at the to bring the XBLA experience to windows mobile, windows Mobile World Congress in the Windows Mobile platform. mobile 7, winmo7, xbla, xbox, Barcelona or possibly one month The Million-Dollar Question: Xbox 360, XBox live, zune, later at the CTIA wireless trade When? Zune Phone, zune phone It would make sense for experience show in Las Vegas. Windows Microsoft to finally integrate Mobile 7: Two Editions? Meanwhile, WM Experts have what are primarily three separate Submitted at 1/19/2010 12:18:05 PM

Off Links To Techdirt? By Mike Masnick (Techdirt) Submitted at 1/19/2010 9:00:00 AM

You may recall that over in the UK there has been a bit of a battle between online news aggregator NewsNow (which, again, in my experience is one of the best aggregators out there) and various newspapers who are demanding payment from the company. The issue is not NewsNow's "free" aggregator, but the fact that NewsNow makes most of its money from offering businesses custom, private aggregation of links. NewsNow isn't providing full content at all -- just links and headlines. But the complaint from newspapers is that NewsNow is selling this service to companies and making money from it -- and thus, they deserve a cut. Now, as the battle has escalated, it appears that Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. has taken the next step and blocked links coming from NewsNow. It's not clear what happens to NewsNow users who click on News Corp. stories, but apparently they don't get the story. The link above goes through all of the many, many reasons that it is absolutely a bad idea, and extremely "antiinternet" to block links from anywhere, but this whole thing

got me thinking. Based on Murdoch and News Corp's reasoning here, I believe Murdoch owes me money. After all, News Corp. is most certainly a commercial enterprise. And, as we all know, the Wall Street Journal charges many people money in the form of subscription fees (just like NewsNow does) for access to the information it provides. Now, over the past couple of years, the Wall Street Journal online has linked to Techdirt more than a couple of times. A quick search of their archives shows at least nine stories over the past two years. So, if Murdoch is saying that NewsNow can't charge a subscription and link to him, why is it okay for him to charge a subscription and link to me? Clearly, the answer is that Rupert Murdoch owes me money. Consider my invoice on the way... Of course, the alternative answer is that Murdoch doesn't owe me a dime... and NewsNow doesn't owe Murdoch either. But how can that be? It isn't like we've seen Rupert Murdoch suggest that rules that apply to others don't apply to him. Oh wait.... Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

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iPhone 4.0 to Support BackgroundRunning Apps [Rumor] By Jennifer Van Grove (Mashable!) Submitted at 1/19/2010 11:14:35 AM

When Apple unveils iPhone 4.0 software(still just a rumor) next week, we might be getting multitasking/background running applications, multi-touch support OS-wide, UI changes, and contact and calendar sync options, according to Boy Genuis Report. The blog posted a collection of iPhone 4.0 features (with a screenshot to validate its source) we’re likely to see at next week’s highly anticipated Apple event, the most intriguing of which is multitasking. On the multitasking front, Apple’s extremely popular iPhone falls behind the smartphone competition. BlackBerries, Android devices, and Palm’s Pre and Pixi all support multitasking, which enables background running applications. For smartphone users, the feature is killer because you can have multiple applications running at the same time and simply switch between them without having to exit out.

Here’s what the source purports, per the Boy Genius’ report: - There will be multi-touch gestures OS-wide. (Would make sense for that as the rumored OS for the tablet is close if not the same as the iPhone.) - “A few new ways” to run applications in the background Multitasking means instant — multitasking. updates from applications that - Many graphical and UI changes are running, but not in use. to make navigating through the Apple has been reluctant to OS easier and more efficient. We release an update to support haven’t had this broken down, multitasking, although it did but we can only hope for release push notifications last i m p r o v e d n o t i f i c a t i o n s , a y e a r a s s o m e w h a t o f a refreshed homescreen, etc. workaround. In light of all of the - The update will supposedly be t a b l e t r u m o r s , h o w e v e r , available for only the iPhone 3G multitasking does sound more and 3GS, but will “put them likely this time around (and users ahead in the smartphone market can already jailbreak their because it will make them more iPhones to support it). Should like full-fledged computers” than iPhone OS 4.0 be the software a n y o t h e r p h o n e t o d a t e . that powers the elusive tablet, Everyone is “really excited.” t h e n b a c k g r o u n d - r u n n i n g - The last piece of information is applications would be critical for the most vague, but apparently that product. there will be some brand new On the mobile front, the Boy syncing ability for the contacts Genius source claims that first and calendar applications. generation iPhone owners are out [ i m g c r e d i t : T h e S h i f t e d of luck, as the 4.0 software L i b r a r i a n ] update is said to only be Tags: apple, Apple Tablet, available for 3G and 3GS iPhone 4.0, multitasking phones.

Once Again, FBI Caught Breaking The Law In Gathering Phone Call Info; But Real Issue Is Why Telcos Let Them By Mike Masnick (Techdirt) Submitted at 1/19/2010 11:25:00 AM

A few years back, we found out that the FBI regularly violated the Patriot Act, issuing "National Security Letters" to access information that they had no right to access. So it should come as no surprise that during that same period, the FBI was also regularly violating the law to get phone call records without following the proper procedures, even beyond the problem with the NSLs. In fact, it appears the FBI may have violated the law in about half of all of these cases. Basically, it sounds like the FBI just went to phone companies, said the magic word ("terrorism!!") and the phone companies just handed over records -- even without using NSLs, but instead using an "exigent circumstances letter," which could be used even more easily than an NSL, but which required an NSL to follow it up eventually. The FBI is now basically admitting to screwing up and that using these "ECLs" without followup NSLs almost certainly violated the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. The FBI's excuse? They're

claiming that the process was "good-hearted but not wellthought-out." Doesn't that make you feel better? The story heads into Keystone Kops territory, as some in the FBI pushed for actually following up the ECLs with real NSLs, but the FBI was pretty slow. Eventually, someone signed a "blanket NSL" supposedly to cover all of the previous ECLs that never had a followup NSL -- except the guy who signed the blanket NSL later claimed that he couldn't recall ever signing anything, and insisted that NSLs should be for specific cases only. Oops. Of course, lost in all of the attention over the FBI's process is the rather serious unanswered question of why the telcos didn't seem to push back when handed a bogus demand to hand over records that did not match the official process and violated the law. Shouldn't the telcos have some responsibility for actually making sure that a random FBI agent yelling "terrorism" has some sort of official basis to get information out of the them? Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

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Novell slapped for impersonating Red Hat (CNET News.com)

approach. Santiago Madruga, Red Hat country manager for Spain and It's no secret that Novell would Portugal, reached out to a dearly love to trade market share c u s t o m e r w h o h a d b e e n with Red Hat in the Linux a p p r o a c h e d b y N o v e l l : market. Red Hat, however, isn't Red Hat comments on Novell's happy with at least one of ability to support RHEL(Credit: Novell's chosen strategies for Matt Asay) getting there: Madruga goes on to spell out the Cloning. value of a Red Hat subscription, As its white papers allege, and clarify how Novell's support Novell thinks it can offer high- for RHEL systems would violate quality support for SUSE Linux, the terms of Red Hat's support the Linux distribution it owns contract with the customer. a n d s h i p s , a n d R e d H a t He paints a dire picture, but the Enterprise Linux (RHEL), the reality is that Novell is well L i n u x d i s t r i b u t i o n t h a t within its legal rights to offer it...doesn't. The company has support for RHEL. Whether it's a been offering a migration plan g o o d d e a l , h o w e v e r , i s a from RHEL to SUSE since at completely different story. least November 2008, but it Novell proclaims that Red Hat recently raised the ire of Red Hat customers can save as much as in Portugal in its marketing 50 percent on their RHEL Submitted at 1/19/2010 11:51:07 AM

systems by moving to Novell to support them. I have no doubt that Novell does, in fact, charge less. But I'm equally confident that cost shouldn't be a customer's primary reason for switching. If

consistently rated Red Hat far above Novell, or indeed every other enterprise software vendor, for value. Either they're deluding themselves, or they are, in fact, being well served by Red Hat and its support team. Instead, Novell should be focusing on the things it does really well, like its powerful SUSE Studio technology, which makes it super easy to build Linux-based appliances. Novell is never going to be a better Red Hat than Red Hat. It should focus on being a better Novell. That positive message is someone wants a cheaper RHEL, what CIOs buy. the best bet is CentOS, not SUSE Five Filters featured article: Linux. "Cheaper" is simply not a Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: compelling reason to jump from PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Red Hat to Novell. Term Extraction. Neither is the quality of Red Hat's support. CIOs have

Get a Mac: 5 of Our Favorite Ads [VIDEO] By Christina Warren (Mashable!)

Although Apple has a selective archive of“Get a Mac” ads archived on its own site, Submitted at 1/19/2010 12:39:08 PM AdWeek has one-upped them by Love them or hate them, the ads p u t t i n g t o g e t h e r a p a g e f o r A p p l e ’ s “ G e t a M a c ” showcasing all 66 ads from 2006 campaign have been incredibly – present. successful. Last month, AdWeek Here are five of our favorites. named the series Ad Campaign 2006: Out of the box #4 of the Decade. My personal favorite ad of the More effective at converting series, Mac and PC compare the u s e r s t h a n e v e n t h e out-of-box experience. infamous“Switch” campaign, 2008: Sad Song (Long Version) these ads have helped personify #43b Apple as a brand to the culture. Who doesn’t love to sing “The

Seriously. Hey, here’s to the crazy ones! 2007: Flashback #25 Mac and PC reminisce about elementary school. 2006: Better #1 The ad that started it all. I feel confident that no one involved thought the campaign would be Vista Blues?” so successful or so long-running. 2009: Legal Copy #54 What Do You Think? How fanatical are Apple fans? The “Get a Mac” campaign has The writers at MacJournals not been without controversy. actually transcribed the legal PC (and even some Mac) users copy that appears in this ad. have complained that Apple

plays fast and loose with certain facts or that the characterizations of Mac and PC are inaccurate. (Apparently there are some nonMac hipsters out there.) Regardless, you can’t argue that the campaign has been successful and captivating. What is your favorite “Get a Mac” ad? Let us know in the comments! [via Gizmodo] Tags: ads, advertising, get a mac

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FloDesign speeds quest for mid-size wind turbine (CNET News.com)

turbine for the past several months. Submitted at 1/19/2010 12:28:59 PM Although FloDesign has not yet FloDesign Wind, a company released a product, its 150developing a wind turbine that kilowatt turbines turbine design borrows technology from jet h a s g o t t e n a t t e n t i o n f r o m engines, has raised a second investors, potential customers, round of venture capital and and researchers. hired a new CEO. Energy secretary Steven Chu The Wilbraham, Massachusetts- highlighted FloDesign Wind based company on Tuesday said during his presentation at the that Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Cop15 international climate Byers led a $34.5 million series t r e a t y t a l k s i n D e c e m b e r . B round, which included money FloDesign was awarded a $8.3 from Goldman Sachs managed million grant as part of the investment fund, Technology ARPA-E program aimed at Partners and VantagePoint b r e a k t h r o u g h e n e r g y Venture Partners. technologies. The new CEO is Lars Andersen, In general, the trend in wind who was last the president of turbines has been to make larger wind turbine maker Vestas in turbines using the familiar threeChina. blade wind mill. FloDesign With the second round of Wind, which was spun out of an investment and new CEO, the aerospace company, is making company is seeking to shift from turbines for areas not well served research and development to by traditional one or twomanufacturing. The company has megawatt turbines, according to been testing a prototype wind the company. For example, its

turbines could be used in locations such as mountain ridges or sold to business or municipalities looking to make power on site. Its turbine is built around a fan which has a shroud that surrounds it. Wind flowing through the fan and around the outside of the shroud creates an air mixture at the back of the turbine that pulls air through it quicker, according to the company. During a presentation in September last year, former CEO Stanley Kowalski III said that initial tests at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that FloDesign's turbine can produce power 40 percent cheaper than traditional turbines. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

HTV Snaps Paula Abdul & More Stars Helping Haiti (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 1/19/2010 8:31:00 AM

HTV is on the scene with Paula Abdul outside the CNN studios in Los Angeles, where she and other Hollywood heavies

gathered at the "How you can Help Now" telethon for Haiti. "It feels wonderful," Paula says of the relief effort. "Walking inside, seeing everyone there manning the phones and sitting on the panel ... it's heartfelt."

30 Seconds to Mars frontman Jared Leto told the cameras, "I think we're all just happy to be able to help in some small way."

UK Man Arrested And Banned From Airport For Twitter Joke About Blowing Up An Airport By Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

life from an airport after posting a message on Twitter that read: "Robin Hood airport is closed. A few weeks ago, I was flying You've got a week and a bit to with my wife somewhere, and as get your shit together, otherwise we passed through security, a I'm blowing the airport sky TSA agency took my wife's high!!" This was in response to shoes and asked if he could run a the airport closing due to snow, separate test on them. A little and the guy realizing he was while later, he came back and supposed to fly from there a asked if she had another pair of week later. Now, clearly, this shoes, saying that hers had was an ill-advised Twitter "failed the test." It was around message. And, at the very least, 5am, and neither of us were I don't begrudge police from at completely awake and we were least doing a quick check to both really confused, and trying make sure that it wasn't serious, to figure out how her shoes could but to then arrest him under the have failed any sort of test (could Terror Act, interrogate him for she have stepped in some sort of seven hours, threaten him with mud that set off a test?!?) or if further charges and ban him for she had packed another pair of life from the airport? At some shoes, when the TSA guy started point you have to think that the laughing, saying he was just response has gone too far as joking and "you were supposed well. Yes, the post was in poor to protest!" Apparently, it was taste, but at some point law all a big joke. It wasn't that enforcement people should funny. And, of course, we've recognize when it was just a been told over and over again frustrated person making an illthat this kind of joking is only advised joke and move on. allowed to go in one direction. Permalink| Comments| Email Krubuntu points us to the news This Story of a guy in the UK who found himself arrested and banned for Submitted at 1/19/2010 6:36:26 AM

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New iLife, iPhone OS 4.0, and tablet next week? By Steven Sande (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 1/19/2010 11:30:00 AM

Filed under: Rumors, Apple, One More Thing Almost everybody who a) cares about Apple and b) is breathing knows already that Apple has an event scheduled for next Wednesday, January 27th. Many people assume that the big surprise could be the announcement of the soon-to-be-non-mythical slate / tablet, but we all know that Apple seldom makes one announcement. There's often " one more thing." Clayton Morris at Fox News reported yesterday on information he received just before his invitation arrived for the event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. A "source at Apple" told him that the event was going to focus on three things: a new release of iLife, iPhone OS 4.0, and the tablet. He goes on to say that while iPhone OS 4.0 will be demoed, no new

iPhone device is going to be announced. The new version of iLife-- let's call it iLife '10 for the heck of it - sounds reasonable. Early versions of iLife were announced and shipped on an annual basis for quite a few years, with iLife '08 spoiling the rhythm of releases. iLife '09 hit the stores last January, so it's not at all

The tablet? There's the best possible "one more thing." I can see Steve Jobs now, smoothly demoing iLife '10's feature set for a while and talking about the new e-commerce widgets in iWeb '10, and then segueing into news about iPhone OS 4.0. Just about the time that all of the industry pundits are about to commit seppuku from fear that they're being misled, Stevie J. will reach under a MacBook Air and pluck out the device. And the crowd goes wild!!! Just keep repeating to yourself -"January 27th will be here before I know it." TUAW New iLife, iPhone OS 4.0, and tablet next week? unlikely that iLife '10 and all of originally appeared on The its components could be in our U n o f f i c i a l A p p l e W e b l o g hands before Macworld Expo (TUAW) on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 2010. 11:30:00 EST. Please see our iPhone OS 4.0? Equally likely. terms for use of feeds. The event could feature a quick Read| Permalink| Email this| demo of new features to get Comments everyone drooling, with the new OS version and possibly a new iPhone shipping simultaneously in the summer.

Gushing about Glee By Allison Waldman (TV Squad) Submitted at 1/19/2010 3:00:00 PM

Flush from winning the Golden Globe as Best TV Show Musical or Comedy, Glee creator Ryan Murphy was in a jolly mood when confronted by the

media. Can you blame the guy? Glee is definitely the success story of 2009, the little show that could. A smart, sassy high school musical that's become a cultural phenomenon. If I were Ryan Murphy, I'd be singing and surprised and abhor spoilers -dancing and spilling my guts, STOP READING NOW. too. If you prefer being totally

Continue reading Gushing about Glee Filed under: Industry, OpEd, Awards, Reality-Free, Glee Permalink| Email this| | Comments

What You Missed Last Night: Jeff Zucker on Charlie Rose By Bob Sassone (TV Squad) Submitted at 1/19/2010 1:30:00 PM

We've heard from Jay Leno, we've heard from Conan O'Brien, we've heard from Dick Ebersol, and we've even heard from Southland's Ben McKenzie. But what about the guy who started all this, Jeff Zucker? He gave an interview to Charlie Rose last night and it's up at Rose's site (I'd embed it here but...I can't). I love how Rose starts the conversation by saying that things have gone "downhill" for NBC and that it's "in shambles." Zucker quickly corrects him. Filed under: Late Night, Industry, Celebrities, Talk Show, Reality-Free, Jay Leno Permalink| Email this| | Comments

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Conan Sells Himself on Craigslist’s Casual Encounters By Samuel Axon (Mashable!) Submitted at 1/19/2010 10:49:32 AM

First Conan O’Brien put The Tonight Show up for sale on Craigslist. Now he’s decided to sell himself there, too. He created a listing in the “Casual Encounters” section. He announced the listing on his show, saying, “This is a real offer.” We’re sure it’s not actually a real offer, but the claim makes it that much funnier. You can take a peek at the listing for yourself while it lasts — it will be around for about seven days unless Craigslist takes it down because it’s fake — but here are the bullet points. TALL, SLENDER REDHEAD AVAILABLE FOR NIGHTTIME RECREATION - 6’4”, completely ripped, VERY Caucasian. - Drapes match the carpet. - Currently homeless, must meet at your place. - Can go a whole hour (with

scheduled breaks every 7-10 minutes). - Fatties welcome. - Not afraid to take two people at once, and then a musical guest. - NOTE: If you want me to perform after midnight, it’ll cost you! Conan said he received thousands of offers in response to his previous Craigslist listing for The Tonight Show— there’s no telling how many folks will respond to this one. Conan also took some time out his show to share some of his own favorite listings. They included a 1970 Gremlin automobile with 370,000 miles, a man’s high school diploma, an autographed Chumbawumba CD, a cat

wearing makeup, and an old, autographed headshot of Tonight Show band leader Max Weinberg. He also took some time out of his monologue to acknowledge the fans who showed up at the Facebook-organized rallies in L.A., New York, Chicago and Seattle. He showed a quick clip of the mayhem (which included a cameo by band member La Bamba) and then showed a very funny clip of what he said was a pro-NBC rally nearby. The harsh humor about his situation at NBC continued in his monologue, and it was even sharper than before. He said that now that he’s leaving, he’s not allowed to say anything negative about the network. But they didn’t say anything about singing, he said. Watch the video below. Tags: conan o'brien, craigslist, television, the tonight show, tv

Brittany Murphy's Grieving Mother and Husband Speak Out (ETonline - Breaking News)

Sharon Murphy, and husband Simon Monjack open up about their tragic loss. In an upcoming interview on In the interview, King asked CNN's "Larry King Live," Monjack, "It has been a month Brittany Murphy's mother, since you lost her. How are you Submitted at 1/19/2010 9:10:00 AM

doing son? How are you holding up?" Monjack replied, "I don't think I am. I don’t think either of us are…." Sharon added, "No."

Buy software, aid Haiti relief efforts By Dave Caolo (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

Billings Mac is featured on the Apple Downloads homepage, and we're also featured in the Submitted at 1/19/2010 12:30:00 PM iTunes App Store under 'New F i l e d u n d e r : S o f t w a r e , and Noteworthy'. All proceeds Developer Last week we pointed from Billings Mac sales on Jan. out the American Red Cross 20th will be donated to the donation page that's been added Doctors Without Borders charity. to the iTunes Store. This week, With Billings in the spotlight several independent Mac/iPhone we're thinking tomorrow will be s o f t w a r e ( a n d h a r d w a r e ) a great success." developers have come together In related news, a team of to aid the relief efforts. developers calling themselves Check out Indie+Relief, a site Mobile Applications for Crisis l i s t i n g a h u g e n u m b e r o f Response have come together to applications for you to buy. All develop just that -- iPhone apps proceeds from purchases made t h a t w i l l a i d e m e r g e n c y on January 20, 2010 will go to personnel as they do their jobs. emergency workers in Haiti. There are four developers on the Who receives the money? That team now, and the wiki lists the depends on the app. For projects they're currently example, purchase Acorn and working on. If you'd like to Flying Meat will donate $49.95 donate your skills to their efforts, to Doctors Without Borders. Buy please let them know. MarsEdit 2 and Red Sweater will TUAW Buy software, aid Haiti make a donation to Partners in relief efforts originally appeared Health. It's a great way to go and on The Unofficial Apple Weblog starts tomorrow. (TUAW) on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 I asked Marketcircle's Ryan 12:30:00 EST. Please see our Cash about his company's terms for use of feeds. participation. " Billings has been Read| Permalink| Email this| in the spotlight this month - Comments

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Microsoft cuts Bing IP address storage to 6 months (CNET News.com)

European Commission directive on Internet privacy the company will delete the IP addresses Microsoft has outlined a new e n t i r e l y a f t e r s i x m o n t h s . privacy policy for Bing that Microsoft said it will roll out the reduces the amount of time that new policy over the next 12 to IP addresses are stored.(Credit: 18 months, however. Microsoft) Google anonymizes IP Microsoft plans to cut the addresses after nine months, and amount of time it stores the IP deletes IP addresses after 18 addresses associated with search months, which the company says queries from 18 months to six is necessary to protect its search months, in compliance with new results and ads against click European regulations and with a fraud and spam. mind to putting pressure on its It's not clear whether Google biggest rival. intends to follow the guidelines Searchers on Bing already have established by the Article 29 their IP addresses immediately Working Party, which led to anonymized following a search Microsoft's decision. Bloomberg query, but to comply with a new reported that Google's global Submitted at 1/19/2010 11:10:00 AM

privacy counsel Peter Fleischer implied that no changes were immediately forthcoming, quoting him as saying "we're committed to using data to both improve our services and our

security measures for our users and protect their privacy, and we remain convinced that our current logs retention policy represents a responsible balance." Google representatives

Boy Genius: Multitasking, new interface in iPhone 4.0 By Dave Caolo (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

developers and users have wanted for a long time. Also, multi-touch gestures "...will be Submitted at 1/19/2010 2:30:00 PM OS-wide," which makes sense if Filed under: Apple Corporate, we're to believe that the tablet Hardware, Rumors The folks at OS is preventing the iPhone OS Boy Genius Report (BGR) have release. been speaking with a little birdie Other rumor nuggets include from Cupertino again, and this improved navigation (which was time it's allegedly spilled details on our list of requests) and on iPhone 4.0. improved syncing for contacts If the source is to be believed, and calendar apps. Finally, the t h i s u p d a t e w i l l b r i n g update will be limited to the multitasking and a new interface. iPhone 3G and 3GS (we assume First, there will be "A few new this also includes the iPod ways" to run applications in the touch), and will "...make them background, which means m o r e l i k e f u l l - f l e d g e d multitasking -- something c o m p u t e r s . "

unconvinced that the anticipated "Multitouch Revolution" expected for the tablet device will extend in all of its glory to the iPhone. In other words ... Is it the 27th yet? [Via MacRumors] TUAW Boy Genius: Now, we know that a single Multitasking, new interface in iPhone OS release may offer iPhone 4.0 originally appeared platform-specific features. For on The Unofficial Apple Weblog e x a m p l e , V o i c e O v e r a n d (TUAW) on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 A c c e s s i b i l i t y , a s w e l l a s 14:30:00 EST. Please see our h a r d w a r e f e a t u r e s l i k e terms for use of feeds. Magnetometers, are not available Read| Permalink| Email this| on iPhones earlier than the 3GS. Comments For that reason, we're

did not immediately respond to requests for further details. But Microsoft's move could open up a new competitive front for the search industry: privacy. The recent cyberattacks on Google and other companies have already sparked questions about just how safe the personal information stored by Google and other search companies is from those who could exploit it in criminal ways. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Jennifer Aniston Cuddles Up to Costar Gerard Butler (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 1/19/2010 10:36:00 AM

Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler may play an estranged couple in their new romantic comedy 'The Bounty Hunter,' but these two seemed quite friendly as they hugged up on each other at the Golden Globes. ET has the playful pics of 'The Bounty Hunter' costars, coming to the big screen March 19.

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Report: Harper Collins, Apple negotiating tablet deal By Dave Caolo (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

Shoppers get a more interesting ebook experience, wrapped in Apple style, while publishers Submitted at 1/19/2010 10:30:00 AM receive a bigger payday. Filed under: Apple Corporate, The Wall Street Journal notes Hardware, Multimedia, Rumors that other publishers have been The Wall Street Journal is talking with Apple without reporting this morning that offering any additional details. Apple is in talks with Harper Now that we have a firm date for Collins regarding ebooks for the the tablet's introduction new tablet. They suggest that the (probably, maybe) the rumors publisher will set the prices of are going to swirl ever faster. the books with Apple taking a Hold on to your seats. cut, in similar fashion to the [Via Engadget] 30/70 split currently in place for applications" were a possibility. TUAW Report: Harper Collins, the App Store (but percentages Just watch this demo from Sports Apple negotiating tablet deal not determined). The most Illustrated to get an idea of the originally appeared on The interesting line notes that the potential. While consumers love U n o f f i c i a l A p p l e W e b l o g ebooks "...will have added the Ăźber-cheap prices being (TUAW) on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 offered on the Kindle and the 10:30:00 EST. Please see our features." B a c k i n D e c e m b e r , N o o k , p u b l i s h e r s w o u l d terms for use of feeds. H a r p e r C o l l i n s C E O B r i a n undoubtedly like to bump them Read| Permalink| Email this| Murray noted that "...e-books up a little. These additional Comments enhanced with video, author features will serve both the interviews and social-networking consumer and the publisher:

Patents Being Used To Keep Starving Children From Getting Therapeutic Food Paste By Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

from anyone who might do it more cheaply or more efficiently. The article highlights a lawsuit We've seen way too many that has been filed by some US stories of patents being used to organizations, looking to make hold back medical treatments or and distribute a competitor called drugs in communities that need Re:vive, trying to invalidate the them most, and now a few of you Nutriset patent. This isn't a have sent in this troubling story small issue either -- millions of of how a French company, children are starving, and a Nutriset, has been using patents recent study by UNICEF found to block competition with its that relying on a single supplier, therapeutic food paste for like Nutriset, would not be m a l n o u r i s h e d c h i l d r e n . enough to match the need, and Apparently, the company came could be a very unreliable way to up with "a mixture of peanut help save malnourished children. butter, powdered milk, sugar and It's amazing that patents are vegetable oil fortified with 40 being used to prevent the more vitamins and minerals," called it efficient and economic delivery Plumpy'nut, patented it, and o f f o o d t o m a l n o u r i s h e d started offering it to various aid children, but that's what you get agencies. Apparently, it works when you build up a world great, but anyone else who mentality that believes concepts creates anything remotely similar like this can be "owned" and c o m e s u n d e r a t t a c k f r o m controlled by a single party. N u t r i s e t ' s l a w y e r s , w h o Permalink| Comments| Email apparently like saving children This Story only when there's no competition Submitted at 1/19/2010 10:10:00 AM

Drew Barrymore & Ellen Page 'Whip It' Good (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 1/19/2010 10:30:00 AM

Drew Barrymore, Ellen Page and Kristen Wiig strap on skates and smash the competition in the

fun-filled, action-packed roller derby comedy 'Whip It' â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and we have an exclusive deleted scene from the DVD/Blu-ray, available January 26! In the clip, the girls debate the

pros and cons of dating guys in bands, prompting coach Razor ( Andrew Wilson) to pack it in -and drive with skates... 'Whip It' marks Drew's directorial debut, following

Ellen's small town, indie-rock loving character who finds a purpose in life when she joins a rough-and-tumble roller derby league in nearby Austin, Texas.

Tech/ Entertainment/

Vodafone works with Apple to add 20 more iPhone dealers By Megan Lavey (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 1/19/2010 3:30:00 PM

Filed under: iPhone Vodafone UK, who brought 20 of its dealers with it when the company j oined the ranks of iPhone sellers in the UK, says that it's on track to have an additional 20 of its dealers selling the iPhone by the end of May. MobileNews reports that originally Vodafone had submitted all of its 25 premier partners and most of their gold partners to Apple for approval to sell the iPhone. The article gives insight into what is required of the partners in order to sell the iPhone including:

E-reader News Edition

If School Officials Got Confused First Family Serves Up Meals By Kid's Science Project, Why Does The Kid Need Counseling? to Those in Need By Mike Masnick (Techdirt) Submitted at 1/19/2010 7:46:00 AM

• Submitting a business plan to the parent company that has to be approved by Apple • Be properly trained and accredited • All staff members must own an iPhone

Slashdot points us to the story of an 11-year-old student who tried to build his own motion-detector system as a science project, and when he brought it to school to show people, school officials thought it was a bomb and freaked out. They called the MobileNews says that Vodafone police, evacuated the school and is the first UK company to offer a l l o f t h e e x p e c t e d c h a o s the iPhone from both its direct followed. Law enforcement channels and through its dealers. even brought in a robot to [Via MacDailyNews] examine the device, and the TUAW Vodafone works with student's house was searched for Apple to add 20 more iPhone explosives (none found, of dealers originally appeared on course). After all of this (and it The Unofficial Apple Weblog was said that the student and his (TUAW) on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 parents were "very cooperative" 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

throughout the ordeal) you might think the family deserves an apology. Instead: The student will not be prosecuted, but authorities were recommending that he and his parents get counseling, the spokesman said. The student violated school policies, but there was no criminal intent.... I'm trying to figure out what "policies" could have been violated, and why it would require that he and his parents get counseling. It wasn't the kid who did anything wrong. It was the school officials who freaked out. Perhaps they should be the ones to seek counseling? Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

(ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 1/19/2010 8:45:00 AM

Order's up! President Barack Obama, wife Michelle and daughters Malia and Sasha served meals to those in need at a soup kitchen in Washington D.C. on Monday in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s legacy. Click the pics to see the First Family in action!

Digg Introduces Chrome Extension, Improves Firefox Toolbar By Jennifer Van Grove (Mashable!) Submitted at 1/19/2010 11:55:24 AM

Digg has just introduced a new Google Chrome extension and updated its Firefox extension with improvements to make sharing faster, richer and less intrusive to your browsing experience.

Digg’s Chrome extension is pretty slick and lightweight. After installation, the Digg icon will appear to the right of Chrome’s everything browser bar, the Omnibox, and display the total Digg count for the webpage you’re on. Click the icon to view a miniature Digg question. It also gives you the window that shows you view and option to share on Digg and on comment count for the page in

Facebook, Twitter or via e-mail. As for Firefox users, the updated extension is now vastly improved to save space in your browser. There’s even a keyboard shortcut (CMD+Shift+E) that gives you a quick way to show or hide the once cumbersome Digg toolbar. The freshly enhanced extension also supports additional

notification controls, and quick social site sharing via the toolbar. Tags: Chrome Extensions, digg, firefox extensions, social media, software

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CBS Poll: Majority Don't Want Palin to Run for President (Little Green Footballs)

When the results are split out by party, 56 percent of Republicans say they do not want her to seek If Sarah Palin is harboring the office and 30 percent do. ambitions to run for President, a M e a n w h i l e , 8 8 p e r c e n t o f new CBS News poll shows an Democrats do not want her to obstacle in the way: Most Don’t run. Among independents, 65 Want Sarah Palin to Run for percent do not want her to run President. and 25 percent do. A new CBS News poll finds that The poll also finds that more a large majority of Americans people view Palin negatively say they do not want former than positively and that her book Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to tour did not improve overall run for president. views of her. However, she is a Specifically, 71 percent say they little better-known now than she d o n o t w a n t t h e f o r m e r was last fall, and both favorable Republican vice presidential and unfavorable ratings of her nominee to run for president, have increased slightly. while 21 percent say they do This far from the election, things want her to run. can still change, of course. But Submitted at 1/19/2010 8:01:48 AM

Apple shares jump on news of Jan. 27 event By Steven Sande (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

only .95% shortly after 1 PM ET today, and the NASDAQ index was up about 1.17%. It should be noted that Apple Submitted at 1/19/2010 1:30:00 PM share prices traditionally fall Filed under: Other Events, after an announcement, but it Apple Financial, One More will be fascinating to see if Thing The news that Apple is AAPL is able to hit a new high going to announce something on prior to the January 27th event. January 27th has the stock [via MacDailyNews] market in a tizzy. At one point TUAW Apple shares jump on this morning, Apple shares were news of Jan. 27 event originally up to $214.16, up $8.23 or about appeared on The Unofficial 4.0%. Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, Apple set a 52-week high with a 19 Jan 2010 13:30:00 EST. share price of $215.59 on Please see our terms for use of January 5, 2010, up 275.6% over feeds. the 52-week low set on January Read| Permalink| Email this| 20, 2009. Comments The Dow Jones Industrial Average, by comparison, was up

these numbers are not exactly encouraging for Palin’s political future, and it gets worse — because even among selfidentified conservatives who like Palin, a majority think she shouldn’t run. Conservatives are the only ideological group that holds net positive views of her — just under half do, while a quarter are unfavorable and a quarter of conservatives are undecided. But while favorable toward her, most conservatives say they do not want to see Palin run in 2012 – 58 percent of conservatives say she should not run.

Martha Coakley Is the Senator From Boston.com's Dreams [Massachusetts] By Pareene (Gawker) Submitted at 1/19/2010 3:06:16 PM

Things cannot stop going wrong for Martha Coakley! Now the Boston Globe accidentally declared her the victor in today's special election hours before the polls closed. Of course we all remember the

in America, and about how Harry Truman lost, but he actually had won. This is just like that, except it was on a website for like ten minutes instead of immortalized in one of the most famous photographs of famous story of how, in 1948, all time. the Chicago Tribune sent the wrong headline to all the Kindles

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Gadget and Gear Deals of the Day [Dealhacker] By Jason Fitzpatrick (Lifehacker) Submitted at 1/19/2010 10:00:00 AM

Laptops, netbooks, and computers are piled up and deeply discounted in today's Dealhacker roundup. Here for the free? Fair enough, we have free music, iPhone apps, and a free trial of the NBA's League Pass for mobile viewing. Computer Gear! • HP Pavilion p6380t Core2 Quad Desktop for $599.99 + Free Shipping(Regular Price: $850) • 15.6" HP dv6t Core i3 Laptop for $729.99 + Free Shipping(Regular Price: $880) • 15.6" Lenovo IdeaPad Y550 Laptop for $569 + Free Shipping(Regular Price: $998) • 14" HP dv4i Core i3 Laptop for $679.99 + Free Shipping(Regular Price: $830) • 19" Acer X193WCb LCD Monitor for $99.99 + Free Shipping(Regular Price: $141) • 17" Dell Inspiron 17 Core i5 Laptop with 4GB RAM for $ 6 4 9 . 9 8 + F r e e Shipping(Regular Price: $1099) • 16" MSI Intel Core 2 Duo Laptop with 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD for $549.99 + Free Shipping(Regular Price: $700) • 23" AOC 2330V Widescreen LCD Monitor for $159.99 + Free Shipping(Regular Price: $178) • Microsoft Explorer Mouse for $37.99 + Free Shipping(Regular Price: $45.10). • HP OfficeJet H470 Mobile

Printer for $128.18 + Free Shipping(Regular Price: $149.98). • Alienware Aurora Desktop with Overclocked Core i7 920 3.20GHz (8MB Cache) Quad Core Processor for $1399 plus shipping(Regular Price: $1649) • Dell Studio Slim Desktop PC with Core 2 Quad Processor 2.5GHz and 20" HD Widescreen Flat Panel for $699 plus shipping(Regular Price: $997) • 21.5" Lenovo IdeaCentre A600 All-in-One Desktop for $599.99 with free shipping(Regular Price: $999.99 - use coupon code MSStore-PC40%) • 17.3" HP dv7t Core i3 Laptop for $799.99 + Free Shipping(Regular Price: $950) • 17.3" HP G71 Laptop for $ 5 9 9 . 9 9 + F r e e Shipping(Regular Price: $750) • 16" MSI A6005-201US Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 Laptop ( 4 G B / 3 2 0 G B / A T I 4330/Win7/3yr Warranty) for $ 5 4 9 . 9 9 + F r e e Shipping(Regular Price: $699)

• 15.6" Dell Studio XPS 16 Laptop with Core i5-540M Processor 2.53GHz for $1199 with free shipping(Regular Price: $1603) • 15.6" Acer AS5740-5513 Laptop with Core i3 Processor, 4GB DDR3 for $499.99 + Free Shipping(Regular Price: $630) • 15.6" HP dv6 Laptop for $ 5 1 9 . 9 9 + F r e e Shipping(Regular Price: $650 use this form) • 14.1" HP dv4-2160us Core i5 2.26GHz Laptop for $739.99 with free 2-day shipping(Regular Price: $799.99 - use coupon code SVP54664) • 14" Asus UL80Ag-A1 Intel Core 2 Duo Laptop for $650 with free shipping(Regular Price: $720) • 13.3" Dell Adamo Core 2 Duo ULV Laptop Computer w/ Windows 7 & 128GB SSD for $ 8 9 9 . 4 0 + F r e e Shipping(Regular Price: $1499 use coupon code: MSStore-PC40%) • 13.3" Toshiba Satellite T135S1312 Ultrathin Laptop with

4GB DDR3, 500GB HDD for $ 4 4 9 . 4 0 + F r e e Shipping(Regular Price: $749 use coupon code MSStore-PC40%) • 13.3" HP dm3-1044nr 1.3GHz Laptop for $449.40 with free shipping(Regular Price: $749 use coupon code MSStore-PC40%) • 12.1" HP TouchSmart tm2 Tablet for $949.99 with free shipping(Regular Price: $1,149.99) • 11.6" Toshiba Satellite T115 Laptop for $419.99 + Free Shipping(Regular Price: $500) • 10.1" Toshiba Mini NB205N330BL Royal Blue Netbook for $349.99(Regular Price: $393.29) • Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5300 2.6GHz Processor for $59.99 + Free Shipping(Regular Price: $89) • 10" Asus Eee PC 1005HAB Netbook for $279.99 plus $11.99 shipping(Regular Price: $324) • 20" Acer P205H LCD Monitor for $109.98 with free shipping(Regular Price: $139.99) • Brother MFC-790CW Color

Inkjet All-in-One Wireless Printer for $99 + Free Shipping(Regular Price: $161) • Logitech 2 MP Portable Webcam C905 / QuickCam Pro for Notebooks for $69.99 + Free Shipping(Regular Price: $82.10) • Verbatim 96992 Easy Riser Wireless Notebook Laser Mouse with Nano Receiver for $10 + Free Shipping(Regular Price: $36.95 - use this form) • Logitech V20 Notebook Speakers for $39.99 + Free Shipping(Regular Price: $49.99) Home Entertainment Gear! • 46" Samsung LN46B750 1080p LCD HDTV for $1,299 + Free Shipping(Regular Price: $1,429 - use coupon code EMCYZZX79) • 40" Samsung LN40B550 1080p LCD HDTV for $674 + Free Shipping(Regular Price: $738 - use coupon code EMCYZZX78) • 46" Samsung LN46B750 1080p 240Hz LCD TV for $1,299.00 + Free Shipping(Regular Price: $1390 use coupon code EMCYZZX79) • 40" Sony BRAVIA KDL40VE5 1080p 120Hz Ecofriendly LCD TV, Plus Sony BDP-S360 Blu-Ray Player for $ 8 4 9 . 0 0 + F r e e Shipping(Regular Price: $954) • 40" Samsung LN40B550 1080p LCD TV for $674.00 + Free Shipping(Regular Price: GADGET page 39

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GADGET continued from page 38

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"Pray 4 Trig" Pranksters Calling God's Bluff [Prayer] By Pareene (Gawker) Submitted at 1/19/2010 2:55:22 PM

Well, this is something."Pray 4 Trig" is organizing a "worldwide day of prayer to heal Trig Palin"

of his Down syndrome. They are making some point about biblical literalism and also being

tremendous dicks. [ via Alaska Dispatch]

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The Glass-Top Desk and Office Overhaul [Featured Workspace] By Jason Fitzpatrick (Lifehacker)

with a shelf on each leg. Now, it's super stable and VERY nice looking! Submitted at 1/19/2010 12:00:00 PM The project actually came out to Today's featured workspace isn't less than $100... and I got it all just a huge overhaul and upgrade done in a month. I adore my new but it also incorporates many tips converted dining room turned and tricks we've covered here at Studio and my furry kids love it, Lifehacker. too! Lifehacker reader Kelly PS - If you want to see the Chambers was inspired to original design, you can view the overhaul her office, in the photos here. process using several tricks You can check out more we've shared with you here at pictures below or visit her Flickr Lifehacker including going the pool for even more detailed door-as-desk route, using rope photos of her workspace. lights for ambient lighting, If you have a workspace of your building an inexpensive monitor own to show off, throw the stand, and using rain gutters as pictures on your Flickr account cable managers. She offers the could muster. I wanted all this knew I could use as the glass top I c o m p l e t e d t h e d e s k b y and add it to the Lifehacker following detailed run down of for under $100. to the door. I removed the frame, originally purchasing two $19 Workspace Show and Tell Pool. how she overhauled her space: My project began on Craigslist separated the double panes bad three shelf bookcases at WalFart Include some details about your About 2 months ago I was where I found the PERFECT thoroughly cleaned the glass. to add storage and stability. setup and why it works for you, seriously inspired by Meredith desktop; a 1940s cherry stained Spent Zero dollars here folk - Because I wanted full pass and you just might see it featured Perdue's post to design a studio door for $20. Without stripping and even have a spare overlay!!! through, I did not apply the on the front page of Lifehacker. that I could really sink my teeth the it, I painted the door antique I already owned French Country c a r d b o a r d b a c k i n g . T h i s , The Glass-Top Desk and Office into; starting with building my white and lightly distressed it. table runner and decided to unfortunately, proved to be Overhaul[Lifehacker Workspace own door desk. I wanted a Found the paint at Lowe's "oops repurpose it as the cushioning EXTREMELY unsteady which Show and Tell Pool] French Country feel with a counter" for $2. between the glass and the door lead me back to Ikea where I minimalist approach including Through Freecycle.net, I found which also adds a bit of character bought two VIKA ARTUR the best cable management I a sliding glass door which I and interest. trestles ($30/each) that came

Obama Indoctrinates Your Children With Hilarious Zombie Impression [Open Caption] By Richard Lawson (Gawker) Submitted at 1/19/2010 2:29:00 PM

[ The president visits school kids in Virginia today to see if any of them want to run for senator of

via Getty] Massachusetts in 2012; image

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Find the Perfect Space Heater to Save Energy (and Money), Stay Warm [Saving Money] By Adam Pash (Lifehacker)

As 1099 Deadline Looms, Entrepreneurs Get Tax Filing Service, Bookkeeper Directory By Chris Cameron (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 1/19/2010 8:05:00 AM

Submitted at 1/19/2010 10:35:00 AM

Space heaters are the perfect winter companions: They cut down on heating costs when you're only spending time in one room, and they keep you fireplace-toasty when you want to heat up quickly. The New York Times highlights five great models. The Times' Stephen Treffinger put 10 commonly available space heaters to the test, rounding up the five best performing heaters based on their ability to heat up a 13-by-13-foot room from 55 to 65 degrees (which, for most, took under 30 minutes). He then rounded up the five that performed best, like the deskand home-office-friendly Honeywell HZ-7200: The 13-inch-tall unit from Honeywell was my favorite as a personal heater when I was sitting at my desk. It was lightweight, cool to the touch (even on the highest setting) and could be set to oscillate, which helped distribute the heat over a wider area. The dial was well designed â&#x20AC;&#x201D; it was big and easy to turn, with temperature settings

clearly demarcated in a simple font â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and the temperature could be set between 65 and 80 degrees; there was also a setting that left the heater on indefinitely. It took about an hour to raise the room temperature significantly, but if the heater is aimed directly at you, you'll feel plenty warm. Hit up the full article for details on each of the five favorites to find a space heater to fit your needs (check their slideshow for

model information and purchase links). They'll set you back anywhere from $40 to $100 (with one extreme $200 exception), but if you fight with keeping your whole home warm when you're mostly spending time in one room, they'll pay you back. Got a space heater you love? Let's hear about it in the comments. Heating Your Space[NYT via Re-Nest]

Just in time for tax season, online bookkeeping service Outright.com will begin providing a 1099 tax filing service for entrepreneurs and sole proprietors on top of its current W-9 service. The site is also launching what they say is the first community for the selfemployed where startups and entrepreneurs can find bookkeepers. For most of us, tax day is April 15, but for entrepreneurs required to meet the February 1 deadline for providing 1099 forms to contracted employees, the madness starts now. Sponsor "Startups working with contractors should have collected form W-9 by now," Outright's Paul O'Brien told ReadWriteWeb. Using those W9 forms from users and their contractors, the site does the rest - automatically filling out 1099's, e-filing them with the IRS and sending copies directly to the contractors. Starting tomorrow, the new

1099 service will cost users $5 per filing, though for each contractor that joins Outright after their 1099 is filed, the site will refund their $5 fee. The fee for the 1099 can be deducted as a business expense on the user's personal tax return. The site will also be rolling out a social directory to help connect entrepreneurs and startups with Outright's expanding community of bookkeepers. O'Brien says that there are a few thousand bookkeeping professionals using Outright, and this new directory will help them find businesses who need help around tax season. Outright claims it is tracking over $1.2 billion worth of self employed and startup business, an increase of 21% from just three months ago when it announced tracking $1 billion. Self-employed individuals make up 75% of Outright's users, and the majority of the remainder employ fewer than 10 people. Discuss

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Stop Dreaming About Quitting Your Job and Just Do It [Career]

More states taking in expired meds in 2009 (AP)

By Lisa Hoover (Lifehacker)

(Yahoo! News: U.S. News)

Submitted at 1/19/2010 11:00:00 AM

When you're ready to leave your job, it's pretty normal to be completely paralyzed with fear. Life coach Dr. Sharon LammHartman says there comes a point when it's time to just go ahead and take the plunge once and for all. Image by pickinjim2006. Lamm-Hartmann says once you've made up your mind, staying on in a job you're checked out of emotionally will just stress you out even more. Her advice: Don't let the fact we're in a recession hold you back—the job market is more fluid than it appears as people leave jobs they're dissatisfied with.

The ideal way to go would be to have something lined up [before quitting]. But that's not always the case these days. If you are dissatisfied, and your company is laying off or downsizing, and you know you want to be doing something else, then go. It's

what you want to do next. There are lots of companies out there right now that are helping people connect with what they really want to do. If you're not ready to do something quite so drastic as walk out on a steady (albeit unhappy) job situation, then consider freelancing without quitting your current job. Have you walked away from your job recently to pursue another opportunity? What motivated you to jump ship? How did it risky, it's giving up job security, work out? Let us know in the but there's really no such thing as comments. Resisting Temptation job security anymore anyway. to Jump Ship? Get Over It And a lot of times companies are A l r e a d y ( G o o g l e l i n k ) providing support, too, like [ A d v e r t i s i n g A g e ] outsourcing support where you can actually get some career counseling if you don't know

Submitted at 1/19/2010 12:01:11 PM

Robert buzzed up: Gene map for malaria crop offers higher yield hope (Reuters) 11 seconds ago 2010-0119T12:40:05-08:00 Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Buy Mac Software, Help the Haiti Aid Effort By Chris Brandrick (TheAppleBlog)

which aims to raise money for the vital relief fund through the sale of certain Mac and iPhone Submitted at 1/19/2010 11:28:09 AM software. Ever since the tragic earthquake Tomorrow, January 20, struck Haiti last week, people the Indie+Relief will be taking all of world over have been generously the sale proceedings from a donating towards the much- range of applications and be needed aid effort. Thankfully, giving them to select charities. due to several unique and T h e i m p r e s s i v e l i s t o f innovative schemes, it has never applications on offer include the been easier to make a pledge. likes of image editor Acorn, One such upcoming program is M a r k e t C i r c l e ’ s B i l l i n g s , the Indie+Relief fundraiser, cataloging software Delicious

developers Garret Murray and Second Gear. Since they announced the project, a whole Library 2, web-statistics manager host of other developers from the E g o , F T P - c l i e n t F l o w , Mac and iPhone community newsreader Instapaper Pro, to-do have gotten involved, with the list Things, Twitter client Indie+Relief site now listing Twitterific and many, many o v e r 1 3 0 a p p l i c a t i o n s . Developers partaking in the fund more. The project started only a few raising all had the opportunity to days ago and has been made select any charity of their choice, p o s s i b l e d u e t o a j o i n t all which will benefit the Haiti c o l l a b o r a t i o n b e t w e e n aid process. Popular charities include The Red Cross, Doctors

Without Borders and UNICEF. If you are in the market to buy any of the listed applications, then be sure to take the plunge this coming Wednesday, as all of the proceeds will go to Haitian aid organizations, and if you’re not, be sure to check out Indie+Relief anyway as you may just find something new!

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Believing You Can Be Smarter Take Our Mobile Tech Actually Makes Your Smarter [Mind Survey: Win $50 to Hacks] Amazon By Adam Pash (Lifehacker)

By Josh Pigford (TheAppleBlog)

Submitted at 1/19/2010 12:30:00 PM

Submitted at 1/19/2010 8:00:54 AM

It's no surprise that self confidence plays an important role in our performance, but findings published by the American Psychological Association suggest all it takes to boost your smarts is believing that you can be smarter. Photo by Adam UXB Smith. Despite a lot of evidence to the contrary, many people believe that intelligence is fixed, and, moreover, that some racial and social groups are inherently smarter than others. Merely evoking these stereotypes about the intellectual inferiority of these groups (such as women and Blacks) is enough to harm the academic perfomance of members of these groups. Social psychologist Claude Steele and his collaborators (2002) have called this phenomenon "stereotype threat." Yet social psychologists Aronson, Fried, and Good (2001) have developed a possible antidote to stereotype threat. They taught African American

and European American college students to think of intelligence as changeable, rather than fixed a lesson that many psychological studies suggests is true. Students in a control group did not receive this message. Those students who learned about IQ's malleability improved their grades more than did students who did not receive this message, and also saw academics as more important than did

Here at TheAppleBlog, we think our readers are some of the best leading indicators of what will happen in the tech world, be it for Apple products or technology in general. With this in mind, we wondered what would happen if we asked you your thoughts about tech products such as smartphones and web tablets. So here it is, a short survey asking about just that. We also think you would love to see the results, so if you take the survey, we’ll send you an executive summary of the report we’ll students in the control group. Racial, gender, and social produce for GigaOM Pro, and stereotypes aside, it's a good bit we’ll also be posting some of information to keep in mind results on The AppleBlog as n e x t t i m e y o u r u n i n t o a well. And if that doesn’t compel stumbling block in your work, you, if you take the survey you studies, or hobbies. Your smarts aren't set in stone, and simply believing that can significantly improve your ability to learn. Believing You Can Get Smarter Makes You Smarter[APA]

might win one of two $50 Amazon gift certificates we’ll be giving away to those who take the survey. And just so you know, these results are only going to be used for this survey and analysis for a report (which you’ll get the summary results for in PDF), and nothing else. So head on over, take the survey. It’ll only take a few minutes. You’ll also get some interesting analysis as well as maybe some free Amazon $.

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CheckingFinder Compares Banks to Find the Best Perks [Banks]

'The Biggest Loser''s Patti Anderson Thought She Had Two Feet in the Grave

By Whitson Gordon (Lifehacker)

(ETonline - Breaking News)

Submitted at 1/19/2010 11:30:00 AM

such as a certain number of transactions or some sort of direct deposit setup. In these cases, you can usually still have the free account, but you won't necessarily get the interest rates d i s p l a y e d b y CheckingFinder—you'll just get the base rate, and probably have to pay your own ATM fees. So pay close attention—you don't want to get stuck with a deal that isn't the best. Barring this caveat, though, CheckingFinder could be a great way to see what smaller banks are able to offer. CheckingFinder[via Mashable]

Submitted at 1/19/2010 11:03:00 AM

Patti Anderson, who was half of the mother-daughter purple team on "The Biggest Loser: Couples," lost 23 pounds her first week on the ranch. But she and daughter Stephanie fell below the yellow line on week two when they hit the sophomore slump. "It didn't occur to me after the perks—CheckingFinder will decide which is best for you. If first week of losing 23 pounds even help you open the account you want to do all your banking that I would have such a struggle right away. Just punch in your online, you can even open the second week," the 55-yearzip code and you'll get a list of accounts in banks from other old business owner from local banks and credit unions, states. Lafayette, CA says. "Four from which you can compare up The only catch is that certain pounds -- that's a great weight to three banks side-by-side to banks may require other things, loss for any week, but coming off that first week being so high, your body does what your body does. If I could have changed it, By Patrick Hunt going gaga over it for weeks. will be published on the 26th, I would have lost less the first (TheAppleBlog) The Wall Street Journal and on the 27th, we will all learn week so that I would have lost correctly pegged the event date whether my expectations were more the second. Maybe it would Submitted at 1/19/2010 8:32:20 AM and location, and also said the on target or off the mark. Stay have changed the outcome." Official word yesterday that company would discuss its tuned for seven posts in seven After falling below the yellow there is indeed an Apple event on “mobile products” at the event. days about what we’ll hear on line, Patti, whose starting weight the 27th didn’t generate the Assuming WSJ got that last bit the 27th. Lucky 7, or craps? was 243 pounds, asked her fellow "Losers" to vote her out, frenetic response typically right as well, the event promises We’ll know soon enough. associated with such news, much more than a new Apple Related GigaOM Pro Research: so that her daughter Stephanie, p r o b a b l y b e c a u s e t h e tablet product introduction. R u m o r e d A p p l e T a b l e t : whose starting weight was 264 about my expectations for blogosphere, twitterverse and Beginning tomorrow, January Apple’s event. The last of these Opportunities Too Big to Ignore pounds, could stay on the ranch. The other teams honored her mainstream media have all been 20, I’ll publish seven daily posts request and Patti packed her bags and left the ranch. You've got several factors to consider in the process of opening a checking account, and often you can find better offerings at smaller community banks. Free web service CheckingFinder compares perks between community banking institutions to find the best one for you. The main goals behind CheckingFinder is to help you find free checking accounts from banks with high interest rates, no minimum balance, ATM fee refunds, and other such

7 for 7: Countdown to the Apple Tablet

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Why France and Germany Got it Right: IE Must Go By Mike Melanson (ReadWriteWeb)

so we got in touch with Thomas Kristensen, the chief security officer for Secunia, a company Submitted at 1/19/2010 11:40:00 AM that specializes in looking for It looks like Microsoft has security vulnerabilities. moved to the "sticks and stones" "In my opinion the browsers method for handling public aren't the real problem for most relations gaffes. As we reported users," Kristensen told us. "The y e s t e r d a y , F r a n c e j o i n e d main concern for normal users is Germany in suggesting that its b y f a r a l l t h e t h i r d p a r t y citizens switch from Internet programs, such as programs Explorer to, well, anything else. from Adobe, Sun, Apple, and Now, Microsoft's UK security many other vendors, which are chief, Cliff Evans, has responded being exploited." by saying that switching to other Browsers, whether Mozilla browsers will only open you up Firefox or Internet Explorer, to more security vulnerabilities update themselves requiring little than staying with Internet if any user involvement, he said, Explorer. so most vulnerabilities are taken That's saying a lot for the care of. With other programs, browser implicated in the Great however, updates often sit Google Caper of 2010 and we waiting for "months and even have multiple security experts years before they update." who said a lot on why it just isn't Kristensen did concede, true. however, that the latest versions Sponsor of Chrome, Firefox and Opera I n a c o n v e r s a t i o n w i t h currently have no un-patched TechRadar, Evans said that "the vulnerabilities and are therefor a net effect of switching [from IE] more secure choice compared is that you will end up on less with IE, while offering the same secure browser" and that "there caveat. are broader risks and issues with "The normal user faces the o t h e r b r o w s e r s . " I n t e r n e t almost same risk whether they Explorer: The Reigning Champ run IE, Firefox, or Chrome if of Security? These statements they haven't updated all their just didn't ring true in our ears, software," said Kristensen.

vulnerabilities," said Sutton. "So what happens when you switch to Firefox and they announce a critical vulnerability? The larger story here is that the attack Vincent Steckler, CEO of anti- succeeded by targeting users virus software provider Avast, running IE6 - an 8-year-old agreed that Evans' statement browser." Whether you switch browsers or didn't really add up. "Other browsers may also have not, there is one thing for sure vulnerabilities but to suggest that you need to stop using Internet changing browsers can increase Explorer 6 already. In the end, vulnerability is not correct," he though, it doesn't come down to told us this morning. "It is running an ancient browser, as changing from the known to the the vulnerability may go well unknown - while it may not beyond that. increase your protection, it will "Currently it is evident that not decrease it." IE 6: The Gift running IE6 on XP or Windows That Keeps On Giving So, while 2000 is a very bad idea, and any Evans' statement doesn't really other browser would be a better hold much water according to choice for XP and Windows security experts, he does note 2000 users," Kristensen told us. later in the TechRadar article that "It is also evident that there is an "the reality of the risk is unpatched vulnerability in IE7 minimal, even if you have IE6; and IE8 which may or may not you would have to go to a be exploitable on Vista and website running the exploit." Windows 7." On this point we can find some We have to admit, the French agreement. Michael Sutton, VP may be right on more than red of security research at security wine and food. Go get yourself a provider Zscaler, notes that a copy of Chrome, Firefox or switch may be a wasted effort, Opera if you haven't already. Discuss except for in one case. "Switching browsers in response to a single vulnerability is a wasted effort. All browsers have

If Cowboys Think Big, Why Keep Phillips? By Jay Mariotti (Fanhouse Main) Submitted at 1/18/2010 5:00:00 PM

Filed under: NFL Jerry Jones built the world's largest domed stadium, one with an exterior made of fritted glass and limestone rock, one that cost $1.3 billion and has a magnificent high-def screen hanging from one 20-yard line to the other, one with 3,000 LCD units and huge partitions that open in both end zones, one that charges $800,000 per year to lease a luxury suite and prices a pizza at $90 and a 12-pack of beer at $66 in those suites, one that has players enter the field through a sports bar with seethrough walls and delirious fans, one that even includes a elaborate locker room for -- ta da! -- the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. "Words just can't explain how grateful we are for it. Each girl has her own locker like the players, with our own individual mirror, plugs and storage," gushes Cassie Trammell, a squad member.

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App Stores Are Big Business: $7 Billion in 2010 By Sarah Perez (ReadWriteWeb)

applications and free applications running ads. 3 Billion in Apple App Sales? Not Exactly Submitted at 1/19/2010 6:53:18 AM While we're sure the general According to the analysts at trend is correct as far as the research firm Gartner, mobile growth of mobile application application stores are expected to stores and Apple's position as the generate revenues of nearly $7 market leader, we have to agree billion over the course of this with the note that John Gruber y e a r . T h a t f i g u r e i s a recently made on his blog combination of the $6.2 billion regarding these figures. He spent purchasing the mobile quotes a portion of the report a p p l i c a t i o n s t h e m s e l v e s where analyst Chris Foresman combined with an additional $.6 says: billion generated through Earlier this month, Apple advertising revenues from in-app announced that sales had topped ads. Not surprisingly, Apple 3 billion; that means iPhone d o m i n a t e s t h i s m a r k e t , users downloaded 2.5 billion accounting for 99.4% of the apps in 2009 alone. Gartner's market as of last year, states the figures show another 16 million report. apps that could come from other Sponsor platform's recently opened app Over the course of 2009, mobile stores, giving Apple at least 99.4 application download revenue percent of all mobile apps sold exceeded $4.2 billion, with eight for the year. out of every 10 apps downloaded Gruber notes that Apple didn't offered free to end users, says actually announce 3 billion in Gartner. Going forward, the sales, they announced 3 billion a n a l y s t s p r e d i c t m o b i l e downloads. In fact, you can see application stores' revenue will the original press release making grow to $29.5 billion by the end this announcement here. Not of 2013. That revenue, again, only that, but another Gartner will be a combination of paid analyst Miguel Fontanez told us

if Gartner's calculations are accurate regarding the other mobile platforms (16 million in app sales, they claim), then it's clear that Apple still has the app store to beat... even if they don't account for 99.4% of the market. We don't expect Apple's dominant position to change earlier this month that Apple, as anytime soon - the company has a rule, does not disclose App momentum. In November 2009, Store revenues as a separate line Apple announced they offer over item in their revenue reporting. 100,000 applications and by now That means that any estimation that number has likely grown of Apple's App Store sales are even more. However, other mobile application stores are just that - an estimation. Last week, in speaking with growing quickly, too. Google's Peter Farago of Flurry analytics A n d r o i d m a r k e t p l a c e , f o r to calculate App Store piracy example, with its open nature numbers, we determined that unhampered by any sort of A p p l e h a d g e n e r a t e d bogged-down app review approximately $750 million in process, has now topped 20,000 sales to date. That's 3 billion applications as of December. The downloads over the lifetime of A n d r o i d m o b i l e o p e r a t i n g the App Store with roughly 25% system is growing in popularity, of them being paid downloads. too ( usage increased 3% over In other words, if Gartner used the past three months), meaning the 3 billion to determine Apple's it will soon be a contender for a position as the market share hefty slice of that the app store leader in sales, then their pie in years to come. Discuss calculations would be off. However, as Gruber also notes,

Bash SpongeBob's boat in SpongeBob's Boating Bash By JC Fletcher (Joystiq) Submitted at 1/19/2010 2:30:00 PM

THQ describes the latest SpongeBob SquarePants game, SpongeBob's Boating Bash, as its "first demolition derby style party game," which makes it perfect for when you want to throw a demolition derby style party without all the cleanup. Boating Bash puts SpongeBob and his friends behind the wheel of customizable "boat mobiles," as they attempt to knock parts off each other's vehicles to earn points and advance through the game. The ultimate goal of the thousands of violent collisions? A driver's license, of course! Boating Bash will be out on Wii and DS this spring. Bash SpongeBob's boat in SpongeBob's Boating Bash originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Overlooked and Overshadowed, Greg Nagy Ready for Herschel Walker By Mike Chiappetta (Fanhouse Main)

just a name, two words uttered with a shrug of the shoulders. He's been a mystery, a man Submitted at 1/19/2010 1:32:00 AM seemingly pulled from the ether F i l e d u n d e r : S t r i k e f o r c e , to face off with a sports legend. FanHouse Exclusive A man, some say, brought in to For the last two weeks, he's been lose.

But for the last two years, he has

planned for and dreamed of this day, a chance to fight for a major promotion with a sizable crowd filling an arena, TV lights burning bright and his name on the minds of the MMA world. On Jan. 30 in Sunrise, Fla., Greg

Nagy-- the "other guy" in the Herschel Walker Strikeforce debut match -- gets the opportunity of a lifetime.

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How Many of You Subscribe to Topic Feeds? By Richard MacManus (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 1/19/2010 5:30:00 AM

5 years ago I wrote a prediction about RSS here on ReadWriteWeb. I proclaimed that "in the not too distant future, more people will subscribe to topic/tag/remix feeds than feeds of actual people." I think it's fair to say that I was totally wrong on that prediction. Thanks to Facebook and Twitter, in particular, many more people 'subscribe' to people than topics (subscribe a.k.a. 'follow' or 'friend'). And I'm glad my prediction didn't pan out, because the social graph of people is much more interesting to follow than a bunch of keywords. But it begs the question: what happened to all the promise of tracking topics using RSS? Sponsor While many of us use Google Alerts and apps like LazyFeed to track keywords and topics, that's still a relatively geeky thing to do. In a follow-up post in January 2005, entitled Why Topic/Tag/Remix Feeds Are The Future of RSS, I wrote that "tools will evolve to let people easily set-up personalized searches for information relevant to them and subscribe to the results [using RSS]." I wasn't

music news. Both of these trends (the rise of the Social Graph; and maturing of professional niche media) have made topic feeds from the likes of Google Alerts less attractive than I thought they'd be 5 years ago. However, I still believe in the promise of topic-based RSS feeds. Indeed I currently use a number of services to track a set suggesting that conversations or of topics of interest to me. One is people are unimportant. On the Google Alerts, which I have set contrary, as I explained in '05, up as RSS feeds in Google "topic/tag/remix feeds will make Reader. Plus I use a couple of i t e v e n e a s i e r t o f i n d t h e services that launched just conversations that matter to you recently, LazyFeed and Regator. and indeed you are more likely Sadly, the promising services of to meet new people and discover 2005 - such as PubSub and Feedster - haven't made it as far new points of view." That has certainly happened, but as 2010 (although last year not so much due to RSS - more PubSub was born again under b e c a u s e o f F a c e b o o k a n d new management). Twitter. While RSS did expand It's possible that LazyFeed and over those 5 years, social Regator won't last either, but let's networking services became hope that a startup soon finds the much more popular as ways to key to unlock the potential of topic feeds. track information. Also, online media has matured In the meantime I'm curious to a lot over the past 5 years. know if you subscribe to topic Nowadays people commonly feeds? If so which tools, if any, subscribe to blogs and other do you use to track topics? news media across a variety of Please leave a comment. I'll niches - and that's how they keep write a follow-up post later this up-to-date on topics of interest to week, highlighting the best apps them. For example, I subscribe that are mentioned. to NPR All Songs Considered Image credit: shizhao Discuss and Pitchfork(amongst other sites) to get the latest alternative

What's On Tonight: Nova, American Idol, Scrubs, White Collar By Bob Sassone (TV Squad) Submitted at 1/19/2010 12:14:00 PM

• At 8, NBC has a new, twohour Biggest Loser, followed by a new Jay Leno Show. • FOX has a new American Idol at 8. • PBS has a new Nova at 8. • TCM has Inherit The Wind at 8, followed by Block-Heads. • At 9, ABC has a new Scrubs, then a new Better Off Ted. • Discovery has a new Dirty Jobs at 9. • History Channel has a new How The Earth Was Made at 8, then a new Life After People. • BBC America has a new Last Restaurant Standing at 9. • At 10, USA has a new White Collar. • Food Network has a new Chopped at 10. • A&E has a new Paranormal State at 10, followed by a new Paranormal Cops. • Spike has a new Blue

Mountain State at 10. • HBO has a new Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. • Also at 10: Syfy has a new ECW. Check your local TV listings for more. After the jump, the late night talk shows. Continue reading What's On Tonight: Nova, American Idol, Scrubs, White Collar Filed under: Late Night, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

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Who Should Facebook Acquire Next? Mark Zuckerberg Wants to Know

Robert B. Parker, author of the Spenser novels, dead at 77

By Marshall Kirkpatrick (ReadWriteWeb)

By Bob Sassone (TV Squad)

suggestions and both got votes from other Facebook team members on Quora. Remember, Submitted at 1/19/2010 10:45:32 AM this isn't about what technologies It's no secret that Facebook should be integrated directly into founder Mark Zuckerberg is full of Silicon Valley stars - Facebook - FriendFeed has interested in scooping up more guess which company was voted become little more than an startups in order to bring their the best acquisition target? occasional test bed for Facebook talent on board. From Firefox The winner? Apture.com, the f e e d d e v e l o p m e n t s . T h e creator Blake Ross's Parakey ( provider of rich multi-media question is about scooping up acquired in 2007) through Gmail embedded pop-up windows for teams of red-hot developers. c r e a t o r P a u l B u c h h e i t ' s newspapers and blogs. Founder Other suggestions offered FriendFeed ( acquired in 2009), Tristan Harris is a former Apple include Dodgeball co-founder Facebook has made some very engineer who built the first ad Dennis Crowley's new location high-profile talent acquisitions server for Wikia, the for-profit b a s e d s o c i a l n e t w o r k arm of Wikipedia, before already. Foursquare(it's only a matter of This Fall, Zuckerberg got early launching Apture 3 years ago. time until Facebook starts doing access to his old friend Adam We've given the product a location check-ins, right?) and D'Angelo's new question and positive review. social question answering service The next most popular answer site Quora and used it to Hunch, built by Flickr coask: "What startups would be suggestion? Austin, Texas founder Caterina Fake and good talent acquisitions for location based social networking engineering whiz Chris Dixon. service Gowalla. Gowalla is run Facebook?" Who do you think would make a by CEO Josh Williams, who Sponsor good talent acquisition for Other users of the site offered previously built and sold small Facebook? Mark Zuckerberg suggestions and people voted on business invoicing service wants to know. Discuss those submitted company names. Blinksale. Those sound like good Quora is a tiny new site chock-

Submitted at 1/19/2010 2:00:00 PM

Just last week I posted one of my favorite episodes of the 80s ABC series Spenser: For Hire, and now comes word that the author of the novels, Robert B. Parker, has died at the age of 77. No details yet, but Parker died at his desk in his Cambridge, MA home. When you're a writer that's probably the way to go. If you only know Spenser from the TV series that starred Robert Urich (which was great), you should pick up the novels, too. He's been writing them since the 70s and they're quite good, very engaging first person mystery stories set in Boston. He started a new series of book based around the Jesse Stone character (who happens to live my neck of the woods), and while I've never read those novels I have seen the TV movies featuring Tom Selleck as Stone and they are very good. There's a new Jesse

Stone novel coming out in May. Not sure if Parker had finished a new Spenser novel or not (his latest is The Professional). I think it's time for a Spenser: For Hire marathon. Filed under: Celebrities, Obituaries, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

Flames a Little Defensive, Not Offensive By Susan Slusser (Fanhouse Main) Submitted at 1/19/2010 2:00:00 AM

Filed under: Flames SAN JOSE -- The Flames are in a funk, and

not so surprisingly, it goes hand in hand with Jarome Iginla's scoring troubles. Calgary's captain has not scored a goal in his past nine games, and he has just one goal in his past 13 games.

"It's coming," Iginla told FanHouse before his team's 9-1 blowout loss at San Jose this week. "It mirrors the team. For awhile, I wasn't finding a way to get some shots I normally would,

and then you start pressing, but I feel like I'm at the end of that stretch. I'm getting ready for a hot one."

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One Third of U.S. Internet Users Now Post Status Updates Once per Week By Frederic Lardinois (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 1/19/2010 9:54:59 AM

A third of all Internet users in the U.S. now post status updates on social networking services like Twitter and Facebook at least once per week. According to new data from Forrester Research, more than half of what the report calls "conversationalists" are female and 70% are 30 years old or older. Forrester's data also shows that 59% of all U.S. Internet

users now use social networks and that 70% consume content on social media and social networking sites. Sponsor As Forrester analyst Josh Bernoff notes, two years ago, when the company first looked at similar data, people's online behavior with regards to creating and consuming content was very similar to what Internet users are doing today. One major difference, however, is the rise of vote on social news sites like conversational interactions. Digg and Reddit. Over the last People still blog, comment and two years, however, the fastest

growing group in Forrester's surveys have been conversationalists who use Twitter and Facebook to post status updates and engage in conversations with their friends. More People Join Social Networks - Number of Creators Remains Stable Creators - those who publish their own blogs or upload audio they created - now make up 24% of all Internet users. Joiners those users who maintain a profile on a social networking site - make up 59% of all users.

Interestingly, while the number of joiners has grown rapidly, the number of creators has remained relatively stable over the last few years. This makes sense, though, given that it's very easy to join a social network but relatively hard to create a podcast or maintain a blog. Forrester classified 17% of all respondents as "inactives." These users don't participate in social networking activities at all. Discuss

interesting takes on the rumor frenzy which I find fascinating. line between fictional Apple A s T h e A p p l e B l o g a l r e a d y announcements and rumors is r e p o r t e d , s o m e l e a k s a r e thin. In 2010, with image and intentional. The more rumors video editing tools, fans can spread and mutate, the less likely create a fictional Apple product, the “true” leak is recognized. report it as a rumor, and be taken With so many different images seriously. Actual true, verifiable of what the Tablet could be, Apple news a few weeks before nobody is 100 percent sure of a s u s p e c t e d p r o d u c t what it actually is. More announcement grinds to a halt. fascinating is that sometimes P e r s o n a l l y , I t h i n k these fan visualizations of what TheAppleBlog has done a good could be are viewed by Apple job or steering clear of the more e m p l o y e e s a n d c o u l d b e fanciful theories out there and incorporated into later products. focusing on what is more The rumors could serve as prototypes of the next plausible and real. My friends at Apple have some g e n e r a t i o n . So is that why everyone is into

rumors? To improve Apple design? I suspect for most it’s just impatience. Everyone’s so excited for “one more thing,” they’re willing to risk it all for a glimpse. And this is different than paparazzi taking pictures of celebrities walking their dogs how? Wait until Christmas morning to open the presents and stop looking in the closet to see where Mom stashed the Hanukkah goodies. This is just one writer’s opinion on the lack of value in rumors. What’s yours?

Apple Rumors Gone Amok By Dave Greenbaum (TheAppleBlog)

hunt” for clues about the mythical new Apple device makes me want to zap their Submitted at 1/19/2010 11:00:02 AM PRAM with extreme prejudice. I’ve been an iPod-listening, I’m puzzled as to what purpose iPhone-talking, iMac-computing, knowing about potential Apple’s Macbook-toting Apple fan since products a few weeks early could 1 9 8 6 w h e n I f i r s t u s e d serve? Asking people to risk AppleWorks on a Apple IIe. I’ve their jobs to serve the Apple stood behind the platform paparazzi machine is completely through thick and thin and my t- irresponsible. s h i r t c o l l e c t i o n p r o v e s i t . I’m also concerned that the However, one aspect of the rumor mongering is expanding at Apple culture to which I refuse an exponential level. Theorizing to subscribe is rumors and what Apple could or should conjecture. come up with is great. For an The iSlate (or is it now iTablet awesome retrospective of such a g a i n ? ) f r e n z y h a s m e products check out Appledesign: particularly annoyed and The Work of the Apple Gawker’s recent “ scavenger Industrial Design Group. The

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New Year’s Resolutions iPhone Apps: Finding Romance By Alfredo Padilla (TheAppleBlog) Submitted at 1/19/2010 9:45:08 AM

We’ve already covered iPhone apps that will help you keep a New Year’s Resolution to get in better shape. Today we’re going to cover something a bit more personal, finding romance. Dating has changed dramatically in the last 10 years, back then putting a personal ad online was considered a bit desperate. Today online dating services, dating gurus and checking potential dates out online is par for the course. Thankfully your iPhone can keep you plugged in to what you need so you can hopefully have someone to take out by Valentine’s. Note: all links point to iTunes store. Black Book Price:$2.99(free version also available) Rating: 4 stars It may be cliché, but keeping a central repository of the people you’ve dated along with their likes and dislikes can actually be extremely helpful. You don’t

want to forget on the fifth date that the lady you’ve been wooing hates bowling and accidentally take her to the Bowl-O-Rama. Sure you could keep this information in the notes section of your iPhone’s address book, but having a private place to store your thoughts on dates is probably a good idea, and Black Book offers password protection to keep prying eyes out. For the ladies out there who might want something more feminine, the developer also offers Pink Book. Match.com Price: Free Rating: 3 stars It’s not the youngest or hippest dating network out there, but then again neither are some of us. Match.com is still one of the largest personals networks and the iPhone app does a good job of giving you access to most of the network’s features, albeit not all. There is a neat location feature that lets you search for people nearby. You can upload photos to your profile from the application as well as receive notification if someone’s winked at you or sent you a message.

you are with anyone else based on their birthdate. You get easy to read meters for love, stability and passion, as well as more indepth advice. And even if you don’t believe in astrology, it can make for a fun conversation starter. iWedding Deluxe Price:$7.99 If you do get a date, and things go really well, you may find Dating DNA Plus Going out into the world of yourself planning a wedding by Price:$4.99(free version also dating can sometimes be a bit the end of the year. If so, available) scary, and if you’re not sure iWedding Deluxe is your one Rating: 3 stars about that guy you met on that s t o p s h o p , c o m p l e t e w i t h For those who want to go a bit dating site a quick background budgeting, to-dos, guest tracking beyond Match.com, Dating DNA check might not be a bad idea. and seating charts. There’s also a offers compatibility checking, This app includes three free database of wedding ideas if you which makes it easier to find background checks per week need some inspiration for your someone who you might actually and in addition to standard big day. The application is wellget along with. The interface is information like criminal history organized and easy to use, a c l e a n a n d s i m p l e t o u s e , and property records also finds great way to keep your wedding including a nice coverflow view information about their social from overwhelming you. You of potential matches. You can networks online. should note that there’s a limit your profile’s visibility to AstroLove previous version called t h o s e w h o m e e t a c e r t a i n Price:$1.99 iWedding which is now obsolete, compatibility profile and do Rating: 3 stars so buy this version instead. location based searches for If you believe the future of your There’s no difference in price, possible matches as well. l o v e l i f e i s i n t h e s t a r s , just a result of Apple’s poor App Background Check App figuratively not literally, then Store policies, but that’s a Price: Free AstroLove is for you. Easily and different article. Rating: 3 stars quickly find out how compatible

Street Chic: New York By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 1/19/2010 4:00:00 AM

Fight the cold in a chic fur-

trimmed topper and tough-asnails boots. Photo: Kelly Stuart Think you are Street Chic? Email us your photo and you

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

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Touch-Enabled iMac: Do We Need One? By Darrell Etherington (TheAppleBlog) Submitted at 1/19/2010 8:05:06 AM

Everyone is going nuts for touch. My television has touch controls on the side of the bezel, virtually every new smartphone that comes out these days has to boast a touch-sensitive screen, and a lot of them are now showing off touch-enabled back cases. The Magic Mouse, Apple’s latest take on an interface device, also has touch controls, and Cupertino seems to be betting on the tech as a surefire winner. But when is touch too much? The latest rumors, coming from the Chinese-language Commercial Times newspaper, as reported by DigiTimes, suggest that Apple will be launching a brand new addition to the iMac line in 2010 with a touch-enabled display. If the report is accurate, the new iMac would have a 22-inch screen, in between the current 21.5-inch and 27-inch models. The report is based on a supplier called Quanta supposedly receiving the outsourcing contract to make the machines, with Sintek Photronic supplying the necessary touchscreen

panels. The rumor is at least plausible, and even a likely next step coming from a manufacturer like Apple that has consistently done touch well and introduced it across much of its product line in some form or another. The question isn’t whether or not Apple will do it, it’s whether or not it should. I get a tablet computer. I understand what that’s for, how people will use it, and how, thanks to mobility, touch controls make sense. I can’t say the same thing for touch-enabled desktops, except in special cases. For retail, sure, and for restaurants and other similar industry applications where touch has been used because it makes an exceeding amount of sense to do so, that I understand. But as I sit at my home office typing up this post, I wonder if I would derive any benefit by being able to control my iMac by touching the screen versus using my mouse. In fact, I already sort of have touchscreen computing capability in my iMac, via a connected Wacom Cintiq monitor. Admittedly, you have to use a stylus, so it isn’t exactly the same, but I still finding myself abstaining from using it

for anything but drawing and photo editing. Even the Sony Vaio L(check out the second “Con”) and other PCs already on the market with the tech built-in strike me as fairly silly. I’ve used them on display in Best Buy and the like, but that’s an entirely different thing from sitting at a desk and using it for many hours at a time. Touch control will also be shoehorned into a number of different applications. Unlike the

Where touchscreen desktop computing has been introduced, it has faced questions about how truly useful and effective it is. Galen Gruman at TechWorld describes his disappointment with the Windows 7 implementation of touch in a piece that soberly addresses the tech’s current shortcomings. In this excerpt, he discusses some UI and feedback problems with the idea: [O]n a touchscreen, your hand and arm obscure your view of where your fingertip actually is, making it hard to actually touch the intended radio button, close box, slider, or what-have-you. It doesn’t help that these elements are often small. And there’s no tactile feel to substitute for the lost visual feedback. more expensive versions of It’s far from his only strike Windows 7, Snow Leopard isn’t against touchscreen desktop designed to work on a touch- computing, but even on its own, enabled machine, and neither are it describes an issue so annoying any of the Mac apps you’d be as to set me against the concept using with your computer. I can of a touch sensitive iMac, at least see flick scrolling and image until the next generation of OS X browsing being a bit of a boon, takes touchscreen computing as but not enough to merit the its focus instead of as an inclusion of the tech, especially afterthought or add-on. when it would mean constantly having to switch from using the mouse to interacting with the screen in all likelihood.

Surfing under the Golden Gate Bridge (Holy Kaw!) Submitted at 1/19/2010 12:09:00 PM

A series of storms is hitting

California. The storms are producing some unusual waves that are jacking up just inside the Golden Gate Bridge. In

California, where there’s surf, weather. there are surfers. Surf’s up! Also check out the latest Permalink| Leave a comment » satellite image of California

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Math and the new journalism (Scripting News)

I remember taking a class in summer school in a subject called Real Analysis, that's on Last week I wrote a piece called the road to Topology. It was one Year Zero for Journalism. of the hardest classes I took, and Doc Searls, ever the phrase- I got a good grade, at least for turner, called it Journalism 0.0. me (I was far from one of the Jay and I call our podcast best students in my class). The Rebooting The News. moment of truth was during an Year Zero. 0.0. Rebooting. exam when I had to prove a Thinking of the new in terms of theorem and I had no idea how the old is not productive. to do it. So I just started out with W o n d e r i n g h o w w e w i l l something I thought was true, continue to do what-we-always- that seemed to be on the path, have-done is not going to get us and proved that. Then I proved closer to the future way of another thing, and another, and journalism. finally I could see how the pieces So.. What does this new fit together and was able to prove journalism look like? the theorem. It was a shining Let's figure it out! moment for me, because I was I was a math major, so I spent a the only student in the class who few years in my early adulthood solved the problem. So of course learning how to find true things I never forgot how I did it. about conceptual spaces. As you So let's try the same approach to advance through math the world figure out what the first instance your thoughts occupy gets of Journalism 0.0 looks like. stranger and more and more Let's start with something we unlike the space our bodies know to be true. occupy. Turns out that was good 1. There are fewer paid reporters training for a mind that has to in Journalism 0.0 than there were grasp things like journalism with in the past. a completely different set of I think any reporter who has rules. been laid off in the last couple of Submitted at 1/19/2010 12:15:35 PM

years, and there are a lot of them, many of whom are very smart people, can see that, pretty clearly. Today there are a lot fewer people working in newsrooms than there were in the past. Now does that mean there will be fewer people doing journalism? I hope not! Why? Because we have an everincreasing appetite for new information, i.e. news. Do you think that appetite will go un-filled? (I don't.) So if Postulate #1 is true, and there will be fewer paid reporters in the new journalism, where will the new reporters come from? That's the question that's been on my mind for the last decade, since I wrote How To Make Money On The Internet. That was almost exactly ten years ago. Where will they come from? Where? Stay tuned for the next installment.

Submitted at 1/19/2010 7:10:06 AM

International donors need to start preparing for the long-term challenge of reconstructing Haiti

By Hamilton Nolan (Gawker) Submitted at 1/19/2010 2:30:33 PM

In your beefy Tuesday media column: Jim VandeHei doesn't even read his old newspaper because it is so stupid, the NYT's most badass old dude passes away, Reuters now nonpoisonous, and a smackdown of Michael Kinsley. Gabriel Sherman is Twittererering the outtakes from his big story about the WaPo today. Here is one: "But Jim VandeHei at Politico doesn't mind. A senior DC journalist said VandeHei claims 'he no longer reads the Post in any detailed fashion.'" Watch out, Jim VandeHei; they like to punch people over there. Harold Faber, who worked as a reporter and editor at the New York Times for 57(!) years, died earlier this month at the age of 90. While covering the Korean War, he was first shot, and then, weeks later, was in a plane that was shot down, costing him his leg. He will certainly go down in even as they ramp up near-term the donors do not leave with history as the most hardcore journalist ever to get 57 years of emergency relief, Bob Zoellick, themâ&#x20AC;?. president of the World Bank, has Five Filters featured article: paychecks out of the NYT. told the Financial Times. Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: Attention, Reuters employees: In an interview, Mr Zoellick PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, the Reuters cafeteria is now serving food that is certified safe said it was essential to ensure Term Extraction. that â&#x20AC;&#x153;when the cameras leave,

Zoellick warns Haiti donors of long haul (Financial Times - US homepage)

Politico Guy Totally Disses WaPo's Whole Existence on Earth [Media Crack]

for human consumption. Three cheers for the Reuters cafeteria: a real media success story in these troubled times! Oh ho: Andrew Cohen is pretty much like"Fuck you Michael Kinsley, newspaper stories can be as long as they want, the problem is Americans are stupid." And then he added, "Bitch!" In our version of the paraphrasing, at least. Lock up your daughters, NYC: Mark Halperin and John Heilemann are appearing LIVE AND UNFILTERED this week at the Time Live building. It's their first appearance in New York since the book dropped! All the groupies will be there! Ladies free before 11! No fat chicks! Mark Halperin for president of rock!

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How to Know When Gay Rumors Are True [Rumormonger] By Brian Moylan (Gawker)

gay guy has that level of commitment. Case in Point: Brad Pitt. Gerard Butler and Jennifer True—When the Guy Dates Aniston are all up in our grill Jennifer Aniston: This usually again. This must have something happens in conjunction with to do with those gay rumors. some movie and is a dualEvery famous male gets them at pronged approach that makes the some point, but how can you tell male costar seem straight and whether or not they're true? makes Jennifer look less sad by This is the second time the having a boyfriend. Also, it gets gossip pages have been burning people talking about the movie. with the idea that these two are The contract expires the next hot for each other. We think this time her man finds a hot piece of has less to do with any actual ass. This does not apply to Vince tingling in the nether regions and V a u g h n , w h o p l a y e d l i k e more to do with the fact that they Aniston's BF for The Break-Up, have a movie coming out and but, come on, who is going to they both have image problems start gay rumors about that to work out: that Jen is a sad breeder? lonely loserpants that no one Case in Point: Gerard Butler. loves and that Gerard is a big old False—When the Guy Dates 'mo (and fat). This ruse isn't Renee Zellweger: She's not really fooling anyone. attractive, not a diva, and has But since we hear that just about pretty crappy style. No gay guy every star likes boys at one time is going to put up with this, even or another, how do we know as a beard. when the gay rumors are true and Case in Point: George Clooney. when are they just the most True—When the Guy Marries delicious kind of malicious Renee Zellweger: A closet case gossip? Here are some easy rules who is so far gone that he will to judge for yourself. exchange rings this lady is so False—When the Guy Marries gay that he's gone past straight Jennifer Aniston: If he went and back to gay again. It's through with it and actually complicated, but it's true. walked down the aisle with the Case in Point: Kenny Chesney rom-com also ran, then he has and Bradley Cooper(who is so got to be straight. Seriously, no going to propose). Submitted at 1/19/2010 3:18:04 PM

False—When the Guy is Hot: These spring about by some massive delusion in gay culture where all the guys get together and start saying it as if it could actually make their target start to crave dick. It never works, but it has a way of connecting homosexuality to hot, famous men, which isn't the worse thing in the world. There are two

exceptions and one is on Gossip Girl and the other is on Vanessa Hudgens. Case in Point: Vin Diesel. True—When the Guy Is Not Hot: If the guy is yucky then you know that the rumor isn't a case of some schizo gay dream. This means there is actual evidence somewhere. Case in Point: Kevin Spacey.

False—When the Guy Is Always Attached to Women: Usually this is a hot guy and everyone says he "doth protest too much." No, that just means he is a pussy hound. There is nothing less gay than that. Case in Point: Jeremy Piven. True—When the Guy Is Never Attached to Women: Some might say, "Oh, he just keeps his private live private." You're right, he does, but his private life is sucking dick. The reason that he won't take a lady to a movie premiere is because he doesn't want to piss off his boyfriend, not because he's hitting all the honeys on the side. Case in Point: Zachary Quinto. False—When the Guy Is Jake Gyllenhaal: Sorry boys, it's time to admit that he likes the ladies and is not " Toothy tile." Case in Point: Jake Gyllenhaal. True—When the Guy Is Hugh Jackman: It's just got to be. Right? Right?! Case in Point: Hugh Jackman. Always Always True—When the Guy Is a Scientologist: We don't need an e-meter to know the truth! Case in Point: Tom Cruise, Will Smith, John Travolta

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Fancy Foreigners Think They're So Fancy And Meanwhile What About You, The Loser? [Recessionomics]

Neat antique sofa transformation

By Hamilton Nolan (Gawker)

Submitted at 1/19/2010 11:10:00 AM

Submitted at 1/19/2010 3:41:18 PM

The Way We Live Now: Good, in bad places. Haiti: ballin. Broke students: ballin. Jerks: ballin. And guess who is not ballin? That's right, " the middle class." And glassmakers. It is all a question of priorities. As always, the priorities of the "powers are that be" are to help the poors luxuriate on the proceeds of taxation of the hardworking middle class. Yes, Haiti had a bit of a shake. But what happens? Oh everyone is like, let's cancel the nation's debt. Really! Meanwhile the middle class would certainly volunteer to bounce about roughly on a trampoline for 20 seconds or so in exchange for Visa forgiving our credit card balance, but

have "they" considered the plight of the American glassmaker, whose industry is eroding as foreigners take over, and, using their glassmaking profits, the foreigners then buy new Versace luxury cellphones, which will cost more than $5k and which will "feature high-end materials such as leather."?? Leather. Must be nice. Not something the middle class American glassmaker gets to see too often these days. Why not just be satisfied with a no-leather no—it doesn't "work that way." don't think that's an outrage, c o f f e e f l a v o r e d d r i n k a t Here is another thing: In my well, you never considered how Starbucks, middle class man? day, we attended school because many ice cream bars you could Sorry; prices there are going up, of the value of education and have bought at lunchtime had too. I guess there's nothing nice because of normal horniness, you been getting paid to go to left for you, the middle class. only. Now what do kids get, to school. A whole fuckload, is Not that there ever was. [Pic via] go to school? Money paid to how many. them(is what they get). If you And this is "fair," they say. But

(Holy Kaw!) Is there anything this lady can’t do? Watch as Martha Stewart—with the help of her right-hand man, Kevin Sharkey—has an antique sofa reupholstered at Luther Quintana’s upholstery shop in NYC. You’ll learn about the history of the old orange gem, which dates back to the fifties, and see just how they transformed the design, colours, and fabrics to create a new, oneof-a-kind piece. Really interesting stuff, even if you’re not normally into the whole furniture thing. More from the master of maison, Martha Stewart. Permalink| Leave a comment »

Author: Tiger Woods at Mississippi sex rehab clinic By ESPN.com news services (ESPN.com)

sex addict, wrote on his personal blog Monday, citing an unnamed source. Submitted at 1/19/2010 11:05:58 AM Denizet-Lewis says he spent Tiger Woods is receiving s o m e t i m e a t P i n e G r o v e treatment at a sex rehabilitation Behavioral Health & Addiction clinic in Mississippi, Benoit Services in Hattiesburg a few Denizet-Lewis, author of a book years ago while writing his book titled "America Anonymous: and that is where he says Woods Eight Addicts in Search of a is receiving treatment. Life" and himself a recovering Last week, Radar Online and

Jackson, Miss., television stations WJTV and WLBT reported through sources that Woods was at the Hattiesburg clinic. Officials at the clinic have not confirmed that Woods is there, and ESPN independently has not been able to confirm that Woods is at the clinic. Denizet-Lewis, who has written

for the New York Times Magazine and other publications, writes that he spent some time at the clinic a few years ago while working on his book and writes that the programs at the clinic include group therapy sessions and family and couple's therapy, so if Woods "and his wife, Elin, are serious about repairing the marriage, she will be spending

some time in treatment with Tiger." Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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K-State’s Purple Power Short Circuits Texas (WSJ.com: The Daily Fix)

and Dennis Clemente were solid as leaders and passers, but were a combined 4-of-24 shooting.” The Texas Longhorns’ first-ever Yahoo’s Jason King says that stay at college basketball’s top while expectations have been spot will last only slightly longer raised in Manhattan, Kan., it’d than your average Caribbean be wrong to call Monday’s cruise. Only a week after earning victory an upset. its first top seed in history, Texas ESPN’s Andy Katz says K-State fell to Kansas State Monday, 71- proved Monday that the Big 12 62. This marks the third time the is more than just powerhouses 10th-ranked Wildcats have ever Kansas and Texas. defeated a top-ranked school. In women’s basketball, topBehind Jamar Samuels’s 20 ranked UConn routed No. 6 points and 12 rebounds, K-State Duke, 81-48, for the Huskies’ roared to a 10-point lead at the 57th straight victory. The half before withstanding a Hartford Courant’s Jeff Jacobs furious rally that briefly gave h e a p s p r a i s e o n U C o n n ’ s Texas the lead. Associated Press p u n i s h i n g d e f e n s e . * * * January Mondays in Manhattan, Serena Williams began the Kan., are not always this much defense of her Australian Open fun. title Tuesday with a 6-2, 6-1 Any doubts about K-State’s defeat of Poland’s Urszula skills were silenced by its victory Radwanska. Nothing surprising over the Longhorns, whose loss a b o u t t h a t , b u t s o m e leaves Kentucky as the lone commentators believe Williams undefeated team in the nation. should have been suspended for Now the question is, how high one of the Grand Slam events c a n c o a c h F r a n k M a r t i n ’ s after Williams threatened an Wildcats climb? official during last year’s U.S. “ I t w a s a n i m p r e s s i v e Open. She was fined $92,000. In performance that is sure to Australia’s the Age, Richard continue to vault Kansas State Hinds laments the leniency forward in the national polls. The shown Williams. Wildcats had already moved to The Times of London’s Barry No. 10, but Monday was their Flatman says it’s time to cheer first real exposure nationally,” improved results from British Bob Lutz writes in the Wichita women, after Elena Baltacha and Eagle. “Most encouraging to Katie OBrien advanced to the Martin providing, of course, that second round. he ever allows himself to be is On the men’s side, Scot Andy encouraged is that K-State can Murray cruised past South play better. Guards Jacob Pullen African Kevin Anderson in Submitted at 1/19/2010 8:04:49 AM

Mark Sanchez against the Colts’ slightly more accomplished veteran, Peyton Manning. For Sanchez, it’s been a steep learning curve. “A pretty improbable journey for a rookie, but one more victory and he’ll be the first rookie quarterback to straight sets. The Guardian’s start in the Super Bowl,” Gary Kevin Mitchell likens Murray’s Myers writes in the New York demeanor with that of a boxer. Daily News. The Australian’s Courtney At NFL.com, Michael Lombardi Walsh senses a more confident notes how the Jets have echoed Lleyton Hewitt this year, after the brashness of their rookie his straight-set victory over coach, Rex Ryan. In the New York Post, Steve Brazilian Ricardo Hocevar. Click here to follow all the Serby already has booked the a c t i o n f r o m M e l b o u r n e , Jets’ tickets to the Super Bowl. i n c l u d i n g n e w s o n R o g e r Yahoo’s Jason Cole sets up the Federer’s narrow first-round AFC Championship, noting that the Colts could have eliminated escape.* * * On Sunday the San Diego N e w Y o r k f r o m p l a y o f f Chargers decided to make their contention if they had beaten the own staidum the site of this Jets in Week 16. y e a r ’ s a n n u a l p l a y o f f The Indianapolis Star’s Bob d i s a p p e a r i n g a c t . D e s p i t e Kravitz says the Colts fans’ wish winning 11 straight games, the to play the Jets could have a Chargers dropped an agonizing nightmarish ending. 17-14 game to the New York The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Jets, preventing a sweep by Nick Canepa says the Chargers’ home teams in the divisional loss ranks among the worst choke jobs in team history. round. Too bad the first three of last The Washington Post’s John weekend’s games were so awful. Feinstein thanks the Jets for New Orleans, Indianapolis and saving the NFL from another Minnesota won by an average of tedious weekend of bad football. 2 6 p o i n t s o v e r A r i z o n a , In the Dallas Morning News, Baltimore and Dallas. The Jets’ Tim Cowlishaw believes the narrow victory brought at least a Cowboys are moving in the right measure of uncertainty to the direction despite their 34-3 loss f i e l d . I t a l s o s e t s u p a n Sunday to the Vikings. interesting AFC championship The Washington Post’s Mark game pitting rookie quarterback Maske writes of quarterback

Brett Favre’s career revival with the Vikes. The New Orleans TimesPicayune’s Nakia Hogan writes it’s a more experienced Saints team in this year’s NFC Championship than the one that made it this far three years ago. Yahoo’s Charles Robinson eagerly awaits Sunday’s matchup between the NFC’s top seeds. Finally, the Boston Globe’s Christopher L. Gasper wonders which equally despised team Jets or Colts Patriots fans should root for.* * * Boxing fans are still lamenting the loss of the March 13 megafight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, canceled when the two camps couldn’t agree on drug testing terms. At SecondsOut.com, Thomas Hauser looks for answers regarding boxing and the use of performance-enhancing drugs, and the fallout from the Pacquiao -Mayweather fiasco. – Tip of the Fix cap to readers Fred Sternburg and 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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Buffalo Bills hire ex-Dallas Cowboys, Georgia Tech coach Chan Gailey as coach By Associated Press (ESPN.com) Submitted at 1/19/2010 12:25:57 PM

Bruschi: Disappointing Hire For Bills Bruschi: Disappointing Hire For Bills ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -Chan Gailey was hired by the Buffalo Bills on Tuesday, getting a second chance to prove himself as an NFL coach and inheriting a team that has missed the playoffs for 10 straight years. Gailey was introduced by general manager Buddy Nix at a new conference which ended a two-month search to replace Dick Jauron, who was fired in November. Gailey takes over a team that finished 6-10 and becomes the Bills' fifth coach since Marv Levy retired after the 1997 season. Gailey has spent 15 of his 38 years of coaching in the NFL. In his two years coaching the Dallas Cowboys, he went 18-14 and led the team to consecutive playoff appearances -- both losses. He was dismissed after the 1999 season, and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has acknowledged his mistake in firing Gailey. The 58-year-old Gailey acknowledged he didn't know if

he'd get another opportunity to be a head coach again. "If you sit there and say you lose confidence in yourself, no you don't. But then you see opportunities go by. And you hope that your body of work will speak for itself," Gailey said. For Nix, it was Gailey's extensive background that impressed him and met most of the criteria the GM set out when he took over the search two weeks ago. Mike and Mike in the Morning Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic discuss the news that Chan Gailey will take over as coach of the Buffalo Bills. More Podcasts Âť Nix was eager to find someone with previous head-coaching experience and an offensive background. "This guy met more of the criteria than I thought we could find," Nix said. "And this guy's won everywhere he's been. ... He'll get us back to winning and get to where we want to go." Gailey said he intends to serve as the team's offensive coordinator, and is now assembling a staff. Gailey has been out of football since he was removed as the

Chiefs' offensive coordinator in August, two weeks before the season opener. He was entering his second season with Kansas City after a six-year stretch as Georgia Tech's coach, during which he went 44-33 before being fired in 2007. The Bills hit several bumps during their coaching search. They spoke with former Steelers coach Bill Cowher in an attempt to lure him out of broadcasting. The team also interviewed former Denver Broncos coach Mike Shanahan, who instead chose to coach the Washington Redskins. Last week, New York Jets offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer rejected the Bills' request for an interview. Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier was considered the top candidate after interviewing two weeks ago. Frazier's stock appeared to climb even further after his defense shut down the Cowboys in Minnesota's 34-3 win in the playoffs Sunday. Gailey has run college and pro teams, including a two-year stint as coach of the World League of American Football Birmingham Fire in 1991-92. He also coached Troy State (1983-84) and

Samford (1993). At Georgia Tech, Gailey led the Yellow Jackets to six bowl appearances, but his time there ended after a 7-5 finish and going 0-6 against rival Georgia. With Buffalo, Gailey's top priority will be sparking an offense that has finished 25th or worst in yards gained in each of the past seven seasons. Finding a franchise quarterback would help, too. A combination of injuries and futility led to the Bills to go through three starters this past year. The team has not had a starting quarterback stay for more than three years since Hall of Famer Jim Kelly retired following the 1996 season. Gailey would also need to warm up to Bills fans, who spent the past two weeks clamoring for the team to hire Cowher. Fans raised $1,125 to rent a billboard in Buffalo last week urging team owner Ralph Wilson to hire Cowher. Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Another 1 Bites the Dust as Kansas State Upsets Texas By Terrance Harris (Fanhouse Main) Submitted at 1/18/2010 4:27:00 PM

Filed under: Kansas State, Texas, Big 12 Being the No.1 ranked team in the country is never easy because you can always count on getting the opposing team's best shot. But if you want to make it even more difficult try converting just 9 of 22 from the free throw line and having your two front-line players fail to show up as the top -ranked Texas Longhorns did Monday night against No.10 Kansas State. Then throw in playing in front a hostile capacity crowd, many of whom had been waiting in line since 4 a.m. for good seats, and against a team that is probably as dangerous as they come and it's easy to envision the Longhorns stunning 71-62 loss to K-State at Bramlage Coliseum. The end result will be a rather short two-week stay at the top for Texas when the new polls come out next week.

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Source: Boston Red Sox, Jonathan Papelbon reach one-year deal By Gordon Edes (ESPN.com)

pitchers have had seasons of 35 saves or more, a strikeouts-perSubmitted at 1/19/2010 12:34:35 PM nine-innings ratio of 10 or more, The Boston Red Sox and closer and an ERA lower than 2.50. Jonathan Papelbon came to terms Papelbon has done it three times, Tuesday on a one-year deal and he would have been 4-for-4 worth $9.35 million, according except his K/IP ratio was 9.9 in to an industry source. The deal, 2006. This past season, while which could escalate to $9.5 saving 38 regular-season games, million with incentives, means he blew just three saves, and he the Red Sox and Papelbon will has just 17 career blown saves, avoid arbitration for the second an 89 percent conversion rate. straight offseason. "My whole thing is consistency,'' Edes: A look at the 'pen Papelbon said recently. "I'm not A s p a r t o f h i s R e d S o x one of these guys with a sub-2 offseason spotlights series, ERA one year and a high-3 the ESPNBoston.com's Gordon Edes next. My whole thing in all of breaks down the team's relief this is the environment you pitch pitchers. Bullpen spotlight in. Wouldn't you want a guy to The contract is the largest ever pitch in Boston, New York and for a relief pitcher with four Philadelphia who you know has years or less in service time, consistently had just three or topping Eric Gagne's $8 million four blown saves a year. That's a in 2005. Seven big league closers rarity in itself." have contracts for $10 million or But there were a couple of more. Papelbon's deal puts him worrisome issues in 2009: His just under that number. walks tripled to 24 from eight the Since 2006, when Papelbon year before, a big reason his became the Boston closer, eight strikeout-to-walk ratio dropped

to a career-worst 3.17 while his WHIP (walks plus hits per nine innings pitched) climbed to a career-high 1.47. Papelbon said earlier this month that while he wasn't opposed to considering a multiyear deal with the Red Sox, he was willing to keep going year to year until he reaches free agency after the 2011 season. "At the same time, I'm not afraid to show that, hey, I want to be with the Red Sox [in a multiyear deal]. I'd love to have that sense of security of being with a team and knowing, 'Hey, they want me, and I want them, let's have a happy marriage.' "But what do I have to give up to be in that marriage? Understand, I'm in the prime of my career. Why would I give up something? I'd give up something if it's fair to both sides, but I want to do things for my fellow closers, just like [ Mariano Rivera] paved the way for me. I want every closer out there, man, to get every

penny they deserve.'' Papelbon was one of four Red Sox players (outfielder Jeremy Hermida and relievers Manny Delcarmen and Ramon Ramirez are the others) to file for arbitration. Tuesday was the deadline for the team and the players to exchange contract numbers. If an agreement is not reached, an arbitration hearing is held, and an arbitrator chooses one of the two figures submitted. The Red Sox have not had a player go to an arbitration hearing since Theo Epstein became general manager after the 2002 season. Gordon Edes covers the Red Sox for ESPNBoston.com. Follow him on Twitter. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Why NPR is the future of mainstream media (Holy Kaw!) Submitted at 1/19/2010 10:35:13 AM

According to Mashable, while every other news media channel’s audience is dwindling and dying off, National Public Radio’s audience is growing, alluding that NPR is likely the future of mainstream media. Mashable attributes their success to NPR’s dedication on local news, their focus on quickly adapting with social media, and their ubiquitous access. The article will teach you a thing or two on how to reach and keep loyal listeners. All the latest in market research. Permalink| Leave a comment »

Haterade Power Rankings: Because We Dislike Things By Will Brinson (Fanhouse Main)

you missed out on some good goshdarn cathartic fun. So much fun, in fact, that we've been Submitted at 1/19/2010 12:00:00 AM ordered by our bosses asked I t ' s t h e H a t e r a d e P o w e r politely to crank out all our Rankings. Drink up, suckers. cynicism in a weekly post that If you missed the recent Airing ranks stuff we hate the most (And, sure, it would be a lot of the Grievance s at FanHouse, from the previous seven days. funnier if we could cuss, but

whatever.) feature annoying things that Got anything you hate? Leave it aren't from this week, because in the comments or complain to it's the first edition. Deal.) management that we don't have an e-mail available because we don't like to be pestered by annoying Cowboys fans. ( Ed. Note: This week's h8r list will

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Mike Nolan lands as Miami ATL Welcomes OKC to Dolphins' defensive coordinator; the Future Sheridan to coach inside linebackers By Bethlehem Shoals (Fanhouse Main)

By ESPN.com news services (ESPN.com)

defense that ranked near the bottom of the league in every major category in 2008. Submitted at 1/19/2010 12:32:12 PM Nolan's scheme shaved 7.8 Fewer than 24 hours after points a game off a defense that s p l i t t i n g f r o m t h e D e n v e r surrendered 28 points a game the Broncos, Mike Nolan was hired previous season. by the Miami Dolphins to be Then the team went into a free their new defensive coordinator. fall, losing eight of its next 10 Nolan replaces Paul Pasqualoni, games to miss the postseason for who was fired after the Dolphins' a fourth straight year. 7-9 season. They allowed 390 Nolan was the 49ers' head coach points, the third-highest total in in 2005-08. He spent one year the AFC. with Denver and has been a AFC East blog defensive coordinator with four ESPN.com's Tim Graham writes o t h e r NFL teams: about all things AFC East in his Baltimore(2002-04), the New division blog. York Jets(2000), • Blog network: NFL Nation Washington(1997-99) and the The Broncos started the season New York Giants(1993-96). 6-0 and were the talk of the The Dolphins made another league. Nolan received much of move Tuesday, hiring former the credit as he turned around a New York Giants assistant coach

Citigroup reports $7.6bn loss (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 1/19/2010 6:44:44 AM

Citigroup said on Tuesday it had lost $7.6bn in the final three months of last year as its move to repay US government bail-out funds ended its stretch of three

consecutive profitable quarters. The US bank’s loss of 33 cents a share was in line with Wall Street analysts’ expectations and would have been a smaller 6 cents a share, or $1.4bn, loss but for its repayment of $20bn in funds it received from the Troubled asset relief programme.

Bill Sheridan as the inside linebackers coach. Sheridan was fired two weeks ago as the Giants' defensive coordinator. In Miami he replaces George Edwards, who left after five seasons to become the Florida Gators' defensive coordinator. Sheridan coached the Giants' linebackers in 2005-08 and was their defensive coordinator in 2009. The Giants gave up 427 points this season, third-worst in the NFL. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Submitted at 1/19/2010 4:40:00 AM

Filed under: Hawks, Eastern, Western, Thunder We have no problem wondering if LeBron James might end up the greatest ever, or comparing the 2003 draft to 1984's bumper crop. But basketball is a team sport. You'd think that the evolution of the team game, and the players who might play a role in that, would be front and center in discussions of the NBA. (Please, spare me your "it's a one-on-one playground mess" comments.) Good luck finding that scouting report that predicts "will be a member of a new kind of team." Not even post- Shane Battier do you get this kind of language. With all the talk about rebuilding, and nation-building, and how to put together a dynasty for LeBron, it seems high time for a chance. The Celtics and Lakers lucked into A year ago, Citigroup lost those teams, and the Cavs' $17.3bn, or $3.40. acquisition of Shaquille O'Neal Five Filters featured article: squelched any hopes they had of Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: letting Bron dictate their identity. PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Suggestions that James join Term Extraction.

Mike D'Antoni's Knicks have never really been taken seriously; their sole credibility comes from the possibility of another superstar joining him. And yet yesterday's ThunderHawks tilt featured two organizations on the cutting edge. The approach? Stockpile athletic, versatile lottery talent, fill in the gaps with vets and find a way to make the pieces fit. Simply put, it's the first sustainable model for Future Team since Shaq killed the SSOL Suns.

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Source: Righty Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners agree on deal By ESPN.com news services (ESPN.com)

neighborhood of $80 million, sources told ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney. Submitted at 1/19/2010 10:57:20 AM Hernandez made a case for a big Source: Hernandez Agrees To payday with a 19-5 record and a M u l t i y e a r D e a l S o u r c e : 2.46 ERA in 2009. He had Hernandez Agrees To Multiyear earned $3.8 million in his first Deal year of arbitration eligibility. The Seattle Mariners have been The Mariners signed free-agent shuffling the deck, but it looks as infielder Chone Figgins, traded though they'll keep their ace. for Milton Bradley and re-signed On the eve of exchanging salary outfielder Franklin Gutierrez and figures for arbitration, right- designated hitter Ken Griffey Jr. hander Felix Hernandez has in a slew of offseason moves that agreed to a multiyear contract also included the acquisition of w i t h t h e t e a m , p e n d i n g a left-hander Cliff Lee, a former physical, a source with direct Cy Young Award winner, from knowledge of the talks told Philadelphia as part of a threeBy Richard Mitchell (Joystiq) ESPN.com's Keith Law on team trade. Monday. Five Filters featured article: Submitted at 1/19/2010 3:30:00 PM I f t h e f i n a l p a r t s o f t h e Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: n e g o t i a t i o n s c o n t i n u e a s PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Activision has announced that DJ Hero was "the #1 new expected, Hernandez will sign a Term Extraction. intellectual property by revenue five-year deal in the in the U.S. and Europe for calendar 2009, according to the NPD Group." Lest you sped through that proclamation, take note of the two key words: "by revenue" -- in other words, the total amount of money spent by consumers. Considering DJ Hero debuted at $120 for the standard turntable bundle and $200 for the Renegade Edition, it's no wonder that it managed to bring in the most money (though not necessarily the most profit, and certainly not the most units sold

NPD: DJ Hero best-selling new IP of '09, by revenue only for a new franchise). NPD representative Anita Frazier clarified for Joystiq the performance of last year's new IPs in terms of actual unit sales. As you might have guessed, DJ Hero wasn't quite #1 in that category, but managed a respectable 789,000 units in U.S. sales. Still, it was soundly outsold by other new IPs, including Borderlands and Dragon Age: Origins, which sold 1.11 million and 1.14 million units, respectively. Besting them all, however, was EA Sports Active, which amassed 1.2 million units sold. And get this, if we consider new IPs that launched before 2009, then Wii Play and Wii Fit were

technically the best-selling new IPs in 2009 in terms of unit sales and revenue, according to the NPD. Finally, we should point out -as did Frazier -- that NPD data only covers the U.S., despite Activision's claim that the group provided European sales data regarding DJ Hero. NPD: DJ Hero best-selling new IP of '09, by revenue only originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Mass Effect 2's Cerberus Network: an 'in-game pipeline' for DLC [update] By Ludwig Kietzmann (Joystiq)

proportions of deadliness and ruggedness. He might also have a scar on his face. Submitted at 1/19/2010 2:15:00 PM Though BioWare's future plans The Mass Effect 2 universe is a seem ambitious -- a second DLC sprawling place -- but BioWare pack featuring the Hammerhead is prepared to expand it in ways hover tank is promised, as are far more elaborate than pieces of armor and new demonstrated by the delayed and weaponry -- some may consider haphazard additions to the them to be equally aggressive. original game. Available to new Exhibit A: Yo three-headed purchasers of the galaxy-hopping dawg, I heard you like DLC, so I RPG later this January (digital put the Cerberus Network DLC and retail), "The Cerberus in your DLC so you can get Network" will offer an in-game more DLC. In other words, if delivery mechanism for Mass you buy a used copy of Mass Effect 2 downloadable content, Effect 2, you'll need to unlock including a free day-one pack The Cerberus Network through a featuring new missions, in-game "one-time, in-game purchase of a items and Zaeed, a mercenary new activation code." s p o r t i n g v e r y a p p e a l i n g We've asked BioWare and EA

to comment the price of that activation code, and whether or not Cerberus will act as the exclusive mechanism to obtain future DLC. BioWare's most recent title, Dragon Age: Origins, also

offered in-the-box DLC in the form of " The Stone Prisoner" add-on, which costs $15 separately. , Update: Reiterating that the dayone DLC will be "free to those

who access The Cerberus Network," EA has told Joystiq that additional details regarding "all ways to access DLC" are forthcoming. As for the price of Cerberus Network access itself? "More details to come on that." Mass Effect 2's Cerberus Network: an 'in-game pipeline' for DLC [update] originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 14:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Rock Band Network open beta begins tonight By Griffin McElroy (Joystiq)

platform at some point this evening, which will allow musicians with a Rock Band If you've been tinkering around Creators account to publish their with the Rock Band Network songs, and peer-review the work song programming tools, turning t h e i r f e l l o w a r t i s t s h a v e your heartfelt ballads into c o n t r i b u t e d . batches of multicolored gems, Of course, we won't be able to you'll be able to place your work download the songs until the in front of an audience for the platform officially goes live -first time today. Harmonix is w h i c h H a r m o n i x r e c e n t l y launching an open beta of the informed Destructoid wouldn't Submitted at 1/19/2010 2:00:00 PM

be until "we accrue a good base of content, though we're already really excited by what we have

in the pipeline." If you were curious about what that pipeline currently looks like, we suggest

checking out this Harmonix forum post, which compiles all the bands who've shown interest in Rock Band-ing their ditties. Rock Band Network open beta begins tonight originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Make Better Challenge: Combine Different Lip Colors By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 1/19/2010 8:15:00 AM

Day 4's tip suggests mixing different lip colors and textures to get the look you want. I’ve always shied away from a red lip, but decided to work with the products I had to create my ideal shade. First, I started with Pop Beauty Sweet Goodmorning Kiss exfoliator—makeup artists are always telling me that the key to a perfect red lip is a By JC Fletcher (Joystiq) Sportses, a Wiimote, a Nunchuk, smooth base, and this sugary and a MotionPlus. Submitted at 1/19/2010 1:30:00 PM scrub does the job. Next, I As for the games, there's a lot By Justin McElroy (Joystiq) know you're holding Portal 2 in applied The Body Shop Merry Much as it did for North coming up on Wii and DS in the t h e r e s o m e w h e r e . J u s t l e t Cranberry Lip Balm for not-tooSubmitted at 1/19/2010 3:00:00 PM America, Nintendo just tossed next few months, including both GLaDOS go unharmed and you shiny conditioning (the product out a huge list of release dates Tatsunoko vs. Capcom and Ace for Europe in Q1. And right at Attorney Investigations from Now this is just demoralizing. can develop until 2020 for all we is sold out online, but Strawberry the top of the list is a new DSi Capcom, Silent Hill: Shattered According to a report in the care. Please, if not for us, think Born Lippy—though a redder hardware bundle, to be released Memories, Phantasy Star Zero, rumors section of the Feb. 2010 of the preteens waiting to record hue—has a similar texture). on February 12. If you don't feel Excitebike World Rally and issue of Game Informer(which painful cover versions of "I'm After applying Bobbi Brown doesn't name its source) there S t i l l A l i v e ( A g a i n ) " o n Rose Bud Creamy Lip Color(I’m like holding out one more month more. won't be "any game from the Y o u T u b e . obsessed with this brownish-pink for the out-sized DSi XL, you Source(PDF link) [Half-Life] franchise in 2010." Game Informer: No Half-Life 2: color!) I dabbed M.A.C Brave can get a pink DSi with a copy of New DSi bundle, Q1 games As if that weren't crushing Episode 3 for you in 2010 Red Lipstick over top. The N i n t e n d o P r e s e n t s S t y l e dated in Europe originally Boutique. appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 19 enough, the magazine says it's originally appeared on Joystiq on result: A sheer berry lip color I In other hardware news, the Jan 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please not even sure there will be a Half Tue, 19 Jan 2010 15:00:00 EST. felt comfortable wearing for day -Life 2: Episode 3, postulating Please see our terms for use of or night. company announced that it will see our terms for use of feeds. View more Make Better tips continue offering the previously P e r m a l i n k | E m a i l t h i s | that the next Gordon Freeman feeds. adventure might be Half-Life 3 Read| Permalink| Email this| here limited-edition black Wii bundle, C o m m e n t s proper. Comments —Emily Hebert which includes both Wii Alright, listen, Half-Life: You Follow ELLE on Twitter take as long as you need, but we Become our Facebook fan!

New DSi bundle, Q1 games dated in Europe

Game Informer: No Half-Life 2: Episode 3 for you in 2010

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ELLE Décor Enters Big Window Challenge By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 1/19/2010 12:37:45 PM

Julian Casablancas at Terminal 5 By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 1/19/2010 7:38:12 AM

I can’t think of an album more evocative of my college years in New York in the early aughts than the Strokes’ masterful debut. And the appearance of Is This It on various best-of-thedecade lists last month piqued my nostalgia for songs like “Hard to Explain” and “Someday.” Happily, Strokes front man Julian Casablancas played a pair of shows at NYC’s Terminal 5 last Thursday and Friday in support of his recently

released solo debut, Phrazes for the Young, a layered, melodic collection whose synth-heavy sound was reflected in his chosen opening acts: Brooklyn bands Tanlines and ethereal electro-pop duo Telepathe, whom I spoke with back in March(check out their standout track“In Your Line”). I managed to stake out a prime spot on the third-floor balcony and avoided the throngs of fans by the stage clamoring to get close to the easy -on-the eyes rocker, clad in headto-toe leather. Casablancas did play one Strokes song—“I’ll Try Anything Once,” a demo version

of “You Only Live Once”—and a Kings of Leon cover (“Velvet Snow”) but the best moments were his new material, including the upbeat, hook-laden “Left & Right in the Dark,” “Out of the Blue,” and “11th Dimension.” (And no one complained when he launched into a post-yuletide rendition of “I Wish It Was Christmas Today”—yes, a cover of SNL’s classic jam, albeit without Chris Kattan & Co.). —Erin Clements Follow ELLE on Twitter. Become our Facebook fan!

Starting today, visitors to Bloomingdale’s 59th Street location will be treated to three unique studio vignettes, created by Bloomingdale’s interiordesign team, headed by Eileen Joyce; Apartment Therapy editor Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan; and designer/blogger Eddie Ross for ELLE Décor. The sole requirement for each entry was to feature a three-drawer chest from Bloomingdale’s new Hudson Park Loft collection. Joyce’s inspiration was an NYC

apartment inhabited by a sophisticated travel-magazine editor, while Ross’s was a modern mother and mogul with a passion for bold patterns and vibrant hues; Gillingham-Ryan’s room, “the writer’s library,” features a dark den with a romantic dinner setting. Vote for your favorite starting tomorrow at bigwindowchallenge.com, or via text (see website for further instructions). —Erin Clements A sneak peek at Ross’s window Follow ELLE on Twitter. Become our Facebook fan!

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Gucci Teams With Christie’s to Create a Unique Vintage Appraisal Service By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog)

Victim Speaks 'From the Grave' in Peterson Case

an entirely unique appraisal experience. “Gucci Collector: Presented by Christie’s” is the Submitted at 1/19/2010 9:03:59 AM first Gucci-certified online I’ve been lucky enough to destination for appraising the "borrow" some of my mom’s brand’s vintage goods. Starting Gucci bags and shoes from the today, this free service will be ’60s and ’70s (all classic tan offered through Gucci.com; leather and chunky gold logo). simply upload photos of your Though I may never bring vintage items and, within two to myself to part with them, I can four weeks, you’ll find out an now find out just how much auction estimate. Director of they’re actually worth. In a Fashion and Textiles, Patricia decidedly modern move, the Frost, will even let you know if This exciting service coincides s t o r i e d f a s h i o n h o u s e h a s your item is appropriate for an with the house’s plans to open partnered with Christie’s to offer upcoming Christie’s vintage sale. the first Gucci museum in

Florence (the birthplace of the brand) in time for its 90th anniversary in 2011. It’s the gift that keeps on giving. —Violet Moon Gayn or Gucci loving ladies, clockwise from left: Barbra Streisand in London (1969), Jodie Foster (1977), and former Bond Girl Britt Ekland at the airport in Milan (1965) Photos: Streisand and Ekland, courtesy of Farabolafoto; Foster, courtesy of Publifoto/Olycom Follow ELLE on Twitter. Become our Facebook fan!

Courteney Cox Wears Victoria Beckham

Man Accused of Plotting to Kill Obama Sentenced to Prison

By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 1/19/2010 9:16:39 AM

The beginning of the big Hollywood awards season is underway with the onset of the Golden Globes and ELLE.com has already broken down who topped our lists. Though making an appearance on Courteney Cox Arquette was the work of a designer who is fresh to the red carpet, and that designer is Victoria Beckham.

finished with slightly trumpeted flare. And her decision to wear Mrs. Beckham's work was a statement, indeed, as the Globes are a big night for stars to show which designers they adore. But what did you think of the dress? Did her Victoria Beckham look make your best-dressed list? — Rebecca Suhrawardi Austin Photo: Getty Images The former Friends star opted Follow ELLE on Twitter. for a simple black, strapless, Become our Facebook fan! crepe gown, tightly nipped in the waist with a bejeweled band,

(FOXNews.com) Submitted at 1/18/2010 11:59:25 PM

GREENBELT, Md. A Maryland man accused of plotting to kill President Barack Obama has been sentenced to more than five years in federal prison. Twenty-year-old Collin McKenzie-Gude pleaded guilty in September to possessing bomb -making chemicals. A former friend testified that McKenzieGude disliked Obama's gun control positions and planned to

(FOXNews.com) Submitted at 1/18/2010 10:56:11 PM

JOLIET, Ill. Former police officer Drew Peterson threw his wife to the floor one night, grabbed her throat and told her he "could kill her there and then," a one-time co-worker of the wife testified Tuesday at a hearing to determine what evidence can be admitted in Peterson's murder trial. VICTIM page 65

assassinate the then-presidential candidate. U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte handed down the sentence Tuesday. The judge says McKenzie-Gude's weapons collection and chemicals could have had serious consequences. McKenzie-Gude cried as he told the judge that he was sorry and regretted his actions. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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US troops step up Haiti efforts (BBC News | Americas | World Edition) Submitted at 1/19/2010 10:49:06 AM

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. US troops land at Haiti's presidential palace US troops are fanning out across Haiti as aid operations gather momentum, a week after the devastating earthquake. UN officials said aid distribution points were being set up in the capital and UN security forces would accompany US troops as they delivered supplies. Helicopters dropped scores of US troops in the presidential palace grounds, who then moved to secure a nearby hospital. Meanwhile, the UN Security Council has voted to boost its peacekeeping forces to help control outbursts of looting. Anger has been growing in the streets of the capital, Port-auPrince, as people wait for help. The US military has begun delivering food and water to distribution points in the capital and elsewhere by helicopter, after congestion at the airport delayed deliveries of aid. Some 14,000 ready-to-eat meals and 15,000 litres of water were dropped north-east of Port-auPrince on Monday, the US said. Meanwhile, the UN approved a recommendation by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to boost UN troop numbers in Haiti by 2,000 for six months, and UN police numbers by 1,500.

Mr Ban said he was grateful to the UN Security Council for its swift action, calling it "a clear signal that the world is with Haiti". He said the UN was in discussion with member states, and he hoped to have the extra troops and police to deploy soon. The UN mission in Haiti currently numbers about 9,000. There have been reports of widespread violence and looting. But the UN has played down worries over security, saying that despite violent incidents, the overall situation is calm. US Army Maj Gen Daniel Allyn, deputy commander of the Joint Task Force on ongoing relief efforts, echoed that message, saying the security

situation was "relatively calm" and that aid distribution points were orderly. He said there were "pockets of instability", but that UN forces and the Haitian national police were addressing security needs with "agility". There were more than 2,000 personnel on the ground and 5,000 afloat, he said, adding that 10,000 troops in total would be arriving in the coming weeks, half of whom would be directly involved in distributing humanitarian aid. Mr Ban said the UN's goal was to increase the number of people receiving food to 1 million this week and at least 2 million in the following two weeks. Addressing concern that aid has

been too slow to reach desperate Haitians, Mr Ban said the situation on the ground was "overwhelming" but that UN efforts were "gearing up quickly". "For those who have lost everything, of course, help cannot come soon enough," Mr Ban said. "But we are working day and night." 'Test of resolve' Last week, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said airdrops had been ruled out because they might do more harm than good. I'm now standing on the deck of the USS Carl Vinson, this vast water-borne runway, one of the biggest aircraft carriers in the world.

They are loading up bottles of water, ready meals, medical packs which are then being flown on to Port-au-Prince. This really has become a second airport. In front of me a team of medics is lined up waiting for an incoming helicopter. On board are people who need urgent medical treatment. Haiti increasingly feels like a third front for the US military, a world away from Iraq and Afghanistan but with new and formidable challenges. Mr Gates warned that they could trigger riots if there was no proper structure on the ground to distribute supplies. But the BBC's Nick Davis in Port-au-Prince says that the US military is now securing areas on the ground before pallets of food and water are parachuted in. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Tuesday that Haiti remained a major test for the international community. "It is a test of our compassion. It is a test of our resolve. And it is also a test of our ability to coordinate our actions together." France's co-operation minister, Alain Joyandet, had suggested on Monday that the US was "occupying" Haiti and urged the UN to "clarify" the US role. However, a statement from President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday said France was "very TROOPS page 72

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VICTIM continued from page 63

Kathleen Savio, Drew Peterson's third wife, who mysteriously drowned in a bathtub six years ago, essentially is testifying from the grave during the hearing. Witnesses are expected to tell a judge how Savio discussed and wrote about her fears that Peterson, a former Bolingbrook police sergeant, would kill her. LIVESHOTS: Drew Peterson Back in Court The hearing, projected to last three weeks, is expected to provide the first detailed look at evidence prosecutors contend ties Peterson to Savio's 2004 death. It stems from a state law that allows a judge to admit hearsay evidence in first-degree murder cases if prosecutors can prove a defendant killed a witness to prevent him or her from testifying. Issam Karam, who said he worked with Savio at Parkway Imaging in Romeoville in late 2003, testified that Savio told him she had come home one night looking forward to a bath and glass of wine when Peterson threw her to the floor. Savio said the incident occurred after she had changed the locks to the home. Karam said Peterson grabbed Savio's throat and had a knife. Savio showed him a bruise on her arm, Karam said. "(Peterson) said nothing that she could do would make her safe," Karam said. "She could not run

or hide. He could kill her there and then." Another witness, Savio's boss, testified that a number of times a Bolingbrook squad car was parked in front of her Romeoville business while Savio was inside. Lisa Mordente said that on one occasion, Savio was returning from lunch and approached another vehicle parked outside and spoke to a man inside. "She was very shaken up when she came back in, her hand was shaking, she had tears, she was a mess," Mordente said. Mordente also testified that Savio told her it was Peterson outside and they were fighting over money. Mordente's testimony highlighted what is sure to be a key part of the trial â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the fact that Peterson was a police officer. His attorneys have raised questions about why witnesses didn't notify police if they believed Savio feared Peterson. Mordente said she didn't call police when she learned Savio died "because it wouldn't have helped." "Kathleen had stated on several occasions she had called police," Mordente said. During the hearing, prosecutors will present to Will County Judge Stephen White about 60 witnesses to testify about 15 hearsay statements. White will then decide if the jury can hear

any or all of those statements when Peterson stands trial. Peterson has pleaded not guilty to murdering Savio, whose body was found in a dry tub. A trial date hasn't been set. The Illinois Legislature passed the hearsay law after authorities named Peterson a suspect in the 2007 disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy, then exhumed the body of Savio and reopened the investigation into her death. While neither side has talked much about the evidence in the case, from the day Peterson was arrested, Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow has made it clear that allowing Savio to tell jurors why Peterson wanted her dead is crucial to his case. "In essence, what you're basically allowing the victim of a violent crime to do is testify from the grave," Glasgow, who pushed for passage of the bill, told reporters in May shortly after Peterson was arrested. The list of witnesses remains under seal, but Savio's niece, Melissa Doman, said her mother, Anna Doman, is among those who have been called to testify. "It would be about things my Aunt Kitty (Savio) told my mom about how she was afraid for her life, she said she was afraid of Drew," Melissa Doman said, adding that she has not been called to testify. Also expected to testify are

other members of Savio's family, including her sister, Susan Savio. It was Susan Savio who told a coroner's jury shortly after her sister's death that Kathleen Savio had told family members that, "if she would die, it may look like an accident, but it wasn't." The death initially was ruled an accidental drowning â&#x20AC;&#x201D; until Stacy Peterson's disappearance led officials to exhume Savio's body, conduct another autopsy and conclude Savio was the victim of a homicide. Drew Peterson has not been charged in Stacy Peterson's disappearance. Other possible witnesses who could be asked to testify about the stormy relationship between Drew Peterson and Savio are his former colleagues. Eighteen times in two years, police were called to the couple's Bolingbrook home to respond to reports of trouble between the two, with Savio telling officers that her husband had beaten her and threatened to kill her. Peterson was never charged. Savio was charged with domestic battery and later was acquitted. There also are court documents that prosecutors are expected to present into evidence, including a 2002 order of protection in which Savio alleges that Peterson knocked her down, ripped off her necklace and left marks on her body. "He wants me dead, and if he has to, he will burn the house down

just to shut me up," she wrote. Among the more intriguing possible witnesses are members of the clergy at a Bolingbrook church attended by Stacy Peterson. In the days after her disappearance, there were media reports that she had told a clergyman a couple months earlier that Drew Peterson had confessed to her that he killed Savio and made it look like an accident. Peterson's attorneys have made it clear that they will attack the credibility of at least some of the witnesses. "All it is, is rumor, innuendo and gossip," defense attorney Joel Brodsky said after a recent hearing concerning information contained in the 15 statements. "People had ulterior motives for saying what they said or are outand-out unreliable people." The defense is not expected to call any witnesses of its own during the hearing. Click here for more from MyFoxChicago.com. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Ex-mistress says minister admitted killing wife (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News)

harm her. "He was and still is a manipulative liar who took me in WACO, Texas – A minister my vulnerable state and made me drugged his wife, handcuffed her believe everything he said," said to the bed under the guise of Bulls, who has been granted spicing up their marriage, then immunity from prosecution. smothered her with a pillow until Baker's attorney Guy James she died, his ex-mistress testified Gray told jurors last week that Tuesday at his murder trial. Kari Baker's death, initially ruled Vanessa Bulls said Matt Baker, a suicide, only became a murder then a Baptist preacher, had case after authorities found out talked about killing his wife and about his affair. Baker, who making it look like a suicide. His faces up to life in prison if wife, Kari Baker, had previously convicted, has maintained his attempted suicide, Bulls said. wife committed suicide because Bulls told jurors she did not help of severe depression. B a k e r p l a n t h e m u r d e r o r Under cross-examination, Gray participate in it, but she never asked about the account Bulls reported it to authorities because gave to several law enforcement she was afraid of exposing the authorities over the last four affair that she said began about years, including some details that two months before Kari Baker's differed from her testimony 2006 death. Bulls, 27, also said Tuesday. she was afraid of being arrested Bulls acknowledged that during for knowing about Baker's plans t h o s e i n t e r v i e w s s h e h a d but not stopping him. repeatedly denied the affair and Bulls said she understood "what knowing anything about whether he was capable of" but tried not Baker killed his wife. She even to think about it as she continued said she "didn't tell the whole seeing Baker for about three story" to the grand jury but didn't months after his wife's death. explain why or when she decided She said Baker told her he was to do so. happy with her so he would not "He's never going to admit guilt, Submitted at 1/19/2010 12:01:40 PM

even if he's found guilty," Bulls told jurors. "I'm setting things right." Bulls said she met Baker in the fall of 2005 at church and that their affair began in February 2006 after he convinced her to have counseling sessions because of her divorce. She said Baker disparaged his wife, making fun of her weight and saying she was a horrible mother to their two children because she was depressed about the cancer death of their middle child. "He said he wanted her out of his life," Bulls said, adding that Baker told her divorce was not an option because it would mean he could never preach again and he was concerned that Kari might fight for custody of their kids. Bulls said Baker talked of various ways to kill his wife: a drive-by shooting, hanging her and making it appear to be suicide, and tampering with her car brakes. Once when Kari was late arriving home, Baker told Bulls that he "started getting excited that maybe she did have a wreck and he wouldn't have to do anything," the woman

testified. Baker even put drugs in his wife's milkshake one night but she complained that it tasted funny and didn't drink it, Bulls said. He also told Bulls that he ordered Chloroform online, Bulls told jurors. He obtained the prescription sleep aid Ambien secretly from his mother-in-law's house, Bulls said. She said Baker decided to kill his wife on a night she was trying to spice up the marriage. Baker said he emptied the casings of sexual enhancement drugs he referred to as "horse pills" then refilled them with Ambien, Bulls testified. She said Baker told her that his wife took the pills, unaware that he had switched the medicine. He took the real pills. Bulls said Baker handcuffed his wife to the bed, kissed her until she fell asleep and then kissed her forehead, telling her to give their deceased daughter a hug or kiss for him. Baker then smothered her with a pillow, but she gasped for breath, so he put his hand over the pillow directly over her nose until she died, Bulls testified.

According to Bulls, Baker said he then typed and printed a suicide note and rubbed Kari's hands on it in case authorities tested for fingerprints. Bulls said she began to feel trapped with Baker because he said he was a preacher, so no one would believe her if she told. Then she broke up with him and urged him to turn himself in. "He became irate. ... He said, 'I killed my wife for you and now you're leaving?'" Bulls told jurors. She said about a month later, Baker called to ask how she was, in what she described as "the creepiest phone call of my life" because he sounded completely normal. She said she reiterated that she wanted nothing to do with him. "He said, 'I miss you.' ... I said, 'You've got to turn yourself in.' He said, 'God has forgiven me.'" Bulls' testimony was to continue Tuesday afternoon. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

eating masses: “Tweet Me.” Tweet Me isn’t the 145-year-old candy company’s first dive into the techie world with past phrases including the decidedly less cool “Fax Me” and “Email

Me.” Awww, how tweet! All the sweetest Twitter news. Permalink| Leave a comment »

Sweethearts + Twitter = Tweethearts (Holy Kaw!) Submitted at 1/19/2010 10:43:00 AM

Long before 140 characters became the trendy way to communicate, a chalky-tasting

candy ruled the short message scene with lovey-dovey phrases no more than a couple words long. Valentine’s Day staple Sweethearts is teaming up with Twitter to bring a social media

styled love note to the candy

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Haitians can start applying Thurs. to Court reverse for Black stay in US (AP) Panther (Yahoo! News: U.S. News) Submitted at 1/19/2010 12:17:44 PM

MIAMI – More than 100 Haitians crammed inside a Catholic church Tuesday to ask questions about a federal government designation that will allow possibly hundreds of thousands of illegal Haitian immigrants to work in the U.S. and send money home during the next 18 months. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Alejandro Mayorkas said Haitians will be able to start filing their applications for the Temporary Protected Status on Thursday, the day official notice of the program is expected to be published in the Federal Register. Only those in the U.S. before the earthquake hit their Caribbean homeland a week ago will be eligible. Mayorkas warned that applications sent before Thursday would likely to be delayed. Haitians have already started showing up at centers to get help filling out the forms. At Notre Dame d'Haiti Catholic Church in Miami's Little Haiti neighborhood, Randy McGrorty, head of Catholic Charities Legal

Services, fielded questions, mostly in Creole, about whether applicants could bring family members from Haiti, whether they could qualify for college financial aid and whether they could get any help paying the $470 application fee. Although the government has cautioned the protection is only temporary — 18 months to be exact — some of those applying hoped it would lead to a longer reprieve. Julie Bermane, 19, of Miami, said she has lived in the U.S. since she was 3 but because she was here illegally has been unable to go to college or get a job. "There's a lot of things in my life that I want to do, but this stuff has been holding me back," she said. If her application is granted, she said, "I can go out and see the world." The agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security, is expecting about 100,000 to 200,000 applications. "We are drawing on expertise from the past" to be ready for the onslaught, said Mayorkas, who also cautioned applicants to be wary of people who may try to scam those looking for help filling out applications.

The U.S. has granted temporary protected status to about 350,000 people from a handful of Central American and African countries. Mayorkas is heading to Miami on Wednesday to meet with community members to educate people on the process and take calls from around the country. More meetings will be held in Orlando and Tampa, as well as Newark, N.J. and New York City, where the highest concentrations of Haitians live. Mayorkas said the agency has redesigned its Web site, http://www.uscis.gov, so information about Haiti can be easily found in English, French and Creole. Also, the agency's call center, reachable at 1-800-375-5283, is open five hours longer from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Staffers who speak Creole are available to help with the application process. ___ Associated Press writer Suzanne Gamboa in Washington contributed to this report. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

(BBC News | Americas | World Edition) Submitted at 1/19/2010 9:23:43 AM

The US Supreme Court has overturned a decision by a lower court in Philadelphia to block the execution of a former "black power" militant. The lower court reversed the death penalty on Mumia AbuJamal in March 2008 after finding that the jury had been given flawed instructions. The ex-Black Panther's conviction for murdering a policeman still stood. The Supreme Court made its ruling after a case in Ohio last week which turned on a similar legal issue. Under the law, jurors do not have to agree unanimously on a mitigating circumstance in a case. The Philadelphia 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled that the jurors in the Abu-Jamal case had received misleading instructions "as to whether unanimity was required in consideration of mitigating circumstances". Last week, the Supreme Court reversed a similar ruling by a Ohio appeals court in the case of Frank Spisak, a neo-Nazi who

killed three people in 1982. The Black Panthers were a revolutionary "black power" group active in the US in the 1960s and 1970s. Prison writings Abu-Jamal, a former radio journalist, was sentenced to death for murder in 1982. He appealed against his sentence on the grounds that racism on the part of the judge and the prosecutors had corrupted his conviction, which was by a jury of 10 white and two black people. The police officer killed, Daniel Faulkner, had pulled over AbuJamal's brother one night in December 1981 for driving the wrong way down a one-way street. Abu-Jamal denied killing the officer. Abu-Jamal's prison writings about the justice system have drawn the attention of many people around the world. His case has attracted the support of many death penalty opponents. Print Sponsor Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Massachusetts holds key election (BBC News | Americas | World Edition)

should have been a formality for the Democrats - they outnumber Republicans in Massachusetts by Submitted at 1/19/2010 8:52:34 AM around three to one, and the seat People in the US state of being contested was controlled Massachusetts are voting in a by the Kennedy family for more special election to fill the Senate than half a century. seat left vacant by Edward But Ms Coakley has run a Kennedy's death last August. lacklustre campaign, allowing The race, between Democratic her Republican opponent - with Attorney General Martha v i g o r o u s s u p p o r t f r o m C o a k l e y a n d c o n s e r v a t i v e conservative activists - to Republican state senator Scott overtake her in the polls. Brown, is unexpectedly too close Mr Obama went to Boston on to call. Sunday to lend support to the If it goes to Mr Brown, the Coakley campaign, a sign of the D e m o c r a t s w i l l l o s e t h e i r growing apprehension felt by the filibuster-proof 60-seat majority White House. in the 100-seat Senate. Amid the national attention on This would make it harder for the election, money, activists and B a r a c k O b a m a t o p a s s a party officials poured into healthcare reform bill. Massachusetts for both sides Healthcare reform is the most ahead of Tuesday's election. i m p o r t a n t d o m e s t i c p o l i c y Mr Brown has said that if he objective of his first year as wins, he hopes to be sworn in as president. quickly as possible. Polls opened at 0700 local time He arrived at the polls in the (1200 GMT) and close at 2000 green pick-up truck he used to (0100 GMT on Wednesday). criss-cross Massachusetts during Results are expected soon after the campaign and which has that, although it could take a featured in TV advertisements little longer if it is as close as that aimed to burnish his appeal expected. to blue-collar and independent The BBC's Paul Adams, in voters. Boston, says this Senate race Ms Coakely, voting early near

her home, voiced confidence, saying: "We've been working every day." Analysts say that with opinion polls showing that nearly half of all Americans think President Obama is not delivering on his major campaign promises, the Massachusetts race could be seen as a referendum on his first year in office. Are you a voter in Massachusetts? What issues matter most you? Why is the race so close? You can send us your views using the form below. A selection of your comments may be published, displaying your name and location unless you state otherwise in the box below. The BBC may edit your comments and not all emails will be published. Your comments may be published on any BBC media worldwide. Print Sponsor Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

FBI charges 22 over foreign bribe (BBC News | Americas | World Edition)

get or keep business. According to court documents, the accused engaged in a scheme Submitted at 1/19/2010 12:25:38 PM to pay bribes to the minister of T h e U S h a s c h a r g e d 2 2 defence for an African country in executives or employees of order to win a portion of a $15m security-related firms with deal to outfit its presidential conspiring to bribe an African guard. country over a $15m (ÂŁ9m) arms But the scheme was part of an sale. undercover operation by the FBI Some 150 FBI agents took part and no minister of defence was in an operation involving a sting, actually involved. which led to the arrest of 21 As part of the sting, the accused suspects in Las Vegas and one in allegedly agreed to pay a 20% Miami. "commission" to a sales agent Five of those charged are UK who they believed represented nationals and City of London the minister of defence, having Police were also involved in the been told half of that money operation. would go to the minister. The inquiry involves firms They then allegedly agreed to t r a d i n g i n a r m s a n d l a w create two price quotations in enforcement equipment. connection with the deal, court US justice officials said the d o c u m e n t s s a y , w i t h o n e charges represented the largest representing the true cost of the s i n g l e i n v e s t i g a t i o n a n d goods and the other adding the prosecution carried out so far 20% "commission" to it. under the Foreign Corrupt The sales agent was in fact an Practices Act. undercover FBI agent. The law bars US citizens and Print Sponsor companies, as well as foreign Five Filters featured article: people and companies acting in Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: the US, from bribing foreign PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, government officials in order to Term Extraction.

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San Diego mayor says gay marriage views changed (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News)

marriage. The decision contradicted a campaign promise and his public pledge to veto the SAN FRANCISCO â&#x20AC;&#x201C; The resolution. mayor of San Diego testified Sanders was shown a videotape Tuesday that his views on same- of the news conference where he sex marriage evolved after he broke down in tears while learned one of his daughters was announcing his reasons for a lesbian. changing his mind. Mayor Jerry Sanders took the San Francisco City Attorney witness stand on behalf of two Dennis Herrera, who questioned same-sex couples suing to Sanders on direct examination, o v e r t u r n P r o p o s i t i o n 8 , asked why Sanders was so California's voter-approved gay emotional on the video. marriage ban. "I felt I came very close to "I had been prejudiced," he said. making a bad decision," Sanders "I was saying one group of said. "I came very close to people did not deserve the same s h o w i n g t h e p r e j u d i c e I respect, did not deserve the same o b v i o u s l y h a d t o w a r d m y symbolism of marriage, and I daughter to my staff and to the was saying their marriages were people of San Diego." less important than those of Sanders, a Republican, now heterosexuals." believes it's in the interest of The trial, in its sixth day, is the government to support same-sex first in a federal court to examine marriage. A former police chief, whether denying gays and he cited examples of hate crimes lesbians the right to wed violates against gays and of police their constitutional rights. officers being afraid to Sanders recounted his last- acknowledge they are gay. minute decision in 2008 to sign a " I f g o v e r n m e n t t o l e r a t e s City Council resolution backing discrimination against anyone it efforts to legalize same-sex is very easy for citizens to do the Submitted at 1/19/2010 10:29:03 AM

same thing," he said. Brian Raum, a lawyer for Proposition 8 sponsors, intensely cross-examined the mayor about his past support for civil unions as an alternative to marriage. "You didn't think that was a hostile position to the gay and lesbian community," Raum said. "You don't believe that you communicated hatred to the gay and lesbian community, did you?" "I feel like my thoughts were grounded in prejudice, but I don't feel like I communicated hatred," Sanders said. Throughout the trial backers of the ban have tried to show the ballot measure was not motivated by deep-seated bias toward gays. Such "animus" would make it more difficult for the measure to pass constitutional muster. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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satisfied" with the co-operation and praised the US for its "exceptional mobilisation". The UN says dozens of search and rescue teams are now on the ground. On Tuesday, UN spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said 90 people had been pulled out alive since the earthquake and rescue efforts were now concentrated outside the capital. She insisted there was still hope for survivors. "The climate is mild, there are significant air pockets. The problem is dehydration but for the moment there is still a chance," she said. At least 70,000 people who died in the earthquake have already been buried. On Tuesday, the Paris Club of creditor governments, including the US, UK, France and Germany, called on other nations to follow its lead in cancelling debts to Haiti. Venezuela and Taiwan are the biggest other creditors. Meanwhile, the bodies of eight Chinese nationals killed in the quake have arrived back in Beijing in a high-profile

ceremony attended by relatives and top officials. Have you or your family been affected by the earthquake? Are you taking part in the relief effort? If you have any information you wish to share with the BBC you can do so using the form below: You can also send your pictures o r v i d e o s t o yourpics@bbc.co.uk, text them to +44 7725 100 100 or if you have a large file you can upload here. Read the terms and conditions At no time should you endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks or infringe any laws. The BBC may edit your comments and not all emails will be published. Your comments may be published on any BBC media worldwide. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Folk singer Kate McGarrigle dies (BBC News | Americas | World Edition) Submitted at 1/19/2010 10:34:54 AM

Canadian folk singer Kate McGarrigle has died of cancer at the age of 63. The mother of singers Rufus and Martha Wainwright, McGarrigle died at home in Montreal on Monday. She had been battling cancer since summer 2006. Kate rose to prominence with sister Anna when they recorded together in the 1970s. "Sadly our sweet Kate had to leave us last night," Anna said. "She departed in a haze of song and love surrounded by family and good friends," she wrote on their website. "She is irreplaceable and we are broken-hearted. Til we meet again dear sister." The pair first attracted attention in 1974 when Linda Ronstadt recorded their song Heart Like a Wheel as the title track for one of her albums. The sisters' first record came out in 1975, titled Kate and Anna McGarrigle, and brought them

critical acclaim. Other artists who covered the pair's songs included Emmylou Harris, Billy Bragg, Kirsty MacColl, Judy Collins and Elvis Costello. "Kate was a folk singer through and through, a bi-lingual Canadian who celebrated her heritage and drew on it for songs that were to become standards on the folk scene," said BBC Radio 2 folk show host Mike Harding. "It is tragic that she has finally lost her fight with cancer - she was a beautiful and rare human being." Kate McGarrigle and her sisters - she had another called Jane grew up in a mountain village in Quebec. Kate's own songs included The Work Song, Cool River and Lying Song. She was was once married to fellow folk singer Loudon Wainwright lll and received the Order of Canada in 1994, one of the country's highest honours. 'Warmth and feeling' BBC Radio 2 host Bob Harris described her music as "very

human". "Through the years, I've played Kate and Anna McGarrigle's music on my programmes and really loved the warmth of their music. "When she sang in French there was a warmth and a feeling to it that kind of transcended language in some way and communicated anywhere." McGarrigle made her last public appearance six weeks ago at a concert with Rufus and Martha Wainwright at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The show raised $55,000 (£33,600) for the Kate McGarrigle Fund, which she set up in 2008 to raise awareness of sarcoma, a rare cancer that affects connective tissue such as bone, muscle, nerves and cartilage. Print Sponsor Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Prosecutor: More Charges Coming in NYC Terror Case (FOXNews.com)

Zazi and a third man, cab driver Zarein Ahmedzay, traveled to Pakistan, where Zazi received NEW YORK A man with ties training in explosives from Al to an alleged Al Qaeda associate Qaeda. conspired to kill U.S. soldiers in All three men — former Afghanistan after receiving classmates at a Queens high military training from the terror school — have denied any network, a prosecutor said wrongdoing. They are being held Tuesday. without bail. Assistant U.S. Attorney James Defense attorney Robert C. Loonam made the allegation Gottlieb on Tuesday again against Adis Medunjanin during accused authorities of holding a brief hearing in federal court in and interrogating Medunjanin for B r o o k l y n . A n i n d i c t m e n t two days without letting him see unsealed last week had charged his family or a lawyer. Federal Medunjanin with receiving terror authorities say the questioning training and murder conspiracy, was legal. but didn't specify the target. "We take a different view of the Looman told a judge that facts and the law," Gottlieb said. prosecutors "anticipate additional Ahmedzay, 24, has pleaded not charges" against Medunjanin. He guilty to charges that he lied to also said the case could be the FBI during the probe about combined with that of Najibullah places he visited during the 2008 Zazi, a Colorado airport van trip. He was due in court later driver charged with plotting to Tuesday. attack New York City with Five Filters featured article: homemade bombs. Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: Medunjanin, 25, has not been PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, directly linked to the foiled bomb Term Extraction. plot. But authorities say that he, Submitted at 1/18/2010 11:18:03 PM