Liberty Newsprint Dec-16-09 by Liberty Newspost

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15/12/09 - 16/12/09

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Democrats take first step on uphill path to immigration overhaul By Tim Gaynor (Front Row Washington)

statement. “The time for waiting is over. This bill will be presented before Congress Submitted at 12/15/2009 3:38:07 PM recesses for the holidays so that Democratic lawmakers in the there is no excuse for inaction in U.S. Congress on Tuesday the New Year.” introduced a bill to overhaul Immigration is a divisive issue in immigration laws, the first step in the United States where some 12 what analysts say will be an million illegal immigrants live u p h i l l s l o g t o g e t t h e and work in the shadows and controversial issue to a vote where Hispanics, the largest before midterm elections next i m m i g r a n t g r o u p , a r e a n year. increasingly weighty voting bloc. Rep Luis V. Gutierrez, an President Barack Obama, who Illinois Democrat, introduced the was backed overwhelmingly by Comprehensive Immigration Hispanics in his election last Reform for America’s Security year, has said he wants to see and Prosperity Act of 2009, that legislation by early next year. His seeks to give millions of illegal predecessor, President George immigrants a shot at legal status. W. Bush, tried and failed to get It was backed by more than 20 reforms passed. other Democrats in the U.S. Obama supports the idea of House of Representatives. offering citizenship to illegal “We have waited patiently for a immigrants in good standing workable solution to our while cracking down on immigration crisis to be taken up e m p l o y e r s w h o h i r e b y t h i s C o n g r e s s a n d o u r undocumented workers, as well President,” Gutierrez said in a as hardening the porous border

Democratic officials in Washington, however, said last month they were skeptical there will be enough time or political will to tackle the issue next year, although it could be on the agenda in 2011 or 2012 depending on the outcome of congressional elections next November — a position shared by political analysts on Tuesday. “Given that they are going to have enough trouble in the midterms, there’s no reason why the Democrats would want another problem out there,” said Mark Jones, a political science with Mexico “This is immigrants’ advocates professor at Rice University. R e f o r m a d v o c a t e s c a l l e d and union activists’ move to “My best bet is that they’re going Gutierrez’ bill a “step in the outline their position, plant the to try and push this on until p r o c e s s ” t o w a r d r a i s i n g flag and trigger a debate,” said 2011.” immigration reform in Congress, Tamar Jacoby, the president of Photo credit: Reuters/Jose Luis where Sens. Chuck Schumer, a ImmigrationWorks USA, a Magaua (demonstrators against N e w Y o r k D e m o c r a t , a n d national employers’ coalition. U.S. immigration raids) L i n d s e y G r a h a m , a S o u t h “Even Representative Gutierrez C a r o l i n a R e p u b l i c a n , a r e has said on the record that he expected to push ahead with an expects the Senate to act first,” immigration bill early next year. she added.

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Texting up, newspaper reading down By David Alexander (Front Row Washington) Submitted at 12/15/2009 2:43:56 PM

The figures have been tallied and the bad news is in. Newspaper sales have dropped by 7.2 million copies a day so far this decade, from 55.8 million in 2000 to 48.6 million in 2008. So says the just-releas ed 2010 edition of the Statistical Abstract of the United States. With newspaper sales dropping, something was bound to give, and so it did. A bunch of newspapers went out of business. The number of daily newspapers in the United States fell by 72, from 1,480 in 2000 to 1,408 in 2008. So what are people reading if they’re not reading newspapers? Text messages from the look of it. The Statistical Abstract, put out by the Census Bureau, says the number of text messages sent on cell phones more than doubled from 48 billion in December 2007 to 110 billion in December 2008. All that texting wasn’t cheap. The average consumer spent $1,100 on phone services in 2007, with 55 percent of that going for cell phones. The United States had some 270

Will heat from the Hill influence Bernanke? By Joseph Lazzaro (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 12/15/2009 6:00:00 PM

million cell phone subscribers in 2008, paying an average monthly bill of about $50. The Census Bureau compiled the 2010 Statistical Abstract from the most up-to-date figures available in the summer of 2009. Other tidbits: – Libraries in Florida had an average of 24.4 computers hooked to the Internet and available to the public in 2007, while those in Vermont had an average of only 4.7. – Most college freshmen in Rhode Island hail from someplace else. Only 25.8

percent of college freshmen there called Rhode Island home. In Utah it’s another story, with 89.9 percent of college freshmen going to school in their home state. – And on the scary side, 6 percent of all students in 2007 reported carrying a weapon on school property at least once during the previous month. The best-selling Statistical Abstract has been published since 1878. Back then, the federal government spent $257.7 million and ran a surplus of more than

Three Twitter games you must try By Don Reisinger (Webware.com)

We take a look at three titles that use the microblogging service to

help you get your gaming fix.

Filed under: Politics, Federal Reserve, Financial Crisis Do you think Fed Chair Ben Bernanke is feeling a little heat these days? Well, that's sort of like asking, do you think the New York Yankees $20 million. have a pretty good lineup? And texting, why that was A faction of Congress -ordinarily done via the nation’s mistakenly -- blames primarily 39,258 post offices. the Fed for the housing bubble, For more Reuters political news, subsequent bust, and the financial click here. crisis. Some of these very same Photo credit: Reuters/Mark representatives and senators also L e f f i n g w e l l ( E W S c r i p p s argue that bad mortgages largely P r e s i d e n t R i c h B o e h n e stemmed from the federal announces closure of Rocky government's 'forcing banks to Mountain News in Denver earlier lend' to citizens who were highthis year); Reuters/Eric Thayer risk, and that banks wouldn't (15-year-old Kate Moore wins have lend to these applicants on National Texting Championship their own. in June) Continue reading Will heat from the Hill influence Bernanke? Will heat from the Hill influence Bernanke? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Serious Fraud Office launches probe into Kaupthing bank

Options update: General Electric volatility decreases after forecasting flat revenue

By Simon Bowers (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

By Paul Foster (BloggingStocks)

Financial Services Authority used new powers to seize online deposits at Kaupthing Edge, transferring them to Dutch rival Submitted at 12/16/2009 7:41:32 AM ING Direct. The intervention Failed Icelandic bank's UK stemmed a run on deposits but savings arm will be part of precipitated the collapse of the inquiry Icelandic parent bank. The Serious Fraud Office has As well as building a substantial a n n o u n c e d a n o f f i c i a l UK deposit base, a large investigation into suspected UK proportion of Kaupthing's loan frauds linked to the failed book had been made up of loans Icelandic bank Kaupthing, which to private businesses controlled collapsed in October last year. by wealthy UK entrepreneurs. The SFO's white-collar crime Among them were Robert and unit said the inquiry would Vincent Tchenguiz and their include successful efforts by brother-in-law Vivian Imerman, Kaupthing's UK subsidiary, as well as Nick and Christian Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander, Candy, Simon Halabi and retailer to attract British savers to its high Kevin Stanford. -interest Edge savings account. A confidential summary of the "The investigation will seek to bank's loan book was published identify w h e t h e r on internet site Wikileaks earlier misrepresentations or false this year, prompting widespread r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s w e r e criticism of Kaupthing. Many communicated by the bank in the multimillion-euro loans were push to attract UK investors," the a d v a n c e d o n l i t t l e o r n o SFO said. "Another focus for us c o l l a t e r a l . will be the decision-making Critics have also expressed processes, which appear to have concern that some of the bank's allowed substantial value to be largest clients also had complex extracted from the bank in the relationships with the banks. For weeks and days prior to its example, Robert Tchenguiz and collapse." Kevin Stanford separately The SFO investigation follows borrowed large sums from months of intelligence exchanges Kaupthing, had direct or indirect between British prosecutors and investment interests in the bank's their Icelandic counterparts. shares, and were involved in joint On 8 October last year the v e n t u r e p r i v a t e e q u i t y

investments with Kaupthing. In the autumn it emerged that Kaupthing's former executive chairman, Sigurdur Einarsson, who lives in London, had been made an official suspect by Icelandic fraud prosecutors examining alleged market manipulation at the bank. That investigation relates to an investment in the bank by Qatari royal Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, weeks before its collapse. In a stock market statement, Kaupthing did not mention that Sheikh Mohammed's investment had been financed via a complex corporate structure using loans from Kaupthing itself. "We are delighted to welcome Sheikh Mohammed as a shareholder," Einarsson said. "We are continually focused on attracting new investors to the bank and are happy to see that our strategy of increasing the diversity of our shareholder base has proven fruitful." Investigators in Iceland are also looking into Kaupthing's official statements in relation to an investment in the bank last summer by British-based tycoons Moises and Mendi Gertner. The brothers became the owners of a 2.5% holding in Kaupthing, but investigators are examining how the investment was financed.

There is no suggestion of wrongdoing on the part of the Gertners. Meanwhile Icelandic regulators have also passed a file to criminal investigators there concerning loans made by Kaupthing to a company owned by Kevin Stanford. The focus of the allegations concerns whether Kaupthing used Trenvis, a Stanfordcontrolled company in the British Virgin Islands, to orchestrate transactions that moved the price of certain complex derivatives indicating the bank's financial health. These prices had been among the first warning lights flashing over Kaupthing's stretched finances. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing on the part of Stanford. The scope of the SFO's investigation remains unclear. • Serious Fraud Office • Banking • Financial crisis • Robert Tchenguiz • Iceland • Savings Simon Bowers guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Submitted at 12/16/2009 8:00:00 AM

Filed under: General Electric (GE), Options General Electric ( GE) closed at $15.75. GE forecasts flat revenue and margin growth in 2010. GE January option implied volatility of 33 is below its 26-week average of 39, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement. IVX Volatility Monitor: PHLX Oil Service Index ( OSX) was down 2.6% to 30.9, NASDAQ( NDX) was down 0.2% to 20, Gold and Silver ( XAU) dropped 1.5% to 41, according to IVolatility. Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com. Options update: General Electric volatility decreases after forecasting flat revenue originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 16 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Language still a barrier in the banlieue | Nabila Ramdani By Nabila Ramdani (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk) Submitted at 12/16/2009 7:41:55 AM

Sarkozy's identity debate has developed into a diatribe aimed at attracting Islamophobic voters to France's ruling party When Rachida Dati, the most senior Muslim member of France's ruling UMP party, was electioneering in the Paris housing projects in 2007, she reprimanded a teenager for wearing a baseball cap back to front. Why, she asked, would anyone sport such provocative headgear in front of one Nicolas Sarkozy, the then interior minister and presidential candidate? Not waiting for an answer, the highly ambitious Dati knocked the offending cap off the lad's head, telling him that if he had anything to say about it he should use proper French and not verlan, the imaginative street slang favoured by youngsters from the banlieue. Little surprise that the adolescent in question was a Muslim, and that his image should have been evoked again on Monday by another politician as she stirred

up the already hugely divisive national identity debate preoccupying France. This time around Nadine Morano, junior secretary of state for family and (don't laugh) social unity, said she wanted any youngster from a Muslim background to " love France when he lives here, to find a job, not speak verlan and not wear his cap back to front". Forget the Polish plumber, the reasoning went: youthful Muslim malcontents are the real threat to the cohesion of the Fifth Republic and we should be doing all we can to change their presentational skills. Just as eastern European handymen want to steal French jobs, so verlan is a language originally cultivated by common street thugs to prevent outsiders, and especially les flics(the police), from understanding their conspiratorial small talk. Now alienated youth frequently invert syllables so as to express the angst they feel towards a smooth-tongued Sarkozy establishment that is, of course, doing all it can to sort out unemployment, discrimination and disunity in the troubled suburbs. You don't have to be ouf( verlan

for fou, or mad) to buy this kind of reasoning, but it certainly helps. In fact, all the French government is doing is stigmatising minority communities by associating allegedly antisocial habits with religious belief. So it is that those intensely provocative women who cover their heads in public are always Muslim, and those deeply offensive architectural features called minarets always seem to pop up on mosques. As she tried to explain her divisive comments, Morano offered a positive spin, saying a "double" culture could be a good thing. What she did not say was that increasingly Americanised French young people from every social and religious background use verlan and think nothing of wearing baseball caps either. Foremost among them is Sarkozy's blond, blue-eyed, 24year-old son, Pierre, who is also a self-styled rap producer called " Mosey". According to Morano and Dati's caricature, Sarko junior is as likely to fit the image of the unpatriotic, disaffected youngster as any young Muslim, yet he avoids being targeted simply

because he is a white Christian. It's absurd reasoning, but just the kind that is informing Sarkozy's national identity debate – originally presented as an attempt to define core values and strengthen ties between communities. But it has developed into a small-minded diatribe aimed at attracting Islamophobic voters to the UMP before forthcoming regional elections. The language coming out of it should shame all politicians, and especially Muslims like Dati. The former justice minister is, incidentally, invariably referred to by Sarkozy and his cronies as a beurette, verlan for "little Arab girl". If she does not find that offensive, then there is clearly a deep problem at the heart of her country. • Nicolas Sarkozy • Rachida Dati • Islam • France • Religion Nabila Ramdani guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

HTML groups tackle Webcam support By Stephen Shankland (Webware.com)

A draft specification aims to m a k e W e b - b a s e d videoconferencing possible. It's

part of the push to let Web applications do what native applications can.

Originally posted at Deep Tech

JVC gets tubular with XS-SR3 iPod speaker dock By Darren Murph (Engadget) Submitted at 12/16/2009 9:13:00 AM

Not that we haven't seen an elongated iPod sound system before, but we've definitely yet to see one as totally bodacious as this. JVC has just slung out its XS-SR3 iPod speaker dock, which -- like B&W's Zeppelin Mini-- can hold your iPhone / iPod vertically or horizontally. JVC claims this little trick better enables users to view videos in widescreen form, while the 5watts of power are sure to blow your skin back when cranked to 11. Other specs include a bundled remote and two audio inputs (one analog, one digital), and if you're even mildly interested, you can check it out later this month for $149.95. Gallery: JVC gets tubular with XS-SR3 iPod speaker dock Continue reading JVC gets tubular with XS-SR3 iPod speaker dock JVC gets tubular with XS-SR3 iPod speaker dock originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Dec 2009 09:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| | Email this| Comments

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Brown reassures Israel over Livni warrant By Ian Black (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

urgently" at ways to change the UK legal system. Miliband reportedly rang his Israeli counterpart, Avigdor Lieberman, Submitted at 12/16/2009 7:39:51 AM to apologise for the episode. Prime minister 'completely Shimon Peres, Israel's president, opposed' to arrest warrant issued called it a "serious mistake" by by British court over former Britain. Israeli minister's role in Gaza war The dispute erupted after Gordon Brown today told Tzipi Westminster magistrates court in Livni, Israel's former foreign London issued an unprecedented minister, that he was "completely arrest warrant for Livni, now opposed" to the warrant issued by Israel's opposition leader, on a British court for her arrest for Sunday – a move described by war crimes and pledged to work Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel's to change the law that allowed it. prime minister, as an "absurdity." Brown's comments, quoted in a Miliband said Israeli leaders statement issued by Livni's "must be able to visit and have a office, followed a diplomatic row proper dialogue with the British over the warrant issued in government". relation to her role in the war in The warrant was withdrawn Gaza earlier this year. amid embarrassment in the The prime minister's remarks, Foreign Office when it was made in a telephone conversation discovered that she was not in the with Livni and reported on Israeli UK. But the fact that it was news websites, followed a issued in error – at the request of statement by David Miliband, the lawyers acting for Palestinian foreign secretary, that the victims of the Gaza war – did g o v e r n m e n t w a s " l o o k i n g nothing to quell Israeli anger.

Livni had been due to attend a conference in London but cancelled two weeks ago. Palestinian sources claimed to have seen her at the event and alerted the lawyers. Palestinians and an Israeli human rights organisation say about 1,400 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the Gaza offensive. Israel counted 1,166 Palestinians dead and said most were combatants. Israel says it acted in self-defence against Hamas rockets from Gaza. Thirteen Israelis died. Miliband said in his statement: "The procedure by which arrest warrants can be sought and issued without any prior knowledge or advice by a prosecutor is an unusual feature of the system in England and Wales. The government is looking urgently at ways in which the UK system might be changed in order to avoid this sort of situation arising again." In September, pro-Palestinian

lawyers tried to invoke "universal jurisdiction" to arrest Ehud Barak, Israel's defence minister. His status as a cabinet minister gave him diplomatic immunity, which Livni, a former minister, did not have. In 2005, a retired general, Doron Almog, returned to Israel without leaving his plane at Heathrow after a tip-off that police planned to arrest him in connection with the demolition of homes in Gaza • Israel • Gaza • War crimes • Middle East • Law • Gordon Brown • Foreign policy Ian Black guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

New JVC XS-SR3 Dock Gets Your iPod Horizontal [Dock] By Brian Barrett (Gizmodo) Submitted at 12/16/2009 5:40:59 AM

The JVC XS-SR3 has a clean wraparound look and offers horizontal cradling in case you want to watch your content on the smallest screen in your home. The dock does feature Dolby Virtual Surround and can double as a computer speaker system, but the rotating holder is something I can't quite get behind as a concept. Watching a movie on your iPod or iTouch is convenient because of its portability, but if it's tethered to a dock, why not just use your TV or monitor? If you disagree, the XS-SR3 will be available this month for $150. [ JVC]

Best Buy cut by analysts following earnings report By Mark Fightmaster (BloggingStocks)

fourth quarter. As a result, the stock fell more than 8%. Wait, what? Best Buy crushed the Submitted at 12/16/2009 9:00:00 AM Street's estimate, reporting Filed under: Earnings reports, earnings of 53 cents per share A n a l y s t u p g r a d e s a n d when 43 cents per share was downgrades, Best Buy (BBY) On expected; reported increased Tuesday, electronics retailer Best sales of $12.02 billion, topping Buy ( BBY) released third- expectations for $11.98 billion; quarter results, topping the and upped its full-year earnings from $48 billion to $49 billion -Street's forecast along with and revenue guidance to a range so why did the stock plunge? raising guidance for the current of $49 billion to $49.5 billion

Best Buy executives noted that profit margins would fall, thanks to shoppers buying more lowmargin items like "cheap notebook computers and entrylevel flat panel digital TVs." This strategy bothers some analysts, as Anthony Chukumba with FTN Equity Capital Markets noted that, "Best Buy is managing its business for gross margin dollars not the gross margin rate."

Continue reading Best Buy cut by analysts following earnings report Best Buy cut by analysts following earnings report originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 16 Dec 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Guardian team released by kidnappers By Matthew Taylor, The Guardian (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

kidnappers were attached to any specific group. Abdul-Ahad's last message to the Guardian was received last Wednesday. Two days later the Submitted at 12/16/2009 7:28:10 AM newspaper was informed that all A w a r d - w i n n i n g f o r e i g n three journalists had been correspondent Ghaith Abdul- c a p t u r e d , t r i g g e r i n g a c o Ahad and two other journalists ordinated response in the UK and were held hostage for six days Afghanistan. The award-winning Guardian " T h e G u a r d i a n h a s a foreign correspondent Ghaith comprehensive emergency plan Abdul-Ahad was released along to deal with such incidents, with two other journalists today which was enacted immediately after being held hostage for six in both London and Kabul," said days in a remote region of a spokesman. "As part of this Afghanistan. plan the paper engaged Abdul-Ahad and two Afghan professional advisers in the UK journalists, who may wish to and Afghanistan to assist in remain anonymous for their securing the individuals' release." future security, were captured The journalists spent much of last week by an armed gang in the six days on the move in the one of the most dangerous rugged, mountainous province in regions of the country. They cold and snowy conditions, were said today to be exhausted surviving on a diet of soup, tea but in good spirits. and bread. The three had been planning to News of the kidnapping was not i n t e r v i e w m i l i t a n t s i n t h e released in an attempt to ensure mountainous region bordering the safe return of all three Pakistan's North-West Frontier journalists. Their families and the province. relevant authorities in the UK T h e a r e a i s k n o w n a s a and Afghanistan were kept stronghold for Taliban and Arab informed. fighters as well as various militia Alan Rusbridger, editor-in-chief groups, including Hezb-e-Islami, of the Guardian, said: "We're and criminal gangs. very relieved that the three It is not known whether the hostages have been released. It

has been an ordeal for them, and difficult for all involved, including their families. The kidnapping is another illustration of the dangers facing journalists trying to report in many difficult parts of the world. We're delighted the situation has been resolved relatively quickly and that the men are safe." He paid tribute to those who had helped secure the men's safe release. "While we can't name them we would like to thank some particularly brave Afghan colleagues who went to extraordinary lengths to help secure their release." A spokesman for the Guardian said no further details of the incident were being released to avoid compromising the security of those involved, particularly those remaining in Afghanistan. • Afghanistan • Journalist safety • National newspapers • Newspapers • Newspapers & magazines Matthew Taylor The Guardian guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Cramer on BloggingStocks: Remember the pattern of oil rallies By Jim Cramer (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 12/16/2009 9:30:00 AM

Filed under: Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Apple Inc (AAPL), Intel (INTC), Market matters, Anadarko Petroleum (APC), Oil, Cramer on BloggingStocks From TheStreet.com Network • Top Energy and Oil Stocks for 2010 • Top 2010 Stocks: Oil Rigs TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the stocks like to move higher along well-worn paths. With the usual suspects rallying -- gold and oil -- it's important to remember how the oil rallies have unfolded in the past. You have to be able to recall the oil pecking order of the petroleum complex ramp. First to move in the drilling complex is Transocean ( RIG) ( Cramer's Take), the wildest trader in the group. Then it is National Oilwell Varco ( NOV) ( Cramer's Take). Forget that both of these are the least affected by the day-to-day price of oil. The market's real stupid on these oil

Stay in the Game: The Fall and Rise of Alec Baldwin By Scott Brown (Wired Top Stories)

The 30 Rock star -- at the peak of his career after overcoming

adversity again and again and again -- ushers Wired through his

greatest flops.

moves, and that's what happens. On the oil side it is Occidental ( OXY) ( Cramer's Take), which at least is closely correlated and can have a big move throughout the day. Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Remember the pattern of oil rallies Cramer on BloggingStocks: Remember the pattern of oil rallies originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 16 Dec 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Guinea aide admits shooting Camara Before the bell: Futures climb ahead of data, Fed statement (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

commander, who is accused of shooting Camara at point-blank range after an argument, remains at large, and it is unclear how Submitted at 12/16/2009 7:15:46 AM many of the approximately 150 Abubakar Diakite says he fired men formerly under his control at junta leader after being blamed will stay loyal to him. Camara is for massacre of pro-democracy in hospital in Morocco. protesters Diakite said Camara ordered the Guinea's former presidential massacre at a pro-democracy guard chief said today he shot the rally where numerous witnesses country's military strongman, and human rights groups say 157 Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, people were killed and soldiers because he felt betrayed by his raped several women. former boss. A UN commission had travelled Lieutenant Abubakar "Toumba" to Guinea to investigate the D i a k i t e t o l d R a d i o F r a n c e massacre. The commissioners International he shot Camara on interviewed Camara and Diakite 3 December because the junta – and the argument between the leader wanted him to take the two broke out soon after Diakite blame for a massacre of pro- was interrogated, prompting democracy demonstrators. several people close to the junta "I shot him because at a certain to say that the altercation centred point, there was a complete on which of the two would take betrayal in my view, a total the blame for the massacre in betrayal of democracy. He front of the UN. Diakite's [Camara] tried to blame me for statement confirmed this version the events of September 28," of the events. Diakite told RFI in his first Human rights groups have broadcast comments since the named Diakite as one of the assassination attempt. "I will not commanders most responsible for turn myself in because they do the massacre. Witnesses told the not want the truth to be known. Associated Press they saw him They'd prefer to kill me." ordering the killings inside a The former presidential guard stadium. But human rights

groups also hold Camara responsible, given that the presidential guard is under his command. Diplomats and people close to the junta say Camara probably gave the order for the killings and Diakite executed the plan. Junta officials were not immediately available for comment. Camara has not spoken publicly since the assassination attempt, leading many to speculate he is incapacitated. Mineral-rich Guinea has been ruled by strongmen for decades. Camara seized power in a coup in December 2008, hours after the death of long-time dictator Lansana Conté. Camara promised to quickly hand power to civilians in elections in which he would not run. But he began dropping hints that he planned to run after all, prompting September's huge prodemocracy protest in the capital. • Guinea guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

By Melly Alazraki (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 12/16/2009 7:40:00 AM

Filed under: Before the bell, International markets, Market matters, Economic data, Oil, Federal Reserve U.S. stock futures advanced Wednesday morning, ahead of the much anticipated statement from the Federal Reserve coming this afternoon. Oil and commodity prices, too, rose after nearly two weeks of softness. Investors also await several key economic reports due out this morning, including inflation and housing figures. After a reportedly higher-thananticipated inflation rate of 1.8% Tuesday, stocks closed the day in the red. This morning, investors will get a chance to see how much inflation has hit consumers as the Commerce Department will release the consumer price index at 8:30 a.m., an hour before the opening bell. November CPI is expected to have risen 0.4% after climbing 0.2% the previous

Video hands-on with the $80 MenQ netbook By Matt Burns (CrunchGear) Submitted at 12/16/2009 7:30:40 AM

News about the $99 Cherrypal

Africa netbook swept across the vast plains of the blogosphere yesterday. But what would you say if I told you there is now

$80/50 Euro netbook, too? I’m serious and everyone’s pal, Sasah Pallenberg from NetbookNews, got a hands-on with the Windows

CE-powered device from MenQ. Click the link below and find what an $80 computer looks like. You know you wanna.

month. Core CPI, which excludes the often volatile food and energy prices, is expected to be up 0.1% in November after a 0.3% gain in October. While the producer price index (PPI) rose due largely to increased output, consumers will feel the increase in energy prices in the last month. Continue reading Before the bell: Futures climb ahead of data, Fed statement Before the bell: Futures climb ahead of data, Fed statement originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 16 Dec 2009 07:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Desmond Tutu: young people have a Sotheby's and Christie's suffer 75% revenue decline right to be at climate talks | Annie for major art auctions Pickering (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

He seemed so sincere and yet humble like a friendly grandfather. The 78-year-old Nobel peace Submitted at 12/16/2009 7:37:26 AM prizewinner also told me his Older generation has 'made a concern that the proposed target mess of things', archbishop tells of a 2C rise in the average global 15-year-old Annie Pickering, t e m p e r a t u r e w o u l d b e who is in Copenhagen with catastrophic for his native Africa. children's charity Plan UK "In Africa this would mean an When I set off for Copenhagen increase of 3-4C – and that's last week I was hoping to grill hell." some of the world's leading He told me: "We used to have politicians, but I had no idea I spring, summer, autumn and would get to interview the winter but now the seasons have legendary Desmond Tutu. become completely Getting to the great man wasn't unpredictable, we are really at the easy but once I had surpassed the mercy of the heavens." queues of people waiting to He clearly sees climate change receive yet more passes or to get as a human rights issue too: past the intimidating security "When you don't have food, guards, I was in. when you don't have shelter, The interview got off to a great when you begin to suffer from start when the archbishop told me disease such as malaria and it was vital that young people like cholera, those are human rights me were here at this summit issues, especially when it is fighting for climate justice. "It's something which is caused by great to see so many young human action." people at the summit. They are As this week has gone on I've right to say 'this is our world too, been increasingly concerned that you elders have made a mess of the leaders of the western world things and should get out of the who are planning my future seem way'," he said. less and less willing to stand up

and be counted. So it was great to hear that Archbishop Tutu still has faith that a deal can be done. "The disaster is already in progress, but we have it in our power to end this injustice," he said. At home I do all I can to reduce my emissions and have always wanted to know if everyone else sees it the same way as me: it is about action not moaning. So I asked Archbishop Tutu what he does. His response: "I want to be resting with my grandchildren, but I'm here! That is what I am doing." • Annie Pickering is a "young reporter" in Copenhagen working for children's charity Plan UK • Copenhagen climate change conference 2009 • Climate change • Young people • Children guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

By Tom Johansmeyer (BloggingStocks)

Submitted at 12/16/2009 10:00:00 AM

Filed under: Amer Intl Group (AIG), Sotheby's (BID) Christie's and Sotheby's ( BID) were only able to pull in a combined $482.3 million on five high-profile art evening auctions in New York and London this year-- down 75% from 2008. Last year, the same collection of flagship auctions was good for $1.97 billion, which was off from the $2.4 billion record set in 2007. This year's performance still lags 2006's $1.1 billion aggregate tally. From 2003 through 2007, the contemporary art market grew by a factor of eight, according to data from ArtPrice, yet the fun came to an abrupt halt in the fourth quarter of last year, thanks to the collapse of Lehman

Brothers and the near-collapse of American International Group ( AIG), which Sotheby's losing $50 million and Christie's $40 million, as pieces were unable to reach the prices guaranteed to sellers by the auction houses (a practice which has since been abandoned). Continue reading Sotheby's and Christie's suffer 75% revenue decline for major art auctions Sotheby's and Christie's suffer 75% revenue decline for major art auctions originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Make a Pilgrimage to Robot Mecha By Matt Alt (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 12/15/2009 9:00:00 PM

Land of giant bots: A three-story

-tall version of manga automaton Tetsujin 28 -- known in the United States as Gigantor -- is unveiled in Kobe in all its steel glory.

Get started with essential Chrome extensions By Seth Rosenblatt (Webware.com)

Even without extensions, Google Chrome's market share grew phenomenally during its first

year. Now that the No. 1 mostrequested feature has been implemented, it's time to look at

some of Chrome's best extensions. Originally posted at The

Download Blog

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Evo Morales stuns Copenhagen with Adobe Systems: demand to limit temperature rise to Looking good for the 1C long term? By John Vidal (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

humanity and not just half of humanity. We are here to save mother earth. Our objective is to reduce climate change to [under] Submitted at 12/16/2009 7:42:02 AM 1C. [above this] many islands Bolivian president warns of will disappear and Africa will climate 'holocaust' in Africa as suffer a holocaust," he said. Hugo Chávez blames capitalism Limiting warming to 1C would for climate change need an end to all emissions and Two of the world's two most billions of tonnes of carbon radical presidents today shook up dioxide to be sucked from the air the Copenhagen climate change and stored. summit by blaming climate Echoing Cuban president Fidel change squarely on capitalism Castro 18 years ago at the earth and demanding billions of dollars summit in Rio de , Morales i n " r e p a r a t i o n s " f r o m r i c h blamed capitalism squarely for countries. climate change: "The real cause Bolivian President Evo Morales of climate change is the capitalist called on the world leaders to system. If we want to save the raise their ambitions radically earth then we must end that and hold temperature increases economic model. Capitalism over the next century to just 1C. wants to address climate change In the most ambitious statement w i t h c a r b o n m a r k e t s . W e yet made at the climate summit, denounce those markets and the Morales demanded rich countries countries which [promote them]. pay climate change reparations It's time to stop making money and proposed an international from the disgrace that they have climate court of justice to perpetrated." prosecute countries for climate Morales was followed by fellow "crimes". radical President Hugo Chávez of " O u r o b j e c t i v e i s t o s a v e Venezuela who said socialism

was the only way to save the planet and reduce climate change. "The total income of the 500 richest people in the world is greater than the 450m poorest living on $2 a day. We have to change direction. How long are we going to tolerate the current international economic order, and allow the hungry not to have food? "Let's eradicate poverty and bring in climate justice. If capitalism resists we have to do battle with it. If we do not, then mankind, the greatest creation in the universe, will disappear," he said. • Copenhagen climate change conference 2009 • Venezuela • Hugo Chávez • Bolivia • Climate change John Vidal guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

By Steven Mallas (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 12/16/2009 8:30:00 AM

Filed under: Earnings reports, Microsoft (MSFT), Adobe Systems (ADBE), Technology Adobe Systems ( ADBE), a software business dedicated to document solutions and videoediting products, reported Q4 results Tuesday. If you're a shareholder, you might not be too happy since there were declines across the board. Revenues dipped 17%. Earnings per share on an adjusted basis slid 35% to 39 cents. Net cash from operating activities declined 25%. Yeah, I'd say it was a bit of a disappointing release. Interestingly enough, though, it looks like the market wasn't too worried by the numbers. The stock closed higher on Tuesday by 1.6% before the report was issued. At the conclusion of the

Deus Ex Machina, Kittens [Comics] By Mark Wilson (Gizmodo) Submitted at 12/16/2009 5:22:35 AM

Really though, try not to ponder

the true processing power of your crappy laptop. After two glasses of wine, you'll only be crying onto your keyboard while

allegiance. [ xkcd] offering Intel your unquestioning

after-hours session, Adobe was unchanged. Continue reading Adobe Systems: Looking good for the long term? Adobe Systems: Looking good for the long term? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 16 Dec 2009 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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The “Motorized Knee” makes your runnning 30% more efficient By Serkan Toto (CrunchGear) Submitted at 12/16/2009 7:02:52 AM

The JVC XS-SR3 iPod speaker dock plays audio via a series of tubes By Matt Burns (CrunchGear) Submitted at 12/16/2009 6:40:11 AM

JVC is still at the iPod speaker dock game but at least its latest offering bucks the norm and is actually different. Bonus points for that. The XS-SR3 features tubular speakers that are supposed to help simulate surround sound. The dock also holds the iDevice either vertically or horizontally, just like the B&W Zeppelin Mini I reviewed previously. But unlike that iPod speaker dock, this JVC model is actually affordable with a $149 MSRP. NEW UNIQUELY-DESIGNED JVC iPOD DOCK FEATURES

DOLBY VIRTUAL SURROUND New JVC XS-SR3 personal theater holds iPods vertically or horizontally. WAYNE, NJ, December 16, 2009 – A new JVC iPod speaker system features a unique wraparound design, Dolby Virtual Surround, and a dock that like most docks holds an iPod vertically for music listening, but also can cradle it horizontally – ideal for widescreen viewing of video. The new JVC XS-SR3 surround dock is a sleek, glossy black speaker tube with a curved design that allows the iPod to nestle between the speakers. The

iPod holder rotates for viewing video in widescreen mode and comes with four clips to hold selected iPod models. The speakers’ powerful neodymium magnets ensure clean, crisp sound, while Dolby Virtual Surround creates the illusion of a wider sound field when viewing video content. Power output is five watts and the system features two audio inputs, one analog and one digital optical. A remote control is included. In addition to its function as an iPod speaker dock, the XS-SR3 can also be used as computer speaker system. The JVC XS-SR3 is available this month for $149.95.

The researchers at Japan’s Tsukuba University seem to be particularly active when it comes to enhancing human body functions. This is the institution where the famous robot suit HAL -5 was developed and now we have another invention that can help boost the efficiency of our bodies – if that’s what we want and need, that is. A research team at said university has constructed a “motorized knee”, which is actually a kit that – once it’s attached to a person’s body – supports the flexing of the knee. As a result, the runner may use 30% less of the muscle power that is needed to run unassisted. In experiments, runners could jog at 7.5km per hour wearing the kit, which is about 5kg heavy. So in other words, this isn’t an elegant solution (yet). The kit consists of a motorized device that needs to be attached and a control unit that needs to be carried in a backpack. According

Gmail's contact manager now de-dupes en masse By Josh Lowensohn (Webware.com)

E-mail service gets new option for de-duplicating contacts in bulk, a tool that makes it easier to

consolidate an address book from your phone or another e-mail account.

Originally posted at Web Crawler

to the researchers their motorized knee isn’t designed for the physically handicapped but is supposed to support people that want to run in a more efficient way. The kit is expected to be commercialized within the next three years. The research team says it’s significantly smaller and lighter than similar devices that are already on the market (all of which are designed to help physically handicapped walk). Via Nikkei[registration required, paid subscription]

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Ravaging the Nook, Pt. II: We Have Apps! [Nook] By John Herrman (Gizmodo) Submitted at 12/16/2009 6:24:01 AM

For the B&N Nook to be rootedâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;that is, broken open and readied for software modificationâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;is one thing, but the real reason people are excited about hacking this ereader is obvious: they want apps. And apps they will have. Users at Nookdev are reporting that, after a little clever input tricker, they've managed to get the Pandora radio app running on the Nook. At this point the install process is still pretty intimidating: the rooting procedure itself requires a screwdriver, a microSD reader, a computer running Linux and

comfort with the command line, while app installs require setting up a VNC server on the Nook (touchscreen controls evidently don't work properly yet) and launching from an ADB shell session, since the app launcher

doesn't work yet. If this sounds overcomplicated, that's because it is. But the point is, hey, Android apps on the Nook! Pandora's just the first, but a web browser, and email client, and a new

homescreen can't be far off. That's when things could get sticky for Barnes & Noble, whose cellular partner, AT&T, probably won't be too happy about a slew of Nook users trying to use their device's free data connection for doing more than downloading ebooks. They had to know this would happen, so I'd expect there to be a few roadblocks between hacked apps and the Nook's 3G connection, but who knows? Virtually nothing about the Nook's launch went exactly to plan, so who's to say this will? Either way, Nook: hacked. Interest: piqued. Eyes: peeled. [ Nookdevs]

Fake Steve Jobs: YOU'RE Irresponsible and Pointless [Fake Steve] By Fake Steve Jobs (Gizmodo) Submitted at 12/16/2009 12:18:20 AM

Consider this fact: AT&T, a huge wireless provider in the United States, cannot reliably connect calls in New York City.[ Fake Steve]

Neato's VX-11 robot vacuum maps out your floor for efficiency, doesn't ask for weekends off By Darren Murph (Engadget) Submitted at 12/16/2009 10:26:00 AM

Heads-up, Roomba-- your worst nightmare just waltzed into this space we like to call "reality," and it looks fully capable of giving your dirt sucking powers a run for their money. Neato Robotics, a Silicon Valley startup, has just come clean with its very first home service product: the VX-11 robotic

vacuum cleaner. The device is the first to sport the company's own Room Positioning System, which utilizes an array of sensors to "intelligently map the entire floor space to choose the most effective path to clean the whole room, avoiding most obstacles other robots can only detect by impact." It's engineered to be used daily, whisking away dirt as life for granted. We're told that you mind your own business and it'll be cleaning up debris at CES take even the smallest things in e a r l y n e x t m o n t h , t h o u g h

consumers at large won't be able to snag one until February when it hits shelves for $399. Video's just past the break. Gallery: Neato's VX-11 robot vacuum maps out your floor for efficiency, doesn't ask for weekends off Continue reading Neato's VX-11 robot vacuum maps out your floor for efficiency, doesn't ask for weekends off Neato's VX-11 robot vacuum

maps out your floor for efficiency, doesn't ask for weekends off originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| PR Newswire| Email this| Comments

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Dell and Goodwill add more free computer recycling drop off sites By Doug Aamoth (CrunchGear)

New York gets its first solar EV charging station, you can't use it

Submitted at 12/16/2009 7:00:00 AM

Ever tried to get rid of an old, sack o’ crap computer? It’s not as easy as it sounds. You can’t just throw it in the garbage (legally), charitable organizations have finally realized that it takes more time and effort than it’s worth to refurbish a 486 DX2/66 machine that nobody’s going to use anyway, and dumping the computer at your municipal recycling center often costs a pretty penny. Apparently thanks to a partnership between Dell and Goodwill, you can freely recycle old computers at almost 2,000 Goodwill locations around the country. They’ll even take monitors, printers, scanners, keyboards, mice, cables, and speakers. Ever tried to get rid of a CRT monitor? It’s even harder and more expensive than getting rid of a computer. Equipment that still has a little bit of life left in it actually gets reused and even resold, while

By Tim Stevens (Engadget) Submitted at 12/16/2009 8:48:00 AM

FTC sues Intel for alleged monopoly abuse By Paul Miller (Engadget)

innovation" and "harmed consumers." The damages the Submitted at 12/16/2009 10:41:00 AM FTC is after are a bit less clear: Here we go, folks. FTC is suing mainly it wants to stop Intel from “devices in need of repair will Intel for what it sees to be keeping out competition or either be refurbished or broken "anticompetitive tactics." The building or modifying its own down into parts to be recycled by FTC has been circling this debate p r o d u c t s t o i m p a i r t h e since last year, but now it has performance of other products. Dell partners.” Check the program’s website to followed in the steps of the EU, W e ' l l b e d i v i n g i n t o t h e see if there’s a participating and the New York attorney implications of this as we find location near you. Nothing in general(but no longer a cash- out more, but it looks like Boston yet, where I live, but if flush AMD) in prosecuting the C h r i s t m a s c a m e e a r l y f o r and when a location starts chip giant. The FTC claims, N V I D I A . participating here, I’ve got a among other things, that Intel has [Thanks to everyone who sent whole truckload to bring over. abused its monopoly position to this in] FTC sues Intel for alleged P r e s s R e l e a s e | R e c o n n e c t "[wage] a systematic campaign to shut out rivals' competing monopoly abuse originally Partnership Site microchips by cutting off their appeared on Engadget on Wed, access to the marketplace." 16 Dec 2009 10:41:00 EST. Tough words. The FTC says that Please see our terms for use of Intel messed with a compiler to feeds. Permalink| MarketWatch| c h e a t c o m p e t i t o r s o u t o f Email this| Comments performance gains, has "stifled

What do you do when you've got two disused shipping crates, some photovoltaics, and a couple buckets of toxic green paint? Why, you make a solar electric vehicle charging station, the first in New York as it happens. It was created by Beautiful Earth Group, which whipped up this self-contained charging station to juice the company's car, a similarly painted BMW Mini E that just so happens to fit nicely inside -- so long as you don't want to open the doors too wide. About three hours charges the little sucker up for its maximum range of 100 miles, which ought to be just enough to get you out to the Hamptons. Not that you'd want to go there this time of year. New York gets its first solar EV charging station, you can't use it originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Dec 2009 08:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Inhabitat| Email this| Comments

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EU settles affairs with Microsoft, no fines this time By Vladislav Savov (Engadget) Submitted at 12/16/2009 8:24:00 AM

Momentous moment alert -- the EU has just closed the book on its lengthy investigation into potential Microsoft antitrust violations. Lasting through nearly the entire noughties, The European Commission's dissatisfaction with what it perceived as monopolistic practices from Redmond has resulted in some hefty fines over the years, but the conclusion to hostilities has been pleasingly amicable. In exchange for Microsoft's legally binding promise to offer up to 12 other browsers alongside its own, the European executive will give the company a clean bill of competition-friendly health. All this means is that the ballot

screen will be around on Windows operating systems for at least the next five years (starting in mid-March 2010), which should give the EU plenty of time to think up the next batch of allegations to throw Microsoft's way. EU settles affairs with Microsoft, no fines this time originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Dec 2009 08:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Wall Street Journal| Email this| Comments

Submitted at 12/16/2009 7:22:47 AM

Twitter releases the year's top trending topics, Microsoft brings Bing to the iPhone, and how to use Google for medical emergencies. 3 minutes 53 seconds

By Darren Murph (Engadget)

Bluetooth devices with it, and watch as your favorite tunes are Submitted at 12/16/2009 10:02:00 AM transmitted from device to driver Just now dusting off those vinyl- sans cabling. It's almost magical, wrapped cabinets from the glory but we're not quite sure if it's days of disco? Good, 'cause $49.99 magical. Belkin's about to breathe new life Continue reading Belkin into 'em. The outfit's newly Bluetooth Music Receiver adds u n v e i l e d B l u e t o o t h M u s i c BT functionality to your 70s era Receiver presents itself as the home stereo device to stream your iPhone and Belkin Bluetooth Music iPod touch jams to your home Receiver adds BT functionality to December 16, 2009 7:22 AM stereo, but in realty, this thing y o u r 7 0 s e r a h o m e s t e r e o PST will work with any BT 2.0- originally appeared on Engadget fivefilters.org featured article: enabled music streaming device. on Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:02:00 Normalising the crime of the Phones, PMPs, genetically EST. Please see our terms for century by John Pilger. Available modified children -- you name it. use of feeds. Permalink| Belkin| tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text Simply plug the base station Email this| Comments RSS, Term Extraction. (shown after the break) into your home stereo, pair up to six

Call 911 or just Google it (CNET News.com)

Belkin Bluetooth Music Receiver adds BT functionality to your 70s era home stereo

Evernote, the Android Note App You Need, Is Here [Android Apps] By matt buchanan (Gizmodo) Submitted at 12/16/2009 12:50:14 AM

Even in beta, we highlighted Evernote as one of Android's 30 essential apps. It takes notes, recordings and photos and syncs them online instantly, so they're available anywhere. It's final, and should be showing up in the Marketplace later today. Unlike most Android apps that have iPhone counterparts, you won't feel like you're getting the short end of the app stick, with full features like location-tagged notes. Like we said before, Android needs a note-taking appâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;you might as well get one that creates notes that are backed up online and that you can access anywhere, for free. [ Evernote]

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AAXA cranks up the brightness on M1 micro projector

Video Game Timeline: A 2-Minute Crash History Course [Video Games]

By Darren Murph (Engadget) Submitted at 12/16/2009 9:37:00 AM

We can't say with any degree of certainty that AAXA's recently announced M1 "micro projector" truly is the brightness of the miniaturized bunch, but it's certainly brighter than the vast majority we've had the dis pleasure of seeing ourselves. Most pico projectors pack between 8 and 12 lumens, and up until now, AAXA's own P2 was widely consider the best for using in partially lit rooms due to its 33 lumen rating. The M1 doubles up on that figure, bringing 66 lumens to the table along with a native SVGA (800 x 600) resolution, 1GB of onboard memory, an SD card reader and optional iPod, PSP and DVD cables. Said display is up for pre-

By Mark Wilson (Gizmodo) Submitted at 12/16/2009 6:00:00 AM

Chrome edges out Safari in browser usage By Stephen Shankland (Webware.com) Submitted at 12/15/2009 12:33:00 PM

By one measurement, Chrome has surpassed Safari in browser

Rumor: Is Panasonic working on a sucessor to the GF1?

order as we speak for $299, while the M1 Plus -- which supports VGA and composite AV inputs -will set you back $359. AAXA cranks up the brightness on M1 micro projector originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Dec 2009 09:37:00 EST. Dave Freeman Please see our terms for use of By (CrunchGear) feeds. Permalink Pico Projector I n f o | A A X A | E m a i l t h i s | Submitted at 12/16/2009 6:05:27 AM Comments So what’s the deal? Is Panasonic working on a new camera? The short version is yes. The long version is a little more complicated. Micro Four Thirds cameras are hot right now. Between Pano’s G1 and the Olympus E-P2, it’s usage. Although 0.03 percentage just crazy how fast this style is points isn't much, Chrome selling. The new, unnamed c e r t a i n l y i s o n a n u p w a r d Panasonic camera goes in a slightly different direction; a trajectory. FourThirds camera – NOT Originally posted at Deep Tech another MicroFourThirds. We’re

going to call this one a rumor because it’s coming to us from a patent filing, and not from any particular source. This means that Panasonic is going to be announcing a DSLR style camera with Live-View, a mirror and prism system, and an interchangeable lens mount. What you are losing however, is image stabilization, and video recording. The real questions are going to be how much, and when, but for now we’ll just have to be happy with the technical drawings. [via 4/3rumors]

It's a great divide. Many of our readers watched as video games were born and developed to this day. Others never knew a world without friends lists and Live accounts. Regardless of your background, this timeline will catch you up. (Click image for full-size popout.) Some notables are missing, from 3DO to the Jaguar to even the infamous Virtual Boy. But you should gain some perspective all the same while we wait for the inevitable Failed Video Game Timeline follow-up. [ Online Education via GoNintendo]

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Congress Gives Oh look, POP247 video CrunchDeals: Flip $30 Million To game, Blu-ray vending MinoHD camcorder for Fight 'Piracy' machines trickle into the UK By Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

$120

By Nicholas Deleon (CrunchGear)

By Doug Aamoth (CrunchGear)

Submitted at 12/16/2009 8:00:33 AM

Would you buy a video game out of a vending machine? I certainly would, if only to avoid the phony human contact thrust upon me at GameStop. So these POP247 whiz-bangs are great. Too bad I’ve never seen one here. They’re starting to appear in the UK, home of formerly good football team Liverpool FC. Sony and Universal are behind the machines, and they dispense, yes, titles from said studios. It’s not just video games, either, but DVDs and Blu-ray discs, too. In the future, they may even provide a way to push downloadable content, like PSP Go games.

Submitted at 12/16/2009 6:13:00 AM

Let’s be honest: the most exciting part about this post was the completely unnecessary dig at Liverpool FC. Without Torres and Gerrard that team would be fighting for top-flight survival this year. Fact.

Ho ho ho, this may be the lowest price you’ll see on a new Flip MinoHD camcorder for a while. Amazon’s got them for $120, today only, down from $160. To be honest, Cisco just bought Flip and they’re expected to unveil some new products at CES (like, perhaps, Wi-Fi enabled camcorders?) so Flip might just be blowing these things out to make room for the new stuff. Either way, today you get a somewhat reasonably-priced pocket camcorder. The Flip MinoHD features an hour of recording time, flip-out USB connector, 1280×720 resolution, 1.5-inch LCD,

Submitted at 12/16/2009 5:10:00 AM

Recent studies have shown that - despite a massive recession -both the music and movie industries are having fantastic years. However, both industries are complaining about how they're being "killed" by "piracy." There's no evidence of this of course, but when it comes to copyright, politicians don't seem to believe evidence is necessary. They just spring into action. So, just as a bunch of Federal government rechargeable battery, and tripod representatives sat down for a mount. It’s small, too. Right in private meeting with your pocket it’ll go. entertainment industry bosses, F l i p M i n o H D Congress agreed to earmark Camcorder[Amazon via another $30 million to propping dealnews] up their obsolete business models fighting "piracy." It's a nice deal. Copyright infringement should, by any honest definition of the term, be a civil issue, taken up between private parties. There is a criminal component to copyright law, but it makes little sense. However, now the Justice nano. Who would want video this Department and other local shitty on their phone? Nobody. officials have a pool of cash so (Never mind that Cycorder, a that they can be the entertainment jailbreak app, somehow manages industry's police force and 15fps at a res of 384x288). [ private prosecutors. iTunes via TheAppleBlog] Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

An Apple-Approved Crappy Video Recording App for Pokey Old iPhones [IPhone Apps] By matt buchanan (Gizmodo)

really crappy. Resolution is 160×213. At three frames a second. Three. And you What's this? Apple approved a only record for one minute. But video recording app for the you can share your cruddy video iPhone 3G and iPhone OldGee? lots of places real easy! Like, for the App Store? Yeah, It's kind of a brilliant move, making it to older iPhones, when it's called iVideoCamera and it's letting this fly, to muffle anybody it's even on the goddamn iPod 99 cents. It's pretty crappy. Okay, complaining about video not Submitted at 12/16/2009 12:28:34 AM

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FTC sues Intel over 'anticompetitive tactics' (CNET News.com)

competitive threats to its monopoly," said Richard A. Submitted at 12/16/2009 7:01:00 AM Feinstein, director of the FTC's The Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Competition, in a announced Wednesday that it is statement. "It's been running suing Intel, claiming that the chip roughshod over the principles of giant has illegally used its fair play and the laws protecting dominance to stymie competition competition on the merits. The a n d t o s t r e n g t h e n i t s o w n Commission's action today seeks monopoly. to remedy the damage that Intel In so doing, says the FTC, the h a s d o n e t o c o m p e t i t i o n , company has robbed consumers innovation, and, ultimately, the of both choice and innovation in American consumer." microprocessors, including those Intel responded Wednesday that outshone Intel's own: "Intel's morning with a vigorous rebuttal, anticompetitive tactics were calling the FTC case "misguided" designed to put the brakes on and ill-informed. superior competitive products Intel has competed fairly and that threatened its monopoly in l a w f u l l y . I t s a c t i o n s h a v e the CPU microchip market." benefitted consumers. The highly The agency's complaint alleges competitive microprocessor that Intel used a series of threats industry, of which Intel is a key and rewards to convince top PC part, has kept innovation robust makers such as Dell, Hewlett- and prices declining at a faster P a c k a r d , a n d I B M t o n o t rate than any other industry. The purchase computer chips from FTC's case is misguided. It is the competition. Intel also based largely on claims that the allegedly prevented computer FTC added at the last minute and manufacturers from marketing has not investigated. In addition, PCs with non-Intel processors. it is explicitly not based on In addition, the FTC contends existing law but is instead that Intel secretly revamped its intended to make new rules for compiler to slow the performance regulating business conduct. of rival chips and simply told its These new rules would harm customers that the software c o n s u m e r s b y r e d u c i n g performed better on its own chips innovation and raising prices. that on those of the competition. The chipmaker added that case "Intel has engaged in a deliberate should have been settled, not sent c a m p a i g n t o h a m s t r i n g into litigation.

"Settlement talks had progressed very far but stalled when the FTC insisted on unprecedented remedies--including the restrictions on lawful price competition and enforcement of intellectual property rights set forth in the complaint--that would make it impossible for Intel to conduct business," Doug Melamed, Intel's newly appointed general counsel, said in a statement. The FTC is now seeking an order to prevent Intel from using threats, bundled prices, or other offers to strike exclusive deals, shut out competition, or manipulate the prices of its chips. The regulatory agency is also considering an order that would prohibit Intel from stifling the sale of competitive chips or from making products to weaken their performance. Past cases focused on Intel, Advanced Micro Devices, and central processing units (CPUs), but the FTC case adds a new element--graphical processing units, such as those from chipmaker Nvidia. "Intel allegedly once again finds itself falling behind the competition--this time in the critical market for graphics processing units, commonly known as GPUs, as well as some other related markets. These

3 Smart Things About the Vacuum of Space By Patrick Di Justo (Wired Top Stories)

Brush up on the facts about the vacuum of space, like why it'll kill you in minutes by

asphyxiation, not in seconds by ripping you apart.

products have lessened the need for CPUs, and therefore pose a threat to Intel's monopoly power. Intel has responded to this competitive challenge by embarking on a similar anticompetitive strategy, which aims to preserve its CPU monopoly by smothering potential competition from GPU chips such as those made by Nvidia," the FTC said in its statement. "As part of this latest campaign, Intel misled and deceived potential competitors in order to protect its monopoly. The complaint alleges that there also is a dangerous probability that Intel's unfair methods of competition could allow it to extend its monopoly into the GPU chip markets." In November, Intel settled its antitrust dispute with AMD, in a deal that includes a $1.25 billion payment to AMD. Updated at 7:55 a.m. PDT with FTC statement on graphical processing units and with Intel's response to the FTC lawsuit. fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Italian Politician Blames Facebook For Berlusconi Attack; Facebook Begins SelfCensorship By Mike Masnick (Techdirt) Submitted at 12/16/2009 6:50:00 AM

By now you've probably heard that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was attacked with a statue last weekend. Apparently, his political friends have decided that Facebook and Twitter are to blame for this, and they're now considering laws to crack down (even more than already) on what is allowed on such sites. Perhaps aware of how Italian prosecutors are still pushing forward with criminal charges against Google execs over a single video on YouTube posted by some kids, Facebook apparently was quick to respond that it will happily monitor and censor content on the social networking site that relates to Berlusconi. As the CSMonitor article points out, Berlusconi owns a significant portion of the media business in Italy, and the internet is often viewed as a problem because he hasn't been able to control it. Thus, this may just be another political move to try to gain more control over dissenting voices online -- and it's a shame that Facebook would so easily play along. Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

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Microsoft crippled by its antitrust past (CNET News.com)

experience. Government, in other words, probably solved little. But what it Once a monopolist, always a did was create a culture of monopolist? Not in Microsoft's caution within Microsoft that case. While no one will accuse stultifies its ability and desire to Microsoft of being a forlorn Tiny compete. (We should note that Tim, it's also no longer the j u s t t o d a y , t h e E u r o p e a n Ebeneezer Scrooge that it once Commission formally ended its was. In fact, Microsoft seems browser-focused antitrust pursuit haunted by the ghost of of Microsoft, following monopolies past, to the point that concessions by Redmond.) it has lost its ability to fight on Microsoft's competitors, like equal terms for new markets. Google, thrive in the wake of this Look at the markets the U.S. fear, uncertainty, and doubt that government sought to open by plagues Microsoft. Ironically, suing Microsoft for monopolistic competitors like Google do many practices. Microsoft's market of the same things that got share in media players, Windows, Microsoft into hot water with the etc. remains largely unaffected U.S. Justice Department. by the government lawsuits. Google et al. are free to I miss the smell of monopoly in compete. Microsoft is not. the morning Granted, this constricted Where Microsoft has lost market f r e e d o m m a y b e m o r e share ( as in Web browsers and psychological than real. As a mobile), the competition hasn't journalist friend said to me on relied on consent decrees and the Tuesday, "Everybody thought like to win. Firefox wins because M i c r o s o f t l a u g h e d o f f t h e of its community development antitrust thing. But I think it and distribution. Apple's iPhone really did take the wind out of a n d G o o g l e A n d r o i d a r e their competitive sails." trouncing Windows Mobile I do, too. In fact, a few years ago because they significantly change a friend and I set out to start a the rules of engagement for business delivering Microsoft mobile while providing a better Office-like functionality to Submitted at 12/16/2009 7:39:00 AM

market share for the products in question. I don't want a monopoly. I understand the important competitive principles that Mozilla and others are fighting for in the ongoing browser/etc. wars. But I want a competitor again. m o b i l e p h o n e s , w h i c h w e Microsoft has lost its fight. This ultimately abandoned. We didn't should concern us. It should bother us because worry about Microsoft suing us f o r p a t e n t o r c o p y r i g h t companies like Google need to infringement. My friend had be kept on their toes. It should successfully sued Microsoft for nag at us because Microsoft anticompetitive practices in the writes great software that is Caldera litigation. We knew comparatively easy to use, and Microsoft's hands were tied by its we need its influence on the market. antitrust settlement. Microsoft is not the same I hardly use Microsoft software, company it once was. It's under preferring Apple and Google and siege, and seemingly incapable of open source. But I'd still like responding. I think we're the Microsoft's influence on the market, and not as a milquetoast poorer for it. No, this isn't a paean to competitor too afraid of antitrust Microsoft monopolies. Rather, shadows to thrash a competitor. it's a plea for a Microsoft that Man up, Microsoft. fivefilters.org featured article: competes vigorously to win. Normalising the crime of the Not one that repents in sackcloth and ashes for the "sin" of century by John Pilger. Available competing with open source. Not tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text o n e t h a t i s c o n t i n u o u s l y RSS, Term Extraction. constrained by various antitrust authorities even as it erodes

Hitwise: 'Facebook' the year's top search term By Caroline McCarthy (Webware.com) Submitted at 12/15/2009 1:58:00 PM

Searches for the still-growingfast social network dominated last year's leader, MySpace, for the first time, according to the

traffic firm. Originally posted at The Social

Twitter App for Zune Is Almost Here By Stan Schroeder (Mashable!) Submitted at 12/16/2009 12:55:47 AM

One more reason for following Twitter: You can find out when the Twitter application for your favorite mobile gadget will be released. Exhibit A is this tweet from the Zune team, claiming the Twitter app for Zune is coming really soon. Sayeth the tweet: “Zune Nation! The Twitter App for Zune is coming tomorrow — more details in the morning! ^BJ” Yes, that’s pretty much all we know at this point, so we’ll just have to wait patiently and see how the app works in practice. Reviews: Twitter Tags: twitter, zune

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Apple wins permanent injunction against Psystar (CNET News.com)

after this order is filed, defendant shall reasonably see it done." It would seem, then, to be over After 17 months of litigation, the for Psystar, though we likely hammer has finally fallen on haven't yet heard the last of it. Psystar. Alsup's injunction doesn't include The U.S. District Court for the t h e c o m p a n y ' s R e b e l E F I Northern District of California on software, which allows Mac OS Tuesday granted Apple's request X to be installed on PCs. So for for permanent injunction against now the company can continue to the Mac clone maker. This bars sell it, though Alsup warns that to Psystar from peddling PCs with do so is a risky legal proposition the Mac OS X operating system at best. preinstalled, from circumventing "Rebel EFI will not be expressly the technological measures Apple excluded from the terms of the uses to prevent unauthorized injunction," Alsup wrote. "It copying of Mac OS X, and from should be clear, however, that assisting others in doing so. this ruling is without prejudice to " D e f e n d a n t m u s t b r i n g i t s Psystar bringing a new motion conduct into compliance with the before the undersigned that injunction by midnight on includes real details about Rebel December 31, 2009, at the EFI, and opening itself up to latest," U.S. District Judge formal discovery thereon. This William Alsup wrote in his would serve the purpose--akin to r u l i n g . " D e f e n d a n t m u s t a post-injunction motion vetting a immediately begin this process, 'design-around' in a patent actionand take the quickest path to -of potentially vetting (or not compliance; thus, if compliance vetting) a product like Rebel EFI can be achieved within one hour under this order's decree. Submitted at 12/16/2009 7:17:00 AM

Virtual currency exchange to launch in 2010 By Dave Rosenberg (Webware.com) Submitted at 12/15/2009 10:33:00 AM

Virtual currencies have become

big moneymakers for social sites. A new site will let users swap currencies across virtual borders. Originally posted at Software, Interrupted

"Moreover, Psystar may raise in such a motion any defenses it believes should apply to the factual circumstances of its new product, such as the 17 U.S.C. 117 defense raised in its opposition and at oral argument. Whether such a defense would be successful on the merits, or face preclusion or other hurdles, this order cannot predict. What is certain, however, is that until such a motion is brought, Psystar will be selling Rebel EFI at its peril, and risks finding itself held in contempt if its new venture falls within the scope of the injunction." Below is the permanent injunction order in full: Case3-08-cv-03251WHADocument242fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

UK Aggregator NewsNow Dumps Newspapers After They Demand Payment To Link To Stories By Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

is a perhaps an under-reported fact that the terms dictated by the NLA scheme would oblige us to Back in October, we wrote about hand over customer details to the how various newspapers, under N L A , w h i c h s e e m s t o b e the auspices of the "Newspaper developing a potential rival L i c e n s i n g A g e n c y " w e r e service itself. It is hard to threatning NewsNow, a UK news i m a g i n e t h a t t h i s k i n d o f a g g r e g a t o r t h a t i s ( i n m y behaviour would be tolerated in experience) one of the more any other sector. The NLA has comprehensive aggregators out also offered no reasonable there, but which only shows guarantees of limitations on the headlines and links to full stories. increase of costs over time. We It's difficult to see how that strongly feel that to accept the would be a copyright violation in N L A ' s t e r m s w o u l d s e t a anyone's definition of the term or dangerous precedent restricting why that should require any kind our customers' ability to conduct of license. The NLA gave their business freely. We see this NewsNow until last week to as a 'slippery slope' towards any "comply" and according to the free-to-access website demanding folks over at the Nieman Lab, l i c e n c e f e e s f r o m a n y NewsNow has decided to bid organisation for circulating or adieu to those sources rather than c l i c k i n g o n l i n k s . " I t i s pay up:"Unfortunately, we have interesting that part of the license not been able to reach an would have required handing agreement with the NLA. In spite over customer info, and good of of the NLA's claims to the NewsNow to resist this. The contrary, we continue to maintain aggregator says that it will still that what they are demanding of provide links to those sources in ourselves and our customers is its free (extremely feature unacceptable and of questionable limited) online offerings, but will legitimacy. Irrespective of the r e m o v e t h e m f r o m i t s lack of a legal basis, the NLA's subscription offerings. It's licence is not fit for purpose. This difficult to see how this benefits is not just about the charges they anyone. It makes life worse for intend to impose on us, but the newspapers, NewsNow itself and charges they would also impose NewsNow customers. on our customers for receiving Permalink| Comments| Email and circulating links within their This Story own organisations. In addition, it Submitted at 12/15/2009 9:01:00 PM

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No, Sending Spam Text Messages Is Outnumbered presents Not The Same As Hacking an interesting twist on Someone's Phone iPhone multiplayer By Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

claim for "accessing" her phone. Information Claim: The court rejects the information-based There's just something about the c l a i m b e c a u s e t h e r e ' s n o Computer Fraud and Abuse Act - i n f o r m a t i o n t h a t W S O D - the "anti-hacking" law in the allegedly obtained through US -- that seems to leave it open accessing the plaintiff's phone. for abuse in lawsuits. This is the Plaintiff analogizes to websites law that was used to convict Lori a n d a r g u e s t h a t a n y t i m e Drew. Even though the judge someone sends a message to a eventually tossed the ruling, it mobile phone, information is showed how the broadly-worded "obtained" in the same way that l a w c o u l d b e a p p l i e d i n information is obtained any time dangerous ways. Still, at least someone accesses a website. The some attempts at twisting the law court rejects this analogy, finding aren't getting very far. For that "there is a fundamental example, a woman in Minnesota difference between viewing tried to use the law against a websites and communicating company that sent her spam text with wireless devices such as cell messages she never requested, p h o n e s b y s e n d i n g t e x t and discovered that in order to m e s s a g e s . " E v e n i f t h e bring a case under a law, you transmission of an unwanted text have to actually show that the message somehow resulted in the law was broken: Plaintiff brings "obtaining of information," the three possible claims: (1) a claim court concludes that there's no for obtaining information from loss as a result of defendant her phone; (2) a claim for having obtained the information. transmitting information or code Transmission Claim: The through her phone; and (3) a transmission claim requires Submitted at 12/16/2009 1:20:16 AM

plaintiff to allege that WSOD caused the transmission of code or information and as a result "intentionally caused damage without authorization" to plaintiff's device. The complaint fails on both counts. There wasn't a credible allegation of damage (there was no allegation of impairment to the machine) or of WSOD's intent to cause the damage. Access Claim: The court rejects the access claim since plaintiff does not adequately allege that the unauthorized access was intentional. So, nice try, but no dice. Someone sending unsolicited text messages to your mobile phone may be annoying (and potentially illegal under other laws), but it's not hacking under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

Document Details Help TJX Hacker Gave Prosecutors By Kim Zetter (Wired Top Stories)

Albert Gonzalez told Secret Service agents that four credit card processors were still "under Submitted at 12/15/2009 9:00:00 PM attack" by the Russian hacking Following his arrest last year, team of "Grigg" and "Annex" â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

his overseas accomplices in the largest identity theft in history, according to text recovered from an improperly redacted defense document.

By Mike Schramm (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 12/15/2009 11:30:00 PM

Filed under: Gaming, Software, Developer, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch Veiled Games sent word of their new game, Outnumbered[ iTunes link], on the iPhone app store, and it seems intriguingly different. It's basically a multiplayer arcade game, which pits two iPhones or iPod touches against each other via Bluetooth. One player takes over the role of the O.N.E., a singular robot armed with weapons and special attacks, and the other player controls M.A.N.Y., which is a top-down view where you can control waves of attacking units and robots. The two players duke it out, with the first controlling his robot around the arena, and the second overseeing the armies and buying new units with collected currency. When the single robot is dead, players switch sides, and whoever earns the most points while fighting (for attacking, moving, or a few other criteria) wins the game. Interesting idea. Of course,

you'll need a friend with their own iPhone or iPod touch to do all of this, and you'll have to be in the same room, as the connection only works (so far) over Bluetooth. If you're still confused as to how it all works, there's a nice tutorial video up(although that voice gets to be a bit much after a while) that explains how the game goes down. Most of the big iPhone titles we've seen this year mostly focus on single player gaming, so it's cool to see an attempt like this to try something that more than one player can share. Outnumbered is available in the App Store [ iTunes Link] right now for 99 cents, and a lite version (that will allow a second player to play along, although one of the two players must own the full version) is due out soon. TUAW Outnumbered presents an interesting twist on iPhone multiplayer originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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First Solar: 1 billion watts served (CNET News.com) Submitted at 12/16/2009 6:43:37 AM

As of July 2009, First Solar has four manufacturing plants in Malaysia, as well as a North American plant in Perrysburg Township, Ohio.(Credit: First Solar) First Solar has produced and shipped 1 gigawatt's worth of photovoltaic solar systems for 2009, the company announced Wednesday. Hitting the gigawatt mark--the equivalent of 1,000 megawatts or 1 billion watts--is significant as it shows a drastic rise in production and consumer interest. First Solar, which makes cadmium telluride solar cells and panels, produced only about 75 megawatts in 2007, and between 420 megawatts and 460 megawatts in 2008, according to the company's own statistics. But the leap shouldn't be a surprise: the solar company has been signing massive deals with municipalities over the last year. In March, First Solar announced that it had acquired the rights to complete about 1,300 megawatts worth of utility-scale projects that its rival OptiSolar was unable to

By Stan Schroeder (Mashable!) Submitted at 12/16/2009 1:19:42 AM

…and we’re talking most popular by far, with more than 120 million views: Susan Boyle’s astonishing performance at Britain’s Got Talent. This is hardly a surprise, given the enormous buzz the video has caused. Because it’s basically a reprise of Paul Potts’s finish. Then in August, First project is not scheduled to be performance from 2007, one has Solar signed a deal with Southern completed until 2019, 1,000 to wonder whether Britain’s Got California Edison to supply solar megawatts are to be installed by Talent— with its “surprising” modules for a 250-megawatt 2014. discovery of hidden talents — solar power installation for First Solar's increased volume will continue its YouTube reign Desert Center in Riverside may also be having an effect on in 2010, too. County and a 300-megawatt its bottom line. The company Susan Boyle’s performance is installation in San Bernardino announced earlier this year that it followed by“David After County. had broken the"the $1 per watt Dentist” with more than 37 There is promise of more to barrier" for manufacturing costs. million views,“JK Wedding come. In September, First Solar fivefilters.org featured article: Entrance Dance” with more than announced that it had signed a Normalising the crime of the 33 million views, the trailer for memorandum of understanding century by John Pilger. Available the New Moon movie with 31 with China to partner on a tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text million views and“Evian Roller massive, 2,000-megawatt power RSS, Term Extraction. Babies” in the fifth place with plant in Ordos City, Inner more than 27 million views. Mongolia. While the entire Besides the top five videos watched globally on the service, the folks at YouTube also listed The workings of the self- ultradense geared ring rotating on the top five music videos of winding watch were inspired by a carbon rollers. Here's a history of 2009, as well as the fastest rising search terms per month (both seesaw almost 100 years ago. the tech as the watch evolved. Today's EvoTec is powered by an

Evolution of the Self-Winding Wristwatch By Jonathon Keats (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 12/15/2009 9:00:00 PM

And the Most Popular YouTube Video of 2009 Is…

globally and for the U.S.). The list of popular search terms reads like a very condensed history of 2009: January: inauguration February: christian bale March: the climb April: susan boyle May: pacquiao vs hatton June: michael jackson thriller July: michael jackson August: usain bolt September: kanye west October: paranormal activity November: bad romance December: tiger woods Yup, that’s pretty much how I remember it. Check the rest of YouTube’s year-end lists here. Reviews: YouTube Tags: video, viral video, youtube

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"Apple has a two or three-year lead" in mobile internet domination By Michael Grothaus (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

Internet computing, which is supposed to be for the 2000s what desktop Internet computing was for the 1990s, personal Submitted at 12/16/2009 9:30:00 AM computing for the 1980s, mini Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, computing for the 1970s, and Internet, Apple, iPhone, iPod mainframe computing for the touch 1960s. Philip Elmer-DeWitt has an "Apple has a two or three-year excellent article over at Fortune's lead" according to Katy Huberty, Apple 2.0 blog on Morgan thanks to an installed base of 57 Stanley's The Mobile Internet million handsets, 100,000 apps seminar. The article is full of a n d 2 0 0 m i l l i o n i T u n e s juicy tidbits, but here is the main subscribers with credit card course: numbers on file. Another Based on past performance, interesting tidbit that DeWitt according to Morgan Stanley, spotlights is a diagram that Apple is in the "pole position" in compares Facebook's 350,000 the race to dominate mobile apps and 137% year-over-year

growth with the iPhone's 100,000 apps and 163% growth. As DeWitt points out,"The place where Mark Zuckerberg's 430 million users overlap with Steve

Be sure to check out DeWitt's article, as it's a great read, but if you want to delve deeper, you can check out the 92 slides of the Morgan Stanley presentation, the 659-slide "key themes" presentation, and the massive 424 -page Mobile Internet Report, all in PDF format. TUAW"Apple has a two or three -year lead" in mobile internet domination originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog Jobs' 57 million is the sweet spot (TUAW) on Wed, 16 Dec 2009 of the mobile Internet. It's here, 09:30:00 EST. Please see our according to Morgan Stanley, terms for use of feeds. where we find the future of Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments computing."

Operation Cuckoo to oppose Operation Chokehold By Dave Caolo (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

usage. Customers became literally furious with rage and, encouraged by Fake Steve Jobs, Submitted at 12/16/2009 11:00:00 AM vowed to do the polar opposite: Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, simultaneously run the most dataPortables, Internet Tools, iPhone h u n g r y a p p s o n F r i d a y , In what sounds like the title of December 18th. Thus, Operation the worst Bruce Willis movie Chokehold was born. There's ever, a group of pro-AT&T even a Facebook event for it. Facebook users are up in arms Now, some other Facebook about Operation Chokehold. users with Stockholm Syndrome Let's start from the beginning. have formed a counter-group Earlier this week, AT&T's chief called Operation Cuckoo. From executive of Mobility, Ralph de their manifesto: la Vega stated that he wants "... you don't urge AT&T to iPhone users to limit their data improve its network and terms by

attempting to bring it down or violating your contract with the entity. Much the same as you don't put out a fire with a gasoline shower."

Yes, Fake Steve's little stunt is childish and in all likelihood not to be taken seriously (though AT&T is not amused). But if my own iPhone is rendered AT&T-

free on Friday because of this bit of nonsense, I'll be pissed. [Via iPhone Savior] TUAW Operation Cuckoo to oppose Operation Chokehold originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 16 Dec 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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'Christmas in Cupertino': because there isn't enough weird stuff on the web By Michael Grothaus (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

New Zealand Brings Back Three Strikes... With Some Oversight

Submitted at 12/16/2009 10:30:00 AM

Filed under: Humor, Steve Jobs, Holidays You guys know I love combining Christmas and my Mac, but this is just plain weird. A Dutch Apple community website by the name of One More Thing has written and produced a Christmas song called'Christmas in Cupertino'. The song was composed and recorded in two weeks with the famous Dutch singers Sjarrel & Sjaan delivering the vocals. The song focuses on Steve Jobs and Phil Schiller in their activities in Cupertino in the 'dark days' before Christmas and ... pictures them 'dancing 'round the Apple tree'. If that's not weird enough for you, Steve Jobs's liver transplant is also mentioned. What's even crazier is that you can buy it on iTunes. In fairness, due to Steve Jobs' call for more attention to organ donation at his keynote earlier this year, One More Thing will

By Mike Masnick (Techdirt) Submitted at 12/16/2009 3:19:00 AM

donate all proceeds from the song to de Dutch Liver Foundaction. Netherlands, I've been to your country many times. It's so quaint, so charming, so full of life; and what can I say? This quirkiness/oddness just makes me love you guys even more. And, though I'm loathe to admit it, the song is kinda catchy. So TUAW readers, for 99 cents why not buy the song [ iTunes link], have a good laugh, and contribute to a great cause? Now, without further ado, I present to

you the 'Christmas in Cupertino' music video (with subtitles). Christmas in Cupertino from One More Thing on Vimeo. TUAW'Christmas in Cupertino': because there isn't enough weird stuff on the web originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Dec. 16, 1832: A Towering Engineer Is Born By Randy Alfred (Wired Top Stories)

You may have heard a little about Gustave Eiffel, but he was no one-trick pony.

Last year, you may recall that New Zealand tried to sneak through a "three strikes" type law that relied solely on accusations and would kick people off the internet. After first resisting, the government realized that public outrage over the plan was too strong and scrapped the plan, but admitted it was planning to try again, though with a bit more oversight. It looks like that's exactly what's happened. The New Zealand government has released its new three strikes plan that is a bit more sane. You can still get kicked off the internet, which is troubling, but it's a much more involved process. The system involves a notice-and-notice offering, whereby copyright holders notify an ISP, who notifies the user. After three notices, you don't face disconnection, but a government

tribunal, who can fine the user monetarily, but only to recover "damages," not for punitive reasons. Finally, if there are still more signs of infringement, the rights holder can take the user to court, which can lead to much larger fines and the possibility of losing an internet connection for six months. Throughout the process, the user will be able to appeal. This is certainly a lot more reasonable than the original plan, but I still find any plan that involves kicking people off the internet entirely for their actions to be draconian and impossible to enforce reasonably. These days, your mobile phone or even a desk phone may use the internet, and many people require internet access for their jobs. It seems ridiculous to kick people off entirely. Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

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HUGE: FarmVille Maker Zynga Raises an Astounding $180 Million By Ben Parr (Mashable!) Submitted at 12/15/2009 10:13:21 PM

OK, so we knew that the social gaming space was big — just look at the blockbuster $300$400 million acquisition of Playfish. We also knew that FarmVille creator Zynga was huge — they are likely bigger than Twitter and were valued at $1 billion last month. Well, it’s time to throw all of those numbers and assumptions out of the window. Digital Sky Technologies (D.S.T.), the same Russian venture capital firm that paid $200 million to buy a chunk of F acebook, has dropped a ton of money on one of Facebook’s biggest beneficiaries. The total

amount of the round is $180 million, which included participation from several other venture capital firms. The FarmVille and Mafia Wars maker now be worth between $1.5 billion and $3 billion. According to The New York Times, D.S.T. will not only buy directly into Zynga, but will be purchasing shares from current shareholders, a.k.a. the Zynga founders and its employees. This

is exactly the same thing it did with Facebook. The numbers are simply huge, and we’re going to do more research to find out the terms of the deal and how this came about. In the meantime, though, we’re just sitting here in shock at just how fast the social gaming market has grown. We couldn’t have imagined a company that primarily makes Facebook games raising $180 million even six months ago, but here we are. What’s your opinion? We want to hear about it in the comments. Reviews: Facebook Tags: facebook, farmville, Mafia Wars, Zynga

Hitchens on Palin: 'A Disgraceful Opportunist and Real Moral Coward' (Little Green Footballs)

been out to say, ‘well, I don’t know but I think the President ought to produce his birth N o b o d y w i l l e v e r a c c u s e certificate. I’m not saying it isn’t Christopher Hitchens of being a good question. Then later, s h y a b o u t e x p r e s s i n g h i s cause she’s got to go to the opinions.[Video] Gridiron dinner in Washington, Don’t be too hard on her. She and learn how to use a knife and didn’t write that piece and she fork and be taught by Fred probably hasn’t read it. I doubt Malek. She takes it back. She’s a she could either read or write it. disgraceful opportunist and a real Everything she does is for effect, moral coward. and is always deniable. She could His take on the Obama switch back in a minute. At the administration’s Afghanistan moment she thinks her tea party “surge” policy is also worth crowd wants to hear this kind of hearing. thing so she’ll say that. She’s Submitted at 12/15/2009 1:18:28 PM

Another Battle: Can Teachers Sell Lesson Plans? By Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

lesson plans, or understanding what kinds of lesson plans work Submitted at 12/15/2009 11:11:00 PM gain the ability to learn from I missed this last month, but a others, rather than starting from friend sent over a NY Times scratch. However, there's a article looking at the growing problem (isn't there always?). practice of teachers making Some school districts are upset additional money by selling that the teachers are selling lesson plans. Marketplaces are lesson plans, believing they emerging, and teachers who have deserve some of the "cut." crafted smart and useful lesson T h a n k s t o o u r " o w n e r s h i p plans are able to earn extra cash, society," we've built up this while other teachers who are belief that every idea must be looking for help in crafting smart "owned" and if anyone makes

money, others come grabbing as well. Of course, while the article doesn't go there, I would bet that a growing number of teachers are seeing value not just in "selling" lesson plans, but posting them publicly for free. In doing that, you can get better feedback and open a nice discussion among other teachers to share what they all have learned, and create a better overall lesson plan that helps everyone out (especially

the students). In fact, the more you think about it, the more you realize that expecting teachers to keep coming up with their own lesson plans entirely separate from what thousands of other teachers are doing, seems positively backwards. Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

Tuesday Night Music: John Mayer, 'Slow Dancing in a Burning Room' (Little Green Footballs) Submitted at 12/15/2009 6:26:19 PM

Another fantastic track from John Mayer’s Continuum, in a live version from the DVD Where The Light Is. (I would be remiss if I didn’t also give props to John’s terrific band.) The iTunes Store has both of these excellent recordings, if you’d like to download them right away: Continuum Where The Light Is[Video]

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Evernote for Android Arrives Today [SCREENSHOTS]

Apple updates MobileMe iDisk app for iPhone

By Ben Parr (Mashable!)

By Michael Grothaus (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

Submitted at 12/16/2009 12:00:18 AM

Evernote, the popular tool for taking, saving and sharing notes across multiple platforms, recently raised $10 million in funding. It looks like the first thing they spent that pile of cash on was getting a full version of Evernote onto the Android app store. While Evernote has had an impressive iPhone app out for quite a while, there hasn’t been an Android equivalent. The service has been in need of one, especially with the rise of Android smart phones such as Droid and the Google Phone. Later today, Evernote will hit the Android app store, filling this hole. We have the screnshots below. From what we know about the app (it’s been in beta for a while), it has almost all of the functionality of its iPhone counterpart — you can create and

The Cost of Health Coverage in 2016

Submitted at 12/15/2009 10:30:00 PM

save notes, attach photos and search your archives. It also sports a simple and clean interface. One of Evernote’s biggest draws was its portability across platforms. Being able to clip web pages, record voice notes on the desktop, take photos of receipts while on-the-go and access any of this information from any of these platforms has being central to Evernote’s rise in popularity. Now millions of Android users will get its full benefits. Screenshots: Evernote for Android Reviews: Android, Evernote Tags: android, evernote

Filed under: Internet, Internet Tools, iPhone, MobileMe, App Store Apple has updated its MobileMe iDisk app [ iTunes link]. Besides a new (much cooler) icon, version 1.1 features: • Auto-complete email addresses when choosing recipients for a shared file • File sharing emails are automatically saved to your Mail account's Sent folder • When viewing an image, tap and hold to save it to your photo roll or copy it to another app • Maximum setting for cache size is now 500MB (up from 200MB) • Faster downloads • Various bug fixes • Localizations for Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Italian, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish

(Little Green Footballs) Submitted at 12/15/2009 8:04:52 PM

The MobileMe iDisk app requires iPhone OS 3.0 and a MobileMe membership. When you give the new version a go, let us know what you think and tell us any other things you've found different about it in the comments! TUAW Apple updates MobileMe iDisk app for iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

AT&T Tells FCC It Loves the Idea, Not Rules, of Net Neutrality By Ryan Singel (Wired Top Stories)

As the feds contemplate strict rules on ISPs, AT&T says it's a huge fan of the open internet -- in

principle. It's just that regulations are a pain.

Here’s an eye-opener at Nate Silver’s blog: FiveThirtyEight: Politics Done Right: Why Progressives Are Batshit Crazy to Oppose the Senate Bill. Silver’s post centers around this graph, and he explains in great detail how he came up with the numbers: Read it all before we start fighting about it. If I can save 4050% on my health insurance costs, that’s a big incentive — because as a self-employed lizardoid, I pay a freaking fortune for my insurance and hardly ever use it. If you think Silver is full of crap, tell me why.

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Always Sunny In Giving People A Reason To Buy: Sitcom Produces Gag Product Featured On Show By Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

the show discussing their new product ideas, at least one of Submitted at 12/15/2009 7:03:04 PM them, the Dick Towel (um... Earlier this year, we wrote about NSFW) was turned into a real the sitcom It's Always Sunny in product(again, NSFW) and Philadelphia, which has a bit of a o f f e r e d f o r s a l e f o r $ 2 0 . cult-like following among fans of According to Jeff, in an email he the show. As we wrote, the show recently received from the site, so was doing a cool thing to connect many people have ordered that with fans, by doing a live tour they're a little late in shipping, and screening a new episode in and it looked like over 4,000 theaters around the country. It towels had been sold. Connect was a cool idea, and we were with fans and giving them a surprised other TV shows didn't reason to buy appears to work do things like that. But, of with television shows as well... course, the rest of our favorite Of course, others have tried "CwF + RtB" business model similar things as well, and there's equation is beyond connecting even an entire company, Omni with fans, you also have to give Consumer Products, that tries to them a reason to buy. And license brands from movies to reader Jeff alerts us to something turn them into real products... else that the show recently did. Permalink| Comments| Email In an episode last month that This Story involved the various characters in

EU Drops Browser Antitrust Case Against Microsoft By Stan Schroeder (Mashable!)

Brad Pitt and Mike Myers. I saw this in a theater, and highly recommend it if you’re down One of Quentin Tarantino’s with Tarantino’s amped-up, coolest movies was released graphic style. today on DVD and Blu-ray disc: And if you don’t want to wait Inglorious Basterds, starring for the DVD to be delivered, you Submitted at 12/15/2009 2:27:58 PM

Google Contacts Can Kill Duplicates in Bulk [Annoyances]

Submitted at 12/16/2009 5:51:26 AM

At the beginning of 2009, the European regulators filed a complaint against Microsoft’s browser policy, claiming that bundling Internet Explorer with Windows is unfair to developers of third-party web browsers such as Firefox and Opera. Having had paid enormous fines for similar issues with the EU before, Microsoft took the antitrust charges very seriously, proposing a solution that would enable users to choose between several web browsers before they start using the OS. It worked. European regulators dropped their antitrust case against Microsoft today. Under the agreement, Microsoft will provide Windows users with a choice of up to 12 browsers that aren’t Internet Explorer.

'Inglorious Basterds' Is Out on DVD (Little Green Footballs)

can download it from the iTunes Store in an “iTunes Extra” edition with alternate scenes and other special content: Inglorious Basterds.

By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker) Submitted at 12/16/2009 4:30:00 AM

European competition commissioner, Neelie Kroes, said “millions of European consumers will benefit from this decision by having a free choice about which web browser they use.” Kroes is right; for Windows users in Europe, this agreement simply means more choice, which is always a good thing. It also means that someone, somewhere, is making sure monopolies such as the one Microsoft has in the OS world aren’t abused at the users’ expense. Reviews: Internet Explorer Tags: eu, microsoft

If you sync your Google contacts between multiple devices or pull from multiple email accounts, you've probably got quite a few duplicate entires. Now your Google and Gmail contacts let you kill those dupes en masse with a single button. Hit up your contacts from Gmail, or head to google.com/contacts, and hit the "Find duplicates" button in the lower-right area. You'll be provided with the list of contacts with at least 2 entries each, which you can view in expanded form, and then either merge together or kill off. Not that this is some new -fangled tool or an advanced feature, but I know at least a few Google user's primary annoyances with contacts can be salved, if not cured, with this little button. One button to merge all duplicate contacts[Official Gmail Blog]

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Facebook Testing Reply Digg Plus StumbleUpon by Email Feature Equals Diggstr By Adam Ostrow (Mashable!)

By Stan Schroeder (Mashable!)

Submitted at 12/16/2009 7:29:50 AM

Finally, all of those email notifications you get from Facebook might become useful, as it appears that the social network is testing functionality that lets you reply to status updates (and conversations you’re involved with via others’ updates) via email. The feature’s not enabled for everyone yet, but DownloadSquad has seen it and says “it works seamlessly and it’s fast.” We’ve contacted Facebook to try and get some more details on when it’s being rolled out to more users, and also if it might apply to Facebook messages (we can dream, right?). In addition to being useful functionality, this is actually a

Firefox 3.5.6 Update Brings Security and Stability Fixes [Updates]

Submitted at 12/16/2009 3:57:38 AM

fairly significant strategic move by Facebook, as essentially they’ve decided to sacrifice page views (by not forcing you to login to comment) for conversation. In the long-term, that’s probably a smart decision, as it makes the Facebook social graph even stickier and alternatives (like Twitter) less necessary. Update: A Facebook spokesperson tells us “We are testing this feature and hope to roll it out to all users soon.” Reviews: Facebook, Twitter Tags: facebook

Love Digg’s content, but hate navigating through the site, searching for good stories? If you’re more keen on the StumbleUpon way of finding good stuff — i.e. having stories (semi)randomly appear with the click of a button — Diggstr might be a great service for you. Diggstr is, simply put, StumbleUpon for Digg. It takes Digg’s content and serves it to you exactly like StumbleUpon, through a top navigation bar that lets you open new stories and Digg them without ever seeing Digg. You can choose which Digg categories you want to see, and, if you like, you can set up precise filters for subcategories in Diggstr preferences. You can also choose whether you want to

By Adam Pash (Lifehacker) Submitted at 12/15/2009 4:59:00 PM

browse popular or upcoming stories, and, finally, you can choose between browsing news, images or videos. That’s pretty much all there is to Diggstr, but it works great. I still won’t be abandoning the standard way of using Digg, but when you just want to relax and browse through some stories without much thinking, Diggstr is a good choice. Reviews: Digg, StumbleUpon Tags: digg, Diggstr, stumbleupon

Windows/Mac/Linux: Firefox just bumped their latest release to version 3.5.6, bringing with it a page full of squashed bugs and security and stability fixes. You should be able to update through Firefox's default Check for Updates dialog (or just wait to be prompted), but if you're feeling antsy just head straight to the download page. [ Firefox 3.5.6]

So long, Psystar - permanent injunction halts Mac clone biz By Victor Agreda, Jr. (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 12/15/2009 9:45:00 PM

Filed under: Apple Corporate What ride, eh? In what may have provided more blog fodder than a golfer hitting a tree, the end may

have finally come for the storied life of Pystar's Mac clone business. AppleInsider, Gizmodo and The Loop are reporting U.S. District Judge William Alsup just put the smackdown on Psystar's selling of derivative works of OS X, doing anything to circumvent wind up putting OS X on your several things -- all of which non-Apple hardware. Still no

ruling on the Rebel EFI software. Bottom line: Psystar has until December 31, 2009 to stop selling Mac clones forever. Word is they have already started to comply. TUAW So long, Psystar permanent injunction halts Mac clone biz originally appeared on

The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

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UPDATE: AT&T "unimpressed" with "irresponsible" Operation Chokehold

Making the MakeBelieve World of 'Avatar'

By Michael Grothaus (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

(ETonline - Breaking News)

Submitted at 12/15/2009 10:00:00 PM

Filed under: iPhone I posted earlier today about Fake Steve Jobs' Operation Chokehold. Well, AT&T has just told Cult of Mac they're not impressed: "We understand that fakesteve.net is primarily a satirical forum, but there is nothing amusing about advocating that customers attempt to deliberately degrade service on a network that

provides critical communications services for more than 80 million customers. We know that the vast majority of customers will see

this action for what it is: an irresponsible and pointless scheme to draw attention to a blog." So, the battle lines are drawn. Where do you stand? TUAW UPDATE: AT&T "unimpressed" with "irresponsible" Operation Chokehold originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

Submitted at 12/16/2009 4:03:00 AM

The incredibly lush and imaginative alien world of Pandora in the Golden Globenominated 'Avatar' began in the mind of James Cameron, but translating it to the big screen has been a labor of love over a decade in the making. ET's own Leonard Maltin picks the brain of the Oscar-winning director, along with Sam Worthington and Zoe

Saldana, the two lead actors who went along for the filmmaking thrill-ride of their careers. "Sam and I gave in our tickets, we got on this ride and we just went full force with Jim, and I'm so grateful for that," says Zoe. "It's like you're five years old playing in some James Cameron [sandbox] with a lot of toys and problem solving every day, and that to me is what I love about making movies," adds Sam.

GOP Website Slow-Motion Trainwreck Continues (Little Green Footballs) Submitted at 12/15/2009 12:14:57 PM

Here’s the latest episode in the ongoing trainwreck known as the GOP website. Would somebody please sit the GOP’s web designers down and give them a good lesson on how these Intraweb thingies actually work? Pranksters Make Short Work of GOP&##x2019;s URL Shortener for Conservatives. The Republican party took down

its innovative link-shortening tool Tuesday for several hours after pranksters had a field day using the tool to associate the GOP with bondage sites. As part of its new media strategy, the Republican party launched a new site called GOP.am on Monday. It’s a URL shortener designed to make it easy for conservative web surfers to exchange links to web pages. Pranksters almost immediately began using the service to link to

controversial or ironically intended websites, such as the official site of the American Communist Party, a bondage website and a webpage advertising a sex toy in the likeness of Barack Obama. GOP.am apparently started blocking such links at some point Tuesday morning, and the GOP.am homepage was taken offline. The website is back online late Tuesday morning PST, and the

company that designed the site in collaboration with the Republican National Committee plans to add an automatic filtering system to help with the high volume of what its president calls “pornographic, lewd” or “hateful” URLs being added to its service. Failing to foresee this kind of thing is so incredibly amateurish, it boggles the mind. GOP Spent More Than a Million Dollars to Launch a Disastrous

Website Is Anyone Minding the Store at the GOP’s Brand New Website? GOP.com: Web-Savvy Students Not a Must GOP Posts Gmail Password/Login on New Site New GOP Site: NSFW UPDATE at 12/15/09 12:18:29 pm: Screenshots from the latest trainwreck. (Hat tip: recusancy.)

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The Huge Al Gore Mistake That Wasn't (Little Green Footballs) Submitted at 12/15/2009 3:23:22 PM

All the right wing blogs and climate change denial sites are linking to this story: Inconvenient truth for Al Gore as his North Pole sums don’t add up. Mr Gore, speaking at the Copenhagen climate change summit, stated the latest research showed that the Arctic could be completely ice-free in five years. In his speech, Mr Gore told the conference: “These figures are fresh. Some of the models suggest to Dr [Wieslav] Maslowski that there is a 75 per cent chance that the entire north polar ice cap, during the summer months, could be completely icefree within five to seven years.” However, the climatologist whose work Mr Gore was relying upon dropped the former VicePresident in the water with an icy blast. “It’s unclear to me how this figure was arrived at,” Dr Maslowski said. “I would never try to estimate likelihood at anything as exact as this.” Mr Gore’s office later admitted that the 75 per cent figure was one used by Dr Maslowksi as a “ballpark figure” several years ago in a conversation with Mr Gore. Oops, that sounds like quite a boo-boo for Gore. Disproves

global warming, right? Well, actually, no it wasn’t, and no it doesn’t. Because Maslowski did predict that all the Arctic ice could melt by the next decade. From an interview with Maslowski in February of this year (and he’s on record in several places making this statement): Wieslaw Maslowski’s research suggests ice-free summers in Arctic by next decade | EarthSky. Wieslaw Maslowski: We’re suggesting that sometime between 2010 and 2016, we

might melt all this multi-year ice cover during summer in the Arctic. Other estimates have predicted we won’t see ice-free summers for decades yet. But Maslowski said that these estimates don’t account for the loss of ice thickness. Wieslaw Maslowski: This total volume loss, which is mostly controlled by the ice thickness loss, has been basically twice as fast as the surface loss observed by satellites. Maslowski said the Arctic ice

loss is a continually accelerating cycle that’s being amplified by global warming. When the Arctic sun shines on open water, rather than reflective ice, the ocean absorbs and stores more of the sun’s heat. Warmer ocean temperatures melt the ice from below, while warmer air temperatures melt it from above. Wieslaw Maslowski: It’s basically a positive feedback loop, which is saying one change leads to even further changes. Looks like Al Gore wasn’t wrong after all. His figure of

75% certainty may not reflect Maslowski’s exact thinking, but it’s abundantly clear that this was an extremely minor error. Maslowski took issue with a very narrow point — the 75% estimation that Gore made. And once again, it’s being blown up unrecognizably out of proportion by the denialosphere. But it’s vital to realize that whether the actual percentage of certainty that the Arctic ice cap will vanish is 75% or some other figure, it doesn’t change the fact that the findings of the current research are extremely disturbing. Also see: Gore Derangement Syndrome - Yes, Maslowski predicted just two years ago that the Arctic could be ice-free by 2013. And for graphic evidence of this disaster in waiting, here’s one of the satellite images kept classified by the Bush administration, and recently released by the Obama administration, available at the US Geological Survey website: Global Fiducials Library.

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Tea Partiers Live! Multifox Makes Using Multiple Bachmann: 'The Charge Accounts Simple [Downloads] of the Light Brigade!' By Jason Fitzpatrick (Lifehacker)

(Little Green Footballs)

Michelle Malkin’s site: On December 15th, 2009 at Submitted at 12/15/2009 11:01:39 AM 10:10 am, Ronbo said: The tea party die-in is now being Looking at Obamacare from a carried live (get it? a live die-in? Radical Republican point of har!) on C-SPAN3. view, I hope it passes because it Michele Bachmann just shrieked will make the collapse of the at the top of her voice, “It’s like American economy inevitable. the charge of the light brigade!” This would lead to massive I don’t think that’s really the unemployment, hunger, disease best analogy for her to use. Does and anarchy. The upside is that it Bachmann realize that the Light would radicalize the middle class Brigade was almost completely to rise in a bloody Second destroyed in that famous battle, American Revolution, which due to a series of astoundingly w o u l d c o n c l u d e w i t h t h e i n c o m p e t e n t d e c i s i o n s b y execution, imprisonment, or exile leaders? of most Leftists in the country. On second thought, that does The division of this country into sound like a pretty good analogy two hostile camps will not end as for the tea parties. a result of compromise and UPDATE at 12/15/09 11:15:30 e l e c t i o n s , b u t o n l y b y am: &##x201C;Iron and A comment from one of the B l o o d . & # # x 2 0 1 D ; lovely people who frequent

Submitted at 12/16/2009 6:30:00 AM

Firefox: It's easy to accumulate multiple profiles on various services. If it's always annoyed you to have to perform browseracrobatics to use your two Gmail accounts or other services, check out Multifox and never be hassled by multiple logins again. Multifox adds a simple function to Firefox. When you want to log into a service with more than one user name simultaneously you right click on the bookmark for that service or open the File menu and select "Open in New Identity Profile". Certainly a savvy Firefox user could jump in and say "But Firefox already supports multiple profiles!", and it does. Multifox is much easier than managing multiple profiles natively in Firefox because it does so without messing around in the Profile Manager and without

having to manually create a new profile for each new additional service. If you need to, on the fly, test out five instances of a service Multifox will help you create five distinct profiles in five clicks. Each profile is assigned a number—the screenshot above shows us logged into a secondary Gmail account—and is opened in a new window. If Firefox crashes, all the extra profiles

generated by Multifox will be restored when you restore the original instance of Firefox. Multifox is free and works wherever Firefox does. Have your own tip or trick of managing multiple logins? Let's hear about it in the comments. Multifox[via Download Squad]

iFixit Repair and Teardown Guides Now Free for Remixing and Distributing [Repair] By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker) Submitted at 12/16/2009 6:00:00 AM

We've always been impressed with the detailed, step-by-step guides iFixit has posted for

MacBooks, iPods, and other That doesn't mean you can go devices. Now the site's put every selling your own knocked-off bit of its content, and future repair guides, but you can rest posts, under a Creative Commons assured that iFixit will get better license, one that allows for free, modification, with attribution. international translations, and non-commercial distribution and that its sometimes irreplaceable

repair guides will stick around in one form or another for some time. [ iFixit Blog]

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Most Popular Free Mac Downloads of 2009 [Best Of 2009] By Adam Pash (Lifehacker)

Quicksilver's not entirely dead just yet (see below). Pollux Automatically Cleans and Nothing beats finding just the Tags Your iTunes Library right application to fill a common For all the access to track need, fix a problem, or boost metadata contained in the iTunes your productivity. Give yourself store, iTunes is a slouch at an early present this holiday cleaning and tagging mislabeled season with 15 of the most or poorly labeled tunes. Pollux popular Mac downloads of 2009. was an absolutely killer iTunes Like last year's most popular supplement that grabbed song, Mac downloads, this list is based artist, album, and other metadata on the popularity of apps we've names, along with lyrics and covered in 2009, regardless of album art, quickly and the original release date of the accurately. The problem? Shortly app. Many were brand new this after we highlighted it, Pollux year, while others were solid was shut down because the APIs updates to popular software. If it accessed stopped letting it you took a look at yesterday's access them for free. We liked Most Popular Free Windows Pollux better, but if you're Downloads of 2009, a few of the looking for something similar, cross-platform favorites may check out TuneUp(free and pay look familiar. (I've rounded up versions available). Picasa for the most popular cross-platform Mac Beta Released, First Look downloads at the bottom of the After years of Windows-only post.) Snow Leopard: The Feisty your Hackintosh PC, no hacking Customizes Your OS X Theme dance, for example) were very support, Google released the first Kitty That Could (and No, It's requiredâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and luckily for the The release of Snow Leopard interested in doubleTwist, a Mac version of Picasa at the Not Quite Free, Either) frugal among us (no, this one's didn't do all that much to change universal media manager that beginning of the year, and it The release of Snow Leopard not free, but it was a big deal in Leopard's spots, but Magnifique automatically converts files to the didn't take long before the was nearly as big a deal for Mac the OS X world so we figured certainly does. This free skinning a p p r o p r i a t e f o r m a t s a n d majority of our Mac readers users this year as Windows 7 for we'd include it), the $29 upgrade app is full of user-generated seamlessly syncs them to your preferred it to iPhoto. You go, Windows folks, and while it was disc worked whether or not you Leopard-customizing goodies. P S P , A n d r o i d d e v i c e , Google. Quicksilver Releases never strictly a download (unless were upgrading from Leopard. Note: Magnifique does not BlackBerry, and more. Google Update, Improves Performance y o u g r a b b e d i t f r o m l e s s 2009 Was Still a Year of the support Snow Leopard, so you'll Quick Search Like Quicksilver Just when we thought reputable means), it's worth Jailbreak Quicksilver was no more, it turns want to steer clear of it if you've from Google highlighting. Over the course of The iPhone hardware may be upgraded. Unfortunately the A l o t o f p e o p l e w e r e out that several contributors are the year, we helped out by getting better and better, but Magnifique development seems disappointed to learn about c o n t i n u i n g o c c a s i o n a l prepping your Mac for Snow Apple still hasn't gotten any to be at a standstill at the Quicksilver's grim future a while development over at social Leopard, highlighted its biggest better at opening up the app store moment. DoubleTwist May Be back, but many of you were coding web site GitHub. Their improvements, and held your to, oh, competition. As long as the Coolest Universal Media h e a r t e n e d t o l e a r n t h a t latest release brought on some hand while upgrading. If you that's the case, jailbreaking apps Manager Ever Quicksilver's creator had released solid performance improvements, didn't want to pony up for Apple like PwnageTool and QuickPwn People fed up with iTunes' a similar tool working with and it worked well (for us at hardware, we even showed you will still be extremely popular. restrictive stance on non-Apple Google called Quick Search Box. MOST page 31 how to install Snow Leopard on Read more >> Magnifique devices (see Apple and Palms' T h e n a g a i n , i t a p p e a r s Submitted at 12/15/2009 5:00:00 PM

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MOST continued from page 30

least) with Snow Leopard. Glims Turns Safari into a Browser Worth Using Free Safari plug-in Glims adds a handful of new features to Safari, giving it the kind of features one might expect from a more, ahem, customizable browser—for those of you who still prefer Safari to its more feature-rich counterparts. Popular Cross-Platform Apps: Google Chrome—Dev Releases and Beta At Last Google Chrome is just over a year old, but it's actually much younger for Mac users. We got our first glimpse at Chrome on OS X back in April, and it wasn't until last week that Google released the first beta for Macs. Be sure to check out our power user's guide to Google Chrome if you're just getting started. Namebench Helps You Find the Fastest DNS Server for Your Computer Google very recently announced a free DNS service they boasted as fast, but rather than take their word for it, we pointed you toward namebench(and several readers also pointed toward the excellent DNS Name Server Benchmark). It tests various

popular DNS servers to find what's really going to be the fastest choice for your system. Google Earth 5.0 Released, Looks Incredible We're sort of junkies for maps and 3D, so when Google Earth 5 was released, we were pleased as punch. The update featured historical imagery, ocean maps, and improved world touring capabilities. Maybe we just like saving ourselves some dough in these tough economic times with a little Google Earth sightseeing. And Then There Was Firefox The notorious Firefox memory slow-downs may have some of us down on the reliable old 'fox, but that doesn't mean we aren't all still eager to grab the latest and greatest releases and stick with it as our default browser—whether it's the big Firefox 3.5 release or the Firefox 3.6 beta ( 1, 2, 3, or 4). We're looking forward to more great Firefox'ing in 2010. Thunderbird 3 Officially Released with New Features, Improved Look Sure it was two years since Thunderbird's 2.0 release, but at least they didn't disappoint. Thunderbird 3.0 comes with solid new search and filtering tools,

better looks, and a great new tabbed interface. HandBrake Updates to 0.9.4 with Over 1,000 Changes, 64-Bit Support Free, open-source DVD ripping and encoding tool HandBrake released a pretty saucy update last month with a ton of fixes and improvements. It's no coincidence that it's always been our readers' favorite video encoder, and this year's big-ish (but still not 1.0) update should only help keep it there—even though several users aren't thrilled that the HandBrake devs have dropped AVI/XviD. Now, because we like a good polling: Which Is Your Favorite Mac Download of 2009?( opinion) Got a favorite Mac download from 2009 that you'd add to your list of favorites? Let's hear about it in the comments. If you're craving still more popular Mac downloads, you can also take a look back at the most popular free Mac downloads of 2008.

Rodarte Wins $50,000 Grant By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 12/15/2009 3:49:31 PM

Congratulations to Kate and

Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte for being chosen as one of 50 recipients to receive the 2009 United States Artists Fellowships

Grant for $50,000! Follow ELLE on Twitter. Become our Facebook fan!

YouTego: An Addictive App for SelfVisualization By Jolie O'Dell (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 12/15/2009 11:33:24 PM

If all your interests and skills were reduced to a scannable set of tags and thumbnails, what would your ego look like? That's the question startup YouTego attempts to answer with their web-based app that asks users to spend a few minutes in navel-gazing self-definition to create a snappy page of terms and related images. It's simple, social and actually quite fun once you get the hang of it. Sponsor The thing that impressed us about YouTego is that it's part of a growing trend of simple selftagging systems such as Glue that allow users to claim mastery of or affinity for concepts, objects, groups, places, and people. With relatively little "profile" information, users are able to identify themselves within the context of the universe around them. In YouTego, the UI isn't quite as intuitive yet, but the results are pretty slick. Users have the option of telling the app a little bit about themselves, then they can identify "tegos" (tags for the ego, according to the site) to

show what they can do, where they work, where they go/went to school, what they love and more. For the visual component, the user is asked to select a thumbnail for each tego. These images are found through a lightbox-type feature in the app and can come from any number of sources, including Google search or a specific Flickr account. Once tegos are created and elaborated upon through expressions and impressions, the user can be matched to others on YouTego or other users' content, can "star" other users' tegos and can add TegoMates or friends. It would be cool to see the service integrated with Facebook and Twitter, which it doesn't appear to do currently. And the app is very young and has its bugs. For example, it doesn't play well with Chrome at all. Still, it's gathering a lot of good data about related tags, tags related to images and how people connect over expressions of their own personalities. Discuss

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Remains of the Day: Don't Expect Great iPhone Service Friday Edition [For What It's Worth] By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker) Submitted at 12/15/2009 4:00:00 PM

Fake Steve Jobs calls iPhone users to arms against AT&T, iPhone apps can be rescued from bad updates, and Google's little browser that could appears to have dashed past Safari. • When good apps go bad Using Time Machine and some firmhanded iTunes wiping, a Macworld writer finds out you can save yourself from updates that break your favorite app. If only this was the case with unofficial tethering tools. [Macworld] • file drag and drop in Firefox 3.6 One of the nifty, webupgrading features of HTML5 is support for drag-and-drop file handling. Running a Firefox 3.6 beta? Go ahead and test it out[hacks.mozilla.org] • Operation Chokehold Frustrated by AT&T's suggestions that iPhone data service may be leveled out, everyone's favorite pseudonymous blogger asks his followers to load a "data intensive app and run that app for

Review: NCIS Faith By Allison Waldman (TV Squad) Submitted at 12/16/2009 1:50:00 AM

(S07E10) NCIS Christmas. Is that an oxymoron? No, not really, one solid hour" at noon Pacific work cell. [NPR] t h e y ' l l e v e n t u a l l y b e p a i d although the death of a Muslim on Friday. AT&T has responded, • The Wall Opens A Bit More: services. In the meantime, add Marine is a bit of a downer. a n d w e ' r e s u g g e s t i n g y o u Facebook To Publish User "+" to any bit.ly URL to see stats Presumably they had to have some case for the crew to work reschedule that job interview call Updates To Twitter This Week on it. [bit.ly blog] a bit earlier. [The Secret Diary of Soon to arrive in Facebook's • Chrome Beats Safari With the on, but all things considered, it Steve Jobs] default interface, a selective tool release of Chrome for Mac and wasn't much of a mystery and the • Text-Message Case Could will publish status updates to Linux, Google's browser appears show could have been just as Redefine Workplace Privacy It's your Twitter account. In other to have overtaken Safari use, at good without it. a fuzzy line on some corporate- words, a time saver inside a time least in one counter's tally. Not The real crux of the episode was issued phones between business waster. [TechCrunch] sure that's exactly the market the surprise visit by Gibbs' father. and personal. The U.S. Supreme • Announcing bit.ly Pro Custom share they were looking to knock Ralph Waite was back as Mark Harmon's dad, and you have to Court will hear a case that might shortened URLs and advanced down. [Gizmodo] like the casting. He's not only a more clearly define what your t r a c k i n g s t a t s a r e a c t u a l l y good actor, he actually looks like boss can and can't look at on your available free while in beta, but Harmon and has a similar taciturn quality. Continue reading Review: NCIS - Faith Nordegren claims she's going to that Elin's going to move on, People, "She's made up her mind. Filed under: OpEd, NCIS, leave husband Tiger Woods, saying, "She plans to leave There's nothing to think about: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | according to People.com Tiger." he's never going to change." Comments An insider tells the magazine Another unnamed source tells

Report: Elin Nordegren Leaving Tiger Woods (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 12/16/2009 6:16:00 AM

A source close to Elin

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Evernote Makes Its Official Debut in Jake Pavelka Gets a the Android Market [Downloads] Second Chance at Love on 'The Bachelor' By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker) Submitted at 12/16/2009 5:30:00 AM

Android: After a few months of beta releases, the all-inclusive note-taking service Evernote has launched a release version of its app for Android phones, making it very easy to snap pictures, jot notes, or record audio notes for yourself. The app's smoothed out its kinks, bugs, and looks over multiple beta releases, and does a fairly good job of integrating your Evernote account with your

phone's functions. The app itself is great for audio notes and text files, but adding an Evernote "share" option to your phone's

photo gallery and camera is a subtle game-changer for universal capture fans. It's helped me be a much better gift-giver, at least. Evernote is a free download for Android-based systems, requires a free Evernote account. Paid subscribers get file uploads outside the standard PDF, image, and text files, and faster OCR transcription. Evernote A p p l i c a t i o n f o r Android[Androlib]

(ETonline - Breaking News)

be alone, but I am not one of them," Jake declares as the new season is about to premiere. American women fell in love Twenty-five gorgeous gals show w i t h J a k e P a v e l k a o n l a s t up -- one even dressed as a coseason's "The Bachelorette," even pilot -- for the first episode of the though he didn't get the final rose dating series, and then things get from Jillian Harris. Now the rough! It's blondes vs. brunettes h a n d s o m e , 3 1 - y e a r - o l d , with Jake as the quarterback for a commercial pilot from Dallas spontaneous game of touch gets another shot at love when he football with the women in premieres as "The Bachelor." gorgeous gowns. "Some people are engineered to Submitted at 12/16/2009 3:15:00 AM

Why Do Small Business Services Sometimes Lack Sophistication? By Alex Williams (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 12/15/2009 6:15:16 PM

Collaboration services targeted for the small business market often seem more like software suites than web-based services with deep linking capabilities and tag-based environments. For example, the new offering from HyperOffice focuses on features that are fundamental to small business operations but lacks the advanced capabilities that we see from a number of Enterprise 2.0 services. Is this a good thing? Is this due

to the domination of documentbased systems that have traditionally been such a part of the small business world? Sponsor We are torn on this one. We see a number of companies offering services such as real-time collaboration environments. Still, the portal mindset seems to have such a hold on the small business market. HyperOffice looks like it is providing a service that has value for the small business. But like others we have seen, HyperOffice feels monolithic. It provides the capability to create

the company is targeting Microsoft Sharepoint and Lotus Notes users. A SaaS like HyperOffice may be enticing, perhaps even more because it has personal and group environments similar functionality to the but extensions to the web are offerings from the big players in limited. In some respects this the market. may be just the right approach. The HyperOffice UI resembles a HyperOffice users may not want Microsoft Office environment. the capability to build data The main page includes icons mashups and tie into services like such as desktop, mail and Twitter. calendar. The company points out that the The features are basic but market is flooded with Web 2.0 provide a clear functionality for s t y l e p o i n t t o o l s . T h e the user. HyperOffice has HyperOffice platform is a one- personal and group settings. stop shop. This may be smart as Groups may share calendar

items, collaborate on documents and other tasks. Additional features include tasks, notes, a wiki and the ability to search Google and Yahoo! from within the application. Here's an overview of the service: Google Apps and Zoho provide a deeper web experience than HyperOffice. But there is definite value here for the company looking for an affordable, CRM service. Pricing starts at $7 per user, per month. Discuss

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Facebook's Privacy Move Violates Contract With Users By Kaliya Hamlin (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 12/15/2009 3:01:10 PM

Your name, profile picture, gender, current city, networks, Friends List, and all the pages you subscribe to are now publicly available information on Facebook. This means everyone on the web can see it; it is searchable. This represents just the latest instance of Facebook violating the contract it holds with its users. This is no small matter, either. Lots of people will have very real and valid objections to this arbitrary change to what's public and what's private on Facebook. Sponsor This guest post was written by Kaliya Hamlin, also known as Identity Woman, who has been working on cultivating open standards for user-centric identity since 2004. She co-founded, coproduces and facilitates the Internet Identity Workshop, the primary venue for collaboration on identity standards amongst large Internet portals, large enterprise IT companies and small innovators. Personally, very early on I made my friends list explicitly not viewable. Why? Because I didn't want everyone to be able to see who I am friends with. This change is a violation of the social contract that the service had with me. I should, at the very least, have been given warning of this

impending change and been allowed time to "defriend" people. Pitfalls of Being Public Why do friends matter? Because they reveal information about you - like your sexual orientation - even if this information is not explicitly shared or public anywhere on the web. The Boston Globe wrote about this MIT project named "Gaydar": Using data from the social network Facebook, they made a striking discovery: Just by looking at a person's online friends, they could predict whether the person was gay. They did this with a software program that looked at the gender and sexuality of a person's friends and, using statistical analysis, made a prediction. The two students had no way of checking all of their predictions, but based on their own knowledge outside the Facebook world, their computer program appeared quite accurate for men, they said. People may be effectively "outing" themselves just by the virtual company they keep. The pages you follow are now public information, too. What if you were HIV positive and followed a page for a group that provided services to people like you? What if you had not told your work colleagues about this health condition? Now with your pages being public, your health status is completely public. Or maybe you belong to a

religious organization that isn't super mainstream in the area you happen to be living in. Say you are Buddhist in a small town that is mostly conservative Christian. You are following the page of several Buddhist teachers and voila your religious preference is outed to your neighbors. Different Sites Have Different Contracts With Users Isn't this information all public anyways? What is the big deal? Isn't it just like Twitter? You can see all the people you follow there, and they can see everything you post. The social contract I and all users have with Twitter is clear. What you say on an open account is public and linkable. It is called microblogging for a reason. When you blog on the open web anyone can see or link to what you say. I know that everyone can see who and what I follow. I make a choice to be "seen" by following the Twitter accounts I choose to follow. The social contract with Facebook has changed constantly since it started. When it began it was only for Harvard students. The application went viral in that environment when it launched in

January 2004. They decided to extend the site to other schools in March 2004, but you couldn't even see other students at other schools. Students on Facebook had a very clear sense of who could see them: fellow students. They "performed" in this social context with that in mind. Facebook then opened up to high schools in September 2005, and then to companies like Apple and Microsoft. In September 2006 it opened to everyone. So right here - this is where the social contract for those first university students was broken. People and particularly potential employers were now in a space that the college students never expected them to be. So the whole contention that students should not have put pictures of themselves having fun with their friends (drinking, etc.) in a space where they only thought their peers (other university students) would be is backwards. Facebook should not have changed the social contract in the space by allowing employers in. The way users saw what their friends were doing was to click to their profile pages and to write on their walls. Introducing the NewsFeed changed the social contract yet again. Now everything a user did on the site was pushed to their friends. It let everyone know when you wrote on someone's wall and what you said. (Previously they had to go to the wall and see what you said.)

Last week's privacy enhancement's change the social contract yet again and this time it stripped you naked. There has been such a hullaballoo about this, and Facebook responded saying: In response to your feedback, we've improved the Friend List visibility option described below. Now when you uncheck the "Show my friends on my profile" option in the Friends box on your profile, your Friend List won't appear on your profile regardless of whether people are viewing it while logged into Facebook or logged out. This information is still publicly available, however, and can be accessed by applications. Facebook is Preparing a Social Graph API This move is all about supporting the forthcoming Social Graph API (see below), and with it people will be able to create a query that will retrieve your friends list. The big change in all of this was to suggest that posts - including status updates, links, photos, videos and notes - will all be shared with everyone on the open web. Most people have shaped their behavior on Facebook with the understanding that friends could see what they were doing. This is a different audience then the whole web. I checked with one of my roommates, a preschool teacher in her late 40s. She said she just clicked through FACEBOOK'S page 37

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Best BigCo of 2009 By Richard MacManus (ReadWriteWeb)

• Google Apps • Google Chrome • Google Maps • Google Search Options and Rich Snippets • Google Voice

& Also Rans Honorable Mentions: Microsoft, Amazon, Adobe Submitted at 12/16/2009 6:00:00 AM While Microsoft continued to In one of ReadWriteWeb's struggle with its Windows Live longest-running traditions, every brand, it did come out with at year we review the top Internet least one compelling new product companies and their impact over And we didn't even include in 2009. the past 12 months. Today we're Google Wave, its biggest launch Until earlier this year, Google announcing the 6th annual Best of the year. We think Wave has a didn't have any serious B i g C o , a . k . a . b i g I n t e r n e t lot of potential, but it's clearly at competition in the search market. company. Next week we'll the experimental stage still. But with the launch of announce Best LittleCo and Most The web browser Chrome was Apple extended the SDK with Microsoft's Bing in July, users Promising Company. probably the Google product that version 3.0 of the iPhone OS. suddenly had a new choice of In 2008 the Best BigCo went to had the biggest impact this year. The updates included better search engine. Bing bills itself as Apple, due largely to the iPhone Launched in late 2008, Chrome s u p p o r t f o r 3 D g a m i n g , a "decision engine" and its and App Store. Facebook won in still only holds a small share of augmented reality apps, easier market share has climbed steadily 2007, Google in 2006 and 2004, the browser market and doesn't access to maps, in-app purchases o v e r t h e l a s t f e w m o n t h s . and Yahoo! in 2005. Who will be offer a stable version for OSX or a n d s u p p o r t f o r p u s h M i c r o s o f t k e e p s a d d i n g Best BigCo of 2009? Will Apple Linux yet, however it has already n o t i f i c a t i o n s . interesting new features like be the first company to win it two changed the browser market. As W i t h t h e s e k i n d s o f visual search, hover previews, years running? Will Google win w e w r o t e i n o u r T o p 1 0 improvements, we expect Apple integrated Twitter search and a the honor for a 3rd year? How Consumer Web Apps of 2009 to continue its success on the smart integration of some of about Facebook, which grew review, Chrome's relentless focus Mobile Web in 2010 - despite W o l f r a m A l p h a ' s m o s t significantly this year. Let's find on speed helped to reignite the increasing competition from c o m p e l l i n g f e a t u r e s . out... browser wars and is changing the Google's Android platform. We also recognized Windows Sponsor way developers and Google's Facebook had a stellar year too, A z u r e , M i c r o s o f t ' s c l o u d Best BigCo of 2009 c o m p e t i t o r s t h i n k a b o u t passing the 300 million active computing platform, among our The ReadWriteWeb team has b r o w s e r s . user mark in September. It also Top Products of 2009. chosen Google as our Best BigCo Chrome is also the basis for continued to add features to the Amazon had another good year of 2009! Google last won it in Google's upcoming Chrome OS, site, ranging from vanity URLs in 2009. Its Elastic Compute 2006 and this is the third time d e s i g n e d f o r n e t b o o k s - a to a new sharing widget and a Cloud (EC2) was one of our top we've honored the Mountain growing fad in computers. So focus on real-time updates of its 100 products this year. However View company. expect to see a lot more of users news streams. Amazon had the most impact this Google is without question the Chrome in 2010. Runners-Up: F a c e b o o k ' s u s e r b a s e i s year with a piece of hardware: its predominant Internet company of Apple, Facebook increasingly diverse and it is now eBook Reader, the Kindle. In our time; in large part because it It's been another good year for clearly the number 1 social May Amazon unveiled the continues to innovate and stay Apple and its iPhone platform. network in the world, leaving Kindle DX, featuring a 9.7" one step ahead of its competition. The iPhone is the leading MySpace in its dust. What's display about two and a half In our Top 100 products list for smartphone in the market and the more, Facebook's user base is times larger than the Kindle 2. 2009, seven Google products App Store now features over now bigger than the population November was Amazon's best made the cut: 100,000 applications. This year, of all but three countries in the month ever for Kindle sales and • Android platform as we mentioned in our Top 10 world. according to the company the • Google App Engine Web Platforms of 2009 review, Next Page: Honorable Mentions Kindle is the "most wished for,

the most gifted, and the #1 bestselling product across all product categories on Amazon." Very few Web platforms have the cross-platform reach of Adobe AIR. It allows developers to create one application and run it on all of the major operating systems. This year Adobe launched AIR 2, which now allows developers to access mass storage devices, drag-and-drop support for remote files and rudimentary support for P2P networking. In addition, AIR 2 enables developers to use the multi-touch capabilities of modern screens. Also Rans Unfortunately, the less said about Yahoo!, AOL, Mozilla, eBay - the better. It hasn't been a great year for any of them. Yahoo! struggled gamely and impressed us with its YQL (Yahoo Query Language) and SearchMonkey. But it is far from the Internet force it was in 2005, when we named it our Best BigCo. Yahoo still has a wide reach and is very popular amongst mainstream audiences, but it just isn't the force it once was. AOL has resorted to becoming a content farm in order to compete, eBay has squandered a valuable asset in Skype, and Mozilla while continuing to innovate- has been hurt by Google's Chrome browser entering the market. Now let us know your thoughts. Do you think that Google BEST page 36

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Twitter's Top 10 Tech Trends of 2009 By Jolie O'Dell (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 12/15/2009 4:10:29 PM

The Twitterati have spoken! Throughout 2009, a few tech topics got so much attention that they managed to make Twitter's trends. Google Wave was one of the most notable of these, obviously, but what were the other subjects of such interest to Twitter-using geeks? Twitter has just released a list of the top 10 technology-related trending topics of the year; here's what tweeps have been talking about. Sponsor 1. Google Wave The most-talked-about app of the year - on Twitter and likely in many other circles, was Google Wave. As invitations rolled out in waves, each initiate was given a limited number of invites to pass on to friends and colleagues. This left the twittersphere clamoring for Wave invites and drove the keyword into Twitter's general trending topics on multiple occasions. If Wave did nothing else right, they certainly mastered the art of the viral marketing campaign. 2. Snow Leopard Apple fanboys (and girls) the world around rejoiced when the newest Mac operating system was released this year. Snow Leopard was announced at

Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference in June 2008, which meant that Mac geeks had been waiting to buy their copies for more than a year by the time the OS hit shelves in August of this year. 3. Tweetdeck This Twitter app became wildly successful this year and made tech headlines for its Facebook and LinkedIn integration, its iPhone app (a strong competitor to challenge Tweetie 2), its themed interfaces, and more. 4. Windows 7 The longsuffering Windows users among us had long been suffering when Windows 7 was released this year. Better, smarter, faster and less buggy, the OS promised to be the answer to our prayers and a reason to hold our heads up in front of Mac users. Windows also had an interesting marketing campaign that kept their OS on the tips of tongues - and the top of trends for several months running. 5. CES The Consumer Electronics Show, held each year in Las Vegas, is a gadget geek's version of the AVN Awards, also held each year in Las Vegas. Coincidence? Most definitely. 6. Palm Pre Several years ago, geeks fell in love with the Treo. Then Palm devices kind of fell off the face of the earth and out of public

Amazon suffered public criticism this year when certain gay and lesbian books were removed from sales rankings for containing adult content. The trouble was, most of the titles in question weren't "adult" in nature at all, leading media and the general public to the conclusion that Amazon execs were deeply and terribly homophobic. In the end, it turned out that a single favor until this year, when the Amazon employee in France set company released the tiny a Boolean flag on adult content touchscreen device known as the from False to True, taking out Pre. The first iteration of the 57,000 books in his wake. d e v i c e h a s n ' t y e t b e c o m e Whoopsie! 10. Macworld And finally, there was overwhelmingly popular, but the Pre definitely has its fans. 7. MacWorld. Steve Jobs was unable to make the event, and Google Latitude In 2005, location-based app Apple announced that the 2009 D o d g e b a l l w a s b o u g h t b y con would be the last year the Google. The Dodgeball creators company would participate in the went on to make Foursquare, and show. The company announced a this year, Google replaced few modest treats, including new Dodgeball with Latitude, which versions of iLife and iWork, as very simply shows you where well as a 17-inch MacBook. your friends are on Google Maps. Apple further announced that Latitude could be the basis for music sold on iTunes would be more tricky applications in the DRM-free. future, but location tech in And that's it for Twitter's top g e n e r a l c a n b e a d i f f i c u l t trends! Do you think the right technology to master. 8. #E3 topics got the most attention? Another yearly holy-grail-of-its- What do you think would have industry conference, E3, the been trend #11? Let us know Electronic Entertainment Expo, is your thoughts in the comments! held in Los Angeles. This con is Discuss where gamer geeks die and go to heaven. 9. #amazonfail

BEST continued from page 35

deserves the Best BigCo of 2009? Ed: Thanks Frederic Lardinois, one of our writers whose yearend posts I liberally quoted from to create this article! Discuss

Donald Trump Challenges Celebs to a Hole in One (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 12/16/2009 3:30:00 AM

Donald Trump has secured a tee time on the Golf Channel for "Donald J. Trump's Fabulous World of Golf." He will attract celebs to hit the green and go head to head for charity. According to Variety, the unscripted six-episode series will premiere on April 26. One pairing will feature NFL greats Jerry Rice versus Lawrence Taylor trading in the gridiron for the course. Besides naming a winner after the 18th hole, there will be challenges posed throughout the course to make additional prize money available, says Variety. Trump owns several pristine golf courses, which are expected to be featured on the show.

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FACEBOOK'S continued from page 34

assuming all of the changes were "good". I explained that now all of her status updates were now public. She gasped: "I didn't know," she said. Zuckerberg decided to open up to the new privacy settings by completely sharing 290 photos of himself, and other information, in effect saying to users, "If I can be socially nude so can you - come on everyone is doing it!" Why is Facebook doing this? Friends have to be made public because Facebook is working on a Social Graph API to be available in the second quarter of 2010. "The Social Graph is where the gold is," as a user interface designer said at a Christmas party I was at last night. Facebook and others want to mine this data to figure out who you know and what you are interested, and then target you. Maybe they will even figure out your credit worthiness based on who your friends are. Google is working on a Social

Graph API, but one based on publicly available social links and references made by users on their public blogs and public friends list on social networks like Flickr and FriendFeed. There are issues in doing this. Ben Laurie, Monica Chew, Dirk Balfanz - all at Google - wrote a paper called(Under)mining Privacy in Social Networks. I am sure there are more Easter eggs in the Facebook Developer Roadmap on where things are going with Facebook privacy, features and business models. I think Facebook believes it can do anything with users because it believes they will never leave because "all their friends are there". Friendster was this arrogant too. Facebook blocks users from scraping their friends' data out of the service, which would allow them to easily find and reconnect with them elsewhere. It claims it prevents us from getting this information to protect our privacy. Really, it is

all about locking users in. I wonder how many more times they will get strip us down, leaving our familiar social clothes and underwear on the floor, and leaving us socially nude. I think it is unethical and I agree with the concern that Jason Calacanis raises about how this will affect other Internet companies. "Facebook's reckless behavior is... simultaneously making users distrust the Internet and bringing the attention of regulators." This change will affect all of us working on building the new techno-social architecture of our society via the web. Photo credit: David Fulmer Discuss

Donny Osmond Cancels Show Due to Voice Troubles (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 12/15/2009 7:54:00 PM

Marie Osmond is tweeting that she and brother Donny Osmond had to cancel a Tuesday night

performance of their Las Vegas extravaganza. “Donny lost his voice,” Marie tweeted. “It's what singers dread. The show was cancelled for tonight ... hope he's okay for

tomorrow.” The brother-and-sister duo performs a 90-minute showcase of their hits at Flamingo Las Vegas.

Morgan Stanley: Mobile Internet Market Will Be Twice The Size of Desktop Internet By Richard MacManus (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 12/16/2009 1:47:34 AM

Morgan Stanley has released a couple of bulky documents about the mobile internet: 'The Mobile Internet Report,' a 424 page report which explores 8 major themes; and 'The Mobile Internet Report Key Themes,' a 659-slide presentation that drills down on thoughts covered in the report. We've embedded both documents below. Perhaps the most remarkable statement in the report is that the Mobile Internet market will be "at least 2x size of Desktop Internet," which Morgan Stanley bases on math comparing Internet Users with Mobile Subscribers. Sponsor The report starts out by saying that Apple's iPhone / iTouch / iTunes ecosystem "may prove to be the fastest ramping and most disruptive technology product / service launch the world has ever seen." It goes on to state that "a handful of incumbents (like Apple, Google, Amazon.com and Skype) appear especially well positioned for mobile changes." Growth in the Mobile Internet is

being driven by 3G adoption and the increasing popularity of smartphones, of which the iPhone is the leader. Morgan Stanley predicts that smartphones "will out-ship the global notebook + netbook market in 2010E and out-ship the global PC market (notebook + netbook + desktop) by 2012E." The firm has always been bullish on mobile internet, as Mary Meeker's Web 2.0 conference presentations over the years show. See also our analysis of Meeker's 2009 Web 2.0 presentation. The reports are far too big to summarize here, so we recommend you read them below - or download from Morgan Stanley's website. Via Scribd ViaScribd Discuss

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Future Interfaces: Gestures, Light and the BiDi Screen By Dana Oshiro (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 12/15/2009 4:57:29 PM

In just a few days at the SIGGRAPH Asia Conference, MIT's Media Lab will present a revolutionary interface that allows users to manipulate onscreen images with the wave of their hand. While we've seen gestural interfaces through the accelerometers in our smart phones and gaming-related devices, this system is different. MIT's bi-directional display interface (BiDi) screen is capable of capturing both touch and offscreen gestures through the use of embedded optical sensors. Sponsor According to the project team, "The BiDi Screen uses a sensor

layer, separated a small distance from a normal LCD display. A mask image is then displayed on the LCD. When the bare sensor layer views the world through the mask, information about the distance to objects in front of the screen can be captured and decoded by a computer." In the past ReadWriteWeb has covered Pattie Maes presentation

of what she describes as "sixth sense"- a wearable interface where users interact with a camera, mirror and colored finger caps. We've also looked at other gesture-based interfaces like Microsoft's Project Natal which encompass sensor-based cameras and voice recognition. Nevertheless, BiDi screen takes a different approach to spatial tracking. The system can be incorporated into a "thin LCD device" like a cellphone and it does not require the use of cameras, lenses, projectors or special gloves. For a complete list of BiDi project specifications or for a look at some of MIT's video demos, check out the project website. Discuss

Craig Ferguson and Friends Celebrate 1,000th Episode of 'Late Late Show' (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 12/15/2009 10:00:00 PM

Craig Ferguson marked the 1,000th episode that he has hosted CBS' "Late Late Show" on Tuesday night. Ferguson told ET of the

occasion, "It means that I made the four digits -- I didn't think I would make two digits with this show! ... It's a moving moment full of satisfaction." "In honor of the thousandth show, I'm not going to be in it. It's going to be all puppets. ...

Because puppets are what people who are awake late at night want," Ferguson told ET, going on to joke, "I know that because they call me and say, 'Hey man, can we have some puppets?'"

Mailbag: Why Didn’t You Post The Info for Men Of a Certain Age Yet? By Robert Seidman (TVbytheNumbers)

thing I was looking for specifically is whether The Closer was up, down, or the same Submitted at 12/15/2009 3:42:04 PM as last week. If it’s down or the I got an e-mail asking why I same, then Men’s second week hadn’t posted the info for last numbers don’t mean anything night’s episode of Men Of a significant to me, and like the Certain Age, so I responded people at Turner, I’ll be waiting because, “I hadn’t seen it yet.” to see additional weeks’ results. And they wrote back “ Hibberd But, if The Closer was up (last has it posted!“ So I wrote back, week’s Closer was a little light “Thanks!” ratings-wise), depending on by Fifteen minutes later I get how much might influence how another e-mail, “It’s still not on I felt about Men’s numbers last your site! Why not?” night. Rather than responding again, Plus, Hibberd’s post said: The I’m just doing this post. It’s a Ray Romano dramedy drew 4.4 case of still not having enough million viewers and ranked as the data yet. Hibberd posted the m o s t - w a t c h e d n o n - s p o r t s numbers, but it’s not possible for program on basic cable Monday me to do much analysis on them, night. because he left out a piece of data I find it impossible to believe I’d find critical in making sense that The Closer was less-watched of Men’s numbers — namely than Men. So, I was waiting. how The Closer did. Still waiting… The 19% drop off by itself for fivefilters.org featured article: M e n i s n o t s u r p r i s i n g o r Normalising the crime of the concerning by itself. Shows century by John Pilger. Available u s u a l l y d r o p a f t e r h e a v i l y tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text promoted premieres. But the RSS, Term Extraction.

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The Nexus One: A Non-Story By Liam Cassidy (TheAppleBlog) Submitted at 12/15/2009 8:14:58 AM

Over the weekend the rumors of a Google Phone were confirmed in the guise of the whimsically named Nexus One. It’s an unbranded HTC-made carrierunlocked handset running Android 2.0, and it looks lovely. And already articles have popped -up examining its various (rumored) features and, naturally, pondering when we can buy one for ourselves. Why is the first thought we have when we see a new mobile phone whether we should consider switching? Admit it — when you look at a friend’s mobile phone you automatically run through a series of questions in the back of your mind. My standard set include “Does it look good?” and “Does it have a nice UI?” (Of course, certain conditions, if met, automatically remove the phone from consideration; such as “Oh, it’s a clamshell…” and “What are those hard nobbly plasticky things? Keys, you say?”) We do the same with desktop computers. In an airport lounge or coffee shop I feel a certain sort of infallible pride when cracking open my MacBook. After all, everyone knows those are great

machines, right? Yet I still look at the other machines around me and run through my mental checklist. It’s crazy how insecure I am, how much I need to be sure my laptop doesn’t suck. Operating Systems, too, get the same appraisal. We can’t help it. Every new release of Mac OS X gets compared with the latest version of Windows. There’s every good reason to do this if you regularly use both platforms. If you only Tweet, update Facebook or watch hilarious kittens on YouTube, what does it matter that the paltform you don’t own and don’t need just got an upgrade? Of course, Geeks will always do this comparison of technologies — it’s in our DNA, we can’t help ourselves. But there’s a problem; our technophilic tendencies leak over into the world of the Normals. Is Y the New X? We use our iPhones and Kindles to scan the tech press and follow geek–lists on Twitter, while Normals, on the other hand, read dead-tree newspapers and don’t know what Twitter is. But look at the so-called “Technology” columns in those newspapers (you know, where sidebars helpfully explain the meaning of words like “touchscreen” and “3G”) and you’ll notice that they’re forever comparing

you very soon will — “Is the Nexus the real iPhone killer?” I say it’s nonsense. In time we’ll see detailed teardowns of the Nexus, and while geeks will compare its screen and processor to other handsets, mainstream media hacks will salivate over the possibility that here, finally, at last! we have a phone to beat the iPhone. It’s a silly pursuit. The Nexus One. A handsome phone, but not an iPhone Killer. gadgets, computers, OS’s and (Image by Engadget) websites. Trust me, no daily It took almost three years, but n e w s p a p e r “ t e c h n o l o g y ” manufacturers are fast catchingcolumnist genuinely believes up to the iPhone. Bewildering, their readers care about the however, the press coverage of differences between Twitter and s m a r t p h o n e s — d r i v e n t o B r i g h t K i t e . L e s s s o t h e hysteria in 2007 with the launch d i f f e r e n c e s b e t w e e n S n o w of the iPhone — is almost L e o p a r d a n d W i n d o w s 7 . entirely focused on finding an Strangely, that doesn’t stop them iPhone killer. It’s the same falsewriting about it. dichotomy we would ridicule if, They’re just reading select blogs say, Nissan’s next family fivein the tech community and door were hailed as “the Ford writing their own carbon copy killer.” Ridiculous, right? After equivalents of what they find all, they’re both essentially just there. It’s to be expected, for here cars. Strip away the optional GPS i n G e e k t o w n t e c h n o l o g y and gravity-defying cup-holders comparions are part of the and they both have the same landscape. But we are taking it basic innards. This is true of the too far. Particularly in asking that latest smartphones. They’re assinine question, “Is Y the new b a s i c a l l y t h e s a m e . T r u e , X?” smartphones used to be terrible, The Nexus One is generating a b u t t h a t ’ s o n l y b e c a u s e lot of(quite unnecessary) buzz manufacturers were committed to and if you haven’t already cheap and easy business models stumbled upon the YX question, and customers didn’t know they

could demand something better. Apple decided to do something about that. It was a one-time shift in the mobile industry that will not happen again. The only phone that’s going to replace the iPhone is — predictably enough — the next iPhone. I can’t believe intelligent, insightful journalists and editors keep missing that point. For every smartphone owner on the planet I’d wager there are a dozen more people with a dumb “feature” phone. Those people will never go out of their way to buy smartphones, but as the latest technology becomes cheaper, smaller and easier to manufacture, it will find its way into all handsets. One day, all phones will be smart. And most people will get there never caring which handset came first, was better than some other handset, or was considered a “killer.” It doesn’t matter if it’s Mac vs. Windows, Bing vs. Google or iPhone vs. Android. Breathless reports along the lines of “X is here, and Y should be worried…” are almost always just white noise. The Nexus One is a non-story. I wonder how long it will take everyone else to realize that.

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Apple Granted Permanent Injuction Against Psystar By Darrell Etherington (TheAppleBlog) Submitted at 12/16/2009 7:39:17 AM

Despite having discussed a potential settlement, the settlement itself was dependent upon the outcome of Apple’s motion for a permanent injunction. Yesterday, the California U.S. District Court responsible for ruling in the matter issued its decision, and the outcome is not favorable for the Mac clone maker. Apple, however, will be very pleased with the ruling. The court granted Apple’s request for a permanent injunction, barring future sales of any machines with OS X pre-installed. It also prohibits Psystar from trying to get around Apple’s technological countermeasures put in place to prevent illegal copying and use of OS X, and from helping others to try to do so. While it sounds like this injunction might extend to the Rebel EFI software that Psystar has been selling to help users put OS X on machines themselves, it isn’t expressly forbidden. Judge

order cannot predict. What is certain, however, is that until such a motion is brought, Psystar will be selling Rebel EFI at its peril, and risks finding itself held in contempt if its new venture falls within the scope of the injunction. The injunction takes effect immediately, but Psystar has been given until December 31 at the latest to cease all of its sales operations. That’s an outside limit, though, and the judge informed them to stop within the hour if it was at all possible. I’m glad this thing is basically William Alsup warns, though, serve the purpose — akin to a over. While I’m not sure I agree that doesn’t necessarily mean post-injunction motion vetting a with the degree to which OS X is Psystar is in the clear. Instead, he “design-around” in a patent a closed system, all Psystar really emphasizes the risks inherent in action — of potentially vetting proved was that once you take continuing to sell Rebel EFI, as (or not vetting) a product like quality control and attention to reported by All Things Digital: Rebel EFI under this order’s detail out of the hands of Apple, Rebel EFI will not be expressly decree. Moreover, Psystar may t h i n g s r a p i d l y s t a r t t o g o excluded from the terms of the raise in such a motion any d o w n h i l l . D e s p i t e r e c e n t injunction. It should be clear, defenses it believes should apply problems, it’d be a shame to see however, that this ruling is to the factual circumstances of its what tends to be the much more without prejudice to Psystar new product, such as the 17 reliable Mac experience go the bringing a new motion before the U.S.C. 117 defense raised in its w a y o f P C , w i t h i t s H P s , undersigned that includes real opposition and at oral argument. Compaqs, and low-end Acers. details about Rebel EFI, and Whether such a defense would be opening itself up to formal successful on the merits, or face discovery thereon. This would preclusion or other hurdles, this

Strikeforce Returning to CBS; Fedor Emelianenko, Dan Henderson on Card By Ariel Helwani (Fanhouse Main) Submitted at 12/15/2009 9:42:00 AM

Filed under: Strikeforce, News

Strikeforce action will return to CBS in 2010. A CBS spokesperson informed FanHouse on Tuesday that the network will broadcast its fifth

will most likely air during the month of the April. MMA event next year, and that it

Time Names Ben Bernanke Person of the Year [Really?] By Ravi Somaiya (Gawker) Submitted at 12/16/2009 5:16:25 AM

Managing editor Rick Stengel announced, on the Today Show, that the Federal Reserve chairman gets the nod. He Noted that Bernanke led "the most powerful, least understood government force shaping our lives." Here's the announcement, and some of Stengel's rationale. The magazine, essentially, feels that he stopped a recession becoming a depression. It comes the day before a Senate committee vote on whether Bernanke deserves a second term. The article itself is here. Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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Finally, iPhone Insurance (Sort of) By Dave Greenbaum (TheAppleBlog) Submitted at 12/15/2009 1:47:39 PM

A very common “feature” of many highly used iPhones are unsightly cracks in the screen. Since screen cracks are almost never covered by the iPhone warranty, an entire cottage industry has cropped up for iPhone screen repairs. Even Apple decided it wanted a piece of the pie, and now do (expensive) iPhone screen repairs. AT&T doesn’t offer any insurance for iPhones, but does for other smartphones. Obviously, this has to do with the high cost of repair combined with the likelihood of breakage. What’s a paranoid iPhone user to do? Mission: Repair, one of the leaders in iPhone service, is now offering a program which bridges the gap between iPhone repairs and iPhone insurance. The program, called a“Peace of Mind/Maintenance Performance Guarantee” will cover screen and other repairs to your iPhone. The terms and conditions are a bit lengthy and technically they can’t

call it insurance or a warranty. Essentially, the program is a “pay in advance” system for iPhone screen repairs that in practice behaves like an insurance program. You pay $19.99 for one year or $29.99 for two years and if your screen breaks, they repair it at no charge. For a bit more they’ll cover almost everything but the screen ($34.99 1 year/54.99 2 years) or combine the two (54.99 1 year/79.99 2 years). Unlike

AppleCare, this program will cover accidental screen damage as well as iPhones or iPods that are already out of warranty. Water damage is excluded and you have to ship your iPhone/iPod touch to them for inspection before signing up for the program in order to prove it is in good working condition (an iPhone App allowing you to test it yourself without sending the phone in to Mission: Repair is coming soon). The current

requirement for advance shipping is a pain of course, but when I’ve had to do a repair before, I buy a cheap GoPhone and put my SIM card in there for a day. Additionally, users of the new program are required to install an iPhone screen protector and users are limited in the number of repairs per year. The closest equivalent is BestBuy’s $15 per month “BlackTie Protection” which covers pretty much everything. However, one only needs to pull out the calculator app to see that $180 is not a terribly good deal. AT&T’s insurance program for other phones is $60 a year, so Mission: Repair’s combined coverage program is competitive with AT&T’s offerings on other phones. I’m sure others will pick up on the idea, but I’m glad Mission: Repair is taking the lead! I know what I’ll be giving as stocking stuffers to my risk-averse iPhone and iPod touch friends this year. Photo courtesy of Flickr user christyxcore.

The Sexy Nominees of the 67th Annual Golden Globe Awards! (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 12/16/2009 3:00:00 AM

The 67th Annual Golden Globe

nominations are in! Many of stars who will be lighting up the Hollywood's biggest names are red carpet and then battling it out leading the pack at this year's on stage! awards. Take a look at the sizzlin' To see who the night's big

Beverly Hills Bandits Also Linked to the Most and Least Successful Indie Films of the Year [Beverly Hills Bandits] By Gabriel Snyder (Gawker) Submitted at 12/16/2009 7:01:17 AM

Gawker friend Mark Ebner's Maxim story on the Beverly Hills Bandits includes this fact: the father of one member, Nick Prugo, is a film executive behind both no-budget blockbuster Paranormal Activity and poopmovie I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell.

Toshiba Launches 64GB Flash Drive, Possibly Bound for an iPhone Near You

winners are, tune in to the Golden Globes on Sunday, Jan. By Darrell Etherington 17, 2010 on NBC. (TheAppleBlog) If you TOSHIBA have a 64GB pageiPod 42 touch

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TOSHIBA continued from page 41

and you read this headline, you might be thinking, “What gives? Isn’t this already a no-brainer?” but the fact is, before Toshiba announced its 64GB drive today, there was no way to cram that much storage into the iPhone in its existing configuration. The 64GB touch features two 32GB modules, whereas the iPhone can only support one, since it needs all the extra space for its various wireless radios. The new chip is a single-package solution, comprised of 16 32Gbit (4GB) chips combined on a 32nm platform. In case anyone out there needs help with the math, this announcement also paves the way for a 128GB iPod touch, which would finally bring it almost up to par with its aging disc-based predecessor, the iPod classic. Toshiba doesn’t mention Apple by name in its product announcement regarding the new high-capacity flash modules, but it does mention that they are “designed for application in a

wide range of digital consumer products, including smartphones, mobile phones, netbooks and digital video cameras.” It seems Apple would make for a great higher profile customer to use the new tech in its products in those categories. It’s not completely beyond the realm of possibility to imagine Toshiba’s new storage modules making their way into Apple’s much talked-about tablet device, either. If indeed we will see the tablet in 2010, many now expect it to arrive either in Spring or sometime during the second quarter of 2010, which does fit with the proposed production roll -out of the 64GB flash device. Samples of the new module are shipping now, with mass production expected to begin in Q1 2010. If Apple’s device is keeping a slim profile, as recent potentially leaked video seems to suggest, and if it owes more to its iPod and iPhone brethren than to the Mac line, it stands to reason that

Apple would opt for this kind of storage option over a more traditional HDD or SSD. If the device is indeed the multimedia wunderkind many blogs and analysts are predicting it will be, I’d probably pay extra for additional storage configuration options that would allow me to bump up the storage capacity to 128GB, too, which would be an easy option to include using the new modules. While it was inevitable that 64GB flash modules would come to pass, it’s nice to have confirmation that they’ve in fact arrived, and well in time for the launch of the next iPhone revision this upcoming Spring. Tablet or not, Apple’s smartphone at least is poised to outpace the competition in terms of onboard storage by an even greater margin than it currently enjoys.

The Twelve Days of Festivus: Eight stars a shinin' By Allison Waldman (TV Squad) Submitted at 12/16/2009 10:02:00 AM

On the eighth day of Festivus, TV gave to me ... eight stars a shinin'! There are a lot more than eight wonderful stars shining in the TV pantheon for 2009, but these eight are a remarkable bunch who have been exemplary this past year. They've left us with memories that'll last long after this Festivus has ended. So, in no special order, here are the eight stars a shining from the year gone by. 1. Jane Lynch. If the Emmy doesn't already have Jane Lynch's name engraved in a statuette for Glee, it will by the time the awards are handed out. Lynch has been the perfect villain, the villain you love to hate. But if she were just a one-note nasty, it wouldn't work. Lynch has shown the other side of Sue Sylvester.

Her "swing" date showed Sue in love, and her visit to her sister Jean was a soft earthquake emotion. Jane delivers week in and week out. Her star is glowing. Continue reading The Twelve Days of Festivus: Eight stars a shinin' Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, House, Festivus, Celebrities, Friday Night Lights, TV Squad Lists, Emmys, Breaking Bad, Reality-Free, Mad Men, The Big Bang Theory, Glee Permalink| Email this| | Comments

Details of Halladay's Extension Emerge By Ed Price (Fanhouse Main)

Lee has yet to be finalized as the Mariners, Blue Jays and Phillies sort out medical details, but the Filed under: Phillies, MLB contract extension Halladay will Transactions, MLB Inside Scoop, sign once the trade is complete is MLB Hot Stove The megatrade in place, according to major involving Roy Halladay and Cliff league sources. Submitted at 12/15/2009 10:04:00 AM

Halladay, who will make $15.75

million in 2010, the final year of an extension he signed with Toronto in 2006, is set to make $20 million a year in 2011, 2012 and 2013, placing the base value of his new deal at three years and $60 million.

There is also a vesting option for 2014, likely to be based on starts and innings pitched, that would pay him another $20 million.

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Enable CSS3 Support for CSSEdit By Bryan Schuetz (TheAppleBlog) Submitted at 12/15/2009 10:44:54 AM

Chances are if you do any kind of front-end web development on a Mac you’ve heard about CSSEdit, a very popular tool for editing .css files in OS X. I use CSSEdit pretty much all day long at my day job and while I absolutely love it and have a hard time imagining doing my job without it, its lack of support for all the new CSS3 properties is becoming more and more problematic. Unfortunately, the good folks at MacRabbit who make CSSEdit have had their hands full lately. They just shipped a new update to their all-in-one web development app Espresso and apparently haven’t been able to get around to updating CSSEdit with full support for CSS3 yet. Lucky for us though,@andyford is on the case and has come up with this great“hack” for c u s t o m i z i n g t h e AutoCompletion.plist file in CSSEdit to include CSS3 syntax. The .plist file in question is essentially just a collection of

arrays that define the possible values for a given property, like font-weight for instance. As you can see from the screen shot below, the font-weight property has several strings contained in it’s array, all of which will be presented as autocomplete options when defining an elements font-weight within a .css file. This is great news, as now we can use a handy tool like PlistEdit Pro to go in and add our own custom properties and values. By adding in additional strings to an array or by creating entirely new arrays, we can change the autocomplete behavior of CSSEdit and make it more CSS3 friendly.

But wait, Andy is ahead of the curve and has already rolled up a custom AutoCompletion.plist file(ZIP) for us which includes all the hot new CSS3 properties like border-radius, transform, transition, and more, including some custom values of his own. To join the fun, just right click on the CSSEdit application to “show package contents” and throw the custom .plist file into the CSSEdit/Contents/Resources directory. It’s probably a good idea though to first back up the existing .plist file somewhere safe just in case. I did notice a couple CSS3 properties missing from Andy’s file but now that we know it’s there it will be easy enough to add in any important missing properties or values we need. I look forward to the folks at MacRabbit getting around to making an official update to CSSEdit now that they have the new version of Espresso out the door. There’s a lot of excitement building around HTML5 and CSS3 at the moment and I’m really hoping that my favorite CSS application can keep pace.

Banks revive spirits as traders await the Fed (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 12/16/2009 7:31:18 AM

Banks revive spirits as traders await the Fed

By Jamie Chisholm, Global Markets Commentator Published: December 16 2009 07:15 | Last updated: December 16 2009 15:31 fivefilters.org featured article:

Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Review: So You Think You Can Dance - Top 6 Perform By Jason Hughes (TV Squad)

more diverse couplings and group numbers we've gotten on Submitted at 12/16/2009 1:35:00 AM other finales. (S06E23) For the first time in the Instead, we got nine dances, history of So You Think You pairing each guy with each girl Can Dance, we have six dancers through the night. It was wall-toin the final performance show, wall dancing to pack it into an which makes it even more hour, which was a refreshing unpredictable. It was a great change, and we did get to see night of dancing, but I'm not even m a r r i e d c o u p l e R y a n a n d going to venture a guess as to Ashleigh perform together ... and who might win, as a strong case not in a ballroom routine. could be made for at least five of Continue reading Review: So them. You Think You Can Dance - Top I would have liked to see 6 Perform tonight's episode be a two-hour Filed under: OpEd, Episode showcase rather than tomorrow's Reviews, So You Think You Can finale. We could then have seen Dance each of the dancers perform in Permalink| Email this| | solos, or perhaps some of the C o m m e n t s

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Chrome Passes Safari in Market Share By Charles Jade (TheAppleBlog) Submitted at 12/15/2009 11:38:01 AM

As predicted, Chrome has eclipsed Safari in web browser market share. According to web analytics firm Net Applications, Chrome’s share is now 4.4 percent, just edging out Safari at 4.37 percent. For Apple and Safari users, there is both good and bad news here. The good news is that Chrome is WebKit-based like Safari, and more WebKit-based browsing ultimately means greater compatibility for all. The bad news comes in the form of a question: Whatever happened to Safari for Windows? Via Computerworld, Net Applications VP Vince Vizzaccaro asserts the recent beta release of Chrome for OS X and Linux was responsible for the surge in Chrome usage. At the end of November, Chrome was at 3.93 percent of total browser share, with the OS X version at just 0.32 percent. Two weeks later Chrome for OS X jumped a full percentage point, the increase coming “fairly equally” from Safari and Firefox, according to

Frank Mir, Shane Carwin Likely to Face Off for Interim UFC Title at UFC 111 Vizzaccaro. Chrome saw an even bigger jump with Linux, from 3.81 percent to 6.84 percent. According to Vizzaccaro, “Linux will be the more intriguing arena to watch.” That may be true, but Net Applications currently counts Linux as just 1 percent of OS market share. Even if Chrome takes half the browser share on Linux, it won’t do much to increase the usage of WebKitbased browsers. That will happen on Windows, if it happens at all,

but the sad thing is it could have happened with Safari. At the launch of Safari for Windows at WWDC ‘07, Steve Jobs commented that “hundreds of millions of Windows users already use iTunes, and we look forward to turning them onto Safari’s superior browsing experience, too.” It never happened. Security and performance issues blunted the initial surge of downloads, but more importantly, Apple has never devoted the resources to

making Safari for Windows as good as Safari for Mac. Safari for Windows has never been close to the experience on the Mac, and its market share has never been more than a third of a percent. Today, Chrome feels like what Safari could have been for Windows, a “fast and intuitive web browsing” experience as Jobs said at WWDC ‘07. That was then, and Chrome is now — better to kill Safari for Windows and use those resources elsewhere.

Street Chic: New York By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 12/16/2009 4:00:00 AM

Patterned tights add personality

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

Follow ELLE on Twitter. Become our Facebook fan! Chic Daily.

By Mike Chiappetta (Fanhouse Main) Submitted at 12/15/2009 6:31:00 PM

Filed under: UFC, FanHouse Exclusive, News With UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar still indefinitely on the shelf, the organization is moving swiftly to create an interim championship. And fresh off his spectacular win at UFC 107, Frank Mir is being tabbed to face No. 1 contender Shane Carwin to fill the interim title matchup, FanHouse has learned. The bout, which has not been officially signed but has been verbally agreed to by at least one side, will be featured as the comain event at UFC 111 on March 27, 2010 in Newark, N.J.

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A new Internet Law, named after Bill 2010 Writers Guild Gates Award nominees announced (Scripting News)

Submitted at 12/15/2009 9:14:32 AM

I get more than my share of flack from Google which is really strange because I am a person and they are a multi-billion dollar empire that employs thousands of people. Sometimes I even win when they try to make me lose. But you gotta wonder why a big company like Google wants me to lose. Wouldn't it be easier if they outsourced some of the innovation and got the seal of approval you get when someone who's truly independent says there's nothing up your sleeve? Otherwise I'm almost sure there is a hidden agenda. Esp when patents surface on stuff they didn't invent. Had the same problem with Microsoft, multiple times. Funny how no one makes the pilgrimage to Redmond these days. It seems to me the rest of the world has a say in teh future Mr Google. I

said this to Microsoft and now I say it to you. Relax. Kick back. You're going to make 40-plus percent of all the profit that comes from any growth we, outside of Google, are able to create. Maybe even more. You won't get any more growth if you insist on controlling every bit that goes over the wire, in fact you'll get less, because the more you impede overall growth, the less you will grow. Of course I can't prove this, but it was definitely the right call in the layer before yours. Somehow I think it's a fundamental rule of the growth of the net. The current leader will always try to control growth, and thus slit its own throat. Call that Gates' Law, because he both discovered it (as it applied to IBM) and fell victim to it (in his struggle to control the web). BTW, to Aaron Swartz, who says Google is much less of a sociopath than Microsoft. I don't actually think so. Microsoft

wasn't as bad as you seem to think. They didn't interfere with 99 percent of all Windows apps. They certainly never tried to control the platform anywhere as completely as Apple tries to control iPhone apps today. I think it's very nice of Google not to screw around with search results. I also think if they did, they'd instantly fall apart. Another BTW, in showing us the future Google Toolbar and Feedburner, yesterday, Google presented a classic Embrace & Extend. You can tweet your links to Twitter, and a number of other places. At some point they will add Google's Twitter clone to the list (unless they acquire Twitter of course). No matter what it will be the default. You can feel its presence. Not a bad thing. A way of reminding Twitter that they are still very much one of us. Might end up being a very good thing.

By Allison Waldman (TV Squad) Submitted at 12/16/2009 9:38:00 AM

Round up the usual suspects. That would seem to be the appropriate line when you look at the nominees for the 2010 Writers Guild Awards. That doesn't mean that all these nominees are not worthy; they are some of the best 2009 television for sure. It's just that inevitably some shows are left out in favor of the tried old faves. For instance, in the comedy category, can you really put Modern Family in and completely diss The Big Bang Theory? I can't. I'm not even happy about the annual goopfest for 30 Rock, a sitcom that I've grown tired of -- but that's just me. I'd prefer How I Met Your Mother to get some time, or

United States of Tara or Nurse Jackie or The Middle. All four of those show have been superior to 30 Rock-- to me. Continue reading 2010 Writers Guild Award nominees announced Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Lost, The Office, 30 Rock, Dexter, Awards, Breaking Bad, Reality-Free, Mad Men, Glee, Modern Family Permalink| Email this| | Comments

Marvel at the Chuck Season 3 teaser poster! By Danny Gallagher (TV Squad) Submitted at 12/15/2009 9:00:00 PM

I haven't been a regular viewer of NBC's spy spoof Chuck, but after seeing this poster, I'm wondering if I should start.

It's got everything that makes an action comedy series great: face kicking, Chuck Taylor All-Star hightops, leggy blondes with weapons, dark suits and what appears to be a secret lair underneath a set of stadium bleachers.

You can see a new video

preview of the third season, which starts Sunday, January 10, 2010, by clicking here. Apparently, Chuck is going to get to do some face kicking off his own since he now has the full skills of a spy. That may or may not be a good thing, but then

again it is moments like these that make TV shows so interesting. Filed under: Programming, Chuck, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

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Parks & Recreation, Community, Heroes: At NBC, A Sinking Tide Will Lift All Piers By Bill Gorman (TVbytheNumbers) Submitted at 12/15/2009 3:13:21 PM

Our Renew / Cancel Index predicts potential renewal or cancellation for scripted broadcast primetime shows for the 2010-11 season (results through December 13, 2009): • Likely To Be Canceled By May, 2010 • Some Danger Of Being Canceled By May, 2010 • Likely to Be Renewed For The 2010-11 Season NBC won the weekly adults 1849 ratings last week. What? That was the power of Sunday Night Football vs. the competition airing at least a few repeats during the week. But there’s only 2 more SNF games left, and after that, except for the two weeks of the Winter Olympics, the future ratings outlook for NBC is grim. But that’s good news for NBC’s marginal shows like Parks & Recreation, Community and Heroes. NBC’s overall 18-49 ratings average will drop like a rock (it’s 2.8 now, I could see them averaging a 2.1 for most weeks in Jan-May.) That will make individual show’4s results look a lot better (and not just to the Index, but likely in the eyes of NBC as well). What’s bad for

the network averages is good for the fans of those shows! That’s not going to help Trauma and Mercy. They’re completely underwater and have no chance of being renewed for next season. For shows in the Some Danger category only, I am including short term Index indicators for shows either with either improving or deteriorating Indexes, based on 4 week averages instead of season to date Indexes. This is a breakdown of NBC scripted shows and their renewal and cancellation prospects. Here are links to the other networks: • ABC scripted shows • CBS scripted shows • CW scripted shows

• Fox scripted shows Notes: The Renew/Cancel Index is a show’s Season To Date adults 18 -49 rating divided by its network’s Season to Date average 18-49 rating. If a show’s season to date 18-49 ratings average equalled its network’s 18 -49 average, the show would have an Index of 1.00. Without special factors, scripted shows that were more than 10% below their network’s average are typically canceled by the end of the broadcast primetime season. Factors that could cause a show to be renewed with a well below average Index:

• (F) -Fridays: Shows airing on Fridays have been renewed with significantly lower than average Indexes. • (S) – Syndication: Shows nearing syndication (66-88 episodes), often have economic factors that trump ratings leading to renewal. • (T) – Third Party: Shows that have a portion of their cost underwritten by a 3rd party can be renewed with substantially lower ratings. • (P) – Produced by the network’s production company – For shows on the bubble, being produced by the network’s corporate production company can be a survival advantage. For real losers, it’s unlikely to help.

Buy Now: Tiger's Stock Will Rise Again By Greg Couch (Fanhouse Main) Submitted at 12/15/2009 4:15:00 PM

Filed under: PGA I wish I could buy stock in Tiger Woods. The price would be in my range for What’s the History of the Index once, with so many people and How Did It Do In the Past? saying his name is mud, and with Check out the results from the sponsors ditching him. 2007-8 season and the 2008-9 But he's going to come back. It'll take time, he might not reach season. Nielsen TV Ratings Data: his old highs. But he's going to ©2009 The Nielsen Company. have a chance to win his name All Rights Reserved. All ratings back, and he'll still win majors. u s e d a r e L i v e + S a m e D a y He'll still break Jack Nicklaus' record. viewing. fivefilters.org featured article: I doubt even he realizes that Normalising the crime of the now. century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Cable Ratings: The Closer Sinks! Men Of a Certain Age Drops By Robert Seidman (TVbytheNumbers) Submitted at 12/15/2009 4:15:10 PM

I said SINKS not stinks. I enjoyed last night’s episode of The Closer, but not nearly as many people are watching as usually watch. Is it the staggered schedule? The holidays? CBS being beasts on Monday at 9pm? Something else? My guess: people think of The Closer as a summer show mostly. It’s not summer. It’s official, I’m not making anything at all out of Men Of a Certain Age’s 19% post-premiere drop, considering that The Closer was down almost 12%. If that’s not a series low for The Closer, I’m pretty sure its among the lowest episode since the early days of the show, and I’m pretty sure it’s the lowest since we started this blog over 2 years ago. Men again edged The Closer out in adults 18-49, just like last week. Neither is a Sons of Anarchy(or a Keeping Up With the Kardashian s for that matter!), last night, outside of football WWE RAW held the cable 18-49

crown. Monday Cable finals via@TravisYanan: Intervention - 1.922 million viewers - 1.3/2 HH - 0.9/2 A18-49 Hoarders - 2.166 million viewers - 1.4/2 HH - 1.1/3 A18-49 Monday Night Football (8:30pm, 200 minutes) - 13.077 million viewers - 8.3/14 HH - 5.1/14 A18-49 Pawn Stars (10pm) - 2.441 million viewers - 1.6/3 HH - 0.9/2 A18-49 Pawn Stars (10:30pm) - 2.870 million viewers - 1.9/3 HH - 1.1/3 A18-49 Little People, Big World (8pm) - 1.463 million viewers - 1.0/2 HH - 0.5/1 A18-49 Cake Boss (9pm) - 1.446 million viewers - 0.9/1 HH - 0.6/1 A18-49 The Closer

- 5.454 million viewers - 3.6/5 HH - 1.2/3 A18-49 Men of a Certain Age - 4.425 million viewers - 2.8/5 HH - 1.3/4 A18-49 WWE Raw (8pm) - 4.267 million viewers - 2.5/4 HH - 1.5/4 A18-49 WWE Raw (9pm) - 5.349 million viewers - 3.0/5 HH - 1.8/9 A18-49 WWE Raw (10pm, 70 minutes) - 5.135 million viewers - 3.0/5 HH - 1.9/5 A18-49 For the Love of Ray J 2 - 1.492 million viewers - 0.9/1 HH - 0.7/2 A18-49 I Want to Work for Diddy 2 - 1.264 million viewers - 0.8/1 HH - 0.7/1 A18-49 fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Review: Better Off Ted - The Lawyer, The Lemur, and The Listener By Mike Moody (TV Squad) Submitted at 12/16/2009 8:40:00 AM

(S02E02) Most people have trouble separating their work life from their life life. But if you're employed by Veridian Dynamics, your work life is your life life. Always and forever. So, like Linda in this episode, forget about writing that children's book you've been talking about for years, because the company owns the rights to anything you create -- even stories about lemurs that look like unhappily married scientists. And, like Ted, don't bring your daughter to the company day care service. You'll just end up milking her for inside information about the latest

round of layoffs. Oh, and like poor ol' Lem, never ever do it with a company lawyer on company time, unless you can afford $300 an hour. Continue reading Review: Better Off Ted - The Lawyer, The Lemur, and The Listener Filed under: Other SciFi/Supernatural Shows, Episode Reviews, Weeds, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

Check This Out! Blind Spot's 2009 Benefit Auction By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 12/15/2009 3:45:16 PM

Blind Spot's 2009 Benefit

Auction West 22nd Street Original Framed Artwork and Luchford, Glynnis McDaris, Cocktails, Hors d'Oeuvres & David Melrose, James Welling, Silent Auction 7-9:30pm Rare & Signed Books Artists include: John Baldessari, and a host of others Live Auction 8pm Becky Beasley, Tim Davis, Glen Place to be: X Initiative - 548 Tickets range from $25 to $150

and are available at the door. Follow ELLE on Twitter. Become our Facebook fan!

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Syndicated Top 25: Tiger Woods Scandal boosts Entertainment Tonight over Oprah + Legend of The Seeker By Robert Seidman (TVbytheNumbers) Submitted at 12/15/2009 4:40:10 PM

Legend of the Seeker fans, the show’s fifth episode of the season two two didn’t make the top 25 below fourth episode of season but it had an average audience of 2.30 million, that’s down from the fourth episode’s 2.408 which was down from the third episode’s 2.504 million which was up from the 2.24 million for the second episode and still off a bit from the season two premiere which averaged 2.58 million viewers. WWE RAW fans – Smackdown! didn’t make the top 25 with its December 4 airing that averaged 3.097 million. For more context and info on shows that weren’t among the top 25 listed below, please check out Broadcasting & Cable’s post

covering the week’s syndicated ratings. Please note that the syndicated weekly results are delayed versus normal reporting. While we get the broadcast and cable ratings for the prior Monday-Sunday period every Tuesday, there is an extra week of lag time with the syndicated ratings and these numbers are not for last week, but for the week before last. So while Friday Night Smackdown! is now counted as a syndicated show and we are seeing the numbers again, they are delayed. The numbers below are for Friday December 4, not December 11. Top 25 Syndicated Shows for the week ending December 6, 2009: Please note that the #s for Monday Night Football are the total number both for the ESPN

airings and the local markets where the games are syndicated to one of the local affiliates (a rule to ensure the markets playing the game can watch them, even if they don’t have ESPN). As a result Monday

Night Football will be at or near the top of the syndicated lists until football season is over It’s sort of bogus, but I’m just reporting it as Nielsen does, but you can figure most of the viewing is actually directly on

J.J. Abrams casts Major Dad in new action pilot By Danny Gallagher (TV Squad) Submitted at 12/16/2009 10:21:00 AM

J.J. Abrams, a man chemically designed to create television shows, has another pilot in the works and this one will star veteran TV actor Gerald McRaney.

He's been picked for a pilot called Undercovers, a spy action show described as a cross between Mr. and Mrs. Smith and The Bourne Identity. McRaney will play a CIA boss overseeing a husband and wife spy couple. Abrams wrote the pilot with TV scribe Josh Reims who's also written scripts for

also step in the director's chair for the pilot episode commissioned by NBC. Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments ABC's Brothers & Sisters and Dirty Sexy Money. Abrams may

ESPN. As of mid-November, the same now holds true for the Thursday games on NFL Network. For syndicated shows which air on multiple days, the viewership shown is the average of all telecasts. BUENA VISTA items are syndicated packages of old Disney movies. For more information click here. DAD = Disney ABC Domestic Television, SPT= Sony Pictures Television, 2/T=Twentieth Television, ESP = ESPN, CTD = CBS Television Distribution. Nielsen TV Ratings Data: ©2009 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved. fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Fox Well Ahead vs. Last Season; ABC Down Almost As Much As NBC By Bill Gorman (TVbytheNumbers)

unlikely to be challenged. You can see past week’s broadcast network primetime Submitted at 12/16/2009 5:30:05 AM season to date average TV ratings Season To Date Ratings results here. CBS and NBC cut into Fox’s Ratings Increase / Decrease: season 18-49 demo ratings lead 2009-10 Season vs. 2008-9 in the past week, but it looks like Season Fox could hang onto the lead for Fox continues to be well ahead the next 4 weeks until American in all ratings demographic groups Idol and 24 arrive and the Fox vs. last season. While they were annual spring ratings beatdowns c e r t a i n l y h e l p e d b y a b i g resume, although the Winter improvement in the World Series Olympics will be an NBC numbers, they were ahead of last wildcard this season. season’s ratings before the Fox continues its big lead in baseball playoffs began. adults 18-34 ratings. This season The CW is ahead vs. last season is shaping up to be a huge margin as well, but they would be about of victory for them in that demo. 20% ahead of last season across CBS continues to hold both the the board if they’d just kept their adults 25-54 rating title (which Monday-Friday numbers steady Fox may challenge depending on because of the automatic boost to how Idol does), and the average their ratings averages just by viewership title, which is d u m p i n g S u n d a y n i g h t s .

Compared to last season, the CW’s Monday-Friday ratings averages are down across the board. With ABC down nearly as much as NBC this season, I’m still waiting to read about it in the TV

press. Not really. NBC’s the designated TV press whipping boy this season, ABC gets a free pass! CBS is still down in nearly every main demo, but compared to NBC and ABC they’re broadcast geniuses!

Each rating point is a percentage of the US TV population in that demographic group and equals: 2.90 million viewers, 1.32 million adults 18-49, 0.68 million adults 18-34 and 1.24 million adults 25-54. Note that the chart includes RATINGS not VIEWERSHIP as was typical in our weekly network ratings posts prior to July, 2009. Nielsen TV Ratings Data: ©2009 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved. fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Wacky Sex Stories Get America Through the Holidays [Sexy Time] By Hamilton Nolan (Gawker) Submitted at 12/16/2009 7:17:01 AM

Christmas seems to be the sexxxiest time of year! Newswise. It's because reporters—and readers—are even lazier than usual right now. Neither writing nor reacting to sex stories takes much effort at all. Observe: • A lady in New Mexico got an

injury in a car crash that " left her with an insatiable sex drive." Hey, maybe we should go out on a date, lady! Ha. • NYPD officers were found playing porn in the office. Protect and serve? Protect and perv! Ha. • New York City wants the public's help to design the new NYC condom wrapper. Watch • Chinese police arrested more out, sounds like a job for me! Ha. than 3,000 people in an online

porn crackdown. Good thing we don't live in China, we too would be under arrest! Ha. • A British woman was cited for "breaching an anti-social behaviour order by having noisy sex." Tell us about it—we already know about it. Firsthand! Ha. • An Irish company is marketing the first environmentally friendly

vibrator. Hey baby, I was born with one of those, inside my pants! Ha. You are guaranteed to hear at least one of these on the Jay Leno show tonight, so tune in at 10! [Pic via]

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Who Will Pick Up Tiger's Lost Endorsements? How About the Wife. [Gossip Roundup] By Azaria Jagger (Gawker) Submitted at 12/16/2009 4:01:30 AM

Elin eyes an alternate source of revenue, A-Rod dumped K-Hud for being a famewhore, Tiger paparazzi pics are at a premium, Courtney Love fights with Perez. Wednesday gossip may look like a gun, but it is really a telescope. • Tiger Woods has not been photographed since the car accident. First pap to snap him could get millions—especially if he's crying. [ AP] • • Speaking of Woods spin-off industries: Elin Nordegren is picking up where Tiger left off, endorsement-wise. Mrs. Tiger Woods is reportedly "very close" to signing a deal with Puma because she is "a good brand fit" for Puma's special new line of husband-beating equipment. [ TMZ] • • Kate Hudson's famewhoring was the downfall of her relationship with Alex Rodriguez. An A-Rod friend claims K-Hud "wanted more camera time each and every game. She would always want to be styled before games and she'd insist on front-row seats." Apparently this "was a turnoff" and " he broke up with her over a week ago." [ Us] • • Confirmed: Reese Witherspoon

and Jake Gyllenhaal broke up, says professional mellow-harsher Gossip Cop. But who will police this claim: The break was "amicable and mutual." Oh, please. [ GossipCop] • • Is motherhood making Sarah Jessica depressed? "Every day is Groundhog Day basically," Mrs. Matthew Broderick said less than a day after she called motherhood "perfectly overwhelming." Two questions: (1.) Can you get postpartum from a surrogate birth? I'm leaning towards "yes," because it's the baby's presence that freaks you out, not the absence of belly, right? (2.) Are frazzled mom roles the future of Carrie Bradshaw's career? [ People] • • Tiger mistress#4.8613, porn star Holly Sampson, is in talks to star in Vivid Entertainment's inevitable Tiger Woods porn parody. But it turns out she had sex with him years before he married Elin, so does she even count? [ Extra] • • Did Courtney Love write a long, ridiculous immature Facebook note bitching out daughter Frances Bean, who successfully took her mom to court to get custody removed this week? Perez Hilton says yes, but he appears to be the only one who saw it—Love says he either

made the note up or got it from a turncoat. Then, in a real Facebook note, she threatens: "im goi g after him tomorrow." Lawsuit or beatdown? With Courtney you can never tell. [ Perez Hilton] [ Facebook] • • ESPN reporter Erin Andrews' peephole stalker is guilty, and Andrews wants him to get the maximum sentence. In a tearful

courtroom statement, the sportscaster confessed to nightmares and stalker-induced social anxiety. "My career has been ripped apart... I am subjected to crude comments... I walk into stadiums, and fans say obscene things to me." This story is so bleak. Men are pigs. [ NYDN] • • Speaking of stalkers, Jennifer

Garner's was arrested for violating a restraining order when he turned up at Ben-and-Jen progeny Violet Affleck's nursery school. Steven Burky has a blog called Satanic Panic, is a bornagain Christian, and believes he was the victim of ritualistic satanic abuse. Just the kind of guy you'd want around kids. [ NYDN] • • Emily Blunt is sick of corsets. Fresh off filming The Young Victoria, she's already dreading "another corset role in The Wolfman." Unfortunately for Emily, she is cursed with the porcelain skin, fine features, and willowy figure that period movies always cast, for there were neither fat women nor large noses before the twenty-first century. [ ShowBizSpy] • • Celebrity baby alert! Vladimir Putin's "gorgeous 26-year-old rhythmic gymnastics champion" baby mama has birthed a boy, Dimitry, named for Russian president and renowned Putin sock puppet Dimitry Medvedev. Nothing like babies to remind you always of the greatest power grabs of your life. [ P6] •

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Tiger Woods Story 4,786,874 Breaks [Front Pages] By Ravi Somaiya (Gawker) Submitted at 12/16/2009 5:46:47 AM

The number is a rough estimate — the story today is that his wife has moved out. Also: there may be casinos in New York soon, the LA Times still loves drugs and young people these days are square dancing. The death of televangelist Oral Roberts also makes the front page pretty much everywhere. In fact, on the cover of the Washington Post, he's under news that gay marriage has been approved by the council there. Which shows how much things have changed since he was born in the early 1900s. Other stories that are interesting to read and process, and contain nice information include: • The New York Times say Lloyd Blankfein likes quick profits. Who knew? • The Washington Post gives us the good news about gay marriage. • And the Wall Street Journal shows the hypocrisy of 'fiscal conservative' members of congress who are happy to rack up government spending on their own junkets.

Disclosure: I freelance write and report for newspapers that are included in this roundup. Where there is a direct conflict of interest I will make it clear. The New York Times: has news of concerns over China's nuclear power program, and of Shinnecock Indians winning recognition from the government — which means they can build casinos. In New York. Lloyd

Blankfein has fostered a culture of quick profits at Goldman Sachs (is that what "god's work" means?) and they may save forests at the Copenhagen climate summit! Also: Televangelist Oral Roberts died and everyone listens to Celine Dion, but no-one admits it. The Washington Post: leads with the news that the council in DC have approved same-sex marriage. Good local news! But

young suburban folk are using more drugs. Bad local news! The IRS are letting Citigroup get away with not paying some tax as part of their bailout payback deal, the death of Oral Roberts gets a mention here too, and there's an update on the healthcare bill. That features the word 'Lieberman'. The LA Times: says special forces in Afghanistan are targeting the Taliban more and

Al Qaeda less. Because the LA Times loves drugs, they have two stories on the topic: one about legal ones, in the senate healthcare bill and one about illegal ones, in Colombia. Fraud charges have been dismissed in the Broadcom case and Asians are driving a recruitment increase in the armed forces. The Wall Street Journal: has bad news on the European economy. Despite the stimulus efforts of members of Congress, who are spending millions there on lavish junkets. And the kids these days are taking up square dancing. The New York Post: has the story that Tiger Woods' wife has moved out. Which is perhaps the least surprising of all the Tiger Woods stories (4,787,843 at the last count) we've had so far. The Daily News: says the Upper East Side — home, as we know, to rich folk — is the most polluted neighborhood in New York. Bakersfield Californian: has one of those puts-the-recovery-inperspective stories. Philippine Daily Inquirer: but at least there are no volcanic eruptions in California.

Brussels accepts Microsoft browser offer (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 12/16/2009 7:32:39 AM

The European Commission on Wednesday accepted Microsoft’s

offer to allow European computer users to choose rival internet browsers, ending a decade-long battle with the US software company. The decision resolves complaints

that the US company illegally bundles its Internet Explorer browser with its dominant Windows operating system and will mean that Microsoft, which has been fined a total of €1.68bn

($2.45bn) to date by Brussels, tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text will escape further financial RSS, Term Extraction. penalties. fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available

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Which Kinky Hollywood Bad Boy Is on the Verge of Divorce? [Blind Items] By Brian Moylan (Gawker) Submitted at 12/16/2009 7:04:04 AM

His wife can't take the drinking and drugs or his infidelity, but she can take his money. A actor's elaborate toupees, a couple's doomed relationship, and an actor who claims he didn't sleep with his sister-in-law all have it better. 1."This Hollywood bad boy had supposedly cleaned up his act. However, his wife has been consulting very quietly with a prominent divorce attorney, and has also been asking a lot of questions around town about their stock portfolio and bank accounts. We've heard it's because her husband's former bouts with both substance abuse and the kind of sex that requires a fat bank account have made comeback. While he is working and he still has the fat bank account, he has lost his grip on both fidelity and sobriety. His wife has had enough, and has her foot halfway out the door. Dude, you'd better get your act together before she takes you to the cleaners, because your PR people

are going to have a tough time spinning you out of this one. The girl may be pretty, but – in case it hasn't dawned on you yet – she sure isn't dumb." [ Blind Gossip] 2."I always knew this B list Golden Globe nominee/winner television actor was self conscious about his hair. But, what I didn't know is that although he has a few plugs, he

covers 95% of his extremely bald head with four different very expensive toupees. He tells his many one night stands not to touch his head and he has four models in his bedroom where he keeps them when not wearing them." [ CDaN] 3."This young Hollywood hot couple will be breaking up in the next year. No question about it.

making photo management an easy, natural and collaborative process. Get comments, notes, • About Flickr and tags on your photos, post to Flickr is a revolution in photo any blog, share and more! storage, sharing and organization, fivefilters.org featured article:

Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Vertigo By Kevin Collins (Flickr Blog) Submitted at 12/15/2009 5:22:25 PM

Our source is claiming that the female in the pair is obsessed with matrimony and the male is obsessed with a blossoming career. He also wants an open relationship while she wants a house together, babies, the whole deal. The source claims that the girl is really just worried she is losing her grip on her BF and will do anything to keep him around. Not Blake Lively." [ BuzzFoto] 4."Which television anchor is frantically denying he had an affair with his wife's sister?" [ P6] 5."Which Meatpacking nightclub has bouncers who have come up with a new revenue source? When underage patrons present fake ID, the door guards threaten to turn them over to police, then offer to give back the IDs — for a fee." [ P6] 6."Which Hollywood hottie is less than impressed with her exboy friend's equipment? She's telling friends he's a flop in the sack. [ P6]

The best of WoW.com: December 8-15, 2009 By Mike Schramm (Joystiq) Submitted at 12/16/2009 6:30:00 AM

Filed under: RPGs, Meta (about Joystiq), MMO Patch 3.3 is out in the World of Warcraft, and the game is experiencing a new influx of excitement. The new Dungeon Finder system means almost anyone can jump into an instance whenever they want, and new raiding and 5-man content means players are off and questing again. Just in case you're wondering what this new patch is all about, WoW.com has you covered. Hit the links after the break for our top 10 posts of the past week, and head on over to the site for up-to-date information about the the World of Warcraft. Continue reading The best of WoW.com: December 8-15, 2009 The best of WoW.com: December 8-15, 2009 originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 16 Dec 2009 06:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Erin Andrews Speaks in Court By Jon Weinbach (Fanhouse Main) Submitted at 12/15/2009 11:15:00 AM

Letterman Extorter Pretty Scared Dave Might Kill Him [Paranaoia] By Hamilton Nolan (Gawker) Submitted at 12/16/2009 6:42:21 AM

Failed David Letterman extorter Joe Halderman was more than an inept criminal with an inept legal defense team; he was a severely paranoid inept criminal. He's just sayingâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;who knows if Letterman might have him killed, or whatever?

The New York Post has some choice quotes from Halderman's recorded conversations with Letterman's lawyer, when he was trying to get a couple million to keep quiet about Letterman's affair. He was worried Letterman might have him fired. Or have his house burned down. Or, something else: "What is to stop somebody from

hurting me? "As I said to you, the only way to be sure that I never talk to anybody is for somebody to kill me. Well, you know, I don't want that to happen." Haha. Yes. Well that's almost as plausible as Buju Banton being set up, right? [Pic: Getty]

Filed under: Sports Media, Sports Business and Media LOS ANGELES -- On Tuesday in a Los Angeles federal court, ESPN sideline reporter Erin Andrews faced her stalker for the first time and told the court about the emotional damage inflicted by Michael David Barrett(right), the 48-year-old former insurance executive from Chicago who followed her across the country and used a cell phone to capture nude images of the blonde broadcaster. In an agreement with federal prosecutors, Barrett pleaded guilty to one charge of interstate stalking, and faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He will be sentenced on February 10. Andrews told Judge Manuel Real that her personal and professional lives have been turned upside-down since Barett's videos began appearing online. "I feel personally threatened and

fear for my safety as long as [Barrett] is free." Andrews said Barrett stalked her in a "calculated, methodical and deviant manner," adding that her "career has been ripped apart" and the ordeal has had "a devastating impact on me and my family." The 31-year-old TV reporter added that she is continually "subjected to crude comments at stadiums," and suffers from nightmares. "I walk in crowds and I see him in my peripheral vision," said Andrews. "I hope he never sees the light of day again."

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Shuffling of Aces Transforms Baseball Power Balance (WSJ.com: The Daily Fix)

blockbuster. “When the details are agreed upon and the paperwork is In the new code language of submitted, the outlook for next baseball, the word that free-agent season will have been altered pitcher John Lackey was taking a c o n s i d e r a b l y , ” S p o r t s physical for the Boston Red Sox Illustrated’s Lee Jenkins writes. o n M o n d a y m o r n i n g s e n t “The Phillies and the Red Sox, shockwaves through the sport — World Series champions in 2007 “taking a physical” in this case and 2008, can talk title again. being the equivalent of “he went The Mariners, out of the playoffs to Jared” in those nightmarishly for the past nine years, can inescapable jewelry TV ads. By prepare for a pennant race. And m i d - a f t e r n o o n , a d e a l w a s the Angels, after three straight imminent. By Monday evening, division titles, can measure how the terms of Lackey’s five-year much ground they’ve lost.” contract with the Red Sox were At the Mariners blog Lookout set — and no one even cared Landing, Jeff Sullivan can barely anymore. Associated Press The contain his excitement; in the Red Sox won’t mourn Roy Toronto Star, Dave Perkins Halladay’s departure from their doesn’t even try to contain his division. disgust. The Boston Globe’s Dan That’s because a three-team Shaughnessey, who never tries to mega-blockbuster — one that contain anything, is giddy at the would send Toronto Blue Jays prospect of Boston landing a bigace Roy Halladay and prospects name free agent. to the Philadelphia Phillies, 2008 At CBS Sports, Danny Knobler AL Cy Young winner and ‘09 offers a strikingly simple way to postseason mega-ace Cliff Lee to understand the day’s transactions. the Seattle Mariners and a passel “If you’re looking for a winner, of blue-chip prospects to the look for the team that ended up rebuilding Blue Jays — had leapt with the best pitcher,” Knobler from “rumored” to “seemingly writes. “Roy Halladay is that best imminent” over the course of pitcher.” Yahoo’s Jeff Passan s e v e r a l h e c t i c h o u r s . T h e offers a somewhat more nuanced supporting players in the deal take on the deal, and is less keep shifting, but whatever the inclined to assign a “W” to the final deal is — and it may be Phillies so soon. awhile before things become A handful of other free-agent official — it is clearly going to signings on Monday — defensive be big. Suddenly it seems kind of ace and sabermetric star Mike silly that we were ever so excited Cameron to the Red Sox for two about that Curtis Granderson years; 2009 World Series MVP trade last week. This, this was a Hideki Matsui to the suddenly Submitted at 12/15/2009 9:08:19 AM

Timothy Bradley, who delivered an electric win over Lamont Peterson on Saturday. “One of the true pleasures of boxing — of any sport, really — is watching a young talent graduate into a seasoned professional and true force,” Starks writes. “We’ve depleted Angels for a bargain seen Bradley do that this year.”* price — came and went without * * much notice. Of course, every Things did not look good for the free-agent signing is a big deal to Phoenix Coyotes back in May, someone. In another one of his when the perennial NHL also-ran incisive microjournalistic blog and former Winnipeg Jets earned exercises, Joe Posnanski plumbs a mention in the Fix by filing for the dark symbolic depths of the C h a p t e r 1 1 b a n k r u p t c y seemingly inexplicable two-year, p r o t e c t i o n . $6-million contract recently Things have improved for the handed to remarkably punchless ‘ Y o t e s s i n c e t h e n . A n e w 3 5 - y e a r - o l d c a t c h e r J a s o n ownership group is preparing to Kendall by the Kansas City buy the team and keep it in Royals (a signing so weird that it Phoenix, and the squad itself got inspired its o w n off to a fine start this season. The #jasonkendallfacts hash-tag on b a d n e w s , t h o u g h , i s t h a t Twitter, the blog Brew Crew Ball attendance is down by more than reports). It’s classic blog- a third. In USA Today, Kevin Posnanski in that it’s digressive Allen details the difficult task — near-free-associative — and ahead for the Coyotes as they try also in the manner in which it to reconnect with a fan base that chronicles the futility of a poorly had convinced itself the team was run pro-sports team making either going bust or moving poorly reasoned choices.* * * elsewhere.* * * There’s not usually much Casual fight fans can’t really be faulted for rolling over and occasion to link to game stories asking to be awakened when the a b o u t t h e u l t r a - m o r i b u n d Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Minnesota Timberwolves in this Pacquiao hype machine winds space, which is why — despite up. But at the estimable boxing the fact that his pieces are blog Queensberry Rules, Tim consistently among the very best Starks is already looking past that basketball writing appearing on upcoming mega-fight to identify the web — you seldom see the fighter he thinks could be the anything in this space from future of American boxing. That B e n j a m i n P o l k o f t h e would be junior welterweight Minneapolis City Pages. That

said, your Fixer always goes out of his way to read Polk’s stuff, and has enjoyed (if that’s the word) watching him grapple with the struggles of Minnesota’s young squad to adjust to new coach Kurt Rambis’s triangle offense. In a piece about the fabulously successful but devilishly difficult -to-master offensive scheme in the New York Times, Jonathan Abrams puts Polk’s frustrations, and those of Timberwolves fans in general, into greater relief. “The offense can seem to be mystical and mythical,” Abrams writes. “To some, it is easily digestible. Others claim it is too lethargic for the fast and frenetic N.B.A. Despite the triangle’s success — 10 of the last 19 N.B.A. champions showcased the offense — few possess the time, trust or diligence to install it.” For a deeper dive into a much simpler offensive scheme, check out Grant Wahl’s terrific piece on the AASA (or “dribble-drive motion”) offense, which appeared in Sports Illustrated back in 2008.* * * The contrarianism that defines the editorial approach at Slate is hardly a secret — it’s pretty much the site’s trademark (something which Slate occasionally pokes fun at itself for). But sometimes that contrarian streak is more obvious than others — for instance, when Slate chose to run, under the SHUFFLING page 60

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Records: U.S. Customs agents discovered Dr. Anthony Galea after assistant was stopped at border crossing By Mike Fish (ESPN.com) Submitted at 12/16/2009 7:32:43 AM

U.S. Customs officials got onto the trail of a Canadian doctor who has treated Tiger Woods and a bevy of elite amateur and pro athletes after an assistant was found in possession of growth hormone and other drugs purportedly intended for Dr. Anthony Galea while being questioned Sept. 14 at a border crossing into Buffalo, N.Y., according to federal court records obtained by ESPN.com. Galea, the subject of a joint U.S. -Canadian investigation, was subsequently arrested Oct. 15 in Toronto by Canadian authorities. Galea is expected to appear Friday morning in a Canadian court in Toronto, according to his attorney, Brian Greenspan, and face two charges of conspiracy and two other charges under the Food and Drug Act and Controlled Substances Act. In a news release, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said an unnamed assistant was apprehended after she was found to be in possession of Actovegin, a drug extracted from calf's blood that is illegal in the United States and not approved for use in Canada.

THE CHARGES Dr. Anthony Galea is scheduled to appear in a Canadian court Friday in Toronto to face these charges: • Selling an unapproved drug (Actovegin) contrary to Section 9 (1) of the Food and Drugs Act • Conspiracy to import an unapproved drug contrary to Section 465 (1)(c) of the Criminal Code of Canada • Conspiracy to export a drug contrary to Section 465 (3) of the Criminal Code of Canada • Smuggling goods into Canada contrary to Section 159 of the Custom's Act -- From the Royal Canadian Mounted Police In an interview with ESPN.com, Toronto criminal attorney Christophe Preobrazenski, who represented Galea at the time of his arrest, identified the assistant stopped by authorities at the Peace Bridge entry port as Mary Anne Catalano. According to federal documents, Catalano, 32, declared under questioning by U.S. border authorities that she had medical supplies in her vehicle. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents inspected her Nissan Rogue and found 20 vials and 76 ampoules of unknown misbranded drugs -- including human growth hormone -- and

foreign labeled homeopathic drugs, 111 syringes, a diagnostic ultrasound computer, miscellaneous documents and a laptop computer. Agents notified investigators with the Food and Drug Administration. "He was flying off to a medical conference or a meeting and she was driving, and she was going to meet up with him," Preobrazenski said of Galea, his former client. "That is all it is. This guy isn't some charlatan. We're talking about someone who is respected by his peers." Catalano, who waived her rights before agreeing to speak with border agents, admitted she knew the items she was attempting to bring into the U.S. were "illegal" and that she was doing this for her employer, who is not identified in her case documents. She also told agents that her employer asked her to attempt to bring the items in because he had been flagged previous times at the border. She told authorities she knew her employer wasn't licensed in the United States and that it would be illegal for him to administer inside the country. She added that they were to meet up after crossing the border into the U.S.

According to the criminal complaint, Catalano also revealed to agents that she'd been told by her employer that "if she was questioned about the purpose of her trip, she should say that they were coming to the United States for a conference with other medical professionals and that none of the equipment she was bringing into the United States was for treating patients." Catalano, a Canadian citizen and physiotherapist, was charged with smuggling goods into the U.S., and she was released Sept. 25 on $10,000 bond. According to her case docket, charges will be considered for dismissal during a scheduled Jan. 12 appearance in U.S. District Court in Buffalo. Neither Catalano nor her attorney could be reached for comment Tuesday night. Galea has a client list that includes former Canadian Olympic gold medal-winning sprinter Donovan Bailey and hurdler Mark McKoy, as well as other prominent American professional athletes. The doctor has in the past acknowledged personally using HGH himself and in the treatment of some patients, though not with any athletes.

The Canadian sports medicine specialist has established a reputation for the practice of platelet-rich plasma therapy, a process in which blood is taken from a patient and later injected in an improved form into the injured or sore area of the body. It is believed to speed healing significantly. "He is a healer, that's all," Preobrazenski said. "People immediately think that any doctor that deals with professional athletes is giving them performance-enhancing substances so they can cheat and be above the crowd. What this doctor is involved in -- all he does is accelerate and assist the healing process of the body. That is what this guy is about, nothing more." Mike Fish is an investigative reporter for ESPN.com. He can b e r e a c h e d a t michaeljfish@gmail.com. fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Sources: Roy Halladay, Philadelphia Phillies agree on deal By ESPN.com news services (ESPN.com)

however, is still uncertain at this point. As of early Tuesday morning, Submitted at 12/15/2009 6:41:57 PM the Phillies were to send their Cy Phillies Get Their Man Phillies Young Award winner, Cliff Lee, G e t T h e i r M a n V I D E O to Seattle, in exchange for PLAYLIST pitching prospect Phillippe • Phillies Get Their Man Phillies Aumont and outfielder prospect Get Their Man Tyson Gillies, sources told • Halladay Undergoing Physical ESPN.com's Jayson Stark. Halladay Undergoing Physical In addition, ProspectInsider.com reported that the Phillies would Roy Halladay and the Phillies get a third Mariners prospect, have come to an agreement on a right-hander Juan Ramirez. contract that would put in motion The Phillies were to send a three-team trade that would o u t f i e l d e r M i c h a e l T a y l o r , send the Toronto Blue Jays ace to c a t c h i n g p r o s p e c t T r a v i s Philadelphia, sources told ESPN d'Arnaud and pitcher Kyle The Magazine's Buster Olney. Drabek to Toronto, sources told Trading Places ESPN.com. Here are the reported pieces in The Blue Jays, as part of the the trades involving Philadelphia, Halladay deal, would fork over Seattle, Toronto and Oakland: $6 million to the Phillies, * -- minor leaguer according to CSNPhilly.com. Halladay was taking his physical On Tuesday, sources said the Tuesday morning, sources said. Blue Jays would take Taylor and The parties have agreed on a trade him to Oakland for Brett three-year deal, running 2011 to Wallace, the corner infielder and 2013 at $20 million a year, plus a former No. 1 pick whom the $20 million vesting option for Athletics got in the Matt Holliday 2014, according to sources. trade in July. The status of the other portions If all of the names being bandied of a companion deal that would about wind up in this deal, the include the Seattle Mariners, Phillies would get back what

Baseball America rates as the Mariners' top two pitching prospects, plus Gillies, an outfield prospect they view as being similar to Taylor. So although the Phillies would be giving up two of their most highly regarded prospects in Drabek and Taylor, they would look at this deal as not significantly depleting their system for the long haul. In effect, the Phillies would be trading one Cy Young (Lee) for another (Halladay). And while that may seem difficult to understand from afar, the Phillies clearly view it as a swap that enables them to keep one of those Cy Youngs well into the future -a less likely scenario if they held on to Lee. Although the Phillies have done next to no actual negotiating with Lee, they heard enough rumblings that Lee wanted a CC Sabathia-type contract that they believed it would take a five-year or six-year deal to keep the 31year-old left-hander. And the Phillies have an organizational philosophy that precludes deals longer than three years for starting pitchers.

The Mariners, meanwhile, were looking for a top-of-the-rotation starter to pair with Felix Hernandez. And Halladay, who has a no-trade clause, wasn't an option because he wouldn't approve a trade to Seattle. So the Mariners opted to deal for Lee after it became clear their other top target, John Lackey, was bound for Boston as a free agent. Before turning to Seattle, multiple sources say, the Phillies first attempted to complete a twoteam deal with Toronto alone for Halladay. However, the Phillies refused -- as they had last summer -- to include both Drabek and top position-player prospect Domonic Brown in that trade. So they began looking for another team that could help them meet the Blue Jays' price. Halladay, 32, is 148-76 lifetime with a 3.43 ERA. He won the 2003 Cy Young Award and finished in the top five in the Cy Young voting four other times. Mike & Mike in the Morning ESPN The Magazine senior MLB writer Buster Olney says most of the people he spoke with about the Phillies trading away Cliff Lee and getting Roy

Halladay felt it was a bad move for Philadelphia. More Podcasts » Halladay went 17-10 with a 2.79 ERA in 32 starts for Toronto last season. He threw 239 innings and led the league with nine complete games. The Phillies acquired Lee from the Indians on July 29 for four minor leaguers. Lee quickly became Philadelphia's ace. He posted a 3.39 ERA in 12 starts for the Phillies and then went 4-0 with a 1.56 mark in five postseason outings, including 2-0 in the World Series. Lee, the 2008 AL Cy Young Award winner with Cleveland, will make $8 million in 2010 and then be eligible for free agency. Information from ESPN The Magazine senior writer Buster Olney and ESPN.com's Jayson Stark and Jerry Crasnick was used in this report. fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Game vending machines 'pop' up in UK By Alexander Sliwinski (Joystiq)

human traffic. The dispensaries, which apparently exist in the US too, can hold up to 400 units of Submitted at 12/16/2009 5:30:00 AM games, DVDs and Blu-ray POP247 kiosks are popping up m o v i e s . T h e b o x e s a r e a at 150 locations around the UK, collaboration between Sony particularly in locations of heavy Pictures and Universal Studios.

The kiosks will soon provide

downloadable games and movies, as well, transferable to Sony memory sticks. This is a feature that should prove convenient for travelers on the go -- especially the PSP Go. Game vending machines 'pop' up

in UK originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 16 Dec 2009 05:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Tiger’s Officially Having a Bad Month (WSJ.com: The Daily Fix)

The Chicago Sun-Times’s Rick Morrissey writes that L.A. Lakers star Kobe Bryant is a good Tiger Woods was already taking example that redemption is a break from golf to regroup after possible for Tiger. a d m i t t i n g t o n u m e r o u s Yahoo’s Michael Arkush has extramarital affairs. Now comes five ways Tiger can reinvent word that he’s been linked to a himself. Canadian doctor, Anthony Galea, The Guardian’s Dave Zirin who’s been suspected of questions some of Tiger’s providing top-level athletes with commercial endorsements.* * * performance-enhancing drugs, Married athletes face including the human growth t e m p t a t i o n s a l l t h e t i m e . hormone and a drug extracted Opportunities for dalliances from calf’s blood, Actovegin. abound in every city, and plenty Getty Images Tiger Woods, in of athletes uphold their marriage happier days. vows, many do not. Sometimes No one has made any direct an affair ends tragically, as it did assertions of any drug-related when NFL quarterback Steve wrongdoing on Tiger’s part. But McNair was killed this summer that hasn’t stopped the media by his paramour, who then from speculating about whether committed suicide. CBS Sports’s T i g e r ’ s P G A v i c t o r i e s a r e Mike Freeman writes that many l e g i t i m a t e . “ T i g e r W o o d s players have resumed their cheating on his wife is ultimately womanizing ways after the between him and her,” Mike McNair case temporarily scared Bianchi writes in the Orlando them straight.* * * Sentinel. “But Tiger Woods The big names will always make potentially cheating on the game a splash during baseball’s of golf is definitively between offseason. When stars like Roy him and all of us sports fans who Halladay, Cliff Lee and John have cheered him, revered him Lackey switch teams, there’s and marveled at how he is so predictable buzz generated. But much better than everybody else what about the lesser lights on the PGA Tour. Maybe now l o o k i n g f o r w o r k ? I n t h e we know the reason why. Maybe P r o v i d e n c e J o u r n a l , J o e Tiger Woods is simply the Barry McDonald writes ex-players, Bonds of golf — and Jack older players and younger Nicklaus is Hank Aaron.” players attending baseball’s In the Los Angeles Times, Bill winter meetings and trying to P l a s c h k e w o n d e r s w h e t h e r find employment. Tiger’s credibility will take At the other end of the spectrum another massive hit. is Cuban pitcher Aroldis Submitted at 12/16/2009 7:50:20 AM

sports history. But 20 years earlier in Squaw Valley, Calif., a similar group of underdogs surprised the Soviets in the semifinals and Czechoslovakia in the gold-medal game, the first for a U.S. hockey team. At the Slap Shot blog, the New York Times’s Chapman, who dazzled major- Stu Hackel writes of the earlier league teams Tuesday with his 97 Miracle on Ice team, nearly mph fastball, Yahoo’s Jeff f o r g o t t e n , b u t n o w b e i n g remembered thanks to a new Passan writes.* * * Some things are inexplicable: documentary.* * * t h e D a l l a s C o w b o y s ’ 3 5 % There are a lot of bad teams in winning percentage in December the NHL. You just wouldn’t games the past five years and the know it from looking at the San Diego Chargers’ winning 16 s t a n d i n g s , w h i c h a r e v e r y straight games after Dec. 1. The deceiving. The Florida Panthers, Journal’s Matthew Futterman for example, are on the cusp of a finds the reasons behind the playoff spot in the Eastern Chargers’ late-season success.* * Conference thanks to 33 points in 34 games on a record of 13 wins, * Soccer may be “the beautiful 14 losses and 7 overtime or game,” but it’s not without shootout losses. But if the NHL integrity issues. Such as players didn’t reward teams with a point flopping to the pitch, writhing for tying a game through 60 around in apparent agony, hoping minutes, Florida’s record would to win sympathy and a penalty be only 13-21, hardly playoffkick from the referee. Of course worthy. Sports Illustrated’s Mike diving is unsportsmanlike. Even Farber argues that the NHL worse is when stars profess to be should lose the “loser point” and against the practice but resort to expand the shootout, making blatant diving themselves. Some games much more intense. of the worst are English stars, – Tip of the Fix cap to fellow including Wayne Rooney, the Fixer David Roth. Guardian’s Paul Doyle writes.* * Found a good column from the world of sports? Don’t keep it to * The American amateurs and yourself — write to us at collegians who stunned the dailyfix@wsj.com and we’ll Soviet Union in the semifinals of consider your find for inclusion the 1980 Winter Olympics have in the Daily Fix. You can email their embedded slot in U.S. Garey at ris84rap@gmail.com.

PSP Digital Comics launching in US, UK, other territories today By Alexander Sliwinski (Joystiq) Submitted at 12/16/2009 10:55:00 AM

The PSP Digital Comics store will launch in several countries today. According to a PSNComics tweet, the US will receive access at noon Pacific time (3PM EST). The European PlayStation Blog states the comics store will open at 5PM GMT in the UK, Ireland( technical issue), Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The system will supposedly launch with hundreds of comics from Marvel, IDW, Titan, iVerse and 2000AD. Everything that's available should be listed on playstationcomics.com after launch. We're definitely looking forward to taking the service for a test drive with that "free comics" button. PSP Digital Comics launching in US, UK, other territories today originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Tiger Woods voted athlete of the decade by members of The Associated Press By Associated Press (ESPN.com) Submitted at 12/16/2009 7:36:29 AM

Even after a shocking sex scandal that tarnished Tiger Woods, it was tough to ignore what he achieved on the golf course. He won 64 times around the world, including 12 majors, and hoisted a trophy on every continent golf is played. He lost only one time with the lead going into the final round. His 56 PGA Tour victories in one incomparable decade were more than anyone except four of golf's greatest players won in their careers. Woods was selected Wednesday as the Athlete of the Decade by members of The Associated Press in a vote that was more about 10 years of performance than nearly three weeks of salacious headlines. Just like so many of his victories, it wasn't much of a contest. Woods received 56 of the 142 votes cast by AP member editors since last month. More than half of the ballots were returned after the Nov. 27 car accident outside his Florida home that set off

sensational tales of infidelity. Lance Armstrong, a cancer survivor who won the Tour de France six times this decade, finished second with 33 votes. He was followed by Roger Federer, who won more Grand Slam singles titles than any other man, with 25 votes. Record-setting Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps came in fourth with 13 votes, followed by New England quarterback Tom Brady(6) and sprinter Usain Bolt (4). Five other athletes received one vote apiece. Woods, who has not been seen since the accident and has issued only three statements on his Web site, was not made available to comment about the award. Few other athletes have changed their sport quite like Woods. His influence has been so powerful that TV ratings spiked whenever he played, even more when he has been in contention. Prize money has quadrupled since he joined the PGA Tour because of his broad appeal. A new image emerged quickly in the days following his middle-ofthe-night accident, when he ran his SUV over a fire hydrant and into a tree. He became the butt of late-night TV jokes, eventually

confessed that he "let my family down" with "transgressions" and lost a major sponsorship from Accenture. Even so, AP members found his work on the golf course over the last 10 years without much of a blemish. Woods took an early lead in balloting, and continued to receive roughly the same percentage of votes throughout the process. "Despite the tsunami of negative publicity that will likely tarnish his image, there's no denying that Woods' on-the-course accomplishments set a new standard of dominance within his sport while making golf more accessible to the masses," wrote Stu Whitney, sports editor of the Sioux Falls (S.D.) Argus Leader. "The only proof needed are the television ratings when Tiger plays in a golf tournament, compared to those events when others have to carry the load." Woods tumbled from the pinnacle of his sport in just about three weeks. The 10 years that preceded that fall, however, represented perhaps the greatest decade in golf history. He won the career Grand Slam three times over, including one U.S. Open by a record 15 shots at

Pebble Beach and another U.S. Open on a mangled leg in a playoff at Torrey Pines. He twice won the British Open at St. Andrews, the home of golf, by a combined 13 shots. Woods won 56 times on the PGA Tour this decade, a rate of 30 percent that is unprecedented in golf. Nine of those victories were by at least eight shots. He was No. 1 in the world ranking for all but 32 weeks in the decade, that when he was revamping his swing. He did his best work in the biggest events. Along with his 12 majors this decade -- he has 14 overall, four short of the record held by Jack Nicklaus -- Woods was runnerup in six other majors. He won 14 times out of 27 appearances in the World Golf Championships. Woods finished the decade with $81,547,410 in earnings from his PGA Tour events, an average of $482,529 per tournament. Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Ridge Racer: Accelerated comes to iPhone By Alexander Sliwinski (Joystiq) Submitted at 12/16/2009 9:30:00 AM

It appears the recently unearthed Ridge Racer: Accelerated trademark pointed to an iPhone entry in the long-running racing series. The title is now available on the App Store (try iTunes if you're not finding it through your phone yet) for $2.99. The initial reviews state that the game comes with two tracks and three cars, but observe a few instances of crashing (as in the game, not the cars). If you've taken a chance on Ridge Racer: Accelerated, why not share your impressions with other readers in the comments? Ridge Racer: Accelerated comes to iPhone originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 16 Dec 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Dallas Cowboys LB DeMarcus Ware describes neck injury

Abu Dhabi fund files claim against Citi

By Calvin Watkins (ESPN.com)

More on the Cowboys Calvin Watkins and Tim MacMahon have the Cowboys Submitted at 12/15/2009 10:16:33 PM blanketed for ESPNDallas.com. Go-To Guy Go-To Guy VIDEO Check in with their constantly PLAYLIST updated coverage. Blog • Go-To Guy Go-To Guy Two days later, Ware said his • Can The Cowboys Beat The neck is still sore but he hopes to Saints? Can The Cowboys Beat play Saturday night at New The Saints? Orleans. • Ware Will Miss At Least One "To be honest, I feel 100 percent Game Ware Will Miss At Least b e t t e r , " W a r e s a i d b e f o r e One Game Cowboys practice Tuesday. "... • Countdown Daily Recap: I'm getting a lot of strength in my Chargers-Cowboys Countdown neck back, so I'm happy right Daily Recap: Chargers-Cowboys now." Sunday he wasn't. IRVING, Texas -- Dallas He didn't know what was Cowboys Pro Bowl linebacker happening as a team of trainers DeMarcus Ware was scared. and doctors told him to stay flat The fact that doctors and trainers on his back. The Cowboys' took off his face mask, strapped medical staff was trying to figure him to a gurney and then drove out how Ware injured his neck so 30 minutes to Dallas Presbyterian they could properly treat him. Hospital had Ware feeling Ware's wife, Taniqua, raced onto uneasy. the field with several family Ware had slammed his head into members. Ware told teammates the hip of San Diego Chargers Bradie James and Terence r i g h t t a c k l e B r a n d y n Newman he was fine. Ware Dombrowski and suffered a moved both legs and arms to severe neck strain Sunday. indicate he felt good.

The team's trainers told Ware he was going to the hospital and they needed to place him on a stretcher. Ware said he wanted to be carried off the field, but was told otherwise. Britt Brown, the Cowboys' associate athletic trainer, rode on the cart with Ware to the ambulance. Taniqua Ware sat in the front seat of the ambulance as her husband lay in the back. Doctors told the Wares on Sunday night that DeMarcus could miss as many as two weeks. X-rays and an MRI revealed tissue damage and swelling but no structural damage in his neck. Ware called team owner Jerry Jones that night and told him he felt OK. On Monday morning, Ware's prognosis improved. Coach Wade Phillips said Ware is now day-to-day. There are more tests to be done Wednesday. An X-ray and another MRI are a possibility. If Ware clears these tests, he could play Sunday. "If they tell me not to play, I

won't," Ware said. "The doctors know more than I do. Sometimes you can feel good but maybe just that next impact, it can make it even worse than what it is and these guys have been doing it 44 years." He lifted weights Tuesday and is building his strength back. It's unknown whether Ware will play in New Orleans. "It's really important," he said about listening to doctors. "Since not only are you talking about the team standpoint of being able to go out there and make plays and try to win a game this week, but also you got to think about the player's health. He can go out there and he might get paralyzed, hurt himself even more. Which one is more important: longevity or right now?" fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Submitted at 12/16/2009 6:58:23 AM

The US Federal Trade Commission filed a sweeping lawsuit against microchip maker

Intel on Wednesday, accusing the long-dominant company of using illegal tactics to preserve its monopoly position inside personal computers. The FTC suit echoes a case filed by the New York state attorney-

general last month that claimed Intel paid Dell, Hewlett-Packard and other PC makers not to ship machines with better central processing units made by rival Advanced Micro Devices. fivefilters.org featured article:

(Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 12/16/2009 4:06:12 AM

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority has filed an arbitration claim against Citigroup, accusing it of misleading it over a $7.5bn investment the fund made in the US bank two years ago. The claim by the sovereign wealth fund alleges “fraudulent misrepresentations in connection with the sale and seeks rescission of the investment agreement or damages in excess of $4bn”, Citigroup said in a statement released late on Tuesday. fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Sources: Central Michigan's Butch Jones to coach Cincinnati By ESPN.com news services (ESPN.com)

US watchdog files suit against Intel (Financial Times - US homepage)

Submitted at 12/16/2009 6:34:28 AM

Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Cincinnati is tapping into the Central Michigan pipeline again. Chippewas coach Butch Jones will be named the next Cincinnati coach, three people briefed on the decision told ESPN.com's Joe SOURCES: page 60

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Schad on Tuesday. Jones will succeed Brian Kelly, who was hired by Notre Dame after leading the Bearcats to a 12-0 record this season. Big East blog ESPN.com's Brian Bennett writes about all things Big East in his conference blog. • Blog network: College Football Nation Kelly coached Central Michigan from 2004-06 before being hired by Cincinnati. Jones is 26-13 in three seasons with Central Michigan. He led the Chippewas to an 11-2 mark and a berth in the GMAC Bowl this season. Central Michigan confirmed Wednesday morning that Jones is in contract negotiations with Cincinnati, but directed further inquiries to Cincinnati. Bearcats offensive coordinator Jeff Quinn has been preparing Cincinnati for the Allstate Sugar Bowl appearance against Florida. Quinn, who was an assistant at Central Michigan with Kelly, had expressed interest in retaining the top job. It's unclear whether Jones would coach Cincinnati in its bowl

continued from page 54

game Jan. 1. The Chippewas will play Troy in the GMAC Bowl on Jan. 6. Jones' offensive philosophy -- he kept Kelly's spread offense at Central Michigan -- and his familiarity with the Big East worked in his favor. He was an offensive coordinator at Central Michigan before moving to West Virginia as an assistant to Rich Rodriguez in 2005-06. When Kelly left for Cincinnati, he got his job at Central Michigan. While Jones was at West Virginia, the Mountaineers had one of the nation's top offenses. That worked in his favor -- next season, Cincinnati will return the nucleus of an offense that is one of the nation's best. Cincinnati is looking to keep its wide-open offensive philosophy. Quinn coached Central Michigan to a 31-14 win over Middle Tennessee State in the Motor City Bowl in 2006 after Kelly left for Cincinnati. Whoever coaches the Bearcats in the Sugar Bowl has a tough challenge. Players were angry and stunned when Kelly told them last Thursday -- after their annual awards banquet -- that he

was leaving for Notre Dame. A week earlier, Kelly had told his players he was happy in Cincinnati, and said on a radio show that he was staying. All the change could lead to a distracted team for the bowl game. "Our focus is to congratulate them for being 12-0 and getting them ready for the Sugar Bowl," Quinn said earlier Tuesday. "We've circled the wagons. "Sometimes, it feels like you're drinking water through a fire hose. We have to get their minds off the process of who is the next coach and focus on the task at hand. The message isn't changing. It's just coming from a different voice." Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

US consumer prices rise in November (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 12/16/2009 6:20:50 AM

Rising energy costs pushed US consumer prices higher in November, but most other industries saw prices flat or

falling, signalling that inflation fears might be unwarranted. Separately on Wednesday, the commerce department said the pace of new residential construction picked up last month, giving hope that the housing recovery would carry its

momentum into next year. fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

heading “Sports Nut” — Slate’s catch-all sports category — an article headlined “ Why I Stopped Being a Sports Fan.” John Swansburg’s piece on his fall from sporting fandom is quite thoughtful, and boils down to the author’s revulsion at the sheer mass of sports information that he found himself consuming. “There was a time when I’d catch a game here and there, watch SportsCenter a few nights a week, and really start paying attention come playoff time,” Swansburg writes. “I woke up one day not long ago (to a clock radio blaring WFAN) and found that I had a Google alert for ‘Kevin Garnett knee,’ a subscription to Baseball Prospectus, and a genuine interest in the Twitter updates of Juan Pablo Montoya.” It reads like something you’d hear at an addiction-support group, and is well worth a look.* * * The London Review of Books is one of the great publications in the English-speaking world,

although you wouldn’t necessarily know it from reading the Daily Fix. But thanks to R.W. Johnson’s pointed, insightful World Cup Diary from South Africa, the London Review makes its belated Daily Fix debut today. Johnson’s piece is longish and decidedly un-cheerleady, but it’s as good a look at the morass of bad decisions, crooked dealings and general highhandedness that has preceded the arrival of the 2010 World Cup as you’ll find in any non-review-ofbooks publications. — Tip of the Fix cap to fellow Fixer Garey Ris. Found a good column from the world of sports? Don’t keep it to yourself — write to us at dailyfix@wsj.com and we’ll consider your find for inclusion in the Daily Fix. You can email David at droth11@gmail.com.

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The Count: Tiny Estonia, Norway Have Been Big Winners at Winter Games

League Issues in Forefront at Board of Governors Meeting

(WSJ.com: The Daily Fix)

By Susan Slusser (Fanhouse Main)

are all closer to the equator. And this analysis ignores countries Submitted at 12/15/2009 3:58:06 PM that didn’t medal at all, even Over the last three Winter though some — such as Olympiads, Germany has the Argentina, Romania and Spain most medals — 94 — and golds — really should have. — 29. The U.S. follows with 72 Still, by any measure Norway’s and 25, and Norway is a close achievement has been third, with 69 and 25. Associated Olympic success: population, to impressive. It’s earned 142 medal Press Kristina Smigun boosted supply a pool from which to points, third behind Germany and Estonia’s impressive medal count d r a w t o p a t h l e t e s ; a n d a n the U.S., despite having fewer in 2006. economic engine, to pay for their t h a n f i v e m i l l i o n p e o p l e . But look at the Olympic results development, selection, training Neighboring Sweden, with three differently, and Norway is the and equipment. (I did a similar times as many people, has fewer big winner, with by far the most analysis of the 2008 Summer than a third of the medal points. medals per capita. Alternately, Games.) In medals per capita, the U.S. Estonia has been the clear champ This quick analysis comes with falls to near the middle of the in the ratio of Olympic triumph some major caveats. For one pack, while other standouts to gross domestic product. thing, medal counts tend to include Austria, Estonia, Finland To crown alternate Olympic weight sports with lots of events and Switzerland. winners, I compiled medal counts over those with lots of athletes. Unlike those other European from Torino, Salt Lake City and Speed skater Cindy Klassen won nations, Estonia has made due Nagano. Each country got three five medals for Canada, helping with a much smaller economy. points for gold medals, two to compensate for the Canadian Thanks to its four gold medals, points for silver and one for men’s team’s failure to win a three of them in cross-country bronze. The list of medaling medal in the national sport of skiing in 2006, Estonia has more c o u n t r i e s i s r e m a r k a b l y hockey. But even if they had than twice the medal points per consistent; 21 of 30 countries to won, they would have lifted their dollar of GDP than second-place win medals won a medal in all nation’s total by just a single Norway. Bulgaria and Croatia are three Olympic Games. Then I medal. Also, climate is a big also near the top. The U.S. is compiled population and GDP variable for the Winter Olympics. c l o s e r t o t h e b o t t o m ; t h e statistics from the United Nations Of the world’s most populous underperforming U.K. is even corresponding roughly to those eight nations, only China and the lower, though. years and compared medal points U.S. medaled — but the other six with two crucial factors for

Submitted at 12/15/2009 3:45:00 PM

Filed under: NHL Injuries, NHL Economics PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- NHL commissioner Gary Bettman addressed the press here at the Board of Governors meeting, and the topics on the first day included, as expected, the sale of the Coyotes and the league's reaction to the number of shots to the head this season. Bettman termed the first day a more general session with the NHL owners and general managers, but he did speak to them about the letter of intent to buy the Coyotes presented by the Ice Edge group, which initially was described as four investors but which is now a group of six or seven. According to Bettman, the league is expecting to break even on any sale. The team was bought in bankruptcy for $140

million, but the sale figure is likely to be higher than that because of other costs and losses associated with operating the Coyotes since the sale. (Although Bettman said that the Coyotes are losing less this season than they did last year.) "Neutral," Bettman said about the eventual impact of the sale on the league. "We're not looking to make money. We're just looking to do the right thing."

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Phils Should Have Kept Halladay and Lee

MediaDailyNews: Mille Bornes: Renault Renews, Expands Account With Publicis

By Jay Mariotti (Fanhouse Main)

(MediaPost | Media News) Submitted at 12/16/2009 4:30:04 AM

Submitted at 12/15/2009 12:55:00 PM

France's best-known automaker and advertising group, not surprisingly, announced a renewal - and an expansion - of their long-term relationship. French auto giant Renault this morning said it signed a new three-year agreement with Publicis Groupe covering "strategy, creative work, production and coordination" for suspect some franchise owners all of its brands products and are using the economic crisis as a services through 2012. convenient reason to cut costs Renault, which markets three and corners when, in truth, they automobiles under three brands have the money to make Renault, Dacia and Samsung improvements. There is a dirty said the new agreement expands word for this collective financial the footprint of Publicis' account inertia. Collusion. By Ben Gilbert (Joystiq) the "sexiest party ever thrown for to cover 28 countries worldwide. v i d e o g a m e s . " A s i d e f r o m Publicis, which has serviced Submitted at 12/16/2009 4:30:00 AM knowing that it's a "street party" Renault's advertising account in The traditionally Canada-based taking place in the "historic some form since at least the early ELAN Awards today announced gaslamp quarter" of San Diego, 1960s, does not handle media intentions to bring the show to we're just as flummoxed as you planning and buying. Last year, San Diego next July 17-19, are as to what a sexy party for Renault shifted its consolidated ending just before the San Diego game industry folks could media-buying account with Comic Con kicks off. Celebrating possibly be. With all those nerds Japanese automaker Nissan to "video games, animation and in one place, though, it's assured Omnicom's OMD unit from visual effects," the fourth year's that iPhones will capture the Carat. (MediaPost | Media News) Zimmerman will work to boost show makes it's US debut with whole thing in all its confusing, fivefilters.org featured article: visibility on both. QVC is part of two days of lavish events before clumsy, awkward glory. Normalising the crime of the Submitted at 12/16/2009 4:30:04 AM Liberty Media. --David Goetzl culminating in the actual awards ELAN Awards heading to San century by John Pilger. Available QVC has tapped Zimmerman fivefilters.org featured article: ceremony on the 19th. Diego next July originally tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text Advertising to ramp up its efforts Normalising the crime of the Though the event's promoters appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 16 RSS, Term Extraction. with social networks, at first century by John Pilger. Available promise everything from a Dec 2009 04:30:00 EST. Please looking to boost holiday sales. tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text welcome pool party to a red see our terms for use of feeds. QVC has current locales on RSS, Term Extraction. carpet engagement, we're most Read| Permalink| Email this| Facebook and Twitter, and excited about something called Comments Filed under: MLB It's good to know that the Phillies, Yankees, Red Sox and Mariners are doing big business this winter. That means four teams seem serious about being the best they can be, which would be a titillating thought if we were talking college basketball in April. But we're not. Major League Baseball is a 30team enterprise, and, once again, we're left with the sort of competitive imbalance that basically eliminates two dozen teams from World Series title consideration weeks before pitchers and catchers report. I realize that this sport has been hit by the recession, too, but I also

MediaDailyNews: Zimmerman Looks To Bring ROI To QVC

ELAN Awards heading to San Diego next July

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MediaDailyNews: Women Taking More Active Role In Car Buying, Research Shows (MediaPost | Media News) Submitted at 12/15/2009 8:54:13 PM

Some 97% of women said they are negotiators in car buying -up from 86% nine years ago, according to research from NBC Universal and GfK Roper. NBCU said that the "increased participation ... may be attributable to (female) gains in earning power." The research -which came from telephone surveys in August and September -- found that 46% of female respondents "are the primary breadwinners in their households" and 53% are By JC Fletcher (Joystiq) total of 1,401,558 copies in its By Justin McElroy (Joystiq) wrong plane, or at least a "responsible for 'big ticket' second week. Submitted at 12/16/2009 10:00:00 AM different plane than the one fans purchases." Submitted at 12/16/2009 3:33:00 AM While the last million sales have were counting on. But again -Enterbrain reports that the PS3 occurred since April in Japan, Top Gun on iPhone is one of the and we don't think we can stress -- David Goetzl has crossed the four million mark over a million Wiis were sold last device's many hidden treasures. this enough -- you get to play fivefilters.org featured article: in Japan, selling over one million month alone in the US. The Not only does it have cool, After volleyball with the disembodied Normalising the crime of the consoles in nine months for a difference in scale can be Burner-esque gameplay, it's also heads of Maverick and Ice Man. century by John Pilger. Available total of 4,020,563. Though this attributed both to the US's larger got one of the best easter eggs of Doesn't that grant some sort of tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. milestone is impressive, expect population and to the Black all time(as you can see above). perma-forgiveness? the next million to go by much Friday phenomenon. Unsurprisingly, nailing the iPhone Top Gun game takes more rapidly, thanks to the price [Via Andriasang] unintentional humor of the movie highway to the postmortem drop, the PS3 Slim, and, most Enterbrain: Wii sells 9 million in is one of the things that Freeverse originally appeared on Joystiq on importantly, Final Fantasy XIII. Japan, PS3 sells 4 million designer Justin Ficarrotta says his Wed, 16 Dec 2009 03:33:00 T h e W i i a l s o a c h i e v e d originally appeared on Joystiq on t e a m g o t r i g h t i n a n e w EST. Please see our terms for impressive sales, but it's the Wii, Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:00:00 p o s t m o r t e m p u b l i s h e d o n use of feeds. so its total is a bit higher: EST. Please see our terms for G a m a s u t r a . Read| Permalink| Email this| 9,048,012 units. Many of those use of feeds. The dev's top mistake? Using the Comments Wiis were likely sold to people Read| Permalink| Email this| buying New Super Mario Bros. Comments Wii, which reached a life-to-date

Enterbrain: Wii sells 9 million in Japan, PS3 sells 4 million

iPhone Top Gun game takes highway to the postmortem

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Holiday Cards for a Cause By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog)

Guy Ritchie films, along with several others. Founded in 2006 by Melissa Submitted at 12/15/2009 2:41:14 PM Kushner, G4G came into It’s only 10 days until existence after Kushner, who, Christmas, which means you’ve until recently worked for the got somewhere between five to United Nations, traveled to seven days (depending on the Malawi for work and came into proximity of your friends and contact with the children at St. family members) to get all your Mary’s Rehabilitation Centre, an cards personally and festively under-funded orphanage in the inscribed, stamped, and in the small town of Chezi. After mail. several years of organizing Now before you allow yourself donations to St. Mary’s from to become one of those people individuals and businesses in her whose holiday greetings arrive community in her spare time, delinquently, just know two Kushner decided to dedicate her things: one, it’s lazy, and two, life to the mission and created it’s lazy and tacky. This year, Goods for Good, all of whose instead of going through the charitable donations go toward headache of realizing too late that providing underprivileged the First Class postage has been which will go toward G4G children in Africa with the food, upped to $.44 (ask my friend Lisa charity work. Featured artists hygiene products and services, who recently sent out 90 mis- include Alessandra Olanow(her clothing, and school supplies postaged birthday invitations, work shown at left), a popular t h e y n e e d t o l i v e h e a l t h y , and she’ll tell you how it feels), I Brooklyn-based illustrator slash p r o d u c t i v e l i v e s . urge you to go eco-friendly and blogger who counts among her It’s the perfect way to wish those send the special people in your freelance clients the NFL and the you love—and those who need life a charmingly illustrated Beastie Boys, Jayson Atienza, a love most—a most happy holiday eCard courtesy of the non-profit watercolor and ink specialist season. Goods for Good(G4G). Nine whose sneaker and apparel —Johanna Cox, Junior Editor designs in all, the cards can also designs can be found on the feet Photo: Courtesy of Goods For serve as gifts of any monetary of David LaChapelle (and ahem, Good denomination, the entirety of Tiger Woods) and on-screen in

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Intel accused of blocking rivals (BBC News | Americas | World Edition) Submitted at 12/16/2009 7:19:11 AM

Intel, the world's biggest maker of computer chips, is being sued by a US competition authority. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) accuses the company of using its market dominance to squash competitors and prevent innovation. It says Intel has deprived consumers of choice. Intel has yet to comment. The FTC's move comes a month after the New York attorney general launched a similar lawsuit. In that case, New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo accuses Intel of using "illegal threats" to dominate microchip sales. Last month Intel also reached a $1.25bn (£770m) settlement with rival Advanced Micro Devices to end an anti-competition legal dispute between the two firms.

Intel is also appealing against a record $1.45bn anti-competition fine from European regulators. The FTC said it is asking for an order that would bar Intel from using "threats, bundled prices, or other offers to encourage exclusive deals, hamper competition, or unfairly manipulate the prices of its" chips. It accuses Intel of using both threats and rewards to keep some of the biggest computer makers from buying other companies' chips or marketing computers that carried them. The complaint names Dell, Hewlett-Packard and IBM as Intel's targets. Print Sponsor fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Bail hearing for Pa. police accused of cover-up (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News)

in a park as they headed home from a party, the Department of Justice said. SHENANDOAH, Pa. â&#x20AC;&#x201C; After The police chief and his second taking part in a fight that left a in command, Jamie Gennarini, Mexican immigrant mortally were charged with extortion and wounded on the street, teenagers civil rights violations in a Brandon Piekarsky and Derrick separate case. The two are Donchak fled. They didn't get accused of extorting cash payoffs very far before running into two from illegal gambling operations police officers responding to a and demanding a $2,000 payment 911 call about the assault. from a local businessman in 2007 These were no ordinary officers. to release him from their custody. Patrolman Jason Hayes dated The arrests left the borough with Piekarsky's mother, and Lt. only three active-duty police William Moyer's son played with officers. Borough officials have Piekarsky on the high school asked the state police to help out football team. Their commanding "until we work through this officer, Chief Matthew Nestor, d i l e m m a , " s a i d B o r o u g h was a friend of Piekarsky's Manager Joseph Palubinsky, who mother and even vacationed with declined to comment on the her. indictment. Rather than place the popular The officers pleaded not guilty white football players under before a federal magistrate in arrest, the officers let them go â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Wilkes-Barre and were being beginning a cover-up in their h e l d u n t i l a b a i l h e a r i n g racially tense coal town, federal W e d n e s d a y . D o n c h a k a n d prosecutors allege. Piekarsky have an initial court The Department of Justice said appearance scheduled for Dec. Tuesday that Hayes, Moyer and 22. Piekarsky's lawyer didn't Nestor have been indicted on return a call, and there was no obstruction charges for trying to lawyer listed for Donchak on the "impede, obstruct and influence indictment. the investigation" into the July State prosecutors who tried to 2008 beating death of Luis win murder or ethnic intimidation Ramirez by tampering with convictions against the athletes evidence and witnesses or lying had alleged that they yelled racial to the FBI. epithets at Ramirez and that one The former athletes, who were gripped a piece of metal to give acquitted of the most serious his punches more power. state charges against them in The federal indictment brought May, are charged with a federal praise from those who had long hate crime for attacking Ramirez argued that the case was blatantly Submitted at 12/16/2009 5:42:48 AM

a hate crime and were outraged when the teenagers won acquittals on the most serious charges. "This is what our family, friends and ongoing supporters have prayed for," said Crystal Dillman, who had two children with Ramirez, in a statement released by the Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund. "I truly believe in my heart that Luis can now rest a bit more peacefully knowing that these criminals and accomplices are being charged." Barry Morrison, the Philadelphia -based regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, said the organization has visited the town several times and found evidence of racial divisions. "There's nothing that we saw in the way that law enforcement conducted themselves to show that they were enlightened, progressive or separate and apart of the insularity of the community as a whole," he said. Shenandoah, a blue-collar town of 5,000 residents about 80 miles northwest of Philadelphia, is best known as the birthplace of big band musicians Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey and the home of Mrs. T's Pierogies. It also has a growing number of Hispanic residents drawn by jobs in factories and farm fields. Hispanics are believed to comprise as much as 10 percent of the population. Ramirez, a 25year-old native of the small

central Mexican town of Iramuco, was in the United States illegally working at various jobs. The confrontation began when a half-dozen high school football players were headed home from a block party in Shenandoah. They came across Ramirez and his girlfriend in a park, and an argument broke out, then a fight. Defense attorneys called Ramirez the aggressor. Prosecutors said he was punched in the face, then was kicked in the head while unconscious. The teens gathered at Donchak's home shortly after the attack ended, the indictment said. Piekarsky's mother showed up and told them that she had been in contact with her boyfriend, Hayes, and that they needed to "get their stories straight" because Hayes had told her that Ramirez's condition was deteriorating, it said. Moyer separately went to the home of another teen present during the attack "and told him to talk to his friends about the version of events that would be communicated to the authorities," the indictment said. A borough official tried to get the police department to recuse itself, but Nestor refused, the indictment said. Donchak, Piekarsky and a third teen, Colin Walsh, were previously charged in state court with Ramirez's death. Walsh later pleaded guilty in federal court to violating the victim's civil rights

and took the stand against Donchak and Piekarsky at their trial in the spring. Piekarsky was acquitted in May by an all-white jury of thirddegree murder and ethnic intimidation; Donchak was acquitted of aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation. Both were convicted of simple assault. Piekarsky was sentenced in June to six to 23 months in prison, and Donchak was sentenced to seven to 23 months. They are serving their sentences at the Schuylkill County jail. A fourth teen was found delinquent in juvenile court for his role in the beating. If convicted on the hate crime charge, Piekarsky and Donchak face maximum sentences of life in prison. The most serious count against the officers, obstruction, carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. ___ Matheson reported from WilkesBarre, Pa. Associated Press writers Devlin Barrett in Washington and Patrick Walters in Philadelphia contributed to this report. fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Evangelist Oral Roberts leaves a complex legacy (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News) Submitted at 12/16/2009 3:16:03 AM

Revered by millions who heard his message of God's healing power, ridiculed by others for tying his own mortality to a fundraising need, Oral Roberts was a towering figure in 20th century American Christianity. Roberts, who died Tuesday at 91, was largely out of the public's consciousness in his later years. His most visible legacy predated his death by 45-plus years: his namesake university in Tulsa, Okla., the first Pentecostal university in the world, built by a man who never finished college. But Roberts also is credited with being at the forefront of taking the Christian message to television, helping make Pentecostal Christianity mainstream before it exploded across the globe, bringing greater acceptance of divine healing and laying the foundation for the oftcriticized "prosperity gospel." "He was a quite significant figure," said retired Harvard University theologian Harvey Cox, who has studied Pentecostalism, the fiery branch of Christianity that Roberts embraced. "He was controversial, he was ridiculed now and then. But he more than survived. He turned out to be quite a big success."

Roberts was hospitalized after a fall over the weekend. He died of complications from pneumonia Tuesday in Newport Beach, Calif., a spokesman said. Born a preacher's kid in Oklahoma poverty, Roberts overcame both a childhood stutter and tuberculosis at a young age. He said an evangelist praying for the sick healed him at a revival meeting aged 17. Roberts took to the pulpit himself. The tall, handsome preacher with Cherokee blood and an Okie accent was a spellbinding speaker at tent revivals on the sawdust trail, said Vinson Synan, dean emeritus of Regent University's School of Divinity, whose father was Roberts' bishop. Roberts' message was one of healing the whole person — body, mind and spirit. The philosophy led many to call Roberts a "faith healer," a label he rejected with the comment: "God heals — I don't." Before Roberts came on the scene, "the idea of healing within a religious service was left to Christian Scientists or people who went to Lourdes," Cox said. "Now, it's fairly common in churches across the board. In his own way, he made that happen." Synan, who ranks Roberts among the three or four most important Christian leaders of the

last half of the 20th century, said Roberts was widely loved for bringing Pentecostals, derided as "holy rollers" for their spiritfilled worship and speaking in tongues, into the mainstream. Just decades later, more than 1 in 4 Christians in the world today are Pentecostal, said Cox. Roberts "was onto some of this stuff intuitively long before it became as big as it has." He was also ahead of the curve with his "Seed-Faith" teachings — that those who give to God will get things in return. That laid the foundation for a current generation of "prosperity gospel" preaching televangelists who cite their own mansions and Bentleys as proof of God's favor. While proponents call it a biblically sound message of hope, others say it's a distortion that makes evangelists rich and preys on the vulnerable. Roberts also was a pioneer in viewing television as a means to spread the Christian message, along with his better-known contemporary, Billy Graham. By the late 1960s, the one-time tent revivalist had evolved into a softspoken television orator who welcomed celebrities onto his prime-time variety shows. "The only really country thing on it was Oral, and he just preached for a few minutes," said David Edwin Harrell, a Roberts

biographer and retired Auburn University history professor. The programs also featured people of different races together, which was unusual at the time. Oral Roberts University was the fulfillment of one of Roberts' greatest ambitions, founded in 1963 at a time when Pentecostals "were considered to be ignorant hillbillies," Synan said. The school boasted a world-class faculty, mandatory chapel attendance, body-fat measurements and citations for public displays of affection. Students still sign an honor code pledging not to lie, steal, curse, drink or smoke. The campus is a landmark, with its spaceship-like steel and glass prayer tower and 60-foot bronze sculpture of praying hands, modeled on Roberts' own. Alumni include prosperity preacher Kenneth Copeland, Republican U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and fallen evangelical leader Ted Haggard. Roberts' career also was marked by failures and embarrassments. He said he felt called to an enormous hospital complex that was to marry prayer and medicine, anchored by a 60-story tower. The project collapsed in the late 1980s and left the school with staggering debt. Then there was Roberts' widely

ridiculed proclamation that God would "call me home" if he failed to meet a fundraising goal of $8 million. The school is recovering from a more recent setback — the 2007 resignation of Roberts' son, Richard, as ORU president after he was accused of using university money on spending sprees and other luxuries. Grant Wacker, a professor of Christian history at Duke Divinity School, said the "God calling me home" episode is not as significant as some claim. "For true believers it made sense. For the rest of us, it was like, 'Well, all right. This is an embarrassment. Let's move on,'" Wacker said. "I don't think there's any question it was an embarrassment for millions of Pentecostals. But overall it is so minor, measured against the magnitude of his accomplishment." ___ AP Religion Writer Rachel Zoll in New York and Justin Juozapavicius in Tulsa contributed to this report. Erik Gorski is based in Denver. fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Fans can investigate Sherlock Holmes in Minn. (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News)

Nobel Prize laureate and a Holmes fan who took a "vacuum cleaner" approach to collecting. MINNEAPOLIS – Anyone " P e o p l e t h i n k t h e H o l m e s searching for clues about the collection ought to be in London. enduring popularity of Sherlock So it's 'why Minnesota?' And it's Holmes need not look only to his really just this series of happy headquarters on London's Baker events that occurred over time," Street. Johnson said. Deep in an underground cavern "Sherlock Holmes," already out at the University of Minnesota in Britain, is being released lies the world's largest collection Christmas Day in the U.S. of Holmes memorabilia — a Directed by Guy Ritchie("Lock, cache sure to expand with S t o c k a n d T w o S m o k i n g material from the new "Sherlock Barrels"), the film stars Downey Holmes" movie starring Robert (" Iron Man") as a man-of-action Downey Jr. as the pipe-puffing Holmes unraveling a nefarious super sleuth. plot by Lord Blackwood in To many, it's a mystery how this Victorian England with the help trove of tens of thousands of of his sidekick Dr. John Watson, books, toys, games, posters and played by Jude Law. recordings — from copies of the The Holmes collection in Holmes stories owned by the last Minnesota has between 15,000 empress of Russia to an original and 16,000 volumes, and other manuscript page of " The Hound pieces bring the archive to 60,000 of the Baskervilles" — ended up or more, Johnson said. They are at a Midwestern university, half a kept in a cavern, fitted out for world away from the foggy storage, about 85 feet below London streets of Holmes and his ground at the Elmer L. Andersen creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Library, where temperatures and The answer is elementary, humidity are controlled. according to Tim Johnson, On metal shelves sit curator of special collections and m e m o r a b i l i a i n c l u d i n g rare books at the University of magnifying glasses, an ice cream Minnesota Libraries: A "happy carton with a cartoon cow series of accidents" involving a w e a r i n g H o l m e s ' i c o n i c retired university librarian, a deerstalker cap and a pillow with Submitted at 12/16/2009 4:29:15 AM

an image of Sherlock Hemlock, a Muppet character from " Sesame Street." Los Angeles attorney Les Klinger, who wrote "The Annotated Sherlock Holmes" series and was a consultant on the new movie, has donated his papers to the university's collection. Other major Holmes or Doyle archives are at Harvard University, the Toronto Public Library and Portsmouth, England. But Klinger calls Minnesota's collection the "first stop for anybody doing research, because if you're looking for something, it's probably in the collection." Johnson says he believes retired university librarian E.W. McDiarmid, a Holmes fan, "whispered in the ear" of Johnson's predecessor that the university ought to have a collection of first-edition Holmes stories. The school began amassing the Sherlock Holmes Collections in 1974, buying collector James C. Iraldi's library of Holmes first editions — 160 volumes and a similar number of periodicals. Four years later, Johnson said, the widow of Mayo Clinic doctor Philip S. Hench donated his Holmes collection.

Hench, who shared the 1950 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for developing cortisone to treat pain in arthritic patients, had died in 1965. His Holmes collection was 10 times larger than Iraldi's — about 1,800 books and 1,500 periodicals — and was "full of amazing rarities," Johnson said. That included four copies of "Beeton's Christmas Annual," which has the first appearance of Holmes in print, the novella " A Study in Scarlet," from November 1887. Only about 30 copies of Holmes' debut are known to exist, Johnson said. With the donation of the Hench collection, "the Sherlockian world sat up," Johnson said. One Holmes fan who visited the university was John Bennett Shaw, a collector from Santa Fe, N.M., who acquired Holmes pop culture items such as restaurant menus and board games. "Shaw had the collecting sensibilities of a vacuum cleaner. It was like anything and everything that had to do with Sherlock Holmes, Shaw collected it," Johnson said. The university made Shaw a fellow of the library, and he donated his collection to it in 1993. A sign from Shaw's front

yard reading 221B Baker Street— the London address of Holmes and Watson — now stands in the hallway of Andersen Library. Other collections pulled in by the "gravitational field" of the Hench artifacts include the scripts and broadcast recordings of Edith Meiser, an actress and scriptwriter who did Sherlock Holmes radio plays in the 1930s and '40s. The collection is open to the public by appointment and will accept nearly anything people want to donate, Johnson said. He echoes Shaw's philosophy: "Don't throw it away — send it to me." ___ On the Net: The Sherlock Holmes C o l l e c t i o n s : http://special.lib.umn.edu/rare/ho lmes.phtml "Sherlock Holmes" movie: http://sherlock-holmesmovie.warnerbros.com fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Boeing Dreamliner in first flight (BBC News | Americas | World Edition) Submitted at 12/15/2009 3:39:34 PM

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Boeing's 787 Dreamliner takes off from Everett in Seattle Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner passenger aircraft has successfully completed its first test flight in the US. The three-hour flight started from Everett, north of Seattle, and the plane landed at Boeing Field, just south of Seattle. The 787 project had been delayed by two-and-a-half years following a series of hitches, including design problems. Boeing has pegged its hopes to the Dreamliner, which promises to be one of the world's most fuel -efficient planes. The two test pilots carried out a number of basic system checks, including testing the landing gear and flaps. "The airplane responded just as we expected," said Randy Neville, one of the pilots. "It was a joy to fly." The take off and landing was watched by several hundred Boeing employees, industry guests and aircraft enthusiasts. BBC correspondent Rajesh Mirchandani, who was in Everett to witness the Dreamliner's first take off, said the plane had passed one "crucial milestone". "There were cheers as the sleek jet, painted in blue and white, lifted off from a cold, damp

airfield," he said. "Afterwards some of the Boeing employees said they felt a sense of excitement and relief." The Dreamliner, which is powered by Rolls-Royce engines designed in the UK, will now go into nine months of continuous testing, with six planes flying around the clock. 'Revolutionary project' The Dreamliner has attracted some 840 orders from all over the globe, although some have been cancelled because of the delays. Its popularity is partly thanks to its lightweight design. Made of carbon and titanium, it should reduce fuel consumption as well as save on maintenance costs. Some 840 orders for the 787

Dreamliner makes the plane worth about $140bn (ÂŁ86bn) for Boeing. But first, the aerospace giant must get the plane ready for delivery to airlines. Analysts warn that the maiden flight is just a step towards that goal, not a sign that everything is fine. The 787 is already 30 months behind schedule and there could be further delay as the aircraft begins test flights and seeks federal certification Boeing says it will deliver the plane to customers by the end of 2010. Analysts say that is a very optimistic timetable. The design aims to make the plane nimble and able to fly long distances without refuelling.

A380, a craft that can carry far larger numbers of passengers although it is limited to flying to those airports that are equipped for the double-decker aircraft. Battle for the skies The 787 was first unveiled in July 2007 and is Boeing's first all -new jet since 1995. The newness of the Dreamliner design has meant a steep learning curve for Boeing and that, and the fact that the company ventured into wide-ranging outsourcing for the first time, has led to a raft of problems. Early delays to the 787 project were caused by shortages of parts and the difficulties of bringing together fuselage and wing structures from Japan, Italy and elsewhere in the US. Howard Wheeldon, a transport Mr Wheeldon said: "There is a analyst with BGC Partners, told huge test programme - because the BBC World Service that it everything is new. Essentially, it was a revolutionary project has to be proven, and proven which would reshape aviation. again." "This is an aircraft that changes Exactly how much profit Boeing the whole basis of flying, because can expect to make from the of the equipment onboard," he plane is uncertain. said. Analysts say the company has "In terms of the cost of operation invested more than $10bn in the this is an 80% composite material project, and will have to give aircraft, with 35 tonnes of carbon some sort of compensation to -fibre reinforced plastic, so it is a customers for late planes. light aircraft - which means it How late the planes are, and how burns less fuel." they will perform, will not be Its arch-rival, Airbus, also has a known until all the flight tests are lightweight craft in development. completed. Its A350 plane will also be made Boeing is not the only planeprimarily from carbon-composite maker hit by snags though. materials. Earlier this month, Airbus's Airbus is also targeting a BOEING page 70 different market with its giant

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US jail to house Guantanamo men (BBC News | Americas | World Edition) Submitted at 12/15/2009 7:17:02 PM

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. National Security Adviser James Jones: 'This facility is going to be extremely secure' US President Barack Obama has ordered the federal government to buy a prison in Illinois to take a number of inmates from Guantanamo Bay. The move is a key part of Mr Obama's plan to close the Cubabased jail. The number of inmates for transfer to the Thomson Correctional Center has not been given officially, but US media report it could be between 35 and 90. Senior officials said security would be upgraded, making Thomson the most secure jail in the country. This is another important step on the way to closing Guantanamo Bay, but not the final one. Some 210 prisoners remain at Guantanamo. Prisoners who will be transferred to the Thomson jail will be those who face either criminal trials or military tribunals, and probably another larger group against whom there is no useable evidence, but who are deemed too dangerous to release. Military tribunals will be held at the newly designated jail. More than 100 other inmates whom the US would like to release would

probably be held at Guantanamo until some country can be found to take them. President Obama set 22 January 2010 as the target for closing Guantanamo. He has accepted this date will be missed and it is not clear when he will fulfil his promise. Obama administration officials have said that closing Guantanamo Bay is "essential" in removing a key al-Qaeda recruiting tool. Mr Obama had given himself one year to achieve this, but with officials still trying to work out what to do with about 215 inmates at the camp, he admitted in November that a 22 January deadline had slipped to later in 2010.

"The only thing that President Obama is doing with this announcement is changing the Zip Code of Guantanamo," Amnesty International said in a statement. Near empty The BBC's Adam Brookes in Washington says the prison transfer might go some way to addressing the problem of Guantanamo but it will not solve it. He says European nations - who have until now taken the attitude that if the US will not house the detainees, they will not either may be softening their stance to accept small numbers of prisoners. The near-empty Thomson prison, about 150 miles (240km) A letter signed by Secretary of There have been concerns in the from Chicago, was promoted as S t a t e H i l l a r y C l i n t o n a n d US about inmates escaping or an alternative by Illinois Senator Defence Secretary Robert Gates eventually gaining the right to Richard Durbin. says: "The president has directed, live on American soil. The prison, built in 2001, has the with our unanimous support, that However the Clinton/Gates letter capacity for 1,600 inmates, but the federal government proceed says: "The president has no due to budget constraints only with the acquisition of the facility i n t e n t i o n o f r e l e a s i n g a n y houses 200 prisoners. in Thomson." detainees in the United States." It would be sold to the Federal A briefing by senior officials No timeframe has been given for Bureau of Prisons and then part said the prison would be "the the first transfer. of it leased to the Department of most secure in the country". Republicans criticised the move. Defense, reports say. There remain questions on the Senate Republican leader Mitch Federal prisoners would be held legality of transfers to US soil McConnell said Americans and at the facility, as well as the but the briefing officials said it Congress had "already rejected former Guantanamo inmates, was permissible to bring in bringing terrorists to US soil for officials said. detainees for prosecution. long-term detention, and current Of the remaining Guantanamo The briefing heard: "It would be law prohibits it". inmates, some are expected to be a violation of current law to Human rights groups said the sent to other countries, while transfer individuals for anything mere relocation of suspects o t h e r s c o u l d f a c e m i l i t a r y but the purpose of prosecution - continues to violate the legal tribunals or be tried in US courts. that's the [legal] change we'll be principle that people cannot be JAIL page 70 looking for." held without charge or trial.

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Cops: Missing Utah Mom's Husband A 'Person of Interest' (FOXNews.com)

The Powell home was locked when police arrived and they broke in, fearing the family had SALT LAKE CITY Joshua suffered from carbon monoxide Powell, whose wife disappeared poisoning. They found no signs from their West Valley City, of forced entry. Utah, home more than a week Susan Powell's father, Charles ago, is considered a person of Cox, has said police found a wet interest in the disappearance of spot in the house being dried by his wife, Susan Powell, said two fans when they entered. Assistant Police Chief Craig West Valley City Police Capt. Black. Tom McLachlan declined to "We've been interested in what comment on that, but said earlier Josh has had to say all along," Tuesday that Josh Powell was said Black. costing the police valuable time Black said that detectives have because he failed to show up for met twice with Josh Powell. "He an interview on Monday. submitted to a search warrant and "We are very disappointed in that provided a DNA sample." because he is not a suspect and "I wouldn't characterize him this delays the investigation â&#x20AC;&#x201D; it (Joshua) as being cooperative." slows things down," McLachlan Susan Powell was reported said early Tuesday. "His stated missing Dec. 7 when she didn't purpose is he wants to find Susan show up to work and her children and that is also our stated weren't dropped off at day care. purpose on this missing persons Josh Powell told police he took case, and this complicates the his two boys, ages 2 and 4, issue." camping around 12:30 a.m. that McLachlan said police initially day and returned in the evening. interviewed Josh Powell when he Investigators said they haven't returned home and then again the been able to verify the camping next day. Police have also trip because snow had covered interviewed the Powells' older the site â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Simpson Springs on son. the historic Pony Express Trail in Williams said the Monday Utah's west desert. interview was canceled at his Submitted at 12/16/2009 6:50:07 AM

request. "We have been in contact with West Valley City police multiple times daily," he said. "The Monday afternoon possible interview was canceled by me that morning because I was new and because I needed more information to provide effective consultation and advice." Williams is a Salt Lake City defense attorney who often represents high-profile defendants in criminal cases. He declined to specify exactly when he was retained by Josh Powell. McLachlan said late Tuesday that he wasn't aware if police had met with Josh Powell on Tuesday. "I'm going to have to wait to the morning to get briefed until I can make any statement," he said. Kiirsi Hellewell, Susan Powell's best friend, said she has been in contact with Josh Powell on a daily basis but hasn't asked him specific questions about Susan in an effort not to interfere with the investigation or to lose his trust as a friend. "He doesn't do a lot of talking. He mostly looks upset and confused and is crying most of the time," Hellewell said.

She said she sat next to Josh Powell at church on Sunday and that he cried through most of the service. It was at that same church on Dec. 5 that the last known pictures of Susan Powell were taken. The couple and their children attended a Christmas breakfast, where one picture shows a smiling Josh Powell with a camera hanging around his neck, talking with his children while his wife stands a few feet away reaching for food. "Susan and her family were very normal and seemed all happy to be there. We actually talked to them quite a bit. Josh seemed really happy to be there and he asked me to take a picture of he and the family, and yes he has the picture," Mindy Kay Perry Guzman, who took the picture, wrote in a message to The Associated Press. The Associated Press contributed to this report. fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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A400M military transport plane finally took to the skies in Spain for its first test flight after a series of delays. Boeing has said it hopes to deliver the first plane by the end of 2010 to Japan's All Nippon Airlines. Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Inside Boeing's Dreamliner Print Sponsor fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Chances Slim 2 Missing Climbers Still Alive, Officials Say (FOXNews.com) Submitted at 12/16/2009 4:38:55 AM

GOVERNMENT CAMP, Ore. Five days into the search for two missing climbers, authorities in Oregon were piecing together a theory about what may have gone wrong as hope dwindled that the CHANCES page 72

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Chances slim 2 climbers are alive, authorities say (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News) Submitted at 12/16/2009 4:28:42 AM

GOVERNMENT CAMP, Ore. â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Five days into the search for two missing climbers, authorities in Oregon were piecing together a theory about what may have gone wrong as hope dwindled that the pair would be found alive. Rescue workers said Tuesday that because the snow on Mount Hood is so unstable and prone to avalanches, there could be no prudent attempt any time soon to send rescue workers to the lofty crags where 29-year-old Katie Nolan and 24-year-old Anthony Vietti are believed to be. An Oregon doctor who specializes in rescues told family members and reporters that the chances the two are alive are exceedingly slim and must be weighed against the jeopardy rescuers would face attempting to retrieve them. That left families and rescue workers to their inferences about what happened on Friday when the two and 26-year-old Luke

Gullberg, all experienced climbers from Oregon and Washington, set out on a route more challenging than taken by most of the thousands who climb Mount Hood each year. The prevailing idea is that an accident befell them, perhaps involving Nolan, and Gullberg went for help, said rescue coordinator Nate Thompson of Clackamas County. The idea Nolan was hurt arises because mountaineers found just one of her gloves Saturday with the body of Gullberg on Reid Glacier at an elevation of 9,000 feet, at the base of the 1,500-foot Reid headwall. The slope rises at a 50-degree angle from the glacier to within a few hundred feet of relatively easier climbing to the top above 11,000 feet. They found neither of Gullberg's gloves, Thompson said, leading them to think that Nolan had lost one of hers in the accident, that Gullberg had left her his, along with his pack, and that he had headed downhill, taking Nolan's single glove for whatever warmth

it would provide. After a fall in which he suffered bruises and scrapes, Gullberg died of exposure. Nearby were tracks and some of his equipment, including a camera whose pictures gave rescue workers information about the route and equipment the climbers took. Over the weekend and Monday, Northwest rescue climbers took to the mountain, but the danger of avalanches turned them back from the higher elevations where they thought Nolan and Vietta might be. They worked in breaks between the snowfall that covered what bare rock had been exposed and gave the headwall a glistening white shroud. Surveillance from a National Guard helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft turned up no sign of life such as a pole sticking up from a snowcave. Then a winter storm settled on the mountain Monday evening, expected to last for days, and shut down searches. Steve Rollins, a rescue leader,

said it would take four or five days of good weather to ease avalanche danger enough to allow climbing teams to go back to the headwall, and such conditions are infrequent in Mount Hood winters. "If there is anything we could do, we would do it," Rollins said at a press conference. "We will go to extreme lengths to rescue people, but we have to come home at the end of the day." Dr. Terri Schmidt, an expert on hypothermia and mountain survival, said she told family members that in such rescue operations, time is the most crucial variable: After 48 hours, there is but a 1 percent chance of survival, and day by day it diminishes. The two may be alive, she said. "Is it very likely? No." fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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CHANCES continued from page 70

pair would be found alive. Rescue workers said Tuesday that because the snow on Mount Hood is so unstable and prone to avalanches, there could be no prudent attempt any time soon, perhaps this winter, to send rescue workers to the lofty crags where 29-year-old Katie Nolan and 24-year-old Anthony Vietti are believed to be. SLIDESHOW: Missing Climbers on Mount Hood An Oregon doctor who specializes in rescues told family members and reporters that the chances the two are alive are exceedingly slim and must be weighed against the jeopardy rescuers would face attempting to retrieve them. That left families and rescue workers to their inferences about what happened on Friday when the two and 26-year-old Luke Gullberg, all experienced climbers from Oregon and Washington, set out on a route more challenging than taken by most of the thousands who climb Mount Hood each year.

The prevailing idea is that an accident befell them, perhaps involving Nolan, and Gullberg went for help, said rescue coordinator Nate Thompson of Clackamas County. The idea Nolan was hurt arises because mountaineers found just one of her gloves Saturday with the body of Gullberg on Reid Glacier at an elevation of 9,000 feet, at the base of the 1,500-foot Reid headwall. The slope rises at a 50-degree angle from the glacier to within a few hundred feet of relatively easier climbing to the top above 11,000 feet. They found neither of Gullberg's gloves, Thompson said, leading them to think that Nolan had lost one of hers in the accident, that Gullberg had left her his, along with his pack, and that he had headed downhill, taking Nolan's single glove for whatever warmth it would provide. After a fall in which he suffered bruises and scrapes, Gullberg died of exposure. Nearby were tracks and some of his equipment, including a camera

whose pictures gave rescue workers information about the route and equipment the climbers took. Over the weekend and Monday, Northwest rescue climbers took to the mountain, but the danger of avalanches turned them back from the higher elevations where they thought Nolan and Vietta might be. They worked in breaks between the snowfall that covered what bare rock had been exposed and gave the headwall a glistening white shroud. Surveillance from a National Guard helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft turned up no sign of life such as a pole sticking up from a snowcave. Then a winter storm settled on the mountain Monday evening, expected to last for days, and shut down searches. Steve Rollins, a rescue leader, said it would take four or five days of good weather to ease avalanche danger enough to allow climbing teams to go back to the headwall, and such conditions are infrequent in

Mount Hood winters. "If there is anything we could do, we would do it," Rollins said at a press conference. "We will go to extreme lengths to rescue people, but we have to come home at the end of the day." Dr. Terri Schmidt, an expert on hypothermia and mountain survival, said she told family members that in such rescue operations, time is the most crucial variable: After 48 hours, there is but a 1 percent chance of survival, and day by day it diminishes. The two may be alive, she said. "Is it very likely? No." Click here for the latest news from KPTV Fox. fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Obama 'optimistic' on healthcare (BBC News | Americas | World Edition) Submitted at 12/15/2009 3:50:10 PM

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. President Obama: "I'm feeling cautiously optimistic" US President Barack Obama has said he is "cautiously optimistic" that a stalled healthcare bill will be passed in the Senate by the end of the year. The president said the country was on the verge "of an achievement that has eluded OBAMA page 73

Teacher Tells 3rd Grader to Put Away Bible at Quiet Time (FOXNews.com)

Elementary School in Old Bridge, N.J., ordered the girl, Mariah, to put away her Bible. A third grader was told by a Michelle Jordat, Mariah’s teacher at her New Jersey mother, said her daughter was elementary school that the Bible upset and confused by the was not appropriate reading i n c i d e n t , M y F o x N Y . c o m material for quiet time, reported. M y F o x N Y . c o m r e p o r t e d . "This was injustice," Jordat said, The teacher at Madison Park according to MyFoxNY.com. Submitted at 12/16/2009 6:07:22 AM

"No other child has to go through this again." The school’s principal apologized for the incident, saying school policy does in fact allow students to read the Bible during quiet time and that the teacher had simply made a mistake, MyFoxNY.com reported.

Jordat said she accepts the apology but also wants to see something in writing. She plans to talk to an attorney about the issue, according to the site. The town’s board of education met with parents Tuesday evening to address concerns in the community. Click here for more from

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OBAMA continued from page 72

Congresses and presidents for generations". He was speaking after talks with Senate Democrats at the White House. Mr Obama urged senators not to let disagreement over details derail healthcare reform. He said the final bill would not include everything everyone wanted, but that there was too much at stake for families and businesses not to pass it. Elusive agreement The Democrats will need the support of the two independent senators who normally vote with them in order to pass the bill, which is opposed by Republicans. One of the two independents, Senator Joe Lieberman, had earlier warned he would vote against the legislation if a provision which would allow people aged 55 to 64 to buy in to the government's Medicare programme for the elderly and disabled was included in the final version. Securing healthcare reform is a domestic priority for Mr Obama, but deep divisions among Senate

Democrats have stalled the passage of the bill. One of the most contentious elements has been the idea of a government-run insurance plan known as a public option. Opponents argue that a public option would increase the government's role in healthcare provision, put private insurers out of business and potentially land taxpayers with the cost of caring for millions of people. In the face of opposition from several Democrats and Mr Lieberman the public option has been reworked in favour of a non -profit system involving private insurers overseen by a federal agency. Mr Lieberman said on Tuesday that he could probably back a bill if both the public option and the Medicare "buy-in" for people as young as 55 were dropped. "I'm getting to the position where I can say what I wanted to say all along, that I'm ready to vote for health care reform," he said on Tuesday. President Obama has made a key issue of overhauling the healthcare system, including

curbing medical costs and extending coverage to the millions of Americans without health insurance. He said the bill, no matter what its final form, would be the greatest legislative achievement on healthcare since the Medicare programme was passed four decades ago. The president is hoping the Senate will pass its bill by the end of the year to avoid the debate continuing into 2010, when congressional elections are due. Once passed, the Senate version would have to be reconciled with the healthcare bill which has already been passed by the House of Representatives. Print Sponsor fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Bernanke is 'Person of the Year' (BBC News | Americas | World Edition)

the award. President Obama was last year's winner. Submitted at 12/16/2009 6:18:07 AM "We've rarely had such a perfect Ben Bernanke, the chairman of revision of the cliche that those the US Federal Reserve board, who do not learn from history are has been named Time Magazine's doomed to repeat it," said Person of the Year. Richard Stengel, Time The magazine said the recession Magazine's managing editor. itself was the story of the year "Bernanke didn't just learn from and without Mr Bernanke at the history; he wrote it himself and helm it would have been a lot was damned if he was going to worse. repeat it." Mr Bernanke, who is 56, is a Print Sponsor former Princeton University fivefilters.org featured article: professor and an expert on the Normalising the crime of the Great Depression. century by John Pilger. Available US President Barack Obama and tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text the Apple chief executive Steve RSS, Term Extraction. Jobs were also in the running for