Liberty Newsprint Dec-28-09 by Liberty Newspost

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27/12/09 - 28/12/09

Obama Hawaiian Vacation: Beach Day By Tabassum Zakaria (Front Row Washington)

basketball game in the morning, Obama had security briefings on the Nigerian man accused of Submitted at 12/27/2009 2:59:53 PM trying to blow up a passenger If it’s Sunday in Hawaii, it must plane on Christmas Day and then be beach day. Actually if it’s any on an incident today of an ill day in Hawaii, it’s beach day. Nigerian passenger on the same But for President Barack Obama flight, different day (as the saying Sunday was the first day for a goes, truth is stranger than real beach outing since he fiction). arrived in Kailua for the Who knows what the rest of the presidential Christmas break last day will bring. It’s only noon in Thursday. Hawaii, we’ve been following Obama and family ventured out the president since 6:30 a.m., and to Pyramid Rock Beach on a haven’t seen him yet today…. nearby Marine Corps base where The photo was taken Saturday the president stopped briefly when Obama briefly stopped to yesterday we imagine to scope course, so no chance of getting check out the beach. out the waves considering that any presidential beach shots to For more Reuters political news Obama is known to locals as a rival the photo from last year click here. more than adequate bodysurfer. (you know the one that I mean). Photo credit: Reuters/Larry The traveling press has had no Aside from athletic pursuits that Downing sighting of the president so far included a gym workout and today and is waiting at the golf

Top 7 Disruptions of the Year By Epicenter Staff (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 12/27/2009 9:00:00 PM

Recession or not, technology

kept marching in 2009, making us keep up with its beat. Here are Wired.com's choices for biggest disruptions in technology and business in 2009.

http://www.LibertyNewsprint.com

Ashura festivities in the Muslim world (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

ADVERTISEMENT: (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 12/28/2009 11:30:00 AM

Submitted at 12/28/2009 9:06:10 AM

The Shia Muslim festival of Ashura is celebrated by Muslims around the world

Top Picks for 2010: Electronic Arts (ERTS) By Steven Halpern (BloggingStocks)

momentum into next year," says Karim Rahemtulla. The options expert with Submitted at 12/28/2009 10:00:00 AM Investment U suggests, "One F i l e d u n d e r : N e w s l e t t e r s , such company is Electronic Arts Electronic Arts (ERTS), Stocks ( ERTS) -- a major player in the to Buy, best stocks for 2010 video game industry." This post is part of a special Continue reading Top Picks for report, Top Picks for 2010, the 2010: Electronic Arts (ERTS) 27th annual survey in which Top Picks for 2010: Electronic TheStockAdvisors.com asks the Arts (ERTS) originally appeared nation's leading advisors for their on BloggingStocks on Mon, 28 single favorite stock for the new Dec 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please year. See all 80 stocks listed here. see our terms for use of feeds. "I've been tracking the companies Permalink| Email this| Comments I feel are best positioned to sustain the market's upward

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Bomb suspect's family gave warning By Chris McGreal, David Batty, Peter Walker (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

spent on aviation security since the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, much of it on training and equipment that some security experts say could have Submitted at 12/28/2009 9:44:08 AM detected the explosive device that W h i t e H o u s e o r d e r s Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is investigation into watchlists and accused of hiding on his body as screening of air passengers after he boarded Northwest Airlines Flight 253 attack Flight 253. The US homeland security Investigators on both sides of the secretary, Janet Napolitano, Atlantic are continuing to check conceded today that the aviation Abdulmutallab's background, security system failed when a with the Dutch military police young man on a watchlist with a investigating the possibility that US visa in his pocket and a he had an accomplice. powerful explosive hidden on his Scotland Yard and MI5 want to body was allowed to board a establish how he was radicalised fight from Amsterdam to Detroit. and by whom, and whether he The Obama administration has had accomplices in the UK or the ordered investigations into the Arabian peninsula. He has told two areas of aviation security – US officials that he met al-Qaida how travellers are placed on operatives in Yemen who gave watch lists and how passengers him the explosive device and a r e s c r e e n e d – a s c r i t i c s taught him how to use it. questioned how the 23-year-old Britain's home secretary, Alan Nigerian man charged in the Johnson, said he suspected airliner attack was allowed to Abdulmutallab may not have board the flight on Christmas been working alone. "We don't Day. President Barack Obama is know yet whether it was a singleexpected to make a statement handed plot or [there were] other later today from Hawaii, where people behind it – I suspect it's he is on holiday. the latter rather than the former," "Our system did not work in this he told BBC Radio 4's Today instance," Napolitano said on programme. NBC television's Today show. Johnson also confirmed that "No one is happy or satisfied Abdulmutallab had been placed with that. An extensive review is on a UK watch list after being u n d e r w a y . " Y e s t e r d a y refused a student visa in May for Napolitano said the security a bogus course. "If you are on system had worked, but she said our watch list then you do not today that her words had been come into this country," said taken out of context. Johnson. "You can come through Billions of dollars have been this country if you are in transit

to another country but you cannot come into this country." Abdulmutallab was also on a US database of people suspected of terrorist ties in November, but there was not enough information about his activities to place him on a watchlist that could have kept him from flying. Johnson said the issues being studied by British police and security services included "what happened when he was in this country, was he radicalised in this country, was there any association with whoever may have been behind this plot?" Suspected al-Qaida activists in Yemen referred in a video recorded on 21 December to "a bomb to hit the enemies of God". It was not known if this was a general warning, or indicated a clear Yemeni link. A US couple on Flight 253 said they saw a tall, well-dressed man aged about 50 with Abdulmutallab at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport before he boarded the plane. Kurt and Lori Haskell claimed the man spoke for Abdulmutallab and attempted to get him aboard the flight without a passport, the Reuters news agency reported. A Dutch military police spokesman said: "At this moment we have no information on whether there was another guy. We are checking all clues and information we get." The spokesman added that the military police and the Dutch counter-terrorism agency NCTb

were reviewing CCTV recordings to check out the accomplice story. Abdulmutallab's family said today that they had contacted international security services to raise concerns that he had been radicalised by Islamist extremists. They said they became concerned after he disappeared about two months ago and cut off contact. In a statement, the family said: "The disappearance and cessation of communication which got his mother and father concerned … are completely out of character and a very recent development." Abdulmutallab's father, Umaru Mutallab, a former Nigerian government minister who recently retired as chairman of the First Bank group, "reported the matter to Nigerian security agencies about two months ago and to some foreign security agencies about a month and a half ago", the statement said. The family added: "It was while we were waiting for the outcome of their investigation that we arose to the shocking news of that day." The statement did not say where Abdulmutallab had been, although it emerged yesterday that he had dropped out of a postgraduate business course in Dubai, telling his family he had gone to Yemen to study Islam. It was then that he cut off contact with them, his family said. Abdulmutallab was charged in

hospital with trying to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 as it approached Detroit from Amsterdam with almost 300 people on board. The former student, who studied mechanical engineering at University College London between 2005 and 2008, was also charged with placing a destructive device on the plane. Scotland Yard detectives continued to search the former UCL student's luxury flat in a central London mansion block. Security sources said the police and MI5 were diverting extra staff and resources to the investigation in order to establish the significance of the "London link". Obama has ordered a fresh review of US security, including airport screening, after it emerged that the American authorities had been warned about Abdulmutallab's extremist views by Mutallab. Obama's spokesman said the president was seeking answers to why Abdulmutallab was placed on the least urgent of three US terror watchlists, rather than a higher category which would have prevented the Nigerian national flying. In Britain passengers waiting to fly to America were hit by delays of up to three and a half hours at the weekend because of extra security checks, with people being frisked and having hand luggage searched. Some BOMB page 8

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Iran opposition figures arrested as protests continue By David Batty, Robert Tait (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

June. The brutal tactics of the police and security forces were condemned by another opposition leader, Mahdi Karroubi. Submitted at 12/28/2009 8:52:17 AM Karroubi posted a statement on • Second day of clashes between an opposition website asking authorities and reformists how the government could spill • At least nine dead, including the the blood of its people on the nephew of opposition leader sacred day of Ashura. He said Clashes between the Iranian even the former government of authorities and the reformist the last shah respected the holy movement continued today day. following yesterday's crackdown "What has really happened that which left at least nine dead, spilled the blood of people on the including the nephew of the main day of Ashura and gets a group opposition leader. of savage individuals confronting Police fired teargas on crowds people?" he asked the Rah-emourning Ali Mousavi, a nephew Sabz website. The shah, who was of Mir Hossein Mousavi, and overthrown in 1979, was widely arrested a further seven reformist hated, and comparing a rival to activists, including Ali Riza him is a serious, though common, Beheshti, the opposition leader's insult in Iranian politics. closest aide, and Ebrahim Yazdi, Opposition websites reported at a f o r m e r f o r e i g n m i n i s t e r , least seven arrests today. The according to Iranian opposition Parlemannews site said three of websites. Moussavi's top aides were "A group of Mousavi supporters arrested. Security forces also have gathered in front of Ibn-e- stormed a foundation run by Sina hospital where his nephew's Mohammad Khatami, a reformist body was kept ... Police fired former president, and arrested teargas to disperse them," the two people, a foundation official Norooz website reported. said. The latest crackdown comes Yazdi and the human rights after reformist demonstrators activist Emad Baghi were also w e r e k i l l e d d u r i n g a n t i - arrested, according to the Rah-egovernment rallies marking Sabz. Yazdi, who served as Ashura, one of the holiest days in foreign minister after the 1979 the Shia calendar. The unrest was Islamic revolution, is now leader o n e o f t h e b l o o d i e s t of the banned but tolerated confrontations between the Freedom Movement of Iran. The government forces and pro- a r r e s t s c o u l d n o t b e reform protesters since the i n d e p e n d e n t l y c o n f i r m e d . disputed presidential election in Early reports put the death toll

from yesterday's riots at five, but the state-controlled Press TV website reported that the number of dead had risen to eight while another report put the number of dead as high as 15. The real figure is likely to be much higher as the authorities have previously seized the bodies of protesters and hidden them. People have also taken the injured home rather than to hospital, which could also conceal the true extent of the casualties. Some accounts of Sunday's violence in Tehran were vivid and detailed, but they could not be independently confirmed owing to government restrictions on the media. Police said dozens of officers had been injured and more than 300 protesters arrested. Many demonstrators seemed not to have anticipated such harsh tactics by the authorities, despite police warnings of tougher action against any protests. It was Iran's worst outbreak of violence since June's election, which the opposition claims that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stole through mass fraud. But yesterday's events differed from previous clashes in a way that seemed to herald further turmoil. By using lethal force on a day meant to honour one of Shia Islam's holiest figures, Imam Hossein – seen as a martyr in the fight against oppression – the regime may have undermined its claim to uphold Iran's religious

traditions. The violent response of the protesters to the security forces was also unprecedented and suggested that many are becoming fearless in the face of state repression. While many demonstrators in the postelection protests covered their faces, footage from videos shown yesterday on YouTube showed most people with their faces exposed. Amateur video footage purportedly from the centre of Tehran showed an enraged crowd carrying away one casualty, chanting, "I'll kill, I'll kill the one who killed my brother." In several locations, demonstrators confronted security forces, throwing stones and setting their motorcycles, cars and vans ablaze, according to video footage and pro-reform websites. Protesters tried to cut off roads with burning barricades. One police officer was photographed with blood streaming down his face after he was set upon by the crowd. There were unconfirmed reports that four people died in protests in Tabriz in north-west Iran, the Rah-e-Sabz website said. Clashes were also reported in several other cities, including Isfahan, Shiraz, Arak, Mashhad, Babol and Najafabad. Britain's foreign secretary, David Miliband, today praised the "courage" of the demonstrators and condemned the lack of restraint by Tehran's security

forces, saying that reports emerging from the capital were "disturbing". "The tragic deaths of protesters in Iran are yet another reminder of how the Iranian regime deals with protest," he said. "Ashura is a time of religious commemoration and reflection and it is therefore particularly disturbing to hear accounts of the lack of restraint by the security forces. "Ordinary Iranian citizens are determined to exercise their right to have their voices heard. They are showing great courage. "I call on the Iranian government to respect the human rights of its own citizens - rights which Iran has promised to respect." The US national security council spokesman, Mike Hammer, yesterday denounced Tehran's "unjust suppression of civilians". Carl Bildt, the Swedish foreign minister, which currently holds the presidency of the EU, expressed concern about the "increased repression" in Iran. "A regime secure in its own legitimacy has no reason to fear individuals' rights to express their opinions freely and peacefully," he wrote on his blog yesterday. • Iran David Batty Robert Tait guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

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Iran: Twitter becomes focal point of protests By David Batty (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

the hospital bed saying he was stabbed from the back by Greens. IRIB is heavily playing propaganda and calling the Submitted at 12/28/2009 9:10:13 AM greens anti-Islamic. 'Being In the aftermath of elections anti unpolite to Khamenei is like -government protesters have been being unpolite to the profit.' posting accounts, photos and Basij interview on IRIB: 'I was videos of the clashes on my bike looking and someone Amid renewed clashes between hit me from the back and I don't the Iranian authorities and the remember any more.' reformist Green Movement, – It's really obvious that it's social networking sites such as acting and they're so bad at it. A Twitter have again become a d o c t o r a l s o r e f u s e d t o b e focal point of the protests against i n t e r v i e w e d o n T V . the Islamic regime. As in the – IRIB is playing so called a f t e r m a t h o f t h e d i s p u t e d telephone calls people asking the presidential elections in June, police to remove the protesters anti-government protesters have from streets fiercely. b e e n p o s t i n g h u n d r e d s o f – IRIB interviews a cleric who accounts, photos and videos of says: 'I'm trying to calm down the the latest clashes on the micro- people of Iran so they wouldn't blogging network. come to Tehran and kill all With foreign media facing tough protesters.' I wished I could get a restrictions by the Iranian metal stick and beat this IRIB authorities and state-controlled guy to death. media mistrusted by much of the – An IRIB guest is saying country's population, these posts Khamenei is like Imam Hossein on Twitter – although often and Green leaders are like yazid difficult to verify – provide a [the killer of Imam Hussein, vivid insight into the chaotic g r a n d s o n o f t h e P r o p h e t situation on the streets. Muhammad, whose death the mamad2020 condemned the Shia lament on Ashura]. (They're coverage of the Islamic Republic backed by Israel). of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) as Another Twitter user, "propaganda" in a series of nomoredespots, also attacked the tweets. IRIB, calling for pro-government – IRIB is obviously very scared media broadcasts to be hacked or of the events of yesterday as the blocked. p r o t e s t s h a p p e n e d a t i t s This regime is so stupid that they doorsteps. can't even come up with decent – IRIB shows a Basiji lying in lies. PressTV, IRNA, Fars, and

all rubbish Iran propaganda sites still online spreading misinformation to Iran public. – Next on the agenda is peacefully taking out IRIB TV transmission & replacing signal with looped video of Neda [Soltan]'s killing. The user also expressed defiance at the increasingly brutal crackdown by Iranian police and security forces. – Doesn't matter how many people regime arrests, there's millions more where they came from. If evil regime keep arresting everyone, they better start building many new prisons to hold 65 million people. –"Top 10 ways to really piss off the regime: No 10 - every Basij caught is spray painted bright green, & super glued to his bike." nomoredespots also posted a YouTube video showing protesters stamping on a sign of Khamenei St and called for "all street signs with evil regime names [to] be removed in Iran". Dozens of videos of the clashes between protesters and security forces have also been posted on YouTube. One of the most interesting shows how demonstrators are trying to win over the police. Another disturbing video appears to show men who were going to be hanged by the police on December 24 being rescued. Iranian Twitter users have also posted photos of the new protests

on the micro-blogging site. Users Dryah and manic77 have photos of the clashes with police and scenes of their aftermath. Tehran Bureau, an online press bureau connecting journalists, Iran experts and ordinary Iranian citizens, has posted accounts from people caught up in the protests on Sunday. One from a 22-year-old male university student describes a dramatic confrontation between demonstrators and the police near Valiasr Square at about 1pm local time. Lines of black-clad Special Guards guarded the square. What happened next was something I had never seen. People broke off slabs from the sidewalk and smashed them to smaller pieces – they threw these stones at the Guards. The crowd – a few thousand people, with a few hundred in the front line – had gone into guerrilla mode. They were fearless and fearsome: not only did not back down but went on the offensive. The sky looked like a hailstorm of stones. The guards had taken refuge under their shields; for some reason, they did not fire teargas at us. After about 20 minutes of this, the Guards retreated and left on their bikes. The crowd was elated; we felt we had 'conquered' Valiasr Square. We poured into the square. The ground was littered with stones and a few broken helmets, like a

battlefield. People set a police canister on fire. The atmosphere was very jubilant. Suddenly, people began yelling 'Run! Go!' and a stampede commenced as the crowd began running. I ran up Valiasr Avenue; after ten or so minutes some of us ventured back out to the square to see what had happened. I saw a distraught crowd gathered around something. Wails of 'They killed him!' 'Savages!' filled the air, as well as chants of 'I will kill whoever kills my brother'. Based on what I heard from people, an anti-riot SUV had entered the square, moving at high speed, and ran over several people who were running away, apparently injuring some and killing or severely wounding one person. I went forward in time to see people carrying a limp body, but I could not tell if he was dead or unconscious, and I don't know if people took him to the hospital or not. I left soon after that event, at about 2 pm. • Iran • Protest • Twitter David Batty guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

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Boy in deportation raid kept in van with border agency officials By Alexandra Topping, Eric Allison (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk) Submitted at 12/28/2009 9:04:28 AM

Nine-year-old terrified by almost three-hour incarceration while mother in hospital, say relatives A nine-year-old boy was separated from his mother and kept in a van for several hours by UK Border Agency officials while she was treated in hospital. The agency held the boy – known as Child M – in a vehicle for three hours after an early morning deportation raid, and said that he had not been distressed. The family, however, said the child repeatedly asked to see his mother and was terrified during the incarceration. The family were taken to Yarl's Wood immigration removal centre, near Clapham, Bedfordshire, on 17 November, and told they would be deported the following day, but their lawyers filed fresh evidence relating to their case and they were released on 8 December. In a statement given to a translator the Iranian child described being scared after the deportation raid, during which his mother collapsed and was taken to hospital in an

Catalina (Little Green Footballs)

ambulance. "I was really scared, they locked the door and they said you [are] coming with us, and they put me [into a] van. I told them I have to return my guitar and camera to school. I thought they let me to [sic] return them to school but they returned the stuff by themself [sic]." Describing being in the vehicle he said: "Sometimes they asked me something and talk[ed] to me, but I was frightened because they were so big like monster and I wanted to ran away from them. I have never been so lonely in my life, without friend or family." Once in Yarl's Wood, the child, who has received psychological treatment since being previously detained for 52 days last year, vomited blood in the middle of the night, according to his mother. At around midnight she asked for medical attention but was told he would have to wait until the morning to see a doctor, she said. In a letter of complaint written on the 1 December, she wrote: "It is outrages, as he is only nine and if we were outside this place, we would have got an ambulance." She added: "He was just recovered from the psychological affects of the last time at we were in detention, and we are back to square one now."

Child M's mother has been trying to claim asylum in the UK, saying her life will be in danger if she returns to Iran because photocopied extracts of Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses were found at her house and business premises. Their lawyers have filed a new report to the UK Border Agency in which an independent expert testifies that an arrest warrant is genuine and states that the family will be in grave danger if sent back. Child M's solicitor, Richard Jones, a specialist in international children's law, said he was very concerned about the child's time in the van and his treatment once in Yarl's Wood. "I am flabbergasted at the government's policy on the detention of young children and their management and care when in detention centres," he said. David Wood, head of criminality and detention for the UK Border Agency, said the boy spent less than three hours in an unlocked people carrier with a female immigration officer. "Our immigration officers, who are specially trained to deal with families with children, considered this would be a less stressful environment for the child. He was relaxed and

comfortable throughout, and provided with food and drink." He added that Child M was attended to by a qualified nurse after vomiting blood and later seen by a doctor. Commentating on the case, Sir Al Aynsley-Green, the children's commissioner for England, said children in stressful circumstances should never be separated from their parents. He added: "If there is an exceptional reason why a parent cannot be with their child, then that child should be looked after by a responsible adult who they can trust and relate to. Children should also not be interviewed alone by officials. "Children in immigration removal centres have told me about the distress and anxiety they feel during the arrest process and while in detention, therefore any period of separation from loved ones will only make them feel much worse." • Immigration and asylum • Children • Iran Alexandra Topping Eric Allison guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Biped Cellphone Makes Me Feel Homoerectus [Concepts] By Brian Barrett (Gizmodo) Submitted at 12/28/2009 8:39:04 AM

When designer Mac Funamizu tired of his cellphone being just another lump on his desk, he didn't get mad. He got concepty. Mobile Phone Concepts "Floater" from Mac Funamizu on Vimeo. Floater B is a sleek handset that has a supporter built into the back, letting it stand at attention on any flat surface. The supporter also conceals a physical keyboard that can be accessed when it's slid in the other direction. Floater B's companion, Floater A, puts a new spin on the vibrate function by nodding or rotating when there's an incoming call. They're both just concepts for now, but it's not so crazy an idea that we couldn't see them soon as a practical application. At least, I hope it's not. [ Yanko Design]

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Thailand starts deporting Hmong refugees (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk) Submitted at 12/28/2009 9:46:29 AM

Amid secrecy, Thai troops move into camp to deport Hmong refugees who say they face persecution in Laos Thailand began deporting more than 4,000 Hmong asylum seekers in secret today , drawing widespread international condemnation for sending members of the ethnic minority back to Laos. Soldiers kept journalists, UN refugee agency officials and human rights groups more than six miles away from the Huay Nam Khao refugee camp in Thailand's north as the government used nearly 5,000 troops to remove the 4,506 Hmong who are seeking refugee status. The Hmong people say they will face government persecution back in Laos, as they have for generations, dating back to when they fought alongside US troops during the Vietnam war.

But the Lao government has denied they will face retribution, and the Thai government argues that the majority of the group are illegal economic refugees. The US has said it is "deeply dismayed" by the forced deportations, in a statement describing the Thai government's action as "a serious violation of international humanitarian principles". The UN high commissioner for refugees, António Guterres, said the expulsions "set a very grave international example". The operation to remove the Hmong began at 5.30am, when troops armed with batons and shields moved into the camp. Colonel Thana Charuyat, who co -ordinated the repatriation, said the troops did not carry guns or teargas out of concern for the safety of the women and children. He said the operation to clear the camp of all asylum seekers had progressed without incident. About 300 Hmong initially refused to leave the camp, including several family and

community leaders, but they agreed to end their resistance after several hours of negotiations. "They will be transported from the camp to the army camp in Lom Sak district before moving to immigration in Nong Khai [on the Thai-Laos border] and going to Laos," Thana said. The army expected to complete clearing the camp overnight. Despite promises from the Thai prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, that the repatriations would be carried out in a transparent manner, no one from the group was allowed to meet UN refugee agency officials. Mobile phone signals into the area have been jammed for two days. The isolation was necessary to prevent resistance, or asylum seekers publicly self-harming in protest, a Thai government spokesman said. The government released selected photographs of the deportation through news agencies, showing Hmong children receiving medical check -ups and orderly queues of

asylum seekers boarding buses. The US assistant secretary of state, Eric Schwartz, said: "We have made it abundantly clear that we are prepared to roll up our sleeves and work with partners in Thailand for a solution that is humane and responsible. Even at this late date we're fully prepared to do that." A separate group of 158 Hmong refugees in nearby Nong Khai camp have been met by UNHCR officials, who have classified them as "people of concern". They will also be returned to Laos, in the same deportation as the larger group, but the Laos government has agreed that they will be pardoned and resettled in a yet-to-be-determined third country within 30 days. • Thailand • Laos • US foreign policy • Refugees

Biggie-Sized HP Envy 17 On Its Way [Rumor] By Mark Wilson (Gizmodo) Submitted at 12/28/2009 8:46:09 AM

According to a legit-looking leak, HP is releasing 14 and 17inch versions of their Envy laptops. And from what we can tell, even the 17-inch Envy will exclude an integrated optical drive. And if that's the case, I have no issue, since it'd be better to use that space to squeeze in a larger battery anyway. The 15's stock battery life was horrid. [ HP Fansite via Engadget]

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Twitter Gets Some Space with Mixer Labs Deal By Tom Taulli (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 12/28/2009 11:50:00 AM

Filed under: Next big thing Back in September, the fastgrowing online micro-blogging service, Twitter, raised a

whopping $250 million at a $1 billion valuation. Meanwhile, it looks like the company has already reached profitability, despite this being usually an elusive concept for online services. next? Well, now it looks like With its growing power, what's

Twitter is into dealmaking as the company struck a deal last week for Mixer Labs at an undisclosed price tag. Continue reading Twitter Gets Some Space with Mixer Labs Deal Twitter Gets Some Space with

Mixer Labs Deal originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 28 Dec 2009 11:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

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China, show mercy to Akmal Shaikh | Clive Stafford Smith By Clive Stafford Smith (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

penalty, especially when prisoners without wealth have lawyers without influence, the final flurry of publicity is often Submitted at 12/28/2009 9:21:55 AM when potential witnesses hear As more witnesses come foward, about the case for the first time. it is clear that the Briton did not Today, I have received three get a fair trial. China should emails from people who knew reconsider his death penalty Akmal when he was homeless in Over the past several days, most Poland, each telling a sad story of Britain has been feet-up-before about his mental illness. -the-fire, enjoying the Christmas One witness, Luis Belmonte, is a holiday. Not so for Akmal Spanish photojournalist who Shaikh's family, the British followed Akmal for months as he prisoner who is set to die in slid from homelessness deeper China at 2.30 tomorrow morning. into mental illness. Belmonte's I spent most of Christmas Day pictures of an unshaven Akmal, making travel arrangements for sitting on a bench in a crumpled Akmal's two cousins, Soohail and w h i t e s u i t a n d s t a r i n g Nasir Shaikh, to fly thousands of despondently across a homeless miles around the globe to plead shelter, tell the story more for his life. They were allowed an eloquently than any lawyer hour and a half with him this could. morning, and emerged Two other witnesses were despondent. Akmal had just been British teachers living in Poland. told he had 24 hours to live. "He Paul Newberry and Gareth was obviously very upset on Saunders befriended Akmal, and hearing from us of the sentence past his crazy ideas they saw the that was passed. We strongly feel gentle optimist beneath. Akmal that he's not rational and needs was convinced that he would medication," said Soohail. record a hit song that would Yet as so often with the death usher in world peace, and his

persistence paid off when he talked his way into a free hour at a recording studio. One Saturday, Akmal's two newfound friends could not refuse his plea to help him make a first cut of the record. Saunders was a musician and agreed to do backup vocals, Newberry offered his amateur bass guitar. They both agreed that the result was deplorable, but Akmal was not to be dissuaded from his mission. These three witnesses provide compelling evidence of Akmal's mental problems. However,some less charitable people cottoned onto Akmal's vulnerability and made him their unwitting drug mule, hence the looming hour of his execution. Nobody should accept my view that Akmal is innocent of any criminal act, but it is becoming increasingly clear that Akmal did not have a fair trial. His case underlines the dangers of fallible humans assuming omnipotence. Death penalty is the ultimate exertion of the government's overwhelming power, flooding over the meagre capacity of the

individual who is seated defenceless in his prison cell. Yet ultimately it betrays a national weakness as well, a government's failure to confront difficult issues which surround human rights. This is as true for China as it is for the US – whether in the context of the death penalty, or the excesses of the "war on terror". Let us hope that the Chinese authorities remember the quality of mercy in time to avoid a tragic mistake: "Tis mightiest in the mightiest, it becomes the thronèd monarch better than his crown." • Capital punishment • China • Drugs trade • Mental health • Human rights Clive Stafford Smith guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Avatar: The Making of the Bootleg By Michael Arrington (CrunchGear) Submitted at 12/28/2009 8:44:39 AM

A (four day old now) spoof of

all the “making of Avatar” videos out there. It makes fun of James Cameron’s 15 year journey to create Avatar. And yes, telesync versions of Avatar are available

on BitTorrent now. And

watching it that way is nothing at all like watching the movie in a theater in 3D. The video is below:

When only ten USB ports will do, there’s this ten-port USB hub By Doug Aamoth (CrunchGear) Submitted at 12/28/2009 8:30:00 AM

How many USB ports is too many? Not ten, apparently. Meritline.com is selling a tenport USB 2.0 hub for an actuallyreasonable price of $26 with free shipping. Short of actually plugging this thing into a computer, you know what else it might be good for? A charging station for a large family or small office. Since just about every portable gadget and cell phone is rechargeable via USB nowadays, you could place this in a common area and use it to juice up all your devices. You’ll have to figure out how to manage the rat’s nest of cables that’ll undoubtedly ensue but, hey, with great charging comes great responsibility. 10 Ports USB Hub, Power Adapter Included[Meritline.com]

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BOMB continued from page 2

passengers reported having Christmas presents unwrapped, while others travelling to the US have reportedly also seen bans on the use of electronic equipment, including laptops and MP3 players, and in some cases inflight entertainment has also been disrupted. People flying to the US were advised to arrive early and carry just one piece of hand luggage. Whitehall officials said Abdulmutallab had not come to MI5's attention during his three years studying in London. One of his former teachers spoke of his shock, saying the suspect's nickname was once "the pope", and the university spoke of its "sadness". Malcolm Grant, a provost at the university, said: "UCL is deeply saddened by these events. This is a university founded on equality and religious tolerance, and strongly committed today to respect for human rights. We are co-operating fully with the authorities in their further investigations."

The heightened state of security was underlined last night when the crew of another Amsterdam to Detroit plane, with the same flight number, reported an emergency incident after an "unruly" Nigerian man raised concerns by spending an unusually long time in the aircraft's toilet. He was detained by the FBI after the plane landed but turned out to have a "legitimate illness", officials from the department of homeland security said. More details emerged yesterday about the apparent radicalisation of Abdulmutallab, a young man born into privilege in the Muslim -dominated north of Nigeria. He attended an elite Britishcurriculum boarding school in Lomé, the capital of Togo. A former teacher of his recalled the then teenager expressing sympathy for the Taliban after the 9/11 attacks in 2001. However, a friend from that time, James Ticknell, told the Guardian that while Abdulmutallab had been a devout

Muslim, he was not in the least militant. "He was very decent and gentle, in fact a pacifist. His views on religion were very mainstream. When I realised the man on the plane was him, I felt disbelief," said Ticknell. • Global terrorism • Al-Qaida • Air transport • United States • Nigeria • Togo • Barack Obama • Airline industry • Yemen Chris McGreal David Batty Peter Walker guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades and Initiations: ACTU, EWBC, FINL, FTNT, GIII, HOTT, RAME ... By Eric Buscemi (BloggingStocks)

target on shares. • Roth Capital upgraded Actuate ( ACTU), citing recent share Submitted at 12/28/2009 11:10:00 AM weakness, the recent Xenos deal Filed under: Analyst reports, and the improving economy, both A n a l y s t u p g r a d e s a n d of which should improve growth. downgrades, Analyst initiations The firm has a target of $5.50 on Analyst Upgrades the shares. • Finish Line ( FINL) upgraded • B. Riley upgraded Hot Topic ( to buy from neutral at Stern H O T T ) , c i t i n g v a l u a t i o n , Agee. increased holiday traffic once promotions began, and views Continue reading Analyst upcoming difficult Q4/Q1 comps Upgrades, Downgrades and as a buying opportunity ahead of Initiations: ACTU, EWBC, a turnaround. The firm has a FINL, FTNT, GIII, HOTT, target of $8.30 on shares. RAME ... • Wunderlich upgraded RAM Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades Energy ( RAME) as it believes and Initiations: ACTU, EWBC, t h a t t h e c o m p a n y h a s FINL, FTNT, GIII, HOTT, successfully survived a difficult RAME ... originally appeared on y e a r . T h e f i r m t h i n k s t h e BloggingStocks on Mon, 28 Dec company's debt level is high but 2009 11:10:00 EST. Please see manageable while its production our terms for use of feeds. should increase over the next Permalink| Email this| Comments several years. The firm set a $4

Best Buy Outpaces Rivals in Electronics Sales By Brian White (BloggingStocks)

quarter. It took the lion's share of consumer electronics sales after competitors Circuit City and Submitted at 12/28/2009 10:30:00 AM CompUSA shut down earlier in F i l e d u n d e r : C o m p e t i t i v e the year. strategy, Wal-Mart (WMT), No doubt, there was enhanced Amazon.com (AMZN), Best Buy competition from mega-retailer (BBY), RadioShack Corp (RSH) Wal-Mart ( WMT) and online Best Buy ( BBY) was the big b e h e m o t h A m a z o n . c o m ( winner in this year's fourth AMZN). But Best Buy managed

to nip at customer heels with deep discounts on flat-panel

televisions and laptop PCs that just weren't seen at the competition (yes, I looked). Laptops for $299 and 32" flatpanel TVs for $249 are probably loss leaders by a big margin -but those prices make a dent on consumer psychology. Continue reading Best Buy Outpaces Rivals in Electronics

Sales Best Buy Outpaces Rivals in Electronics Sales originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 28 Dec 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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After Christmas, Retailers Pick Up the Pieces By Tom Johansmeyer (BloggingStocks)

News Corp.'s 'Avatar' and 'Alvin and the Chipmunks' Had a Great Weekend By Steven Mallas (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 12/28/2009 10:50:00 AM

Filed under: Microsoft (MSFT), Wal-Mart (WMT), Target Corp. (TGT), Black Friday, Nintendo (NTDOY) The holidays have ended, and the real sales have begun. Those choosing to sacrifice sentimentality for savings found retailers only too willing to help, as prices were slashed in the wake of the Christmas rush. Recipients of gift cards stand to see their purchasing power extended, as well, now that redemption time has arrived, and retailers are looking to squeeze in any extra sales they can to pump up their top lines before the books close on the fiscal year, which, for many, comes at the end of January. Toys "R" Us has offered a deal on Nintendo ( NTDOY) Wii games, with the second coming at half price, and Target ( TGT) is

Submitted at 12/28/2009 8:18:11 AM

Remember Psystar, the hackintosh company that stood up to Apple (and lost)? While they can't sell you a PC running OS X anymore, they will sell you this $15 t-shirt. Oh how the mighty have fallen. [ Psystar Thanks MacJedi!]

Weekend News Corp.'s 'Avatar' and 'Alvin and the Chipmunks' Had a Great Weekend originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 28 Dec 2009 10:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Has Technology Made Things Better or Worse? [Polls] By Mark Wilson (Gizmodo) Submitted at 12/28/2009 7:55:03 AM

According to 1,504 American

adults surveyed over a 5-day period, cellphones have made the world a better place. Tattoos, on the other hand, haven't done a

indolently in between. [ PewCenter via ReadWriteWeb via IntoMobile] damn thing! Everything else falls

Psystar Sells T-Shirts Now, Seriously, TShirts [Psystar] By Mark Wilson (Gizmodo)

Submitted at 12/28/2009 11:30:00 AM

Filed under: General Electric (GE), Time Warner (TWX), Walt Disney (DIS), Viacom (VIA), News Corp'B' (NWS), Film Shareholders of News Corp. ( NWS) are probably happy this nearly halving the price of wine Monday as two of the company's glasses and dropping the tag on films -- Avatar and Alvin and the an argyle women's sweater by Chipmunks: The Squeakquel -nearly a third. Walmart ( WMT), did very well over the three-day which kicked off its cuts at the holiday weekend. end of September, is throwing a James Cameron's Avatar topped $50 gift card on top of any the charts at domestic theaters, Microsoft ( MSFT) Xbox 360 pulling in an estimated $75 buy. million, according to Box Office Continue reading After Mojo. If the project can continue Christmas, Retailers Pick Up the to attract moviegoers in large Pieces droves, as well as propagate a lot After Christmas, Retailers Pick of repeat business, then it should Up the Pieces originally appeared break even before it hits other on BloggingStocks on Mon, 28 distribution channels. Dec 2009 11:30:00 EST. Please Continue reading News Corp.'s see our terms for use of feeds. 'Avatar' and 'Alvin and the Permalink| Email this| Comments Chipmunks' Had a Great

Chinese author plans lawsuit over Google Books By Tom Krazit (Webware.com) Submitted at 12/28/2009 9:48:51 AM

Google scanned one of a prominent Chinese author's books into the Google Books library without explicit permission, according to a report, and will face a lawsuit in China. Originally posted at Relevant Results

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Post-foiled attack TSA regulations put into place: Go to the bathroom early and often By Nicholas Deleon (CrunchGear) Submitted at 12/28/2009 8:00:38 AM

Owing to last week’s “ bomb attack bid” on a U.S. airliner, there’s going to be a whole lot more security at airports. You probably already knew this. Expect long lines, confusion, malaise, and weariness. (Good thing that the entire tech world is going to be flying to Las Vegas in a couple days for CES. Leave your gadgets at home unless you want to spend 400 hours on the metal detector line.) The Transportation Security Administration is implementing new procedures to deal with everything. Here they are. Right, so here’s the latest directive designed to make you think you’re safe. The biggest thing I can see for the techminded: international flight passengers bound for the U.S. must put away all their carry-on stuff, presumably including laptops and the like, one hour prior to landing in the U.S. (No getting up to use the bathroom on that last hour, either.) U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Transportation Security Administration Aviation Security Directive Subject: Security Directive Number: SD 1544-09-06 Date: December 25, 2009

EXPIRATION: 0200Z on December 30, 2009 This Security Directive (SD) must be implemented immediately. The measures contained in this SD are in addition to all other SDs currently in effect for your operations. INFORMATION: On December 25, 2009, a terrorist attack was attempted against a flight traveling to the United States. TSA has identified security measures to be implemented by airports, aircraft operators, and foreign air carriers to mitigate potential threats to flights. APPLICABILITY: THIS SD APPLIES TO AIRCRAFT OPERATORS THAT CARRY OUT A SECURITY PROGRAM REGULATED UNDER 49 CODE OF FEDERAL R E G U L A T I O N S (CFR)1544.101(a). ACTIONS REQUIRED: If you conduct scheduled and/or public charter flight operations under a Full Program under 49 CFR 1544.101(a) departing from any foreign location to the United States (including its territories and possessions), you must immediately implement all measures in this SD for each such flight. 1. BOARDING GATE 1. The aircraft operator or authorized air carrier representative must ensure all

Government: 1. Spouse and children, or 2. One other individual (chosen by the Head of State or Head of Government) 3. For the purposes of Section I.B., the following definitions apply: 1. Head of State: An individual serving as the chief public representative of a monarchic or republican nation-state, passengers are screened at the federation, commonwealth, or b o a r d i n g g a t e d u r i n g t h e any other political state (for boarding process using the example, King, Queen, and following procedures. These President). procedures are in addition to the 2. Head of Government: The screening of all passengers at the chief officer of the executive branch of a government presiding screening checkpoint. 1. Perform thorough pat-down of over a cabinet (for example, all passengers at boarding gate P r i m e M i n i s t e r , P r e m i e r , prior to boarding, concentrating P r e s i d e n t , a n d M o n a r c h ) . 2. IN FLIGHT on upper legs and torso. 2. Physically inspect 100 percent 1. During flight, the aircraft of all passenger accessible operator must ensure that the property at the boarding gate f o l l o w i n g p r o c e d u r e s a r e prior to boarding, with focus on f o l l o w e d : syringes being transported along 1. Passengers must remain in seats beginning 1 hour prior to with powders and/or liquids. 3. Ensure the liquids, aerosols, arrival at destination. and gels restrictions are strictly 2. Passenger access to carry-on adhered to in accordance with SD baggage is prohibited beginning 1 hour prior to arrival at 1544-06-02E. 2. During the boarding process, d e s t i n a t i o n . the air carrier may exempt 3. Disable aircraft-integrated passengers who are Heads of p a s s e n g e r c o m m u n i c a t i o n s State or Heads of Government systems and services (phone, from the measures outlined in internet access services, live Section I.A. of this SD, including television programming, global the following who are traveling positioning systems) prior to with the Head of State or Head of boarding and during all phases of

flight. 4. While over U.S. airspace, flight crew may not make any announcement to passengers concerning flight path or position over cities or landmarks. 5. Passengers may not have any blankets, pillows, or personal belongings on the lap beginning 1 hour prior to arrival at destination. AIRCRAFT OPERATOR ACKNOWLEDGMENT: The aircraft operator must immediately provide written confirmation to its assigned PSI indicating receipt of this SD. AIRCRAFT OPERATOR dissemination required: The aircraft operator must immediately pass the information and directives set forth in this SD to all stations affected, and provide written confirmation to its PSI, indicating that all stations affected have acknowledged receipt of the information and directives set forth in this SD. The aircraft operator must disseminate this information to its senior management personnel, ground security coordinators, and supervisory security personnel at all affected locations. All aircraft operator personnel implementing this SD must be briefed by the aircraft operator on its content and the restrictions governing dissemination. No other POST-FOILED page 12

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Thought-to-Speech Machine Could Be the Beginning of Something Huge [Medicine] By Jesus Diaz (Gizmodo) Submitted at 12/28/2009 9:12:00 AM

The Neuralynx System translates thoughts into speech. It connects to the neurons, sending signals wirelessly to a laptop, which translates the brain activity into spoken English. It's not science fiction: They tried it with a paralyzed 26-year-old and it works. According to the research paper, they inserted the electrodes into the patient's brain, installing signal amplifiers and transmitters under the scalp. The circuitry—powered by an induction electric supply—transmits the signals to a laptop via FM radio. The software then converts the analog signal to digital data that the neural decoder interprets these into speech commands, which are then sent to the synthesizer. The whole process takes 50 milliseconds, which is the same amount of time it takes to any

normal person to do the same process, using their nerves, vocal chords, and mouth. According to Neuralynx project leader Frank Guenther—from the Department of Cognitive and Neural Systems and the Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at Boston University—their system is going

to get even better soon. The results of our study show that a brain-machine interface (BMI) user can control sound output directly, rather than having to use a (relatively slow) typing process. Our immediate plans involve the implementation of a new synthesizer that can produce consonants as well as

vowels but remains simple enough for a BMI user to control. We are also working on hardware that will greatly increase the number of neurons that are recorded. We expect to tap into at least 10 times as many neurons in the next implant recipient, which should lead to a dramatic improvement in performance. Obviously, this is going to be a miraculous invention for people who can't talk because of nerve damage or any other reason. It could also mean the beginning of something bigger, perhaps enabling new kinds of communication. Imagine an implant that could do the same thing on reverse, basically enabling long distance telepathy. Or an jet fighter that can take mind commands in Russian! Hmmm... on second thought, this may be the best worst idea ever created. [ Physorg]

PSA: TweetDeck is free even if you don’t buy a CD from Best Buy By Matt Burns (CrunchGear) Submitted at 12/28/2009 9:30:57 AM

You can thank Best Buy for making your post-holiday Monday morning a bit more enjoyable thanks to the retailer’s latest advertising snafu. [ imgur via Digg]

RoyalTek outs RPJ-2000 pico projector By Laura June (Engadget) Submitted at 12/28/2009 12:29:00 PM

Taiwanese company RoyalTek's just announced the first of what will apparently be five pico projectors it releases in 2010. The RPJ-2000 boasts 3M's second generation LCoS chipset, VGA

and NTSC / PAL inputs, and 0.5 watt speakers. The projector can project a 65-inch image at 640 x 480 resolution with 14 lumens of brightness. Disappointingly, there is no onboard storage or media player on this little guy, but we're betting one or more of set to unleash probably will have those other models RoyalTec is those glorious extras. If you want

to use this baby with a Mac, you'll need to purchase an adapter kit which runs around $43, in addition to the $315 pricetag of the projector itself. There's no word on sale of the RPJ-2000 outside of Taiwan as of yet, but we'll keep you posted. RoyalTek outs RPJ-2000 pico

projector originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Dec 2009 12:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Slashgear| Computex| Email this| Comments

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POST-FOILED continued from page 10

dissemination may be made without prior approval of the Assistant Secretary for the Transportation Security Administration. Unauthorized dissemination of this document or information contained herein is prohibited by 49 CFR Part 1520 (see 69 Fed. Reg. 28066 (May 18, 2004). A P P R O V A L O F ALTERNATIVE MEASURES: With respect to the provisions of this SD, as stated in 49 CFR 1544.305(d), the aircraft operator may submit in writing to its PSI proposed alternative measures and the basis for submitting the alternative measures for approval by the Assistant Administrator

for Transportation Sector Network Management. The aircraft operator must immediately notify its PSI whenever any procedure in this SD cannot be carried out by a government authority charged with performing security procedures. FOR TSA ACTION ONLY: The TSA must issue this SD immediately to the corporate security element of all affected U.S. aircraft operators. FOR STATE DEPARTMENT: Retransmittal to appropriate foreign posts is authorized. Post must refer to STATE 162917, 201826Z Sep 01, Subject: FAA Security Directives and

Information Circulars: Definitions and Handling, for specific guidance and dissemination. Gale Rossides Acting Administrator Again, if you’re going to be flying in the coming days, especially if you’re coming into the U.S. from another country, prepare yourself for aggravation and uncertainty. But you’ll be safe, or at least think you are! Flickr

Mozilla pushes back Firefox 3.6, 4.0 deadlines By Stephen Shankland (Webware.com) Submitted at 12/28/2009 6:27:00 AM

The newest version of the opensource browser won't arrive this year, and a major update might not arrive until 2011. But there are plenty of features coming. Originally posted at Deep Tech

Secret Drones, Miss Atom, Telepathic GIs: Danger Room's Most Popular of '09 By Noah Shachtman (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 12/27/2009 9:00:00 PM

It's been a wild year inside the Danger Room. Readers show us the 10 posts in Danger Room they've liked best — and their three favorite photo galleries.

Rumor: John Biggs is making the Apple Tablet in his basement By Matt Burns (CrunchGear)

about Innolux and Cheng Uei Precision producing the Apple Submitted at 12/28/2009 9:00:57 AM slate are just unfounded Internet Hot news, everyone. I just rumors and should be ignored as received word from a reliable such. What’s behind the jump source deep within the confines here is the truth. of a Chinese brothel, that that our Our main man on the inside has own John Biggs is making a actually seen the computer in 9.789-inch Apple Tablet in his question and states that Biggs has basement. Now, you wouldn’t been working on the computer in know that this random house in a between reviewing various sex quiet Brooklyn neighborhood is toys and appearing on national actually the home of a Apple TV that last few years. The design genius, but that’s what our c o m p u t e r i s s a i d t o b e source says, so it must be true. remarkably robust, but yet And all those random reports underwhelming void of content

like most of John’s other work projects. It’s just a bunch of smoke and mirrors, he said. He also stated that the Apple tablet will hit the market with a

$437 MSRP and bundled with a power adapter and a colorful quick-start guide either on March 11th, 2010 or sometime before 2017.

Bizarre Bazaar: Tokyo District Pimps Sublime, Kooky Gadgets By Steven Levy (Wired Top Stories)

Some make the trek to this mesmerizing Tokyo neighborhood simply to

rummage through the boxes and boxes of technojunk, others come to rub elbows with otaku or

spiritually recharge. This bizarre bazaar has something for everyone.

I tried to reach John for a comment, but he’s currently on one of his many European holidays and apparently staying somewhere out of the reach of the Internet. Hopefully I’ll be able to catch up with him next week at CES, but I’ll probably only have a chance for a quick talk. He’ll likely bail on the trade show early again like he did last year.

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Urdu, Arabic, whatever: It’s all the same to Infinity Ward in Modern Warfare 2

Palm Pre Users Rejoice: webOS 1.3.5 is Coming Today

By Nicholas Deleon (CrunchGear)

By Stan Schroeder (Mashable!)

No, Arabic is not a main language of Pakistan. Realistically, there’s no reason Submitted at 12/28/2009 10:00:05 AM why the Modern Warfare 2 You would have been foolish to representation of the game should assume that Modern Warfare 2 be littered with Arabic language would treat foreign cultures with signs. And yet it is so! any sort of reverence. First there The country has two official was the rubbish accents in the languages in Urdu and English. Rio de Janeiro level(s). Then Urdu, like many other languages, there was “ No Russian,” which, in written using the Arabic well you know what happened alphabet. You know, just like there. Now there’s this: there’s how English and Italian and Arabic all over the Karachi multi Spanish and German and French -player level. Why is this an are all written with the same issue? Oh, only that Arabic isn’t alphabet ( the Latin alphabet) but spoken in Pakistan (Karachi is a r e c o m p l e t e l y d i f f e r e n t Pakistan’s largest city). languages. Same thing with Urdu

and Arabic: just because they both use the same script doesn’t mean they’re the same language. Not if you’re Infinity Ward, I guess. Now, is this is big deal? To most people no, it patently isn’t, but you’d think big budget games like Modern Warfare 2 would try to be as authentic as possible. How dumb would it look to be playing a game set in Paris with all the street signs in Dutch or Swedish? I mean really. More importantly, what would we do without Wikipedia?

Submitted at 12/28/2009 1:45:22 AM

Here’s a nice Christmas present for Palm Pre users: According to Sprint’s website, a new version of Pre’s operating system, webOS 1.3.5, is due to go live today. The new version promises better performance and battery life (don’t they all), some bug fixes, and — most importantly — the app storage limit, which prevented users to install more than a couple dozen apps on the

HP Envy 14, Envy 17, and new EliteBooks leak onto the scene By Vladislav Savov (Engadget)

intriguing possibility of a 17-inch laptop without an integrated optical drive. The bigger machine Submitted at 12/28/2009 9:50:00 AM is also listed alongside "new" 6The tap that keeps on leaking and 9-cell battery packs, but has inadvertently let loose an other internal specs remain internal "notebook index" unknown. In other news, document that corroborates successors to the Elitebook e a r l i e r r u m b l i n g s o f a 2730p tablet, 2530p ultraportable forthcoming Envy 14. Sourced and 8730w desktop replacement from HP's Korean site, this little have been spotted, with 16:9 ditty reveals Envy 14 and Envy display ratios on the smaller 17 models, which both tick the machines and 16:10 on the 17'HP external USB DVD Drive' inch workstation. Hit the read c a t e g o r y , b r i n g i n g u p t h e link for more details, and keep it

spec sheets and full-color, in-themetal photography. [Thanks, Billy] HP Envy 14, Envy 17, and new EliteBooks leak onto the scene originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Dec 2009 09:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| HP Fansite| Email this| Comments locked to the Engadget channel as CES hits in a few days' time, when a lot of these sketchy leaks will be replaced by exhaustive

device, is going away. Now, if only that selection of apps would grow into quadruple digits…but two wishes for one Christmas is a bit too much, I guess. Tags: Palm Pre, webOS

Dec. 28, 1879: Tay Bridge Collapses, Alas By Tony Long (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 12/27/2009 9:00:00 PM

The world's largest bridge collapses during a storm, and blame is quickly and firmly fixed.

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Logic Wireless 150LGW projector phone reminds us of that Bolt we once saw By Darren Murph (Engadget) Submitted at 12/28/2009 10:26:00 AM

Remember the Bolt from CES 2009? Man, that was ages ago. If you'll recall, projector phones were actually all the rage for around 4.67 minutes at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, and ever since we've been dealt months of nothing alongside one lone ranger of something in the LG eXpo. Evidently Logic Wireless is hoping that we'll forget all about the Bolt that never shipped and instead focus on the next best thing: the 150LGW. Available for order now at Skymall (of all places), the projector phone looks significantly slimmer and more stylish than the company's first crack, and aside from the inbuilt PJ, there's also twin SIM card

slots, dual cameras, an Office file viewer, quad-band GSM radio, Bluetooth and Symbian running the show. We aren't too sure we'd be willing to shell out $499 without any proof that this thing is worth its salt, but you can bet we'll be on the hunt for it once CES 2010 opens up next week. Logic Wireless 150LGW

projector phone reminds us of that Bolt we once saw originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Dec 2009 10:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of By Darren Murph (Engadget) feeds. Permalink OhGizmo| Skymall| Email this| Comments Submitted at 12/28/2009 9:19:00 AM

forcing you to carry around a dock, this simple dongle travels easy and plugs directly into the Oh, Brando-- how we do love port-laden side of your spare thee. Be it random accessories we HDD. Granted, you'll need a don't need at all or legitimate U S B 3 . 0 - e n a b l e d P C o r peripherals that make our lives expansion card in order to take all that much easier, you're advantage of the additional always there -- steadfastly speed, but for $48, this looks to people?’ and the riot guards ask Khameneii is a bastard. The waiting for us to fall in love over be an excellent excuse to get that for forgiveness, ‘Bebakhshid’ woman can then be heard saying and over again. Mushiness aside, dusty, unused drive of yours back they can be heard to say. ‘All you can do is kill your the outfit's new USB 3.0-to- into service. ‘You are Yazid’s - the Khalif people is it?’ and again they SATA adapter is indeed one of Brando's USB 3.0-to-SATA a g a i n s t w h o m t h e A s h u r a plead saying ‘Please We are not those remarkably useful devices, adapter gives any old HDD those uprising took place -forces’, the killers’. enabling any old SATA hard SuperSpeed powers originally woman shouts at them. One of The sooner they join the people, drive to be accessed externally at appeared on Engadget on Mon, the protesters then reassures them the sooner they will redeem USB 3.0 speeds. Essentially, this 28 Dec 2009 09:19:00 EST. that they will not be beaten up, themselves with the people of is the pocket-friendly version of Please see our terms for use of all they have to do is say Iran. S h a r k o o n ' s l a t e s t S A T A feeds. Permalink| Brando| Email QuickPort, but rather than this| Comments

Video: Riot Guards Beg for Forgiveness (Little Green Footballs) Submitted at 12/27/2009 6:08:54 PM

[Video] The description for this video at YouTube translates what’s going on: People have cornered these security forces. People ask them ‘why do you do this to your

Brando's USB 3.0-to-SATA adapter gives any old HDD those SuperSpeed powers

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Japanese researchers develop robotic, heroic hummingbird

Sky's the Limit for China's DIY Aviators

By Laura June (Engadget)

By Michele Travierso (Wired Top Stories)

Submitted at 12/28/2009 12:01:00 PM

This is not the first time we've heard about a robotic hummingbird, but they're still a rare enough species to warrant our attention. Japanese researchers at Chiba University near Tokyo have developed a new bot which behaves much like the quick-winged bird, which is controlled by an infrared sensor. The little birdie weighs in at less than an ounce and can fly in a figure eight, moving up,

down, left and right. Next steps for its development -- which the researchers say will arrive by 2011 -- include the ability for it to hover mid-air, and have a

dangerous situations, such as destroyed buildings, or aiding in the search for criminals. We haven't gotten a look at the little guy yet (the above photo is merely to whet your imagination), but we anxiously await its arrival. Japanese researchers develop robotic, heroic hummingbird small camera attached to it. originally appeared on Engadget Ultimately, its creators see the on Mon, 28 Dec 2009 12:01:00 robot(which has cost around 2 EST. Please see our terms for million dollars to develop) being use of feeds. Permalink| Physorg| able to help search for people in Email this| Comments

Submitted at 12/27/2009 9:00:00 PM

From the ramshackle to the sophisticated, these innovators go to any lengths to fly.

Sanyo's Eneloop music booster keeps All New TSA Silliness stage musicians effect-ed (Little Green Footballs)

Submitted at 12/27/2009 10:01:08 PM

By Darren Murph (Engadget) Submitted at 12/28/2009 11:02:00 AM

If there's even a faint need for a recharging solution, there's a decent shot that Sanyo will have an Eneloop device to fit the situation. Take the newly announced music booster, for instance, which is designed to sit alongside your Tube Screamer, TU-2 Chromatic Tuner and RV600 Reverb Machine in order to keep the juice flowin' even if a breaker trips mid-solo. Truthfully, the device could be used to energize pretty much anything that taps into a 9V power source, and if you're

concerned over noise interference, Sanyo assures us that you shouldn't be. The unit -which goes on sale in March 2010 -- can be fully regenerated

in around 3.5 hours, and depending on the drain of the device(s) it's powering, can keep things going for anywhere between 2 and 50 hours. Rock on, as they say. Continue reading Sanyo's Eneloop music booster keeps stage musicians effect-ed Sanyo's Eneloop music booster keeps stage musicians effect-ed originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Dec 2009 11:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink HotHardware| Sanyo| Email this| Comments

Bruce Schneier is exactly right — the new TSA rule about staying seated for the last hour of flight is completely silly. And what sort of magical thinking is behind the rumored TSA rule about keeping passengers seated during the last hour of flight? Do we really think the terrorist won’t think of

blowing up their improvised explosive devices during the first hour of flight? For years I’ve been saying this: Only two things have made flying safer [since 9/11]: the reinforcement of cockpit doors, and the fact that passengers know now to resist hijackers. This week, the second one worked over Detroit. Security succeeded.

Wired's 20 Favorite iPhone Apps of 2009 By Brian X. Chen (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 12/27/2009 9:00:00 PM

Readers have voted; now it's our turn. Wired staff honors its favorite iPhone apps of 2009.

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Best Buy Offers Free iPhone App For Free, If You Spend $10 [Best Buy] By John Herrman (Gizmodo)

case, given away—through the App Store, it must be listed somewhere, right? Well, not Bundling a free Twitter iPhone under Interscope, not under Best app preloaded with your label's Buy, and as far as I can tell, not a r t i s t s w i t h C D s : f i n e . under anything obvious. Says the Advertising said bundle: also product pages for eligible CDs: fine! But pitching this app as an Follow these steps: "exclusive" deal, as if it isn't -Select a CD below. always free? Come on, guys. -Click the Add Items to Cart But hey! Maybe this custom button at the bottom of the page. cart. version of TweetDeck is really T h e T w e e t D e c k d o w n l o a d There don't appear to be any really good, and since all iPhone i n s t r u c t i o n s c a r d w i l l download instructions in the cart apps have to be sold—or in this automatically be added to your

item, so to someone who doesn't know better, it would look like the only way to get this app is to buy one of the eligible CDs. Best of all, this EXCLUSIVE Twitter app comes with unlimited free Tweets from whoever you follow. Only at Best Buy! [ Consumerist, TweetDeck on iTunes]

Lenovo possibly developing e-book reader

Kindle Amazon's #1 Gift for Christmas

By Laura June (Engadget)

(Little Green Footballs)

Submitted at 12/28/2009 8:59:26 AM

deny the plans. Make of that what you will. There's a chance Submitted at 12/28/2009 11:37:00 AM we'll hear more about this at CES Look, we don't like having to -- and that's in just about a week constantly be skeptics who don't and a half. believe in anything unless there's Lenovo possibly developing eabsolute proof of its existence... book reader originally appeared phase according to "sources" oh, wait: yes we do. Especially in cited by Tech 163. Such a move on Engadget on Mon, 28 Dec scenarios like this, where sources wouldn't be wholly unexpected -- 2009 11:37:00 EST. Please see are unclear, a bit vague, and the e-reader bandwagon is getting our terms for use of feeds. poorly translated. Regardless, more crowded every day. Still, Permalink Cloned in China| Tech we're hearing that it's possible we can't be sure yet, though Tech 163| Email this| Comments that Lenovo is actively 163 apparently asked Lenovo for developing an e-reader and may comment and they didn't outright already be in an internal testing

Submitted at 12/27/2009 8:38:33 PM

Amazon has announced that during this Christmas season, the Kindle e-book reader was the “most gifted item” in the company’s history — and on Christmas Day, the sales of Kindle e-books were actually higher than traditional books. This is quite a milestone, and signals that consumer acceptance of the Kindle and e-books in general is picking up speed. I absolutely love my Kindle 2, as

I’ve written several times, and highly recommend it to anyone who’s hooked on reading. Here’s my review of the Kindle 2, for more details.

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Video: Large Crowd of Protesters Chants 'Death to This Regime' (Little Green Footballs) Submitted at 12/27/2009 2:23:07 PM

This video gives you an idea of the size of today’s crowds protesting the Iranian regime:[Video] A commenter at YouTube translates the chants: People are chanting: “the coup government is the murderer of Neda”, “Khamenei is a murderer, his leadership in annulled”, “rape, crime, death to this regime”, “rape in prison, was that in the Quran also?!”, “It’s a day of mourning, The Green nation of Iran is mourning today”…

Thanko sells USB-powered “Hot Cat Gloves” By Serkan Toto (CrunchGear)

as a catgirl. These things may appear totally Submitted at 12/28/2009 8:41:46 AM silly, but Thanko says that the Back in August, I blogged about Catgirl Earphones from the Thanko’s Catgirl Earphones, summer are still their No. 1 which were shaped like cat ears. selling item. And the company And today, the notorious Tokyo- has to make money to keep their based USB gadget maker started three (!) brick-and-mortar stores selling the so-called Hot Cat in Tokyo going somehow. Gloves[JP]. A big day for the The Hot Cat Gloves can keep Cosplay crowd, especially those your fingers warm if you connect with a penchant for dressing up them to your computer’s USB

port (they have a built-in heater). They weigh 145g. Thanko sells the gloves for $35. Since the English store closed down earlier this year, you might want to contact import/export specialists Japan Trend Shop, Geek Stuff 4 U or Rinkya if you feel like buying something silly today.

'I'm a Mac' Ads Go Honest [Comics] By Mark Wilson (Gizmodo) Submitted at 12/28/2009 9:20:00 AM

It's so true. Someone with a whole lot of money should hire John Hodgman to play the Mac guy just once for some underground Christmas card or something. [ DorkTower via GeekDad]

Photos: Tehran's Bloody Sunday (Little Green Footballs) Submitted at 12/27/2009 3:59:02 PM

Here’s a collection of 127 photographs of today’s events in Tehran, from various sources: Niusha Boghrati’s Photos Tehran’s Bloody Sunday.

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Mashable’s Weekly Guide to Social Media Events By Tamar Weinberg (Mashable!) Submitted at 12/28/2009 7:28:25 AM

It’s a brand new week, which means it’s time for Mashable’s guide to upcoming social media and web events, parties, and conferences. For more upcoming event listings, check out Mashable’s Events section. Is your event not on this list? Contact us at least one month before your event and let’s establish a media partnership. Mashable’s Weekly Social Media and Marketing Event Guide is proudly supported by Eventbrite, the Web’s Event Marketplace. January 11, 2010, Nashville, TN: The Social Media conference that comes to you. Social Fresh is a one day, case study rich conference targeted for marketers. Social Fresh Nashville will have 30+ speakers including Jason Falls of Social Media Explorer, Gavin Baker of Ruby Tuesday, and John Andrews of Collective Bias (formerly of Walmart). Save 15% when using code mashable. January 12, 2010, New York, NY: PluggedIn is an exclusive deal making gathering, bringing together handpicked digital media founders, gatekeepers and investors to candidly interact in a laid back setting and unlock the full value of doing business together. PluggedIn is a polar opposite to your typical overcrowded, loud and

ineffective conference. We keep it to a closed circle of in-theknow executives and offer a casual, off the record environment. Our objective is to cultivate substantive and concrete dialogue between a select group of decision makers and help make things happen. Use registration code mashable to get 25% off. January 13, 2010, New York, NY: Social Integration– Harmonizing Social Channels into the Marketing, Communications, & Service Platform – Case Studies & Roundtables is a conference that will demonstrate case studies of how leading brands are integrating social media and social networking into and across the enterprise. We will approach the topic from the communicator/marketer’s perspective but technology, customer service, and operations professionals are welcome to participate. Use promo code MASH for a discounted rate of $ 1 5 5 a t www.bdionline.com/socialintegra tion.html. January 14, 2010, Century City, CA: The first-ever Schmoozd event, a new Social Media Mixer event in Los Angeles, will be held at the Xbar. X bar’s environment is the perfect place to network – a lounge designed with spots for hanging out as well as socializing and action. Whether closing the deal or sharing ideas, X bar’s renowned

design, cuisine and location means X marks the spot. For more information, please visit www.schmoozd.com. Mashable readers get 50% off when registering via this link. January 14-16, 2010, Sedona, AZ: Join us at #SMML for a Social Media Mastermind Conference. We are going to get personal. As you seek to glean more information about social media, how it works and how you can use it to gain more customers. You’ll see more results in 2 days than you will have in six months working alone! If you are ready to be energized, engage with your audience, work with the best and take home real solutions in developing your own social media strategy, then join us. Speakers include: Robin Harris, Raliegh Pinskey, Frances Flynn Thorsen, Shannon Evans and more. Use event code SMMLBiz to save 15% on your registration fee. January 20-22, 2010, Washington DC: Social Media for Defense and Government is a unique forum on the embracement, implementation and utilization of new media platforms that meet the Governments goals of transparency that allow for more efficient internal and external communication. As the public develops their use of online tools

for their personal, career and business development goals, DoD & Gov’t have made it their mission to reach the public via these new forms of media. The forum will provide insight into technologies including Twitter and Facebook as well as advanced elements such as the Governments general information page, blogs, and closed social media suite. Mashable readers get an exclusive 20% discount off the standard pricing with s p e c i a l c o d e IUS_MASH_SMTM_#1 when registering! January 23, 2010, Virginia Beach, VA: Social Media @ The Beach is a place for anyone looking to “get their feet wet” and explore social media. It’s an interactive conference with the laid-back atmosphere of a meetup. The January event will focus on two main goals: boosting personal social networking skills and developing professional social media marketing strategies. The event is open to everyone, drawing community members of all ages, backgrounds and levels of social media experience. Enter mashable for the discount code to receive 15% off ticket price. January 26, 2010, San Francisco, CA: Vator.tv, a leading platform for entrepreneurs and innovators to broadcast themselves, and provider of news and information through VatorNews, and Girls in Tech, a social network enterprise focused on education and

empowerment of influential women in technology, are hosting the Catalyst Competition to find five women-led startups across any stage to present at the Catalyst Conference. Ten finalists will be selected by their peers through an online competition. Join the competition today and get the vote out. January 27-28, 2010, Amsterdam, Netherlands: Enterprise Social 2.0: RIP or ROI? This senior executive event will bring together decision makers from the top Fortune companies to discuss innovative strategies on how to maximize business performance through social media engagement. The event will include keynote speeches, best-practice presentations as well as interactive discussion sessions. Use promo-code MASH14 for a €100 (Euros) discount for the 2 day conference registration fee. January 28, 2010, San Francisco, CA: The ARF Industry Leader Forum— Putting Listening to Work is an interactive event to help advertisers, agencies, media and research companies determine how to use social media and digital behavior for their listening strategies. Learn how to use listening, evaluate listening applications, develop a listening strategy, integrate it into your existing research program, create an action plan and apply insights garnered. Attendees will MASHABLE’S page 19

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receive The ARF Foundations Series – Listening tool, an $895 value, featuring 25 case studies and 30+ company reviews how listening is used for consumer insight, customer service, new product development, reputation management, competitive benchmarking, and breaking into new applications like media planning, targeting and predictive modeling. Speakers include: Jeremiah Owyang, digital media strategy superstar and blogger and Partner, Customer Strategy, Altimeter Group, Toyota Motor Sales, Saatchi and Saatchi Wellness and LinkedIn. Mashable readers can use promo code ARFMASH to save $100. January 28-29, 2010, Bilbao, Spain: The biggest Search Engines: Search Marketing and Online Marketing Event starts the new year in the north of Spain: Bilbao the TIC city! SC Bilbao will offer 9 professionals workshops, 8 Conferences and the glorious Closed Party! 2 days of learning and networking at “Palacio Euskalduna” . Come and share with Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, SEMPO and the best Internet experts. There’s a special 30% discount on Conferences for all Mashable readers using the promotional code: ILOVESEARCH. February 1-5, 2010, New York, London, Berlin, Toronto, San Francisco, São Paulo: Social Media Week’s second annual conference will take place between February 1st – 5th, 2010 simultaneously in New York

City, Berlin, London, San Francisco, Toronto and São Paulo. The five day conference will explore the profound impact that social media has on culture, business communications and society at large. The week-long conference is designed as a series of localized events, which city partners are responsible for organizing. Over the course of the week and in each city, programs will span a variety of formats, ranging from talks, presentations and panel discussions, to interactive workshops, seminars, networking events and drinks receptions. RSVP here. February 4, 2010, San Francisco, CA: Vator, a leading platform for innovators and entrepreneurs to broadcast themselves, is holding its inaugural Vator Splash competition to find 10 promising early-stage startups to present at the Vator Splash event. Enter the competition today and join other onstage presenters, such as Zynga CEO Mark Pincus, Smule CEO Jeff Smith, August Capital VC Howard Hartenbaum and Google Ventures VC Bill Maris. Buy your 25% discount ticket today using the code: VatorMashable February 8, 2010, Tampa, FL: The Social Media conference that comes to you. Social Fresh is a one day, case study rich conference targeted for marketers. Social Fresh Tampa will have 30+ speakers including Chris Barger of GM, Maggie Fox of Social Media Group, and John

Andrews of Collective Bias (formerly of Walmart). Get 15% off if using code mashable. February 8-10, 2010, Philadelphia, PA: The 9th Annual ePharma Summit is the most innovative digital marketing event for pharma. Year after year, hundreds of marketing professionals from leading pharmaceutical companies attend ePharma for incomparable access to insider information for optimizing their brand strategy and perfecting consumer relationships. Join us next February to collaborate with industry leading industry minds and perfect your digital strategy by pursuing true e-marketing innovation. The 2010 event is packed with fresh case studies, hands-on workshops, hot topic debates, facilitated roundtable discussions, and live audience polling sessions. Register with Priority Code XP1506MASH to save 15% off standard registration! February 8-11, 2010, Washington, DC: Attend the Advanced Learning Institute’s Forum on Social Media for Government: How To Engage Your Employees And Citizens By Using The Latest Web 2.0 Technologies To Drive Communication Results, to learn how to capture the power of social media in your organization, along with helpful tools, tips and techniques to get started. Hear practical advice, firsthand, from leading government agencies and

organizations such as: CIA; IRS; U.S. Army Public Affairs; National Wildlife Federation; U.S. Department of Agriculture; City of Raleigh, NC; U.S. Navy; Morris County, NJ; U.S. Department of State Roanoke Public Libraries, VA; Court Services & Offender Supervision Agency; Department for International Development, Government of the United Kingdom; NOAA; National Institutes of Health; U.S. Department of Health & Human Services; National Defense University; City of Richmond, VA; Porter Novelli; Booz Allen Hamilton, and more. Mention Mashable when registering to save $200. February 9-13, 2010, San Francisco, CA: Macworld 2010 is a five-day event that educates, entertains and immerses attendees in the Apple products community. A comprehensive expo hall offers access to hundreds of Mac products and services, paired with expert advice, demonstrations and instruction. Macworld conference programs feature industry leading minds, presenting cutting edge product training on the topics attendees most want to see. From Mac Power Users to creative professionals to first-time users to Enterprise computing professionals, Macworld has the conference content, special presentations and exhibit hall attractions that create what has been called “Mecca for Mac Users”. Get 15% off as a

Mashable reader. February 10, 2010, New York City: The Online Community Unconference East is a gathering of online community professionals – managers, developers, business people, tool providers, investors – to discuss experience and strategies in the development and growth of online communities. As we have found with our past events, the best source of information on all of these challenges is other knowledgeable practitioners. Mashable readers are entitled to a discount by registering here with code mashable. February 15, 2010, Barcelona, Spain: The Mobile Premier Awards recognize the year’s best in Mobile Startup Innovation and are the largest open, global startup competition in the mobile industry. The awards are the point of reference in startup premiers during the Mobile World Congress and are organized in collaboration with some of the main networks in the industry. Participation to the awards is free and open to any startup with a mobile angle. Sign u p a t www.mobilepremierawards.com and take your chance to walk the red carpet in Barcelona! February 17, 2010, Atlanta, GA: Startup Riot is an annual event that focuses on giving fifty startups an opportunity to present, in three minutes, to a large audience of investors, MASHABLE’S page 21

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HOW TO: Implement a Social Media Business Strategy By Sharlyn Lauby (Mashable!)

internal metrics tracking. When General Motors put together their social media Sharlyn Lauby is the president strategy, they had some specific of Internal T a l e n t objectives they wanted to M a n a g e m e n t ( I T M ) w h i c h accomplish. Christopher Barger, specializes in employee training director of global social media at and human resources consulting. General Motors, outlined the S h e a u t h o r s a b l o g a t following: hrbartender.com. A. Become more responsive to Over the past few months, we’ve people/consumer audiences talked about whether you should B. Incorporate have a social media policy and audience/consumer feedback into what should be included in that your organization more quickly policy. It only seems logical to a n d e f f e c t i v e l y t h a n h a s discuss the next step in the h a p p e n e d t r a d i t i o n a l l y p r o c e s s , w h i c h i s w h a t t o C. Make your brand a little more consider when implementing a “human” to the outside world, social media strategy in your and show people the smarts, workplace. personality and passion of the Just having a policy isn’t good people behind your logo enough — you need a plan to put D. Increase awareness of the it in place. Here are five areas to strength of your current product discuss when implementing a l i n e u p , a n d p r o v i d e social media strategy. perspective/accurate information 1. Determine Your Objective about your company Luis Ramos, CEO of The The other benefit of defining N e t w o r k , r e m i n d s u s t h a t objectives is that they can guide creating a social media strategy is the timetable for implementation. a complex exercise because “it I can’t tell you how many times includes not only looking inside I’ve seen an organization’s list of the organization to establish objectives and knew there was no appropriate practices, usage way they could implement policies and content parameters, everything at once or in the but it also includes looking timeframe they intended. Having outside the organization to well-defined objectives can assist determine the proper degree of in prioritization and creating the engagement.” best way to phase-in a social Figure out why you’re getting on media strategy. the social media bandwagon and Developing objectives and a what you want to accomplish timetable could also prompt a with it. This step is absolutely conversation about content necessary if you plan to measure management. Ramos suggests R O I o r d e v e l o p y o u r o w n including in the strategy the Submitted at 12/28/2009 7:29:33 AM

Social media leadership has a seat at the communications leadership table and acts as an integral part of the larger corporate communications function.” Smaller organizations might not have that amount of structure, so responsibility might simply fall position responsible for updating to sales or marketing. content as well as the update Another option to consider is frequency. “Many organizations using external resources (i.e. have grand plans of updating consultants) for certain aspects of content on a regular basis only to t h e s t r a t e g y a n d i n t e r n a l quickly run out of topics, leaving resources for the rest. Barger content to become stale. As a explains, “We use internal best practice, a specific employee resources whenever possible; is typically assigned to create and given that two of GM’s main manage the company’s social goals are to become more media pages, so he/she can responsive to the public and to r e s p o n d t o m e s s a g e s a n d incorporate insight back into the questions within 24 hours.” 2. organization, these are things we Find an Internal Evangelist can only effectively do if it is our This is a constant source of team who are engaged. We use discussion right now on the a g e n c y p a r t n e r s f o r Internet, but the bottom line is, monitoring/measurement, for some department needs to “own” identifying new opportunities and social media. L o t s o f new influencers for us to reach departments might be consulted out to, for video production, and when it comes to decision for counsel on tactics/strategy.” making, but ultimately someone 3. Consider Your Employees has to be held accountable for the This is a biggie. Organizations outcomes. need to understand their Which department ultimately employees’ level of knowledge gets the responsibility could be and interest. Offer training. dependent upon the size of your And one noteworthy item for organization and corporate non-profits is to think about your culture. For example, Barger volunteer base. Diane Gomez, says social media at General public relations manager for the Motors is “owned within the Public Relations Society of communications team, reporting America(PRSA), mentions that up through the Vice President of not only is PRSA staff involved, Communications, who reports but volunteers are as well. “This directly to the Chairman/CEO. i n c l u d e s m o n i t o r i n g a n d

interacting with members (and nonmembers) who reach out to us via these channels, and is in addition to pushing out information of interest to our members.” In addition to posting GM’s social media policy, Barger explains several things the company did to convey the company’s approach. “We posted a 45-minute ‘Social Media 101’ interactive training course on the intranet that gives employees the basics on how/why/where to engage in social media. Additionally, we developed a ‘201’ level ‘train-the-trainer’ course that introduces more complete tools and tips. Those who’ve taken this course are authorized to train others within their departments on the basics of social media. Finally, we have an internal blog, ‘Making Conversation,’ that focuses on sharing lessons we’re learning through social media outreach.” Though she’s the president of a smaller firm, Crystal Kendrick used a similar approach with The Voice of Your Customer. “Our employees are very social media savvy and understand how to technically use the sites. We discussed the spirit of the policy and reviewed examples of ineffective social media policies. Training for our employees focused on the strategic and professional applications of the social media sites. We use ‘key HOW page 23

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corporate business development and M&A representatives, and other interested parties. Attendees are pre-screened so the room is never filled with service providers, job hunters, or others who are not the target audience. Selected presenting entrepreneurs pay nothing to attend. In 2010 we will move to a bigger venue for the event and the always popular after-party. Also new in 2010 are prizes for presenters and attendees. We are currently accepting applications to attend and present. February 19-21, 2010, Los Angeles, CA: SCALE 8X is the 8th Annual Southern California Linux Expo. As the premier community run Linux / Open Source conference, it will feature tutorial sessions designed to show users of all skill levels what Open Source can do and how to do it. Whatever your interest is in Open Source, SCALE 8x will have something for you. Mashable’s readers can receive 40% off registration with the promo code MASH8. February 22-24, 2010, New York City: From authoring, editing, and layout to distribution and consumption, new technologies are changing all aspects of publishing. TOC will help you navigate these changes and understand how to apply them to your business or organization for a more profitable future in publishing. You’ll also have the opportunity to participate in conversations that are shaping that future as often as

they are describing it. The fourth annual O’Reilly TOC Conference is your opportunity to join those inventing the future of publishing. Register now and s a v e a t : en.oreilly.com/toc2010/public/re gister. Save an additional 15% when you use the Discount Code: toc10mas. February 22–25, 2010 San Diego, CA: Online Marketing Summit, the premier educational event for marketing professionals, is coming to San Diego this February. Join your marketing peers as they share ideas, hear from expert practitioners, and learn best practices in the areas of: Social Media, Search, Email, Analytics, and more – in a completely vendor free environment! Register now and receive 25% off using discount code MASHABLE. February 23-26, 2010, San Jose, CA: At FAST ‘10, explore new directions in the design, implementation, evaluation, and deployment of storage systems. Learn from leaders in the storage industry, beginning Tuesday, February 23, with groundbreaking file and storage tutorials by industry leaders such as Brent Welch, Marc Unangst, Michael Condict, and more. This year’s innovative 3-day technical program includes 21 technical papers, as well as two keynote addresses, Work-in-Progress Reports (WiPs), and a Poster Session. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to meet with premier

storage system researchers and industry practitioners from around the globe. Register by February 8 and save! Mashable readers get $100 off using code FASTMASH10. March 1-4, 2010, Ottawa, ON: Attend the Advanced Learning Institute’s Forum on Social Media for Government: How To Engage Your Employees And Citizens By Using The Latest Web 2.0 Technologies To Drive Communication Results, to learn how to capture the power of social media in your organization, along with helpful tools, tips and techniques to get started. Hear practical advice, firsthand, from leading government agencies and organizations such as: ON Ministry of Health & Long-Term Care; Parks Canada; Communications Community Office; City of Ottawa, ON; Public Safety Canada; Indian & Northern Affairs Canada; Toronto Police Service, ON; Canadian Forces Aerospace Warfare Centre; Human Resources & Skills Development Canada; Northern Lights Canada; Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency; Canada Mortgage & Housing Corporation; Royal Bank of Canada; Genome Alberta; Business Development Bank of Canada; Thornley Fallis Communications; Centre of Excellence for Public Sector Marketing, & more. Mention Mashable when registering to save $200. March 2-4, 2010, Santa Clara,

CA: Search Marketing Expo – SMX West content is so compelling, you’ll want to implement what you’ve learned before leaving the conference. Over 50 super-charged sessions on PPC, SEO, local search, search-friendly design, and social media marketing will help you flourish today, tomorrow and in the future. Whether you’re new to search or have years of experience, employed at a Fortune 500 company or run your own business or agency, you’ll be a more effective, innovative and inspired internet marketer after attending SMX East. Featured keynote – Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Get 3 jampacked days of content for only $1145 if you register by January 30th and use discount code smx100mashable. For more info visit smxwest.com March 4-5, 2010, Chicago, IL: At SOHO’s 2-Day, “The CoAlignment of the Corporate and Personal Brand,” a Strategy Framework, develop your exclusive copy of “The Draft,” SOHO’s 16-page social communications policy workbook for businesses and corporations. The focus in 2010 is co-aligning the corporate brand with internal and external communications. SOHO brings to you presentations, case studies and Town Hall meetings with Chris Brogan and Dan Schawbel, and other experienced practitioners. For more information and to register, please visit Sohobiztube.com.

Use discount code MashableChi for a 20% discount on a 2-day “The Draft” ticket. March 15-16, 2010, London, UK: At Social Media World Forum, learn from social networks, brands, advertisers and analysts. Hear from leading social networks on their strategy, revenue models and how they are approaching the future. Worldwide case studies from global brands and corporations on their use of social media. Examine the current market conditions, future forecasts and predictions from leading analysts. Mention you are a Mashable reader to receive 15% discount. March 19, 2010, London, UK: Justmeans’ Social Media and Stakeholder Engagement Conference will bring together the top minds in sustainability, marketing, innovation and technology. This executive forum will explore how technology can enable sustainable business by involving stakeholders in the value creation process and will showcase examples of success and failure in this rapidly evolving market. Use this link for a 10% registration discount. March 24-25, San Francisco, CA: EyeforTravel’s Social Media Strategies for Travel conference goes beyond the ‘what is social media?’ debates (that were so 2008!) and examines the strategic importance of social media to travel brands. The 2 day MASHABLE’S page 28

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Mozilla pushes back Firefox 3.6, 4.0 deadlines (CNET News.com)

process, too. And version 4.0 should get significant user interface changes. Mozilla won't make a 2009 In earlier planning, Mozilla had deadline for releasing Firefox 3.6 expected to mimic some of and is giving itself more time to Chrome's design, with tabs across complete a major update, version the top of the browser and a 4.0. location bar below and a menu The organization behind the bar replaced by some drop-down open-source Web browser had menu buttons that take up less predicted a final release of room. Now, in a refresh of the Firefox 3.6 in December 2009, Firefox 4.0 look, Mozilla but the Mozilla Web site now designer Stephen Horlander includes "ship Firefox 3.6" as a introduced a new way to replace goal for the first quarter of 2010. the menu bar, the Firefox app In addition, Firefox 4.0, which There's a lot on tap for Firefox, Another is incorporation of separate process from the main button. had been due in 2010, now is " though. The big new feature in Jetpack (now up to version 0.7), browser computing process. Mozilla is toying with a variety aimed at late 2010 or early version 3.6 is incorporation of an interface for plug-ins that are o f Firefox app button That should help isolate 2011," with a beta due in the the Personas plug-in that lets easier to write, install, and problems with Adobe Systems' o p t i o n s . ( C r e d i t : S t e p h e n summer of 2010, according to people easily customize the upgrade. Flash plug-in, for example, that H o r l a n d e r ) Mozilla. browser's appearance, though To get quick access to sites that previously crashed the whole In Mozilla's first attempt to Schedule delays are common in behind the scenes there's also h a v e b e e n b o o k m a r k e d o r browser. However, the initial replace the menu bar, "we were the software world, but browser been work to speed up the previously visited, Firefox work only is for Windows and informed by how Safari and development is furious these browser's launch time, improve already lets people type text into Linux, not Mac OS X. Chrome had handled this days with the arrival of Google's security, and make some other the "awesome bar," formally but A mock-up of Firefox 4.0, left problem by paring down all Chrome into the market, Apple changes. Mozilla has release five hardly ever actually called the shows the orange app button menu items into two separate helping to expand the frontiers of beta versions so far but not the smart location bar. Soon to arrive above the tab strip. To the right is Page and Tools buttons. This what the browser can do, Opera release candidate that signals that in test versions of Firefox will be the Firefox 3.5 look.(Credit: approach has a few advantages trying to dramatically speed up work is nearly done; Mozilla a new ability called tab matching Stephen Horlander/Mozilla) but also some disadvantages. The JavaScript execution and display programmers are " done with all that lets people get access also to Another likely addition will be new proposed approach to this performance, and Microsoft blockers," bugs or other problems Web sites already open in other W e a v e , a p l u g - i n t h a t problem is an App Button which getting more ambitious again that stand in the way of a release, tabs. s y n c h r o n i z e s b o o k m a r k s , is similar to the single menu with Internet Explorer. "We've according to Mozilla's Web site. Also in development is the first passwords, plug-ins, and open approach taken by Windows 7 always been more quality-driven So what exactly is coming next phase of work called Electrolysis tabs across different instances of n a t i v e a p p l i c a t i o n s ( P a i n t , t h a n t i m e - d r i v e n , b u t w e for Firefox? to separate various computing Firefox. Weave integration is WordPad) and by MS Office," understand timing in the market For version 3.7, Mozilla plans p r o c e s s e s i n t o s e p a r a t e scheduled for the first quarter of Horlander said in a blog post. matters to our users and our several changes. One goal is compartments for better stability. 2010. Five Filters featured article: competitiveness," said Mike better performance, for example Firefox 3.7 should benefit from For version 4.0, expect deeper Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: Shaver, Mozilla's vice president with a 25 percent reduction in the first phase of Electrolysis, changes in Electrolysis to split PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, of engineering, in an October start-up time on Windows. which moves plug-ins to a each browser tabs into a separate Term Extraction. interview. Submitted at 12/28/2009 6:27:00 AM

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HOW continued from page 20

word rich’ content, approved messages and in some cases, scheduled time for posting.” Gomez added they are encouraging staff to participate in social media on behalf of the organization. “We are looking to establish an overall strategy that departments will follow when deciding when and how to use social media.” I’ve found many companies developing job aids, such as flow charts or decision trees, to help employees determine when and how to respond to blogs and inquiries on other social networking sites. 4. Check Your Tech While most social media doesn’t need a huge technology investment, you should still take a look at the technology capabilities of your company and make sure the system can support the strategy. As Ramos reminds us, this includes making sure social media applications aren’t hidden behind firewalls. “Before any social media components are engaged, there needs to be an understanding across the organization of the following: - Who will have access to the sites? - Are there any firewalls that

would prevent access? - What are the rules about time spent and content posted on the sites? He adds, “Due to some of the technology access restrictions, some organizations have opted to build their own internal technology to offer social media type forums without the complexities of changing firewalls or altering access rules. This also allows further features like locking down postings to help control inappropriate content.” Kendrick took a different approach to the issue of employee time on social media applications by creating “social media breaks that are very similar to smoke breaks.” 5. Listen First A lot can be learned by watching others. Don’t be afraid to ask questions on and offline so you can learn more. Barger encourages companies to remember “that few ideas should be rejected out of hand; not everything is going to work, but in 95% of the cases, even if something doesn’t work there is value to be gained and lessons to be learned from the ‘failure.’ The only exceptions to this rule are

efforts that would contradict the basic etiquette and/or rules of social media – transparency, openness, authenticity, and avoiding ‘pure traditional marketing’ plays, etc.” According to Kendrick, “The first few weeks were a bit hectic.” Like GM, they began to share best practices among employees, identify expert users to follow and recommend connections. She notes, “We matched our target customers to the demographics of our connections and identified gaps in our networks. From there, we began to focus on making connections with persons in target companies, industries and geographic regions and joined groups and lists of industry groups to ensure that we maximized our exposure and business opportunities.” Conclusion During 2010, more companies are expected to explore and engage in social media activities. While some might categorize using a social networking application as easy, that doesn’t mean developing a strategy is simple. Proper planning and execution is the key to integrating social media into your

organization. What are some other key factors in developing a social media strategy? Be sure to post your ideas in the comments below. More business resources from Mashable: - 9 Great Document Collaboration Tools for Teams - Mashable’s Social Media Guide for Small Businesses - HOW TO: Use Social Media to Retain Customers - Top Mobile Productivity Tools for the Small Business - 5 Advanced Social Media Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses - 4 Ways Social Media is Changing Business - 6 Must-Follow Steps for Selling in Any Economy - 5 Easy Social Media Wins for Your Small Business Images courtesy of iStockphoto, bluestocking, LockieCurrie, Andresr Hafizov Reviews: iStockphoto Tags: business, small business, social media, strategy, trending

And now, here's video of a Muppet dying By Bob Sassone (TV Squad)

but this clip from the show is still rather odd. Guest Kenny Rogers sings "The Gambler" (which has I know that The Muppet Show lines about drinking whiskey and was for adults as much as kids, smoking cigarettes) and then one Submitted at 12/27/2009 3:03:00 PM

of the Muppets dies. It's all a bit Permalink| Email this| | surreal. Comments [via Pop Culture Junk Mail] Filed under: Video, Children, Reality-Free

Firefox 3.6 Set for First Quarter 2010, 4.0 Beta for Summer [Firefox 3.6] By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker) Submitted at 12/28/2009 8:00:00 AM

Mozilla has slightly pushed back its self-imposed deadlines for releasing a final version of Firefox 3.6 and the first beta of Firefox 4.0. Firefox 3.6, currently available as a fifth beta, is set as a first quarter goal for 2010, while Firefox 4, once considered a possibility for 2010, could arrive as a beta in the summer in 2010 and in final form " in late 2010 or early 2011," according to Mozilla's wiki. There's also a Firefox 3.7 in the mix, which will improve Windows start-up time and inclusion of the Jetpack addon system that you can already preview. [ CNET News]

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Canonical shines its Ubuntu light on consumers (CNET News.com)

at this in a discussion of the various email systems he has used: Canonical, creator of the Ubuntu [O]ver my career, my first email Linux distribution, has taken its thing was Vax Mail, which was share of criticism for not being awesome at the time, it was innovative enough for some in revolutionary. I went from Vax the Linux community. In 2010, Mail, to Outlook, to Lotus Notes however, Canonical's focus on when I was working for Ray design and packaging will come Ozzie, then back to Outlook to be seen as a seriously shrewd again, and now Gmail. Email is a strategy as it helps to take Linux p r e t t y s t r a i g h t f o r w a r d to the masses. application. They have basically The reason? The innovation that the same features, it's all a pays is changing, and UI matters question of user interface. more and more. Sure, there are differences under When we think of innovation, the hood between Google's we normally think of traditional Gmail and Microsoft's Outlook, r e s e a r c h a n d d e v e l o p m e n t but the innovation that matters (R&D), complete with a white- most today may well be the coated scientist or pizza-gobbling "superficial" e-mail experience engineer. that these different systems offer. As Apple, Google, and other Back to Canonical and Ubuntu. highly successful software Canonical's founder, Mark c o m p a n i e s d e m o n s t r a t e , Shuttleworth, understands that however, today's innovation innovation is shifting from core opportunities may lie more in research to the user experience, user interface than traditional as he's opined on his blog. He has R&D. Google's emissary to the set his sights high, not content to start-up world, Don Dodge, hints replicate the Windows PC or Submitted at 12/28/2009 5:19:47 AM

Mac experience, for example, but has instead insisted on surpassing it. The money for Canonical is in packaging open-source technology, not necessarily in creating the technology in the first place. The Linux world should be grateful, given Red Hat's and Novell's focus on the data center. Linux benefits when mainstream users buy into it. Or, rather, when they use it without thinking about "it." No one cares that their TiVo devices runs Linux. It just does. No one cares that the Kindle runs Linux, either. They care about the functionality these devices deliver. That's the way it should be. Canonical's opportunity is to make Linux so easy that it becomes completely invisible to the end user. And Canonical may well be the best positioned to do this, among its open-source peers. Neither Red Hat nor Novell

employs an executive to focus on consumer products. Canonical does. No other open-source company has had its CEO discard the executive mantle to "focus [his] Canonical energy on product design," as Canonical recently did. Hence, perhaps no other opensource vendor is better positioned to capitalize on the rising(and changing) Netbook market or other open-source friendly consumer markets. Red Hat dominates the enterprise Linux market. Let it. Canonical could well be set to dominate the consumer Linux market, a potentially massive market that demands a singleminded focus on design. It's a big bet, but one that Shuttleworth is committed to making. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Best Week Ever picks the most stupidly convincing infomercials By Bob Sassone (TV Squad) Submitted at 12/28/2009 11:28:00 AM

I have a deep, dark secret: I love infomercials. I can watch that Magic Bullet commercial with the British guy and his wife making food for all of their friends over and over again, even at one in the morning. So I enjoyed this list from Best Week Ever, the 13 most "stupidly convincing" informercials of 2009. We've talked about several of these already, including the Comfort Wipe, Aspray, and the Shake Weight. But I hadn't seen the giant cupcake one before! Filed under: Video, Commercials, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

New Versions of Firefox Coming Later Than Anticipated By Stan Schroeder (Mashable!) Submitted at 12/28/2009 7:07:02 AM

If you were hoping to get your hands on Firefox 3.6 before the end of the year, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re out of luck. CNET did some digging and discovered that release dates for both Firefox 3.6 and 4.0 have

been pushed farther into the future. Originally, Firefox 3.6 (which is bringing some cool personalization and customization features via new Personas functionality) was slated for an end-of-2009 release, while 4.0 was supposed to be according to Mozilla Wiki, delivered sometime in 2010. But Firefox 3.6 is now coming in the

first quarter of 2010, while Firefox 4.0 is coming in late 2010 or even the beginning of 2011. While we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mind waiting a couple of weeks more for version 3.6, learning that the next major version of Firefox will be available in no less than a year makes our eyes water. Firefox

4.0 is supposed to bring some interesting interface changes, as well as separating each tab into its own process. Reviews: Firefox Tags: browser, Firefox, mozilla, web

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Reuters Blogger Questions Reuters Editorial Actions: Transparency In Action By Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

matter how many orange dots you have swirling around your TV commercial or how Well, here's an interesting one. intelligent you claim your There were reports last week information is. Once that bond is claiming that Reuters had spiked broken you're screwed. a story about hedge fund big Because Reuters is my company, shot Steven Cohen after Cohen there's a big part of me that hopes c o m p l a i n e d t o R e u t e r s this incident has been blown out management. While Reuters has of proportion; that the blogs don't since strongly denied the charge, have the whole story. I fear that's it is interesting to note (as sent in not the case, however. The way it by reader JJ) that at least one l o o k s n o w i s p o s i t i v e l y Reuters blogger complained quite scandalous. And as a journalist it vocally about this decision. The makes me almost physically ill to full blog post, written on Reuter's think about it. Hedge World blog is well worth I hope someone above me reading. Here's a brief snippet: addresses the situation publicly, As a news organization, all we b e c a u s e l o r d k n o w s n o t have connecting us to our addressing it ain't working. Right audience is our credibility. When now this incident is relatively we make mistakes, when we miss contained (although it was the the point, when we fail to publish most viewed post on ZeroHedge in a timely manner--each of these as of Tuesday). But by next creates a little crack in that week, this will be all over the credibility. Once enough cracks place--Romanesko, Drudge. form over time, the credibility is From there it could get real ugly eroded and ultimately broken real fast. apart. At that point it doesn't And herein, I hope, lies a lesson Submitted at 12/28/2009 6:14:46 AM

for whomever killed Matt Goldstein's Steve Cohen story: When you make a decision like that, under those circumstances, the back story will get out. And the fallout from that back story will always, always be worse than the fallout from the story itself. What strikes me as most interesting about this is that this Reuters post is still up. Reuters did not pull it. It does have an update link at the top to another blog that posted Reuters' denial (not even a Reuters page... which is also noteworthy). While I'm still curious about the decision to spike the story, I have to admit that the fact that a Reuters blogger was allowed to post this blog seriously questioning the integrity of Reuters management (his own bosses) lends at least some more credibility to Reuters itself. This is strengthened by the fact that the blog post has remained up as well. Compare this to the stories that went around when the Associated

Press was announcing its silly and totally useless attempt to DRM the news. At the time, I heard from a few different AP reporters who thought it was a ridiculous idea that made the Associated Press look bad -- but they weren't allowed to say that publicly, and had no real outlet to do so. Reuters and the AP compete pretty directly in the newswire business, and every time I compare them to one another Reuters seems to come out ahead in recognizing where the world is heading. If it is true that Reuters spiked the Cohen story, that would be quite damning and could make me question trusting Reuters, but how it's handled this news so far, and how it's reacted to its own blogger talking about the story is impressive. Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

Chicago Blackhawks setting local NHL viewing records on Comcast SportsNet Chicago By Robert Seidman (TVbytheNumbers) Submitted at 12/27/2009 1:50:08 PM

Wednesdayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 3-0 win over the Boston Bruins averaged a 3.27 household rating in the Chicago market according to Nielsen. The game averaged 114, 500 households, and peaked with a 4.72 rating and 165,247 households during the 8:45 p.m. quarter hour. The 3.27 single game regularseason ratings record on Comcast SportsNet broke the previous record set earlier this month on December 9 vs. the New York Rangers with a 3.03 household rating. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

My Most-Used iPhone Apps of 2009 By Marshall Kirkpatrick (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 12/28/2009 9:47:46 AM

App downloads on the iPhone and iPod Touch saw a huge spike this Christmas, especially on the Touch. I know I downloaded more games this weekend than

I've ever used in my life, just to entertain kids I was visiting. With all this app downloading going on, though, which apps will prove to have staying power? What can you download today and expect to keep using throughout the next year? Below is my collection of the

downloaded apps I used the most

in 2009. I'd love to compare lists, so let me know in comments about any hidden gems that you've come back to again and again throughout the year. Sponsor Those are the apps I kept coming back to all year, what about you?

The app sharing widget above is from AppsFire, my favorite way to share single or groups of apps with other people by widget or email, and one of 5 app recommendation services we compared feature-by-feature last month. Discuss

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(CNET News.com)

Google’s AdMob Acquisition Meets Opposition from Consumer Groups

Submitted at 12/28/2009 6:41:25 AM

By Adam Ostrow (Mashable!)

China introduces law to boost renewable energy China must develop more efficient "smart grids" as part of the solution, said Xiao Liye, A new Chinese law requires subsidies has resulted in a large director of the Institute of power grid operators to buy all amount of wind capacity that is Electrical Engineering of the the electricity produced by not always properly connected to Chinese Academy of Sciences. renewable energy generators, in a the grid. In some cases, the wind The new requirement will also move that will increase the farms are not located at the benefit China's massive new proportion of energy that comes optimal spot for wind. nuclear power plants, although from renewable sources in coal- One-third of China's installed nuclear power is usually cheap wind power capacity is not well enough to be competitive on its dependent China. The amendment to the 2006 connected to the grid, Xinhua own. renewable energy law was said, citing industry experts. Grid operators refusing to buy adopted on Saturday by the Much of China's wind power is power produced by renewable standing committee of the installed in remote, wind-swept energy generators could be fined National People's Congress, regions like Inner Mongolia and up to double the loss suffered by China's legislature, the Xinhua Gansu, where power demand is the renewable energy generator, low. But some of the country's the amendment said. news agency said. The amendment also gives cheapest coal generators are also China's target is for renewable authority to the State Council in Inner Mongolia, pricing the energy sources to make up 15 energy department, together with wind farms out of the power percent of its power generation t h e S t a t e C o u n c i l f i n a n c e market. by 2020, up from about 9 percent department and the state power "Renewable energy power in the currently. It also targets a authority, to "determine the c o u n t r y ' s r e s o u r c e - r i c h , reduction in carbon intensity, or proportion of renewable energy underdeveloped northwestern the amount of carbon produced power generation to the overall region must be sent to the per unit of GDP, of between 40 generating capacity for a certain resource-scarce, prosperous a n d 4 5 p e r c e n t b y 2 0 2 0 coastal area," said Wang compared with 2005. period." Many other countries also have Zhongyong, renewable energy Story Copyright (c) 2009 requirements that grid operators d i r e c t o r a t t h e N a t i o n a l Reuters Limited. All rights priorities the dispatch of power D e v e l o p m e n t a n d R e f o r m reserved. from renewable sources, even if Commission's Energy Research Five Filters featured article: it is more expensive than coal- Institute, according to Xinhua. Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: The relative independence of PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, fired base load plants. In China, a boom in wind-power r e g i o n a l g r i d s m a d e s u c h Term Extraction. plants thanks to government transmission difficult, Wang said.

Submitted at 12/28/2009 8:25:17 AM

Is Google simply buying its way into the mobile advertising market via its$750 million acquisition of AdMob? That’s what two consumer groups allege in a letter sent to the FTC today, as the organization continues to review the deal. Consumer Watchdog and the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) write: “Consumers will face higher prices, less innovation and fewer choices. The FTC should conduct the appropriate investigation, block the proposed Google/AdMob deal, and also address the privacy issues.” The groups are concerned both about what they perceive as ongoing anti-competitive behavior from Google, as well as the vast amount of data that the AdMob deal makes them privy to. As an example, they write, “Data about competing smartphone users and applications, gathered through the Google/AdMob advertising network, could give Google information about its competitors that would be advantageous in marketing its new smartphone [ Nexus One], as well models using its Android operating system.”

It’s no secret that data is at the heart of what Google does, and where it’s going. Look no further than two recently announced early stage projects — Google Public DNS and SPDY(a potential alternative to HTTP) — to see how far these ambitions reach. Is Google’s plan then to capitalize on all of that data to both serve better ads and design better products (ala mobile)? It would seem so. Is that anticompetitive or just good business? I lean towards the latter for now, but how the FTC handles the AdMob deal could be a good barometer of how Google’s able to extend its reach in the future within the limits of regulators. Read the full letter below: Ltr Ftc Final Reviews: Android, Google Tags: admob, android, Google, Mobile 2.0

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Smart-grid spending to hit $200 billion by 2015 (CNET News.com)

usage of electricity, gas, and water will grab 14 percent, while systems to provide juice to Governments and utilities are electrical cars will garner the expected to ramp up their remaining 2 percent. investments in the electrical "Smart meters are currently the smart grid, spending a total of highest-profile component of the $200 billion worldwide from Smart Grid, but they are really 2008 through 2015, says a new just the tip of the iceberg," said Pike Research report released Pike managing director Clint Monday. Wheelock in a statement. "Our The term " smart grid" is analysis shows that utilities will shorthand for a number of f i n d t h e b e s t r e t u r n o n t e c h n o l o g i e s i n t e n d e d t o investment, and therefore will a u t o m a t e a n d d i g i t i z e devote the majority of their management of electrical power. c a p i t a l b u d g e t s , t o g r i d By computerizing the 20th infrastructure projects including century electrical system, utilities transmission upgrades, substation and others in the power industry automation, and distribution hope to manage and control automation." electrical output more efficiently Though the grid has seen some and reliably. Though smart grid technological advancements, it sounds like it's a single system, still suffers from a lack of it's more an array of different intelligence and automation that tools and technologies, from would provide greater efficiency smart meters to solar power, all and cost savings, according to designed to reduce costs, waste Pike. Four key goals will drive less energy, and provide better higher investments in the grid: networking and communications i m p r o v i n g r e l i a b i l i t y a n d between homes and utilities. security; improving operating Technologies to automate the efficiencies and costs; balancing grid are expected to win around power generation supply and 84 percent of that $200 billion, demand; and reducing the overall says Pike. Smart metering electrical system's impact on systems to track and analyze the climate change. Submitted at 12/28/2009 7:15:05 AM

So far, development of the grid has been hurt not just by technical and financial limitations but also by a lack of vision and common standards, outdated regulations, and misunderstanding and even mistrust on the part of the industry over how the public consumes electricity, says Pike. As as result, government and industry bodies see the investment in the grid as a high priority. As part of its push toward greener and more efficient technology, the U.S. government recently said it would spend about$3.4 billion of stimulus money on state-run smart-grid projects, with utilities kicking in another $4.7 billion. With such strong investment, Pike believes that industry revenues from the smart grid will likely reach their peak in 2013 and then taper off to become a smaller but still robust market over the foreseeable future. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Muziic Brings Tons of Music to your Facebook Profile By Stan Schroeder (Mashable!) Submitted at 12/28/2009 4:01:42 AM

When you search for a music application for Facebook, what do you want from it? Personally, I’d like some radio stations, the ability to search and listen to specific tunes, and finally, the ability to create playlists and share them with your friends. Muziic is a new Facebook app that does exactly that. In contrast to many other music-related apps on Facebook, as soon as you install it, you’ll be able to listen to music – and lots of it. Besides the featured songs, and the ability to search for albums, artists and songs (the actual music is pulled from YouTube), the most welcome part of the app is a list of online radio stations, organized by category, similar to the one found in iTunes. All of this comes with very few restrictions; you can listen to complete songs, you can tune into radio stations for as long as you like, and you won’t be bombarded by queries and obtrusive ads in the process. From the mouth of the app’s creator, David J. Nelson: “With Muziic, the goal was to create an application that actually gives Facebook users what they

want in a music app. As someone who is not a big fan of most Facebook apps, I wanted to keep the experience clean, functional and user friendly. No incentivized garbage, forced friend invites, etc… Just a music app that delivers.” Muziic also enables you to easily create, save and share playlists, and comes with a quite useful Facebook tab that displays your listening habits, similar to the way it’s done in Last.fm. On it, you can find user’s playlists, recently played songs, favorite radio stations, top artists and top tracks. My favorite part of the app is the fact that it doesn’t go too far. If you want music quizzes, trivia or games, you’ll have to go elsewhere. But if you’re only interested in music, you’d do well to give Muziic a try. Reviews: Facebook, YouTube Tags: facebook, music, Muziic, web

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MASHABLE’S continued from page 21

conference will share leading case studies, hits, tips and advice from top travel companies including JetBlue, Hilton, Virgin America and more. Use the discount MASHABLE to save $100 on the registration fee! March 30-April 1, 2010, San Jose, CA: Become Location Enabled at Where 2.0. Now in its sixth year, Where 2.0 is one of the world’s foremost events dedicated to exploring the emerging technologies in the geospatial industry. At Where 2.0, we expose the tools pushing the boundaries of the location frontier. Join us and meet the people behind the mashups, the people behind the platforms, and the people looking ahead to the future of geospatial. Find out what’s viable now, what’s lurking just below the radar and how to gain a competitive edge. Register now and save 15% at en.oreilly.com/where2010. Use code whr10mash. May 17-19, 2010, Charlotte, NC: Search Exchange is a 3-day action packed internet marketing conference offering insights into social media marketing, search engine optimization, online

reputation management, and pay per click advertising. Learn and network with industry professionals and business owners from around the world. Mashable readers save 10% using code mash10 during registration. May 25-27, 2010, The Sage Gateshead, UK: Thinking Digital is overtly inspired by the TED and PopTech conferences in America. We attract more than 30 of the world’s most innovative, creative, insightful and/or accomplished people to come to Hall Two of the Sage Gateshead, United Kingdom annually and talk about their work, inspirations, insights and ideas. Our venue and speakers thereby attract a wonderfully eclectic mix of people from around Northern England, Europe and the world. Mashable readers save 25% using code tdc_mashable here. June 29-30, 2010, London, UK: The 2nd annual Cloud Computing and Enterprise 2.0 World Forum is the perfect event to learn and discuss the future development and integration of cloud and enterprise 2.0 services

and products. Building on the success of the 2009 show, this two day conference and exhibition will provide a focused platform for the global cloud computing and enterprise social media industry. The 2010 show will include a free-to-attend exhibition with scenario based workshop area and key service providers demonstrating their products. The Mashable Weekly Social Media and Marketing Event Guide is proudly supported by Eventbrite, the Web’s Event Marketplace. Eventbrite is an online events marketplace where tens of thousands of individuals, businesses and organizations of all sizes manage, promote and sell tickets to their events. Make your event a success on Eventbrite. Reviews: Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Mashable, Twitter, linux Tags: conferences, Events, mashable

Taylor Swift vs. Miley Cyrus: Young Stars Sport Same Formal Fashion (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 12/28/2009 7:07:00 AM

It's a fashion face-off for style-

savvy celebs! From Taylor Swift see which stars are stepping out and Miley Cyrus' flowing gowns, in similar styles. to Rose McGowan and Kirsten Dunst's revealing mini-dresses,

One In Five Divorce Petitions Mention Facebook? By Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

UK has been falling recently, just as the popularity of Facebook has shot upwards. It seems like you'd There's been plenty of anecdotal have to suggest a lot more to stories thrown around about how prove that Facebook is to blame Facebook impacts relationships. for these divorces, rather than You see stories of breakups just an additional element in the exacerbated by Facebook, or proceedings. j e a l o u s i e s c r e a t e d d u e t o I also wonder if there's a bit of a Facebook, but how prevalent is it generational thing going on here. really? According to one UK law I would guess that those who firm, they went through recent have grown up with Facebook divorce petitions and found probably won't be as freaked out around 20% of them cited to find out that someone is still Facebook in some manner. friends with an ex-. There will While the article goes into the a l w a y s b e s o m e a s p e c t o f ridiculousness department by jealousy, of course (especially suggesting this means that among young people), but we're Facebook is "fueling" divorce reaching an era when it's no (rather than recognizing it's longer that strange to stay in at probably just a symptom), it least some form of contact with seems likely that if a marriage is lots of people you meet. The heading for divorce anyway, it older you are, the more used to isn't that surprising that some of losing touch with people you are, the evidence might come from and thus a reconnection seems Facebook. But that doesn't mean like a bigger deal than it might be that the site is to blame. In fact, to groups of people who have hidden all the way at the bottom remained in touch constantly. of the article is the rather relevant Permalink| Comments| Email fact that the divorce rate in the This Story Submitted at 12/28/2009 7:44:00 AM

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Could Apple be moving to a spectrum of operating systems? By Steven Sande (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 12/27/2009 3:15:00 PM

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, OS, Odds and ends, Snow Leopard I was eating a late postChristmas breakfast this morning and perusing my email when I came upon a note from my friend and fellow Apple Consultants Network member Michael Kimble. Mike's been involved with Apple products since before the Mac arrived, so he has seen product trends come and go for decades. In his email, he mused that:"I've been wondering if Apple, on their Jan. 26th product announcement, won't start to differentiate OS X to include OS X Mobile, OS X Touch, OS X Desktop & OS X Server. But rather than discreet versions of the OS, it is a spectrum where features of one version can slide up and down the scale depending on the functionality of the hardware platform it's running on. It seems to be moving in that direction whether a formal acknowledgment is made or not." It's not that far a stretch to see Apple adding another variety of

OS X to the family tree. As a result of yesterday's post about the as-yet-unannounced Apple tablet, TUAW reader Dillon made a similar observation to Mike's:"Just a thought, but if the new Apple tablet ran straight iPhone OS, then it would probably be released in June with annual iPhone update... meaning that the Mac tablet will probably run a cross between Mac OSX 10.6 and iPhone OS or just Mac OSX 10.6. Apple really won't release something unless it is speedy enough. They don't even let you run a background app or multitask on the iPhone due to speed issues. If they wanted to make a speedier tablet it would make sense that they would [deliver] a hybrid of the two operating systems, allowing better speed, battery, and more functionality than the iPhone, yet something not as relatively bulky

as Snow Leopard." Three of the four operating systems already exist (and there's always the family member they keep locked in the closet -- the Apple TV -with its odd edition of Mac OS 10.4 Tiger). All it would take is for Apple to add a new version of the OS that would, as Dillon points out, allow background processing and true multitasking, yet pull out a lot of the more weighty components of OS X. What do you think? Is a new, formal acknowledgment of a new Apple OS on the way, or will the tablet run a beefier version of the iPhone OS? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below. Illustration from Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tig erpixel// CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 TUAW Could Apple be moving to a spectrum of operating systems? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 27 Dec 2009 15:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Amazon Announces It Sold More Kindle Books Than Physical Books On Christmas... But Doesn't It Mean Rented? By Mike Masnick (Techdirt) Submitted at 12/28/2009 3:49:14 AM

Lots of folks have sent in various versions of Amazon's hyped up press release about how it sold more ebooks on Christmas than physical books. While this ought to make some publishers reconsider their hatred of ebooks, there are two points that make this rather meaningless. First, how many physical books are usually sold on Amazon on Christmas day? My guess is not very many. Books are purchased before Christmas day. However, I'm sure plenty of people did get new Kindles on Christmas, and quite a few then went and "purchased" an ebook or two to test it out. But, again, since this is the Kindle we're talking about, shouldn't Amazon make the distinction between purchased

itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Istanbul not Constantinople By Cris Stoddard (Flickr Blog) Submitted at 12/27/2009 1:32:05 PM

â&#x20AC;˘ About Flickr

Flickr is a revolution in photo process. Get comments, notes, Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: storage, sharing and organization, and tags on your photos, post to PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, making photo management an any blog, share and more! Term Extraction. easy, natural and collaborative Five Filters featured article:

and rented? When someone buys a physical book from Amazon, they then own that book and can do pretty much what they want with it, including reselling it or giving it away. When they "purchase" an ebook from Amazon, that's not the case at all. They're quite limited in what they can do with it. They can't resell it. They can't share it with a friend (unless they give up their entire Kindle and all the books on it). And, of course, Amazon can make the ebook disappear at will -- though, it insists it will never do this again. Even though it can. So, congrats to Amazon, for renting more books on a day when such rentals are to be expected and when physical book sales are probably at their very lowest. Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

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Another holiday blowout for Apple? (CNET News.com) Submitted at 12/28/2009 8:00:53 AM

"We're thrilled to report our best quarter ever." Apple CEO Steve Jobs has uttered those words or some variation on them after many of the company's holiday quarters, and this year will be no different, if analysts are to be believed. Remarking on Apple's December quarter in a note to investors Monday morning, Thomas Weisel Partners analyst Doug Reid said iPhone and iMac sales for the period have been quite strong. "Our checks suggest December quarter sales of iPhones are tracking ahead of our prior estimates, driven by increased market penetration in the United States, additional carrier agreements in multiple countries, and first-time launches in Korea and China," Reid wrote. "MidDecember Apple Store and carrier checks indicate that the 2009 holiday shopping season has seen a sharp increase in the

purchase of iPhone as a gift option. We also estimate better than expected iMac sales in the quarter following a successful product refresh (announced on October 20). Our checks indicate strong demand throughout the holiday season for the new iMac line." Seems that the shipping delays associated with Apple's new 27inch iMacs haven't undermined sales nearly as much as some had feared. Reid says that demand and in-store availability of both 21.5-inch and 27-inch models remains strong, so much so that he's raising his iMac unit estimate for December quarter from 655K to 721K. Demand for the iPhone, too, has been strong thanks to the annual holiday consumer binge and the end of carrier exclusivity agreements in some markets. "Mid-December Apple Store and carrier checks indicate that the 2009 holiday shopping season

has seen a sharp increase in the purchase of iPhone as a gift option," Reid notes. "The ability to add iPhones to existing family service plans with carriers has been a key driver in C4Q09, our checks indicate. In addition, industry checks also suggest that AAPL is benefiting from the addition of second or third carriers in markets (e.g. UK, Canada) and from a strong initial sales ramp in Korea." How much of a benefit? A sizable one. Reid figures Apple will sell 8.21 million to 8.89 million iPhones during the December quarter. And he expects it to sell 31.59 million to 32.27 million in fiscal 2010. $5 and a ratty "Think Different" t -shirt says Apple shares will hit another new 52-week high today. Story Copyright (c) 2009 AllThingsD. All rights reserved. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

AT&T Sorta, Kinda Limiting iPhone Sales In New York City (But You Can Still Get Them) By Mike Masnick (Techdirt) Submitted at 12/28/2009 12:39:37 AM

A bunch of folks are sending in variations on this story saying that AT&T has stopped its online sales of iPhones to anyone in New York City. This is fueling all sorts of speculation, given that the NYC market was one where there were quite a lot of complaints about congestion problems for iPhone users. Add to that a random AT&T customer service person telling Consumerist"New York is not ready for the iPhone", and you've got quite a story. AT&T's initial response (at the first link above) is amazing for its lack of anything resembling an explanation:"We periodically

modify our promotions and distribution channels," said Fletcher Cook, an AT&T spokesman. Further investigation by some turned up that you can get new iPhones in New York if you go into stores, or if you are an existing customer looking to upgrade. Plus, it looks like if you order directly from Apple itself, you can buy an iPhone in New York. So, on the whole this sounds like some sort of inventory management issue that will probably be worked out pretty quickly, rather than some attempt to limit usage of iPhones in New York. Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

Top TV Stories of 2009: Jon & Kate By Hemal Jhaveri (TV Squad)

this is it. In the course of a year, we watched Jon and Kate go from a benignly It's too easy to call Jon and Kate dysfunctional reality TV family Plus 8 a train wreck and leave it to a textbook case of what at that. happens to "normal" people If ever there was a cautionary under the glare of TV lights. The themselves completely in the tale about the perils of easy fame, G o s s e l i n s s e e m e d t o l o s e Submitted at 12/28/2009 11:01:00 AM

glare of the spotlight and jettisoned their values and morals for more camera time. Calling their story a "train wreck" doesn't even begin to surmise the dissolution of a family and the viewing public's fascination with its implosion.

Continue reading Top TV Stories of 2009: Jon & Kate Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, Celebrities Permalink| Email this| | Comments

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Breaking: AT&T website stops selling iPhones in New York City? By Michael Grothaus (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

an iPhone today: I was on the AT&T Wireless website trying to get an iPhone. However, when I put in my zip Submitted at 12/27/2009 9:30:00 PM code 11231, the site says the Filed under: iPhone iPhone is unavailable. This What kind of Christmas present seemed a little odd so I started is this? The Consumerist is punching in other famous zip reporting that AT&T has stopped codes: 90210, 60609 (spiegel selling the iPhone in the New catalog), 02134 (zoom, an old York metropolitan area, at least children's show). via the company's website, due to For theses cities, LA, Chicago, high data congestion (or possibly Boston, iPhone is available. Then due to online fraud). Update: I looked up some other zip codes: While Consumerist's post still D a l l a s , M i a m i , S t . L o u i s , cites 'network congestion' as the Philadelphia, San Francisco. All reason for the NYC sales hold, those cities are ok. Then I started w e ' v e b e e n t o l d b y o t h e r putting in more NYC zip codes: customer service reps that the midtown, Staten Island, the r e a l r e a s o n i s a s p i k e i n Bronx...no iPhone available. This fraudulent purchases; other sites is weird...AT&T has cut off New have gotten the same story. York City. Laura Northrup at the Stephen in Brooklyn says he Consumerist contacted AT&T m a d e t h e d i s c o v e r y w h i l e Customer Service to check if the shopping on AT&T's website for lack of iPhone availability in

in New York City. This is sure to piss off thousands of potential customers in NYC. Let's just hope AT&T Media Relations releases a statement clarifying when the ban will be lifted and if it will happen in any other cities. In the meantime, just think of this as more fuel for the fire as to why Verizon should have the iPhone; and of course, NYC iPhone shoppers can continue to pick up iPhones at the Apple Stores or at the AT&T outlets in the city. TUAW Breaking: AT&T website stops selling iPhones in New York City? originally New York City was a website store website and via both Apple appeared on The Unofficial glitch or a planned disruption. and AT&T physical stores. Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, The online rep she chatted with Mashable, BoyGeniusReport, 27 Dec 2009 21:30:00 EST. confirmed that the phone was and Gizmodo have also verified Please see our terms for use of indeed not being sold to New with AT&T Customer Support feeds. Yorkers via the website, although that the iPhone is indeed not Read| Permalink| Email this| it remains available via the Apple available through website order Comments

Psystar's new business: selling T-shirts By Michael Grothaus (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 12/28/2009 10:00:00 AM

Filed under: Odds and ends Dear Psystar: just give it up already. After updating their website this weekend announcing that they are voluntarily suspending the

sale of their Rebel EFI software, Psystar has decided to take another business route - selling T -shirts. Yes, for the bargain price of only $14.99 you can get your very own"I sued Psystar... and all I got was a lousy injunction" Tshirt. Oh yeah, you can also $50, or$100 increments- you donate money to them in $20, know, just because they deserve

it and you have nothing better to do with your hard-earned cash. Want a T-shirt? Considering Psystar has to cease business by year's end, you better get behind the other two guys in line who are waiting to snap these gems up. TUAW Psystar's new business: selling T-shirts originally

appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 28 Dec 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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iPhone and Android Users Spend More Than Half Their Time in Apps [STUDY] By Barb Dybwad (Mashable!)

applications versus time spent in the web browser. As compared to Palm, BlackBerry and Windows A recent study from Mobile users, 55 percent of eMarketer(analyzing data from iPhone users and 44 percent of both comScore and Compete) Android users spend the majority sheds light on the data usage of their time in apps. Only 22 patterns of both iPhone and respectively compared to 80 percent of the combined other Android users, with perhaps one percent among other smartphone three platforms said the same, surprising finding. Despite the owners. Non-smartphone mobile which makes sense given the tight integration of Android media usage fell to a mere 26 strength of both the Apple App devices with Gmail, only 63 Store and the Android Market as percent. percent of Android users report Both iPhone and Android compared to the comparatively accessing e-mail on their phones platforms reported a high rate of m e a g e r m o b i l e s t o r e f r o n t in the last three months, as mobile news gathering (80 offerings from Palm, RIM and compared to 87 percent of iPhone percent for both) and application Microsoft. owners. Android users even fell usage (83 percent and 82 percent, Depending on your platform, behind the general smartphone respectively). Social networking how do you stack up compared to average, whose users reported 70 was the next most popular the averages? Can any Android percent e-mail penetration activity (58 percent and 52 users who donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t often use e-mail overall. percent), with instant messaging explain why not? Reviews: In most other examined metrics, being used by 43 percent of Android, Android Market however, iPhone and Android iPhone users and 46 percent of Tags: android, Android Market, users are quite similar in their apple, apple app store, apps, Android users. data usage patterns. Both Looking specifically at app blackberry, data usage, Google, platforms rank higher than usage, perhaps unsurprisingly iphone, Mobile 2.0, mobile apps, average in terms of overall iPhone and Android users report palm, windows mobile mobile media usage, at 94 greater overall time spent with percent and 92 percent Submitted at 12/28/2009 8:50:09 AM

Crackdown on Drunk Drivers With No Cops In Family [Drunks] By Hamilton Nolan (Gawker) Submitted at 12/28/2009 9:29:04 AM

NYPD vows to test DUI suspects faster, unless they have a Police Benevolent Association

card.

Access Facebook Updates from a Feed Reader [Facebook Tip] By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker)

of status updates, which is what you really would want to grab from Facebook, it requires a little Want a cleaner, less Farmville- URL tweaking of one of the filled Facebook experience? Try above feeds, explained at Jamie's loading your friends' and fan post. pages' status updates, links, The real benefit to using notes, and other material into an Facebook in a feed reader? You RSS reader. Facebook doesn't avoid exposure to Mafia Wars, make it easy, but it can be done Farmville, and all that other with some clever URL copying. application cruft, and get just the LiveJournal user Jamie Zawinski raw details on what your contacts details the steps needed to pull a r e u p t o . Y o u a l s o , the vast majority of Facebook unfortunately, miss out on material you'd (theoretically) updates about your friends' photo want to see into an RSS reader album updates, for reasons like Google Reader or unknown to anyone but NetNewsWire. In most cases, it Facebook's coders, but it might involves heading to the right well be worth it for those who page for your friends' Posts, f i n d v i s i t i n g t h e s o c i a l Notes, and Notifications, looking networking site's actual page a in the right-hand sidebar box, and cluttered experience. How to use grabbing the feed URL for "My Facebook with a feed reader[jwz] Friends' [Whatever]." In the case Submitted at 12/28/2009 6:05:00 AM

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How early iPhone predictions fared in the face of reality By Steven Sande (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 12/28/2009 12:30:00 PM

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Rumors, Blogging Harry McCracken over at The Technologizer published a fascinating piece this morning. In the face of the daily deluge of breathless speculation about what features the iTablet / iSlate/ iWhatever will have, Harry went through a bunch of posts from the early to mid-2000's, and then pulled an assortment of good and "not even close" predictions about what the iPhone would be like. All of the predictions McCracken discusses in " The Speculative Prehistory of the iPhone," of course, were made before Macworld Expo 2007 when the phone was actually introduced. Perhaps the closest guess came

from John Markoff of the New York Times -- about 4 years and 5 months before the iPhone came to light. In an August 2002 article, Markoff described a discussion with Steve Jobs about "a device that would combine elements of a cellphone and a Palm -like personal digital assistant." The name iPhone was used in the article, and Markoff notes that at that time Jobs felt the days of the PDA were numbered. Markoff was close, but a stock

analyst quoted by Chicago Tribune reporter Mike Hughlett was way off track. The analyst, Mark Stahlman of Caris, said that "a phone venture would be a 'distraction' for Apple." Many of the conceptual drawings of the iPhone in the post are humorously off-base, with everything from an iPodlike scroll wheel (see above) to a very Nokia-like slide-apart device. If, or when, the Apple tablet finally appears, a retrospective look at the wacky ideas of the Apple pundits will be worth a good laugh. TUAW How early iPhone predictions fared in the face of reality originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 28 Dec 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Video: Family & Friends Say Farewell to Brittany Murphy (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 12/28/2009 12:37:00 AM

HTV was there as flowers and friends arrived at the Hollywood Hills home of the late Brittany

Murphy on Christmas Eve. The actress' widowered husband, Simon Monjack, spoke to reporters via an intercom system at the end of the driveway. A funeral procession, led by a black

stretch limousine brought family and friends to Brittanyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s final resting place at Forest Lawn Memorial-Parks & Mortuaries to pay their respects.

Run Snow Leopard on Windows with VMware [VMWare] By Whitson Gordon (Lifehacker) Submitted at 12/28/2009 9:30:00 AM

VMware is a great tool for running Windows and Linux anywhere, but OS X clients are not supported. Snow Leopard can be made to run on Windows, and Mac-hacking blog iHackintosh has the nitty-gritty on getting it working. In order to get Snow Leopard working in VMware, you'll need to be on an Intel-based Windows machine (AMD currently isn't supported) with a retail copy of Snow Leopard, as well as a Snow Leopard VMware disk file,

downloadable from many sources (iHackintosh lists a few). The process requires tweaking a lot of settings in VMware, as well as some disk switching and fast finger work, but overall the process isn't too difficult. We talk a lot about using VMware to run Windows on a Mac, which is often the more necessary case, but this is certainly a nice option if, say, you're thinking about making the Mac switch but want to extensively test drive the OS first. Hit the link for instructions on how to get set up. Install Snow Leopard in VMWARE 7 Windows Edition[iHackintosh]

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The Cloud Consultant Spares No One By Alex Williams (ReadWriteWeb)

Mail.app plugin WideMail makes a comeback in Snow Leopard By Brett Terpstra (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 12/28/2009 7:00:00 AM

Filed under: Software, Productivity Since upgrading, Snow Leopard users with widescreen displays may have been missing WideMail, the plugin for Mail.app that gives you a 3column display of your messages. We mentioned it some time ago, and you may recall it being one of the casualties of my Snow Leopard upgrade. Letterbox, an alternative plugin, has been mostly functional in Snow Leopard for a while now, but I've personally been waiting for WideMail. Well, it's back,

and available as a public beta at developer Dane Harnett's site. For users with widescreen displays, the standard Mail display panels -- stacked vertically -- don't really maximize the usage of the window space. WideMail takes advantage of the screen width of most modern displays, and positions the list of mails and the preview horizontally, allowing each to take up the full height of the window while still providing the necessary viewing area. It also provides a new column in the email listing called the "WideMail column," which has two rows and is configurable in the preferences to display any of the necessary information for each email in an optimized width.

As I mentioned, WideMail 2.0 is beta (prerelease 1 right now), but I've been using it for most of the day without any problems. I'm very glad to see it back, and despite trying to keep my Mail plugin list as trim as possible, this is one I consider worth running. If you try it and love it, be sure to donate a few bucks for its continued development! TUAW Mail.app plugin WideMail makes a comeback in Snow Leopard originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 28 Dec 2009 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

vendors getting pissed, eating pizza and comparing the size of their case studies.""And what is Submitted at 12/28/2009 8:00:00 AM this about Microsoft. They are A hypothetical discussion considered to be one of the four between a cloud consultant and big cloud providers and they are his client that is just too good not about as cloudy as Steve Ballmer to post. Just be forewarned - this is cool." is NSFW. It goes on. it does strike a chord. Sponsor The hype about cloud computing Editor's note: This story is part is so ripe for satire. Almost as of a series we call Redux, where much as social media - which we'll re-publish some of our best apparently was the inspiration for posts of 2009. As we look back this sketch. at the year - and ahead to what The cloud consultant makes his next year holds - we think these point pretty well about the state are the stories that deserve a of the cloud computing market. second glance. It's not just a best- Hardly anyone is making any of list, it's also a collection of money. Have we not seen this p o s t s t h a t e x a m i n e t h e before in our world of over fundamental issues that continue charged tech enthusiasm? to shape the Web. We hope you In the meantime, according to enjoy reading them again and we the consultant, the only ones look forward to bringing you making a dime (barely) on cloud more Web products and trends computing are a bookseller and a analysis in 2010. Happy holidays search engine. from Team ReadWriteWeb! "And maybe Salesforce," the No one is spared by "the consultant says. "And they were consultant":"No one knows what cloud before cloud was cloud." ;) is going on. Not even Gartner. Discuss Especially Gartner."" CloudCamp is just a bunch of

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Pimp your MacBook (Pro) with custom vinyl decals

Favorite Show of the Decade

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

By Robert Seidman (TVbytheNumbers)

Submitted at 12/27/2009 12:41:49 PM

Submitted at 12/28/2009 9:00:00 AM

Filed under: Odds and ends, Macbook Pro, MacBook If you're feeling like your MacBook or MacBook Pro is cool, but could be cooler, maybe it's time for a trip to Etsy to check out the selection of custom vinyl decals. For as little as US$10, you can make your MacBook a one-of-a-kind at the coffeehouse, and maybe even pick up a date for New Year's Eve (although the latter depends greatly on your personal abilities to do so). There's a pretty wide selection of decals at Etsy, but one artist in particular has caught my fancy. Ivy Boersma, a.k.a. IvyBee, has some designs destined to be classics. I'm especially fond of the William Tell and Newton images, but it's obviously

subjective. There's enough variety that you can find something that really fits you, and carry it as a classy and subtle expression of your personality. Ivy also offers custom designs upon request, so if you don't see what you want in her online shop, contact her through Etsy (just sign up for a free account) and let her know what you're

looking for. TUAW Pimp your MacBook (Pro) with custom vinyl decals originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 28 Dec 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Tyra Banks Leaving Her TV Talk Show (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 12/28/2009 6:43:00 AM

Tyra Banks is said to be closing down her talk show to pursue new career options.

"This will be the last season of 'The Tyra Show,'" she tells People.com. "I've been loving having fun, coming into your living rooms, bedrooms, hair salons for the past 5 years."

Industry insiders say she will focus on bringing positive images of women to the big screen.

Frequent commenter “Forg” suggested we have a “favorite show of the decade” thread. And honestly, it’s not like we have a lot going on this week. We’ve done “favorite show” threads before, but never for the whole decade. Once again, if I list my favorite shows of the decade based on actual viewing, without any doubt it’s ESPN’s Pardon The Interruption. I’ve had the good fortune since late 2002 of usually being able to watch TV around 2:30 PT (5:30p ET) and when I’m not, the DVR grabs it. Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon entertained me for almost the whole decade, and since late 2002 I couldn’t have missed more than a handful of PTI episodes (due to power outages and DVR malfunctions). ESPN’s Around the Horn at 2pm winds up a close second. Sure, it has been referred to by some critics as a hideous abomination (and with Jay Marriotti involved it’s hard to reasonably attack such assessments) and even spawned a somewhat accurate parody called “Sports Shouting” on 30 Rock. Still, I have definitely enjoyed

Messers Page, Adande, Cowlishaw, Plaschke, Ryan, Blackistone, Reali etc. (and of course Jackie MacMullan) shenanigans over the years. And even with Mariotti, there’s still love involved. Sure, it’s of the love to HATE variety, but it’s still a close second behind PTI for me. I’ve only missed a few episodes of it since late 2002. But if I wind up watching both shows off the DVR, I always choose PTI first. Always. Sorry, Woody. Given my love of sports, and TV -viewing that was predominantly sports related in the 2000s, that I’d pick a couple of shows that talk about sports isn’t a huge surprise. As far as scripted shows go, The Wire was my favorite of the decade. How about you? Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Talkcast tonight: Slate rumors and more, 10pm ET By Michael Rose (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 12/27/2009 7:00:00 PM

Filed under: TUAW Business, Podcasts You can catch last week's show, featuring host Mike Schramm and a rundown of the week's news, via iTunes or Talkshoe. Tonight, we're going to dive into the slate rumors, and take your calls and suggestions for what you expect to see come late January. To participate on TalkShoe, you can use the browser-only client,

the embedded Facebook app, or the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for maximum fun, you should call in. For the web UI, just click the"TalkShoe Web" button on our profile page

at 10 pm Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VoIP lines (take advantange of your free cellphone weekend minutes if you like): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -

- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *-8. If you've got a headset or microphone handy on your Mac, you can connect via the free Gizmo or X-Lite SIP clients; basic instructions are here. Talk with you then! TUAW Talkcast tonight: Slate rumors and more, 10pm ET originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 27 Dec 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Breaking News: Tiger Woods Partying with Mistress? (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 12/28/2009 7:42:00 AM

First word out of Palm Beach, Florida... Was Tiger Woods partying in Palm Beach? That's what sources tell ET, and Woods wasn’t alone. Rumors that Tiger and reported mistress No. 1 Rachel Uchitel were spotted holding hands and mingling with about three hundred other partygoers Sunday night inside a private mansion in Palm Beach, Florida.

Christmas Tree-Gate, the Diabolical Sequel (Little Green Footballs)

blog published a grainy photo of a Christmas ornament on the Obamas’ enormous tree. The Just when you think the Evil i m a g e o f W a r h o l ’ s “ M a o ” Christmas Tree Scandal might be purported to add further evidence subsiding (along with Bowgates to insistent claims that the One and Two, Queen-touching- p r e s i d e n t i s a c t u a l l y t h e gate, Children-Indoctrination- Manchurian candidate — a g a t e , S h o p p i n g - t r i p - g a t e , callous secret socialist bent on Plagiarized-painting-gate, and all destroying American democracy the other goofy wingnut-gates), from within. Christopher Knight uncovers Then, on Christmas Day, another another diabolical scheme from blog made a startling discovery the Usurper in Chief and his that may turn that sinister notion diabolical wife: The Great on its head. Christmas Ornament Scandal, A second ornament, right next to Part 2. First Lady Michelle Obama’s To recap, last week a right-wing well-toned right arm in an Submitted at 12/27/2009 4:34:36 PM

official White House photograph, appears to show the smiling face of former President Ronald Reagan, complete with the Stars and Stripes billowing behind him. Little Green Footballs, where an eagle-eyed blogger made the extraordinary find, firmly implanted tongue in cheek and ventured a guess: “Maybe it’s Stalin disguised as Reagan?” The truth, however, might be even more ominous. The year in which the Reagan image was made cannot be easily determined from the photo. But perhaps it depicts the president during the Iran-Contra era, when

America surreptitiously sold weapons to Iran to illegally fund anti-communist rebels in Nicaragua. If so, the Mao ornament needs to be rethought. The photographic proximity of the Reagan ball to White House muscle might signal some as yet unrevealed shenanigans on the part of the newest Nobel Peace Prize winner. Talk about a diabolically clever strategy of plausible deniability. But wait, it gets even worse. No one has yet speculated on perhaps the most damning Christmas ornament of all, which Culture Monster is the first to

identify. Also hanging on the tree — right next to a red one blatantly covered in stars — is a decoupage ball featuring the Hollywood sign with Liza Minnelli, Michael Jackson and James Dean. Just wait until the Family Research Council finds out: All three are well-known homosexual icons, a fact that raises serious concerns about the Obama-era fate of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act. The … horror.

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The New Flight Security Rules, So Far [Air Travel] By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker)

restricted usage for up to an hour before ascent and descent. Some fliers have experienced pat-down After an attempted explosive searches and more thorough bag attack Friday on a U.S.-bound checks, and most flights seem to flight, air travel security require passengers to stay seated tightened and rules were during the final portion of a changed. No official procedures flight, regardless of bathroom have been announced, but here's needs. The Times reports (at the what fliers and news agencies are link below) that while blankets reporting as the seemingly new and pillows were being banned rules of flying. from passengers' laps just before Photo by Joshua Davis. landing, that rule seems to have The first thing anyone flying been softened and left up to each needs to know is that there are no airline. hard and fast rules put into place Update: Gizmodo has posted the at this time, and what you read or full text of a leaked TSA security hear about at one airport may not directive, courtesy of the be the case at another. The Boarding Area blog, that makes Transportation Security firm the ban on in-flight Wi-Fi, Administration wrote in a press entertainment systems, and release that "These measures are access to any and all carry-on designed to be unpredictable, so luggage or devices one hour passengers should not expect to American Airlines posted on its flight announcement, indicating before landing. see the same thing everywhere." own site that anyone flying into that the airline's notable seat-by- Have you flown since Friday's in Most sources are reporting that the U.S. should allow three hours seat in-flight entertainment -flight incident? What was your the most stringent measures are for the entire boarding process. system would be shut down for a experience, and how much more implemented on flights entering Passengers and carry-on items recent flight, along with in-flight time did your flight experience the U.S. from foreign lands, would be screened both at Wi-Fi, presumably. In that post, take? Help fill in the blanks for including Canada. Air Canada security checkpoints and at and others, gadget-savvy readers everybody in the comments. For posted on its web site that, during airline gates, according to the and Twitter users have reported a Airline Passengers, Pat-Downs, range of restrictions and rules. the last hour of a flight, travelers airline. Searches and Restroom What about domestic flights? As Some flights have banned M o n i t o r s [ N Y T i m e s . c o m ] headed to the U.S. will have to remain seated, will not have stated, the only predictable electronic usage during the first access to their carry-on baggage, element is unpredictability. and final 30 minutes of a flight, and cannot have anything on Gizmodo has posted audio not including takeoff and landing recorded from a Jet Blue pre- p e r i o d s , a n d o t h e r s h a v e their laps. Submitted at 12/28/2009 5:30:00 AM

2009's Trashy Reality Report Card By Michael Pascua (TV Squad) Submitted at 12/28/2009 10:05:00 AM

While there are reality shows like The Amazing Race, Survivor, or even Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List garnering praise and Emmys for their quality level or American Idol, America's Next Top Model, or So You Think You Can Dance giving real people with potential to fulfill their dreams, trashy reality shows appear like the black sheep of the family. They are loud, brash, and sleazy. Like a car crash, you can't help but turn and look. For reality television, 2009 has provided some of the biggest reasons why reality television gets a bad reputation. Four cable channels have become festering points for Trashy Reality in 2009: VH1, E!, MTV, and WE. Continue reading 2009's Trashy Reality Report Card Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd Permalink| Email this| | Comments

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E-reader News Edition

Akira Remotely Controls Computers What's On Tonight: Monday Night Football, Men of a Using Dropbox [Downloads] By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker)

Certain Age, Monster

Submitted at 12/28/2009 7:00:00 AM

By Bob Sassone (TV Squad)

Windows: You can do a lot more with the free cross-platform utility Dropbox than sync files. In fact, with the free command line tool Akira, you can administer, and grab nonDropbox files from, any computer linked to your Dropbox account. Akira is a bit of a geek tool that requires two Windows computers—one running a server process (Latte) and another issuing commands through a command line client (Akira). That's not all that new, but the Akira tool sets up the connection through a single, stand-alone folder inside you Dropbox folder, and doesn't require installation. With Akira's text commands, you can do a lot of really neat stuff. You can list, navigate to, and grab files from anywhere on the remote computer, grab a screenshot of what's going on and save it in your Dropbox folder, and, perhaps most helpfully, start and kill remote processes and run applications, or even launch a web site in the default browser. Akira's Readme offers a number of ways to set up the Latte/Akira combo, with access to other people's computers through Dropbox folder sharing, and jumping onto your remotelycontrolled computer from

Submitted at 12/28/2009 12:24:00 PM

anywhere with the previously mentioned app DropboxPortable. I tested out the Akira/Latte remote control between Windows 7 systems linked to the same Dropbox account, and while there was a notable bit of lag—something to be expected when waiting for a file change to be noticed and synced—it worked as advertised. You'd likely want to set up Latte as an auto-starting, Administer-level process on a system you always keep on, and make sure you've got a really good password on that Dropbox account if you were

interested in using this. As a convenient remote access trick for those not quite up on setting up a virtual private network with Hamachi or remote control with VNC, however, Akira might just be the ticket. Akira is a free, no-install-needed application for Windows systems with a Dropbox account. Tell us how Akira could be useful for your own systems, and offer up usage advice, in the comments. Akira[macobex via gHacks]

• TBS has a Family Guy marathon all night. • History Channel has a Pawn Stars marathon all night. • At 8, Lifetime has Debbie Macomber's Mrs. Miracle, then The Ultimate Gift. • Current has a new Current Exposed at 8. • National Geographic has a new Dog Whisperer at 8. • At 8:30, ESPN has Monday Night Football, the Vikings vs. the Bears. • At 9, PBS has a new American Masters. • USA has a new Monday Night RAW at 9. • Current has a new InfoMania at 9. • Discovery has a new Mythbusters at 9, followed by a new Motor City Motors. • At 10, TNT has a new Men of a Certain Age.

• A&E has a new Hoarders at 10. • At 11, Syfy has two new episodes of Monster. Check your local TV listings for more. After the jump, the late night talk shows. Continue reading What's On Tonight: Monday Night Football, Men of a Certain Age, Monster Filed under: Late Night, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

Tech Tips/ E-reader News/

E-reader News Edition

Testimonial: Rice Resurrects Even the Most Soaked of Gadgets [Tip Testers]

Technology: Apps Are Where It's At In 2010 (NPR)

By Jason Fitzpatrick (Lifehacker)

(Yahoo! News Search Results for e-readers)

Submitted at 12/28/2009 9:00:00 AM

Nobody wants to lose their favorite new electronic gadget to a dunk in the drink. One Lifehacker reader saved his phone after an astounding 30 minute soak by sending in to the dry-rice spa. Two years ago we shared a handy trick for saving your gadgets after an unfortunate run in with water— using rice to soak up the moisture. Lifehacker reader Dietrich recently put that tip to use with impressive results: For the last 2 days it has been a monsoon in my city. Today, during a rushed last minute

shopping spree, I dropped my phone in a puddle. I didn't realize I had dropped it until I got back to my car 30 minutes later. I remembered articles on Lifehacker about what to do so I immediately popped the battery

out and dried the phone. When I got home I put my Palm Pre in a bag of rice for 10 hours. Adding insult to injury, I forgot to take the phone battery out of my pocket and put it through the washing machine. 10 hours later

I'm typing this on my Pre. Good job Palm on making an excellent phone. Revival after 30 minutes is a really impressive feat. Our own Lisa Hoover saved her son's phone from a water-logged fate after it took a dunk in a swimming pool by using a container of rice, but it definitely wasn't at the bottom of the pool for a half hour. Check out the original article for the how-to on using rice to dry out your electronics and if you've used the trick yourself, successful or not, let's hear about it in the comments.

Submitted at 12/28/2009 3:43:46 AM

In the world of technology gadgets, 2009 could be described as the year of e-readers, smart phones and downsized laptops known as netbooks. What does 2010 have in store for fans of technology? Morning Edition tech guru Mario Armstrong says when it comes to applications for smart phones, he expects location-based services to be big. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Sprixi Helps You Find Relevant and Free Images [Photos] By Jason Fitzpatrick (Lifehacker) Submitted at 12/28/2009 6:30:00 AM

If you've been having trouble finding free or Creative Common -licensed photos for use in your projects, Sprixi filters out the fluff to help you find the images you really want. One of the frustrations of searching for anything on the internet, let alone images, is imprecise search results. If you've ever searched for

something and found something completely different—usually because the file name or the associated keywords were strangely or inappropriately applied—then you know what we're talking about. Sprixi helps circumvent the strangeness of file names and misapplied keywords by letting users vote on whether or not an image is really what they were looking for. Search for "school bus", for example, and get some images of a micro-processor bus

and you can flag them as not helpful to your search. Because thousands of users have come before you, analyzing the images,

you won't often find misplaced images. Search results are divided into sorted and unsorted images, with the sorted images

on top—sorted in this case means that users have verified that the images do in fact contain the thing you are looking for. Sprixi currently pulls images from Flickr, OpenClipart.org, and from user uploads. Sprixi is a free service and requires no registration or login to use. Have your own favorite tool or service for finding free images to use on your projects, let's hear about it in the comments. Sprixi[via MakeUseOf]

Tech News/

E-reader News Edition

Top 5 Web Trends of 2009: The Real-Time Web By Richard MacManus (ReadWriteWeb)

analysis in 2010. Happy holidays from Team ReadWriteWeb! What is the Real-Time Web? Submitted at 12/27/2009 2:00:00 PM Ken Fromm wrote an insightful This week ReadWriteWeb is primer to the Real-Time Web for running a series of posts ReadWriteWeb. In it he analyzing the five biggest, most explained that the Real-Time cutting-edge Web trends to come W e b i s a n e w f o r m o f out of 2009. We're posting one communication, it creates a new trend analysis per day. Then at body of content, it's immediate, the end of the week we'll publish it's public and has an explicit a major update to our standard social graph associated with it, p r e s e n t a t i o n a b o u t w e b and it carries an implicit model of technology trends. federation. Our opening post was about One of the early leaders in the Structured Data. In this article we Real-Time Web was FriendFeed, look at probably the most hyped a lifestreaming service that trend of 2009: the Real-Time became popular with early Web. It has become a core part of a d o p t e r s . C o - f o u n d e r P a u l many Internet products this year: Buchheit (who also built the first Twitter, FriendFeed, Facebook, version of Gmail, during his time Google, Delicious, Wordpress, at Google) told ReadWriteWeb in and many others. May that "the open, real-time Sponsor discussions that occur on Editor's note: This story is part FriendFeed are going to become of a series we call Redux, where a major new communication we'll re-publish some of our best medium on the same level as posts of 2009. As we look back email, IM and blogging." at the year - and ahead to what Everything is Real-Time Now next year holds - we think these We must of course begin our are the stories that deserve a product overview with Twitter. second glance. It's not just a best- In March this year the superof list, it's also a collection of trendy microblogging service p o s t s t h a t e x a m i n e t h e marked its 3rd birthday. As fundamental issues that continue Marshall Kirkpatrick explained at to shape the Web. We hope you the time, it's really the story of enjoy reading them again and we Twitter as a platform that is most look forward to bringing you exciting. more Web products and trends However the Real-Time Web is

much more than Twitter. It has changed the products and strategies of almost every major Internet company in 2009. Google may have missed the early action, but by May 2009 co -founder Larry Page was proclaiming that Google had to do a better job of being real-time. It's started that process. For example Google is behind a project called PubSubHubbub, which delivers RSS feeds much faster(near real-time). PubSubHubbub is already making Google Reader faster. But while you're waiting for Google search to become truly real-time, you can at least add Twitter results to it with this plug -in. In March, Facebook launched a site redesign emphasizing a realtime stream of updates on users' homepages. Although this was unpopular with users, Facebook

continued to dabble in RealTime. In June, Facebook announced a new search interface allowing users to search for content from people, organizations, and other public figures as soon as they share it on Facebook. This was described as "up-to-the-minute" search results - in other words a real-time search engine. Meanwhile in April, FriendFeed introduced a revamped user interface that focused much more on real-time updates than previously. The most impressive change was the new advanced filters, which made it a lot easier for users to create streams based on keywords, groups, sets of friends and more. FriendFeed's filters added something powerful to the Real-Time Web. In August, Facebook further strengthened its Real-Time chops by acquiring FriendFeed. This immediately brought more realtime sophistication into the Facebook family- we're yet to see how Facebook will use it though. In August Yahoo's influential social bookmarking service Delicious was re-born as a realtime news tracker. It launched a new home page, combining recent tagging activity and crossreferenced links on Twitter. The real-time updates continue... earlier today, all blogs on the

WordPress.com platform and any WordPress.org blogs that opt-in will now make instant updates available to any RSS readers subscribed to a new feature called RSSCloud. Conclusion In May, Marshall Kirkpatrick identified three forms of value from the Real-Time Web: ambiance, automation and emergence. In August, Bernard Lunn compared it to the real-time world of the trader. The Real-Time Web is all of those things and more. 2009 has in many ways been the Year of the Real-Time Web. But it's early days yet, because we collectively - are still looking for ways to use all of that extra realtime data. We've made a lot of data real-time and surfaced it in search and our filters. But what new applications and intelligence can we build off this data? That question will be answered over the coming few years. ReadWriteWeb's Top 5 Web Trends of 2009: • Structured Data • The Real-Time Web • Personalization • Mobile Web & Augmented Reality • Internet of Things Discuss

Tech News/ TV/ Economy/

E-reader News Edition

A Decade of Innovation: How We See the Internet 10 Years After the Boom

Don't miss Full Color Football this week

By Jolie O'Dell (ReadWriteWeb)

Submitted at 12/28/2009 12:01:00 PM

Submitted at 12/27/2009 7:06:56 PM

According to recently released research from the Pew Center, we're just as optimistic about the web as we were ten years ago during the Internet's first boom cycle. At the end of 2009, most Americans in this Pew survey have a dismal view of the 2000s. Between the Iraq war, the 9/11 attacks, economic and political distress and the curse of reality television, the decade has been voted the worst in our collective memory. But one of few bright spots in a tense ten-year period was and remains technological innovation, including the Internet, cell phones and email. Social sites, however, still have a way to go in the public eye. Sponsor Over a five-day period, the Pew Center interviewed 1,504 American adults and asked them to weigh their feelings about culture and technology over time. The respondents' answers are enlightening. While positive feelings outweigh negative ones for almost every cultural epoch from 1960 until 1999, our feelings about the 2000s are predominantly unhappy. Fully 50 percent of

But after the 50-years-old mark, that percentage lowered significantly to between 25 and 21 percent. It's also interesting to note that the dot-com crash hasn't effected our late-nineties optimism about where the Internet would take us. Most of us still feel, as we did in respondents have an overall 1999, that the Internet is having negative impression of the past an overall positive effect on decade, while only 27 percent Americans. said they felt positively about Again, these responses were these years. subject to age. Around threeHowever, almost across the quarters of younger respondents board, technological advances in saw the web as a positive change, b a s i c o n l i n e a n d m o b i l e but only 42 percent of people age communication tools have been a 65 and older felt the same way. b r i g h t s p o t i n o u r s h a r e d But these older Americans didn't perception of this decade's seem to think the Internet was progressions and events. necessarily negative, either. Their Cell phones, email and the responses indicated that they Internet were viewed very were unsure of its impact or favorably among all types of t h o u g h t i t s i n f l u e n c e w a s Americans, and online shopping negligible. Another correlation in and smartphones evoked positive this opinion was between a reactions from a majority of positive view of the Internet and respondents, as well. Blogs and a college education. A full 82 the social web, however, earned a percent of folks with a college solid "meh" from those surveyed. degree said the web is doing It is worth noting that the greater good things for America. a respondent's age, the less likely For more details, read the full he or she was to view these study, and do let us know in the technological changes positively. comments what you think of the For example, 45 percent of folks 2000s and where the Internet will between the ages of 18 and 49 - a take us in the 2010s. Discuss huge demographic - saw social networking websites as having positive effects on our society.

By Allison Waldman (TV Squad)

Over the holiday weekend, I practiced a little TiVo catharsis(which I know have to rename DVR catharsis since it's not an TiVo product). Yes, I checked out my list of shows piled up on the DVR and started watching some of them. There was one that I have to tell you about because you have a chance to watch it this week. Showtime ran a five-part documentary series about the history of the American Football League called Full Color Football. On Wednesday, December 30, Showtime is running the episodes as a Full Color marathon starting at 7 p.m.

Continue reading Don't miss Full Color Football this week Filed under: Sports, Programming, Celebrities, Documentary, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

Thailand deports Hmong asylum seekers (Financial Times - US homepage)

entered the Hmong camp in Thailandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s central Petchabun province on Monday morning to Submitted at 12/28/2009 8:39:36 AM load residents on to buses to take Thailand began to deport more them over the border, a process than 4,000 ethnic Hmong asylum that a military official said might seekers back to Laos on Monday, take 24 hours. defying pressure from the UN, Five Filters featured article: t h e U S a n d h u m a n r i g h t s Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: organisations that say the group PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, could face persecution on their Term Extraction. return. About 5,000 troops and officials

Tech News/ TV/ Entertainment/

E-reader News Edition

SMS on Wheels: CarPong Is Vehicle Here's a Christmas tree a Doctor Who fan would -to-Vehicle Messaging never want to take down By Jolie O'Dell (ReadWriteWeb)

Submitted at 12/27/2009 8:26:21 PM

turns the highways and byways Did you just get cut off? Is a into a sort of chat room. professional driver behaving One user called out a license badly? Was your car towed? Or plate of a European spec Ford better, did you see a cute driver Fiesta - which might be one of (or a really cool car) in the next Ford's special social media fleet. lane? Another sends a helpful hint to a CarPong is a fun an innovative fellow driver to invest in some idea that allows users to send new tires quickly. messages to other drivers by By and large, the site is so far a using their car's license plate litany of complaints about others' number. Like blog commenting bad driving habits. Still, by for vehicles, this service lets removing the anonymity of the drivers write messages to other road, this kind of messaging drivers, read what others have might encourage more human, said about them and search for more mindful and even kinder notes about other drivers. It's an driver behavior. interesting way to make our cars Founder Tony Mastrorio wrote - and the people in them - a lot us to say, "I am working on more connected in real life, and it getting towing companies to just might work. notify car owners when their car Sponsor has been towed, where they can Car-to-car communiques remain pick it up and the associated fee. one of the last frontiers for This aspect alone would make messaging services and one of the service very useful for many the few environments where people." people are still inside isolationist He'd also like the site to work a social bubbles. On the Internet, bit like the "How's My Driving" we've mostly shed the goofy signs we see on commercial pseudonyms and nondescript vehicles. An enterprise-level avatars of the You've Got Mail C R M p l a t f o r m m i g h t a l s o e r a i n e x c h a n g e f o r r e a l provide a good revenue stream. connections between real people. Currently, the site lacks the CarPong is exciting because it

national or regional userbase of millions it would need to be truly useful. But I can see this idea spreading like wildfire if drivers like the idea of having a virtual complaints/comments box for those with whom they share the road. On the other hand, there's something about the encoded and regulated nature of license plates that lead one to a certain expectation of privacy. As with linking our real names, identities, careers, birth dates and even home addresses to our online personas, there may be some initial resistance to adding our license plates to that mix. Currently on the site, plates and profiles are not linked, but users can see all comments associated with other users and any reported license plate. How do you feel: Would this kind of transparency about who we are on the road lead to better and more personal communication between drivers? Or are our vehicles and driving records best left to principalities more private than the Internet? Let us know what you think in the comments. Discuss

By Bob Sassone (TV Squad) Submitted at 12/28/2009 10:36:00 AM

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. The people who put this tree up looks like they went all out. They're true Doctor Who fans. It was actually the idea of 7 year-old twins, who saw a similar tree last year and wanted to do it. Here's a bigger version of the pic.

Filed under: Doctor Who, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

David Goldman: Son Sean Hasn't Called Me 'Dad' Yet (ETonline - Breaking News)

ruled that Sean must be returned to Goldman, his father. Cameras captured a mob scene on Following a dramatic five-year Thursday, Dec. 24, as Sean, 9, custody battle, David Goldman was led by his stepfather to the reunited with his son Sean in U.S. consulate in Rio de Janeiro Brazil on Christmas Eve and tells to be reunited with his father. the "Today" show that he and his David talked to "Today" show son will "heal." host Meredith Vieira about the When Sean was four, David's emotional reunion after his then-wife took their son on a two grueling fight to get Sean back, -week trip to Brazil but never saying, "It’s a miracle. ... There returned. David's wife then [were] 364 other days that [it] divorced him and married a could’ve been, if he ever were prominent lawyer. She passed going to come home. But it was away last year and her Brazilian Christmas Eve. Somebody's up husband then tried to adopt Sean, there for sure. That's amazing.” but Brazilian courts eventually Submitted at 12/28/2009 7:15:00 AM

E-reader News Edition

Apple/ TV/

Jobs “Happy” About Tablet Surprise to Come By Liam Cassidy (TheAppleBlog)

keyboard that “pops up” through the normally-smooth touchscreen surface and slinks away again Submitted at 12/28/2009 8:00:17 AM when it’s not needed. Steve Jobs is “extremely happy.” I don’t know about you, but But it’s not because Psystar is that’s pretty awesome. It sounds dead. And it’s not because he’s a lot like a piezoelectric keyboard been named CEO of the to me, a technology that’s been Multiverse or some other such around for decades but not very end-of-year award. He’s happy successfully implemented in because that Tablet he’s been consumer electronic devices. working on almost exclusively I’m not going to spend time since he returned to Apple in the speculating much on other summer is nearing potential interaction surprises; completion. We think. voice control, for instance, would Writing in the New York Times be a natural extension of last week, Nick Bilton quoted technology already found in two unnamed sources (so we Cupertino mothership. The short of it is that these iPods and iPhones (and, to a far really only have his word to go Bilton also added; patents together detail the major more limited extent, Mac OS X on) in a piece that definitely got Yet another recently departed drawback of smooth-surface itself) but voice control is almost Apple fans’ hearts racing and Apple employee tipped me: “You keyboards – they’re not user a l w a y s c u m b e r s o m e a n d wallets twitching; will be very surprised how you friendly. Apparently, users prefer unrewarding despite occasional …the icing on the cake comes interact with the new tablet.” actual physical keys to perfectly flurries of excitement around the from a current senior employee concept. Eye tracking or gestureS o , a s i d e f r o m S t e v e ’ s flat “virtual” keys. inside Apple. When one of my happiness, what’s this ’surprise’? But the problem with physical tracking are possible, but even colleagues here asked if the MacRumors points to a patent k e y s , a s S e ñ o r S t e v e s o less likely (though they would rumors of the Apple tablet were a p p l i c a t i o n p u b l i s h e d o n eloquently explained at the certainly be surprising!) true, and when we could expect Christmas Eve that might provide iPhone announcement in 2007, is No, at this point, we have such a device, the response from a clue about what’s to come. I “…they get in the way.” The reasonably compelling evidence his source was, “I can’t really say wouldn’t want to spoil any solution, then, would be some for only one big surprise, and it’s anything, but, let’s just say Steve potential surprise, so if you don’t sort of temporary physical buried in the patents linked is extremely happy with the new want to read about “Keystroke keyboard that comes to life when above. And while piezoelectric tablet.” Tactility Arrangement on a we need to type, but magically keyboards (or however Apple When El Jobso is happy, Apple Smooth Touch Surface” it’s best vanishes when we want to swipe. achieves this technology) aren’t is happy. When Apple is happy, not to read-on. And when I say “vanishes” I too new or surprising for geeks they release stuff – shiny, sexy Still here? Good. Patent # r e a l l y m e a n i t g o e s a w a y , as long-in-the-tooth as me, you new stuff. And when Apple 20090315830 is actually an completely, returning the full can bet your iMac it’ll leave the releases new stuff, we all get a extension of sorts, fleshing out an surface area to us for touchy- general public stunned. l i t t l e p o o r e r . F i n a n c i a l l y . earlier patent filed in 2008, which feely operations. Especially when Steve Jobs Obviously the emotional and d e s c r i b e d a m e t h o d f o r a It sounds like science fiction, but takes the stage and makes the spiritual gains of owning a shiny “Momentarily Enabled Electronic these patents essentially describe announcement in inimitable new gadget with a glowing fruit Device” (# 20090315411 for methods for providing just that – Jobsian style. Just twenty nine on it far outweighs the usually those of you keeping a record). a temporary, malleable physical days and counting… crazy-high asking price set by the

Tyra Banks Announces the End of The Tyra Banks Show This Spring By Robert Seidman (TVbytheNumbers) Submitted at 12/28/2009 8:57:48 AM

According to a report from People Magazine, Tyra Banks will end her talk show after five seasons this spring and will focus on the launch of a N.Y.-based film production company. “My next huge steps will allow me to reach more women and young girls to help us all feel as fierce as we truly are,” Banks said. The 15th cycle of “America’s Next Top Model” launches in February 2010 and and Banks is also behind ABC’s upcoming “True Beauty” Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Apple/ Entertainment/

E-reader News Edition

iTablet: Can Apple Succeed Where So Many Others Have Failed? By Charles Moore (TheAppleBlog) Submitted at 12/28/2009 6:00:07 AM

Source: Piper Jaffray InfoWorld’s Randall C. Kennedy thinks not. Sounding a sour note about Apple’s anticipated tablet plans, InfoWorld’s Randall C. Kennedy says that even clever engineering can’t overcome fundamental limitations of tablet computing, “Tablet PCs suck,” says Kennedy, categorically, elaborating that tablets are underpowered, only marginally portable, and awkward to use in anything but a traditional seated position at a desk or table. Fundamental Realities Kennedy observes that Microsoft and various PC makers have been trying for years to create market traction for the tablet computing experience, and have failed miserably. He contends that to believe Apple can somehow succeed where all others have failed is to ignore some fundamental realities of tablet computing. “The lap doesn’t work as a desk,” declares Kennedy, especially if you’re in motion on a train or

Possible workaround: voice input. If the iTablet turns out to be a full-fledged Mac, it should support Dictate, which is amazingly accurate once you get it trained. Even the mediocrities of touchscreen would be made more tolerable in most aircraft, and he suggests that stubbornness about such things, I environments, though not in t y p i n g o n t h e a n t i c i p a t e d join with Kennedy in doubting trains and other shared spaces. onscreen keyboard would quickly that’s very likely. However, I The Netbook Factor degenerate into an exercise of hit would council Cupertino (not However, Kennedy suggests the or miss. The Problem With that they’re likely to put much biggest obstacle to iTablet Touchscreens s t o c k i n m y a d v i c e ) t o a t success is the increasingly I work with clipboards a lot, and minimum incorporate Bluetooth ubiquitous netbook. Some newer still do a lot of my composing and/or USB RF input device e x a m p l e s i n c o r p o r a t e t h e longhand with pen and paper support.“Prehistoric World Of advantages of conventional notebooks, especially near fullbefore using MacSpeech Dictate Dragging And Scratching” to enter it as computer text, but As for pen-based or stylus input, sized keyboards, and Kennedy h e ’ s g o t a p o i n t a b o u t Kennedy says he types a lot contends that compared to an touchscreen keyboards, which I faster than he can write with pen iTablet, devices equipped with personally revile. As he notes, and paper. Me too, but I often these advantages simply make with a real laptop keyboard the think better with pen in hand, so I more sense to consumers. user’s lap and palms act as don’t agree that the “prehistoric He may be right. I’m a tablet stabilizing influences and the w o r l d o f d r a g g i n g a n d skeptic too, although I’m open to positive tactile feedback of scratching” with a traditional persuasion, and it’s a fool’s game electromechanical keyswitches is writing instrument is hopelessly s e c o n d - g u e s s i n g A p p l e ’ s a d i s t i n c t a d v a n t a g e w h e n anachronistic. On the other hand, prowess at product direction working in mobile environments. a tablet screen is not nearly choices. Lots of folks predicted Personally, I would prefer to see texturally satisfying as paper, and failure for the iPod, iPhone and the iTablet feature some sort of again I have to agree that iTunes as well. slide-out keyboard of the sort entering serious quantities of data What do you think? Will the used by various smartphone with an onscreen keyboard or i T a b l e t p r o v e t h e s k e p t i c s mistaken again? designs, but given Apple’s stylus will soon get tedious.

Why Isn't Anyone Protecting Michigan from the CrotchBomber? [Terror] By Pareene (Gawker) Submitted at 12/28/2009 8:29:53 AM

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the man who attempted to blow up his crotch on a flight to Detroit, is being held in a federal prison in Michigan. His bail is scheduled to be set on January 8. Where is the outrage? As we all know, especially if we listen to jackass House Republicans, holding terrorists or would-be terrorists or nonterrorists accused of terrorism in prisons inside US borders is basically like giving them a free ticket to Disneyland and telling them to go nuts. It is basically a death sentence for your children. Liz Cheney tried to warn us! Pete Hoekstra tried to warn us! According to Pete, once Gitmo prisoners to go Michigan, they will get something called "rights," and those "rights" include the right to blow up your house and cancel Christmas retroactively. But no one is bitching about this Abdulmutallab guy being held in Michigan! Liz Cheney hasn't even said anything! That is so weird!

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TV Ratings Sunday: Football Outshines The Sound of Music By Robert Seidman (TVbytheNumbers) Submitted at 12/28/2009 8:40:00 AM

Due to the nature of live sports programming the ratings for NBC (Sunday Night Football) CBS (NFL overruns) are approximate and subject to significant revisions in the final numbers. See below for more information on these Fast Affiliate Ratings. NBC took the night with adults 18-49 with the Sunday Night Football game featuring the Dallas Cowboys vs. Washington Redskins and CBS fueled by a lengthy block of overrun from the late afternoon national NFL game had the most total viewers for the night. Details: You can see TV ratings from other recent Overnight ratings reports here. Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2009 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved. Definitions: Fast Affiliate Ratings: These first national ratings, including demographics, are available at approximately 11 AM (ET) the

persons) using television who are tuned to a specific program, station or network in a specific area at a specific time. (See also, Rating, which represents tuning or viewing as a percent of the entire population being measured.) Time Shifted Viewing– Program ratings for national sources are produced in three streams of data – Live, Live+Same Day(Live+SD) and Live+7 Day. Time shifted figures account for day after telecast, and are normal broadcast feed patterns. incremental viewing that takes released to subscribing customers For example, with a World Series place with DVRs which are daily. These data, from the game, Fast Affiliate Ratings currently in approximately 24.4% National People Meter sample, would include whatever aired of all U.S. TV households. a r e s t r i c t l y t i m e - p e r i o d from 8-11PM on affiliates in the L i v e + S a m e D a y ( L i v e + S D ) information, based on the normal Pacific Time Zone, following the include viewing during the same broadcast network feed, and live football game, but not game broadcast day as the original include all programming on the coverage that begins at 5PM PT. telecast, with a cut-off of affiliated stations, sometimes The same would be true of 3:00AM local time when meters including network programming, Presidential debates as well as transmit daily viewing to Nielsen sometimes not. The figures may live award shows and breaking for processing. Live+7 Day ratings include incremental include stations that did not air news reports. the entire network feed, as well Rating: Estimated percentage of viewing that takes place during as local news breaks or cutaways the universe of TV households the 7 days following a telecast. For more information see for local coverage or other (or other specified group) tuned programming. Fast Affiliate to a program in the average Numbers 101 and Numbers 102. ratings are not as useful for live minute. Ratings are expressed as Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: programs and are likely to differ a percent. significantly from the final Share (of Audience): The PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, results, because the data reflect p e r c e n t o f h o u s e h o l d s ( o r Term Extraction.

Tyler Perry Turns to 'Madea' to Laugh Again After his Mother's Death (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 12/28/2009 12:10:00 AM

Following the passing of his mother in early December, Tyler Perry is looking forward to getting back into his 'Madea' character to rediscover his love of laughter. He posted a message on his website saying, "I need to laugh and make you laugh even harder." After taking a break from work to spend quality time with his ailing mom, Tyler is ready to take his show on the road, premiering a new theatre production titled "Madea's Big Happy Family." The tour kicks off on January 4, 2010 in El Paso, Texas. Tyler still finds it difficult to confront and discuss the loss of his beloved mother who he describes as "the apple of my eye." He advises fans to "take care of your mothers…you only get one."

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TV Ratings: FOX Wins Broadcast on Another Very Slow Saturday By Robert Seidman (TVbytheNumbers)

a percent. Share (of Audience): The percent of households (or Submitted at 12/27/2009 11:44:04 AM persons) using television who are With two repeats of Cops and a tuned to a specific program, new America’s Most Wanted, station or network in a specific FOX won another slow Saturday area at a specific time. (See also, night where the only other Rating, which represents tuning original telecast on the broadcast or viewing as a percent of the networks in prime-time was a entire population being n e w e p i s o d e o f 4 8 H o u r s include stations that did not air m e a s u r e d . ) Mystery on CBS at 10pm. the entire network feed, as well Time Shifted Viewing– Program Details: as local news breaks or cutaways ratings for national sources are for local coverage or other produced in three streams of data You can see TV ratings from programming. Fast Affiliate – Live, Live+Same other recent Overnight ratings ratings are not as useful for live Day(Live+SD) and Live+7 Day. reports here. programs and are likely to differ Time shifted figures account for Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2009 The significantly from the final incremental viewing that takes Nielsen Company. All Rights results, because the data reflect place with DVRs which are R e s e r v e d . S o u r c e : M a r c normal broadcast feed patterns. currently in approximately 24.4% Berman/Mediaweek. For example, with a World Series of all U.S. TV households. Definitions: game, Fast Affiliate Ratings L i v e + S a m e D a y ( L i v e + S D ) Fast Affiliate Ratings: These would include whatever aired include viewing during the same first national ratings, including from 8-11PM on affiliates in the broadcast day as the original demographics, are available at Pacific Time Zone, following the telecast, with a cut-off of approximately 11 AM (ET) the live football game, but not game 3:00AM local time when meters day after telecast, and are coverage that begins at 5PM PT. transmit daily viewing to Nielsen released to subscribing customers The same would be true of for processing. Live+7 Day daily. These data, from the Presidential debates as well as ratings include incremental National People Meter sample, live award shows and breaking viewing that takes place during a r e s t r i c t l y t i m e - p e r i o d news reports. the 7 days following a telecast. information, based on the normal Rating: Estimated percentage of For more information see broadcast network feed, and the universe of TV households Numbers 101 and Numbers 102. include all programming on the (or other specified group) tuned Five Filters featured article: affiliated stations, sometimes to a program in the average Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: including network programming, minute. Ratings are expressed as PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, sometimes not. The figures may Term Extraction.

Stocks: Crap [Decade Of Dumb] By Hamilton Nolan (Gawker)

the market closed at 10,520. And it gets worse! As he hinted, the whole decade was a wash The experts agree: stocks are a without taking inflation into big waste of time. For more than account. And what if we do take one reason! You would have it into account? Fortunately for, done as well, ten years ago, just ah, suicidal investors, the WSJ burying your money in a jar in illustrated just how bleak the real the yard. picture is today: Look at the stock chart above In 1999 dollars, the Dow is only illustrating the past ten years. at about 8200 [today] and would Look at it! Paul Krugman today have to rise another 28% or so to points out the obvious: The return to 1999 levels. Using whole decade was a waste. today's dollars and starting at L a s t a n d l e a s t f o r m o s t 10520.10, the Dow would have Americans - but a big deal for to surpass 13460 to get back to retirement accounts, not to its 1999 level in real, inflationmention the talking heads on adjusted terms. financial TV - it was a decade of So you, the investor, can take zero gains for stocks, even heart in the fact that your plain without taking inflation into v a n i l l a D o w J o n e s i n d e x a c c o u n t . R e m e m b e r t h e portfolio didn't just tread water excitement when the Dow first the entire past decade; instead, it topped 10,000, and best-selling lost more than a quarter of its real b o o k s l i k e " D o w 3 6 , 0 0 0 " value. You should have listened predicted that the good times when your gut told you to invest would just keep rolling? Well, it all in GI Joe action figures. that was back in 1999. Last week Submitted at 12/28/2009 8:50:17 AM

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Cindy Adams Has Seen the Future, and It Is a Scary, Scary Place [Crystal Balls] By Brian Moylan (Gawker) Submitted at 12/28/2009 9:24:16 AM

NY Post gossip dowager Cindy Adams had no news today because she hasn't had a scoop since the Paleozoic Era. She has resorted to asking psychics what the gossip of the future will be. The answers will shock you. Like any good storefront psychic that litters the streets of Manhattan, the answers from her three experts—Paula Roberts, Frank Andrews, and Wendy the Psychic—include somethings that will never come to pass, some that are so general they can't help but occur, and some that are "no duh" obvious. Let's look into our very own Magic 8 Ball and see if these predictions pass muster: • Iraq: Moves toward peaceful land split by ethnic grouping— Please, European map-makers will never let this happen. • • Afghanistan: Signs of victory in eight months.—Even Cindy admits that this is crazy talk. • • California: Worst drought in decades.—That's a little bit like predicting that there will be wildfires this summer and celebrities' houses will be threatened. Too easy. • • Chicago: February blizzards isolate city for days.—In other

news, it will be warm in Florida and it will rain in Seattle. Look, we're psychic! • • Triple Crown winner is a small, unknown bay horse.—I can't even begin to care about this. • • Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes separate. It's the stress of his popularity decline.—No way, her contract has them together until at least 2014.

• • Brad and Angelina? Bad news.—But what's the bad news? That he's keeping that ugly beard? • • Obama can do little to bolster the economy. And health care makes only a small dent in helping the needy.—Yeah, no shit. Thanks for being a downer. • • Taylor Swift sings more suggestive lyrics, does a

striptease number, writes and produces a screenplay, fights with then returns to Taylor Lautner.—The striptease number has already be choreographed for the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards. As far as writing the screenplay, unless it's a remake of Britney Spears' Crossroads, we don't see it happening. • • Beyoncé gets pregnant. Maybe twins. Also writes a children's book about grandparents.—The

Beyoncé children's book was as inevitable as her clothing line, and will be just as much of an abomination. • • Renée Zellweger marries Bradley Cooper in a secret island ceremony. Has his baby.—Wait, does that mean that Zellweger is dating a straight guy? We doubt that. Our prediction is that they break up in six months and Renée is "linked" to Zachary Quinto once she is named as the new villain in the next Star Trek movie. • • Dustin Hoffman produces a DVD on acting and does meaningful commercials for a cause.—This prediction is just like a Cindy Adams gossip item. It's stupid, meaningless and about someone who we don't really care about at all. • • Shia LaBeouf gets Oscar buzz, maybe even a nomination. A fistfight gives him bad p.r.—This is so true that we thought it happened already. • • Britney Spears, whose checkbook is enlarging, steals boy-toy Jesus from Madonna.—No way. We all know that Madonna is the one into hung Latinos and Britney is into trashy white guys. Get it CINDY page 48

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What Is Going On in Iran, Then? [Foreign Affairs] By Pareene (Gawker) Submitted at 12/28/2009 9:56:31 AM

You were maybe too busy opening presents or seeing It's Complicated and eating Chinese food to read Andrew Sullivan this weekend, but you have probably heard that something is up in Iran. Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish covered the events in real time, and today's New York Times has a very good piece on what went down on Sunday. First: moderate cleric HusseinAli Montazeri, a leader of the 1979 revolution and then a critic of the Supreme Leader and an advocate for democracy and equal rights, died on the 19th. The state news agency derisively referred to the beloved ayatollah as "clerical figure of the rioters." His funeral on the 21st became a protest of the regime. Ahmadinejad opponent MirHossein Mousavi was attacked twice by Ahmadinejad supporters. The next day, Ahmadinejad removed Mousavi as head of the

Arts and Culture Academy. On the 23rd, more mourners were arrested. Protests began happening in Iran's more conservative areas. Then came the Shia holiday of mourning, Ashura, which commemorates the death of the prophet Muhammad's grandson Imam Hussein, a spiritual forefather of Shia Islam. Ashura demonstrations helped bring down the Shah, so the

Khamenei regime was extremely nervous going into the weekend. The Basij, Iran's volunteer militia of hardliners aligned with the Revolutionary Guard and the Supreme Leader, began clashing with protesters almost immediately. Three protesters were reported killed in Tehran early on the first day of Ashura protests. But protesters were fighting back more than in previous demonstrations, lighting

police cars on fire and beating cops who attempted to charge the crowds. Some police refused orders to fire on crowds, and at least one police officer was reportedly spotted wearing opposition green. Protests spread to almost a dozen other cities. Killing for any reason is forbidden on Ashura. So in addition to ten dead protesters, it is absolutely insane that

• Kirstie Alley and Chaz (nee Chastity) Bono an item???????—Please, Great Gossip Diety, if you make this happen, we promise to stop torturing small woodland creatures and saying mean things about your oracle Cindy Adams.

OK, maybe just the first one. • • Oprah's move a failure, but she does a movie with success.—Oprah called God personally and told him that if he lets her fail that she will bring the world to an end, so we don't

think this is very likely. • • Doris Day brought to good health after visitations in dreams from late son Terry Melcher.—We hope this comes true because the only people who care about this are also the only

Khamenei then assassinated Moussavi's nephew. Ali Moussavi was run over by a car and then shot in the street. Government officials confiscated his body to prevent a funeral. Hundreds of people have been arrested, and at the end of this, dozens could be confirmed killed. Killing Moussavi's nephew on Ashura was probably one of the dumbest decisions the regime could've possibly made. Protesters have largely switched from chants against Ahmadinejad to chants against Khamenei himself. There is, of yet, no "revolutionary alternative" to the Supreme Leader, and he controls the military and the security forces, but basically he is fucked in the long term, and a lot of Iranian dissidents are about to be locked up and killed.

CINDY continued from page 47

straight, psychic! • • Michael Douglas exits starring roles for director/producer status.—Didn't this happen in like 1975 with One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest? •

people who actually read Cindy Adams' column.

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We Hate Jon Gosselin for Making Us Care about His Apartment Trashing [Instant Replay] By Brian Moylan (Gawker) Submitted at 12/28/2009 8:27:07 AM

Someone trashed Jon Gosselin's Upper West Side apartment. It was either his ex-girlfriend, Hailey Glassman, seeking revenge or him seeking attention. Their lawyers disagree! So does the press! Who to believe in this very important case? Just when we thought that Gosselin would be one of those horrible memories of 2009 that would fade as soon as the big ball drops in Times Square on Friday, he comes back with this retarded and completely manufactured story. If only we had something else to write about between holidays, but no, we're stuck worrying about whether Jon Gosselin wrecked his Manhattan pussy den or whether his girlfriend did it for him. Gosselin's apartment was definitely ransacked on Saturday by someone. A note calling him all sorts of mean names (like that hasn't happened before) was left

on the dresser and stabbed with a knife. It was signed 'Hailey Glassman,' Jon's ex. In today's NY Post, Glassman cops to leaving the note, but says she didn't trash the place or put a knife through it. Anand Ahuja, Glassman's lawyer, told the Post, "To me it appears to be a huge, huge publicity stunt. There was

nothing taken she wasn't entitled to. Gosselin told her, 'I am going to be evicted, so take with you whatever you want to take.'" Gosselin's lawyer is out with a statement of his own. "Hailey Glassman is going to jail. It's a simple as that," his attorney Mark Heller told RadarOnline.com. He also says that there is security

footage that proves Glassman did the trashing. Well, get us the fucking tape already! If it exists that is the only thing that can clear Gosselin's name. Because, Jon, America hates you. It thinks that you and your midlife crisis and Ed Hardy T-shirts and Vegas pool parties and inappropriate girlfriends and Michael Lohan bro-dates are a disgusting mess and it's going to believe Hailey Glassman over you! That is seriously sad. We really want to believe that you ruined your own house, smashed a Ming vase, and cut up your "favorite Louis Vuitton shoes" for attention because that is the kind of character we think you have. According to the old internet adage, pictures or it didn't happen. Give us the tape or shut the hell up, Jon. Either way we want to forget about this whole thing—and you—as soon as possible. [ Image via Bauer-Griffin]

'The Bachelor''s Jake Pavelka Declares: I Do Not Have a Girlfriend! (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 12/28/2009 2:55:00 AM

After all the controversy on last season's "The Bachelorette" with accusations being hurled that at least one of the guys had a girlfriend, ET had to ask the new "Bachelor" before the season started: Do you have a girlfriend? "I do not have a girlfriend," declares Jake Pavelka, a 31-yearold commercial pilot from Denton, Texas. "After last season [on 'The Bachelorette,'] I really believe in the process. It does work. The emotions you feel are real. So I think I'm going to come out with a fiancée." ET was exclusively with the new "Bachelor" for an afternoon at the beach. It was before the season started filming, so it was before Jake met any of the 25 gorgeous gals who are hoping to win his heart.

We Kept the Gift Receipt for Your Holiday Horror Stories [Holiday Of Horrors]

NFL Diary: New York Jets 29, Indianapolis Colts 15

By Brian Moylan (Gawker)

(WSJ.com: The Daily Fix)

Submitted at 12/28/2009 9:50:02 AM

You people have nothing better

to do this week than recount your awful experiences from the holiday that just occurred. Leave your tales of woe in the

Story post. The winner will be decided tomorrow!

Submitted at 12/27/2009 11:27:51 AM

comments of our Holiday Horror NFL page 50

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Associated Press The Jets’ Thomas Jones ran for 106 yards and a touchdown. The Journal provides minute-byminute analysis of the New York Jets’ 29-15 victory over the Indianapolis Colts from Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Guest blogger Steve Kornacki offers commentary on the game and the CBS telecast. 2:31 pm | Pregame | by Steve Kornacki Since the hook for todayâs game is so obvious â- Indyâs Quest for Perfection, Part XV â- letâs have some fun with misleading data and declare that the Colts are probably better off losing. After all, every team in NFL history that has ever completed a 16-0 regular season has gone on to lose in the playoffs â- while fully half of the teams that went 15-1 won the Super Bowl. So if he wants to snag another ring this year, Peyton Manning really ought to mail it in against the Jets. OK, OK, hopefully I donât need to point out all of the flaws in that logic. Suffice it to say, Indy has already tried the Late Season Loss strategy before -â when they dropped two of their final three regular season games after a 13-0 start in 2005 -â and all it got them was a divisional-round playoff choke-job against Pittsburgh. So they might as well go 16-0 this year -â if they can. Thatâs where the Jets come in. Their playoff hopes were basically dashed by a home loss to those cold weather warriors

from Atlanta last week, but they still should provide decent competition for the homestanding Colts. New York boasts (believe it or not) the top-ranked defense in the league and a rushing attack thatâs also No. 1. Then again, besides a Week 2 win over the Patriots, they really havenât beaten anyone. So it might be safer just to say that the Jets will be more of a challenge than Indyâs final opponent next week, the hapless Bills. Vegas lists the Colts as a 4 Â½ point favorite -â a number that probably reflects more doubt about how hard Indy will play than respect for the Jets. But letâs reach back into our bag of misleading statistics and point out that in their entire 50 years of existence, the Jets have never lost a regular season game against a 14-0 team. Just donât ask how many games that includes. 4:07 pm | Pregame | by Steve Kornacki Kickoff is still a bit away, but already the Jets' playoff chances have improved rather dramatically today. The three things that they absolutely need to happen and that are completely out of their control actually appear to be happening: The Jaguars are getting trounced by New England, Miami is being crushed by Houston, and the Ravens are in trouble at Pittsburgh (although as I write this, they've rallied from 10 points behind to tie the game at 20). If Baltimore does come up

short, the Jets, one of the four AFC teams that entered today at 7-7, would suddenly control their playoff destiny. (They would also benefit from a loss tonight by 8-6 Denver, which is playing at Philadelphia.) That's the good news for the Jets. The bad news is that all of these breaks won't add up to anything unless they win this game. Still, if Rex Ryan happens to bring up the out-of-town scores just before kickoff, it just might give New York some extra fire in the early going. 4:08 pm | Pregame | by Steve Kornacki I love bonus coverage! CBS (at least here in New York, where we didn't get a 1:00 game) is giving us the last few minutes of the Baltimore-Pittsburgh game. They're at the two-minute warning, with the Steelers leading by three and facing a third and 8 at around their own 40. Jets fans will be pulling hard for Big Ben on the next play. Meanwhile, Fox has switched over to the Tampa-New Orleans game, which is now (startlingly) in overtime -- with the Bucs (even more startlingly) driving. 4:11 pm | Pregame | by Steve Kornacki Wow. An illegal-contact call wipes out an interception that, after a long return, would have set the Ravens up in Pittsburgh territory with plenty of time. Pittsburgh can run the clock out now. The Jets now control their playoff destiny. Now all they have to do is beat a 14-0 team on

the road. (And 10-5 Cincinnati next week.) 4:17 pm | Pregame | by Steve Kornacki Suddenly, the Steelers are the biggest Colts fans in the world. After their win over Baltimore and with Miami and Jacksonville both going down, the Steelers -who were staring at 6-8 before a last-second miracle last week -need only the Jets to lose to control their own playoff destiny. (They'll play at Miami next week.) 4:18 pm | First quarter, 0-0 | by Steve Kornacki Jets win the toss and defer. Colts will get the ball first. It's a touchback. Here we go. 4:19 pm | First quarter, 0-0 | by Steve Kornacki That end-around for Austin Collie on the first play from scrimmage becomes the most acrobatic run for minus-one yards that I've ever seen. 4:22 pm | First quarter, 0-0 | by Steve Kornacki Dallas Clark drops what should have been a first-down catch on third and 3 and the Colts are forced to punt. Pat McAfee's boot lands inside the 5, where the Colts down it. Not much room for Mark Sanchez to work with. 4:26 pm | First quarter, 0-0 | by Steve Kornacki The Jets come out passing, with three throws on their first three plays -- one for five yards, and two incompletions. Interesting strategy considering that Sanchez has thrown almost twice as many picks as touchdowns this year.

4:27 pm | First quarter, 0-0 | by Steve Kornacki And Peyton Manning will pick up right where he left off, with a first down at the Indy 46. 4:33 pm | First quarter, 0-0 | by Steve Kornacki I'd love to see a statistical analysis of the relationship between the amount of signalcalling Manning does at the line and the number of yards gained/lost on the next plays. It sure feels like it would be an inverse relationship. 4:36 pm | First quarter, 0-0 | by Steve Kornacki Fourth and 1 from the 30 and the Colts elect to go for it. Manning makes all of his usual adjustments and hands to Donald Brown, who is stopped short of the line. But just when I'm feeling pretty good about my theory, the Colts are bailed out by a penalty. First down. 4:37 pm | First quarter, 6-0 Colts | by Steve Koprnacki Touchdown! A 21-yard run for Joseph Addai puts the Colts on the board. But Adam Vinatieri's XP is blocked, keeping the score at 6-0 with 6:55 left in the quarter. 4:39 pm | First quarter, 6-0 Colts | by Steve Kornacki I was expecting that the Jets would start this game like they were being fired out of a cannon. In the 30 minutes before kickoff, they went from third or fourth in line for the final playoff spot to controlling their own destiny. NFL page 51

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Instead, they've been outgained 79-6, were forced into a threeand-out on their first possession, committed a costly penalty to negate a fourth-down stop on defense, and now trail 6-0. 4:43 pm | First quarter, 6-0 Colts | by Steve Kornacki Big completion for Sanchez to Jerricho Cotchery on third and five gives the Jets a fresh set of downs at their own 36. Averts a second three-and-out -- and gives the defense more time to rest. 4:44 pm | First quarter, 6-0 Colts | by Steve Kornacki Now it's Indy's turn to shoot itself in the foot -- with an illegal -contact flag wiping out what would have been Sanchez's 21st interception of the year. Jets now across midfield with a first down. 4:47 pm | First quarter, 6-0 Colts | by Steve Kornacki Good grief, what a hideous reverse. David Clownie is run down for a loss of 14 on first down. 4:49 pm | First quarter, 6-0 Colts | by Steve Kornacki Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf suggest a fake punt is coming. But it doesn't. Instead Steven Weatherford pins the Colts inside their own 10 with under two minutes left in the first quarter. That drive was a big disappointment for the Jets, who were establishing a rhythm (and moving close to field-goal range) until the botched reverse. 4:51 pm | First quarter, 6-0 Colts | by Steve Kornacki This is not looking like the NFL's top-rated defense so far. A

29-yard pass to Collie gives the Colts more than 100 yards for the quarter and moves them out near their own 40. Then Manning catches them with too many men on the field. 4:53 pm | First quarter, 6-0 Colts | by Steve Kornacki That's the end of the first quarter. It'll be third and 4 for the Colts just shy of midfield to open the second quarter. Time to start wondering what Jim Caldwell decides to do if his team goes up by two touchdowns? 4:56 pm | Second quarter, 6-0 Colts | by Steve Kornacki First-down Colts. A quick pass to Brown coming out of the backfield sets Indy up at the Jet 43. Then a long pass to Collie is disrupted by Lito Sheppard, who is flagged for the obligatory passinterference call. 4:57 pm | Second quarter, 6-0 Colts | by Steve Kornacki Steeler fans are probably starting to feel pretty good right now. 5:00 pm | Second quarter, 9-0 Colts | by Steve Kornacki On third and goal from the 4, Manning steps to the line and barks out several chapters of "War and Peace." An incomplete pass follows and the Colts are forced to settle for a 22-yard field goal by Adam Vinatieri, making it 9-0 with 11:50 to play in the half. 5:02 pm | Second quarter, 9-0 Colts | by Steve Kornacki Some stats so far: Indy has eight first downs, 136 yards of total offense, and more than 12 minutes of possession. The Jets

have three first downs, 34 yards and about six minutes of possession. This probably should be worse than 9-0. 5:05 pm | Second quarter, 9-0 Colts | by Steve Kornacki Shonn Greene carries on first down for the Jets and is stopped for no gain. Penn State fans still bitter about their loss to Iowa in 2008 cheer his failure. 5:06 pm | Second quarter, 9-0 Colts | by Steve Kornacki Greene comes up short on third down. A three and out for the Jets. Bad time for that. Colts will take over at their own 30 off the punt. 5:10 pm | Second quarter, 9-0 Colts | by Steve Kornacki Scratch that -- the Colts will start at their own 21. Manning has Reggie Wayne open on first down but overshoots him. Colts could have blown the game wide open there -- and set off a citywide celebration in Pittsburgh. 5:11 pm | Second quarter, 9-0 Colts | by Steve Kornacki Manning steps away from pressure and finds Collie for a 21 -yard gain on third and 14. Jets blow a chance to force a threeand-out -- and to get the ball back in good field position. 5:13 pm | Second quarter, 9-0 Colts | by Steve Kornacki Is this just a strategy by the Jets to get Indy to pull their starters? 5:17 pm | Second quarter, 9-0 Colts | by Steve Kornacki On third and 3, Manning steps back from the line and recites his favorite Shakespearean soliloquy.

An incomplete pass to Dallas Clark follows. Jets will get it at their own 20 after the punt. 5:21 pm | Second quarter, 9-0 Colts | by Steve Kornacki Thomas Jones gets just enough for a first down on third and 1. Under five minutes left in the half and the Jets have a first down at their own 30. A onepossession game at halftime would be a major moral victory -especially since they'll get the ball to start the second half. 5:22 pm | Second quarter, 9-0 Colts | by Steve Kornacki Jets are now across midfield, with a Sanchez completion to Cotchery placing them at the 43. Last time they were this deep, they screwed things up with a woeful reverse. This time, Shonn Greene runs all the way to the Colt 20. Jets suddenly clicking on offense. 5:23 pm | Second quarter, 9-0 Colts | by Steve Kornacki Two-minute warning. Second and 9 for New York coming up. 5:28 pm | Second quarter, 9-0 Colts | by Steve Kornacki Dwight Freeney strolls in untouched and sacks Sanchez. Dierdorf is rightly up in arms over the Jets' apparent failure to even try to block him. Thirddown play doesn't go for much and the Jets are now looking at a field goal. 5:29 pm | Second quarter, 9-3 Colts | by Steve Kornacki Jay Feely's 34-yard kick is good, so it's now 9-3 Colts with 1:44 left in the half. Plenty of time for Manning, of course, but the Jets

should feel very good if they somehow get to the locker room only down six. 5:32 pm | Second quarter, 9-3 Colts | by Steve Kornacki Manning will go to work at his own 36, after a nifty return from Chad Simpson. Wayne draws a pass-interference call on first down, pushing the Colts closer to midfield. Then Manning hits Wayne at the Jet 44 on the next play. Colts now within 10 yards of Vinatieri field-goal range. And they have two timeouts. 5:35 pm | Second quarter, 9-3 Colts | by Steve Kornacki Finally, the vaunted Jets defense steps up. Terrific coverage forces incompletions on second and third down and the Colts are stopped. 38 seconds left in the half. Jets will probably run the clock out here. 5:43 pm | Halftime, 9-3 Colts | by Steve Kornacki And they do, after a few pointless Colt timeouts. 9-3 at the half. I know I was giving the Jets a hard time for most of the half, but it's kind of amazing that they're right in this game. Will the fact that they are playing for their lives while the Colts aren't be a factor in the second half? 5:55 pm | Third quarter, 10-9 Jets | by Steve Kornacki And we're back. Colts kicking off. The big question is how long the Colts will stick with Manning. And while I'm pondering that Brad Smith takes the kick back 105 NFL page 52

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yards....touchdown Jets! Holy potatoes. What a turnaround. The XP is good and it's 10-9 New York just 12 seconds into the third quarter. 5:56 pm | Third quarter, 10-9 Jets | by Steve Kornacki Now we'll get to see how serious the Colts are about that perfect season. Manning takes over at his own 19. Will they go through the motions or play to win? 5:57 pm | Third quarter, 10-9 Jets | by Steve Kornacki Smith's run was actually 106 yards, CBS informs us. Tied for the second-longest all-time. 5:59 pm | Third quarter, 10-9 Jets | by Steve Kornacki So far, they're not going through the motions. A nice completion to Clark gives the Colts a first down near midfield. Then Manning finds Collie at the 33, hurries the Colts back to the line and hands off to Brown, who takes it to the 27. 6:00 pm | Third quarter, 10-9 Jets | by Steve Kornacki Jets lineman Mike "Probably Not Related To Danny" Devito is shaken up helped off the field after that last play. 6:03 pm | Third quarter, 15-10 Colts | by Steve Kornacki Touchdown Colts! Some nice running by Donald Brown on back-to-back plays puts the Colts back up by five (and makes UConn Huskies everywhere proud). Caldwell opts to go for two. Interesting move, since most coaches usually wait until they absolutely have to. (Not that I'm second-guessing him -- I don't

think teams go for two nearly enough.) The handoff to Brown goes nowhere, though, so the score is stuck at 15-10. Probably one too many handoffs to No. 31 there. 6:07 pm | Third quarter, 15-10 Colts | by Steve Kornacki The Jets' best weapon -- their special teams unit -- doesn't do anything on the kickoff, with Smith taking a knee in the end zone. It'll be up to Sanchez. Am I jinxing him if I mention that he hasn't thrown an interception yet today? 6:10 pm | Third quarter, 15-10 Colts | by Steve Kornacki Two completions by Sanchez so far on this drive, one to Cotchery, the other to Braylon Edwards for a first down at the Jet 35. 6:11 pm | Third quarter, 15-10 Colts | by Steve Kornacki CBS shows Manning talking to Curtis Painter on the sidelines. Dierdorf notes that Painter has been warming up. Steeler fans and and those who took the Colts and laid the points get very nervous. 6:15 pm | Third quarter, 15-10 Colts | by Steve Kornacki I'm wondering if Caldwell would really put Painter in this early. Maybe he figures Manning and the Colts made their point with that last drive, in which they basically shredded the top-ranked Jet defense. But is it that important to get Painter in? It's not like this is college and the Colts have to start making plans for after Manning's graduation. 6:16 pm | Third quarter, 15-10

Colts | by Steve Kornacki A big completion from Sanchez to Cotchery on third and 7 puts the Jets across midfield. 6:17 pm | Third quarter, 15-10 Colts | by Steve Kornacki Oh my god. On third and 3, Freeney -- again -- charges in uncontested and sacks Sanchez. "Are they trying to kill Sanchez?" Dierdorf demands. Jets forced to punt. Second time a promising drive has stalled for them with no points. 6:18 pm | Third quarter, 15-10 Colts | by Steve Kornacki Looks like Painter's getting the call. Still more than five minutes left in the third. Jets playoff odds just shot up considerably. 6:19 pm | Third quarter, 15-10 Colts | by Steve Kornacki The give to Brown on first down goes nowhere. Of course it did. Did anyone on the Jets think for a second that Painter would be throwing on first down? 6:20 pm | Third quarter, 15-10 Colts | by Steve Kornacki Well look at that -- they let Painter throw on second and long and he finds good old Hank Baskett near the first-down marker. About a foot short, it looks like. 6:21 pm | Third quarter, 15-10 Colts | by Steve Kornacki Another easy-to-predict run by Brown -- which loses two yards and brings the punt team onto the field. The boos rain down. These Indy fans didn't spend their life savings on personal seat licenses to watch the Colts rest their starters.

6:23 pm | Third quarter, 15-10 Colts | by Steve Kornacki Jets now inside the Colt 45 off two Shonn Greene runs. They've stalled out here twice before. 6:25 pm | Third quarter, 15-10 Colts | by Steve Kornacki 3rd and 4 from the Indy 39 coming up for the Jets. Might be four-down territory if they miss? We'll find out in a minute -Sanchez's pass to Cotchery goes incomplete. 6:25 pm | Third quarter, 15-10 Colts | by Steve Kornacki Nope. It's a punt. Weatherford gets a tough bounce and it's a touchback. 6:27 pm | Third quarter, 15-10 Colts | by Steve Kornacki I know he only has to work like 18 days a year, but CBS really should just give James Brown the rest of today off. 6:28 pm | Third quarter, 16-15 Jets | by Steve Kornacki Woah -- the Jets just took the lead! Painter is hit from behind as he (seems to be) winding up to throw and the ball pops free. Jets pounce on it in the end zone. It's 16-15 New York, pending the review. 6:29 pm | Third quarter, 16-15 Jets | by Steve Kornacki So is this the part where Manning tells Caldwell he's putting himself back in the lineup? As Dierdorf just pointed out, that's not a turnover if Manning is in there on that last play. Again -- what is the real benefit to the Colts of giving Painter all of this playing time? 6:30 pm | Third quarter, 18-15

Jets | by Steve Kornacki Sanchez hits Dustin Keller on the two-point conversion. 18-15 Jets. 1:29 left in the third. Come on, Caldwell, play for the win. 6:31 pm | Third quarter, 18-15 Jets | by Steve Kornacki So far, the Jets have scored 15 of their 18 points because of special -teams or defensive plays. And they also blocked an Indy XP. 6:32 pm | Third quarter, 18-15 Jets | by Steve Kornacki Painter's back. The booing resumes. It'll get worse if, as I expect, they get very conservative here and are forced into a three-and-out. 6:33 pm | Third quarter, 18-15 Jets | by Steve Kornacki Suddenly, the Colts are like the Jets: If they're going to score again, it'll have to be on defense or special teams. 6:35 pm | Third quarter, 18-15 Jets | by Steve Kornacki And there's the three-and-out. Fans are furious. They should be. Dierdorf says there's no right or wrong answer. I disagree. And so would a certain former Jets head coach. 6:36 pm | Third quarter, 18-15 Jets | by Steve Kornacki That's the end of the third quarter. 18-15 Jets -- and they have the ball near the Colt 40. 6:39 pm | Fourth quarter, 18-15 Jets | by Steve Kornacki I don't have a dog in this fight, but this just seems grossly unfair. The Colts are essentially rolling over for the Jets right now. It NFL page 53

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almost doesn't matter what the Jets do on offense. With Caldwell intent on sticking with Painter, the Colts don't look like they're going to do anything with the ball. As long as Sanchez doesn't turn it over or the Colts don't block a punt, this thing feels like it's over. 6:41 pm | Fourth quarter, 21-15 Jets | by Steve Kornacki Jay Feely hits a 43-yard field goal. 21-15 Jets with 13:23 left in the game. And I'm guessing they'll get a chance to add to it in about three minutes, after Painter's next three-and-out. 6:42 pm | Fourth quarter, 21-15 Jets | by Steve Kornacki BTW, is ESPN.com freaking out or are the Broncos actually facing a second and 67?!? 6:43 pm | Fourth quarter, 21-15 Colts | by Steve Kornacki Manning wants back in. But why would Jim Caldwell listen to him -- he's only a Super Bowlwinning future Hall of Famer. He obviously doesn't have the football savvy of Caldwell, who averaged three wins a year when he was at Wake Forest. 6:46 pm | Fourth quarter, 21-15 Jets | by Steve Kornacki Painter tries to elude the rush on third and 4 -- and falls a yard short. Another three-and-out. How is this helping the Colts prepare for the playoffs? 6:49 pm | Fourth quarter, 21-15 Jets | by Steve Kornacki Even if the Colts somehow come back and win this game, what does it matter? They've shown how little 16-0 means to them --

and how willing they are to lose for the sake of "rest." If they pull this out, does anyone really think they'll try hard next week in Buffalo? 6:52 pm | Fourth quarter, 21-15 Colts | by Steve Kornacki The Jets are now racking up big chunks of yardage on the ground. We're inside of ten minutes and they're at the Colt 41. 6:53 pm | Fourth quarter, 21-15 Jets | by Steve Kornacki The Colt crowd comes to life on third and 1. To no avail. Sanchez charges ahead for the first down. 6:56 pm | Fourth quarter, 21-15 Jets | by Steve Kornacki Gumbel and Dierdorf are lecturing us about the "bigpicture" wisdom of the Colts essentially forfeiting this game. Have they forgotten what happened the last time the Colts took the "big-picture" approach in the late season?! When they lost two out of their last three after a 13-0 start in '05 -- and came out prairie flat against Pittsburgh in the playoffs?! 6:56 pm | Fourth quarter, 21-15 Jets | by Steve Kornacki Oh, by the way, the Jets are at the goal line. I'm sorry, even though the scoreboard suggests there's some suspense, this stopped feeling like a competitive game a while ago. 7:00 pm | Fourth quarter, 29-15 Jets | by Steve Kornacki Touchdown! Jones carries it in on third and goal to make it a 12point game. Time to go for two. Sanchez finds Braylon Edwards, whom the Colts didn't even try to

cover. 29-15 Jets. 5:38 left. 7:01 pm | Fourth quarter, 29-15 Jets | by Steve Kornacki I know it's fashionable to hate the Patriots (and Bill Belichick in particular). But I think we all owe them a retroactive thank-you right now -- because when they were chasing 16-0, they actually tried to win. 7:03 pm | Fourth quarter, 29-15 Jets | by Steve Kornacki Reader Joe DiLaura writes: "It looks like the colts regulars (Wayne Clark brackett manning) are not happy on the sidelines. Will this affect their psyche?" Great point. CBS keeps cutting away to Manning, who looks....er....perplexed. 7:04 pm | Fourth quarter, 29-15 Jets | by Steve Kornacki Oh, hey, look -- Painter just threw into double-coverage and was picked off. 7:07 pm | Fourth quarter, 29-15 Jets | by Steve Kornacki The Colts' decision to roll over seems like one of those moves that makes sense in theory -- but is absolutely ridiculous in practice. The idea is to rest starters, avoid injuires, and maybe give a QB-of-the-future some valuable playing experience. In reality, Caldwell (and whoever else made this call) has only succeeded in infuriating the fans, insulting Manning, disrupting the team's chemistry and rhythm, and exposing the fragile young Painter to an impossible situation that may end up stunting his development as a quarterback.

7:11 pm | Fourth quarter, 29-15 Jets | by Steve Kornacki I don't know enough about the playoff scenarios, so I'm just wondering, but -- will the Bengals have anything to play for next week? Or will the Jets once again be playing against a team with no reason (other than the pride Jim Caldwell so clearly lacks) to compete? That would be extraordinary -- a 7-7 team in a six-way scramble for a playoff spot essentially given a bye into the playoffs because its last two opponents saw no reason to try. What a black eye for the NFL that would be. 7:12 pm | Fourth quarter, 29-15 Jets | by Steve Kornacki The final seconds are ticking away now. I'm just hoping CBS cuts away to the end of the Denver-Philadelphia game when it's over. 7:13 pm | Fourth quarter, 29-15 Jets | by Steve Kornacki Dear Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf: Please stop shilling for Jim Caldwell. Sincerely, Steve K. 7:15 pm | Fourth quarter, 29-15 Jets | by Steve Kornacki There are 39 seconds left and the Colts just turned the ball over on downs. The Jets can now take a knee and end it. I hope the fans really let Caldwell hear it as he leaves the field. 7:22 pm | Final, 29-15 Jets | by Steve Kornacki It's a final, 29-15 Jets. 7:34 pm | Postgame, 29-15 Jets |

by Steve Kornacki Well that was just plain unAmerican. For about 40 minutes, the Jets and Colts waged a suspenseful, entertaining, high-stakes battle -the Jets fighting for a playoff spot and the Colts striving for historic perfection. And then, for no apparent reason, Jim Caldwell -- who has had to do nothing all year except make sure the cruisecontrol button was depressed -decided it was time to stop playing and yanked Peyton Manning. And that was that. Manning's replacement, Curtis Painter, went on to compile an 11.2 quarterback rating (not a typo) and the Jets, who trailed 15 -10 when Manning left the game, reeled off 19 straight points to "win" going away. And through it all, the smiling pair of shills calling the game for CBS -- Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf -refused to even question Caldwell's call, preferring to lecture us about the "big picture." Never once did they mention that the Colts tried something similar four years ago, mailing it in down the stretch after a 13-0 start, and that the result was disastrous -- an upset loss to the Steelers in their first playoff game. Maybe Caldwell was under strict orders from Bill Polian to pull Manning when he did -- and to ignore the QB's subsequent pleadings to re-enter the game. After all, where would Caldwell, NFL page 56

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Urban Meyer Raises More Questions With His Answers (WSJ.com: The Daily Fix) Submitted at 12/28/2009 7:03:40 AM

The news on Sunday was just as stunning as it was on Saturday. Less than 24 hours after Urban Meyer said he was quitting as Florida coach for health reasons, sending shockwaves through college football, he said he’d instead be taking an indefinite leave of absence from the Gators after the Sugar Bowl and will likely be patrolling the sidelines next fall. Getty Images Is going “full steam ahead” the best thing for Urban Meyer’s health? No need to panic, Gator fans — at least not yet. The coach who brought Florida two BCS titles in five years will turn the team over to offensive coordinator Steve Addazio during his self-imposed exile and get help for the recurring chest pains he’s been experiencing. But Sunday’s news conference might have left a muddled impression about whether he values his health more than his work. “In a rather incredible news conference to explain his decision not to step down as Floridas football coach but rather take a ‘leave of absence,’ he used terms such as ‘full speed ahead,’ said he expected to coach the 2010 opener and discussed the need to ‘keep this thing rolling,’ ” Yahoo’s Dan Wetzel writes. “Then hed say something such as, ‘You put business before God and family, youve got a problem.’ Hes right about that,

you just hope he figures out how. The way he tried to explain himself Sunday revealed a man trying to head in two directions, argue two things, live two lives at once. He sounded like a guy who was still putting business before God and family.” “There is something that Meyer is not telling us,” Dennis Dodd writes at CBS Sports. “That is certainly his right, considering his health is his business. But football is Gator Nation’s business and Meyer has to understand that inquiring minds will want to know about the future of their franchise with or without him. All the pointed questions at Sunday’s Sugar Bowl news conference in New Orleans announcing that the coach had indeed changed his mind and will return at some future date, were left unanswered.” Sports Illustrated’s Stewart Mandel says there might be more uncertainty surrounding Florida now than if Meyer had stuck to his original decision, and not only because the Gators will be without graduating quarterback Tim Tebow next season. ESPN’s Pat Forde has plenty of questions for Meyer. “Who makes a decision as momentous as a resignation at the peak of a man’s profession so rashly that he changes his mind the next morning because he liked what he saw at practice?” Forde writes. “Who would upstage his school’s BCS bowl game with a

matchup. The Saints now have lost consecutive games, and the Colts fell from the unbeaten ranks Sunday with a 29-15 loss to the New York Jets. Indy had won 14 straight to start the season, 23 regular-season games overall and 13 straight at home. resignation announcement? And Coach Jim Caldwell sat many t h e n a n u n - r e s i g n a t i o n starters, including quarterback announcement? Why not wait Peyton Manning, in the second half with an eye on resting them until Jan. 2 for all of that?” In the New York Times, William for the playoffs. C. Rhoden wonders whether “They treated the second half as Meyer’s very public moment if it were gum on the bottom of a would have happened if Florida shoe,” Bob Kravitz sighs in the had beaten Alabama for the SEC Indianapolis Star. “They sent in championship and were in the b a c k u p q u a r t e r b a c k C u r t i s BCS title game against Texas. Painter to hold on to a 15-10 The Chicago Tribune’s David lead, and it was like having Mel’s Hough says the NCAA should Detailing put the finishing l e g i s l a t e h o w m a n y h o u r s touches on the Sistine Chapel. It felt wrong. It was wrong. Cheap, coaches can work. Readers, what do you think of really. The players? They wanted Urban Meyer’s stunning about- this. At least a fair shot at it.” In the Las Vegas Reviewface? Good move? Bad move? Be sure to share your thoughts.* Journal, Matt Youmans says Indy’s decision to rest its stars ** Don Shula all but called the and not play for perfection could notion that the 1972 Miami backfire. Dolphins celebrate each year In the New York Daily News, when the NFL’s last undefeated Gary Myers thinks the Colts team goes down a myth on ESPN lacked integrity by pulling Monday morning. But those Manning & Co. in a game with undefeated Fish more in touch playoff implications for so many with their sense of schadenfreude teams. can raise a glass of Champagne The Saints’ 20-17 overtime loss this morning — they remain the to Tampa Bay — after they had built a 17-0 lead — has ESPN’s NFL’s only perfect team. Until two weeks ago, fans were Len Pasquarelli calling New salivating at the prospect of two Orleans vulnerable. undefeated teams playing for the Cincinnati wasn’t impressive in Super Bowl. So much for that its 17-10 win over Kansas City, New Orleans-Indianapolis dream but the win captured the AFC

North title for the Bengals. The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Paul Daugherty sees a more mature team this year than the 2005 squad that won the division. One team without playoff hopes is the New York Giants, who were crushed at home by Carolina, 41-9, leading Tim Smith of the Daily News to call the Giants’ 2007 Super Bowl a fluke.* * * College basketball is big business, so much so that recruiters from nonprofit charities travel the globe looking for tall basketball prospects to bring to the U.S. While some find success, others bounce aimlessly from high school program to high school program, many offering an inferior education that can affect recruits’ ability to stay stateside, the Boston Globe’s Bob Hohler writes.* * * Hockey, figure skating and downhill skiing are typically the marquee Winter Olympic events. But biathlete Tim Burke just might give his sport — you know, the one mixing crosscountry skiing and riflery — a higher profile in the U.S. after his recent World Cup victory, the first for an American, Katie Thomas writes in the New York Times. In the Boston Globe, Shira Springer writes of Laura Spector’s push to make the U.S. women’s biathlon team.* * * URBAN page 58

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Florida Gators coach Urban Meyer will return after leave of absence By ESPN.com news services (ESPN.com)

coach against Cincinnati on New Year's Day. "It's full speed ahead. We're Submitted at 12/28/2009 7:17:28 AM going to do everything possible Meyer Not Ready To Step Away to win this game," he said. Meyer Not Ready To Step Away Meyer, 45, said he was offered VIDEO PLAYLIST and encouraged to take a leave of • Meyer Not Ready To Step absence earlier in the week. He Away Meyer Not Ready To Step said being with his players at a Away "spirited practice" Sunday • Urban Meyer Conversation morning persuaded him not to Urban Meyer Conversation resign. • Urban Meyer Opts For Leave "I've accepted this offer to Of Absence Urban Meyer Opts improve my health," said Meyer, For Leave Of Absence who refused to elaborate on his • Report: Meyer Decides Not To health problems and declined to Resign Report: Meyer Decides answer when asked if doctors Not To Resign advised him to stop coaching. After the Southeastern NEW ORLEANS -- Florida Conference championship game coach Urban Meyer changed his three weeks ago, Meyer spent mind Sunday and said he was several hours in a Gainesville, taking an indefinite leave of Fla., hospital because of chest absence instead of resigning. pains. Meyer said Sunday he had Despite ongoing concerns with experienced similar problems at his health, he expects to be on the times this season but had not had sideline leading the Gators when a heart attack. next season opens. Florida athletic director Jeremy "I do in my gut believe that will Foley said when he went to sleep happen," he said Sunday at an Saturday night he did not think A l l s t a t e S u g a r B o w l n e w s there was any chance Meyer conference. would change his mind. A Winner "It was a long night for Urban Meyer decided Sunday to everybody in Gator nation," s t a y a t F l o r i d a . H i s w i n Foley said. "The intent here is to percentage is the highest among make sure Urban goes and deals active coaches with at least five with the issues we discussed last years experience. night." Offensive coordinator Steve Meyer led the Gators to BCS Addazio will run the team during national championships in 2006 Meyer's absence, but Meyer will and 2008. Meyer is 56-10 with

Florida, including 32-8 in the SEC and a school-record 22game winning streak that was snapped by the Crimson Tide in the conference title game Dec. 5. Forde: What does Meyer want? Urban Meyer's flip-flop as head coach of Florida leaves us wondering what he really wants, Pat Forde writes. Story Feldman: Schools that stand to gain At least nine programs are in position to successfully exploit the coaching situation at Florida, both on the field and on the recruiting trail, writes Bruce Feldman. Story "I want to make sure I do right by my family," said Meyer, who is married with three children. "My second family is my players and my staff. "The love that I have for these players, I think that's well documented. Maybe one of the issues that I deal with is that I care so deeply about each individual. ... We've had a heck of a run, a run that we're very proud of. And when I sat back and watched those young guys go at it today and our coaching staff and the program we've built, to not try would be not the right thing to do." Gators quarterback Tim Tebow said he and several of his teammates cried when they found out Meyer was stepping down Saturday and were elated when

he told them he changed his mind. "We look at our team as like a family, and we just wanted what was best for our dad, and that's coach Meyer," Tebow said. "We want him to do what's best for him. We want him to get himself right, and when he's right, then come back to coaching." None of Meyer's players knew the severity of his health issues. Meyer told Sports Illustrated last month that he suffered from persistent headaches caused by an arachnoid cyst that becomes inflamed by stress, rage and excitement. Mike and Mike in the Morning Kirk Herbstreit discusses his conversation with Florida coach Urban Meyer and Meyer's decision to take an indefinite leave of absence from coaching the team. More Podcasts » His chest pains became public after the SEC title game three weeks ago. Meyer fainted getting out of bed and was rushed to the hospital for several hours of tests. "It's something that started about four years ago," Meyer said. "It was chest pains that became rather significant two years ago. Whether it's stress related ... I started to become very alarmed with that. And then I'm a person of faith, and I just wanted to make sure I had my priorities straight. A lot of times coaches

do not have their priorities straight. You put business before God and family, you have a problem. "So when we had the issue, when I had to go to the hospital, and a couple issues after that was when I came to the conclusion that I had to re-prioritize everything. So that's exactly what it is. I was advised that I have to get this right or it could lead to damage. That's what made that decision." Meyer acknowledged that part of the problem is his tireless work ethic and his need to put the weight of the program solely on his shoulders. How will he handle being away from football? SEC blog ESPN.com's Chris Low writes about all things SEC in his conference blog. • Blog network: College Football Nation "We're going to find out," said his wife, Shelley, who found out her husband changed his mind when they got to the airport to fly to New Orleans from Florida. "We've just got to see how he handles his leisure time. I've never seen him handle leisure time. That's like an oxymoron." Foley said Meyer won't be too involved with the team until he gets things straightened out. "You can't coach when your FLORIDA page 60

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Coach Rich Brooks 80 percent he's not returning to Kentucky By Associated Press (ESPN.com)

Brooks steps down. "I think it may be time for a change and time for Joker to take Submitted at 12/27/2009 10:41:35 PM over," Brooks said. "Not totally N A S H V I L L E , T e n n . - - sure. I just felt like maybe it's Kentucky coach Rich Brooks time." told his Wildcats that he's The well-traveled Brooks also probably not returning next had several stints in the NFL, season. including two years as head Following a 21-13 loss to coach of the St. Louis Rams in Clemson on Sunday night in the 1995-96. He was an assistant Music City Bowl, Brooks said with the then-Los Angeles Rams he's "80 percent" sure he's not (1971-72), the San Francisco coming back. He plans to think 49ers (1974-75 as defensive about his next move, talk with his backs/special teams), and Atlanta family and make a final decision Falcons (1997-2000, assistant within the week. head coach/defensive "I've just got to do some thinking c o o r d i n a t o r ) . about it away from everything," He voluntarily left the Falcons in Brooks said. January 2001 and was out of The 68-year-old Brooks led the coaching until Kentucky came Wildcats to a 7-6 record this calling in 2003. season and 39-47 mark in seven Brooks began his career as an seasons. If it was his final game, assistant freshman coach at his career college record will be Oregon State in 1963 and was an 1 3 0 - 1 5 6 - 4 i n 2 5 s e a s o n s , assistant the next year at Norte including 18 at Oregon where the Del Rio High School. He also field is named after him. was an assistant at Oregon State L a s t J a n u a r y , K e n t u c k y in 1965-69 and was defensive a n n o u n c e d t h a t o f f e n s i v e coordinator there in 1973 and at coordinator Joker Phillips will UCLA in 1970 and again in take over as head coach when 1976.

Brooks said he had been thinking about calling it a career over the past week, but stayed busy with preparations for the bowl game. Kentucky made school history by reaching a fourth straight bowl game, but snapped a three-game winning streak with the loss. Senior offensive lineman Zipp Duncan credited Brooks with selling them on a dream five years ago. He was among those players who bought into what Brooks asked of them and helped make Kentucky history. Fellow senior Corey Peters said that made the loss tougher to swallow. "It's one thing for the senior class to go out on this note," Peters said. "But finding out this is possibly the last game for him, you want to get the win for him when it's possibly his last game." Brooks started out giving an injury update after the game, then dissected the game. "It's an extremely disappointing loss," Brooks said. He kept breaking down what went wrong for Kentucky in what

he also called a disappointing season after not accomplishing all he wanted. This was the first time since 1909-1912 that the Wildcats had won at least seven games in four straight seasons. This season also featured the Wildcats' first win over Auburn since 1966 and first at Georgia since 1977. But the bowl loss snapped a nonconference winning streak at 18 games. Sophomore receiver Randall Cobb said hearing the news from Brooks was hard "I've learned a lot from Coach Brooks. He's taught me so much more than becoming a football player. ... It's going to be hard to see him leave if he does," Cobb said. Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

NFL continued from page 53

who racked up a 26-63 record in his previous coaching stint, be right now if Polian hadn't agreed to make him Tony Dungy's successor? Certainly, he wouldn't be a head coach anywhere. So if Polian told him to sit Manning, he was going to sit Manning. But come on, man, show some pride - in yourself and in your team. The Colts looked awful with Manning out. And seeing their expressions on the sideline, they looked angry, too. It seems possible that Caldwell did some serious damage to his team's chemistry today. Meanwhile, the Jets were basically handed half of a free pass into the playoffs. They didn't even have to try hard to win this game -- a game they probably would have lost if it had been played a few weeks ago. You know, back when the Colts were actually trying. We should all hope the Colts go on to lose in the playoffs. It might make the next team in their position think twice before opting for a "big picture" strategy.

NFL Playoff Scenarios, Week 17 By FanHouse Newswire (Fanhouse Main) Submitted at 12/27/2009 5:00:00 PM

Filed under: NFL Playoffs There are an astounding number of

NFL playoff scenarios that could still play out, despite the season being down to its final Sunday (plus Monday night's Minnesota at Chicago game). The top four seeds in the AFC

are set, and very little movement can take place there. A look at the AFC's division winners: Indianapolis Colts (14-1) - Have clinched AFC's No. 1 seed

San Diego Chargers (12-3) - Have clinched AFC's No. 2 seed New England Patriots (10-5) - Can clinch AFC's No. 3 seed with: Win over Houston OR

Cincinnati loss to Jets Cincinnati Bengals (10-5) - Can clinch AFC's No. 3 seed with: Win over Jets AND New England loss to Houston

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Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones: 'I do not want to make a coaching change'

Did Mangini, Morris Save Their Jobs?

By Tim MacMahon (ESPN.com)

Submitted at 12/28/2009 12:00:00 AM

a decision regarding Phillips' future after the season is over, and the way the Cowboys finish Submitted at 12/28/2009 7:39:35 AM will weigh strongly in the LANDOVER, Md. -- Dallas owner's mind. Cowboys owner/general manager The Cowboys have bounced J e r r y J o n e s h a s n ' t m a d e a back from their only two-game commitment to Wade Phillips losing streak of the season with past this season but is strongly back-to-back wins to keep them leaning toward retaining his head in contention for the NFC East coach. title. Phillips' defense held the More on the Cowboys New Orleans Saints' top-ranked C a l v i n W a t k i n s a n d T i m offense to 17 points last week MacMahon have the Cowboys and posted Dallas' first shutout blanketed for ESPNDallas.com. since 2003 against the Redskins. Check in with their constantly "I don't want to take anything updated coverage. Blog away from our players, but I "I do not want to make a think what you're seeing develop coaching change," Jones said and evolve is 100 percent Wade after the Cowboys clinched a Phillips," Jones said. "I know playoff berth with a 17-0 victory how hard he's working. When Sunday over the Washington our defense is playing [well] and Redskins. "This is not the time our team really realizes how with what we've got in place, much of him is involved in the with our personnel, with what defense, then it does give him w e ' v e g o t g o i n g w i t h o u r huge credibility." schemes, with what we've got Phillips has a 32-16 record with going with our staff. It's not in the Cowboys, winning more the best interests of the Cowboys games since the start of the 2007 right now to make a change." season than any coach other than Phillips' contract expires at the New England's Bill Belichick. end of the season, but the team However, he has been criticized has the option to bring him back for being too soft on his team and in 2010. Jones has said he'll make for the Cowboys' failures down

the stretch the last two seasons. That criticism intensified when Dallas opened December with consecutive losses. Several Cowboys, including captains Tony Romo and Jason Witten, said that Phillips' even keel played a major role in the team's response the last two weeks. "He kept a steady hand when outside forces try and make it seem as if your team is done or doesn't have much of a chance," Romo said. "Wade does a great job of letting the team know that's not it. His demeanor, his approach, his style has worked great for this football team. He doesn't deserve any criticism. You guys [media] need to start giving him some praise, because he's been good." Tim MacMahon covers the Dallas Cowboys for ESPN Dallas. You can follow him on Twitter or leave a question for his weekly mailbag. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

By Dave Goldberg (Fanhouse Main)

Filed under: Browns, Buccaneers, NFL Coaching, NFL Analysis The hot item on Sunday's rumor mill was about Bill Cowher and the Bucs. Cowher, so the rumors went, had been approached by Tampa Bay about replacing Raheem Morris after it looked like Morris would go 2-14 in his rookie year. That was following the speculation all week about Mike Holmgren's intentions as the new president of the Browns toward Eric Mangini, who seemed to be coaching his way to oblivion. Except that the Bucs then went out and won their second straight game, 20-17 in overtime in New Orleans, over a team that until last week was unbeaten. And the Browns won their third straight, beating Oakland for their fourth victory of the season. At least Holmgren is a football

man who will make the right choice for the right reasons. The Glazer family, owners of the Bucs, know so little about football that it took them six years to figure out that the Super Bowl they won after the 2002 season was the work of Tony Dungy and Rich McKay, not Jon Gruden and Bruce Allen, who they fired a year ago. Hey guys, if you're gonna clean house for a baby coach, at least give him some time to learn.

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Cowboys Secure Playoff Chicago Bulls have decided to fire coach Vinny Del Negro, sources say Berth, Jerry Jones' Approval By Chris Broussard (ESPN.com)

Phone messages left for Paxson and Bulls general manager Gar Forman were not returned. Submitted at 12/28/2009 6:38:04 AM Chicago, which will have The decision to fire head coach approximately $15 million in cap Vinny Del Negro has already space next summer, would like to been made, according to sources have a permanent coach in place with knowledge of the Chicago well before the long-awaited free Bulls' thinking. The fact that the -agent bonanza of 2010 begins. Bulls' front office has not been The Bulls would prefer not to able to settle on a replacement is promote an assistant coach, either the main thing keeping the Bernie Bickerstaff or Pete Myers, embattled Del Negro employed, to interim status, but if they can't the sources said. settle on a permanent There were discussions recently replacement for Del Negro, they within the organization about may have to go that route. having John Paxson, Chicago's A strong run by the Bulls, who executive vice president of beat New Orleans Saturday night basketball operations, take over after the return of Tyrus Thomas the team, but Paxson ultimately from a broken arm, could delay d e c i d e d a g a i n s t i t . T h e n , Del Negro's eventual firing, but according to sources, Chicago there is practically no chance he contacted former Bulls coach would coach the team beyond Doug Collins, a candidate for the this season. job two years ago when Del Del Negro's first season in Negro was hired, but Collins was Chicago was largely viewed as not interested in coaching the disappointing until the Bulls club. stunned the Boston Celtics by

taking them to seven games in the first round of last season's playoffs. Coming off that impressive performance, this season's 11-17 record is a colossal disappointment. There is no shortage of reputable coaches available. Byron Scott, who was fired by New Orleans earlier this season, would seem to be a logical candidate. Avery Johnson, who sources say is on the short list of coaching candidates for New Orleans and New Jersey next season, along with Jeff Van Gundy, Sam Mitchell and Lawrence Frank, have all had successful coaching careers. Scott, Johnson and Mitchell have all been named NBA Coach of the Year. Chris Broussard covers the NBA for ESPN The Magazine. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

By Kevin Blackistone (Fanhouse Main) Submitted at 12/27/2009 6:20:00 PM

Filed under: NFL LANDOVER, Md. -- Wade Phillips stood in a small room across from the visitor's locker room in FedEx Field as Sunday faded into Monday, as dry as could be. (I'm talking about his clothing and not his demeanor. The latter was as dry as always.) For the orange Gatorade drums on the Cowboys' sideline had remained as neatly stacked after Phillips' charges dropped the hometown team, 170, as they had been when the game kicked off. There was no sports-drink bath for Philips, who'd just qualified his boss' Cowboys for the playoffs for the first time since 2007. Not that there should have been. The Cowboys don't play for the playoffs; they play to win in the playoffs, something they haven't

URBAN continued from page 54

Before highlight shows became a ubiquitous part of modern life, many sports fans would plunk down on the sofa late Sundays and watch“The George Michael Sports Machine”, a syndicated show that ran from 1984 until 2007. Understand, in the early days, this was pre-Internet and

for many pre-cable, so watching the Sports Machine was appointment television. Michael, who delivered the highlights with infectious enthusiasm from his studio in Washington, died Thursday of cancer at age 70. In the Washington Post, Mike Wise remembers Michael as the man

who never forgot his roots growing up and escaping South St. Louis. Post colleague Michael Wilbon reminisces about the “funny, informed, irreverent, a little profane, always engaged” sportscaster. Found a good column from the world of sports? Don’t keep it to

yourself — write to us at dailyfix@wsj.com and we’ll consider your find for inclusion in the Daily Fix. You can email Garey at ris84rap@gmail.com.

done since 1996. It is against that backdrop that made it quite surprising to see, instead, a shower of praise for Phillips once he got back to the locker room. It was effusive. It came from the man for whom he toils, Jerry Jones, the man who let him dangle into the season without a contract renewal and with the pressure of playoffs-orelse hanging over his future.

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Can Clippers Afford to Let Camby Go? Time Will Tell By Chris Tomasson (Fanhouse Main) Submitted at 12/27/2009 5:15:00 PM

Manny Pacquiao: 'I Would Never Cheat' By Lem Satterfield (Fanhouse Main)

urinalysis testing before and after fights to detect illegal and performance-enhancing drugs, Submitted at 12/27/2009 6:22:00 PM but other than requiring Filed under: WBA, WBC, IBF, bloodwork to earn a one-year WBO, HBO license, the NSAC has never used WBO welterweight champion blood-testing to determine drug Manny Pacquiao would agree to use, the organization's executive unlimited urinalysis and blood- director, Keith Kizer, said on testing for the proposed March Saturday. 1 3 m e g a b o u t w i t h F l o y d "We are prepared to advise the Mayweather at the MGM Grand Nevada Athletic Commission in Las Vegas, but only if the that we only want them involved, procedures are executed by the and that Manny will take a N e v a d a S t a t e A t h l e t i c random urinalysis test at any time C o m m i s s i o n , P a c q u i a o ' s on any date as long as it was promoter, Bob Arum, said on ordered by the Nevada State Sunday. Athletic Commission," Arum The Nevada Commission uses told FanHouse, saying that

Monday is his deadline for finalizing the matchup before moving on to other options for the 31-year-old Pacquiao (50-32, 38 knockouts). "No. 2, we would agree to take the blood test in January within 30 days of the fight and any other random blood tests that the Nevada State Athletic Commission elected to do without a timeline," said Arum. "We're so confident that the Nevada Commission would do the right thing that we don't have to put a timeline in there."

Filed under: Clippers LOS ANGELES -- If Kevin Garnett is The Big Ticket and Tim Duncan is The Big Fundamental, Marcus Camby is The Big Commodity. With an expiring contract that has a salary-cap number of $9.15 million, the Los Angeles Clippers' big man might be the most coveted player who could be available as the Feb. 18 trade deadline approaches. While some teams would take anyone with such an expiring contract that has vital signs, Camby also can play. "Everybody in the league would want him,'' Clippers coach and general manager Mike Dunleavy said in an interview with FanHouse. "He's probably the most valuable contract in the league from the standpoint if you're looking to trade for a guy

with an expiring contract that has a lot of game. Most teams are trying to give up longer-term contracts for shorter-term contracts, and a lot of times those teams are willing to sacrifice in order to shorten the money. In this case, you wouldn't be sacrificing. That's why everybody wants him.''

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Jets end Colts' perfection when Indy pulls stars By Associated Press (ESPN.com)

Clemson Tops Kentucky in Music City Bowl, Likely Ends Rich Brooks' Career By Clay Travis (Fanhouse Main)

fan bases was the drive to legalize gay marriage via state constitutional referendum. Submitted at 12/27/2009 6:30:00 PM As I walked across the F i l e d u n d e r : C l e m s o n , Cumberland River buffeted by Kentucky, ACC, SEC, Bowl the strong air current, suddenly Games two small children were swept NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- With the from their parents' grasp and wind swirling at up to 435 miles floated, like tiny mewling an hour -- potentially inflated due dirigibles, slowly across the dark to my lack of meteorological ribbon of the river to the east training -- the Kentucky Wildcats bank of Nashville. There the and Clemson Tigers kicked off children, jaws still agape from for the always exhilarating night their ride on the wind, sat in the game in late December. In shadows of the stadium awaiting Nashville. Between two Southern the arrival of their stunned teams. The only thing less parents. popular among these collective OK, that didn't happen.

But if it had it would have been indicative of the game to come: the wind was the MVP of the Music City Bowl. Ultimately, Clemson withstood the wind better than Kentucky did, pulling away for an uninspiring 21-13 victory and send Kentucky's Rich Brooks into retirement. "I told my team, [there's] probably [an] 80 percent chance that I'm not coming back," Brooks said immediately after the loss. Let's break down how the game played out:

• Peyton Manning (14 for 21, 192 yards) became the fourth player in NFL history with 50,000 Submitted at 12/27/2009 9:57:15 PM passing yards for his career. Fast Facts • For the Jets, Thomas Jones (23 • Peyton Manning was removed carries, 105 yards, TD) reached from the lineup in the third 100 yards rushing for the sixth quarter with the Colts up 15-10. time in his last 10 games. T h e J e t s t h e n s c o r e d 1 9 • Bloggers' wrapups unanswered points to snap the • Rapid reaction Colts' 23-game regular season -- ESPN Stats & Information win streak. Five Filters featured article: • The Colts had fewer than 100 Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: rushing yards for the fourth PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, straight game; they have failed to Term Extraction. reach the mark in 12 of 15 games this season.

FLORIDA continued from page 55

chest hurts. You can't live your life when your chest hurts," Foley said. Foley added that there could be precautions in place if Meyer returns, all in hopes of easing his workload. "There's a lot of things we've got to evaluate and make sure we're taking care of coach Meyer, and that's what we're going to do," Foley said. Information from ESPN.com's

Mark Schlabach, ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen and The Associated Press was used in this report. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Predicting the Playoffs: Jets, Ravens in Great Shape for Wild Card By JJ Cooper (Fanhouse Main)

Capcom may shift established franchise development overseas, Q1 delays 'strategic'

Submitted at 12/27/2009 3:25:00 PM

Filed under: Broncos, Colts, Dolphins, Jaguars, Jets, Ravens, Steelers, NFL Playoffs Colts backup quarterback Curtis Painter could end up being the deciding factor in the AFC wild card race. When Colts coach Jim Caldwell decided to bench Peyton Manning in the second half of Sunday's game, the Jets quickly turned a 15-10 deficit into a 2915 win. It's possible that the Jets

would have won anyway, but with Painter in the game, New York's job became very easy. And with that win the Jets took control of the AFC wild card playoff race.

By Alexander Sliwinski (Joystiq)

"demonstrated the difficulty of outsourcing the development of [a] new title to overseas Submitted at 12/28/2009 11:30:00 AM companies." Capcom will apparently focus The document adds that the original IP development in its company is "considering ways to J a p a n - b a s e d s t u d i o s a n d separate the roles of activities in outsource established franchises J a p a n a n d o v e r s e a s . " to other lands, according to a International companies may be Q u e s t i o n a n d A n s w e r used to develop existing games session(warning: PDF link) series with "well-established posted on the company's investor characters and universal themes." relations site. No executives are A little less clear is this note: named in the Q&A brief, but the "Overseas companies will also transcript is of a phone meeting handle certain parts and/or with analysts. In it, a Capcom lineups of such games." representative states that the Also mentioned is the "strategic reboot of Bionic Commando, decision" which prompted the developed by the late GRIN, recent Q1 2010 delays of major

Street Chic: New York By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 12/28/2009 4:00:00 AM

Reap the fringe benefits of a

luxe fur jacket. 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.

franchises, making for a rocky financial quarter. Capcom allegedly "combines management and development to reach various decisions ... [it] would not decide to postpone the launch of a title" purely for development reasons. Source-- Q&A Summary [PDF Link] Capcom may shift established franchise development overseas, Q1 delays 'strategic' originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 28 Dec 2009 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Finally! A 7-minute Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep trailer in Japanese By Ben Gilbert (Joystiq) Submitted at 12/28/2009 12:30:00 PM

You might have noticed a serious dearth of Disney characters speaking in Japanese on Joystiq lately -- we sure have, and it's just tearing us to bits inside. Thankfully, Square Enix seems to have taken note as well, recently updating the Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep website with more than just wallpapers (though you'll find three of those on there, too). How about the entire seven-minute-long trailer from Jump Festa 2010? We've embedded it above, By Alexander Sliwinski f o r J o y s t i q m a g a z i n e ( a l s o though if you're dying to know By Justin McElroy (Joystiq) a v a i l a b l e i n F r e n c h ) h a s what the people in it are actually Speaking with Kotaku, game (Joystiq) prevented us from getting a real saying, we suggest you check out director Sefton Hill said the Submitted at 12/28/2009 10:30:00 AM Submitted at 12/28/2009 10:00:00 AM feel for what the game is about. the full translation right here. secret is to have "confidence in Boy, Rocksteady has WAY the game" and "be able to show Battle Kid: Fortress of Peril, a Check out a video of the 8-bit And then, once you have it in better bosses than we do. When that [added] time is going to be new Nintendo Entertainment gameplay after the break and English, you might ask your we say we need two more well spent." System title, is almost ready for prepare to rock your NES like it's nearest Kingdom Hearts fan to months to finish a post, our So, in closing, we'd like to tell all those who didn't get a next- 1988. translate further. higher-ups open a whole barrel of AOL that we're confident the gen system for the holidays. [Thanks, Levi] [Thanks, G. Finnsson] complaints: "There's no way it extra five months we're spending BK:FoP, designed by Sivak Continue reading'Battle Kid: Finally! A 7-minute Kingdom could take you that long to write on that PS3 Slim rumor post you Games, will be available on an Fortress of Peril' could be the Hearts: Birth by Sleep trailer in a post," or, "It won't be anywhere asked about will be well spent. NES cartridge through website latest NES hit Japanese originally appeared on near relevant anymore." We've Thank you. RetroZone sometime this month. 'Battle Kid: Fortress of Peril' Joystiq on Mon, 28 Dec 2009 h e a r d t h e m a l l . B u t w h e n Rocksteady: publishers fully The website also sells tools to could be the latest NES hit 12:30:00 EST. Please see our Rocksteady said it needed two backed Batman: Arkham Asylum make original NES games. originally appeared on Joystiq on terms for use of feeds. m o r e m o n t h s f o r B a t m a n : delay originally appeared on Battle Kid reminds us of Mega Mon, 28 Dec 2009 10:30:00 Read| Permalink| Email this| Arkham Asylum, pushing the Joystiq on Mon, 28 Dec 2009 Man mixed with more Mega Man EST. Please see our terms for Comments release from June to August, it 10:00:00 EST. Please see our -- minus the suit. A lack of use of feeds. w a s a p p a r e n t l y b a c k e d terms for use of feeds. preview build or five-month lead Read| Permalink| Email this| c o m p l e t e l y b y t h e g a m e ' s Read| Permalink| Email this| to develop a 3,000 word feature Comments publishers, Eidos and Warner Comments Bros.

Rocksteady: publishers fully backed Batman: Arkham Asylum delay

'Battle Kid: Fortress of Peril' could be the latest NES hit

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NintendoWare Weekly: Castlevania ReBirth, Pilotwings, Oregon Trail By David Hinkle (Joystiq) Submitted at 12/28/2009 11:00:00 AM

Nintendo's been on quite the roll recently, providing plenty of content in its weekly offerings -and today is no different. There are ten new titles to check out, including high-profile downloads such as Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth, Oregon Trail By Richard Mitchell (Joystiq) Additionally, today's holiday and -- finally!-- Pilotwings on the XBLM deal is a Rolling Stones Virtual Console. Head past the Submitted at 12/28/2009 12:00:00 PM live track pack for Guitar Hero 5. break to check out the full list. By Ben Gilbert (Joystiq) a preview after the break for the For $5, you could probably buy I t c a n b e y o u r s f o r o n l y Continue reading NintendoWare time being. We did, however, a value meal fit for a king -- but 360($4.50), half the usual Weekly: Castlevania ReBirth, Submitted at 12/28/2009 1:00:00 PM watch the entirety of "Initiation" you know what you couldn't get? 720($9) price. Pilotwings, Oregon Trail When the folks at The Duo this morning, and can assure you A delightfully charming action Shortcut: Add The Maw to your NintendoWare Weekly: Group aren't busy making short it'll be worth your time when it platformer starring a purple, 3 6 0 d o w n l o a d q u e u e [ V i a Castlevania ReBirth, Pilotwings, f i l m s , a n i m a t i o n s , o r does finally arrive later today. Oregon Trail originally appeared omnivorous and gelatinous blob. X b o x . c o m ] advertisements for various [Thanks, Graham C.] No, wait! This week -- and this Shortcut: The Rolling Stones on Joystiq on Mon, 28 Dec 2009 entertainment companies, they Continue reading Assassin's week only-- you can get a Live Track Pack[Via Xbox.com] 11:00:00 EST. Please see our m a k e . . . s h o r t f i l m s a n d Creed fan-made film 'Initiation' delightfully charming action Xbox Live deal of the week: The terms for use of feeds. animations just for the fun of it. available today platformer starring a purple, Maw for $5 originally appeared Read| Permalink| Email this| C a s e i n p o i n t , t h e r e c e n t Assassin's Creed fan-made film omnivorous and gelatinous blob. on Joystiq on Mon, 28 Dec 2009 Comments A s s a s s i n ' s C r e e d f a n f i l m 'Initiation' available today The price of Twisted Pixel's The 12:00:00 EST. Please see our "Initiation," which provides a originally appeared on Joystiq on Maw has been slashed from 800 terms for use of feeds. prologue piece on Altair joining Mon, 28 Dec 2009 13:00:00 MS Points ($10) to 400 MS Read| Permalink| Email this| the assassin's guild. EST. Please see our terms for Points ($5). And here we thought Comments Though the whole 10-minute use of feeds. Christmas was over. shebang is set to be released Read| Permalink| Email this| sometime today, we can only Comments provide the teaser still above and

Assassin's Creed fanmade film 'Initiation' available today

Xbox Live deal of the week: The Maw for $5

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No danger on Sunday flight just an ill passenger (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News)

Airport. Airport police and border officers then entered the cabin to remove the man from the ROMULUS, Mich. – Armed plane. officers on Sunday rushed aboard Passengers were safely t h e s a m e D e t r o i t - b o u n d evacuated, and luggage was lined Northwest Airlines flight that up on the ground for inspection was attacked on Christmas Day, by bomb-sniffing dogs. but the perceived threat wasn't The passenger, also a Nigerian, much of a danger — just an ill was a businessman who was sick traveler who spent too much time and posed no security threat, said in the bathroom. two law enforcement officials Coming so soon after a Nigerian who spoke on condition of was accused of trying to blow up anonymity because they were not a plane, authorities quickly a u t h o r i z e d t o d i s c u s s t h e responded to an emergency call i n c i d e n t . from the crew on Flight 253 from The traveler in question had Amsterdam. Some of the 256 "spent a lengthy time in the passengers were rattled while restroom," FBI spokeswoman others apparently weren't aware Sandra Berchtold said. of the incident. "This raised concerns so an alert Tim Jeronimus, 13, said he was was raised. ... The investigation "a bit nervous" when officers shows that this was a non-serious entered, and his 11-year-old incident and all is clear at this sister, Emma, said she was point," she said. scared. The passenger was released after Their mother, Jane Jeronimus, questioning, Berchtold said. said the captain told passengers The man used the bathroom that no arrival gates were several times during the trip and available. refused to come out as the plane "I said to my husband, 'That's not was preparing to land, said Lester true,'" she later recalled inside the Robinson, head of the Wayne terminal at Detroit Metropolitan County Airport Authority. Submitted at 12/28/2009 7:02:21 AM

"The guy didn't want to stay in his seat," said Henna Solamaa, a traveler from Finland who was aboard the Airbus 330 on Sunday. Passengers apparently saw no cause for concern until the man got up to go to the bathroom after crew members told passengers to stay in their seats for the last hour of the flight. Witnesses said people seemed more concerned that somebody was defying crew orders, not that the man seemed suspicious. Tim Jeronimus said crew members banged on the bathroom door several times, and the passenger refused to get out. The Jeronimus family was sitting near the passenger. They were returning home to Ann Arbor, Mich., from a visit with relatives in the Netherlands. Just two days earlier, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, attempted to destroy a plane by igniting an explosive on his body shortly before arrival in Detroit, the FBI says. Passengers pounced on him to extinguish the flames. That scare has led to new security rules that were a factor

in Sunday's incident. Passengers were told to stay in their seats and keep their laps clear for the final hour. "Even if you're sick, you have to pay respect to what the flight crew is saying," said Robert Ficano, Wayne County chief executive. Gregory Tucker, 42, of The Hague, Netherlands, said he didn't see or hear any disruption. "It didn't seem particularly effective," Tucker said of the new security rules. Hitesh Desai said he was anxious throughout the incident. "It does feel surreal that this is happening," Desai, 45, of Rochester Hills, Mich., said later. ___ Ed White reported from Detroit. Associated Press videographer Bill Gorman in Detroit and writer Devlin Barrett in Washington contributed to this report. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

PERCY continued from page 64

Holdings Inc., when reached early Sunday. He declined to comment further out of respect for the wishes of Sutton's family. The Rev. Al Sharpton said he last visited Sutton in a nursing home Wednesday. He recalled meeting Sutton for the first time at age 12; Four years later, Sutton paid for his trip to a national black political convention because the teenage Sharpton couldn't afford to go. "He personified the black experience of the 20th century," Sharpton said. "He started the century where blacks were victims. We ended as victors." Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Sunday that flags on city buildings would be lowered in Sutton's honor. ___ Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz in New York and M.L. Johnson in Chicago contributed to this report. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

US acknowledges flaws in air security (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 12/28/2009 9:13:15 AM

Janet Napolitano, US homeland

security secretary, on Monday acknowledged that flaws in existing security procedures had allowed a man armed with explosives to board a Detroit-

bound trans-Atlantic flight on Christmas Day. As President Barack Obama came under political pressure to speak publicly about the foiled

attack, Ms Napolitano told Fox News: “This individual was able to get on this plane with this material. That should not have happened.”

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US asks why 'jet bomber' had visa (BBC News | Americas | World Edition)

was being treated for burns, to a federal prison. Mr Abdulmutallab's family has Submitted at 12/28/2009 9:22:32 AM described his recent behaviour as The US homeland security completely out of character. They secretary has demanded to know said he had never caused them how the Nigerian man accused of c o n c e r n u n t i l h e s t o p p e d trying to blow up a jet had a visa communicating with them earlier despite being on a watch list. this year. "We all want to know the answer 'Extensive review' t o t h a t q u e s t i o n , " J a n e t His father, a prominent Nigerian Napolitano said. banker and former government She also appeared to backtrack official, warned the US embassy on a widely criticised assertion in Abuja in October that his son that the aviation security system had developed radical views and had worked. might have travelled to Yemen. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab But officials did not revoke his was arrested after he allegedly two-year multiple-entry visa, tried to set off an explosive which was issued in June 2008. device on board a Northwest Instead, Mr Abdulmutallab's file Airlines flight to Detroit on w a s m a r k e d f o r a f u l l Friday. investigation should he ever A hearing before a federal judge reapply for a visa. in the city scheduled for Monday, His name was also added to the at which prosecutors were to seek Terrorist Identities Datamart permission to obtain a DNA Environment (Tide) watch list, sample from Mr Abdulmutallab, which contains the details of has been cancelled. No reason around 550,000 people with was given. suspected connections to The 23-year-old was earlier terrorism but does not prevent moved from a hospital, where he them from flying internationally.

On Sunday, President Barack Obama ordered a review of the creation of watch lists and the use of detection equipment at airport checkpoints, which failed to spot the powerful explosive, pentaerythritol (PETN), allegedly hidden on Mr Abdulmutallab's body. Ms Napolitano meanwhile said the aviation security system had worked "very, very smoothly over the course of the past several days", prompting widespread criticism from members of Congress and counter-terrorism experts. But in interviews with US media on Monday, the homeland security secretary said her comment had been taken out of context and that she had instead been referring to the system of notifying other flights as well as law enforcement on the ground about the incident. "Our system did not work in this instance," she told NBC. "No-one is happy or satisfied with that. An extensive review is under way." "And that's why we are asking -

how did this individual get on the plane? Why wasn't the explosive material detected? What do we need to do to change?" Ms Napolitano told CNN that she something had gone "awry" when someone like Mr Abdulmutallab did not have his visa revoked and was allowed to fly. "We want to fix that problem," she said, adding that the authorities were convinced that the additional screening procedures and on-board security measures put in place since meant air travel was safe. Earlier, the UK said Mr Abdulmutallab had been placed on its security watch list because he had been refused a visa in 2008 after applying to study at a bogus college. His name was not passed on to the US. Print Sponsor Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

LG joins rush to e-reader market (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 12/28/2009 3:28:17 AM

LG Display, the world’s second biggest flat-screen maker, has joined the rush among Asian manufacturers to make e-paper displays – specialised flat screens used in the the fast-growing electronic reader market. The Korean company on Monday signed agreements with two subsidiaries of Taiwan’s Prime View International, which supplies the key display component for popular electronic readers such as Amazon’s Kindle and Sony’s Reader. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Forest fires burn homes in Chile (BBC News | Americas | World Edition) Submitted at 12/28/2009 3:16:18 AM

Chilean authorities are on high alert in the region of Valparaiso where forest fires have destroyed at least 20 homes, forcing people to flee. The forest fires have burned

some 2,000 hectares of wood and brush in the hills near the port of Valparaiso. At the weekend, hundreds of residents had to leave as the fires neared their homes. Officials suspect arson and say a 12-year-old boy could be responsible for at least one of the fires.

Firefighters continued working on Sunday to douse the flames, aided by aeroplane and helicopter crews. Residents told of how they were given little notice to leave as the fires approached. "Everything was lost in the fire. I had to leave everything there. I could only save what I have here.

The only things are these, Print Sponsor everything else burned," one Five Filters featured article: said. Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: Thick smoke from the nearby PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, fires has enveloped the port of Term Extraction. Valparaiso, although forecasters say more humid weather and lower temperatures in the coming days may help the work to put out the fires.

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NJ man in Brazil case: Son not yet calling me Dad (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News)

Court finally cleared the way for the boy's return. NBC paid for Goldman's charter TRENTON, N.J. â&#x20AC;&#x201C; A man who plane from Rio de Janeiro back to brought his son home to the the U.S. The father and son have United States from Brazil after been staying with relatives in winning a bitter custody battle Orlando, Fla. said in an interview aired Goldman has not said when he'll Monday that he's thrilled they bring Sean back home to Tinton have been reunited but is still Falls, N.J. He says the boy is waiting to be called "Dad." happy to be with him but needs "I said, 'You can call me Dad,'" time to adjust. David Goldman said on NBC's "I missed five previous years of "Today" show. "And he didn't my son's life," Goldman said. say anything." "That's a big scar. Now we're Goldman brought 9-year-old together, and we'll heal." Sean back from Brazil on Goldman said he's looking Christmas Eve after a five-year f o r w a r d t o t a k i n g h i s s o n international custody dispute. c a n o e i n g , s o m e t h i n g S e a n The boy's mother, Bruna Bianchi, enjoyed when he was younger. took Sean to her native Brazil in He said the boy remembers a bit 2004, divorced Goldman and about his life in New Jersey and remarried. Goldman began legal has asked whether his bedroom efforts to get his son back. had been changed. After Bianchi died last year in When Goldman told him it had childbirth, her husband, Paulo been left as it was when the boy Lins e Silva, continued the legal was 4, Sean rolled his eyes at the fight and won temporary custody. thought of staying in a little kid's A ruling last week by the chief room. Goldman said they would justice of the Brazilian Supreme redo it together. Submitted at 12/28/2009 7:53:43 AM

Although the fight is over in Brazilian courts, there is still possible action in the case. Goldman's lawyer, Patricia Apy, says details still need to be worked out for conditions of visitation for the boy's family in Brazil. Goldman says he doesn't want to deny them access to the boy the way they kept him away. There could also be legislation to address other international abduction cases. U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican who traveled to Brazil with Goldman several times, is pushing a bill that would allow the U.S. to impose sanctions on countries that don't comply with an international treaty on how to handle similar abduction cases. There are about 2,800 such cases worldwide involving children from the U.S., officials say. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

crackdown following mass protests in Tehran and elsewhere at the weekend. Submitted at 12/28/2009 8:56:25 AM At least three allies of MirIranian authorities on Monday H o s s e i n M o u s s a v i , t h e arrested about a dozen reformists, opposition leader, who claimed including senior aides to victory in Iranâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s disputed opposition leaders, in a fresh presidential election in June, and

(FOXNews.com)

"He was so important to that community," North Little Rock Police Department spokesman The wife of a killed Salvation T e r r y K u y k e n d a h l t o l d Army major says that his work F o x N e w s . c o m . ministering to people in a North "This has been a tremendous Little Rock neighborhood will blow to (them)." continue. One co-worker described Wise Salvation Army Maj. Cindy as a "big, old teddy bear" who Wise led a Sunday service in the h a d a p a s s i o n f o r m u s i c , building where her husband, 40- Kuykendahl told FoxNews.com. year-old Philip Wise, was shot to Wise was well-known in the death during a robbery attempt community for his work with on Christmas Eve afternoon. disadvantaged children. Authorities have said that as The suspects remain at large. Philip Wise and his three young Police are offering a reward of up children approached the entrance to $3,000 for any information to the facility, two men accosted leading to the suspects' arrests. him. One of the men pulled a They are described as two gun, demanded money and then African-American males and are shot Wise. believed to be 'armed with Cindy Wise said during Sunday's handguns.' Police are following service that she has peace up on leads, but are asking the because she knows the work in public to help them by contacting t h e N o r t h L i t t l e R o c k them at (501) 758-1234 with any neighborhood is not done yet. bit of information they may have. She says she plans to continue The Associated Press and that "together we will still c o n t r i b u t e d t o t h i s r e p o r t . provide salvation and grace to Five Filters featured article: this neighborhood." Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: t w o a i d e s t o M o h a m m a d Philip Wise had worked for the PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Khatami, the former president, Salvation Army for 16 years and Term Extraction. had been at the Little Rock have been detained. Five Filters featured article: location for 3 years. Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Iran arrests reformists in fresh crackdown (Financial Times - US homepage)

Wife of Killed Salvation Army Major Will Continue His Work Submitted at 12/28/2009 5:06:20 AM

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Wild horse roundup to begin in Nevada amid protest (AP)

Brazilians flee Suriname clashes

(Yahoo! News: U.S. News)

(BBC News | Americas | World Edition)

Submitted at 12/28/2009 9:29:54 AM

LAS VEGAS â&#x20AC;&#x201C; The federal capture of about 2,500 wild horses from public and private lands in northern Nevada was to begin Monday amid protests the roundups are unnecessary and inhumane. Federal officials said the roundup is needed because the 850 square miles of land is overpopulated. Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman JoLynn Worley said the agency planned to begin gathering horses Monday and taking them to Reno, where they will be fed and given immunizations. Long-term plans call for the mustangs to be placed for adoption or sent to holding facilities in the Midwest. Horse defenders say the use of helicopters to drive horses to corrals is inhumane and risks

their injury and death. Opponents also contend winter roundups expose horses to the risk of respiratory illness. About 30 protesters gathered Sunday at the entrance to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area west of Las Vegas, waving down motorists and holding placards. California-based In Defense of Animals planned to demonstrate Wednesday outside the San Francisco office of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who protesters hope will sympathize with their calls for a moratorium on wild horse roundups. Another protest was being planned for Wednesday in Chicago. The roundup was to include horses from five federally managed areas in the Calico Mountains complex. A September count showed more than 3,040 wild horses were living in the area, about

three times the land's capacity, federal officials said. Without the roundup, the horse population in the area would grow by 20 percent to 27 percent annually, passing 6,000 mustangs within four years, according to BLM. At that point, wildlife and livestock wouldn't have enough water or forage. The roundup is part of the Bureau of Land Management's overall strategy to remove thousands of mustangs from public lands across the West to protect wild horse herds and the rangelands that support them. The bureau estimates about half of the nearly 37,000 wild mustangs live in Nevada, with others concentrated in Arizona, California, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

The Brazilian government sent an Air Force plane to Suriname at the weekend to bring several of Submitted at 12/28/2009 2:22:23 AM their nationals back to Brazil. Clashes between locals and Brazil's ambassador to B r a z i l i a n g o l d m i n e r s i n Suriname, Jose Luiz Machado e Suriname are now known to have Costa, visited Albina and said he left at least 25 people injured, could not confirm earlier reports Brazilian officials say. that Brazilians had been killed. The violence in the town of He told Brazilian website Folha Albina erupted last Thursday Online that 25 people had been after a man was stabbed to death, injured in the violence. allegedly by a Brazilian, who is Brazilian officials say the now in custody. government of Suriname has S u r i n a m e a u t h o r i t i e s a r e promised all possible steps will reported to have stepped up be taken to guarantee the safety patrols in the region. of Brazilian migrants in the T e n s i o n s b e t w e e n n a t i v e country. Surinamese and hundreds of There are estimated to be up to Brazilian gold prospectors have 18,000 Brazilians living in long simmered in Albina. Surriname, a former Dutch Last week's violence began after colony of some half a million a Brazilian man reportedly people. stabbed a local man, provoking Many of the Brazilians crossed townspeople to take revenge. over the border to prospect for Brazilians living in the Albina gold. were attacked and the violence Print Sponsor spread to businesses owned by Five Filters featured article: Chinese migrants. Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: The town, home to some 5,000 PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, people, is the main crossing point Term Extraction. into the French territory of French Guiana.

Wall St edges to new highs for the year (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 12/28/2009 8:13:36 AM

US equities were trading modestly firmer at mid-morning

on Monday, and were at new highs for the year as the final week of December began on a quiet note. The S&P 500 opened in positive territory and after rising as much

as 0.4 per cent, the broad benchmark was up 0.2 per cent at 1,128.74 after the first hour of trading. That left the S&P just shy of a 25 per cent gain in 2009, on course for its best year since

2003â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gain of 26 per cent. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.