Liberty Newsprint Nov-20-09 by Liberty Newspost

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19/11/09 - 20/11/09

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The First Draft: Will Giuliani try for Ken Lewis' successor the U.S. Senate? could be... Ken Lewis? By David Morgan (Front Row Washington)

fuss. But overcoming a possible challenge from New York’s Democratic attorney general, Submitted at 11/20/2009 6:34:22 AM Andrew Cuomo, could be have He probably won’t run for New been difficult. Cuomo has not York governor but might for the announced his candidacy. U.S. Senate … or will he? The Daily News reports that That’s the speculation swirling Giuliani is strongly considering a around Rudy Giuliani, the Senate run against Democratic R e p u b l i c a n f o r m e r N e w Senator Kirsten Gillibrand to fill York City mayor who walked tall out the remaining two years of after the Sept. 11 attacks and ran Hillary Clinton’s term. Clinton, for U.S. president in 2008. who lost in last year’s A spokeswoman says the 65- D e m o c r a t i c p r e s i d e n t i a l y e a r - o l d f o r m e r f e d e r a l nomination to Barack Obama, is p r o s e c u t o r h a s m a d e n o now U.S. secretary of state. decisions. The Daily News cites poll But the New York Daily News, numbers showing Giuliani losing the New York Times and the to Cuomo 53 percent to 43 New York Post all report that percent in a race for governor, Giuliani has decided not to run but beating Gillibrand 54 percent for New York governor in 2010. to 40 percent for the Senate. Analysts think he could defeat But the Senate speculation may Democratic incumbent Governor not last long. David Paterson without much The New York Post quotes

people close to Giuliani as saying a run for the Senate is unlikely. And even the Daily News seems to be hedging its bets with a story saying Giuliani doesn’t need to run for the Senate because he already has plenty of money and influence and a private life that’s working out just fine. Giuliani ran for the Senate in a 2000 campaign that pitted him against Clinton. But events and declining poll numbers were against him and he withdrew after a quick succession of revelations: he had prostate cancer, he had a girlfriend, and he was separating from his second wife. Giuliani has since beaten cancer, divorced his second wife, Donna Hanover, and married his former girlfriend, Judith Nathan. Photo Credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder (Giuliani)

Twitter's geotagging API goes live By Don Reisinger (Webware.com)

The geolocation tool allows developers to incorporate a user's

location in tweets. It's an opt-in service.

By Zac Bissonnette (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 11/20/2009 5:00:00 PM

Filed under: Bank of America (BAC) In the past, I've covered Rochdale Securities analyst Dick Bove's inane ramblings about how fantastically awesome Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) CEO Ken Lewis is. Last month he called Mr. Lewis "phenomenally good" and his notes to investors are beginning to have more in common with 12-year old girls' Valentines to Zac Efron than conventional research. But he has outdone himself this time. While Bank of America's chairman of the board goes on a cruise instead of devoting all his energy to finding a successor, Mr. Bove has found the solution to replacing Ken Lewis: "In sum, Mr. Lewis was a key architect in the creation and management of Bank of America. He knows this

company better than anyone else and he knows how to operate it," Bove wrote in a research note issued this morning. "At this point in the company's history, this is the type of leader needed. Convincing him to return would be the biggest morale builder that management could get." Continue reading Ken Lewis' successor could be... Ken Lewis? Ken Lewis' successor could be... Ken Lewis? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Cuba travel ban debate elicits strong feelings By Susan Cornwell (Front Row Washington)

ban, told one witness who had advocated lifting it that she found some of his comments Submitted at 11/19/2009 3:30:41 PM “shameful.” No one can remember the last The witness, retired U.S. time they had a full House of G e n e r a l B a r r y M c C a f f r e y , R e p r e s e n t a t i v e s c o m m i t t e e riposted that he was offended by hearing on whether to lift the R o s - L e h t i n e n ’ s U.S. travel ban on Castro’s Cuba. “ m a r g i n a l i z a t i o n ” o f h i s Perhaps that’s why some strong viewpoint, adding that her line of feelings spilled out into the open. questioning was “silly.” F l o r i d a R e p u b l i c a n The hearing Thursday of the Representative Ileana Ros- House Foreign Affairs committee Lehtinen, a staunch defender of started out peacefully enough. keeping the decades-old travel Chairman Howard Berman said

lawmakers should examine why Cuba was “the only country in the world where our people are not allowed to go.” Most of the witnesses then spoke in favor of changing U.S. policy, which was launched in the 1960s in a Cold War bid to isolate Fidel Castro. But Ros-Lehtinen, a CubanAmerican born in Havana, was clearly determined to resist what proponents say is their best chance in years to lift the ban on travel to Communist Cuba, 90

miles from her state. She mocked a reference McCaffrey had made to “Communist morality” and rolled her eyes when McCaffrey said he had once spent seven hours with Castro. “I always find it intriguing that people are so proud of the number of hours that Castro spent with them,” Ros-Lehtinen said. McCaffrey, who once headed the U.S. Southern command coordinating U.S. national

security operations in Latin America, was irked that RosLehtinen had not referred to him by the title of general. He corrected her, and for that he got an apology. Other lawmakers and witnesses tangled over whether they had done enough to help anti-Castro dissidents while visiting Cuba (under apparent exceptions to the U.S. travel ban.) They also debated whether, if a CUBA page 3

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CUBA continued from page 2

flood of American tourists were suddenly allowed to visit Cuba, would they be allowed to meet anyone other than hotel workers, or would they have enough Spanish to spread democracy. Representative Albio Sires, who was also born in Cuba, pointed out that not everyone was fluent in Spanish who claimed to be. His own brothers’ Spanish was “an embarrassment,” he said. Republican Representative Jeff Flake said he was offended by a comment from another witness, Ambassador James Cason, that tourists go to Cuba for “rum, sun, cigars, song and sex.”

Cason is a former chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana and he opposes lifting the travel ban. One thing that did become clear during the hearing: the 47member committee is a real battleground for efforts to lift the travel ban. In opening statements, 15 members spoke against lifting the travel ban and 10 favored lifting it. No action is expected before next year. Berman, who favors lifting the travel restrictions, called the hearing “a great example of democracy in action.”

“One thing I think the entire committee shares is a desire that one day in Cuba, that kind of peaceful clash of ideas can be expressed in the political system,” he said. For more Reuters political news, click here. Photo credit: Reuters/Oswaldo Rivas (Ros-Lehtinen in Honduras in October); Reuters/Enrique de la Osa (Cuba’s Capitol building at sunet Oct. 19)

Creating a Tornado Adobe's Acrobat.com reorganizes, gets Inside a Soap mobile app Bubble [Science] By Adam Frucci (Gizmodo)

By Josh Lowensohn (Webware.com)

Submitted at 11/20/2009 2:00:00 PM Submitted at 11/19/2009 9:01:00 PM

I'm not quite sure what exactly is going on here, me being somewhat of a dullard and all, but I do know one thing: this there is one neat video. [ Random Good Stuff]

The company improves its Acrobat service with a new organizer and a mobile app for the iPhone and BlackBerry that lets users access their files on the go. Originally posted at Web Crawler

Thierry Henry's handball puts goalline referees on Fifa's World Cup agenda By Matt Scott (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk) Submitted at 11/20/2009 2:30:01 PM

• Fifa to discuss introduction of extra assistants in March • Four home unions vital to fasttrack plan for South Africa 2010 Thierry Henry's handball against the Republic of Ireland could lead to Fifa fast-tracking the introduction of two additional referees in time for the World Cup in South Africa. One of Fifa's most senior officials yesterday confirmed the matter will be on the agenda at the lawmaking International Football Association Board meeting in

Zurich next March. Despite calls for Wednesday's controversial game to be replayed, among them one from France's own finance minister, Christine Lagarde, a rematch has been ruled out. However, Michel Platini, arguably one of the two most powerful men in football, is advocating additional referees as a potential panacea. There is now every chance it could become part of the game's laws at the World Cup. "The situation of additional referees will be spoken about at the IFAB meeting," said the official. "If you had additional referees in place, they would have seen it. Michel Platini is in favour of the

system of two more referees." France have qualified for the World Cup," added the official. "The match won't be played again: the result is valid. If not, do you want to replay the ["Hand of God"] match from 1986? That would make you in England happy." Platini said last month that "it is [my] role [as] the president of Uefa and Fifa's vice-president to help referees see everything". He added that with two more referees "it would be better, this system is fairer. You'd have two more pairs of eyes; that's easier." Proponents of the Platini method, rather than video technology, say a fifth referee

would have been positioned within a few feet of Henry at the fateful moment on Wednesday night. Platini is already committed to introducing the system for next season's Champions League, provided it wins the approval of the IFAB. But in a curious twist of timing and Fifa process the decision rests as much in the hands of the home unions, whose closest cousins in the Republic of Ireland were wronged by Henry's act, as in Fifa's. The IFAB comprises eight voting members. Four are from Fifa, including the president, Sepp Blatter, Platini and, in a nod to football's British heritage, one

from each of the four home unions of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Previously the United Kingdom associations have broadly preferred video technology to supplementary referees. • Fifa • World Cup 2010 • Thierry Henry • France • Republic of Ireland Matt Scott guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

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'Europe has shown it wants to be a supersize Switzerland' By Ian Traynor (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk) Submitted at 11/20/2009 12:22:08 PM

The mood in Brussels is bleak as experts agree politicking has triumphed over ambition in the appointment of two new leaders, writes Ian Traynor Europe's hopes of translating its economic power into global political clout have suffered a severe setback as a result of the timid choices on new leadership made this week, analysts, officials, and diplomats conceded on Friday. Others countered, however, that the new faces promoted to European leadership positions – Herman Van Rompuy of Belgium and Lady Ashton from Britain – should be given the benefit of the doubt. Critics within EU structures and experts outside agreed that low politicking had prevailed over lofty ambition in deciding who should take the two posts running EU summits and leading European foreign policy. Both posts – the president of the European Council (Van Rompuy) and the high representative for foreign and security policy – are established by the Lisbon treaty, finally endorsed this month and coming into force in 10 days. A central aim of the reform blueprint is to enable the EU to punch its weight more effectively on the international stage. "We've got a great opportunity

with this [foreign policy] post," said Mark Leonard, director of the European Council on Foreign Relations thinktank. "Is Ashton up to it? Based on her track record, it is quite possible that she is." But Carl Bildt, the ambitious Swedish foreign minister who was keen to secure the job for himself, ridiculed the appointment as "an historic missed opportunity". On the other side of the political spectrum, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, the Franco-German Greens leader, said: "Europe is sinking to a new low." The bulk of the criticism was directed at the appointment of Ashton rather than Van Rompuy since the Belgian, as a prime minister, is viewed as more qualified for his role which, in any case, is being scaled back to that of chairing EU summits and mediating between government chiefs. "People say she might grow into it," said a senior EU official. "But I doubt it. It's very disappointing. This job demands political answers and strategies." Thursday's EU summit in Brussels, at which leaders made the two appointments, had been preceded by weeks of argument and contest for the highly coveted posts. The ferocious manoeuvring meant there was no consensus, portending a lengthy and acrimonious summit. But in the end, it appeared EU leaders did not have the stomach

for the fight. The decisions were taken by consensus in record quick time by agreement on obscure figures, neither of whom have the standing or experience to threaten EU national leaders or the European commission chief, Jose Manuel Barroso. The main criticism was the failure to aim high, instead settling for two leaders seen by many as decent, respectable mediocrities. "The EU is losing influence rapidly and these appointments make that worse," said Simon Hix, professor of European politics at the London School of Economics. "The rest of the world was expecting big figures. But Europe has shown it would rather be a super-sized Switzerland." Ashton sought to deflect the reservations, while acknowledging that policymakers and experts would harbour severe doubts. "I think for quite a few people, they would say that I am the best person for the job and I was chosen because I am, but I absolutely recognise there are a number of candidates around, all of whom would have been extremely good, extremely able," she told the BBC. "I hope that my particular set of skills will show that in the end I am the best choice." Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, the former Danish prime minister who leads the European Socialists, grouping the various

national social democratic parties, and who played a key role in securing the job for Ashton, insisted she had "high capability and a smart style". "The appointments have strengthened the influence of the European parliament and of the European political parties," he told the Guardian. Hix responded that the jobs were distributed not on the basis of merit, experience, or qualification, but for internal reasons of a European political fix. "It's a typical example of how dysfunctional the EU has become. Cathy Ashton knows nothing about foreign policy. She got the job because she is a woman, she is British, she is from a big member state. But she gets no respect from anyone in foreign policy circles." Supporters counter that in her current job as EU trade commissioner, Ashton has proved competent and effective in a tough brief that entails negotiating as an equal on Europe's behalf with the Chinese, the Brazilians and the US. "She is used to speaking for Europe internationally and she's been effective," said Leonard. "And Europe has real clout on trade. But the challenge is geopolitical, how the EU can build itself into a big global power. And the question is how quickly will she be able to make the shift to a totally different prism."

Amid the fallout from Thursday's summit, at which Van Rompuy was the favourite but which Ashton obtained hers by default, a hardheaded reckoning was tallying the winners and losers. "Barroso is the happiest guy in Brussels," said one EU official. "He can't believe his luck." The German and French leaders, Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy, looked satisfied. Van Rompuy was their preference and Ashton's victory means they face no British competition for the powerful economic portfolios in the new European commission. There was surprise and drama in Brussels on Thursday, but today a mood of worried anticlimax settled over the European capital. The new age of mature European assertiveness and leadership that is supposed to be the purpose of the Lisbon treaty was less than palpable. Instead there was a familiar sense of nagging selfdoubt and decline. • European Union • Lady Ashton • Herman Van Rompuy • Tony Blair Ian Traynor guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

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Thierry Henry says rematch with Ireland would be 'fairest solution' By Dominic Fifield (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

-off second leg was preferable. The Barcelona forward did, however, fall short of apologising for using his hand and denied Submitted at 11/20/2009 3:00:00 PM being a cheat, shifting the onus • Henry embarrassed at nature of back on to Fifa to resolve the France's victory furore. "Naturally I feel • Arsène Wenger backs striker's embarrassed at the way that we plea for a rematch won and feel extremely sorry for Thierry Henry has admitted that the Irish who definitely deserve replaying France's World Cup to be in South Africa," said play-off against the Republic of Henry. Ireland would be "the fairest "Of course the fairest solution solution" following his handball would be to replay the game but in the build-up to Les Bleus' it is not in my control. There is decisive goal, with his former little more I can do apart from manager at Arsenal, Arsène admit that the ball had contact Wenger, insistent a rematch is the with my hand leading up to our only way of restoring French equalising goal and I feel very c r e d i b i l i t y a h e a d o f n e x t sorry for the Irish. I have said at summer's finals. the time and I will say again that, Fifa has ruled that the 1-1 draw yes, I handled the ball. at the Stade de France on "I am not a cheat and never have Wednesday cannot now be been. It was an instinctive changed despite Henry's clear reaction to a ball that was coming infringement before squaring for extremely fast in a crowded William Gallas to equalise in penalty area. People are viewing extra-time. The French Football a slowmotion version of what Federation retreated conveniently happened and not what I or any behind that decision today, other footballer faces in the conceding it was a "bitter game. If people look at it in full qualification" but it had "to abide speed you will see that it was an by what Fifa say", despite Henry i n s t i n c t i v e r e a c t i o n . I t i s suggesting in a carefully worded impossible to be anything other statement that a replay of the play than that."

The Ireland captain, Robbie Keane, praised Henry's "courage and honour" in addressing the issue publicly today and urged the FFF to lobby Fifa to have the game replayed, though a spokesman for the French footballing authorities suggested tonight that it was, in fact, time to "move on". That will do little to ease the acute sense of embarrassment that has accompanied Raymond Domenech's side's progress to South Africa with Wenger, who was present in Paris on Wednesday night, suggesting the FFF has a moral obligation both to Ireland and to Henry to press for a rematch. "The French Football Federation have to call for the game to be replayed – the credibility of France going to the World Cup depends on that," said Wenger, who had successfully pressed, along with his vice-chairman David Dein, to have Arsenal's FA Cup fifth-round tie against Sheffield United replayed 10 years ago when Marc Overmars's winning goal was scored when the visitors had expected the ball to be returned to them after an injury.

"French football and France as a country have a duty not to leave Thierry out there alone against the whole world. France has to say: 'Yes, it was a handball and we offer a replay,'" Wenger said. "We want all sport to be fair. Now let's be realistic. Football, and sport in general, is full of heroes who have cheated 10 times more than Thierry. For me people who bought referees, who took drugs, they are the real cheats in sport. Thierry Henry has 14 years behind of fair behaviour in sport and he is singled out today, for me, in the wrong way. You mustn't go overboard with Thierry's behaviour. He made one mistake, and who hasn't made mistakes in life?" Henry's reaction in twice cushioning the ball with his left hand to ensure it did not drift out of play before squaring for Gallas to score, has drawn comparisons with Diego Maradona's infamous first goal against England in the quarter-finals of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, though Wenger stressed the levels of intent were very different. "I always said it was not the hand of God but the hand of the Devil,

with Maradona," he added. "I never accepted what he did. Thierry's was an instinctive reaction of a striker. When the ball goes too far, you take your hand and use it… He meant to do it but what I mean is it is a reaction of a player when the ball is going out to keep it in. "[He should apologise] because it is not a regular goal. You can understand at that moment, with the greed of wanting to score, he did that. With a little bit of distance, he is not a guy who wants to win pretty. He wants to win classy. But I am proud of the way France reacted. Everybody said: 'No, that's not the way we wanted to qualify.' The only people who didn't were political people. People are not happy." • Thierry Henry • Arsène Wenger • France • Republic of Ireland • World Cup 2010 Dominic Fifield guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Browser security features compared By Dennis O'Reilly (Webware.com)

The newest versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox, and other browsers all protect against

phishing and malware attacks, implement these features in very Edge and most also let you browse different ways. a n o n y m o u s l y , t h o u g h t h e y Originally posted at Workers'

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Hand of Thierry Henry rubs shine off the golden generation By Lizzy Davies (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk) Submitted at 11/20/2009 1:56:09 PM

French football fans are redfaced over Les Bleus' World Cup qualification at the expense of Ireland "What does it mean to be French?" mused a jocular JeanMichel Aphatie on primetime television shortly before his national side took on Ireland in the Stade de France. "It's loving France so much that you support the players even when they are bad." He was smiling then but Aphatie, a veteran political commentator, had little to celebrate later on. His team emerged victorious but it did so in such a way that left many French fans with their heads bowed in shame. Amid fears that the touch of Thierry Henry's left hand may have left a permanent stain on the image of the once-mighty Bleus – and the country they represent – France is now engaged in a vigorous bout of another favourite sport: intensive and

protracted soul-searching. Earlier today, before Fifa ruled out a re-match between the countries, pressure mounted for the home side to be given a chance to beat the Irish fair and square. Christine Lagarde, the finance minister, broke ranks with the government to call for the game to "perhaps" be played again. "If the rules are bad you have to question them," she told French radio. Henry himself emerged to echo the call. "Of course the fairest solution would be to replay the game but it is not in my control," he said. The front page of Liberation called on France to set the record straight – this time, it said, "with no hands". At a time when citizens have been asked to consider what national identity means to them, Le Parisien wrote: "The handball of Henry has brought a decisive contribution to the theme 'being French is being ashamed of one's national team'." There were some, of course, who remained defiant in the face of international and domestic opprobrium. Nicolas Sarkozy

avoided all mention of the handball when interviewed immediately after the match. And a string of political figures, including Rama Yade, the sports secretary, and Daniel CohnBendit, a sixties student leader turned green politician, defended Henry. Today Raymond Domenech, the much-maligned French coach, tried to defend himself, saying he didn't "understand [his critics'] moralism". But for most fans the fact remained that this was a moral issue – not only for the team but for France. For them, it was not just that the players, as Aphatie had predicted, were bad on Wednesday night – athough they were generally acknowledged to have been mediocre, lacking in energy and outplayed by "the valiant" Irish. It was that they had scraped through qualification by means of a foul – and that this foul was then ignored, and defended, by a string of players and politicians. Critics claimed the world would now see les Bleus as a nation of cheats. "It was a disgrace," said Christophe Richert, a radio

journalist. "Is this really the moral example we want to show our children?" Another commentator, Jacques Attali, agreed. "Football is becoming discredited. People who should be models are saying to young people: 'You have to hit back when you're insulted; you have to cheat when you're not caught'. It's shameful." The fact that the controversy was caused by Henry, who has scored more goals for France – 51 – than any other player in history, was a particularly bitter pill for the French to swallow. Along with players such as Zinédine Zidane and Lilian Thuram, the captain plays a symbolic role in the French national consciousness as one of the players who led les Bleus to triumph at the World Cup in 1998. Then the Stade de France echoed with jubilant cheers and claims that the French model of integration had triumphed over immigration concerns: the multiracial "black, blanc, beur" line-up that so offended far right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen was seen as having a moral value that went beyond sporting success.

Now, in a France still struggling to tackle the problems of racism and poverty, those claims are seen as having been hugely exaggerated. As the government commissions a debate into how immigration affects the French national identity, the hope that the country had solved its integration problems has long been extinguished. "It is sad," said Attali, "to see the only remaining member of the team covered in glory in 1998 now accepting that his team will qualify through a handball." Henry himself agreed. "Naturally I feel embarrassed at the way that we won and feel extremely sorry for the Irish who definitely deserve to be in South Africa," he said. • Thierry Henry • France • Nicolas Sarkozy • France Lizzy Davies guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Rolls-Royce joins Volvo in exclusive club By Matt Burns (CrunchGear)

engines, safety ratings, comfort, or design. Nope, none of that. Any guesses? The 2010 Rolls-Royce model Rolls-Royce joins Volvo as the line has something very distinctly only manufacturers to offer HD in common with all new Volvos. radio as a standard feature in It has nothing to do with the every model. Of course that’s only the new Ghost and three Submitted at 11/20/2009 2:01:21 PM

different variants of the Phantom. Previously HD radio was only an option, but someone high-up in Rolls-Royce probably enjoys listening to AM HD radio and wanted to make sure everyone had access to it.

Mercedes-Benz also is slowly rolling out the radio option and it’s a standard option in many model’s premium feature packages and Audi previously stated that that by 2011 all models will have it as well.

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A great EU stitch-up that demeans democracy | Daniel Hannan By Daniel Hannan (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

Americans following an exhaustive (and exhausting) series of primaries and ballots. By the end of the campaign, Submitted at 11/20/2009 1:30:00 PM voters knew exactly what they The appointments of Herman were getting. Herman Van Van Rompuy and Cathy Ashton R o m p u y , b y c o n t r a s t , w a s lay bare the rot at the core of the selected at a private dinner as Lisbon project everyone's third choice: the It's not often that the front pages candidate whom no one knew of the Daily Mail and the anything against. Guardian have identical I've often wondered why headlines. Still, both newspapers Guardian readers don't get more are right: it is a great EU stitch- agitated about Euro-elitism. The up, this back-room installation of proudest boast of the British left, favoured placemen. Saying so down the ages, was that it took doesn't make you rightwing or power away from a remote caste l e f t w i n g ; i t m a k e s y o u a and dispersed it more widely. democrat. This was the creed that inspired You might expect me, as a the Levellers, the Chartists, the Conservative, to object to the Suffragettes; the motive that lay a p p o i n t m e n t o f L a b o u r ' s behind religious toleration, the Baroness Ashton. And, while extension of the franchise, Herman Van Rompuy is u n i v e r s a l e d u c a t i o n , frequently described as "centre- appointments by competitive right", he is a Belgian Christian examination, equality for gay Democrat which, other than on people. some moral issues, puts him to Yet, when it comes to the EU, a the left of Labour. surprising number of people who, But my objection isn't to these in any other context, would particular candidates. It's to a c o n s i d e r t h e m s e l v e s racket that concentrates power progressives, line up behind the and freezes out the voters. Hillary most anti-democratic project in Clinton calls Baroness Ashton the western world. Van Rompuy her counterpart. All right, then, and Ashton are precisely the kind let's compare the way the two of unelected office-holders that polities choose their leaders. an earlier generation of radicals B a r a c k O b a m a g o t t o b e would have railed against. president of 300 million Consider their careers. Van

Rompuy owes his position to his mastery of Belgium's labyrinthine coalition trade-offs. A brilliant back-room operator, he went so far as to change the locks of the parliamentary chamber last year in order to prevent Flemish MPs meeting there. As for Lady Ashton, she has never once taken the trouble to get herself elected to anything. A former chairman of a health authority, she went on to work for a quango before being appointed a life peer. She then steered the Lisbon treaty through the upper house without conceding the referendum that all three parties had promised in their manifestos. She became a European commissioner not because of any special aptitude, but because Gordon Brown was determined to avoid a byelection, and so couldn't send an MP. And she owes her latest promotion, again, not to any particular expertise in foreign affairs but because it was generally felt that Labour ought to be compensated over Tony Blair not getting the presidency. Every chapter of that story negates the democratic principle. Every page would have had Wilkes and Paine howling about arbitrary government. I have nothing against the

baroness. My problem is with the system that elevated her, a system that heaps power in the hands of officials who are invulnerable to public opinion; a system that gives unelected commissioners a monopoly of the right to initiate legislation; a system that swats aside referendum results when they go the "wrong" way. Opposing such a system doesn't make you anti-Europe; it makes you pro-democracy. Anyone who believes in representative government should be outraged by what happened on Thursday: a lifelong quangocrat was appointed in secret to a post created by a treaty that we never got the chance to vote for. Were the radicals wrong? Are we better off being governed by a self-perpetuating elite? What fools our fathers were if this be true. • Herman Van Rompuy • European commission • Foreign policy • European elections Daniel Hannan guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Ann Taylor out of style with investors after Q3 report By Steven Mallas (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 11/20/2009 5:20:00 PM

Filed under: Earnings reports I was wrong about Ann Taylor Stores Corp. ( ANN). Thought it might make a possible earnings trade. Well, Q3 earnings are out, and it looks like the market has given a thumbs down to my thesis. At the time of this writing, shares were off by almost 4%. It's funny, because Ann Taylor has done so well in 2009 as a stock that one could have supposed that a wide earnings beat would serve as a catalyst for capital appreciation. The retailer made 20 cents per share on an adjusted basis. According to my earnings preview, 6 cents was the analyst number. I mean, come on, that's an example of solid performance, correct? Continue reading Ann Taylor out of style with investors after Q3 report Ann Taylor out of style with investors after Q3 report originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Gang 'killed victims to extract their fat' By Rory Carroll (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

suspects were in custody and that another seven gang members were being hunted. The jailed men have confessed Submitted at 11/20/2009 2:43:12 PM to killing five people, but police Peruvian police arrest suspects suspect the number of victims is who allegedly drained their far higher, with 60 people victims and sold liquid as an anti- reported missing in Huánuco this wrinkle treatment year alone. Two of the suspects A Peruvian gang that allegedly were arrested at a bus station in killed people and drained fat the capital, Lima, carrying bottles from their corpses for use in of liquid fat which they claimed c o s m e t i c s m a y h a v e b e e n were worth up to £36,000 a inspired by a grisly Andean gallon. legend. At a news conference police Hilarió Cudeña Simon, the displayed two bottles of fat, alleged ringleader, linked the which laboratory tests confirmed crimes to tales of demonic were human. "The fat was assassins, known as Pishtacos, extracted from the thorax and who purportedly waylaid victims thighs," said Eusebio Felix in pre-Columbian times, police Murga, chief of police of Dirincri said. district. Police also showed a Peru reacted with revulsion and photo of the rotting head of a 27horror to reports that scores of year-old male victim discovered p e a s a n t s m a y h a v e b e e n last month in a coca-growing butchered by the gang, which valley. was said to have operated in Police said they received a tip Huánuco, a rural province dotted four months ago about a trade in with Inca temples between the human fat, which exported the jungle and Andean peaks. amber liquid to Europe as antiColonel Jorge Mejia, chief of wrinkle cream. In addition to the Peru's anti-kidnapping police, alleged ringleader the suspects said Cudeña and three other w e r e n a m e d a s S e g u n d o

Castillejos Agüero, Marcos Veramendi Princípe and Enadina Estela Claudio. They have been charged with homicide, criminal conspiracy, illegal firearms possession and drug trafficking. The alleged plot has evoked comparisons to Patrick Süskind's novel Perfume in which a killer distills the essence of his victims into a jar. Others compare it to the film Fight Club in which a character played by Brad Pitt steals bags of human fat from a liposuction clinic to make soap. The gang have been nicknamed the Pishtacos after the ruthless assassins of indigenous Quechua legend who ambushed solitary victims and drained their fat as an offering to gods to make the land fertile. Another version depicts them as cannibal bandits who ate the skin and sold the fat. The stories date back to before the European conquest. The suspects allegedly would sever victims' heads, arms and legs, remove organs and suspend torsos from hooks above candles, which warmed the flesh as the fat dripped into tubs below. Members claimed other gangs

were engaged in similar killings. Medical experts said human fat had cosmetic applications to keep skin supple, but were sceptical about an international black market. "It doesn't make any sense, because in most countries we can get fat so readily and in such amounts from people who are willing to donate," Adam Katz, a professor of plastic surgery at the University of Virginia medical school, told the Associated Press. Peruvians expressed shock that grisly Andean legends they heard from their grandparents could turn out to have a modern twist. "It's really incredible that killers like this could exist today," said one contributor to the newspaper Peru21. • Peru • Plastic surgery Rory Carroll guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Adidas Imperial Stormtrooper Sneakers [Star Wars] By Jesus Diaz (Gizmodo) Submitted at 11/20/2009 3:06:06 PM

Adidas Imperial Stormtropper sneakers. You know, so you can run faster when random people start chasing you down the street to beat the crap out of you. Or ask you where you bought them. It can go either way. There are also Darth Vader shoes and hoodies, all part of next year's Adidas Star Wars Collection. Check out the rest of the images at [ Kicks on Fire]

Why is gold marching higher? Ask the central bankers By Connie Madon (BloggingStocks)

hold gold reserves. Periodically, they buy or sell gold, depending on how they view world markets. Submitted at 11/20/2009 6:00:00 PM Right now, central banks are net The rally in gold just doesn't buyers, the first time since 1988. want to quit. You are probably A weak US dollar is the main wondering what is going on. stimulus for central bankers' gold metric tons from the International Central banks around the world purchases. India just bought 200

Monetary Fund. Central bankers in Mexico, Russia, the Philippines, all have increased their gold purchases. Continue reading Why is gold marching higher? Ask the central bankers Why is gold marching higher?

Ask the central bankers originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Kidnapped couple make video plea By Damien Pearse (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

stress and threatened. "Our kidnappers are losing patience, they are concerned that there has been no response at all Submitted at 11/20/2009 12:30:46 PM to their demands for money. The British couple kidnapped by "We ask the Government and the Somali pirates appeared in people of Britain and our families t e l e v i s i o n f o o t a g e t o n i g h t to do whatever you can to at least showing them surrounded by open negotiations with these gunman and pleading for help to people about money so that free them before they are killed. perhaps our lives can be bought Looking nervous and subdued, back." Paul and Rachel Chandler said He said: "I have no doubt that t h e i r c a p t o r s w e r e " l o s i n g they will not hesitate to kill us, patience" and feared they could perhaps between a week or so of die within a week. now if there is no response. The couple were filmed for His wife said: "We are very Channel 4 News on Wednesday concerned about the future. Our and the footage was broadcast captors are very impatient. tonight. She continued: "We are also Mr Chandler said they were feeling very much under threat "unharmed and in reasonable now that these people themselves physical health" but urged the won't hesitate to take our lives." Government to start negotiations The footage show the couple over a ransom. surrounded by armed men "This is our 27th day in captivity. pointing rifles and machine guns So far we have been provided at them. It is the first time they with adequate food and water and have been seen on camera since facilities and so we are unharmed they were kidnapped. and in reasonable physical health. Channel 4 said that their family Mentally we are under great had agreed that the film should

be broadcast. The Chandlers said their captors had told them that a terrorist cell was looking for them and that they could "sleepwalk to a tragic end". The Chandlers disappeared on October 23 as they sailed from the Seychelles in their 38ft yacht Lynn Rival towards Tanzania. A Foreign Office spokeswoman said tonight: "We are aware of the video. Any such video will be distressing for the family." She said that the couple were innocent tourists and the Government sought their immediate release, but that "substantive concessions" would not be made to hostage takers. • Piracy at sea • Military • Somalia Damien Pearse guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Brin: Google's OSes likely to converge By Tom Krazit (Webware.com) Submitted at 11/20/2009 12:00:00 PM

Puzzled onlookers have wondered why Google is overseeing two separate

operating-system projects. Cofounder Sergey Brin thinks that at some point the two will become one. Originally posted at Relevant Results

Newspaper ad revenue of 28%, 8 quarters of double-digit drops By Tom Johansmeyer (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 11/20/2009 4:40:00 PM

Filed under: Newspapers, New York Times'A' (NYT), Gannett Co (GCI), Media World We've put three quarters behind us in 2009, and the most recent one was merely another miserable step downward for the beleaguered newspaper industry. Total ad revenue plummeted in the third quarter to $6.4 billion for the print jockeys, a decline of 28%. This info from the Newspaper Association of America drives home the notion that conditions will only worsen for the newspaper industry. So, if you're hoping those shares of New York Times Company ( NYT), Gannett ( GCI) and Washington Post Company ( WPO), holding your breath will leave you little more than dizzy. Of the total advertising revenue generated in the third quarter of 2009, $5.8 million came from print, the lowest quarterly amount this year. The $623 million in online advertising sold by America's newspapers was

VW Builds the World's Coolest SUV By Tony Borroz (Wired Top Stories)

You need a tough truck to take on Dakar. VW delivers.

also 2009's worst. Both are down substantially from the same quarter in 2008, when the newspapers posted print ad revenue of $8.2 million and online ad revenue of $750 million, according to NAA data. At this time last year, we lamented year-over-year declines approaching 20%. Now, we have the same feelings as ad revenue drops approach 30%. Continue reading Newspaper ad revenue of 28%, 8 quarters of double-digit drops Newspaper ad revenue of 28%, 8 quarters of double-digit drops originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Closing Bell: Earnings working against stocks (BCRX, DELL, DHI, INTC, LEAP, PCS) By Jon Ogg (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 11/20/2009 4:00:00 PM

Filed under: Dell (DELL), Intel (INTC) Today was a very unusual day. There was no real economic data to absorb. And the markets did see some unusual options trading ahead of expiration date at 4:00 PM today. Disappointing earnings kept a negative bias in the air despite a brief recovery into positive territory in the final hour today... Yet the negative close seemed almost a certain fate today. Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels: Dow 10,318.16 -14.28 (-0.14%) S&P 500 1,091.37 -3.53 (0.32%) Nasdaq 2,146.04 -10.78 (0.50%) Top Analyst Calls Top Day Trader Alerts

Manufacturing in the Philadelphia area grows at a faster pace By Connie Madon (BloggingStocks)

Large Hadron Collider Circulating Particle Beams Again [Large Hadron Collider]

Submitted at 11/20/2009 4:20:00 PM

Unusual Options Trading Continue reading Closing Bell: Earnings working against stocks (BCRX, DELL, DHI, INTC, LEAP, PCS) Closing Bell: Earnings working against stocks (BCRX, DELL, DHI, INTC, LEAP, PCS) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

Filed under: International markets, Forecasts, Market matters, Economic data, Recession What is the Philly/Fed Index and why is it important? The Philly/Fed Index measures manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia area. While it measures only one area of the country, over the years it has been a leading index for manufacturing overall. Why bother measuring the manufacturing sector? The main reason is that manufacturing accounts for 12% of our GDP. Growth in manufacturing indicates that orders are picking up. If orders are picking up, the next step is to hire more workers. Hiring more workers speeds the

By Adam Frucci (Gizmodo) Submitted at 11/20/2009 2:40:00 PM

growth of our economy and at the same time puts unemployed persons back to work. Continue reading Manufacturing in the Philadelphia area grows at a faster pace Manufacturing in the Philadelphia area grows at a faster pace originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

No, it's not going to destroy the world. But the collection of photos of the LHC at the Big Picture is a great reminder that this might be the most impressive piece of machinery humanity has ever built. [ Big Picture]

ECB Trichet's comments show central banks' delicate balancing act By Joseph Lazzaro (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 11/20/2009 5:40:00 PM

Filed under: International markets, Indices, DJIA, Financial Crisis European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet

jolted the markets Friday with the announcement that the ECB will gradually withdraw the emergency cash injections it has added to the financial system, in order to prevent an acceleration in inflation. "Not all our liquidity measures

will be needed to the same extent as in the past," Trichet said at a conference in Frankfurt Friday, Bloomberg News reported."Any non-standard measure whose continuation would pose a threat to the achievement of price stability must be undone

promptly and unequivocally." 2009 17:40:00 EST. Please see Continue reading ECB Trichet's our terms for use of feeds. comments show central banks' Permalink| Email this| Comments delicate balancing act ECB Trichet's comments show central banks' delicate balancing act originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 20 Nov

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Gift Guide: Peripherals By Devin Coldewey (CrunchGear) Submitted at 11/20/2009 3:00:59 PM

• • • • • • •

Intro Keyboard Mouse Fancy Mouse HD Webcam Rugged HDD Secure HDD

Intro GRAND Flash Album Gallery Skins for GRAND FlAGallery developed by CodEasily.com - Flash Templates, WordPress Themes and WordPress plugins The Flash Player and a browser with Javascript support are needed.. Peripherals, they say, are the spice of life. Well, maybe they don’t say that, but they do say it about variety, and peripherals add variety to your computing life. If you’re reading this on a stock HP desktop, clicking on links with the mouse that came with it, and trusting your data to that 512MB USB stick they gave you at work, then you should consider accessorizing. There are lots of things out there that make your computer better, more secure, or more comfortable. Why not treat yourself or a loved one to one of them? Keyboard >> Keyboard Logitech G110 keyboard:$80 Now, I haven’t used this keyboard specifically, but I did

review its big brother, the G19. The essential difference is that the G110 doesn’t have the big, expensive LCD on it, which, while cool, wasn’t really adding much to what was otherwise a great keyboard. It’s comfortable, good-looking, and full of extra stuff like macro keys for games or frequently typed phrases, colored backlighting, and handy

media controls. Logitech makes great keyboards, and this one is probably their best deal. Product Page| CrunchGear Review(kind of) Mouse >> Mouse Logitech G500 Gaming Mouse:$70 Anyone who spends a lot of time with a computer likely spends a lot of time with their mouse. So

why should they be stuck using whatever $5 piece of junk came with the computer, or whatever was in the impulse buy section at Radio Shack? There’s a world of mice out there for differently sized and shaped hands, and it can make a huge difference in terms of comfort and efficiency. The G500 is a great mouse with a proven and familiar shape, and at

$50 (street price) it’s a bargain as well. Any gamer or big PC user will appreciate it. Product Page| CrunchGear Review Fancy Mouse >> Fancy Mouse Razer Mamba:$130 The Mamba is the final word in mice at the moment. A revision GIFT page 14

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Review: ReTrak Universal 90W Notebook Wall Charger By Doug Aamoth (CrunchGear) Submitted at 11/20/2009 2:30:00 PM

Short Version: A universal notebook adapter with retractable cabling that extends to almost ten feet in length, comes with nine adapter tips, and features two USB charging ports. Features: • 90-watt universal notebook adapter • Nine adapter tips • Retractable cables extend to provide 9.5-feet of total length • Includes two USB charging ports • MSRP of $99.99 Pros: • No tangled cables • Built-in USB charging ports • Decent system compatibility Cons: • Not all that compact, despite marketing claims that it’s “up to 60 percent smaller than competitors.”

pretty similarly so it’s a good idea to focus on certain features that appeal to you. The 90-watt ReTrak Universal Notebook Wall Charger, for instance, sports two Review: built-in USB charging ports and a When it comes to universal retractable cabling system for notebook adapters, it’s important $100 as its way of differentiating to keep a couple things in mind. itself (there’s also a 70-watt First, the term “universal” is a bit version available for $80). misleading as you’ll be hard When I first wrote about this pressed to find the Mag Safe item back in October, I saw the adapter tips used with most of product photo and thought, “Hey, Apple’s notebooks. But that’s this thing looks pretty tiny.” And, more of a legal/patenting issue indeed, it’s billed as being “up to than an omission by universal 6 0 p e r c e n t s m a l l e r t h a n adapter manufacturers. competitors.” Here’s the product Second, most of them are priced shot:

You’ll notice that the retractable cord doodads in the above photo appear to be small compared to the main adapter housing. In real life, though, they’re not nearly as svelte – see the photo I took at the top of this post for a more accurate depiction. So my initial reaction after actually opening the packaging was more like, “Oh, it’s about the same size as most of the other adapters I’ve seen.” It absolutely may be a bit smaller than some adapters out there, but I’m not sure where that 60% figure came from. That must have been a gigantic adapter that was used for

comparison. For the sake of our own comparison, here’s the adapter next to a 90-watt Sony adapter (on the right) and a netbook adapter (on the left). As you can see, it’s actually kind of big. Remember that you get the two USB charging ports, though, and the retractable cabling extends out to almost 10 feet in length without getting tangled up in your bag. Both retractable cables can be detached from the adapter, which is a nice feature, and you get a little carrying bag for transporting the main parts of the

adapter and the tips. As for compatibility, the adapter works with various notebooks from Acer, Compaq, HP, Fujitsu, Toshiba, Gateway, Sony, and Dell ( see the full list here). The product works as advertised – I tested it with a 13.3-inch Sony, a 15.6-inch Gateway, a 15.6-inch Sony, and even an 11.6 -inch Acer netbook, as well as several USB devices (iPod, iPhone, MP3 players, PMPs, pocket camcorders) with no problems whatsoever. Bottom Line: REVIEW: page 16

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The Engadget Show tapes this Sunday with HTC's Drew Bamford and Chris Grant of Joystiq! By Joshua Topolsky (Engadget)

and we're strongly encouraging people to get their tickets and not stand in line -- if you have a ticket, you'll have a seat! • You'll need to hold onto your ticket stub to be eligible for the giveaways • You cannot pick up tickets for other people -- if you want your friend to get a ticket, bring your friend! • The show begins at 5PM, and doors will open at 4:30PM

Submitted at 11/20/2009 4:20:00 PM

The Engadget Show is happening again, humans! This Sunday, November 22nd, we'll be bringing that live magic back to the stage as we sit down with Drew Bamford (you can read a bit about him here), director of HTC's Innovation Center (the place where things like the Sense UI are born). We'll also be joined by Joystiq's Editor-in-chief Chris Grant for a special roundtable discussion focused on gaming. As a bonus, we've got giveaways for everyone in the audience, plus one of the lucky attendees will walk away with that Modern Warfare 2 Xbox 360 bundle we just got our hands on! The show takes place at the Tishman Auditorium at Parsons The New School for Design. As you may already know, we film live in front of an audience once a month -- but if you can't make it, don't worry. We're bringing the video back home to Engadget (and as a free download here, in the iTunes Store, or the Zune Marketplace) for your viewing pleasure.

The beautiful venue (which you can see in a photo after the break) is located at 66 W. 12th Street between 5th and 6th Aves. Seating is limited and tickets will be handed out on a first-come, first-served basis -- which means if you want to join us in the audience for the show, you'll have to arrive early and be prepared for a little wait. Here are the facts you need to know about the show:

audience: • The show is graciously sponsored by Nokia, and hosted by Parsons The New School for Design • The total show length will be around an hour • The amazing Glomag will be performing live along with visualist Dan Winckler! Here is what you need to know if you want to be part of the

• There is no admission fee -tickets are completely free • The event is all ages • The venue seats just over 450 people • Parsons students are welcomed, and we encourage them to come! • Tickets will be available for pickup at the Tishman Auditorium at 2PM on the 22nd,

Judge sets February hearing for new Google Books deal By Tom Krazit (Webware.com)

Schedule is laid out for the second round of the final approval process as preliminary

approval is given to the revised deal submitted last Friday. Originally posted at Relevant

Results

If you're a member of the media who wishes to attend, please c o n t a c t u s a t : engadgetshowmedia [at] engadget.com, and we'll try to accommodate you. All other nonmedia questions can be sent to: engadgetshow [at] engadget.com. Continue reading The Engadget Show tapes this Sunday with HTC's Drew Bamford and Chris Grant of Joystiq! The Engadget Show tapes this Sunday with HTC's Drew Bamford and Chris Grant of Joystiq! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| | Email this| Comments

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GIFT continued from page 11

of the Death Adder shape, which was popular for a reason, the Mamba adds two extra buttons and wireless operation to the mix. I found it comfortable, accurate, and extremely good-looking. If you’re willing to spend the dough, this is the best mouse you can buy. Product Page| CrunchGear Review HD Webcam >> HD Webcam Microsoft LifeCam Cinema:$80 Chances are if you or anyone you know has a webcam, it’s either built into your display or a cheapie one that’s no better than that. Well, a new generation of webcams is coming out that support high-def video, and the first representative is Microsoft’s LifeCam Cinema. It’s got a nice wide angle on it, has more clarity than those pinhole webcams, and the clamp it uses is really convenient. One for you and one for a kid going off to college would be a great way to stay in

touch; Microsoft’s video chat software is pretty decent. You can find it for around $60, which isn’t bad at all if you use your current webcam much. Product Page| CrunchGear Hands-On Rugged HDD >> Rugged HDD Lacie Rugged XL 1TB:$160 Lacie’s Rugged series isn’t so much rugged as merely protected from everyday life. While your average external hard drive would probably go belly up if you spilled on it or dropped it, the Rugged XL will take a (minor) licking before rolling over. I’d be much more comfortable bringing this on a long trip than any other drive. There’s a premium for the ruggedness (street price is around $140), but whoever get this will thank you later when the dog knocks it off a table. Product Page| CrunchGear Review Secure HDD >> Secure HDD

Lenovo keypad-secured USB drive (160GB):$150 For your loved ones that are security-conscious, or simply paranoid, I recommend this great drive. Spacious it’s not, and you’re paying a lot for the gigs you’re getting, but the built-in keypad is just too cool to pass up. Not only is it very secure, but it’s also very well-designed. Since you’re actually pressing buttons, there’s no need to worry about administrating it or security software — just set it up once (keep the instructions just in case) and you’re good to go. You can also get a 320GB version for around $200. Product Page| CrunchGear Review

Submitted at 11/20/2009 5:13:00 PM

Hey, it's Friday, and the Engadget Podcast crew is ready to blow out the week in news live -- and not only is there tech news to talk about, but we've got a hot new site to call home. It's all going down at 6:15PM EST, but

the chat below is open, so settle in and we'll see you soon. Continue reading The Engadget

By Chris Ziegler (Engadget) Submitted at 11/20/2009 3:36:00 PM

Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide! The team here is well aware of the heartbreaking difficulties of the seasonal shopping experience, and we want to help you sort through the trash and come up with the treasures this year. Below is today's bevy of hand curated picks, and you can head back to the Gift Guide hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the holiday season. True smartphones like the Palm Pre, Motorola Droid, and iPhone are all chewing up a majority of wireless mindshare these days, which makes it particularly easy Podcast, live at 6:15PM EST! The Engadget Podcast, live at to forget that there's this huge, 6 : 1 5 P M E S T ! o r i g i n a l l y vibrant catalog of cool nonappeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 smartphone handsets sitting right Nov 2009 17:13:00 EST. Please below them in your favorite see our terms for use of feeds. carrier's lineup. They can play Permalink| | Email this| Comments

The Engadget Podcast, live at 6:15PM EST! By Nilay Patel (Engadget)

Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: Cellphones music, games, sometimes last for days on a charge (try that with a G1-- we dare you), and often take up just a fraction of the space in your pocket that a more powerful handset would. They're not for everyone, but odds are you know a couple folks who fit the featurephone mold, and... well, it is the season of giving, isn't it? Follow the break for a few of our recommendations. Note: Looking to give a few smartphones away to friends and family? This particular guide's all about regular cellphones -- but don't worry, we'll be posting our smartphone guide in the not-toodistant future! Continue reading Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: Cellphones Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: Cellphones originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| | Email this| Comments

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Entelligence: Chrome OS, babies, and bathwater By Michael Gartenberg (Engadget)

surprise that Google received a lot of coverage this week with an update on its Chrome OS Submitted at 11/20/2009 3:14:00 PM strategy. While not quite Entelligence is a column by rumorware, it's a lot like the technology strategist and author cloud it depends on: more vapor Michael Gartenberg, a man than substance. whose desire for a delicious cup I don't think Chrome would be a of coffee and a quality New York bad idea if it were something that bagel is dwarfed only by his was targeted to complement passion for tech. In these articles, existing PC architectures. Why he'll explore where our industry isn't it? If it's web-based, Chrome is and where it's going -- on both OS could and should co-exist micro and macro levels -- with w i t h M a c O S , L i n u x a n d the unique wit and insight only Windows. It's the idea that he can provide. Google is promoting Chrome as a In an age where products that PC OS replacement for mobile have never been announced get devices and riding the netbook coverage and even critiqued over hype all at the same time that rumored shipping delays, it's no gets me, as does the fact that I

need to get a new device to run Chrome OS. That's ridiculous, as are reference design requirements like SSDs instead of hard drives. Worse, trying to merge the PC and phone into some weird new

intersection of devices is not what the market wants or has ever looked for. This type of specialized hardware sounds like it's going right into the 'tweener category and we know what

happens to those devices. You just have to look how successful netbooks running Linux and Firefox have been to get a sense as to how well this concept is likely to go over with consumers. Continue reading Entelligence: Chrome OS, babies, and bathwater Entelligence: Chrome OS, babies, and bathwater originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| | Email this| Comments

Bitch-Busting, Ammo-Counting Aliens Gun Is Real, Scary [Guns] By Apoorva Prasad (Gizmodo)

rifle, and put a "black box" inside the handgrip, networking it with the soldier ("with a kind of Submitted at 11/20/2009 2:20:00 PM Bluetooth" according to the PR At Milipol, I was walking guy), and also to home base. The around FN Herstal's booth, grip is a sealed, 10-year unit that playing with futuristic-looking logs the number of bullets fired P90s, Five-Sevens and F2000s and remaining ammo a la Aliens. when I noticed a camera-toting They're also working on pairing tourist pretend-blasting with to specific soldiers, perhaps using something very very cool: The biometrics. Deactivating it if the Armatronics " Black Box" suite Taliban get it, for instance? "In with Moving Red Dot Fire the near future," said PR man Control. enigmatically. They'd taken a SCAR assault The second part of the suite is

grenades. You are your own air support. [ FN Herstal] Apoorva Prasad is a freelance writer and photographer based in Paris, France, who covered the Milipol 2009 military-police expo for us. He has a thing for holo-scoped assault rifles, and sounds disappointed when admitting he's never been Tased. the Moving Red Dot Fire Control Unit, which is a networked firing solution computer for the grenade launcher. You press a button next to the trigger to activate the laser

rangefinder, then the computer calculates the solution, shows it to you in the LED display, then moves the red dot to aim it. That's rightâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; laser-guided

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The Serio speakers from Waterfall Audio are stunning (and expensive) By Matt Burns (CrunchGear) Submitted at 11/20/2009 1:30:28 PM

Archerfish Quattro video monitoring and recording system now available at Amazon By Laura June (Engadget)

Amazon now, so you can order it without having to leave home -Submitted at 11/20/2009 5:14:00 PM which you don't want to do yet. Cernium's just announced It's just not safe. The Archerfish something that should really Quattro system can be purchased please the 'I know the cat is now for a starting price of $1700. putting my stuff on Ebay while Full PR is after the break. I'm at church' crowd. The Continue reading Archerfish Archerfish Quattro is a full scale, Quattro video monitoring and n o m e s s i n g a r o u n g v i d e o recording system now available monitoring and recording system at Amazon that pays attention to the little Filed under: Household details while you're not around. Archerfish Quattro video Analyzing info in real time, if the monitoring and recording system Archerfish Quattro spies now available at Amazon something funky, it'll send a originally appeared on Engadget message to your mobile phone or on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:14:00 email. The system is expandable EST. Please see our terms for so that you can have as many use of feeds. Permalink| Amazon| cameras in the setup as you want, Email this| Comments and best of all? It's available at

I’ve never heard of Waterfall Audio before. I think they qualify for one of my rules in the audio world though: if you’ve never heard of an audio company and they cost more than products from a familiar brand, it’s probably good stuff. Apparently the company made a name for itself a few years ago with a glass -enclosed speaker line. Who knew. The latest speaker line, Serio, keeps the glass theme alive, but manages to shrink the package down to a satellite-style size. Too bad all that glass and square lines scream the ’90s. I’m sure they are fantastic

speakers. They better be for the price: $5,549 for a 5.1 system which includes a HighForce sub, $1,799 for a 2.1 system, or $249 each. The specs are good too: 150 watts max, 87 dB efficiency, and 180HZ – 20kHz frequency response. Each speaker is about the size of a CD jewel case and

weighs 2 lbs.It’s just that they look like something that would have been found in Microsoft’s suits office around the time Windows 95 launched. [ Waterfall Audio via Electronic House]

REVIEW: continued from page 12

Even though it’s not actually all that compact, the ReTrak universal charger’s tangle-free cabling, broad system support, and nice added bonus of two USB charging ports helps it to stand out from similarly-priced adapters. If you’ve got a handful of notebooks and a pile of portables that have made

travelling an unbearable mess of adapters and cables, this ReTrak adapter can help to simplify things considerably. P r o d u c t Page[EmergeRetail.com]

World's Largest Earthquake-Safe Building By Alexis Madrigal (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 11/20/2009 2:45:00 PM

A new 2-million-square-foot terminal at an Istanbul airport is the largest building in the world to sit on high-tech seismic

isolators designed to help the building survive earthquakes intact.

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Target leaks pre-Black Friday deals: Acer netbook for $199 By Doug Aamoth (CrunchGear) Submitted at 11/20/2009 1:00:00 PM

Target will be running a special Sunday-to-Wednesday circular this weekend full of pre-Black Friday deals. Most of the deals are okay, if unspectacular – 32inch LCD TV for $398, $20 giftcard with Wii system purchase, etc. – while the 10.1c o m p a r e d t o t h e s i m i l a r l y inch Acer Aspire One netbook powered HTC HD2. And it ought to sell out pretty quickly at doesn't seem that the 800 x 480 just $199 (although don’t forget resistive touchscreen has won that Office Max will be selling a many fans. But who knows? similar machine on Black Friday Maybe at the right price, this guy for $150). will find its (albeit small) There’s also a 50-inch plasma audience. Or they can slap TV for $698, a 42-inch 1080p Android on the thing, in which LCD TV for $597, and a dualcase we have the perfect name screen portable DVD player for $119. Check your paper this for it: Mandroid. Mangrove WinMo tablet rough- Sunday for the full list of deals. handled, teased for being 'tubby' If you just said, “What’s a originally appeared on Engadget paper?” then maybe check on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:46:00 Target’s website on Sunday EST. Please see our terms for instead. use of feeds. Permalink| SlashGear| Email this| Comments

HP Black Friday Flyer Mangrove WinMo Feels Lacking on Deals tablet rough-handled, teased for being 'tubby' [Black Friday] By Rosa Golijan (Gizmodo)

off) HP dm3z $529.99 ($170 off) Submitted at 11/20/2009 3:04:19 PM HP dv6t Quad $999.99 ($649 The folks over at Logic Buy got off) their hands on the HP Home Printers Store Thanksgiving Event flyer. LaserJet P1006 $90 (50% off) And while some of the deals are Photosmart B8550 $150 (50% decent, nothing really seems to off) s t a n d o u t , a s i d e f r o m t h e LaserJet CP1518ni $200 (50% mouthful of a sales event name. off) Desktops: Accessories HP Pavilion p6280t Quad-Core HP MediaSmart Server LX195 $569.99 ($405 off) $250 ($150 off) HP Pavilion Elite e9250t Core i5 HP Ink Sale $799.99 ($405 off) Logitech G9 Gaming Mouse HP Slimline s5210 $349.99 $49.99 (50% off) ($155 off) [ Logic Buy] Laptops HP G71 17.3" $499.99 ($329

By Joseph L. Flatley (Engadget)

Submitted at 11/20/2009 4:46:00 PM

Not too long ago C-motech popped up on our radar with Mangrove, the 7-inch touchscreen tablet that's been tragically saddled with Windows Mobile 6.5. The kids at SlashGear have just had a chance to play with the device, and to be honest they don't seem too terribly impressed. When stacked up against the Quanta Android Smartbook, for instance, the form factor was deemed unimpressive and "tubby," while the 1GHz Snapdragon seemed lackluster

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Vizio Internetconnected HDTVs delayed

The Future of Snow Sports Tech [Winter Gear]

Uh-Oh: Gameloft moves away from Android development By Greg Kumparak (CrunchGear)

told an investor conference that the company had "significantly By Popular Science Want to score your own high- Submitted at 11/20/2009 1:20:40 PM cut [their] investment in Android (Gizmodo) tech snowsports equipment? It's platform, just like ... many e a s y : V i s i t o u r s i s t e r s i t e The sudden surge in interest in others". Gameloft is one of the Submitted at 11/20/2009 3:00:00 PM S k i i n g m a g . c o m ( w e s h a r e Android (largely due to all of the largest mobile games companies Bright ideas and products in owners, and a love of playing in hype surrounding the Droid) has a r o u n d , h a v i n g p u l l e d i n skiing and snowboarding, from a the snow with the latest gadgets). caused a lot of developers to roughly$132 million in the last Norwegian hotel built into a Every day for the next week, reconsider the platform. Atleast three quarters alone. While there mountainside to an inflatable they're giving away free gear, lift one major development house, are plenty of fish in the developer pack that can save you from an tickets and resort packages. All however, isn't impressed. Earlier sea, this can't be one that Google avalanche you have to do is answer a trivia today, Alexandre de Rochefort, is happy to see swim away. Skiing and snowboarding have question and enter to win. Finance Director of Gameloft, always been cutting-edge sports, Popular Science is your thanks to renegade personalities w o r m h o l e t o t h e f u t u r e . and high-tech gear. But this ski Reporting on what's new and season, designers are stepping it what's next in science and up to a whole new level. Here, technology, we deliver the future take a look at some of the finest now. By Caroline McCarthy Under fire for running in snowsports tech-and enter to (Webware.com) misleading ads on social win some gear of your own. networks, the offers-and-surveys Submitted at 11/19/2009 3:57:00 PM broker now says publishers can

By Matt Burns (CrunchGear) Submitted at 11/20/2009 12:30:42 PM

Well this is no fun. If you’ve been patiently waiting for the Vizio HDTV s that bring Twiiter, Facebook, Netflix, and Yahoo into you living room, you’re going to have to wait a bit longer. Santa isn’t going to bring one this year. The HDTV sets were supposed to be out in July, but that obviously didn’t happen. CNET is reporting that the new launch date is January 2010. Too bad that Vizio couldn’t make the original deadline. We’ll no doubt see other HDTVs at CES ‘10 with similar social-networking functions. Vizio might get lost in the crowd.

Offerpal revises terms amid continued scandal choose how "conservative" they want to be with ads. Originally posted at The Social

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Samsung unleashes two Diva-branded phones, divas everywhere faint By Laura June (Engadget)

Brizzly opens up...and translates

S7070 - is an iPhone-esque job, with a crazy diamond-shaped button at the bottom, and a Samsung's been showing off two quilted-style back cover, with a 3 new handsets of late. The S5150 -inch WQVGA display with Olivia is a clamshell affair with a resistive touchscreen, Bluetooth, mirrored body, an external LED, and microSD slot. Samsung and we know that it will boast a 3 hasn't formally announced these megapixel camera and a 2.2-inch ladies yet, but they are expected more photo after the break. QVGA display. The other - the in the first quarter of 2010. One Continue reading Samsung

unleashes two Diva-branded phones, divas everywhere faint Samsung unleashes two Divabranded phones, divas everywhere faint originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Samsung Hub, GSM Arena| Email this| Comments

Droid Price Drops to $120 [Dealzmodo]

Video: Palin Booed in Indiana

Submitted at 11/20/2009 5:49:00 PM

By Rosa Golijan (Gizmodo) Submitted at 11/20/2009 2:03:27 PM

We've seen the Palm Pixi drop in price right at launch, but looks like the Droid isn't far behind. $120 (with a new Verizon The Dell Mobility Store is account, of course). offering it for a rather reasonable

This is almost a surprising price drop after what we heard was a pretty decent launch for this handset. Why such a rush to lower price if sales are good? [ Dell via 9 to 5 Mac]

By Caroline McCarthy (Webware.com) Submitted at 11/20/2009 8:00:00 AM

The Twitter client has built in Google Translate for quick decoding of international tweets-and also, no more invite codes are required. Originally posted at The Social

(Little Green Footballs)

outside her tour bus, booing and yelling “Quitting on the job!”[Video] After Sarah Palin ended a bookHere’s a story on the signing event in Noblesville, e m b a r r a s s i n g i n c i d e n t a t Indiana, without signing more Indychannel.com: Palin Greets than 300 books for people who Hundreds, But Not Everyone waited more than 6 hours to see Leaves Happy. her, the crowd turned on her Submitted at 11/20/2009 2:44:57 PM

50 Cent Symbolizes the Impending Live Video Explosion By Adam Ostrow (Mashable!)

Today, we have yet another big number to share, this time from last night’s Ustream premiere of Some of the recent numbers 50 Cent’s movie “Before I Self being put up by live video events Destruct.” In total, more than on the Web are giving TV a run 255,000 users watched at least for its money. Take for example part of the 90 minute screening, the New Moon Premiere, which which included the hip hop attracted 3 million viewers in mogul answering questions live total, a U2 concert on YouTube from fans. that reached 10 million, and the Although not as huge as some of red carpet event for This Is It, the other events, it’s perhaps which saw 1.8 million tune in. more significant. As opposed to Submitted at 11/20/2009 12:13:37 PM

might have found on TV. Granted, he’ll still use other mediums for promotion, but in light of his numbers and those of others, expect a lot more events like the Self Destruct premiere in the near future. That’s not to say the Internet is going to be as destructive to debuting the movie on MTV, television as it’s been to print VH1, or BET, 50 took to the media, but we’re certainly Web and reached an audience of starting to see it emerge as a comparable scale to what he s t r o n g c o m p l i m e n t , i f n o t

competitor, to more traditional means of video distribution. We knew this was coming, but a combination of bandwidth proliferation and integration with social sites seems to be pushing live video to a tipping point. And where 50 goes, the money typically follows. Reviews: ustream Tags: 50 cent, live video, social media, ustream, video

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Thanks to Mashable’s Socially Savvy Supporters By Tamar Weinberg (Mashable!) Submitted at 11/20/2009 12:57:29 PM

Thanks to this week’s advertisers and partners for enabling us to bring you the latest social media news and resources. Mashable’s sponsors are as social media savvy as our readers! Advertise with us and get noticed. Help us to help you. Mashable is seeking out site sponsors for our large, diverse audience — social media users, venture capitalists, early adopters, developers, bloggers, and many more. You’ll receive hundreds of thousands of views a day in addition to weekly recognition to thank you as our premium sponsors. Are you interested? Contact us for more information and to receive our media kit and rate card. This week, our valued sponsors are The NY Times Reader 2.0, Leapfish, Web 2.0 Expo New York, nimbb, MOTOBLUR, Conduit, Clickatell, Influxis, EdgeCast, Microsoft BizSpark, MailChimp, Sun Startup Essentials, and Eventbrite. Times Reader 2.0, powered by Adobe AIR, is a downloadable software application offering a digital experience of The Times that’s very much like reading the printed newspaper. Whether you’re using Windows, Mac OS or Linux, Times Reader gives you everything you’d expect from The New York Times in

print, delivered to your computer in less than a minute. After you’ve synched, no Internet connection is needed, so you can take the most insightful journalism with you wherever you go. LeapFish is an evolved search engine that provides a single, connected, multimedia experience for both searching and sharing traditional, social and real-time content making the new web easier to navigate, more integrated and ultimately more efficient. Nimbb is the easiest way to add video recording to your Web projects. Using our Nimbb Player and API, any developer can integrate webcam video recording in their site easily. Our Flash player can be embedded using a few HTML lines and we host everything on our server. Developers can create a free account and our subscription prices start at only $9 per month. Our company is located in Montreal. We created Nimbb to answer our own needs to have a video recording widget that we could use in many projects to lower our development cost. Anyone that subscribes to our “Platinum” package before November 13th will get 5000 additional videos as a bonus (that’s a $599 value)! To get your videos, simply use our contact form, specify your account’s email, and mention “Free videos with Mashable”. MOTOBLUR from Motorola

was built expressly for the way people communicate today. It’s the only service that automatically delivers and organizes your conversations, contacts and content from all your favorite sites and sources in easy-to-manage streams. Whether it’s Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, text messages, Gmail or work e-mail, MOTOBLUR keeps track of it all and serves it up on a customizable home screen and integrates it through the phone. Plus, with MOTOBLUR you have peace of mind, because all of your info is backed up and secure. Discover MOTOBLUR on Motorola CLIQ available at T -Mobile. It’s time to spend less time managing life and more time living it. The Conduit On-Demand Marketing Platform offers web publishers of all sizes various solutions, including creating and publishing a branded community toolbar, sending your community desktop alerts, sharing and distributing content from the Conduit Marketplace, and much more. The platform is free, easyto-use and very powerful, and is available for Internet Explorer,

Firefox and Safari browsers. Anything you can put on a website can also be deployed on a community toolbar and offered to your users wherever they are on the web, including: your logo, content, gadgets, feeds, social media tools, chat windows, games, services, links, and more. Every community toolbar also comes complete with a searchbox powered by Google, to ensure your users have easy access to the most popular search on the web. Click here for more information on how to set up your own community toolbar, send desktop alerts, and find cool content and gadgets – for FREE! Clickatell offers bulk sms and mobile marketing solutions. Over 700 networks and over 200 countries covered. Influxis is an official Adobe hosting partner and resource for the Adobe Flash Media Interactive Server. Influxis provides Flash hosting plans for all levels of use – beginner to enterprise. With a reputation for exceptional customer service, Influxis provides an extremely reliable international network of FMS servers in the U.S., U.K., and Germany. EdgeCast Networks offers a superior, cost-effective, global content delivery service that gives our customers competitive advantage in the delivery of digital media. Our world-class content delivery platform provides customers the cost benefits and flexibility of

controlling their own content delivery network while liberating them from ISP contracts, capital investments and operational hassles. BizSpark is a program which offers new software businesses and entrepreneurs access to Microsoft design, development, and production tools with no upfront costs for up to three years. Members can also connect with a nationwide community of Network Partners – investors, incubators, service providers, and entrepreneurial organizations – who are keen to help. For more information, or to connect with a Microsoft BizSpark advisor, please visit MicrosoftStartupZone.com/BizS park. MailChimp is a powerful, easyto-use email marketing service. You design, me deliver. If you’re working for a startup, Sun can help you get it off the ground fast. We created the feefree Sun Startup Essentials program offering deep discounts on industry leading, power efficient systems and storage products, optimized open-source software, massively scalable Web hosting services, plus free visibility via Sun’s co-marketing engine. It’s time to build your business on the kind of infrastructure that can scale right along with the skyrocketing demands of success. Find out about Sun Startup Essentials THANKS page 25

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No, ACTA Secrecy Is Not 'Normal' -- Nor Is It A 'Distraction' By Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

International Law and many others, you see that they are significantly more transparent Over the last few weeks people and/or have clear procedures in who are actually concerned about place for concerned parties to individual rights have done a take part in the discussions. That decent job sounding the alarm is not the case with ACTA. about the problems with what A second point they make is that little we've seen of the ACTA if the end result is really bad, negotiations. In the last week or countries can simply decide not so, those who work for the to sign it and not to participate. entertainment industry have Yes, stop laughing. It's as if they suddenly started scrambling to think that we're all idiots who respond, after realizing that more haven't seen how lobbyists have and more people are starting to historically relied on the line "but pay attention and to worry about w e m u s t l i v e u p t o o u r ACTA. However, it's been pretty international obligations" to push funny to watch the desperate through all sorts of laws the attempts by industry lawyers to public does not support. try to paint this all as much ado A third point raised is that this about nothing (with gratuitous isn't a "treaty" but a "sole swipes at those of us who have executive agreement," so we called attention to what's going shouldn't worry since it can't on). change the law. Except, by One of the points they make is to categorizing it as such, it's say that the "secrecy" is no big actually a loophole that could deal, because it's "normal" for potentially take Congress out of such negotiations to happen this the process of reviewing or way. This was what the USTR approving anything that's in the stated earlier this year when the agreement, and then just wait for q u e s t i o n w a s r a i s e d , b u t the "but we must live up to our unfortunately, the facts (and international obligations" to start common sense) simply don't pouring out of lobbyists and support that claim at all. If you industry lawyers' mouths. look at the transparency level on A fourth point of attack is that m a n y o t h e r i n t e r n a t i o n a l some of the descriptions of agreements, including well what's being discussed are known ones concerning WTO, inaccurate. Well that's funny WIPO, WHO, UNCITRAL, since a big part of the problem is UNIDROIT, UNCTAD, OECD, that we're not even being shown Hague Conference on Private what's being discussed. So, yes, Submitted at 11/20/2009 9:49:00 AM

as we've been clear, this is an ongoing negotiation, and the final results may differ from what bits and pieces have been leaked. But, what is leaked has suggested that some very, very bad things are at least on the table, and making that clear and opening up the discussion is important, no matter how much the lawyers don't want anyone interfering. Separately, as you would expect, some of the language used to date in the leaked reports suggests the usual legal games are being played, so that when people point to something and say that opens us up to a bad thing, the lawyers can say "oh, that's no different than what we have already." Just like the RIAA did back when they wiped out musicians rights to reclaim their music (thankfully, only temporarily). But if you actually understand the details, you know that the subtle language choices are all chosen very carefully to drive future legislation. You can see this by simply monitoring what's happening in South Korea now, since that's what the new agreement is supposedly "modeled" on. And, it's not pretty. Various user-generated content sites are severely limiting what users can do, to the point that they're barely recognizable as UGC sites any more. Liability pointed at service providers are scaring them into massive

limitations. That's not the sort of world most of us want to live in. Finally, the ACTA supporters claim that because the administration showed a very small group of consumer rights folks, such as Public Knowledge, a draft of the document, that consumer groups are "a part of the process." That doesn't take into account the level of access. Whereby industry lobbyists had a large hand in drafting ideas and suggestions for parts of the legislation, a Public Knowledge representative was involved on "very short notice" in an initial hour-long meeting whereby they were allowed to look at the text, but not copy it, and then a further short discussion about a revised copy -- but the process included NDAs that prevent much discussion about what was seen. That's not serious involvement. Finally, as I was writing this, Jamie Love pointed out that the MPAA has sent a letter in favor of ACTA, which is chock full of laughter inducing falsehoods (such as claiming the entire motion picture industry is at risk, even as it's having its best year ever). But the most ridiculous is this:"Outcries on the lack of transparency in the ACTA negotiations are distraction." Yes, that's right, making sure that the public knows what the hell its government is signing up for is a "distraction." Could the MPAA's

lawyers be any more obvious in brushing off the concerns of the public than by calling it "a distraction." To the MPAA this is all about propping up its business model and stopping competition from online sources. The public doesn't matter. As Jamie Love notes, "transparency isn't a 'distraction.' it is an obligation of governments, to those it wants to govern." So, yes, perhaps some of the discussion has suggested things that will go beyond what's actually in the document, but it's hilarious to see industry lawyers suggest that those concerned about our rights are "creating a moral panic" when the only reason there's concern at all is because the public is not even allowed to see what's being discussed. Want to end the rampant speculation? Release the documents and let the public take part in the process. The MPAA's letter and the sudden whining from industry lawyers shows what this really is: yet another attempt by one particular industry that refuses to adapt to a changing marketplace, looking to governments to prop up their existing business model at the expense of innovation, consumer rights and upstart competitors. Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

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HOW TO: Use Social Media to Find Black Friday Deals By Susan Payton (Mashable!) Submitted at 11/20/2009 1:33:41 PM

Susan Payton is the Managing Partner of Egg Marketing & Public Relations, an internet marketing firm. She blogs at The Marketing Eggspert Blog, and teaches marketing courses at Marketing EggSchool. Follow her on Twitter@eggmarketing. We’re a week away from Black Friday and just a few years ago, if you wanted to find the best deals, you had to wait for the sales flyers to hit your newspaper or mailbox. You’d make a list of what you wanted and get your game plan together. But that’s all changed because of social media. Tools like iPhone apps, blogs, Twitter, and Facebook will be key in helping competitive shoppers get a leg up against the thousands of shoppers vying for the deals of the century this season. And with holiday spending projected to be down 3% from last year’s low numbers, stores are doing whatever they can to make it easier for shoppers to spend their money with them. Blogs and Websites Weeks before Black Friday,

blogs and websites like Black Friday 2009 and BlackFriday.info have been uploading sales flyers from every store imaginable to help shoppers plan out their attack on the biggest shopping day of the year. For gadget-lovers, Gizmodo’s#blackfriday feed has the latest posts about the best electronic deals to be had. Mom-related blogs and forums, such as MomsLikeMe, a geography based networking site, or Triangle Mom2Mom, focus on the strategies for what to do with the kids when shopping on Black Friday, local sales and events, and advice on how to stretch that dollar even farther. The benefit to blogs is that they are updated constantly, with deals being posted every day. Find one or two you like and subscribe to their RSS feeds to stay abreast of the latest Black Friday news and offers. My Black Friday Deals takes a sprinkling of social media and mixes it together with a dash of blogging to create a place for shoppers to interact. The site uses the mobile photo slide show app Whrrl to allow bloggers to take pictures of the best deals

Friday sales, as well as its annual Thanksgiving Day Parade. WalMart, which has claimed it won’t be beat on price on Black Friday or after, is tweeting its deals already in place, and will likely do so through Black Friday. The dedicated Black Friday blogs and web sites (such as the they can find in stores and upload ones mentioned above) are also them to the site to be voted on by getting a piece of the social deal seekers. The best deals will media pie by creating Fan Pages then be shared on Twitter, Flickr, on Facebook, like the one for and Facebook. Black-Friday.net. Pages like this Full disclosure: Susan works really put the power in the hands with Collective Bias, which runs of the people, who can share My Black Friday Deals. Social deals as they find them. Media YouTube is chock full of videos Bloggers, consumers, and brands about Black Friday, as well. The alike are all using Twitter and site has a large library of clips Facebook this year for Black from both consumers and major F r i d a y . S t a p l e s h a s b e e n news networks, with advice on “leaking” its own Black Friday handling the crowds on Black deals on its Twitter and Facebook Friday, what to expect at the accounts for days, and a search stores, and tips on which stores for the term#blackfriday on have the best deals. There’s an Twitter nets an endless stream of App for That deals, tips, and links that will Now that I have an iPhone, I get help shoppers save on Friday. excited about functional, useful Y o u c a n a l s o c h e c k o u t applications like the Black Friday the@blackfriday account, which apps that have come out this tweets Black Friday news from year. DealNews has a free Black across the web. Friday app that lets you sort deals Macy’s too has been priming its by “Early Bird,” “In Store Only,” followers on Twitter for its Black and “Limited Availability,” as

MPAA Says Copyright-Treaty Critics Hate Hollywood By David Kravets (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 11/20/2009 2:45:00 PM

Dan Glickman, the chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America, is complaining to Congress that those who don't

support a proposed international intellectual-property treaty are "hostile toward efforts to improve copyright enforcement

worldwide."

well as see photos of the sale items. The Toys R Us Big Book Favorites app lets users make wish lists, find deals, and share deals (it’s free, too). The $0.99 BF Deals app, meanwhile, lets you see a map of other users at stores so you can find a less crowded one (assuming a lot of the shoppers have the app), and it sends your deals to your Twitter account. There are others (do a search in the iTunes store for “Black Friday”), and stores like K-Mart and Wal-Mart may incorporate Black Friday deals into their existing iPhone apps. Wrapping It Up If you’re planning to brave the crowds on Black Friday, be smart. Get on Twitter, Facebook, or the dozens of Black Friday blogs to find the deals you want. Take your iPhone with you to reduce the number of stores you go to in fruitless search of items that were sold out at 5 AM. And most of all, good luck to you! Image courtesy of iStockphoto, MarcusPhoto1 Reviews: Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, YouTube, iStockphoto Tags: black friday, deals, List, Lists, shopping

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3 Creative Ways SMBs Can Use Social Media for Holiday Discounts By Jennifer Van Grove (Mashable!)

is significantly better than any of your existing promotions and make sure to share it with your Submitted at 11/20/2009 11:46:35 AM entire team. Then use your social This post originally appeared on media channels to send out the American Express OPEN s h a r e a b l e c l u e s a b o u t t h e F o r u m , w h e r e M a s h a b l e promotion. You could tweet regularly contributes articles something like, “exclusive about leveraging social media holiday Twitter deals on X,Y,Z, and technology in small business. DM us for details.” Every year consumers turn to the For this type of promotion to web to scour for the best holiday work, it’s all about the details. shopping deals. Black Friday has First, make sure you follow new practically become a holiday of followers back so that they can its own, with retailers jumping on send you a direct message. Also, the bandwagon earlier than ever determine whether or not you to satisfy deal-hungry consumers. want this to stay underground, or This holiday season you have an whether you’re open to having opportunity to leverage social the deal spread online. The media channels for trackable benefit of the former approach is giveaways and discounts that can t h a t s e l e c t c u s t o m e r s f e e l not only boost your holiday sales privileged, but the downside is but improve your social media that you’ll need to generate a new presence. 1. Direct Message d i s c o u n t / o f f e r c o d e o r Discounts “password” for each person. If you’re looking for fun and On the flip side, if you have one innovative ways to drum up your password/coupon/discount code, follower count on Twitter, or then anyone can get it via direct create more engagement between message and share it with their you and your customers, consider friends, which means you could offering direct message-only get more mileage and buzz, but holiday discounts. fewer followers. Figure out what Here’s how this could work. your goal is and go with it, full Come up with a holiday deal that steam ahead.

way to gain more fans and please holiday shoppers on the hunt for a bargain. Since Facebook is so ubiquitous, if you go this route, make sure to inform your team members to tell customers about the deal while they’re shopping. You can even teach employees how to show You might even get more customers how to become your mileage out of the deal if you fan on Facebook from their offer a double deal (double mobile phones, thereby making whatever the original deal was) them eligible for the extra when you hit X amount of savings instantly as well as followers before a certain date. getting a new fan on the spot. 3. That could give deal-seeking Social Media Sharing customers the incentive to Whatever your sales goals are promote you in the hopes of this holiday season, chances are saving even more. 2. Facebook you want to sell more of your Freebies products and services, but usually We’re seeing more and more it’s your customers and super brands use their Facebook Fan fans who do all the real selling P a g e s f o r f a n - o n l y d e a l s , for you. Here’s where social discounts, and coupons, and media can help. there’s no reason why you can’t Use your email newsletter, use the holiday season to do the Twitter account, Facebook Fan same for your small business. Page, and website to encourage This works for both online and your customers to share what offline retailers, but should you they love most about your small have a physical store, using your business online. Encourage them Facebook Fan Page to create a to upload a photo, create a video, holiday coupon for an extra X% or pen a blog post about the o f f a l r e a d y d i s c o u n t e d products or services they love merchandise would be an instant most. Also make sure to instruct

Why Google Should Cool It With Chrome OS By Brian X. Chen (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 11/20/2009 1:00:00 PM

Google has some ambitious

goals with its open source PC being presented, so we make a operating system Chrome OS. modest proposal. But we're not convinced consumers will be thrilled with the way the browser-based OS is

them to tag the content with a predetermined tag. You can make the incentive whatever you want it to be, but offering each participant an X% discount off existing sale prices would be well received. This approach works best if you make the announcement on your own blog and request that participants include a link to their shared media in the comments section of the post. Also, remember that due to new FTC guidelines, you should encourage participants to disclose the deal or discount. More business resources from Mashable: - Why Social Media Is Vital to Corporate Social Responsibility - HOW TO: Measure Social Media ROI - 5 Important Web Video Lessons for Small Business Owners - Top 5 Must-Read Social Media Books - HOW TO: Use Twitter Hashtags for Business iStockphoto, YinYang Reviews: Facebook, Twitter, iStockphoto Tags: business, Holiday, List, Lists, small business

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How smoking can ruin your Mac (CNET News.com) Submitted at 11/20/2009 2:00:00 PM

I have nothing against smoking, save for the difficult odor that emanates from every part, breath, and piece of clothing belonging to a smoker. I could no more live with a smoker than I could live with a third ear perched off the end of my nose. However, I am embalmed in a curious sympathy after reading a report from The Consumerist concerning two Mac users whose AppleCare warranties appear to have been voided due to the presence of cigarette smoke in their homes. One, named Derek, recounts the tale of his overheating black MacBook. He took it into the Apple store in Jordan Creek, West Des Moines. He told The Consumerist: "Today, April, 28, 2008, the Apple store called and informed me that due to the computer having been used in a house where there was smoking, that has voided the warranty and they refuse to work on the machine, due to 'health risks of secondhand smoke'."

He continued: "Nowhere in your AppleCare terms of service can I find anything mentioning being used in a smoking environment as voiding the warranty." Will a Marlboro Lights habit makes this cute thing inoperable?(Credit: CC Galaygobi/Flickr) Derek's resulting appeal to the office of Steve Jobs bore him no joy, so he resorted to blowing some compressed air at the

One final appeal to Ruth's local Apple store failed, as she was allegedly told that tar from cigarette smoke had made it uneconomical to even attempt a repair. Ruth claims that only one person in her household smokes. So now might I hand this distinctly painful issue over you, the technically brilliant reader. Perhaps you are even an employee of Apple and have stumbled upon this page in search of a little light relief. What is the science of all this? And what might be the appropriate commercial response? Should Apple place a clear disclaimer referring to secondhand smoke in the AppleCare terms? Or should machine, leading it to restart its nicotine was on OSHA's list of Microsoft make a new Laptop wondrous functions. hazardous substances. Hunter ad in which a very Then along came Ruth, who However, as she wisely pointed attractive, happy person says, took her son's iMac to an out to The Consumerist: "OSHA "I'm not cool enough and I authorized repair center. After also lists calcium carbonate smoke, so I would never be able five days, they apparently told (found in calcium tablets), to get a Mac fixed"? her they couldn't work on it isopropyl alcohol (used to clean This content has passed through because it was contaminated with wounds), chlorine (used in fivefilters.org. c i g a r e t t e s m o k e a n d w a s swimming pools), hydrogen therefore a bio-hazard. peroxide (also used to clean When Ruth appealed to Jobs' wounds), sucrose (a sugar), talc office, she said she was told by ( a s i n p o w d e r ) , e t c . . . a s someone named Dena that hazardous substances."

Kindle Now Available for Canada (Little Green Footballs) Submitted at 11/20/2009 10:19:41 AM

Here’s some good news if you live in Canada and you’ve been waiting for Amazon to release their terrific Kindle e-book reader

in a Canadian version: your wait is over. In addition to having full access to more than 300,000 titles in the Amazon store, Amazon announced that Canadian newspapers The Globe and Mail and The National Post will be

available in Kindle editions, with

the newspapers in the Canwest chain following soon. Here’s the Amazon news release: Amazon Kindle and More than 300,000 Books in the Kindle Store Now Available to Customers in Canada.

(Note: if you buy a Kindle by clicking the picture or by following one of the links in this post, we get a small cut of the purchase price through Amazon’s associates program.)

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Can Facebook group change World Cup game result? (CNET News.com) Submitted at 11/20/2009 2:43:35 PM

You know this is serious because they've already talked about it on SportsCenter. Wednesday saw one of the most painful pieces of cheating that soccer has enjoyed since, oh, since pretty much any other World Cup qualifying game. However, this occurred in the dying minutes, featured one of the most famous players in the world (yes, he's been on the front of an EA FIFA game box), affected the result of the game, and was so crudely obvious that the world has decided to fight back by socially networking. In case you were only recently released after being abducted by recalcitrant performance artists, France was playing Ireland for the privilege of going to the World Cup finals in South Africa. Ireland was winning.

Thierry Henry, contemplating moral philosophy, when he played for London's Arsenal.(Credit: Cc BobbyMond/Flickr) A ball was hopefully pumped into the Irish penalty area. The French captain, Thierry Henry, reached out his left hand to control the ball, enjoyed the feeling so much he actually handled it twice, then crossed the ball for an embarrassed teammate, Willam Gallas, to score and eliminate the plucky Irish. (It is compulsory to use the term "plucky" when referring to the Irish soccer team.) Henry, perhaps sensing his precious image evaporating, admitted Friday that the game should be replayed. Even though the sport's governing body, FIFA, has declared no replay will happen, it now has to deal with perhaps the fastest-growing Facebook group

on earth. Petition to have IRELAND VS FRANCE REPLAYED!!!!! already has secured more than 250,000 members since its inception, as well as an increasing amount of media coverage.

What is clear from the group is that people from all over the world are incensed that FIFA has haughtily dismissed the power of the people, the socially networking people. The group has organized a protest in Dublin, 2 p.m. local time Saturday.

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If I were one of the fine-dining, bouncy-bellied officials at FIFA, I would pay a little more attention to this Facebook group. The last time someone so blatantly ignored the will of the socially-networking people-who, in the Facebook group's case, include many from France itself--it was a lady who guffawed: "Let them eat cake." Yes, she was French and it did not end well for her. I feel sure Marie Antoinette would have wished for a little replay in her own life. And I feel equally sure that, were she alive today, she would be joining the Facebook group "Petition to have IRELAND VS FRANCE REPLAYED!!!!!" in demanding a rerun of this most important game. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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Seesmic Launches Mobile Apps for Android and BlackBerry

UK Digital Economy Bill As Bad As Expected; Digital Britain Minister Flat Out Lies About ISP Support

By Barb Dybwad (Mashable!)

By Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

Submitted at 11/20/2009 12:28:36 PM

Submitted at 11/20/2009 12:00:00 PM

version. The app display is highdefinition (the first high-def Twitter client on the platform, Hot on the heels of the launch of according to Loic Lemur, CEO the Windows desktop app and founder of Seesmic) which preview, Seesmic has brought its makes it more visually attractive Twitter client to the mobile arena — quite stunning on the Droid as well with the launch of clients screen, for example. It does lack for the Android and BlackBerry the search capability and trending platforms. Both apps are features on Twidroid, but available for free — get the links using bit.ly, J.mp or Tinyurl nevertheless the app is solid and A n d r o i d v e r s i o n f r o m t h e (you can make your selection in a worthy addition to the Twitter A n d r o i d M a r k e t a n d t h e the Settings along with your client arsenal on the Android BlackBerry version by pointing choice of photo and video platform. service). your BlackBerry to Seesmic. We’ll be testing out the From the profile view of BlackBerry version as well We had a chance to test out the Android build on the Motorola yourself or another Twitter user, (pictured, below, along with a Droid and came away impressed. you can drill down into their demo video of both clients), and The interface is well-designed tweets, favorites, followers and Loic says sit tight for an iPhone and easy to use. Read on for our who they’re following, plus version coming soon. We’d love impressions and a demo video reply, direct message, unfollow to hear your impressions on both or block them. It’s a nice level of clients if you have a chance to below. Four buttons at the top take you detail, with one small omission check them out. Are you a to timeline, replies, direct which we’d love to see added at Seesmic user excited about your messages or profile views. some point — support for Lists. Twitter client experience coming Drilling down into an individual Since Seesmic Desktop and the to the mobile? Let us know in the tweet allows you to reply, DM web version both added support comments. reply or retweet using the recently, we’re sure it won’t be Reviews: Android, Seesmic, “original” RT style. Composing a long before mobile clients get an Seesmic Desktop, Twidroid, tweet includes the ability to add update as well. Twitter As compared to the current location information, include a Tags: android, blackberry, photo or video from your gallery leader on the Android platform, Mobile 2.0, seesmic, twitter, or one on the spot from the Twidroid, Seesmic compares twitter clients camera, and shorten included quite favorably to the free

Make an Independent Movie on the Cheap By How-To Wiki (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 11/20/2009 1:00:00 PM

Anyone with a camera phone and poor impulse control can be a YouTube star for 15 seconds. But what does it take to make a

feature film that will get noticed by Hollywood?

"broadly supportive" of the bill. That's funny because BT and TalkTalk -- two of the largest Just as the leaks predicted, the ISPs in the UK -- have loudly UK government has offered up complained about the plans (with its Digital Economy Bill, which TalkTalk threatening to sue, and includes massive changes to BT saying that this solution is copyright law, including the "not the way forward") and the power of the government to I S P A s s o c i a t i o n , w h i c h effectively change the law at will represents ISPs in the UK has with little to no oversight. loudly slammed the bill as Basically, it would let the unworkable and backwards B u s i n e s s S e c r e t a r y , L o r d looking:"ISPA members are Mandelson, change copyright extremely concerned that the bill, l a w t h r o u g h s e c o n d a r y far from strengthening the legislation, which requires no n a t i o n ' s c o m m u n i c a t i o n s Parliamentary approval. As infrastructure, will penalise the people are noting, Mandelson has success of the internet industry had to resign from elected and undermine the backbone of positions twice in the past in t h e d i g i t a l e c o n o m y , " t h e disgrace, and is now in an i n d u s t r y g r o u p s a i d . unelected position. And he's the Nicholas Lansman, ISPA's guy who gets to change copyright general secretary, said in the law at will? That does not seem statement that the government's right. On top of that, the bill proposals were "being fastdoesn't even specify "three" tracked... and will do little to strikes for users. Instead, it address the underlying problem". requires ISPs to notify users with "Rather than focusing blindly on w a r n i n g s - - a n d t o n o t i f y enforcement, the government copyright holders that they did should be asking rights holders to notify users -- and if file sharing reform the licensing framework is not reduced by 70% in a year so that legal content can be (with no indication of how this is distributed online to consumers measured), then the government in a way that they are clearly will tell ISPs to start kicking demanding," Lansman said. So, people off the internet. where exactly are the 99% who Furthermore, Minister for are supportive of the bill? Or is Digital Britain Stephen Timms, that RIAA/IFPI/BPI math? who introduced the new bill, Permalink| Comments| Email claimed that 99% of ISPs are This Story

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FunMail adds instant images to Facebook status & MMS By Michael Rose (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

from Flickr and other repositories. If you want to include a hidden search term, putting it at the end of the Submitted at 11/20/2009 9:45:00 AM message with a double-hash (##) Filed under: iPhone, App will tell FunMail to search those Review words without including them in At the risk of invoking a round the sent message. You can send it of reader rage, I'll admit that I've to any mobile phone number in never really been that hyped on your address book, to email the idea of MMS on the iPhone recipients, or to your Facebook (and, by the way, get off my friends or wall via Facebook lawn). If I want to send someone Connect. The result is a little bit a picture, I've got their email inspirational office poster, a little address; I'll just send them a bit LOLcat, and in some ways picture. No big whoop. strangely intriguing... but not I do have some friends and really, you know, useful. colleagues who 'came up' on Continue reading FunMail adds mainline camera phones and they instant images to Facebook status gleefully pop pics back and forth & MMS via MMS. I also appreciate the TUAW FunMail adds instant ability to decode the snapshots get a preview of his company's accept the company's TOS, images to Facebook status & my wife sends from her Motorola new free app FunMail[ iTunes which may subject you to MMS originally appeared on The RAZR, but overall I wouldn't rate link], which promises to leverage occasional text messages from U n o f f i c i a l A p p l e W e b l o g it among the top iPhone features I the Semantic Media Project and them if you don't opt out) -- type (TUAW) on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 was eager to get from AT&T (not add appropriate imagery to your in your message, and the system 09:45:00 EST. Please see our like the ongoing lack of tethering, MMS messages, short emails, gives you the text (up to 140 terms for use of feeds. which is making me grind my Facebook wall posts, et cetera. characters) atop your choice of Read| Permalink| Email this| teeth in my sleep). It's available in the US App Store image from a list of five, sourced Comments That prejudicial attitude may as of last night. from FunMobility's licensed have made me a little skeptical Sure, the app is simple enough libraries along with Creative when I met with FunMobility's to use (once you register and Commons remixable content CEO Adam Lavine this week to

Listen to 'World's First Twitter Album' By Eliot Van Buskirk (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 11/20/2009 12:35:00 PM

Digital music students create a crowdsourced album within the 140-character confines of Twitter by writing short strings of code

that can be translated into songs.

Norwegian Band Told It Can't Post Its Own Music To The Pirate Bay, Even Though It Wants To By Mike Masnick (Techdirt) Submitted at 11/20/2009 2:14:00 PM

Having recently returned from Norway, where I was impressed at the optimism and the willingness to embrace new technologies and services, it's disappointing to read the following story (found via brokep) of a Norwegian band who recently released an album on their own label and decided to put it up on The Pirate Bay themselves, as more and more indie labels are doing. Except... the band members are a part of the Norwegian music collection society TONO, who is among those fighting to have The Pirate Bay blocked in Norway. Since the band has allowed TONO to enforce its copyrights in performance situations, TONO is claiming that it can forbid members from putting their music on sites like The Pirate Bay(translation from the original Norwegian): The management contract in TONO means that we can not allow the TONOmembers post things on your own at some commercial sites. Once again, examples of these performance rights groups working against the wishes of artists, rather than helping them out. Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

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If You Only Share A Tiny Bit Of A File Via BitTorrent, Is It Still Copyright Infringement?

LUNCHTIME POLL: What’s Your Favorite Video Sharing Service?

By Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

By Barb Dybwad (Mashable!)

'you are alleging the person has broken the law; we're passing it to the police. Let them deal with We've mentioned the ongoing it'. The trial has been going on lawsuit against ISP iiNet in recently, and while I haven't been Australia a few times. Basically, following the details that closely the movie studios are pissed off (figure it's worth waiting for the at iiNet because it didn't do much v e r d i c t ) , t h e r e w a s o n e in response to letters that were i n t e r e s t i n g t i d b i t . A s t h e sent concerning IP addresses of company had suggested earlier, those that the studios believed it's arguing that sharing a file via w e r e s h a r i n g u n a u t h o r i z e d BitTorrent is arguably not works. As iiNet noted, however, copyright infringement at all. it didn't see why it was involved That's because of the way in any of this: They send us a list BitTorrent works, in breaking up of IP addresses and say 'this IP any file into tiny components and address was involved in a breach sharing the individual pieces. A on this date'. We look at that say key element of copyright law is 'well what do you want us to do looking at how much of the with this? We can't release the content is shared. Down in person's details to you on the Australia, they have a "fair basis of an allegation and we dealing" exception to copyright can't go and kick the customer law that appears to allow for off on the basis of an allegation copying small portions of a work, from someone else'. So we say and some precedent of short Submitted at 11/20/2009 1:08:02 PM

Malaria Gaining Resistance to Best Available Treatment By Nathan Seppa (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 11/20/2009 12:00:00 PM

Malaria has begun showing

troubling signs of developing resistance to artemisinin, which is currently the best available treatment for the disease.

video clips not being considered infringing. While I would be quite surprised if this argument worked (even if it may be technically correct, it's so rare that judges pay attention to the technical aspects when it comes to copyright), I'm a bit surprised we haven't seen this argued elsewhere as well. Of course, if it does actually work, it will only turn the focus back towards the question of whether or not "making available" violates the distribution right of copyright, since that would cover what BitTorrent users were doing, if they offered up any unauthorized content (even if they actually shared only a tiny fraction). Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

Submitted at 11/20/2009 12:58:22 PM

It’s Friday, people, which means that not only is it Follow Friday, it’s also time for the Lunchtime Poll! Last week we wanted to know about your favorite news reader(or whether you use RSS at all). We’ll have the results for you later today, but let’s get a head start on the new poll: what’s your favorite video sharing service? We’ll start off with some responses from the staff here at Mashable, and let you fine folks have at it in the comments. Be sure to let us know along with your vote why you chose it as your favorite. We’ll post the results next week to show the zeitgeist from Mashable readers. Are you in? Let’s roll the question! What’s your favorite video sharing service? Mashable Faves Adam Ostrow: YouTube or Ustream. It’s all about the content. Pete Cashmore: YouTube. Sharon Feder: I’m not a power user, but Vimeo is definitely my favorite.

Ben Parr: Viddler, YouTube, and Ustream, depending on the situation. Christina Warren: Vimeo, because it has the best quality. Barb Dybwad: I like Qik for mobile, Flickr for short visuallyinteresting clips, and YouTube for an endless stream of distractions punctuated by hilarious cats. Tamar Weinberg: YouTube because it actually can process Kodak Zi6 videos (Flickr and Vimeo cannot), but Vimeo has a really awesome GUI. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, ericsphotography Reviews: Flickr, Mashable, Vimeo, YouTube, iStockphoto, ustream Tags: flickr, lunchtime poll, qik, ustream, viddler, video, video sharing, youtube

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Geotagged tweets now alive in Stone Design's Twittelator Pro 3.3.1 By Steven Sande (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 11/20/2009 1:30:00 PM

Filed under: iPhone, App Store Twitter has flipped the switch on some new features, including geotagging of tweets and automatic retweeting. As a happy user of Stone Design's Twittelator Pro 3.3.1[iTunes link], I was even more giddy when I found out that my favorite Twitter app already supports both By Mike Schramm (The Accordingly, this new version decked-out rig, if you want a shot of these features. Unofficial Apple Weblog has support built-in for the brand at winning the thing, all you have The geotagging feature lets you (TUAW)) new Left 4 Dead 2, as well as to do is pick up the software optionally attach a latitude and fixes for Steam's voice chat, a before December 1st. They'll longitude to your tweets. If you Submitted at 11/20/2009 11:30:00 AM few upgrades for WoW on Linux pick a name out of a hat, and if receive the tweet in Twittelator, Filed under: Gaming, Software, and Guild Wars, and a couple of it's yours, there'll be an awesome you can tap on the sender's avatar Odds and ends, Developer, Snow changes to ensure compatibility 'nix box headed your way. Good icon to see the geotag and pull up L e o p a r d T h e f o l k s b e h i n d with Snow Leopard. Sounds like l u c k w i t h g e t t i n g s m o o t h a Google map of the location CrossOver Games sent us a note a nice solid upgrade -- owners of fullscreen Flash video to work. near where the tweet was sent. that version 8.1.0 of their the software can grab it for free, We kid! You Linux guys make it The app lets you turn off software has come out, and it's or you can try out the app for so easy. geotagging when you send a got some nice upgrades for Mac yourself from their website. Oh wait, what's that? Flash on tweet, which is useful if you're and Linux folks who prefer to In case you don't have the app the iPhone? I have no idea what trying to shake off a stalker. It's run their games in Windows yet, CodeWeavers also let us you're talking about. also cool to use "nearby search" almost-emulators (it's based on know that they're giving away a TUAW CrossOver Games to find people who are near you Wine, and as we all know, Wine Linux rig that's the "ultimate" releases version 8.1.0 originally and sending out tweets, and view Is Not an Emulator) rather than in... wait for it... gaming. Yes, appeared on The Unofficial their location on a map. Boot Camping over to the real putting together a Linux rig for Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, The official retweet feature has thing. We tried out CrossOver gaming is like putting a UFC 20 Nov 2009 11:30:00 EST. been going live for the past two Games a while back, and found it fighter on a dance show, but we Please see our terms for use of weeks or so, although as of yet I lacking in almost everything but guess stranger things have feeds. Steam games, but actually that's happened. Anyway, CrossOver Read| Permalink| Email this| OK, because lately Steam has a Games will definitely help you Comments l o t o f g a m e s g o i n g o n . play at least a few games on the

CrossOver Games releases version 8.1.0

haven't seen or been able to send a retweet that appears with the new retweet icon. In the webbased Twitter, I do see the new icons and messages that say "Retweeted by you," but I'm not sure why I'm not seeing this in Twittelator Pro. Is anyone else using Twittelator Pro 3.3.1 who can vouch that the new retweet capability is working for them? Leave a comment. TUAW Geotagged tweets now alive in Stone Design's Twittelator Pro 3.3.1 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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MacUpdate Desktop version 5.0.2 released, win a membership from TUAW By Casey Johnston (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 11/20/2009 2:15:00 PM

Filed under: Software, Cool tools MacUpdate announced today the release of version 5.0.2 of the MacUpdate Desktop utility, which allows users to manage application and widget software updates on their Mac OS X machines. The new version of the application adds some features and bug fixes as well as support for more languages. MacUpdate Desktop can track software updates for 30,000 Mac applications, and it also provides update support for applications on the iPhone, although iTunes handles that pretty well. Updates can be triggered manually and individually, or set to install automatically when MacUpdate Desktop is open. It also provides support for updating screen

savers and allows users to sort applications into "watch lists," so they can keep track of programs that are more important to keep current than others. The update includes improved handling of the software it tracks, such as version and application matching, as well as French, German, and Italian localization. Some of the bugs it fixes are community preferences, registration problems, and issues with extracting tar bzip2 and dmg.zip downloads.

Windows 8 in 2012? (CNET News.com) Submitted at 11/20/2009 1:27:00 PM

Steven Sinofsky may not be talking about Microsoft's future T h e r e a r e s e v e r a l u p d a t e Windows plans, but the Windows managers out there for Mac OS Server team appears to see more X ( i n c l u d i n g A p p F r e s h , value in letting customers know LogicielMac, VersionTracker its road map. Pro, etc.) with fans and detractors In at least two slides apparently of their own. If you've had great s h o w n a t t h e P r o f e s s i o n a l or not-so-great experiences with Developers Conference in Los any of the updater tools, let us Angeles this week, Microsoft suggests that a major release know in the comments. W a n t t o w i n o n e o f t w o update to Windows Server is due subscriptions to MacUpdate around 2012, with one of the Desktop, courtesy of MU and slides confirming the Windows 8 TUAW? Read on for details! code name. Continue reading MacUpdate I've asked both the desktop and Desktop version 5.0.2 released, server teams for more context on win a membership from TUAW the slides, which were noted this TUAW MacUpdate Desktop w e e k b y b l o g g e r S t e p h e n version 5.0.2 released, win a C h a p m a n . A s i m i l a r s l i d e m e m b e r s h i p f r o m T U A W cropped up--that time in Italian-originally appeared on The in August. For his part, Sinofsky sat Unofficial Apple Weblog completely stone-faced when I (TUAW) on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

asked him in our interview Wednesday where Microsoft was at relative to Windows 8--later noting that he hadn't even used the word Windows next to the numeral 8. "I didn't say any of the words-Windows 8--those were all your words," he said The 2012 time frame would roughly coincide with Windows Server's plans of having a minor release every two years or so and a major release every four years. It released Windows Server 2008 R2, a minor update, earlier this year as the desktop team released Windows 7. In recent years, Microsoft has tended to line up its desktop and server releases fairly closely, although in this case the desktop OS was probably a more significant release than its server counterpart. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

ACORN Sting Operatives Pose with White Supremacist (Little Green Footballs) Submitted at 11/20/2009 9:24:57 AM

White supremacist blogger Robert Stacy McCain continues to be welcomed in Republican circles; here he is posing at the

American Spectator dinner with the two videographers who filmed the ACORN sting tapes: An O&##x2019;Keefe/Giles Victory Lap. Also see: Sarah Palin’s Book Ghostwritten b y

Associate

White

Supremacist McCain Robert Stacy McCain and the Fall of the Conservative Movement Meet Robert Stacy McCain, Neo -Confederate Wacko Extraordinaire

Audio: Robert Stacy McCain on Alan Colmes Radio Show The Other ‘Other McCain’ Robert Stacy McCain’s Angry Departure From the Washington Times

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Navigon briefly cutting price on its popular Nav app By Mel Martin (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 11/20/2009 12:30:00 PM

Filed under: Odds and ends, iPhone Gee, we were just saying how competitive it is getting in the iPhone nav department, and Navigon has gone and cut prices for holiday travelers. For 10 days only, beginning today (November 20-30) Navigon's iPhone app, Mobile Navigator[ iTunes link]will be on sale for U.S. $69.99 instead of $89.99 providing a $20.00 savings. In addition, Navigon's Traffic Live feature is also on sale for $14.99 instead of $24.99. Traffic Live is a one time charge, not a continuing cost. That's a significant saving for this very popular app, and puts it under similar featured apps from TomTom ($99.99) and Magellan

($79.99). In my tests of the Navigon app I have found it accurate, and it has a superior user interface that is easy to use. Of course you shouldn't be looking at it while you are driving, and the text to

speech does an excellent job of helping you keep your eyes on the road. The Live Traffic feature will route you around major traffic congestion and adjust your ETA times. It's nice to see prices heading south on some of these GPS packages. Now you'll be able to head south (or north, or any direction really) for less money and with more features. Have a safe trip. TUAW Navigon briefly cutting price on its popular Nav app originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

(Little Green Footballs) Submitted at 11/19/2009 4:42:19 PM

On his front page today, Rush Limbaugh has a prominent link to “Prison Planet,” the website of whacked out conspiracy freakazoid Alex Jones, titled: Algore Photoshops Fake Earth. Roy Spencer — a notorious And possibly even more climate change denier and ridiculous, Limbaugh says his creationist, who believes “official climatologist” is Dr.

Virgin Mobile Canada: Fifth Canadian outlet for iPhone By Ken Ray (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 11/20/2009 10:30:00 AM

Filed under: iPhone The iPhone is getting yet another carrier in the great white north. Virgin Mobile Canada has announced that it'll start selling the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS in the coming months. When exactly? How much? Can I get a Richard Branson ringtone? Actually, I can make my own ringtones, but what about the rest of it? We'll have to wait to find out. All the company said in its incredibly short notice was that it'll sell the phones online and in its brick-and-mortar stores at some point. Well, that and that its gotten some love from J.D. Power and Associates for its prepaid and postpaid wireless services. The phones are already on sale “intelligent design” creationism north of the border through should be taught in schools as if Rogers Wireless, its subsidiary it were science. Dr. Spencer is Fido, Bell Canada, and Telus. one of the best examples of the While a Canadian friend tells me anti-science convergence of Virgin Mobile Canada has a climate deniers and creationists. r e p u t a t i o n f o r i n e x p e n s i v e That’s who Rush Limbaugh’s promoting to millions of people as a reputable expert and global warming “skeptic.” (Hat tip: Killgore.)

Rush Limbaugh and Alex Jones

phones with prepaid service, Canadian mobile news site MobileSyrup expects Virgin to charge roughly the same prices with the same three-year contracts as Canada's other iPhone carriers. Thanks EZ Mac Mike for the tip! [via iLounge, MobileSyrup] TUAW Virgin Mobile Canada: Fifth Canadian outlet for iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Techmeme Mobile launches for iPhone, Pre, Droid

(CNET News.com)

By Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

Submitted at 11/20/2009 2:03:45 PM

Submitted at 11/20/2009 7:15:00 AM

been ramping up its efforts lately, hiring three additional editors for the site. That brings its headcount Techmeme's new mobile to six employees. interface for iPhone.(Credit: I tend to check Techmeme Screenshot by Harrison throughout the day as I'm sure Hoffman/CNET) many of you do. A lot of the Popular tech news aggregator time, I am looking at the site Techmeme has launched a new from my phone. This new mobile mobile version of the site built update makes browsing for the Apple iPhone, Palm Pre, Techmeme on the go a far more and Motorola Droid. The new pleasant experience. Since this is version, which can be found at not a native app for any platform, http://techmeme.com/m, is a lot the new mobile site is viewable easier to read on your phone than from a variety of phones, the regular site. It even includes widening the potential audience. i n d i v i d u a l p a g e s f o r e a c h currently provide. I can say with almost certainty Techmeme headline, which show New mobile versions are also that the release of Techmeme all of the relevant discussion available for Gabe Rivera's other Mobile will increase the site's links. Separate pages for each sites, Memeorandum, Ballbug, mobile readership. story is something that even the and WeSmirch. Techmeme has This content has passed through full Techmeme site doesn't fivefilters.org.

that was offered in terms of the limited times of protection available were clearly sufficient. Looks like the latest battle over But, it's making a pure mockery copyright extension is about to of the law to specifically single take place in Japan, where the o u t p o s t h u m o u s c o p y r i g h t new prime minister, Yukio p r o t e c t i o n t o b e e x t e n d e d Hatoyama, has vowed to extend because, as far as I know, the certain copyrights. Specifically, d e a d n o l o n g e r h a v e a n y h e s a y s t h a t p o s t h u m o u s incentives to create new content, copyrights for compositions n o m a t t e r h o w l o n g t h e should last 70 years, rather than copyrights on their old content 50. This makes no sense, no lasts. The only explanation for matter what basis you judge doing so is to create a special copyright on. Copyright is welfare program for songwriters supposed to serve a simple and composers. But, if that's the p u r p o s e : t o e n c o u r a g e t h e case, let's make it clear this is a creation of new works. It never welfare system, rather than makes sense to extend copyright anything to do with copyright. on existing works, because those Permalink| Comments| Email works were already created. In This Story other words, the social "bargain"

New Moon Reviews: What Twitter Thinks [CHART] By Christina Warren (Mashable!) Submitted at 11/20/2009 11:23:01 AM

Twilight-mania just won’t stop! More than 400 million “New Moon” videos have been viewed online, the film is expected to beat all midnight opening records, and Twitter continues to be abuzz with “New Moon” chatter. On Wednesday, we reported that

more than 81,000 tweets were sent out about “New Moon,” most of them positive. So how did the Twitteratti respond to the debut of “New Moon” last night? Our friends at Crimson Hexagon ran the numbers and this is what they figured out. Out of 4500 tweets sent regarding the film, this was the breakdown: 41% can’t wait to see it 14% are sick of the whole thing

6% want to know how it was 24% loved it 10% expected more 7% are really tired after going to

the midnight show It will be interesting to see if these figures line-up with overall fan reactions or if this is any sort

of indication as to how well the film will do this weekend as a whole (aka – “ The Twitter Effect“) Have you seen “New Moon” or are you planning on seeing it tonight? Let us know! Tags: crimson hexagon, new moon, twilight, Twilight: New Moon, twitter

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CNET News Daily Podcast: Nokia's layoffs and Skype's eBay adieu

Murdoch's The Times Accused Of Blatant Copying, Just As It Tells The World You Should Pay For News

(CNET News.com)

By Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

calling aggregators (sites that simply summarize and link to stories) parasites(even as he owns Just this week, James Harding, a bunch of aggregators himself), the editor of The Times (of o n e o f h i s p a p e r s d i d n ' t London), a paper owned by aggregate, it flat out copied, Rupert Murdoch, tried to explain without permission, a blog post why the news is worth paying that was written by Edgar Wright for, as the paper starts to put up a a s a t r i b u t e t o E d w a r d new business model to get Woodward, who recently passed consumers to pay for news. away. The Times eventually put U n f o r t u n a t e l y , H a r d i n g up a"clarification" online that had apparently didn't get the message a link to the original site, but that himself. As pointed out by hardly explains the original Mathew Ingram, just days after copying -- especially during the making the case for paying for very week that they're trying to news, The Times has been convince the world that news accused of publishing an article should be paid for.... that it copied without permission Permalink| Comments| Email from a blog. This Story You can't make this stuff up. Yes, just as Rupert Murdoch is

Submitted at 11/20/2009 1:21:00 PM

Submitted at 11/20/2009 8:33:00 AM

It's been a bad week for Nokia's research and development division, which had more than 300 of its staff laid off this week. The news was a little better for Skype, which detached from its eBay owners and netted a $2.75 billion valuation. Also, Facebook's video hosting is now the third most popular video hosting site on the Web, though it By Steven Sande (The Storage seemed to be a popular still lags far behind leader Unofficial Apple Weblog gift idea from the panelists, along YouTube. Hear more about these (TUAW)) with iPhone / Mac jewelry, video stories and others in today's tools, and even some freebies. I Submitted at 11/20/2009 3:00:00 PM episode. Listen now: Download take no responsibility for the today's podcast Filed under: Odds and ends, singing that was taking place... Today's stories: Podcasts, Holidays Here it is, T-7 You can listen to MacJury Nokia to lay off up to 330 R&D days until Black Friday, and you Episode 918 at the MacJury staffers don't have any gift ideas? website, or subscribe to the eBay sets Skype loose at $2.75 I joined MacJury podcaster podcast in iTunes. billion valuation Chuck Joiner earlier this week to TUAW TUAW's Steve Sande Facebook becomes third most provide my ideas for gifting. This provides gift ideas on the latest popular video site was part two of a holiday gift MacJury podcast originally Twitter's geotagging API goes ideas episode on the popular appeared on The Unofficial live podcast. Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, Cisco launches iPhone security Joining me on the podcast were 20 Nov 2009 15:00:00 EST. app By Bob Sassone (TV Squad) announcement. MacMouseCalls support genius Please see our terms for use of Town to photograph every car I hope she can still collect (and grandmother) Pat Fauquet, feeds. Submitted at 11/20/2009 5:11:00 PM unemployment when the show Julio Ojeda-Zapata from the St. Read| Permalink| Email this| that enters and leaves Germ alert: Attack of the killer So Oprah is ending her talk ends, but I don't think you can if Paul Pioneer Press, and The Mac Comments necktie! show in September 2011. The you quit your job. Observer's Jeff Gamet. HDMI products to get news first came out yesterday, Filed under: TV Royalty, meaningful labels but when she announced it on Daytime, Video, Celebrities, Talk This content has passed through today's live show, there were still Show, Reality-Free fivefilters.org. a few surprised moans in the P e r m a l i n k | E m a i l t h i s | | By ELLE.com (ELLE News audience. What, they didn't know C o m m e n t s Blog) ready to walk the runway! about it already? Weird. Anyway, Submitted at 11/20/2009 3:00:37 PM All Photos: Kelly Stuart here's the clip with her

TUAW's Steve Sande provides gift ideas on the latest MacJury podcast

Oprah breaks the news to her fans

Lights, Camera, Action! Victoria's Secret Angels get

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NPR's Daniel Schorr NY Times: Giuliani Blames The Internet For Bails on Governor Race Ft. Hood Shootings (Little Green Footballs)

former mayor is considering any other political race in 2010. Some have urged him to take on By Mike Masnick (Techdirt) Virginia. One wonders if they New York Times writer Danny Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand, had corresponded by telephone, Hakim reports that Rudy Giuliani who is newly installed in office, Submitted at 11/20/2009 10:57:14 AM if Schorr would be questioning if has decided not to run for has never run statewide and is I recognize that NPR news AT&T was to blame. Or, if by Governor of New York. still introducing herself to voters analyst Daniel Schorr is well into pen and paper, if Bic was at fault. Former Mayor Rudolph W. in some areas. Mr. Giuliani is his tenth decade of life, and plays Of course, Schorr doesn't even Giuliani has decided not to run said to have made no decision the role of the "senior statesman know what was in the emails sent for governor next year after about such a race. … of journalism" on NPR at times, b e t w e e n t h e t w o , s o h i s m o n t h s o f c o n s i d e r i n g a It was not clear what prompted but as a bunch of folks have sent speculation is based on even less candidacy, according to people the decision, but the possibility in, he seems to have totally lost it than nothing. However, even if who have been told of the of facing Attorney General with his recent piece suggesting his worst fears are true, and the decision. Andrew M. Cuomo, who is the internet should share some of cleric somehow pushed Hasan to Many Republican leaders had quietly planning a run for the blame for the Ft. Hood carry out his attack, the fault viewed Mr. Giuliani as the governor on the Democratic shootings done by Maj. Nidal r e m a i n s w i t h H a s a n , a n d strongest potential candidate as ticket, may not have appealed to Hasan. The reason? Hasan potentially the cleric. Not the voter anger and anti-Albany Mr. Giuliani, who suffered a apparently communicated via internet. sentiment have appeared to be bruising defeat in the 2008 email with an "extremist cleric" Permalink| Comments| Email swelling. Republican presidential primary. whom he had met years ago (in This Story It remains unclear whether the person) at a mosque in Northern Submitted at 11/19/2009 6:14:26 PM

Give Wireless Charging Mats a Natural Wood Look [DIY Creations] By Sarah Rae Trover (Lifehacker) Submitted at 11/20/2009 11:30:00 AM

Wireless charging mats are a clever way to charge your gadgets without cords or power bricks, but a big black mat can easily stick out in any room. Instructables shows you how to make a more stylish wooden induction charger. Instructables user jvalal has been working on altering the aesthetics

of his all-black power mat induction charger. First he removed the electronic guts from the unit, then mounted them into a routed-out piece of wood. He intentionally made the mat longer than he needed to, allowing space for his wallet and keys at the end of the night. jvalal writes that the hardest part

of the creation was getting the wood thin enough to make a positive lock on the charging coils below the surface— without going through the wood. The piece was finished off with felt feet, although we think a few coats of linseed oil would help keep the wood conditioned over time. Simply wipe on (preferably

before the electronics are secured in place) and buff off the extra. Are you into wireless charging? Or will you be sticking to your wall warts for a little longer? Sound off in the comments. W o o d I n d u c t i o n Charger[Instructables via Make]

MinimizeToTray Revived Puts Firefox in Your System Tray [Downloads] By The How-To Geek (Lifehacker) Submitted at 11/20/2009 1:00:00 PM

Windows only: Firefox extension MinimizeToTray Revived is a replacement for the popular MinimizeToTray extension that has been abandoned and doesn't support Firefox 3 or later, and puts Firefox in your system tray with Once you've installed the extension, Firefox will start minimizing directly to the system tray, though there are lots of choices in the options panel for how you would like to minimize the window—you can choose to minimize automatically, replace the close button with minimize, or even use a toolbar button instead. If you want to put Firefox in the system tray, it's definitely worth a look. MinimizeToTray Revived is a free download, works for Firefox on Windows. MinimizeToTray Revived[Mozilla Add-ons via How-To Geek]

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Global Warming Nontroversy of the Day (Little Green Footballs)

suppose the word would stand out. RealClimate has responded to Right wing bloggers and climate this stolen email nontroversy “skeptics” are ranting and fuming here: The CRU hack. about “ the global warming Since emails are normally scandal of the century,” after the intended to be private, people email server of one of the UK’s writing them are, shall we say, leading climate research centers somewhat freer in expressing was hacked, and thousands of themselves than they would in a emails were stolen and promptly public statement. For instance, posted all over the web. (Which we are sure it comes as no shock is, of course, completely illegal.) to know that many scientists do However, reading the summaries not hold Steve McIntyre in high that these folks have posted, such regard. Nor that a large group of a s t h e o n e i n t h i s a l m o s t them thought that the Soon and comically exaggerated article by Baliunas (2003), Douglass et al T e l e g r a p h w r i t e r J a m e s (2008) or McClean et al (2009) Delingpole, one thing stands out papers were not very good (to — there’s no there there. There’s say the least) and should not have no evidence of a conspiracy to been published. These sentiments commit massive fraud. There are have been made abundantly clear no admissions of faking data. in the literature (though possibly The worst thing they’ve dug up less bluntly). out of thousands of emails is this More interesting is what is not one referring to a “trick” used to contained in the emails. There is adjust warming data, which no evidence of any worldwide Delingpole dramatically labels conspiracy, no mention of “Manipulation of evidence:” George Soros nefariously I’ve just completed Mike’s funding climate research, no Nature trick of adding in the real grand plan to ‘get rid of the temps to each series for the last MWP’, no admission that global 20 years (ie from 1981 onwards) warming is a hoax, no evidence amd from 1961 for Keith’s to of the falsifying of data, and no hide the decline. ‘marching orders’ from our “Trick,” of course, can also mean socialist/communist/vegetarian “an effective technique,” but if overlords. The truly paranoid will you were desperately hunting for put this down to the hackers also a n y t h i n g s m e a r - w o r t h y , I being in on the plot though. Submitted at 11/20/2009 11:19:33 AM

Instead, there is a peek into how scientists actually interact and the conflicts show that the community is a far cry from the monolith that is sometimes imagined. People working constructively to improve joint publications; scientists who are friendly and agree on many of the big picture issues, disagreeing at times about details and engaging in ‘robust’ discussions; Scientists expressing frustration at the misrepresentation of their work in politicized arenas and complaining when media reports get it wrong; Scientists resenting the time they have to take out of their research to deal with overhyped nonsense. None of this should be shocking. Read the whole thing; they make more excellent points about the absurdly exaggerated denialists’ claims. Here’s their response to the “trick” comment: No doubt, instances of cherrypicked and poorly-worded “gotcha” phrases will be pulled out of context. One example is worth mentioning quickly. Phil Jones in discussing the presentation of temperature reconstructions stated that “I’ve just completed Mike’s Nature trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years (ie from 1981 onwards) and from

1961 for Keith’s to hide the decline.” The paper in question is the Mann, Bradley and Hughes (1998) Nature paper on the original multiproxy temperature reconstruction, and the ‘trick’ is just to plot the instrumental records along with reconstruction so that the context of the recent warming is clear. Scientists often use the term “trick” to refer to a “a good way to deal with a problem”, rather than something that is “secret”, and so there is nothing problematic in this at all. As for the ‘decline’, it is well known that Keith Briffa’s maximum latewood tree ring density proxy diverges from the temperature records after 1960 (this is more commonly known as the “divergence problem”–see e.g. the recent discussion in this paper) and has been discussed in the literature since Briffa et al in Nature in 1998 (Nature, 391, 678 -682). Those authors have always recommend not using the post 1960 part of their reconstruction, and so while ‘hiding’ is probably a poor choice of words (since it is ‘hidden’ in plain sight), not using the data in the plot is completely appropriate, as is further research to understand why this happens.

YouTube Will Soon Block Access From SetTop Devices [Media Center] By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker) Submitted at 11/20/2009 11:20:00 AM

It won't affect your PS3, Wii, TiVo, or other licensed YouTube partners, but Google's streaming video service will start blocking API access to TV-connected devices as of Dec. 2. The COO of set-top box maker Popcorn Hour writes that the firm tried to negotiate with YouTube to retain the service, but YouTube/Google seems to be standing firm—just as the site starts to transition to 1080p video. TV-oriented apps will certainly find workarounds—Boxee, for example, uses a Mozilla-based browser to stream otherwise blocked Hulu videos—but it's not a promising vision of the media center landscape. [ Connected and Digital Media via Engadget]

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Wallpaper Roundup: Turkey Time and Pumpkin Pie [Wallpaper Roundup] By Jason Fitzpatrick (Lifehacker)

Twitter/Facebook Client Brizzly Open for SignUps [Social Networks]

Submitted at 11/20/2009 12:00:00 PM

Turkeys are being purchased, pie recipes dusted off, and the folding chairs are being dragged out from the basement. It's that time of year againâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;celebrate Thanksgiving with some fresh wallpaper for your computer. We've rounded up some Thanksgiving and fall-themed wallpapers for you browse through. If you have a great resource for holiday wallpapers or a few wallpaper-size pictures of your own to share, leave a comment with a link to the pictures and everyone can enjoy them. In the mean time, grab a new wallpaper from our gallery to put yourself in the Thanksgiving spirit. Note: The "Full Size" link directly under the picture only shows you the full size of the sample image we uploaded for this gallery. You need to click on the name of the particular wallpaper in the right hand column to access the full range of sizes at the source site or click on "Direct Link to Largest Available Image" to jump right to the biggest size availableâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;if the site allows linking. Not keen on the gallery layout?

By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker) Submitted at 11/20/2009 2:00:00 PM

Brizzly, the web-based social media manager that ranked as one of our readers' favorite Twitter clients, has dropped the invite code requirement and is available for anyone to log into. It's still technically in "beta," but mostly to keep up the fairly rapid pace of feature development. [via TechCrunch]

See all the larger images on one page here. Happy Thanksgiving by DK Design Studio Direct Link to Largest Available Size. Thanksgiving by DK Design Studio Direct Link to Largest Available Image. Give Thanks! by Kevin Dooley Direct Link to Largest Available Image. Penguin Harvest = Bokeh Thanksgiving! by Amanda SG Direct Link to Largest Available

Image. Gourd Harvest by Idle Type Direct Link to Largest Available Image. Fall Colors by Idle Type Direct Link to Largest Available Image. Horn-o-Plenty by Brooke Condolra Direct Link not available, visit the main page by clicking on the site name above for additional sizes. Thanksgiving 09 by Crucial Design Direct Link to Largest Available

Image. Thanksgiving 08 by Cruciald Design Direct Link to Largest Available Image. Turkey by Push Me Pull You Designs Direct Link to Largest Available Image. Corn Harvest by mi9 Direct Link to Largest Available Image. Thanksgiving Sides by mi9 Direct Link to Largest Available Image.

NYC TV newsman guilty of attempted assault on wife (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News) Submitted at 11/20/2009 2:51:59 PM

Stephen buzzed up: Europe: Proton beams circulate in Big Bang machine 2 seconds ago 2009-1120T15:11:27-08:00 This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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Hand Out Your Invites in the Google Windows Surface Scanner Finds Bad Hard Drive Wave Invitation Donation Thread Sectors [Downloads] [Google Wave] By Lisa Hoover (Lifehacker)

By Adam Pash (Lifehacker) Submitted at 11/20/2009 12:30:00 PM

In our continuing efforts to help as many of our readers get a chance to play around with Google Wave as possible, we're back again with our weekly Google Wave invitation donation thread. Note: Read the entire post carefully before commenting. If you've got Wave invitations you're willing to donate, post a comment below, saying something like: "I've got 10 Wave invites; who wants one?" In that case, the first ten people to reply to that comment providing that generous soul with a means to invite you get invitations. Here's the important part:

Do not start a thread unless you have invitations to hand out. These threads get unwieldy very quickly if we don't follow some ground rules. Despite that, we really want to help give our readers a chance to try Wave, so we're giving it a go anyway. Please, please only start a thread if you've got invitations. Don't just post your email address thirty times hoping someone will grab it. If you want an invitation, reply to someone who's offering one. Finally, it takes our interns hours to admin comments every day, and these threads wreak havoc on their efforts, so if you don't already have an approved commenter account, please don't comment on this thread.

Make sense? Good luck, and thanks to everyone who's donating invitations. If you do happen to secure an invitation, be sure to check out The Complete Guide to Google Wave, Gina and Adam's comprehensive book on Wave. Note: If you're posting comments but they aren't showing up on the post, that means you are not an approved commenter. How can you become an approved commenter? Read our comment FAQ. In the meantime, please don't post any more comments on this thread asking for invitations if you're not an approved commenter.

Submitted at 11/20/2009 1:30:00 PM

Windows: When your computer starts acting hinky and spitting out error messages, it's hard to know exactly where to begin to diagnose the problem. Windows Surface Scanner gives you a place to start. This free utility takes a look at your hard drives and ferrets out any physical errors it finds, so you know what might be causing random crashes or system flakiness. Windows Surface Scanner won't fix damaged sector problemsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;it simply diagnoses them. Once you've figured out

the issue, you can use the native Windows check disk tool to make repairs. One important thing to note about this tool: If you start getting a lot of sector errors, stop scanning right away. Keep testing, and you might damage the hard drive you're searching. We've recommended our five best Windows maintenance tools, but what other diagnostic tools do you use to troubleshoot your computer when you feel there's something wrong deep inside? Let us know in the comments. Windows Surface Scanner[Via freewaregenius]

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Was Chrome OS a Disappointment? By Sarah Perez (ReadWriteWeb)

music sites Lala and Pandora. To be fair, Chrome OS even links to Yahoo and Microsoft's webmail Submitted at 11/20/2009 8:28:27 AM offerings right out of the box. It's the morning after the big Google's major goal with Chrome OS event where Google C h r o m e O S i s t o m o v i n g e x e c u t i v e s a n d e n g i n e e r s computing off our personal hard revealed a myriad of details drives and into the cloud...the about the company's first attempt Google cloud. To accomplish at creating their own operating such a feat, they've made the web system. The highly anticipated browser the OS. Everything you news conference was tracked all need (in theory) is accessible over the web, liveblogged by through the included Google technology sites, and Twittered Chrome browser, the same so much that it's still listed as a browser the company currently "trending topic" as of this offers to Windows users with morning. Mac and Linux versions expected But now that the news is out, has by the end of this year. Chrome OS lost its shine? People As exciting as that vision is, we h a d h i g h e x p e c t a t i o n s f o r have to wonder if people Google's new operating system e s p e c i a l l y t h e m a i n s t r e a m but the end result doesn't look netbook users the OS is aimed at like the revolutionary, "change - are ready for this big of a the world" product many had switch. And more importantly, is hoped for. the technology itself ready to Sponsor make the change a comfortable Yes, Chrome OS is Different and seamless experience?...but is Don't get us wrong - Google's it Better? OS is different than whatever After digesting yesterday's news, Windows, Mac, or Linux build some lingering questions remain. you have running on your Was this the OS everyone was computer today. The new OS hoping for or has Google let us d o e s a w a y w i t h d e s k t o p down? You Can't Just Install applications entirely - everything Chrome OS - You Have to Buy a you use on Google Chrome OS New Netbook runs on the web. Of course, the To begin with, one of the more company hopes you'll use a lot of surprising reveals that came out Google products like Gmail and of yesterday's news is that the OS YouTube, but it doesn't limit you cannot be installed on your own to just Google-branded services. computer. Oh sure, there are In the built-in applications area, downloads available that use there are also links to other web Google's open-sourced code to a p p s l i k e t h e o n l i n e T V create bootable builds tech-savvy streaming service Hulu.com and users and developers can play

planning to do something more than just integrating with Kinko's and FedEx's online document services, for example. Printing, (sorry Google) is not a web app just yet. No Other Web Browsers Supported Another big disappointment is the company's decision to limit all web surfing to the one included browser, Google Chrome. Firefox and Safari users with, but the official word from are out of luck - no other the search giant is that anyone browsers will be supported. But wanting to use the "real" Google before you cry out "antitrust!," be Chrome OS will have to purchase w a r n e d - G o o g l e h a s t h i s a new netbook to do so. You covered. The code base used to cannot simply download it from build the OS is open-source - that the web and install it on any means anyone take the code and machine. create their own version of Part of the reason for this Chrome OS. As was carefully restriction is driver support. and haltingly - explained by Google is working with carefully G o o g l e ' s V P o f P r o d u c t selected manufacturers to offer a Management, Sundar Pichai, handful of netbooks running the other browser makers can take OS in the coming year. By going the code and build their own OS this route, they don't have to if they want to. But let's get real provide an entire ecosystem of Firefox Chrome OS? We don't drivers for every piece of think so. The reality is that fans hardware out there - they can of other browsers are simply out pick and choose which ones to of luck if they want to use this support. They'll likely limit the operating system. Offline Access number of peripherals supported, is Limited. Your New Netbook is too. According to what was said Now a Brick. yesterday, the company will One of the questions that got support "mass storage devices" glossed over during the Q&A (think USB flash drives and session at the end of the event is digital cameras) but were cagey how Google's OS plans to deal on how they plan on offering with offline access. The world is printing support. All they would not blanketed in Wi-Fi yet, so say is that they're planning on an what can this web-based OS do "innovative approach" when it without the web? Surprisingly, comes to printing, whatever that the answer given didn't refer to m e a n s . H o p e f u l l y , t h e y ' r e any subsidized deals with cellular

providers regarding deals to offer built-in 3G connectivity for the new netbooks. Instead, Pichai explained that the OS was built for use with Wi-Fi. Of course, a handful of Google products use Google Gears, a technology that makes websites available offline. For example, Gmail uses Gears to create an offline version of your webmail inbox which you can use to read and respond to email until internet connectivity becomes available again. At that point, all the changes are synced back to Google's servers. Although Google didn't specifically refer to Gears when answering the question, there's no reason to doubt that it will work in Chrome OS's web browser the same as it does now in the standard Chrome browser. However, Pichai did make note of Chrome OS's support for HTML5, an upcoming revision to the core markup language used to build the web. In the new specification, a key feature is offline support for web apps. However, web application developers will have to rebuild their apps in order to use HTML5, so users will be dependent on each individual company to make this change. While it's believed that one day this spec could make the whole web an offline app, the reality is that most developers have yet to implement this technology in WAS page 42

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Sponsor Post: Build a Better Personal Brand With Your Own Domain By Admin (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 11/20/2009 5:00:57 AM

Editor's note: we offer our longterm sponsors the opportunity to write 'Sponsor Posts' and tell their story. These posts are clearly marked as written by sponsors, but we also want them to be useful and interesting to our readers. We hope you like the posts and we encourage you to support our sponsors by trying out their products. The concept of personal branding online has become a part of many conversations about social media and social networking recently. The popularity of social sites such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and various smaller niche sites has continued to skyrocket, offering individuals a chance to create a more robust online presence. The age of anonymity online has all but ended, and individuals should seek to gain further control of their online identities. Sponsor A great deal has been written about how to engage in social media to establish a name for yourself online, but a commonly overlooked piece of the puzzle is also one of the simplest: owning your own domain name. A domain name complements the rest of your online presence through branding, using yourname.com or a similar

variation. Some Personal Branding Background Personal branding is inherently somewhat egotistical, but not necessarily more so than networking at a conference or sharing business cards. The influence that personal branding online can have has continued to grow as people change the way they seek and consume information. Just over a decade ago, social circles were limited to face-to-face interactions and numbers in a phone book. Now, you can have a much larger reach and audience online. Think of personal branding simply as conducting some marketing as the president of Brand You. The key to successfully branding yourself online is sharing. This could include contributing valuable information to an online conversation, creating original content, passing along great content from others or sharing knowledge from your experiences. Whatever your interests, social networking provides the opportunity to connect with others who share those same interests and want to hear what you have to say. The tools you can use are nearly infinite, but some of the larger social sites such as LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook are great places to start if you're not already there. Where a Domain Fits With Personal

WordPress and Joomla are increasingly popular among people who want to build Branding Whether you're just starting out personal websites or blogs online or you're a social media without learning HTML or Web power user who has more social coding. Here are just a few ideas profiles than you can keep track of what you can do with a of, a domain is an essential part personal website: of owning your brand online. • Showcase your work in an Domains were around long online personal portfolio. before social networking sites, • Build an online resume that but many people have never highlights your strengths and owned one, and they're more creativity. relevant now than ever. Owning a • Make a website that features domain is very affordable, at your hobbies and interests. under $10 per year, and well • Create a hub that links to all of worth the cost as long as you put your social networking profiles. Start a blog about a it to use. If you don't already own • professional field or subject that yourname.com, do a domain search to see if it's available. If you have expertise in. yourname.com is already taken, the .net or .me extensions are also If you don't want to create a great options for a personal site. website or blog with your own If all else fails, you can use a domain, there are still many other middle initial, nickname or other uses for it: variation. Once you've found the • Brand yourself with custom p e r f e c t d o m a i n , c o n s i d e r email (you@yourname.com). registering other extensions (.net, You can even hook up services .org, .tel, etc.) as well and like Gmail to your domain using redirect them to your primary MX records, if you don't want to use separate email hosting. domain. Once you own your domain, you • If you already have a blog set might wonder how best to use it. up with a service like Blogger, The option that comes to mind Posterous or WordPress.com, use for many people is to build a URL forwarding to direct visitors website. If you have some to that blog when they type in k n o w l e d g e o f H T M L o r a your domain. website-building program, then • Forward your domain to your creating a basic website is Facebook, Twitter or other relatively simple. Content primary social networking management systems like profile.

Regardless of what you use the domain for, connecting your name to your online presence is important. When you connect with someone in your everyday life, you can share your domain name rather than having them search for you on Facebook. Use your domain on business cards, resume and other professional materials. Whatever the purpose, your domain can be an essential part of your online identity, without you having to rely on numerous online profiles. As Marshall Kirkpatrick puts it, "I'm in charge here at Marshallk.com and that's the way I like it." Why Create a Personal Brand Online? Personal branding has a great number of applications, particularly in the professional world. If you're searching for a job, having a well-rounded online presence is an increasingly important factor that many companies consider. Businesses often take more than a peek at what comes up in Google search results for candidates, whether you think they should or not, so use your domain name to rank well in Google to put the content that you want potential employers to see front and center. Similarly, use your domain and social media profiles to network on a professional or personal SPONSOR page 41

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The Future Is All About Context: The Pragmatic Web By Guest Author (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 11/20/2009 11:14:15 AM

The semantic Web has long been heralded as the future of the Web. Proponents have said that Web experiences will some day become more meaningful and relevant based on the AI-esque computational power of naturallanguage processing (NLP) and structured data that is understandable by machines for interpretation. However, with the rise of the social Web, we see that what truly makes our online experiences meaningful is not necessarily the Web's ability to approximate human language or to return search results with syntactical exactness. The value of the semantic Web will take time because the intelligent personal agents that are able to process this structured data still have a long way to go before becoming fully actualized. Sponsor This guest post was written by Alisa Leonard-Hansen. Rather, meaningful and relevant experiences now are born out of the context of our identities and social graph: the pragmatics, or contextual meaning, of our online

identities. My Web experience becomes more meaningful and relevant to me when it is layered with contextual social data based on my identity. This is the pragmatic Web. We need to better understand our identity as it begins to define our experience of the Web and the networked-enabled world we inhabit. Our online identity will increasingly be defined by three "pillars": who I say I am, what I do and say, and who I connect to (and who connects to me). To clarify, our online identities are comprised primarily of three specific kinds of data: â&#x20AC;˘ Explicit or prescriptive data (i.e. the data that I input about myself: name, age, occupation, etc.); â&#x20AC;˘ Activity or behavioral data (i.e. what I do and say online); â&#x20AC;˘ Relationship data (i.e. my social graph and what my connections say about me). If we consider the power of this pragmatic Web (a highly relevant and individualized Web experience based on the ubiquity of our identity data), we find that it not only impacts individual user experience, but that it opens up entirely new opportunities for business online. The future is not

user data between Facebook and third parties, Facebook could conceivably (and will) create an Facebook Connect ad network(read: data exchange), supplied by the valuable and highly targetable user identity data that is currently siloed on Facebook's servers. This identity "business as usual." Business data within Facebook is what models will be based on what makes the activity in "social Elias Bizannes of the Data media" so valuable. Portability Project calls the But the centralization of identity "information value network- data on one or two major economic value," derived from networks (such as Facebook, services that focus on activities Twitter and MySpace) won't with comparative advantage and r e a l i z e t h e v i s i o n o f t h e that leverage free access to data. pragmatic Web. So, how will the C o n s i d e r t h i s : a s m e d i a pragmatic Web come to be? How companies scramble to identify do we realize the power of a new and innovative ways to dynamic Web that is based on advertise to the sea of nameless, our identities? We do so by pixeled users who graze through empowering individuals to access their content each day, a rich and control their identity across supply of highly valuable identity any site or service, through data lies just beneath the surface, s t a n d a r d s t h a t e n a b l e d a t a l e f t u n m e a s u r e d a n d portability and open Web interoperability. The resulting vision unmonetized. Facebook is nothing more than is that of a highly personalized, p e r h a p s t h e l a r g e s t s i n g l e dynamic, relevant and remixable database of this kind of online Web experience, yielding greater identity data: explicit, activity access to information through and relationship data. With the discovery, communication and d e v e l o p m e n t o f F a c e b o o k collaboration. For enterprise, this Connect, which allows for the could mean the rise of innovative "open" exchange of Facebook new business models, based on data-driven value exchange.

One final note on identity data as it relates to enterprise. As Bizannes points out, the value of this kind of identity data rests on the key factors of time and timeliness. Essentially, identity data is valuable only if it is recent. Facebook wouldn't be able to sell your (permissionsenabled) data to advertisers if it used your explicit data from a year ago rather than from today. So, Bizannes argues that realtime "access" to someone's identity matters most, and it's no longer about data "capture." Thus, as new business models arise out of monetizing permissions-enabled identity data, the value of the business models will depend on these entities having real-time access to the data. Guest author: Alisa LeonardHansen is a digital strategist and Social Media Evangelist at iCrossing, a leading global digital agency. She is also the Communications Chair for the Data Portability Project and blogs about the social Web on her blog, TheWebisSocial.com. Follow her on Twitter@alisamleo. Discuss

Try to guess what this commercial is all about By Bob Sassone (TV Squad) Submitted at 11/20/2009 3:32:00 PM

The commercial is 38 seconds

long. Try to figure out what it's about before it's revealed around the 25 second mark. It's filmed like an investigative news report

or maybe an old cop show. Are those hookers? Who jumps out of the van? What's with the gross blob guy?

[via Adfreak] Comments Filed under: Video, Commercials, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| |

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Adobe's Upgrades Acrobat.com, Launches New Mobile App By Sarah Perez (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 11/20/2009 6:43:30 AM

Adobe's online office suite, Acrobat.com, is getting its first major upgrade since the service left beta back in June of this year. The new release, launching tomorrow, is an entirely unified experience thanks to the addition of a much-requested file organization tool, explains the service's Director of Project Management Rick Treitman. Also new are 35 user-requested features, including file searching capabilities and integrations with web services like Flickr and Google Image Search. However, one of the most exciting pieces to the upgraded service is the newly launched mobile component. With Acrobat.com's smartphone application, users won't just have access to their files on the go they can also scan in new documents with their phone's camera. Sponsor The New File Organizer The one major new feature in this release of Acrobat.com is the file organizer. Before, files could live in three different places on the service. Now all files are accessible through one main interface. The file organizer itself includes some handy features, too. Instead

of using a traditional folder structure like you have on your computer's hard drive, the service introduces something called "collections." These are more like iTunes playlists than file folders (or even labels in Gmail) because files can be assigned to multiple collections instead of having to sit in just one folder. Another key component to the organizer is a file search tool. Believe it or not, the online service had no way of helping you find your files until now. Although the current search capabilities don't yet offer full text search of your documents, Adobe says that may come further down the road. Also new is the organizer's "import and edit" feature which lets you open external files directly into the appropriate program so you can begin to work on them online. In the past, you had to first launch the program, then import the file. This time-saving step is more akin to what rival Google Docs offers via their upload feature except that in Acrobat.com, you don't have to click a link to open the uploaded file - it happens automatically. Other New Features The various online office programs themselves have seen improvements as well in this new release. Buzzword is leaving beta

SPONSOR continued from page 39

level with others who share the same interests and goals. If you have consistently useful this time because the app has not k n o w l e d g e a n d c o n t e n t t o yet arrived in the respective app contribute online, you can come to be known as an influencer and stores. a n d n o w i t , a l o n g w i t h The app also lets users view thought leader in your field. If Presentations, lets you import their files in a read-only mode, you aim to start your own images from online services like convert them to PDFs, and share business or new project, having Flickr and Google Images in them with others via fax or email. an established presence and addition to the images found on There will be two versions of the network of online connections your computer. One drawback to app made available - a free that trusts you can make a huge this feature, though, is that the version and a premium offering difference in your ability to online image searches don't offer which will allow for more PDF succeed. Regardless of the direction you take with personal filtering by license type, so a user conversions and faxes. A c c o r d i n g t o A d o b e , t h e branding, a domain name is a could easily get into trouble by Acrobat.com service is faring great place to start and can serve adding a copyrighted or otherwise licensed photo into well. They already have 6 million as the backbone of your online their document if they neglect to users and add around 100,000 presence. more each week. While a lot of Have another innovative use for check permissions first. The Tables app, still in beta, users are students and SMB your domain? Please share it in now has the ability to do more o w n e r s l o o k i n g f o r a f r e e the comments. Discuss data sorting and filtering. It also alternative to more expensive adds new views including a print Microsoft Office software, the layout view that shows what the company says they're also seeing document will look like on the the service picked up and used in MediaDailyNews: printed page. Acrobat.com small workgroups at larger Comes to iPhone, Blackberry companies. However, Adobe TV Guide Net Reups One of the more exciting admits that they're not an With Comcast d e v e l o p m e n t s i s t h e n e w enterprise play yet and they also Acrobat.com mobile application won't reveal how many people (MediaPost | Media News) which will be made available to use the premium version of the Submitted at 11/20/2009 12:02:47 PM Blackberry and iPhone users service - only that they're shortly. Built in conjunction with "happy" with the number thus TV Guide Network has renewed its carriage agreement with a company called scanR, the far. mobile application lets users take If you want to try the upgraded Comcast with a new multiyear advantage of their mobile phone's online suite, you can do so at deal, reports B&C. The MSO has camera to add new files to the w w w . a c r o b a t . c o m a s o f 25 million subscribers. The service. After taking the photo, tomorrow (Saturday, November network is set to debut HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" next the app uses OCR technology to 21st) at 6 AM EST. Discuss year, as well as introduce original convert the image to text. How programming. well this works is unknown at This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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WAS continued from page 38

their services yet. Even by Chrome OS's launch next year, there's no reason to believe the landscape will have changed significantly by then. Do You Really Need an OS or Just the Chrome Web Browser? Finally, the big question regarding Chrome OS is why? What can the OS do that any operating system running the Chrome browser cannot? Based on what was shown yesterday, the answer is very little. Chrome OS's brand-new features consist of two things: application tabs and panels. The panels are persistent windows that pop-up in front of your web browser's main window. For example, Google Chat, the company's IM service, can live in a panel that stays on top no matter what window you're viewing. Application tabs, meanwhile, are special tabs that give you easy access to your most frequently used web apps from the browser. Any page tab can be made into an application tab with one click and the resulting "tab" is represented with the colorful icon for that site or service. While that's certainly a cool feature, it

alone isn't a major selling point for the OS. That would be like saying you have to buy Mac OS X because of the dock or Windows because of the taskbar. You need a million of these little features combined to add up to a compelling reason to buy an OS. That's not to say that Chrome OS itself doesn't have worthwhile features of its own - like its builtin security mechanisms or its auto-update system, it's just that these aren't the kinds of things that sell it to an end user. The questions consumers want answers to are what does it do that's special? What does it look like? And for now, the answer is "it's basically just a web browser." Revolution? Maybe Not Just Yet. At the end of the day, Chrome OS is an exciting, but not fully realized, vision. Although it has potential, the world may not be ready for a web-based netbook right now. Also, the technology needed to make the Wi-Fi only netbook useful without an internet connection isn't up to full speed either. At the end of the day, the netbook will be marginally more useful than an

iPod Touch - when connected, it's amazing. Offline, not so much. While you might not rush right out to buy a Chrome OS netbook when they first launch, there could come a time - sooner than you think - when it becomes a reasonable choice. When the majority of apps work offline and you've fully transitioned away from desktop apps, a webconnected netbook, especially one that's affordable, could easily become your everyday computer. That day hasn't arrived yet. For now, Chrome OS is an exciting glimpse at the future of computing, but not a practical device for the majority of users. Disclosure: Sarah Perez freelances for Microsoft's Channel 10 blog, but is not a Microsoft employee. Her primary web browser is, in fact, Google Chrome which she uses exclusively. Discuss

8tracks to Launch Playback API and Developer Program By Dana Oshiro (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 11/20/2009 12:00:00 PM

It appears that the time for freemium music services in the US has passed. Earlier this week streaming music site Imeem sold to MySpace for under $10 million dollars while laying off a large number of staff. For a company with all four major record labels signed, more than 15 million uniques a month and well over 5 million tracks in its catalogue, it came as a sobering blow to the industry. While many companies move to a subscription model, 8tracks continues to forge along in what some describe as a convenient loophole. As of this weekend the company is publicly launching its API for Boston's Music Hack Day. Sponsor Similar to the original concept for Muxtape, 8tracks allows users to trade 30 min (8 track) playlists. But unlike Muxtape,

because 8tracks songs are not identified prior to play, the company is treated as an internet radio station. This status as a radio station means that it avoids the high licensing fees plaguing the streaming music sites. While Muxtape was forced to close in 2008, 8tracks continues to thrive. This weekend 8tracks is publicly launching its music playback API in the hopes of leveraging the collective brain power of Music Hack Day attendees. Some of the tools already built using the API that will be demoed include an iPhone player, a player widget for Facebook and a weekly Hype Machine mix. For those interested in getting involved with 8tracks on Music Hack Day, the developer API is available t o m o r r o w a t developer.8tracks.com. Discuss

Joel Madden: Nicole Richie Home from the Hospital (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 11/20/2009 10:14:00 AM

Joel Madden says his girlfriend

Nicole Richie is back home following her hospitalization for a reported case of pneumonia. “So I stepped off the plane after a

month out of the country, and basically went straight to the hospital for the week,” Madden blogs. “But don't worry, all is

well and we are home with no problems.” The Good Charlotte rocker and Richie have two children

together.

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FastPencil: Turn Your Blog Posts into a Published Book

Where is RSS?

By Frederic Lardinois (ReadWriteWeb)

I watched the morning session of TechCrunch's second realtime conference, including the half hour interview with Dick Costolo, the COO of Twitter. Of course Mike Arrington asked him the "Is RSS Dead?" question, and thankfully Costolo didn't want to go there. It would be ingracious of him, of course, because he made$100 million with RSS. He said RSS had been "pushed down" the stack, and it was now a protocol like SMTP or HTTP. In a way I agree with him, but only so far. RSS was never anything more than a protocol like SMTP or HTTP. So it hasn't gone anywhere. It's still exactly where it has been since 2002, it's part of the fabric of the Internet, and is the standard format for news distribution. We're lucky to have a standard format for that. But... Had Arrington asked me the question, I would have answered it differently. RSS will form the basis for the open distributed version of Twitter. The loosely-coupled 140character message network. RSS already has everything we need, including a protocol for realtime updates. Further, any vendor of a Twitter client would, imho, be welladvised to spread out to achieve

Submitted at 11/20/2009 9:42:43 AM

Writing a book will never be easy, but FastPencil' s mission is to make things easier for authors by bringing this process online and to collaborate with others. FastPencil takes writers from idea to published book. The service offers features for collaboration, editing and design, as well as professional consulting services for authors. One cool feature of FastPencil is that it can import blog posts and turn them into books and e-books that bloggers can then sell through all the major book distribution channels. Sponsor Features The areas where FastPencil exceeds are online editing, collaboration and distribution. Fast Pencil offers a surprisingly comprehensive online editing suite. While this editor isn't quite as fully-featured as Microsoft Word, OpenOffice or Apple's Pages - there is no feature to create headlines or tables of content, for example - it's more than enough to power the service's online collaboration tools.

In it's latest update, which launched earlier this week, FastPencil introduced a number of interesting new features. These include new templates, new roles for collaborators (co-authors, project managers) and forums for prospective authors to meet and discuss their work. Turn Your Blog Into a Book If you import your blog feed, FastPencil will turn every blog post into a chapter. The service also imports images from these posts. These images have to be inserted at the beginning or end of a post, however. You can't have your text flow around an image. Publishing: Hardcover, Paperback, E-Book Once you have finished your book, you can publish it as an ebook and printed book. These services, however, do cost. These

paid services include printing, obtaining ISBN numbers, and organizing the distribution of your book on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Ingram Digital and other retail partners. FastPencil also offers a number of editing services like design, illustration and editing services. Besides printing hardcover and paperback books, FastPencil can format books for virtually any digital platform, including DRM-free ePub e-books and the Kindle. Don't Need All These Services? Try SmashWords If you don't need all of these services from Fast Pencil - or if you have already finished your book - another service worth looking at is SmashWords. Smashwords specializes in ebooks. Thanks to deals with Barnes & Noble and Sony in the US and Indigo Books & Music's Shortcovers in Canada, selfpublished authors can get their ebooks into traditional distribution channels, or sell their books directly on SmashWords. Smashwords acquired the New Zealand-based e-book selfpublishing service BookHabit earlier this week. Discuss

(Scripting News) Submitted at 11/20/2009 11:33:20 AM

independence from the Twitter company. One way to do that, and they should all do it, is to support Facebook on an equal basis with Twitter. But that isn't enough. They should all make an investment in the open distributed way of doing what Twitter does. What that means is to offer the user the option to create a backup of their tweet stream in RSS, as a publiclyaccessible feed. And once there's a base of apps doing that, they should add a feature to subscribe to those feeds. Key point: Once they're there, they can add core features without waiting for Twitter. Of course Arrington didn't ask me that question, and that's fine - that's his prerogative. But there's nothing to stop me from answering it anyway!

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Memento: Protocol-Based Time Travel for the Web By Frederic Lardinois (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 11/20/2009 11:45:49 AM

The Web constantly changes and evolves. That, of course, is what makes the Internet so exciting, but it also means that finding older versions of a website is hard. The current push towards the real-time web is making this problem even more apparent. Memento, a project based at Old Dominion University, wants to make it easier to access older versions of a web page without having to go to the Internet Archive. To do this, the project is using a relatively obscure feature of the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP). Sponsor The Memento project wants to give browsers a 'time-travel' mode. Currently, the only way to find these pages is the Wayback Machine. According to an interview with Memento's Herbert Van de Sompel, the

mission of this project is to make it far easier for users to find older pages without having to go through the hassle of putting the right URL into the Wayback Machine's search engine. HTTP Content Negotiation To do this, Van de Sompel and his colleagues are exploiting a feature in the HTTP content negotiation specs that allows them to add date-and-time negotiation to the standard negotiations that already happen whenever your browser connects to a web server. Instead of just

asking for the current page, a Memento-enabled browser can also ask for an older version of that page. Some servers and content management systems already offer this feature and the Memento project has developed a demo that shows how this feature would look. According to Van de Sompel, it only takes four extra lines of codes in Apache to make this work. While it is relatively easy for browsers to ask for an older version of a web page, content owners would have to store these older versions of their sites on their servers as well. With static sites, this is easy to do, but today's highly dynamic web doesn't make it easy to create an archival version of every page. You can find more technical information about how the team envisions the future of the Memento project in this paper. Discuss

'New Moon' Breaks Box Office Records (ETonline - Breaking News)

movie history! According to the studio behind Submitted at 11/20/2009 10:01:00 AM the highly anticipated sequel to 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon' last year's 'Twilight,' the movie is breaking barriers. See how made more than $26 million on thousands of fans have made the first day, breaking all records

for a first-day release. Last night, series stars Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart took a bite out of the Big Apple -- see pics here!

Wanda Sykes holds steady with adults 18-49 in second week; plus January Jones on SNL ratings By Robert Seidman (TVbytheNumbers)

started on time) pulled a .3 adults 18-49 rating. The repeat on 10/10 also started on time and it Submitted at 11/20/2009 1:26:27 PM had a .6 adults 18-49 rating In its second week, FOX’s The And for the few fans who are Wanda Sykes Show was down dying to know how Sit Down, from the premiere in overall Shut Up does at midnight, last viewers (2.441 million vs. 2.832 Saturday it averaged a .5 adults million) but held steady with 18-49 rating and 1.176 million adults 18-49 with a .9 rating viewers. between 11p-12a, the same as it More people saw January Jones averaged for its premiere, so on Saturday Night Live last there was no big drop off. It’s Saturday night than ever watch still doing much better than the her on Mad Men. For all the talk averages for Spike Ferensten, I saw about how horrible she however, it’s not up much over was, the ratings were definitely Spike’s last show on 10/31/09 not bad. SNL averaged a 2.6 when it had a 0.8 rating. adults 18-49 rating and 6.634 Update: the 10/31 episode noted million viewers, down slightly above did not air until 12:53AM from the previous week with on the east coast and had a World Taylor Swift that averaged a 2.8 Series game as its lead in. But it adults 18-49 rating (tied for a was also a repeat. Unfortunately I season high) and 6.817 million only have access to this season’s viewers (a season high). data and all the Spike F. airings This content has passed through from 9/12-10/31 were repeats. fivefilters.org. The repeat on 10/24 (which

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Microsoft’s Bad Image Should Be a Warning to Apple By Liam Cassidy (TheAppleBlog) Submitted at 11/20/2009 9:00:36 AM

“I’m just wondering why your marketing group can’t do something to try to rein in this next generation, because you’ve got a real bad image out there.” So said a Microsoft shareholder to CEO Steve Ballmer at the company’s shareholder meeting yesterday. TechFlash reporter Todd Bishop notes that the same shareholder added that Apple’s TV commercials make Microsoft look “like a buffoon.” I’m relieved to hear this. I often look at Microsoft and wonder if its shareholders are as out-oftouch as the company itself seems to be. In just the last few weeks here’s what’s getting the most enthusiastic coverage in the tech press at a time when it ought to be 100 percent about the newly launched Windows 7. • A Microsoft manager claiming Windows 7 — Microsoft’s flagship product — is inspired by Mac OS X • Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie’s bewildering assertion that “ apps don’t matter” — despite everyone else on Earth

knowing otherwise • Further redundancies that include long-time evangelist Don Dodge, and his subsequent post that, now that he’s free from Microsoft, he can admit, yeah, he has iPhone envy • And let’s not forget the bizarre PR misfire that saw the staff of Microsoft’s flagship retail store ignoring their customers for a full five minutes in favor of stomping their way, awkwardly and embarrassingly, through a dance routine

100 worldwide, people choose a PC with Windows, that’s a good thing. Even in the toughest market, which would be the high end of the consumer market here in the U.S., 83 times out of 100 people choose a Windows PC over a Mac. Hang on, back-up. “Some of that is phase of life.” Phase of life? Well, Ballmer sure knows his execu-speak. What galls me about this is how it illustrates perfectly that while Microsoft may be doomed to continue making embarrassing mistakes, it The take-home message? It ain’t probably won’t suffer any actual just the Apple commercials harm as a result; it survives making Microsoft look like simply because of its mammoth buffoons. install base. Nothing more than How did CEO Steve Ballmer that. And that simple fact directly respond? Fear not, anxious influences the attitude and shareholders, Ballmer has this to reasoning of its CEO. Ballmer is say to assuage your fears and tacitly admitting that, all things calm your nerves: considered, yeah, Microsoft You take any country, including looks like a bunch of idiots but this one, and you say, how are we that doesn’t matter because doing? The truth of the matter is, they’ve got more customers than we do quite well. Even among anyone else. college students, we do quite Turn this around, and imagine well. Do we have an opportunity that Apple does monumentally for improvement? We do. Some silly things that make it the target of that is marketing some of that of much derision and ridicule is phase of life. It is important to among the tech community and remember that 96 times out of consumers. Imagine you’re a

shareholder, and you see a drop in quarterly earnings. You see the company laying off staff (including highly visible and respected staff they should keep). You see its executives sending conflicting messages to the public. And when you take them to task for it, Steve Jobs replies “Yeah, we’ve been a bit crap. But most people own an iPod, right, so, no worries.” Would you be satisfied with that? Ballmer added: Frankly, the economy is good for us, because people do understand that Macintoshes are quite a bit more expensive for essentially the same computer … we have opportunities to improve among exactly the constituency that you identify. Yep. Be happy there’s a recession, people, or else customers would be buying Macs! This isn’t actually a Microsoft bashing exercise (clearly, it does that to itself and needs no help from me). Instead, I look at this and wonder (fear) that Apple might be headed in much the same direction. Recent unpredictable behavior around the application approval process

has seen Apple severely criticised by some of its most staunch supporters. Developers aren’t just frustrated, they’re now quitting the platform altogether. And not because the platform is flawed, but because Apple is horribly (and very visibly) mismanaging it. Apple needs to take a good long look at the Microsoft of today and ask if it isn’t starting to make the same mistake; stubbornly pushing ahead with flawed policies/strategies that are justified on the strength of product market share alone, despite the obvious (and loud!) protestations of the public, the press, and sooner or later, even its own shareholders. Sure, Apple isn’t as bad as Microsoft yet. But this is how it starts, people. Google Voicegate. Joe Hewitt. Rogue Amoeba. It’s not exactly dancing in an Apple Store, but it’s still embarrassing and potentially damaging, and it’s definitely a trend that won’t go away unless Apple does something to fix it.

Rachael Ray: There Will Only Ever Be One Oprah (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 11/20/2009 1:40:00 PM

Talk-show host and celebrity cook Rachael Ray tells ET her thoughts about the news that

Oprah Winfrey's show will come to an end in 2011. Rachael tells ET: "I am going to enjoy every episode between now and 2011. Oprah opened the door for me to move into daytime

television and I can’t thank her enough. I look forward to seeing what she does next…there will only ever be one Oprah!" Earlier Friday, Oprah announced the news on her show, saying in

part, "Why walk away? Here is the real reason -- I love this show, this show has been my life. And I love it enough to know when it's time to say goodbye." The tearful TV icon then said that

the 25-year mark was "the exact right time," before adding that "the countdown to the end of 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' starts right now."

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Apple Patent Describes Smart Remote Technology By Liam Cassidy (TheAppleBlog)

Often they’re dumb little inline sticks with a few fiddly (not to mention tiny) buttons. They’re Submitted at 11/20/2009 7:57:44 AM useful, but basic, offering The U.S. Patent and Trademark perhaps only a half dozen simple Office yesterday published a controls. Some of the more patent application Apple made elaborate remotes have their own way back in 2008 for “Pushing a little displays, which is all very User Interface to a Remote well and good, except that they D e v i c e . ” S o , t h e n … S m a r t also employ their own little GUIs Remotes. Cool! which not only fail to resemble MacRumor’s Eric Slivka reports the one on the device you’re that the patent’s lead inventor is trying to control, but often don’t William Bull, now Yahoo’s provide full access to all the Senior Director of Mobile User device’s functions. From the Experience, but once upon a time patent application: Apple’s iPod User Interface …existing remote GUIs are Manager. The so-called “father defined and controlled by the of the iPod,” Tony Fadell, is also remote control device, and credited. consequently, they may bear little The idea is simple; portable resemblance to a GUI supplied media devices — such as iPods by the portable media device and iPhones, for example — itself Certain functions available h a v e t h e i r o w n o n - b o a r d on the portable media device Graphical User Interface (GUI) (such as browsing or searching a and, usually, a built-in screen. database, adjusting playback Thing is, we don’t always want settings, etc.) may be unavailable to take our iPhone out of our or difficult to find. pocket when we’re listening to Apple’s solution is to “push” the music (or, if you’re me, catching device’s GUI to a remote an up on podcasts while washing the accessory with a built-in display. dishes). Here’s the description from the Enter remote controls (referred patent application (I’ve shortened to in this patent as “accessories”). it to just the main points);

media device can process this input to identify the action requested by the user and take the appropriate action. The action may include providing to the accessory an updated GUI image to be displayed, where the updated GUI image reflects the user action. Essentially this describes a touch -enabled screen, small enough (and dumb enough) to still be called an accessory, which effectively acts as a small auxiliary display/input panel for the device. I can’t see this making its way into an inline remote (it’s just not The portable media device can Apple’s style to make a wearable provide the accessory with an remote that’s big) but I can see a image to be displayed on the future revision of Apple’s current video screen… [and] include Remote that entirely does away various user interface elements with the buttons, replacing them that can resemble or replicate a with a capacitive touch screen. “native” GUI provided directly Future software updates would on the portable media device. enable one to connect the remote T h e a c c e s s o r y c a n s e n d to a nearby Mac mini, Apple TV, information to the portable media even an iPod touch, and switch device indicative of a user action between those devices the same […] for example, that a particular way the iPhone Remote app does button was pressed or that a today. The GUI would change, particular portion of a touch- depending on the selected device. sensitive display screen was The only drawback I can see to touched by the user. The portable such a device (and remember,

I’m just extrapolating here and imagining a potential future gadget — Apple’s patent application only describes a possible method and not an actual product) is that a remote with a capacitive touch screen will chew through its battery in next to no time. Is it conceivable we’ll be buying a charging dock for a future Apple MultiRemote? More compelling is the notion that Apple could build this technology into an entire ecosystem, licensing third-party developers to create compatible hardware; imagine a house where a smart display on the door of your refrigerator not only tells you when the milk needs replacing but also allows you to skip tracks on the album you’re playing over AirTunes… But am I thinking too small? Is this yet another patent application that will, ultimately, come to nothing, or could this be an early clue to a new Apple-tastic revolution?

Cheech and Chong and ... Ann Coulter?!? By Danny Gallagher (TV Squad) Submitted at 11/20/2009 2:29:00 PM

First there was the LincolnDouglas debate. Then came the Nixon-Kennedy debate. Now

Fox News' Geraldo Rivera continues that great American tradition of the public debate with the Cheech and ChongCoulter debate. It might sound like the world's most lopsided episode of

Celebrity Deathmatch, but the world's most famous pot comedy duo squared off against the famed conservative pundit on Rivera's "Geraldo at Large" show recently to discuss the opening of the country's first cannibus club

in Portland, Oregon and the Reality-Free legalization of marijuana. Despite Permalink| Email this| | the craziness of the casting, they C o m m e n t s actually have a very frank, civilized and enlightening discussion on the subject. Filed under: News, Video,

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Jobs’ Personal, Terse Reply to Developer By Liam Cassidy (TheAppleBlog)

Jobso himself. Here’s a little excerpt from his impassioned plea for special treatment sanity Submitted at 11/20/2009 7:39:33 AM (edited by me for brevity, but you Gotta love that Steve Jobs. He can read the whole thing here); never was one to hold back, and Dear Mr. Jobs, even now, when he’s the CEO of I doubt you’re aware but we the Universe (or something like recently received a letter from a that), he won’t be found spouting law firm working on Apple’s corporate speak. behalf instructing us that we had CrunchGear tells the story of a violated several of Apple’s small software development trademarks in our application company called The Little App iPodRip and asking us to cease Factory. It made an app for the using the name and Apple Mac called iPodRip, one of those trademarks in our icons. tools for transferring music from It is quite obvious that we mean an iPod to a computer. A law Apple no harm with the use of firm representing Apple sent The the name iPodRip, or of the Little App Factory a letter, inclusion of trademarked items in informing the company it had our icons… …we are quite aware v i o l a t e d s o m e o f A p p l e ’ s that Apple support and store staff trademarks, and instructed it to have recommended our software stop using the “iPod” bit in the on numerous occasions as far app’s name. back as 2004 so we have felt that iPodRip has been around for we were doing something right! n e a r l y s e v e n y e a r s a n d With this in mind, we are in C r u n c h G e a r ’ s D a n i e l desperate need of some Brusilovsky says it has been assistance and we beseech you to downloaded more than five help us to protect our product and million times. You’d think our shareware company, I myself Apple’s legal sniffer hounds, dropped out of school recently to Baker & McKenzie, might have pursue a path in the Mac software acted a tad sooner… industry, and you yourself have Anyway, iPodRip developer and been a consistent inspiration for The Little App Factory CEO me. John Devor felt this was all rather If there is anything at all you can unfair, so he wrote directly to El do with regards to this matter, we

obvious passion of those in the Mac development community who so loyally support his products and strive to make the Mac ecosystem a bigger, brighter and more worthwhile place to be. Right? Of course not. He’s Steve Jobs, people! This is his reply: Change your apps name. Not that big of a deal. Steve Sent from my iPhone would be most grateful. I nearly fell off my chair in Best, laughter when I saw that. I’m not John Devor Poor fellow. Obviously he has sure I agree with him that’s it’s poured his heart and soul into his “not that big of a deal” (after all, company, and he has worked this company has invested many h a r d t h i s l a s t h a l f - d e c a d e years in their brand and built a building a strong brand and large considerable customer base) but I customer base. He wants to admire Steve’s no-nonsense protect his investment, and why attitude. He says exactly what’s not? Apple has, it seems, been on his mind, no PR-spin, and aware of the product, to some sends it straight from his iPhone, degree, for an awfully long time, typos-and-all. The Little App Factory so why slap him with a C&D acquiesced (what else could it letter now? So Steve Jobs gets the email and do?) and renamed the app iRip. It thinks about this, right? He also changed the app’s icon. considers the years of service Perhaps this whole affair was a this guy and his company have thorn in the side, but I don’t feel provided for iTunes users around too sorry for them, the tech press the world. He considers carefully is giving them a lot of attention the late-in-the-game complaint right now, and that’s gotta be from Baker & McKenzie. He good for business, right? feels a swell of pride at the

Obama healthcare drive faces critical vote (Financial Times - US homepage)

faces the next big test of its push for healthcare reform this evening when the Senate meets Submitted at 11/20/2009 12:25:36 PM to decide whether to proceed to a US President Barack Obama, debate on its $848bn draft

legislation. In the run-up to the rare Saturday session, Harry Reid, leader of the Democrats in the Senate, and other pro-reform

senators tried to rally more sceptical colleagues to get the bill past a procedural vote. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Going through the looking glass with Syfy's Alice By Mike Moody (TV Squad) Submitted at 11/20/2009 6:02:00 PM

The producers of Tin Man, Syfy's dark and splashy spin on The Wizard of Oz, are back with Alice, a twisted take on Lewis Carroll's classic Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. In a conference call with reporters, Alice director Nick Willing and star Caterina Scorsone talked flying flamingos, Tweedledee and Tweedledum's torture tactics, and what Wonderland would look like 150 years after Alice's original adventure. We'll have an advance review of Alice next week, but for now you can head after the jump for an inside look at the miniseries, premiering December 6 on Syfy. Spoilers follow. Continue reading Going through the looking glass with Syfy's Alice Filed under: Other SciFi/Supernatural Shows, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

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An open letter to Google (Scripting News)

6. I don't have the first clue what it's like to be inside Google, and honestly I don't care. I h a d a n i n t e r e s t i n g b u t 7. Now about PubSubHubBub. somewhat disturbing exchange When I first looked at it I saw with a Google guy on Twitter Atom all over it. I quickly hit the today. It reveals a bunch of Back button. disconnects, that I'm going to try, 8. There was a time when I in this post, to address. seriously considered 1. Please take these statements at implementing it. But it required face value. me to understand concepts I 2. I am just a person, I am not in didn't understand and had no competition with Google. interest in investing in. It seemed 3. I am a Google user. My to me that I would have to primary email account is on reimplement a lot of stuff I GMail. I just bought a Droid, and already had working. This is started a Droid blog to help other something big companies ask people get started. I like it you to do a lot of. primarily because it connects so 9. One of the reasons I well with Google services. revitalized rssCloud was to 4. I am a former Google influence Google to support RSS shareholder. I made a shitload of better in PSHB. m o n e y f r o m m y G o o g l e 10. One of the clues that PSHB i n v e s t m e n t . T h a n k y o u . needs to be reconstructed is that 5. I think Google is a big it's so hard to describe. What's company. I think the people at needed here is easy to explain: G o o g l e , l i k e m o s t p e o p l e Instant updates for RSS. If you everywhere, mean well. Like think RSS is a bad choice of every big organization there are terms, do some research. The some who don't mean well. But I world sees it that way. If you judge each individual as a person. make that more general, you lose I don't assume because a person people. They get confused. works at Google that they are PSHB is very very confusing to good or bad or otherwise. people. That hinders adoption. Submitted at 11/20/2009 1:01:05 PM

11. Fostering adoption of complex technologies is something I know a lot about. I'm very good at it. You can ignore me if you want, but I usually am right about this stuff. 12. Switching gears, I like the Internet because it means I can ignore big companies and still create meaningful software. 13. I think Google doesn't like RSS. I see that in a lot of things Google does. 14. I wish Google would give up on fighting RSS. I think it's pointless. I don't think defeating or blunting or obviating RSS has anything to do with Google's business. 15. You can argue with me on any of these points, but remember #2. If you convince me I'm wrong (which is unlikely, btw, I'm no different than anyone else in that regard), you still have just convinced one person. 16. All this disclaimed, we have a common interest, I think. I don't want to pretend to speak for Google, so I don't want to try to say what that is.

Fox News caught using wrong footage ... again By Danny Gallagher (TV Squad)

story on the "crowds" that showed up during Sarah Palin's book tour. Submitted at 11/20/2009 3:07:00 PM Think Progress, a blog created Remember the old saying, "Fool by the liberal think tank the me once (awkward pause), shame Center for American Progress, on (another awkward pause), discovered the footage. The dead shame on you (another longer giveaway was the "Country First" and more awkward pause). Fool campaign signs indicating the me, we can't get fooled again"? footage was taken during Palin's Less than a week after Fox News campaign run with John McCain host and conservative pundit back in 2008. The network called Sean Hannity apologized for the clip mix-up a mistake and accidentally using the wrong issued another apology. Hold on, footage from Glenn Beck's "9/12 are we sure that they aired the Rally" as footage for Rep. right apology this time? Michelle Bachmann's "Super Filed under: News, Video, Bowl of Freedom" rally, the Reality-Free network used the wrong footage Permalink| Email this| | in another story. This time, they C o m m e n t s used the wrong footage for a

The Cyrus Family Speaks Out on Loss of Tour Bus Driver (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 11/20/2009 12:56:00 PM

The Cyrus family is speaking out following the death of a bus driver from Miley Cyrus' tour who passed away this morning

after a tour bus crash. "We are deeply saddened by the loss of Bill â&#x20AC;&#x153;Uncle Billâ&#x20AC;? Douglas. Members of our tour are like members of our family. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family in the midst of this

tragedy. He will truly be missed," the Cyrus family said in a statement posted on www.MileyCyrus.com. Earlier today, news broke that Douglas, 53, of Austin, Texas, passed away at the scene after the

tour bus he was driving crashed in Virginia Friday morning. The bus was traveling along with three other buses (carrying members of Miley's production crew but not Miley) southbound on Interstate I-85 just south of

Petersburg, VA, when it ran off the left side of the road and overturned.

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Cable News Ratings for Thursday, November 19, 2009 By Bill Gorman (TVbytheNumbers)

35-64 Prime Time FNC –1,397,000 viewers CNN – 334,000 viewers Submitted at 11/20/2009 2:51:48 PM MSNBC –422,000 viewers Live + Same Day Cable News CNBC – 166,000 viewers Daily Ratings for November 19, HLN –370,000 viewers 2009 Morning programs (6:00AMP2+ Total Day 9:00AM) P2+ (25-54) (35-64) FNC – 1,465,000 viewers FOX & Friends- 1,122,000 CNN – 491,000 viewers viewers (418,000) (734,000) MSNBC –375,000 viewers American Morning- 394,000 CNBC – 225,000 viewers viewers (154,000) (191,000) HLN –306,000 viewers Morning Joe- 313,000 viewers P2+ Prime Time (104,000) (184,000) FNC – 3,035,000 viewers Squawk Box- 141,000 viewers CNN – 753,000 viewers (50,000) (84,000) MSNBC –883,000 viewers Morning Express w/ MeadeCNBC – 274,000 viewers 249,000 viewers (149,000) HLN –718,000 viewers (213,000) 25-54 Total Day 5PM – P2+ (25-54) (35-64) FNC –380,000 viewers Glenn Beck – 2,730,000 viewers CNN –135,000 viewers (689,000) (1,266,000) MSNBC –106,000 viewers Situation Room—627,000 CNBC – 81,000 viewers viewers (138,000) (186,000) HLN- 140,000 viewers Hardball w/ Chris 25-54 Prime Time Matthews—554,000 viewers FNC – 795,000 viewers (108,000) (275,000) CNN – 222,000 viewers Fast Money—248,000 viewers MSNBC –255,000 viewers (63,000) (114,000) CNBC – 145,000 viewers Prime News–261,000 viewers HLN – 264,000 viewers (126,000) (169,000) 35-64 Total Day 6PM – P2+ (25-54) (35-64) FNC – 697,000 viewers Special Report with Bret Baier– CNN – 201,000 viewers 2,359,000 viewers (525,000) MSNBC – 186,000 viewers (1,004,000) CNBC – 119,000 viewers Situation Room—617,000 HLN – 180,000 viewers viewers (118,000) (177,000)

Ed Show—540,000 viewers (102,000) (255,000) Mad Money —242,000 viewers (87,000) (127,000) Prime News — 280,000 viewers (121,000) (154,000) 7PM – P2+ (25-54) (35-64) The Fox Report w/ Shep –2,078,000 viewers (477,000) (847,000) CNN Tonight—578,000 viewers (148,000) (224,000) Hardball w/ C. Matthews—597,000 viewers (175,000) (283,000) Kudlow Report — 241,000 viewers (71,000) (130,000) Issues– 450,000 viewers (195,000) (272,000) 8PM – P2+ (25-54) (35-64) The O’Reilly Factor– 4,120,000 viewers (1,069,000) (1,880,000) Campbell Brown – 695,000 viewers (193,000) (272,000) Countdown w/ K. Olbermann – 1,188,000 viewers (316,000) (595,000) Coca-Cola: The Real Story – 281,000 viewers (168,000) (183,000) Nancy Grace – 1,018,000 viewers (359,000) (504,000) 9 PM – P2+ (25-54) (35-64) Hannity –2,871,000 viewers (744000) (1,288,000) Larry King Live —980,000 viewers (258,000) (425,000)

Rachel Maddow Show —877,000 viewers (240,000) (390,000) Oprah Effect — 275,000 viewers (153,000) (160,000) Joy Behar- 654,000 viewers (188,000) (310,000) 10 PM P2+ (25-54) (35-64) On The Record w/ Greta —2,113,000 viewers (571,000) (1,022,000) Anderson Cooper 360 — 585,000 viewers (216,000) (305,000) Countdown w/ K. Olbermann – 584,000 viewers (208,000) (281,000) Bio: Rachael Ray – 265,000 viewers (115,000) (154,000) Nancy Grace –522,000 viewers (259,000) (314,000) 11 PM P2+ (25-54) (35-64) The O’Reilly Factor —1,691,000 viewers (519,000) (867,000) Anderson Cooper 360 — 462,000 viewers (151,000) (238,000) Rachel Maddow Show —382,000 viewers (127,000) (207,000) Mad Money – a scratch w/90,000 viewers (a scratch w/34,000) (72,000) Showbiz Tonight– 412,000 viewers (145,000) (186,000) -

For other days cable news ratings click here. P2+ = viewers over the age of 2 (25-54) = Adults 25-54 viewing (35-64) = Adults 35-64 viewing Prime Time = 8-11pm LIVE+SD: The number that watched a program either while it was broadcast OR watched via DVR on the same day [through 3AM the next day] the program was broadcast. For more information see Numbers 101. Scratch = when a show’s audience fails to meet minimum Nielsen reporting levels. For more information go here. Nielsen Cable Network Coverage Estimates(as of September, 2009) CNN/HLN: 99.098 million HHs CNBC: 96.78 million HHs FNC: 96.26 million HHs MSNBC: 92.64 million HHs Nielsen TV Ratings Data: ©2009 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved. Personal attacks in the comments will be deleted. Political comments will be deleted. If I have to delete your comments more than once, I will just block your commenting. Bill This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

€10m ($15m) in illegal betting proceeds by manipulating the outcome of games in nine countries, including three in the European Champions League.

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Arrests made in €10m match-fixing probe (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 11/20/2009 2:39:47 PM

At least 200 European soccer

games are being investigated after police said that they had dismantled an alleged international criminal ring suspected of running the

continent’s biggest ever matchfixing scandal. German prosecutors and police said on Friday that the gang allegedly obtained more than

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“General Hospital” Delivers its largest Weekly Audience in Over 2 Years in Women 18-34 By Robert Seidman (TVbytheNumbers) Submitted at 11/20/2009 1:12:20 PM

via press release: November 20, 2009 Fringe Ratings Report: ABC Daytime Programming Week of November 9, 2009 Delivering its Largest Weekly Audience in Over 2 Years in Women 18-34, “General Hospital” is the Week’s No. 1 Program in Daytime in the Key Demo “General Hospital’s” Garners a 9 -Month High in Women 18-49, With This Week “All My Children’s” and “One Life to Live’s” Most-Watched Week in 5 Months “General Hospital,” “All My Children” and “One Life to Live” Deliver at Their Highest Levels in Total Viewers in Over 7 Months ABC Airs 3 of Daytime’s Top 5 Programs in Women 18-49, With All Shows Placing Among

the Top 5 in Women 18-34 ABC Daytime • The week’s No. 1 program in Daytime in Women 1834(412,000/1.2 rating), this week ranked as“ General Hospital’s most-watched week in more than 2 years– since week of 9/17/07. • “General Hospital” hit a 9month high in Women 1849(976,000/1.5 rating – since week of 2/2/09), while“One Life to Live”(806,000/1.2 rating) a n d “ A l l M y Children”(752,000/1.1 rating) hit a 5-month high in the target measure— since week of 6/8/09 and 6/1/09, respectively. • “General Hospital”(2.82 million),“All My Children”(2.75 million) and“One Life to Live”(2.69 million) all deliver their largest weekly audiences in Total Viewers in more than 7 months– since week of 3/23/09.

• In Women 18-49, ABC aired 3 of Daytime’s Top 5 programs:“ General Hospital” (No. 2 – 1.5 rating/976,000), “ The View” (No. 3T – 1.4 rating/924,000) and“One Life to Live”(No. 5T – 1.2 rating/806,000). • In Women 18-34, all ABC shows positioned among Daytime’s Top 5:“ General Hospital” (No. 1 – 1.2 rating/412,000), “ The View” (No. 2T – 1.1 rating/357,000), “ One Life to Live”(No. 5T – 0.9 rating/314,000) and “ All My Children” (No. 5T – 0.9 rating/299,000). Following are the Daytime Lineup averages, plus Top 5 Programs Ranks– Week of November 9, 2009: Daytime Rank: Total Viewers Women 18-49 (Rtg/000s) No. 1 CBS 3.62 million

No. 1 NBC 1.4/912,000 No. 2 NBC 3.06 million No. 2 ABC 1.3/865,000 No. 3 ABC 3.03 million No. 3 CBS 1.1/732,000 Top 5 Daytime Programs in Women 18-49(rank based on rating) Program Net Rtg/ 000s The Young & the Restless CBS 1.7/1.14 million General Hospital ABC 1.5/976,000 The View ABC 1.4/924,000 Days of Our Lives NBC 1.4/912,000 One Life to Live ABC 1.1/806,000 Source: NTI, Live + Same Day: Week of 11/9/09. All ranks based on rating unless otherwise noted.. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

What You Missed Last Night: Jimmy Fallon almost gets sued by Twilight producers By Bob Sassone (TV Squad)

smashes into a wall face-first or falls off of the mini-bike and Submitted at 11/20/2009 2:00:00 PM cracks his head open, Fallon is The entire time I watched this going to be in big trouble." The clip from last night's Late Night, two guys raced around the NBC I was thinking, "if Taylor Lautner hallways on mini-bikes. The

winner wins because he cheats. Talk Show, Reality-Free [Watch clips and episodes of Permalink| Email this| | Late Night and other shows at C o m m e n t s SlashControl.] Filed under: Late Night, Video, Watercooler Talk, Celebrities,

'Survivor''s Laura Morett: We Shot Ourselves in the Foot (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 11/20/2009 1:57:00 PM

Thursday night's Tribal Council was the Tribal Council of all Tribal Councils on "Survivor: Samoa." The vote was split with five castaways voting to send home Laura Morett, and five voting for Southern belle Natalie White. When the vote is split like that, a second ballot is cast by everyone except the two named in the first vote. If there was a tie the second time, both Laura and Natalie would be safe, and stones would be drawn by the remaining castaways to see who would go home. Three of Laura's original Galu tribe members still wrote her name down, but John Fincher took the opportunity to rid himself of a tough competitor: Laura had won individual immunity the previous two weeks in a row.

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“Late Show” Tops “The Tonight Even outside of her Show” in Viewers, Adults 25-54 and show Tina Fey digs at is tied in Adults 18-49 NBC By Robert Seidman (TVbytheNumbers)

+81% (vs. 2.28m), adults 25-54 by +30% (vs. 1.0/04) and tied in adults 18-49. Submitted at 11/20/2009 12:24:44 PM Season-to-date, LATE SHOW via CBS press release: improved its competitive position “LATE SHOW” TOPS “THE against “The Tonight Show” T O N I G H T S H O W ” I N compared to last year. CBS leads VIEWERS, ADULTS 25-54, NBC by +67% in households this AND IS TIED IN ADULTS 18- s e a s o n ( 3 . 0 / 0 8 v s . 1 . 8 / 0 5 ) 49 compared to trailing by -18% last “The Late Late Show” Wins in year (2.8/07 vs. 3.4/09). In Viewers and Adults 25-54 viewers, LATE SHOW has a CBS’s LATE SHOW with +73% advantage (4.29m vs. DAVID LETTERMAN beat 2.48m) compared to trailing by “The Tonight Show with Conan 1 9 % l a s t y e a r ( 3 . 9 3 m v s . O’Brien” in viewers, adults 25- 4.83m). In adults 25-54, LATE 54 and finished in a tie in adults SHOW enjoys a +27% advantage 18-49 while THE LATE LATE (1.4/06 vs. 1.1/04) compared to S H O W w i t h C R A I G 13% (1.4/06 from 1.6/06). In FERGUSON won its time period adults 18-49 season-to-date, in viewers and adults 25-54, LATE SHOW and “Tonight” are according to Nielsen live plus tied (1.0/04, each) compared to same day ratings for the week 2008 when LATE SHOW trailed ending Nov. 13. by -15% (1.1/05 vs. 1.3/05). LATE SHOW posted a 3.0/08 in THE LATE LATE SHOW households with an average of posted a 1.4/05 in households 4.13m viewers, up +15% in with 1.87m viewers, 0.7/04 in households (from 2.6/07) and adults 25-54 and adults 18-34, +11% in viewers (from 3.73m) and 0.5/03 in adults 18-49. compared to the same week last LATE LATE SHOW beat “Late year. LATE SHOW beat “The Night with Jimmy Fallon” in Tonight Show” in households by households (vs. 1.0/04, +40%), +88% (vs. 1.6/04), viewers by viewers (vs. 1.31m, +43%) and

adults 25-54 (vs. 0.6/04, +17%). LATE LATE SHOW also beat “Jimmy Kimmel Live” in households (vs. 1.3/04, +8%), viewers (vs. 1.80m, +4%) and tied in adults 25-54 (0.7/04, each). Season-to-date, LATE LATE SHOW improved its competitive position against “Late Night” compared to last year. CBS leads NBC by +50% in households this season (1.5/05 vs. 1.0/04) compared to being tied last season (1.4/05 each, with Conan O’Brien hosting). LATE LATE SHOW has a +41% advantage in viewers (1.95m vs. 1.38m) compared to trailing by -4% last year (1.85m vs. 1.92m). Among adults 25-54, LATE LATE SHOW has a +17% lead (0.7/04 from 0.6/04) after being tied last season (0.8/04 vs. 0.8/05). In adults 18-49, LATE LATE SHOW and “Late Night” are tied (0.6/03, each). Last season, CBS trailed NBC by -14% in adults 18 -49 (0.6/03 vs. 0.7/04). * * * This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

By Bob Sassone (TV Squad) Submitted at 11/20/2009 4:02:00 PM

Every week we can be guaranteed that Tina Fey and the people at 30 Rock will make fun of NBC in some way, whether it's product placement or The Jay Leno Show or last night's line about the green NBC peacock in the corner of the screen. Fey also isn't shy about dumping on NBC when she's away from the show either. The other night she gave a speech at an Ad Council meeting at the Waldorf in New York. Her barbs were mostly about NBC's ratings, including pointing out that "NBC is sadly the fourthplace network. Actually we're in ninth place if you count the radio stations ahead of us right now." She also suggested that if the 1200 people in the audience watched NBC for just one night there would be a huge jump in the ratings. I've been wondering what will

happen if and when Comcast takes over NBC. Will they still have the HQ at 30 Rock? Will the show still be called 30 Rock? Fey suggested a new title: Industrial Park on the Schuyikill River. Filed under: Celebrities, 30 Rock, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

MediaDailyNews: TV Guide Net Reups With Comcast (MediaPost | Media News) Submitted at 11/20/2009 12:02:49 PM

TV Guide Network has renewed its carriage agreement with Comcast with a new multiyear

deal, reports B&C. The MSO has 25 million subscribers. The network is set to debut HBO's

"Curb Your Enthusiasm" next year, as well as introduce original programming.

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Thursday broadcast finals: Grey’s Anatomy up; The Vampire Diaries, 30 Rock down By Robert Seidman (TVbytheNumbers) Submitted at 11/20/2009 1:58:55 PM

Thursday broadcast finals via Travis Yanan(note: the CW & NBC coverage are noted because the CW’s Miami affiliate is excluded due to airing the NFL game, and it looks like in the North Carolina markets the game aired on the NBC affiliate/s – while the numbers for those viewing the game in the local markets were included in the preliminary numbers, they are stripped out here): Flashforward - 7.977 million viewers - 5.1/8 HH - 2.4/7 A18-49 Grey’s Anatomy (61 minutes) - 14.070 million viewers - 9.1/14 HH - 5.1/13 A18-49 Private Practice (59 minutes) - 8.926 million viewers - 6.0/10 HH - 3.1/9 A18-49

Survivor - 12.327 million viewers - 7.2/11 HH - 3.8/11 A18-49 CSI - 14.909 million viewers - 9.2/14 HH - 3.5/9 A18-49 The Mentalist - 15.851 million viewers - 10.0/17 HH

- 3.7/11 A18-49 Community - 4.865 million viewers - 3.1/5 HH - 2.0/6 A18-49 Parks and Recreation - 4.553 million viewers - 3.0/5 HH - 2.0/5 A18-49 The Office (31 minutes, 97% coverage NBC normally is 98%)

- 7.390 million viewers - 4.5/7 HH - 3.7/10 A18-49 30 Rock (97% coverage) - 5.721 million viewers - 3.6/6 HH - 2.8/7 A18-49 The Jay Leno Show (59 minutes) - 4.771 million viewers - 3.1/5 HH

- 1.6/5 A18-49 Bones - 9.880 million viewers - 6.3/10 HH - 2.7/8 A18-49 Fringe - 5.900 million viewers - 3.7/6 HH - 2.0/5 A18-49 The Vampire Diaries (93% coverage, CW normally is 94%) - 3.567 million viewers - 2.3/4 HH - 1.6/5 A18-49 - 1.9/6 A18-34 - 2.7/8 W18-34 Supernatural (93% coverage) - 2.514 million viewers - 1.6/3 HH - 1.2/3 A18-49 - 1.5/4 A18-34 - 1.5/4 W18-34 This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Update: Police Are Investigating Miley Cyrus Tour Bus Crash (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 11/20/2009 8:52:00 AM

Police say they are investigating a crash that occurred Friday morning involving one of Miley

Cyrus' tour buses. Police say that the driver of the bus, William G. Douglas, 53, of Austin, Texas, passed away at the scene after the bus crashed in Virginia Friday morning. Marty

Zilio, 48, was also injured in the crash. The bus was traveling along with three other buses (carrying members of Miley's production crew but not Miley) southbound

on Interstate I-85 just south of Petersburg, VA, when it ran off the left side of the road and overturned, coming to rest on its right side. Police say that the bus passengers were able to exit

through the front windshield of the bus.

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Taylor Lautner on Kristen Stewart: We Have a Similar Relationship to Jacob & Bella (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 11/20/2009 10:38:00 AM

They play best friends who teeter on the brink of romance in 'New Moon' -- but what is Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart's relationship like off-screen? Taylor tells all. "We have a similar relationship to Jacob and Bella's," the 17-year -old star tells People about his

relationship with Kristen. "We were very open and honest with each other. So it definitely made [filming] a lot easier." When asked what he looks for in a woman, Taylor -- who has been recently snapped out and about with country star Taylor Swift-tells People that he is drawn toward "somebody who can be themselves and not put on a show."

ATP won't reopen Andre Agassi drug case despite admission By Associated Press (ESPN.com) Submitted at 11/20/2009 1:51:44 PM

LONDON -- The ATP Tour will not reopen a doping case against Andre Agassi even though he admitted to lying about using crystal meth in 1997. Agassi revealed in his recent autobiography that he failed a 1997 drug test, a result he says was thrown out after he lied by claiming he "unwittingly" took crystal meth. However, ATP chairman Adam Helfant said on Friday that there was no way to sanction the American retroactively since he

has retired from tennis. "There has been a lot of speculation about whether the ATP would reopen the case, but we cannot do that because he's no longer playing on the tour," Helfant said at the ATP World Tour Finals in London. "I asked an outside law firm to go through the records from 1997 so I had all the facts. "Andre Agassi has admitted he failed a drugs test in 1997 and regrettably he then lied about it. Even more regrettably he got away with it." He said the ATP's decision not to reveal the positive test was in line with its policy not to

comment on doping cases. "If we had revealed that test it would have been in contravention of the rules at the time," he said. Helfant said he had a "very frank conversation" with Agassi after the book came out, and that the ATP has responded to the World Anti-Doping Agency's questions about the case. "But what was said will remain between us and will not be made public," he said. Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Michael Jordan thankful, but says others just as worthy of jersey retirement

MediaDailyNews: Huffington Post Increases Advertising, Revenue Streams

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honor of Jordan, and said no other players should wear it, either. Submitted at 11/20/2009 2:06:06 PM Jordan, speaking via phone to If the NBA were to retire "All Access with Ahmad" on M i c h a e l J o r d a n ' s N o . 2 3 NBA TV, said he was grateful to leaguewide, there are several James for the consideration but more players just as worthy of that he would have to be among a t h e d i s t i n c t i o n , t h e n e w l y group of players to receive such inducted Hall of Famer says. an honor. LeBron James, who wears No. "It was very nice, I totally 23 for the Cleveland Cavaliers, understand that," Jordan said on said last week he would change NBA TV. "But I'm a guy that jersey numbers next season in says there is no one great player

in the NBA. The NBA lasts a lot longer than one particular person so I understand what his point is." A leaguewide retirement is unlikely, since the NBA leaves the decisions on retiring numbers to the teams. "Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Bill Russell all those guys should have their jerseys retired, too," Jordan said. "I understand his gesture, but I am in the same group as those guys so I wouldn't

want to see my jersey retired unless you retire those guys. It is a compliment. I totally understand that. I appreciate LeBron for doing that and it is very thoughtful." Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Submitted at 11/20/2009 1:49:50 PM

[ fivefilters.org: unable to retrieve full-text content] Arianna Huffington says she will not charge consumers for content, and that The Huffington Post will rely on interactive advertising and other applications to pay the bills. Over the next year, The HP will roll out new formats allowing advertisers and users to interact and exchange information.

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The Fix Picks the NFL: Week 11 (WSJ.com: The Daily Fix) Submitted at 11/20/2009 2:04:52 PM

Garey is Canadian, which maybe explains his modesty. But while I spend most of these opening paragraphs in my biweekly slot grousing about getting defeated by a coin or addressing my defiantly mediocre picks record, Garey spends his time talking sense about that week’s football games. Which is fine, it’s his prerogative — he can be more professional than me if he wants, and he can even have a betterlooking WSJ-pencil-sketch (my jaw isn’t nearly that huge, for real). I’m not mad. But if he’s not going to mention that he has absolutely been crushing it in terms of his picks of late, then I guess I will. Associated Press Kurt Warner leads the Cardinals, who seek their sixth straight win against the Rams, his former team. I’m just a guy who’s right almost half the time and is unaccountably excited about the possible universe-endangering cosmic implications of this week’s Lions/Browns game. But Garey is a (notably understated football-picking) monster. After a poor start in the first two weeks, Garey has run up a 67-45-1 record since. Which means he has been right 59.3% of the time. I traditionally disclaim that no one should follow my advice in these picks or in anything else, but… maybe you should think about doing whatever Garey

says. Like, in general, even though some of his picks this week look kind of crazy to me. I don’t know, it couldn’t hurt. He’s got the track record, and the better-looking pencil drawing. Week 10 recap (overall): David Roth: 8-7 (71-72-1), Garey Ris: 10-5 (77-66-1), Al Toonie, the Lucky Canadian Two-Dollar Coin: 7-8 (65-78-1) SUNDAY’S GAMES Indianapolis (-1) at Baltimore: The Colts should hate playing in Baltimore, both because the Ravens have a very good, very nasty defense, and because Baltimore fans (justifiably) hate the Colts for slinking out of town a couple decades ago (of course, none of today’s Colts did the slinking, but that’s a minor detail). Charm City’s long memory and still-sharp grudges aside, though, this rivalry is fun because of Colts quarterback Peyton Manning and Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, the two gesticulation-intensive geniuses facing each other across the line of scrimmage when Indy’s offense is on the field. The Colts are better, and this betting line doesn’t require much of them, but this could go either way and should be fun to watch, if only for all that strategic pantomime. DR Pick: David: Indianapolis, Garey: Baltimore, Al Toonie: Indianapolis Washington at Dallas (-11): Washington looked pretty good in a win over the fading Broncos

it right now. I’m honestly not sure it isn’t a piece of performance art. But, yeah, I like the Lions in this one. DR Pick: David: Detroit, Garey: Detroit, Al Toonie: Detroit San Francisco at Green Bay (6.5): San Francisco seems to be last week, but this is still a one of those good-enough-to-beat troubled, torpid team, and even -bad-teams teams, which is not with Dallas’s ace offensive line exactly the worst of NFL fates. carved up by injuries, a win is But it’s unclear what, exactly, probably a bridge too far against G r e e n B a y i s . T h e P a c k a very talented Cowboys team welcomes back some important that looked to be getting things players on offense and defense together before tanking against this week, but they’re both an Green Bay in Week 10. It would explosive offensive team given to be a lot more tempting to pick i m p l o s i o n s a n d a t a l e n t e d Washington as an underdog if defensive unit that periodically they weren’t so injury-marred makes some very weird calls and (and deadly dull) themselves. So mistakes. They’re better than the my picks: Dallas to win and 49ers, but that’s pretty faint cover, and a nice walk outside praise. That said, they have to be while these two teams are a lot happier with the quarterback they selected in the 2005 NFL playing. DR Pick: David: Dallas, Garey: Draft than the 49ers are. DR Dallas, Al Toonie: Washington Pick: David: Green Bay, Garey: Cleveland at Detroit (-3.5): I’ll Green Bay, Al Toonie: San admit it: I’m psyched for this Francisco one. I mean, obviously not for Buffalo at Jacksonville (-9): the football, which promises to With all due respect to the beliefbe so appalling as to induce system-challenging bummer that existential crises in everyone who is this week’s Browns/Lions v i e w s t h i s g a m e . B u t t h e game, let’s give this blacked-out nightmarish goofery on tap — pairing of two lousy teams in a the stunningly inept Browns half-empty venue its drag-city offense against the ultra-flubby due. Jacksonville is just good Lions defense is really only the enough to beat worse teams — beginning — promises to be an attribute Buffalo had made almost avant-garde. If this game near-heroic a couple years ago — were a piece of performance art and the Bills are inarguably that. that had drawn NEA funding, Interim Buffalo coach Perry Southern congressmen would be Fewell takes over, from fired in the House exclaiming against coach Dick Jauron, a team with

11 players on injured reserve, 11 more on this week’s injury report, and an offense that has been called for 22 false starts in nine games. Beyond “will the Bills win another game this year?” the biggest remaining question is whether Buffalo will be able to persuade anyone to take the job from Fewell. DR Pick: David: Jacksonville, Garey: Jacksonville, Al Toonie: Buffalo Pittsburgh (-10) at Kansas City: Pittsburgh is figuring things out, and played definitively Steelers-y football even in their Week 10 loss to the Bengals. Kansas City is not figuring things out so much as weeding things out — dumping uber-troubled running back Larry Johnson, taking snaps away from disgruntled linebacker Derrick Johnson — while playing definitively Chiefs-y football. That’s not a compliment. With top receiver Dwayne Bowe suspended and effectively being replaced by Lance Long— “a short white guy who can catch,” per teammate Chris Chambers — the Chiefs are as thoroughly outgunned as any NFL team this week. I’d take the Steelers at twice this line. DR Pick: David: Pittsburgh, Garey: Kansas City, Al Toonie: Kansas City Seattle at Minnesota (-10.5): Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck was mentored by Brett Favre early in his career. FIX page 56

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Lincecum’s Early Dominance Making Baseball History (WSJ.com: The Daily Fix) Submitted at 11/20/2009 11:04:29 AM

Anyone who has watched Tim Lincecum pitch for the San Francisco Giants should have no difficulty justifying the fact that the 25-year-old mega-ace just won his second straight National League Cy Young Award. With a slight build, a haircut that isn’t really a haircut per se, and a strange, violent motion, Lincecum is fascinating to watch even before one takes into account just how dazzlingly dominant he is on the mound. Lincecum won the award despite winning only 15 games in 2009 — the fewest ever for a Cy Young Award winner in a season not shortened by a work stoppage. Associated Press Tim Lincecum won the Cy Young Award despite a pedestrian wins total. “Some 15-win pitchers might not have been considered. But Lincecum surely was hoisted by his reputation and style,” the San Francisco Chronicle’s Henry Schulman writes. “Looking more like a surfer than a big-league pitcher, short in stature but big in arm speed and intensity, Lincecum has become one of the few must-see pitchers in baseball. That might have put him over the top in a season with no clear Cy Young favorite.” While no one can doubt Lincecum’s brilliance on the mound, some in baseball wonder about his durability in years

ahead, given that crazy motion and the fact that he’s a normalsized human being. At CBS Sports, Danny Knobler does his best to deflate this particular concern. “Sure he throws hard, and he has a great breaking ball and a great changeup and you can’t pick up the ball and no one ever gets any hits off him, but is he going to hold up?” Knobler writes. “You’d think by now the only question we’d be asking about Lincecum is whether he’s headed for the Hall of Fame, because the things he has done in his first two full seasons with the Giants are the things Hall of Famers do.” Sabermetric-minded writers and stat-heads disdain the win as a stat too grounded in context — that is, the team surrounding the pitcher — to be of much use, and cheered Lincecum’s selection much as they did that of 16-game -winner and AL Cy Young winner Zack Greinke earlier this week. The difference, this year, was that a few non-newspaper writers actually had Cy Young votes, and those voters may have actually swung things for Lincecum, Rob Neyer notes at ESPN. “There’s something to be said for Conventional Wisdom,” Neyer writes. “In this case, the Conventional Wisdom was unanimous: the three best pitchers in the league were Lincecum, [Cardinals starter Chris] Carpenter, and [Cardinals starter Adam] Wainwright. But in a field as traditionally

drive race cars.” Martin, age 50 and widely respected, is something of a sentimental favorite, although Johnson’s steady dominance has its own appeal. Sports Illustrated’s Brant James conveys the shape of Johnson’s conservative as award voting, understated excellence in a nice isn’t it healthy to allow room for profile of the dominant driver. just a bit of unconventional “In-progress dynasties are hard to dissect, and Johnson’s wisdom, too?”* * * NASCAR’s Sprint Cup season dominance has been so numbing wraps up this weekend in Miami, — boring, according to critics but the season effectively ended a and fans of… well, everyone else long time ago — Jimmie Johnson — it provides few pegs on which has opened a huge 108-point lead to attach a theory,” James writes. on Mark Martin, who is the only “Certainly, he is at the nexus of driver on the circuit who can talent, team and opportunity. But even hope to catch him. Johnson there is also the simple fact that would have to finish 25th or he works incredibly hard and worse for Martin to claim the finds the joy in it.”* * * The Harvard-Yale football title, and while stranger things have happened, it’s most likely rivalry doesn’t traditionally that Martin will finish as the feature many future NFL stars, runner-up in points for the fifth and often doesn’t even feature time in his career and that terribly good football. But it’s Johnson will win his fourth certainly gotten safer in the past century. Sports Illustrated’s straight Sprint Cup. Of course, “most likely” doesn’t Frank Deford describes the 1909 mean “inevitably,” as Racin clash — won by Yale 8-0 — as Today’s Rich Minter writes. the beginning of football’s Elsewhere at Racin Today, Mike transition from a brutal blood Harris reminds readers not to feel sport into, um, a slightly-lessbad for Martin if he winds up a brutal blood sport. bridesmaid again. “If he doesn’t “Although some of the game’s eventually win a championship or powers — not unlike the smug a Daytona 500, you can bet football aristocracy in the Bowl Martin won’t pout,” Harris Championship Series today — writes. “He’ll simply go on to the were relatively content with the next thing in his life, grateful that gory status quo, other colleges he got the chance to do for nearly t o o k a m o r e p r o g r e s s i v e three decades the thing he loves approach,” Deford writes. “Rules most except for his family — liberalizing the forward pass

were instituted for the 1910 season, and soon it became the weapon that opened up a safer game.” In the Boston Phoenix, Mike Miliard provides a nice look back at the famous 1968 clash between the two rivals — the famous “Harvard Beats Yale, 29-29 game. Even if you already knew that said game featured a future NFL rookie of the year and a future Academy Award-winning actor in playing roles, as well as the inspiration for a Doonesbury character, it’s worth clicking that link. Neither Harvard nor Yale are in college football’s BCS mix — or even BCS division — this year, but two fine features on upstart programs that have inserted themselves into national-title contention also deserve a look. In the Washington Post, Sally Jenkins argues that Texas Christian has been the most impressive team in the nation thus far this season. In the Journal, Darren Everson credits coach Jim Harbaugh with Stanford’s stunning surge in recent weeks.* * * Your Fixer isn’t sure he has the stomach for a full-on five-day cricket test match, but there’s something so arrestingly strange about the game to my American eyes that I can’t help but admire it. (Note: This may also have something to do with the fact that I just finished Joseph O’Neill’s LINCECUM’S page 60

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Seattle wide receiver Nate Burleson washed out in Minnesota before catching on with the Seahawks. Vikings guard Steve Hutchinson became a star in Seattle before bolting to Minnesota. Imagine how emotional this would be if anyone could care about a Seahawks game! As it is, this looks like a brief stop on Minnesota’s increasingly impressive march to the playoffs. Considering that Minnesota papers spent this week worrying about other teams hiring away Vikings coordinators after the season, it’s clear that no one’s sweating this outcome very hard. DR Pick: David: Minnesota, Garey: Minnesota, Al Toonie: Seattle Atlanta at New York Giants (6.5): To say these teams aren’t firing on all cylinders is an understatement. The Falcons and the Giants are a collective 1-7 over their past eight games, negating strong starts. Atlanta’s Matt Ryan is struggling through a sophomore slump, throwing 10 picks and only seven TDs in his past five starts. Another disappointment for the Falcons is DE John Abraham, who has just 3.5 sacks so far this season after recording 16.5 a year ago. If the Giants are to revert to their earlyseason form, QB Eli Manning must play a big part. Interesting

stat: The road team has won the past 12 meetings between these teams. GR Pick: David: Atlanta, Garey: Atlanta, Al Toonie: Atlanta New Orleans (-11.5) at Tampa Bay: The Bucs had to ruin a pretty good thing by winning two weeks ago. Otherwise we’d be showcasing the undefeated Saints against the winless Bucs. The pressure increases each week a team remains perfect, and New Orleans sure survived a scare in last week’s narrow victory at St. Louis (I picked the Saints by at least 28, BTW). Tampa Bay is awful, but I’m not liking the double-digit line this week. That adage applies here: Once bitten, twice shy. GR Pick: David: New Orleans, Garey: Tampa Bay, Al Toonie: Tampa Bay Arizona (-9.5) at St. Louis: Cards QB Kurt Warner returns to his former stomping grounds to face a team that won’t remind anyone of “The Greatest Show on Turf” teams of 1999, 2000 and 2001 that he piloted. Warner likely will dissect the 25thranked Rams secondary with ease, and extend the Cards’ streak over the Rams to six. But I’m not liking the points in this one, either. GR Pick: David: Arizona, Garey: St. Louis, Al Toonie: St. Louis San Diego (off) at Denver: The

Chargers, coming off an impressive home victory over Philadelphia, look to defeat an AFC West foe for the fifth straight time. Who knows what to expect from the Broncos, losers of three straight after starting 6-0? That sixth win came against the Chargers, thanks to WR/returner Eddie Royal’s two TDs. RB LaDainian Tomlinson wants a better outing than he had in the loss to Denver, when he rushed for only 70 yards and no TDs. QB Kyle Orton (left ankle) is questionable for the Broncos, who are 7-2 in their past nine at home against the Chargers. Since all bets are off on this one (literally), these predictions won’t count towards our respective records. No, we’re doing this one for the love. GR Pick: David: San Diego, Garey: San Diego, Al Toonie: San Diego New York Jets at New England ( -10.5): If you’re scoring at home, the Jets are 1-5 in their past six games. The numbers haven’t been favorable for QB Mark Sanchez, who has thrown 10 picks since starting 3-0. The bigger story this week, of course, is all the conservative-minded second-guessers who think Pats coach Bill Belichick blew it by gambling on fourth down deep in his own territory, and losing the game to Indianapolis. I like Belichick’s unconventional

thinking. You can’t allow one call, in hindsight, to negate Belichick’s many accomplishments. One question: Was coach Rex Ryan’s tearful plea on Monday a rallying cry for the Jets? GR Pick: David: New England, Garey: Jets, Al Toonie: Jets Cincinnati (-9.5) at Oakland: All the signs point to a Bengals victory. Cincy is 7-2 and aiming to go 5-0 on the road for the first time in team history. The Bengals have the AFC North lead thanks to last weekend’s big victory over Pittsburgh. Still, there’s a bit of doubt about a team new to winning ways after years of bungling. Cincy’s Cedric Benson doesn’t look likely to play, and neither does newly signed RB Larry Johnson, who probably can’t believe his luck going from 2-7 Kansas City to a playoff contender. The Bengals must avoid a letdown against a Raiders team that’s not good at very much (31st in scoring, 25th in scoring defense.) Oakland has alternated close games and blowouts at home this season (L 24-20, L 23-3, W 13-9, L 38-0, L16-10). Although the Raiders are due for a thrashing, I’ve got a hunch about this one. GR Pick: David: Cincinnati, Garey: Oakland, Al Toonie: Oakland Philadelphia (-3) at Chicago: Bears QB Jay Cutler doesn’t

seem ready for the bright lights of prime-time football. How else to explain his 11 picks in three nighttime starts — all losses— for Chicago? The Bears haven’t looked good in losing four of their past five (three were blowouts). Any flicker of hope for a playoff spot must start with a victory over an Eagles team that has lost consecutive games for the first time this season. But not everyone in Philadelphia wants to use injuries as an excuse. GR Pick: David: Philadelphia, Garey: Chicago, Al Toonie: Philadelphia MONDAY’S GAME Tennessee at Houston (-4.5): The Titans feel right at home in Houston, where they’re 5-2. With QB Vince Young at the helm, Chris Johnson has improved his running game, and the Titans have won three straight after starting 0-6. Texans QB Matt Schaub is worth a look in another ho-hum Monday night game. He’s gunning for his fourth consecutive game against an AFC South opponent with at least 300 passing yards. GR Pick: David: Houston, Garey: Tennessee, Al Toonie: Houston

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Manny Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto fight sells 1.25 million pay-perviews By Dan Rafael (ESPN.com) Submitted at 11/20/2009 2:33:19 PM

Manny Pacquiao's historic 12thround TKO of Miguel Cotto in Las Vegas on Saturday night did big business. The Top Rank-promoted fight generated 1.25 million buys and $70 million in domestic pay-perview revenue, HBO announced Friday. If historical trends hold, the numbers will increase when all of the buys are officially audited. The 1.25 million buys, the most for a boxing pay-per-view this year, came from 650,000 from cable homes and 600,000 from satellite services. Cotto, who is from Puerto Rico, helped drive the fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena to an all-time record for buys on the island with 110,000 units sold. Combined with the approximately 1.05 million buys generated by Floyd Mayweather's dominant decision victory against Juan Manuel Marquez on Sept. 19, it was the first time since 1999 -- when Felix Trinidad claimed a decision against Oscar De La Hoya in a welterweight unification fight and Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield fought to a highly controversial

draw for the undisputed heavyweight championship -that two pay-per-view fights have generated at least 1 million buys in the same calendar year. It was also the first time that back-to-back pay-per-views have reached seven figures. With the victory, Pacquiao, who won his first world title in the 112-pound flyweight division, became the first fighter in history to win titles in seven divisions when he claimed Cotto's 147pound welterweight title. HBO will replay the bout Saturday night (10 ET/PT). The victories by Pacquiao and Mayweather set the stage for what likely will be the biggest money fight ever. "They have to deliver," HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg told The Associated Press. "The American public wants that fight." Their representatives are planning to open negotiations in the coming days for a showdown that would likely take place in the spring. "The two best pound-for-pound fighters in the world in the same weight class in the prime of their careers," Greenburg said. "It just doesn't get any better than that." Promoter Bob Arum agreed.

â&#x20AC;&#x153; The way I look at it now, boxing is really on a roll. We would be idiots now to slow the momentum and the only way we can keep the momentum is to make this fight.â&#x20AC;?-- Promotor Bob Arum, on a possible Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather bout "The way I look at it now, boxing is really on a roll," Arum said. "We would be idiots now to slow the momentum and the only way we can keep the momentum is to make this fight." Arum, who represents Pacquiao, was expected to begin talks as early as next week with Richard Schaefer, who heads Golden Boy Promotions and will represent Mayweather in the negotiations. Though each fighter believes he should get a bigger percentage of the purse, the total revenues will be so high that a 50-50 split may not be all that difficult to achieve. Arum said Pacquiao will end up making some $22 million for his 12th-round stoppage of Cotto, while Cotto will end up with around $12 million. That is far higher than either fighter was guaranteed because, as is the case with most big fights, they worked for a percentage of the total sales. It was the third consecutive

blockbuster pay-per-view fight for Pacquiao, who also drew 1.25 million buys for his eighth-round destruction of De La Hoya in December 2008 and approximately 830,000 buys for his second-round knockout of Ricky Hatton to win the junior welterweight championship in May. Pacquiao-Cotto also generated a live gate of $8,847,550 from an official crowd of 15,930, according to the Nevada State Athletic Commission. That makes it the 14th-biggest gate in Nevada history. Rafael: HBO's Man With A Mission It's every fan's dream bout: a megafight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather. HBO Sports' Ross Greenburg is determined to make it happen, Dan Rafael writes. Story The potential of a PacquiaoMayweather fight is so big that Arum said casino magnate Steve Wynn had already spoken to him about constructing a 30,000-seat outdoor arena on what is now a vacant lot across from his two resorts to host the bout, with other casinos joining in as partners. Outdoor arenas were a staple of the big fights in Las Vegas in the

1980s, beginning with the Muhammad Ali-Larry Holmes fight at Caesars Palace. "A lot of people are interested," Arum said. "The problem with having it in the East, though, is that the taxes are so big that the fighters would have to give up millions in extra taxes." Greenburg credited the recent strong sales to a new willingness by promoters to match their best fighters, and to the new -- and younger -- fans drawn to the sport by the success of the network's "24/7" reality shows in the weeks before the fights. There would be no lack of material for a PacquiaoMayweather show, which would match a Filipino hero with a colorful cast surrounding him against a fighter with a dysfunctional family who has played the role of villain in his biggest fights. "There's just so much drama and subplots for this," Greenburg said. Dan Rafael is the boxing writer for ESPN.com. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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Jayson Williams' hearing delayed by judge over travel issues By ESPN.com news services (ESPN.com)

rational." On what triggers Williams' behavior:"When Jayson has Submitted at 11/20/2009 11:40:52 AM alcohol, and when I say drugs it NEWARK, N.J. -- Retired would be a prescription drug or a NBA star Jayson Williams will sleeping pill, it affects him in not be in a New Jersey courtroom such a bizarre way. ... I didn't Friday to enter a plea in the 2002 know that and I think that it has shooting death of a hired driver. gotten progressively ... worse." A wife speaks On seeking counseling:"I think ESPN's Hannah Storm talked that's a tough hurdle for anyone with Tanya Young Williams on but also for one who is a Tuesday for "Outside The Lines." professional athlete who appears Williams says she's still in to have it all ... who can f r e q u e n t c o n t a c t w i t h h e r command an audience in a room husband, despite filing for of one or a thousand. He has that divorce on Valentine's Day 2009. ability to do it. You could walk W i l l i a m s a l s o t o l d E S P N on a basketball floor and you Thursday that her husband has have 40,000 people cheering for not accepted a deal. Among her you and now they have to say comments: 'You know what, I have a flaw. I On his problems:"Jayson has a need help.' That's tough." mental illness or disorder ... If his On the future:"I hope for me and lawyers have said bipolar I would my [two daughters] that we come agree with that. I would suggest out unscathed. I hope for Jayson that it is bipolar and probably that he becomes healthy. I hope other disorders, and for those that the beautiful and the best disorders he needs help." parts of him are the parts that can On Williams' attempt to cover control his life instead of the dark up the shooting:"I think all of the side that end up making the most actions are outrageous and noise." nothing that anyone should be State Superior Court Judge proud of. Knowing Jayson the Edward M. Coleman indefinitely way that I do, he wasn't thinking. delayed a hearing in Somerville He panicked and I think ... that is in which Williams was expected part of when I say a mental to plead guilty. illness, not being able to process A person with direct knowledge things, you go into almost a 'me of the situation, who spoke on mode' first. I don't think he was condition of anonymity because

of a gag order imposed by Coleman, told The Associated Press that the delay was partly because of travel problems Williams experienced getting to New Jersey from his home in South Carolina. A person with knowledge of the case told the AP on Thursday that Williams would plead guilty to aggravated assault in the death of limousine driver Costas Christofi. That would send him to prison for at least 18 months and up to three years. Williams was acquitted of aggravated manslaughter in 2004 but convicted of covering up the shooting at his central New Jersey mansion. The jury deadlocked on a reckless manslaughter count. He has been awaiting a second trial for reckless manslaughter, which carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence. In a phone interview with ESPN on Friday morning, Williams' wife said her husband has not committed to a plea deal. "I spoke with Jayson throughout the night and morning. He got very little sleep. He told me this morning that he will not be in New Jersey today and he has not signed any offer, but he is taking this very, very seriously," said Tanya Young Williams, who filed for divorce in February but

says she is in frequent contact with Jayson Williams. "Once he gets more clarity from his attorneys, he and I will have a discussion, he will speak with his mother and he will take the necessary next steps. Jayson is still in South Carolina dealing with the loss of his dad emotionally, as well as addressing the necessary estate issues." Williams' father died Nov. 10 in South Carolina and was laid to rest last weekend. Jayson Williams has been free on bail since the Feb. 14, 2002, shooting of Christofi. Williams paid more than $2 million in 2003 to settle a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Christofi's family. The 41-year-old Williams played nine seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Nets before a leg injury forced him to retire in 2000. He attempted a short-lived comeback in the minor league Continental Basketball Association in 2005. Information from The Associated Press and Willie Weinbaum from ESPN's Enterprise Unit was used in this report. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Jimmie Johnson Signs Contract Extension With Hendrick By Holly Cain (FanHouse) Submitted at 11/20/2009 1:25:00 PM

by Holly Cain Filed under: Jimmie Johnson, Hendrick Motorsports HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Two days before he attempts to wrap up a historic fourth consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup championship, Jimmie Johnson has announced a contract extension with Hendrick Motorsports that will keep the champ driving the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet through the 2015 season. "It's the only car I've ever driven,'' Johnson said with a smile Friday morning. "I'm very proud of that.'' Cain on Johnson: Long Road to American Hero| Toast of the Coast Jimmie Johnson Signs Contract Extension With Hendrick originally appeared on Fanhouse Motorsports Blog on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:25:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments

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New York Knicks won't pursue free-agent guard Allen Iverson, president Donnie Walsh says By Chris Sheridan (ESPN.com)

clear that this has nothing to do with Iverson. He's a great player, I've always admired him. I think Submitted at 11/20/2009 12:14:39 PM he'd be a great addition for a Iverson Not The Answer In New team that is in a different position York Iverson Not The Answer In than we're in, and I hope he gets New York picked up." GREENBURGH, N.Y. -- Allen It was unclear what the next Iverson will not be the answer for move would be for Iverson, who the New York Knicks, who was waived by the Memphis decided bringing the four-time Grizzlies on Tuesday and became NBA scoring champion aboard an unrestricted free agent at 6 would be at odds with the p.m. ET Thursday. franchise's long-term rebuilding Charlotte Bobcats coach Larry plans. Brown has been calling NBA The decision was reached late teams, including the Knicks, to Thursday night after discussions lobby on Iverson's behalf. among team president Donnie Iverson has made it clear, Walsh, coach Mike D'Antoni and though, that he sees himself as an owner James Dolan. NBA starter and would only be "It did get interesting for a while comfortable in a situation in because Allen's a great player which he would at least have an and has always been a great opportunity to compete for a player," Walsh said Friday. starting position. "You're 1-9 and you're thinking, "We just didn't think we wanted 'We've got to get some help in to have that dominant force on here.' But when we rethought it the team right now," D'Antoni and I talked to Mike and he said. talked to me, we feel that could The Knicks easily could have hurt our development of the plugged Iverson into their future, and so we want to go the backcourt in place of struggling way we're going. Chris Duhon, who also is not part "There will be other things we of their long-term plans. can do during the year that will "In the beginning I didn't think it be more in line with what our fit," Walsh said. "Then I started philosophy has been entering into thinking about it, and it's enticing this. And I want to really make it to think that you can get a guy

that can score the ball that way. But as I went on, I started to think that he's going to take time from some of the players that we want to develop, he's probably not going to be there when the team is at its full strength down the road, and so we're better off sticking with what we've got. "And trying to add to that, if we do, it'll be with people we think we can go forward with. Our goal this year was to develop the young players and to see which of the young veterans we have fit in to what we want to do in the future." The Knicks never met with Iverson, instead conducting their discussions with his agent, Leon Rose. Walsh said he would have scheduled a face-to-face meeting if the Knicks were leaning toward signing Iverson, but the situation never progressed to that point. Walsh also realized that some Knicks fans might be disappointed by the decision to pass on Iverson, but he again reiterated that the franchise's long -term future is more important than the type of short-term fix a player of Iverson's caliber would provide. "Yeah, I'm always concerned

about that, but I don't think you can build a basketball team based on polls," Walsh said. "I hope we do the right thing, I hope the fans eventually see why we did what we did. There's always a second stage to this, and I hope it's favorable to us. In other words, 'Well, they were smart not to do that then, because now this guy's good.' So we'll see. But I did my best in trying to analyze this." Walsh also tried to squelch speculation that the team's ownership dictated this decision. "I think there's an idea that Mr. Dolan is calling me up and telling me what to do, and that hasn't been my experience here. I do talk to him, just like I did with my owners in Indiana, I tell him what I think we should do. There are times he plays devil's advocate, which I appreciate, to be honest with you, because sometimes you don't think things out as well as you think you do. And it usually comes down to that type of repartee. But other than that he's been very supportive 99 percent of the time." Chris Sheridan is an ESPN.com NBA Insider. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Alex Ovechkin Returns to Lineup, Caps Return to No. 1 By Adam Gretz (FanHouse) Submitted at 11/20/2009 2:00:00 PM

by Adam Gretz Filed under: NHL Power Rankings Losing Alex Ovechkin for two weeks didn't stop the Washington Capitals from winning games, and he picked up right where he left off in his return, scoring his 15th goal of the season in a 4-2 win against the New York Rangers on Tuesday night. With that, the Caps take over the top spot in this week's NHL Power Rankings, while another team reclaims its familiar spot at the bottom of the pile. More Coverage: New Hockey Fan Searches For Team Zach Bogosian In U.S. Olympic Picture Alex Ovechkin Returns to Lineup, Caps Return to No. 1 originally appeared on Fanhouse NHL Blog on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments

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LINCECUM’S continued from page 55

insanely great cricket-related novel “Netherland”.) In the Journal, Jonathan Clegg writes that it’s not just your Fixer who has trouble fitting a five-day cricket test into the old dayplanner, especially with Twenty20, a faster-paced condensed-cricket discussed in this Fix, gaining in popularity.* * * Zimbabwe was once one of the proudest nations in Africa, but the combination of some appallingly bad leadership and the other problems that tragically tend to affect African nations disproportionately has made it — as this sobering Jon Lee Anderson piece from The New

Yorker makes clear — one of the most dysfunctional places in the world. And yet, as is true any place human beings live, it’s not all bad. At CNN, Medecins Sans Frontieres communications officer Joanna Stavropoulou details her interactions with the Positive Ladies Soccer Club of Zimbabwe’s Epworth Township. The Positive Ladies are a team of HIV-positive women that became a crack soccer squad in defiance of a desperately poor community in which women don’t play soccer and, more to the point, HIV-positive people are stigmatized. It’s not the most literarily accomplished piece

we’ve linked to at The Fix, but the story of The Positive Ladies is another reminder that humankind can also be pretty amazing, and it’s worth a read for that reason alone. — Tip of the Fix cap to reader Don Hartline and fellow Fixer Garey Ris. Found a good column from the world of sports? Don’t keep it to yourself — write to us at dailyfix@wsj.com and we’ll consider your find for inclusion in the Daily Fix. You can email David at droth11@gmail.com.

Injuries to Watch: Week 11 By Knox Bardeen (FanHouse) Submitted at 11/20/2009 12:19:00 PM

Stephen Jackson: Winning Wasn't a Priority for Golden State By Chris Tomasson (FanHouse)

plenty of credit for it. "The Warriors were (garbage) when I got there, so look what Submitted at 11/20/2009 4:45:00 PM happened,'' Jackson said in an by Chris Tomasson interview Friday with FanHouse. Filed under: Bobcats, Warriors "So I love challenges.'' MILWAUKEE -- Four months That's why the 10th-year after Stephen Jackson arrived in swingman is ecstatic about his Golden State in January 2007, trade last Monday from the the Warriors won their first Warriors to Charlotte. Even playoff series in 16 years. They though the Bobcats(3-8 entering Jackson believes it's "a great went 48-34 the following season, Friday) never have made the opportunity for me to be part of their best record in 14 years. playoffs since entering the NBA something great.'' Also: Don Jackson would like to take as an expansion team in 2004,

Nelson Opens Up About Issues with Monta Ellis Stephen Jackson: Winning Wasn't a Priority for Golden State originally appeared on Fanhouse NBA Blog on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:45:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments

by Knox Bardeen Filed under: NFL Injury Report Whether it's torn, sprained, broken or just needs to be taped, Injuries to Watch will keep you up to date on injuries around the NFL and how they'll affect your fantasy football team. Quarterback o. Ben Roethlisberger, SteelersRoethlisberger is not listed on the injury report, but he sat out parts of practice on Thursday with his elbow wrapped. He is expected to play on Sunday, but questions of a sore arm have definitely surfaced. Injuries to Watch: Week 11 originally appeared on Fanhouse Fantasy Football on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:19:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments

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Knicks Reportedly Pass WNBA Folds in on Allen Iverson Sacramento, Seeks Bay Area Owner for 2010

Contest starts for plum EU posts

(Financial Times - US homepage)

By Matt Watson (FanHouse)

Submitted at 11/20/2009 9:15:27 AM

Submitted at 11/20/2009 12:20:00 PM

by Matt Watson Filed under: Bobcats, Heat, Knicks, NBA Rumors A fourtime scoring champ leading Mike D'Antoni's up-tempo offense? It looked like a match made in heaven on paper, but the Knicks have apparently decided the intangibles surrounding Allen Iverson -- including ugly exits with two teams in the span of seven months -- outweighed the potential gains. According to Howard Beck of the New York Times, the Knicks went back and forth on the issue, with a team source suggesting Thursday afternoon there was a 90 percent chance the team would offer a contract. Ultimately, however, the team's brain trust decided that "Iverson posed too great a risk" -- a damning indictment if there ever was one, considering the 2-7

By Michelle Smith (FanHouse) Submitted at 11/20/2009 3:45:00 PM

Knicks are currently on pace for a 15-win season. Knicks Reportedly Pass on Allen Iverson originally appeared on Fanhouse NBA Blog on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:20:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments

by Michelle Smith Filed under: Kings, WNBA The WNBA announced Friday afternoon that the Sacramento Monarchs, one of the league's original eight franchises, are folding and that the league is actively pursuing an ownership group for the team in the San Francisco Bay area in time for the 2010 season. Joe and Gavin Maloof, who also own the NBA's Sacramento Kings, have owned and operated the Monarchs, but financial losses from both franchises in recent years forced them to give up the WNBA team. "We love the Monarchs, but it's time to re-focus," Joe Maloof told the Sacramento Bee.

The race to secure senior jobs in the next European Commission intensified on Friday with the big member states keen to secure the most important economic dossiers. Many of the larger European Union members, including France and Germany, stayed out of the race for the presidency and foreign affairs jobs in the hope of "Everyone in this business being rewarded with commission environment ... you have to do roles that will influence the what has to be done. Our focus is recasting of the global economy to turn the Kings around." after the financial crisis. WNBA Folds in Sacramento, This content has passed through Seeks Bay Area Owner for 2010 fivefilters.org. originally appeared on Fanhouse NBA Blog on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:45:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments

Marv Albert, 50 Cent Rumble Backstage at Jimmy Kimmel Live By Will Brinson (FanHouse)

now second on the "didn't see that coming" list after"Al Roker Loses Mind Previewing Weather by Will Brinson for Sunday Night Football". Filed under: Current Events, Apparently, 50 Cent and his NBA Of all the headlines I read entourage went after Marv Albert last night. today, the one you see above is backstage at Jimmy Kimmel Live Submitted at 11/20/2009 3:00:00 PM

At least if you believe the Los Angeles Times(or if you prefer to get your news from more reputable sources, here ya go): Marv Albert, 50 Cent Rumble Backstage at Jimmy Kimmel Live originally appeared on

Fanhouse Backporch on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments

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Hands-on: Dementium 2 (DS) By Ben Gilbert (Joystiq)

between two dimensions multiple times, and even fought a boss who tried to throw up on me Having not played Renegade from the ceiling (what a jerk!). Kid's first survival/horror-FPS on T h o u g h i t s c o n t e n t a n d the Nintendo DS back in 2007, storytelling seems to be a Dementium: The Ward, I had few carefully crafted amalgam of expectations going into my recent games from the three or so genres hands-on with the game's sequel, it mashes up (fps, adventure, the aptly titled Dementium 2. I survival/horror) - a handheld knew that the first game enjoyed Half-Life meets Silent Hill on critical acclaim for more than Monkey Island, almost - the time a d e q u a t e l y b r i n g i n g I spent with a preview build of s u r v i v a l / h o r r o r t r o p e s t o Dementium 2 earlier today felt N i n t e n d o ' s h a n d h e l d , a n d like the beginning of what could ultimately scored pretty well with be a very interesting game. reviewers, but ever since Metroid Gallery: Dementium 2 Prime Hunters I've been wary of ( 1 1 / 2 0 / 0 9 ) first-person mechanics on the Continue reading Hands-on: DS. Dementium 2 (DS) Thankfully, when first faced Hands-on: Dementium 2 (DS) with manipulating Dementium originally appeared on Joystiq on 2's main character, it became Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:30:00 EST. quickly obvious that the game's Please see our terms for use of slow pace helps to account for feeds. any discomfort issues that might Permalink| Email this| arise from the control scheme. C o m m e n t s Over the course of 45 minutes, I put together puzzles, traveled Submitted at 11/20/2009 5:30:00 PM

Gameloft pulling back on Android development By Richard Mitchell (Joystiq)

Android Market "is not as neatly done" as Apple's App Store. Submitted at 11/20/2009 5:00:00 PM Rochefort noted that Google The unsinkable publisher hasn't really gotten many Gameloft recently revealed that it Android users to buy products, is planning " significantly cut" its saying, "On Android nobody is d e v e l o p m e n t o n G o o g l e ' s making significant revenue." Android platform. Said Gameloft To put things in perspective, finance director Alexandre de Rochefort said that Gameloft has R o c h e f o r t , " W e h a v e sold 400 times as many games on significantly cut our investment the iPhone as on the Android in Android platform," adding that platform. Of course, it's worth "many others" in the industry noting that Apple's iPhone has a h a v e s c a l e d b a c k A n d r o i d significantly larger market share development as well. The reason, than Android. According to a according to Rochefort, is the recent Gartner report released in organization -- or rather lack lack August, the iPhone accounted for of organization -- of its nearly 14 percent of the application store, the Android s m a r t p h o n e m a r k e t , w h i l e Market. Rochefort stated that the Android phones accounted for

less than 2 percent. With more and more carriers offering Android phones -- notably the recent release of the Droid on Verizon -- the Android market is likely to expand in the coming months. It will be interesting to see how the mobile market changes -- and whether Gameloft and others change their tune -- a year from now. [Via Washington Post] Gameloft pulling back on Android development originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

FKIA’s Daily Double: Bigger is Better By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 11/20/2009 10:26:17 AM

With a coat as big as this Burberry shearling, you need a

bag as big as the Michelin man—like this Chanel Cocoon two-tone tote—to balance the coat's oversized prorportion. — Anne Slowey Let me know what you

love—and if you have any

questions, e-mail me at AnneSloweyFashionKnowItAll @elle.com. Follow ELLE on Twitter. Become our Facebook fan!

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Metareview: Left 4 Dead 2 By Griffin McElroy (Joystiq)

and Valve is confident enough to play around with it, safe in the Submitted at 11/20/2009 3:00:00 PM knowledge that you can trust Considering the devilishly your players. Left 4 Dead proved heightened difficulty of Left 4 it. And whereas that game had a Dead 2, we're surprised enough p e r s o n a l i t y , t h i s o n e i s outlets managed to complete a o v e r f l o w i n g w i t h i t . " single campaign in time to • IGN(9/10):"It remains one of submit a review for the title. We the most distinctive co-operative have to imagine GameSharks titles out there, and allows for w e r e s o m e h o w i n v o l v e d . some of the most nerve-searing Regardless, here's what other team-based multiplayer gaming sites are saying about Valve's on the market." follow-up to last year's • GameTrailers(8.7/10): Zombocalypse survival sim. "Though not an astounding • Eurogamer(9/10):"Whereas improvement over the original, once we treated Left 4 Dead as a Left 4 Dead 2 successfully stopgap between Half-Lifes, this rekindles that magical zombieis no longer a weird little side hunting feeling with great new project with modest expectations, content, and a cool competitive

Talent, not just tax breaks, drawing devs to Canada By Justin McElroy (Joystiq)

footprint in Ontario would in itself would help tell the story of what's available," Pupatello told Tax breaks are a great way to get Develop. "Why would Ubisoft developers interested in Canada, come unless they knew that they a c c o r d i n g t o m i n i s t e r o f were going to get absolutely the economic development and trade best talent?" for Ontario Sandra Pupatello, but Uh, free health care and the they may not be the best way to staggering availability of Tim keep them there. Pupatello Hortons? worries that while trying to entice Talent, not just tax breaks, Metareview: Left 4 Dead 2 devs, competing provinces could d r a w i n g d e v s t o C a n a d a originally appeared on Joystiq on drive tax breaks to an untenable originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:00:00 EST. position. She says that nuturing a Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of talent pool should be the bigger Please see our terms for use of focus, an approach that has feeds. feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Read| Permalink| Email this| worked in Ontario. " W e k n e w t h a t U b i s o f t Comments Comments establishing a significant multiplayer mode to boot." • Giant Bomb(4/5 Stars):"The core of Left 4 Dead may have lost some of its newness in the last 12 months, but the wealth of additions in this sequel ought to keep you blasting zombies and munching on brains for a good long while."

Submitted at 11/20/2009 6:00:00 PM

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LittleBigPlanet getting bluer, blurrier with Sonic costume pack By Griffin McElroy (Joystiq) Submitted at 11/20/2009 4:30:00 PM

Violent game-opposed National Institute on Media and the Family shuts down By Griffin McElroy (Joystiq) Submitted at 11/20/2009 3:30:00 PM

If you've ever read a story we've written where some organization touts a piece of research "proving" the overwhelmingly negative effects video games have on youngsters, you've probably heard about the National Institute on Media and the Family. They're infamous for issuing typically low-scoring report cards to the ESRB and

other entities in the gaming industry, and for propagating the values of the group's founder, psychologist David Walsh. However, it seems NIMF has executed its final evaluation -according to the St. Paul-based Star Tribune, the organization will shutter its doors on Dec. 31. We bet some of you are overjoyed that the immeasurably critical group is shutting down -however, without their constant panning, we expect violence in

video games to grow unchecked within the next few months. Soon, every title, from Peggle to Viva Pi単ata, will be bogged down by excessive amounts of gore. All games will be federally required to contain guns. Titles from previous console generations which don't adhere to this rule will be destroyed, Fahrenheit 451 style. The industry will crash like a sack of lead bricks -- all because NIMF wasn't there to keep it in line.

To quote Joni Mitchell, "Don't it always seem to go/ That you don't know what you got'til it's gone." Violent game-opposed National Institute on Media and the Family shuts down originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

We're usually hesitant to spend real-life money on virtual clothing, but you can bet we'll spring at the chance to purchase the recently revealed Sonic the Hedgehog costume pack for LittleBigPlanet. See, if we dress ourselves up like the series' speedy, cerulean protagonist, then play one of the many, many Green Hill Zone stages crafted by the LBP community, we can pretend that we're playing a decent, current-gen Sonic platformer. We've contacted Media Molecule to try and find out the North American release date and price for this costume pack. We shouldn't let the developer hear us say this, but we'd pay anything for that beautiful illusion. [Via Siliconera] LittleBigPlanet getting bluer, blurrier with Sonic costume pack originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Mario Badescu Salon and Spa Helps Combat Dry Skin By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 11/20/2009 1:34:58 PM

The cooler temps have thrown me off my game, causing my combination skin to suddenly become dry and flaky. To get to the bottom of it, I took a trip to Mario Badescu Salon and Spa for a consultation and facial (hands down, best.facial.ever.) and was lucky enough to meet aesthetician Laden (her clients include the cast of Ugly Betty) who gave me some great tips to By Richard Mitchell (Joystiq) problem solving and team work." bring my skin back to normalcy. GCHQ believes that these criteria Lucky for you, these tips apply to Submitted at 11/20/2009 4:00:00 PM are "reflected in game-play all skin types, too. Tip 1: Exfoliate. “Healthy skin The Guardian reports that British experiences on Xbox." produces dead skin cells every Intelligence is looking for a few We're expecting a new good men. Specifically, the generation of foul-mouthed, second of every day,” said Government Communications teabagging James Bonds any day Laden. To gently buff them away and prevent pore-clogging Headquarters (GCHQ) is running now. ads on the Xbox 360 dashboard British Intelligence recruiting buildup and gross flaky skin, she and within Xbox games to recruit Xbox gamers originally appeared suggests using a wet washcloth in new members. The GCHQ, on Joystiq on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 circular motions several times a which works with both MI5 and 16:00:00 EST. Please see our week. Tip 2: Lay off the hot water. MI6 (yes, that MI6), seeks to terms for use of feeds. recruit young people with an Read| Permalink| Email this| affinity for "quick thinking, Comments

British Intelligence recruiting Xbox gamers

Scalding showers and cold weather sound like the perfect match, but they leave skin red and irritated. “Nothing should touch your skin that isn’t room temperature,” said Laden. Easy enough when washing your face

but lukewarm showers are hardly inviting–aim for warm, not hot. Tip 3: Clean your makeup brushes. If your complexion is being fussy (applies to any interpretation of the word), take extra care to make sure brushes are bacteria-free. Tip 4: Use a gentle cleanser. My complexion has been blemish free since I switched from harsher medicated washes to Shu Uemura Cleansing Oil at night and Mario Badescu Enzyme Cleansing Gel in the morning. Go figure. Tip 5: Moisturize. Seems super obvious, but many people ignore this step. I go for a product that contains SPF—and don’t be shy about that number. ELLE Beauty Director Emily Dougherty uses SPF 50 every single day—and has zero wrinkles. —Janna Johnson, Beauty Assistant Follow ELLE on Twitter. Become our Facebook fan!

Death of NFL Star's Mother Ruled Suicide (FOXNews.com) Submitted at 11/20/2009 2:20:10 AM

GRANBY, Colo. The death of the mother of New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees has been ruled a suicide.

Mina Brees, an attorney from Austin, Texas, died Aug. 7 while visiting Colorado. This week, Grand County coroner Brenda Bock concluded that she died of a prescription drug overdose and ruled the death a suicide.

Bock said Brees died while staying at the home of a friend in Granby near Rocky Mountain National Park. It took longer than three months for a cause of death to be reached but Bock said that's typical for

cases involving toxicology tests. Relations between Drew Brees and his mother were strained at times and the quarterback asked her to stop using his picture in TV commercials touting her candidacy for a Texas appeals

court in 2006. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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Fendi Fêtes New John Baldessari Book

Daul Kim (1989-2009)

By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog)

Submitted at 11/20/2009 2:10:08 PM

Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece, Ruffian designers Claude Morais and Brian Wolk, Linda Fargo, Submitted at 11/20/2009 1:51:53 PM Antonia Thompson, and Spank On Wednesday night, Fendi Rock— joined the reverie while hosted a party at its Fifth Avenue throwing back champagne and store to celebrate the launch of grapefruit martinis amongst Sharon Coplan Hurowitz's new Fendi’s fanciful shoes and bags. book on conceptual artist John —Erin Boyle Baldessari: A Catalogue Fendi’s launch of John Raisonne of Prints and Multiples, Baldessari: A Catalogue 1971-2007. Baldessari is known Raisonne of Prints and Multiples, for his black-and- white portraits 1971-2007 obstructed by blocks of color, Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece, and the book is the first Sharon Coplan Hurowitz, Fe comprehensive account of his Fendi work. At the party, pianist like a New Zealand soccer player Pianist Eric Lewis (ELEW) ELEW, who in May played for during the Haka War Dance. ELEW making a mean mug President Barack Obama and first E L E W ’ s a n t i c s w e r e s o The lovely Brooke Shields lady Michelle Obama, performed contagious that notable guests Photos: Patrick McMullan and orchestral covers of alternative like Brooke Shields joined in the Erin Boyle rock songs like "Mr. Brightside" mugging with mock warrior Follow ELLE on Twitter. by the Killers, "Paint It Black" by clown faces of their own. Other Become our Facebook fan! the Rolling Stones, and "Clocks" guests—including Fe Fendi, by Coldplay while lunging about

By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog)

Runway and editorial regular, Daul Kim, was found deceased in her Paris apartment yesterday. The South Korean beauty was only 20 years old. In April 2007, Daul posted her first piece on what was one of the few blogs ( I Like to Fork Myself) that tracked a model’s glamorous comings and goings with real honesty, insight, and for lack of a better word, heart. What kept her readers coming back day after day wasn’t the promise of an insider peek at a show or a photo shoot but the random, often silly, sometimes very dark manner with which she delivered those glimpses. In her signature haiku-inspired style, Daul wrote about sentimentality, her family, and often late at night, Seoul

time, the ups and downs of love. But just as if not more frequently, Daul contemplated video games (and how she had dreams about being in them), uses for her bangs (and how she “loved them no matter what anyone said”), and her admiration for the oddest collection of films, music, art, authors and dance moves. The rare blogger whose mission was never to impress you or to selfreference for the sake of selfreferencing, Daul used her corner of the blogosphere simply to muse. Hers was an unedited voice whose undertone reminded us how rich life could be if only we were willing, as she was, to acknowledge, explore, and share all sides of ourselves. A voice, unfortunately, taken from her loved ones far too soon. Images: Jeremy Kost/WireImage

B Store Brings StudioThomson to Savile Row By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 11/20/2009 8:07:32 AM

B Store isn't your average Savile Row shop. While it carries the same tailored menswear elegance the row is known for, B store infuses everything with a contemporary twist. Last night

they showcased their love of all their fingerprint has been left on things contemporary and tasteful brands like Aquascutum, Preen, with the opening of the in-store Wrangler and Pringle. B store exhibition celebrating the fifth has put up the duo's work for all anniversary of StudioThomson. to see, nestled among glass cases StudioThomson is a design and set upon cinderblocks and within art direction group that has shadow-box frames, so viewers worked across all media from can experience first hand the fashion, to music, to art and Christopher and Mark Thomson, firm's classic and considered interiors. Founded by brothers aesthetic. And should you feel

like it, you can walk away with one of their handsome little notebooks, which sell for only ten pounds and make a great stocking stuffer for anyone who loves color, because they come in forty different delicious shades. —Rebecca Suhrawardi Austin Follow ELLE on Twitter. Become our Facebook fan!

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Teen pleads guilty in violent Border Patrol murder (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News) Submitted at 11/20/2009 2:37:34 PM

Volcom Brand Jeans Partners With National Coalition for the Homeless By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog)

participating local store and help those in need. If you donate a pair of jeans, you are Submitted at 11/20/2009 1:19:48 PM automatically given a chance to Volcom Brand Jeans is teaming win a year supply of Volcom up with the National Coalition Brand Jeans. for the Homeless, issuing a call — K y l e A n d e r s o n , S e n i o r to action to give jeans, and those A c c e s s o r i e s E d i t o r less fortunate, a second chance. Follow ELLE on Twitter. Bring your unwanted, ill-fitting, Become our Facebook fan! last season’s denim to a

SAN DIEGO – A 17-year-old pleaded guilty Friday to murdering a Border Patrol agent who was shot eight times in head, neck and torso in the mountains east of San Diego. Christian Daniel Castro Alvarez admitted entering the United States illegally to rob a Border Patrol agent, the U.S. attorney's office said. Alvarez said he lured Agent Robert Rosas out of his car on the night of July 23 and struggled with him over a firearm. Rosas, 30, was shot four times in the head, once in the neck and three times in the torso. He was found near Campo, Calif., without a pulse. His Border Patrol-issued gun was missing. Rosas had left his car with the ignition on while pursuing three suspected illegal immigrants on a cool, "extremely dark" night, according to the San Diego County medical examiner's office. Castro Alvarez entered his plea before U.S. Magistrate Judge James Lorenz after agreeing to be tried as an adult. The U.S. attorney's office in San Diego did not offer details on the arrest but said Castro Alvarez "voluntarily surrendered to the United States."

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano thanked the Mexican government for cooperating. "Today's guilty plea makes it clear that those who harm our brave men and women in uniform will be swiftly brought to justice and punished," she said. "I am confident that any others involved in Agent Rosas' tragic death will also be held responsible." Authorities said Castro Alvarez acted with others, but did not immediately say how many. "Our work on this case is not yet done," U.S. Attorney Karen Hewitt said. Castro Alvarez faces a maximum of life in prison when he is sentenced Feb. 19. His attorney, Ezekiel Cortez, did not immediately respond to a phone message. Rosas was the first Border Patrol agent killed by gunfire since 1998, according to The Officer Down Memorial Page, a Web site that tracks deaths of law enforcement officers. His death sparked a massive search by authorities on both sides of the border in a mountainous area strewn with white boulders that is popular with illegal immigrants and marijuana smugglers. The FBI and Border Patrol offered rewards totaling

$350,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible, and the FBI offered an additional $10,000 for help finding Rosas' .40-caliber gun. Since the attack, the Border Patrol has expanded its presence in the area and been assigning agents to work in pairs instead of alone. Rosas was patrolling alone when he volunteered to pursue a group of suspected illegal immigrants who were spotted by another agent with a night-vision scope mounted on the back of a pickup truck, authorities say. The suspects are believed to have fled back to Mexico through a small crevice under a border fence made of corrugated metal. Just hours after the killing, Mexican authorities arrested Ernesto Parra Valenzuela, 36, near Tecate, Mexico, and identified him as the chief suspect. Mexican officials had no immediate response on the guilty plea, but one who was not authorized to discuss the case confirmed that Castro Alvarez is a Mexican citizen. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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Fired therapist: Stressed Marines get shoddy care (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News)

and I can't get out,'" Manion said in an interview. Referring to the Fort Hood shooting rampage in CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. â&#x20AC;&#x201C; which an Army psychiatrist who Marines treated at Camp Lejeune c o u n s e l e d P T S D v i c t i m s for post-traumatic stress had to allegedly killed 13 people earlier undergo therapy for months in this month, he said: "Is there temporary trailers where they potential for another blowup? could hear bomb blasts, machine- Yes, indeed." gun fire and war cries through In e-mails shown to The the thin walls, according to A s s o c i a t e d P r e s s , M a n i o n servicemen and their former complained, among other things, psychiatrist. that the military was not dealing The eight trailers were used for with PTSD properly and that the n e a r l y t w o y e a r s , u n t i l a trailers were infested with bugs permanent clinic was completed and noisy. in September in another location "Given that PTSD is the most on the base, said a Camp Lejeune frequent diagnostic group we see, medical spokesman, Navy Lt. j.g. one would question the sense of Mark Jean-Pierre. locating a clinic in such close T h e n o i s e f r o m t r a i n i n g proximity to the booming of exercises "shook me up real bad. bombs that shake the trailer, the I couldn't take it. I almost ran out ratta-tat-tat of machine gun fire of there a couple of times," said a and the almost daily occurrence Marine patient who spoke on of grunts yelling war cries," condition of anonymity because Manion wrote. he is not authorized to talk to the In an interview with AP, Manion media. "My mind couldn't focus said the military should have on the treatment. I couldn't tell rented a building off base. the difference between the Manion was fired in September combat zone and the non-combat after working for eight months zone." for a company that has a contract The allegations became public with the military to provide after the dismissal of Dr. Kernan mental health care on the North Manion, a civilian psychiatrist Carolina base. He said that when who says he was fired for writing he asked the contractor why he memos to his military superiors was being fired, he was told it complaining of shoddy care of was ordered by the Navy. Marines returning from Iraq and Tom Greene, a regional manager Afghanistan with PTSD, a with the contractor, Spectrum condition that can make patients Healthcare Resources, said in an jumpy, fearful of loud noises and e-mail statement to the doctor prone to flashbacks. that Manion "did not meet the "These guys are saying, 'I'm fried government's requirements in Submitted at 11/20/2009 2:59:04 PM

accordance with the contract." Greene offered no specifics and did not respond to e-mails seeking further comment. The inspector general for the Navy's Bureau of Medicine is reviewing the allegations of inadequate care, a military official said Friday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about it. Jean-Pierre said artillery fire can be heard nearly everywhere on the 240-square-mile base, which has 80 live-fire ranges. In an e-mail, the spokesman said: "We are confident that our medical services are of the highest quality." He would not comment directly on why Manion was fired, but said that civilian doctors have to adapt to the "rapid evaluation and shortterm treatment" that the military offers. Three of Manion's patients told the AP that being so close to the sounds of gunfire made it hard to concentrate and made them jumpy and nervous. The patients, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to media, said they were making progress and were shocked when Manion was fired. All three patients said they trusted Manion after months of treatment and now found it hard to get help from other doctors. Manion, 59, has 25 years of experience as a psychiatrist with a specialty in traumatic brain injury, or TBI.

He told the AP his Marine patients told him they were ostracized and sometimes punished by superiors for seeking treatment. He said one unit at the base made all of its soldiers suffering from PTSD sit in a room and read infantry manuals. "How do we help a guy make sense of all that and heal from that when the Marine Corps is saying to get treatment means you're weak?" Manion said. In an April memo to his superiors, Manion described episodes in which one Marine punched a telephone pole and another slugged a table in Manion's office. Manion said the clinic had no procedures for committing outburst-prone Marines for more intensive psychiatric care, and no safeguards for protecting therapists from violence. Rep. Walter Jones, a North Carolina Republican whose district includes Lejeune, wrote to Defense Secretary Robert Gates about the situation. "At this point, I only have one side of the story. However, based on the number of cases reaching my desk involving PTSD and TBI I am absolutely convinced there are serious problems with how mental health care is being delivered in my district," the congressman wrote in a Nov. 16 letter. A Washington Post expose in 2007 on shabby treatment of soldiers at Washington's Walter Reed Medical Center led to a

shake-up in which three topranking military officials, including the secretary of the Army, were ousted. Manion said his patients have been traumatized by seeing friends killed and living for months under constant stress. When they come home, Manion said, they often have trouble sleeping, abuse alcohol and become anti-social. Manion said that on June 24, a supervisor for the contractor warned him to stop sending emails to his superiors. But Manion said the problems continued and he filed a complaint about safety and quality of care to the inspector general of the Navy. Manion also wrote to President Barack Obama. He said he was fired two days later and escorted from his office by an armed MP in full view of his incredulous patients. Jones, who met earlier this week with Manion in Washington, said: "From listening to him and reading the letter he wrote to the president, I feel that he is a caring and true professional that wants to help those who have PTSD or other type of mental wounds. If we're going to call on these soldiers and Marines and their families to keep going on these deployments, we better be prepared to help them when they come back." ___ FIRED page 70

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Hasan to Imam: 'I Can't Wait to Join You' in the Afterlife (FOXNews.com) Submitted at 11/20/2009 12:50:10 AM

The Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people in the Fort Hood massacre told a radical Muslim imam, "I can't wait to join you" in the afterlife, in one of several e-mails exchanged between the two men, ABC News reported on Thursday. An unnamed official "with top secret access" told the network 18 e-mails were exchanged between Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan and Anwar al-Awlaki, who encouraged Muslims to kill U.S. troops in Iraq, from Dec. 2008 until June of this year. Other e-mails, the official said, included discussion of when jihad is considered "appropriate," and if it is acceptable for innocent people to die in suicide attacks. "Hasan told Awlaki he couldn't wait to join him in the discussions they would having over non-alcoholic wine in the afterlife," ABC quoted the official as saying. Hasan â&#x20AC;&#x201D; with an annual salary around $92,000 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; also wrote, "My strength is my financial capabilities," the source said. Investigators have found the Army major donated as much as $30,000 per year to Islamic "charities." American authorities have found several such charities to be conduits to terrorist networks. A military analyst told ABC: "It

sounds like code words ... That he's actually either offering himself up or that he's already crossed that line in his own mind." A joint terrorism task force overseen by the FBI learned late last year of Hasan's repeated contact with al-Awlaki. The FBI said the task force did not refer early information about Hasan to superiors because it concluded he wasn't linked to terrorism. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates called it disturbing that Hasan has e-mail contact with the radical cleric in Yemen, but stressed that his review is separate from the criminal investigation into Hasan and should not be interpreted as a finger-pointing exercise against Muslims or anyone else. Investigators have said e-mails between Hasan and the imam did not advocate or threaten violence. After the shootings, al-Awlaki's Web site praised Hasan as a hero. Gates would not comment Thursday on whether he considers the Fort Hood attack a terrorist act. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, an independent, told a Senate hearing that he does, and urged a government investigation "to learn whether the federal government could have acted in a way that would have prevented these murders from occurring." Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, questioned whether the government failed to connect

dots about Hasan. "We must better understand why law enforcement, intelligence agencies and our military personnel system may have failed in this case," Collins said. An attorney for Hasan says his client will have his first court hearing inside his hospital room at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio Saturday. The hearing is to determine whether Hasan will be placed in pre-trial confinement â&#x20AC;&#x201D; which usually means jail. But John Galligan says he'll argue that Hasan should remain in intensive care because he is paralyzed and still needs hospital care. Hasan's psychiatry supervisors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center had expressed concerns in May 2007 about what they described as Hasan's "pattern of poor judgment and lack of professionalism." President Barack Obama already has ordered a review of all intelligence related to Hasan, including his contacts with alAwlaki, concerns raised about Hasan by some of his medical colleagues, and whether warnings were properly shared and acted upon within government agencies. Results of that inquiry are due Nov. 30. The Pentagon said Thursday it will scour its procedures for identifying volatile U.S. military service members hidden in the ranks following the Fort Hood shooting rampage and lapses that

might allow others to slip through bureaucratic cracks. "It is prudent to determine immediately whether there are internal weaknesses or procedural shortcomings in the department that could make us vulnerable in the future," Defense Secretary Gates said. A 45-day emergency investigation will examine personnel, medical, mental health, discharge and other policies in all corners of the vast Defense Department. It will also look at ways to improve security and emergency response at Defense Department facilities. "The shootings at Fort Hood raise a number of troubling questions that demand complete but prompt answers," Gates told a Pentagon news conference. The quick review will be led by two former Pentagon officials, former Army Secretary Togo West and former Navy chief Vernon Clark. A longer, second review lasting about six months will look at what Gates called "systemic institutional shortcomings." Gates, who has fired several top officials in three years heading the Pentagon, did not address any possible consequences of the inquiries he announced Thursday. Gates broached little new information about the case of Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people and wounding more than 30 in the

shootings at the Texas military post on Nov. 5. Both Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the chief goal of the Pentagon probe is preventing another such attack and improving future responses by disaster teams. West was Army secretary in the mid-1990s and later became secretary of veterans affairs. Clark was the chief of naval operations from 2000 to 2005. In 2007, Gates named West cochairman of a panel created to review rehabilitation care problems at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington and the National Naval Medical Center in suburban Bethesda, Maryland. In 1995, as President Bill Clinton's Army Secretary, West ordered a review of the Army's racial climate, including whether there were ties between extremist groups and members of the military. The investigation was prompted by the arrests of two paratroopers in connection with the murders of two black people and concerns that the two men may have had ties to white supremacist groups. The Associated Press contributed to this report. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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Mayor Blasts 'Grinch' Postal Service for Axing Santa Letters (FOXNews.com)

address for his group, Santa's Mailbag. That way children will have a The mayor of the North Pole specific destination for their likened the U.S. Postal Service to letters, allowing volunteers to run the grinch who stole Christmas their own program and bypass Friday after it decided to stop a stringent new rules implemented 55-year-old "letters to Santa" by the Postal Service after program. security issues arose in a similar "We are outraged that they would program in Maryland last year. attack our children, attack our "The city was founded on the community in this way," Doug Christmas theme," Gaborik told Isaacson, the mayor of the North The Associated Press. "This is Pole in Alaska, said on Fox our identity. This is North Pole, News. "It is very grinch-like." Alaska." Isaacson is upset by the decision Gaborik believes his town's b y t h e P o s t a l S e r v i c e t o name gives the local effort more discontinue the program, begun cachet than other destinations. in his small Alaskan town in People in North Pole are 1954, where each year volunteers incensed by the changes. The open and respond to thousands of letter program is a revered letters addressed to "Santa Claus, holiday tradition in North Pole, North Pole." where light posts are curved and Now that Santa's "elves" who striped like candy canes and handle the correspondence have streets have names like Kris been given their walking papers, Kringle Drive. Volunteers in the they aren't going quietly — and letter program even sign the have decided to fight back. response letters as Santa's elves Gabby Gaborik, chief elf among and helpers. several dozen volunteers, said The North Pole program was Thursday that he met with Postal stymied by a tighter process put Service officials to come up with in place nationwide by the Postal an alterntive and is now working Service after a postal worker in with local government officials to Maryland recognized a volunteer get "101 Santa Claus Lane" as an with the agency's Operation Submitted at 11/19/2009 11:15:07 PM

FIRED continued from page 68

Associated Press writer Pauline Jelinek in Washington contributed to this report. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Santa program as a registered sex offender. The worker intervened before the individual could answer a child's letter, but the agency viewed the scare as a reason to tighten security. "Hundreds of thousands of letters have safely been answered without incident," Isaacson told Fox. "They just aren't thinking this through — unless they are and they're attacking Christmas." The Postal Service had already restricted its policies in such programs in 2006, including requiring volunteers to show identification. But the Maryland episode prompted more changes, such as barring volunteers from having access to children's last names and addresses. The Postal Service instead redacts that information from each letter and replaces the addresses with codes that match computerized addresses known only to the post office. It's up to local managers to determine whether to go through the time-consuming effort, but the new restrictions must be applied if letter programs are continued. The restrictions don't affect privately run letter efforts.

The Postal Service decided this month to end the North Pole letter program, saying dealing with the tighter restrictions isn't feasible in Alaska. The agency considers the North Pole effort part of its giant Operation Santa program, although locals like to think of their program as unique. "It's always been a good program, but we're in different times and concerned for the privacy of the information," said Anchorage-based agency spokeswoman Pamela Moody. Another issue raising the hackles in the community of 2,100 is a second, separate change. Anchorage — 260 miles to the south — is processing mass quantities of out-of-state requests for North Pole postal cancellation marks on Christmas cards and packages. That work used to be done in Fairbanks, just 15 miles away. Moody said as many as 800,000 items were processed last year, an overload Fairbanks is not equipped to handle. Anchorage is the only city in Alaska with the high-speed equipment necessary to do the job. Postal Service spokeswoman Sue Brennan said the move is a matter of resources

and finances for the agency, which lost billions of dollars in the last fiscal year. Santa Claus House, a North Pole store built like a Swiss chalet and chock full of all items Christmas, sells more than 100,000 letters from Santa, and one of the lures is the postmark. Store operations manager Paul Brown also believes his business will be affected under changes to the volunteer Santa letter program because tens of thousands of letters are addressed to Santa Claus House, North Pole, Alaska. Those letters will still be forwarded to volunteers. Those intercepted by the Postal Service will probably eventually be shredded. Alaska's congressional delegation has stepped in to find a solution. Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Democratic Sen. Mark Begich and Republican Rep. Don Young have sent letters to Postmaster General John Potter expressing their concerns over the changes. The Associated Press contributed to this report. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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Hells Angel Finds God at the Bottom Former Marine charged of Bottle of Booze in 'Cathouse' star's death (AP) (FOXNews.com)

Submitted at 11/20/2009 1:35:24 AM

For most of his years, Richie Kane struggled through a living hell of physical and sexual abuse, alcoholism and membership in one of the most notorious gangs in the country. But now this former Hells Angel is empowered with a new force. Kane has chronicled his journey to a better life in a self-published book called "The Bronx Street Kid: Into 12-Step Recovery." He sees it as a way for him to pass on the hope he has now embraced. "God has been so kind to me," he says, "allowed me the strength to come back." Now the New York native describes his vision of heaven, where God "rides a Harley" and there is "no hatred, no violence, there are no beatings, and you ride your motorcycle in the clouds. You don't need gas!" Click here for video. Kane smiles easily now. But for most of his 52 years, he kept his emotions bottled inside. "I hated myself. I became cocky and (it was) tough to hide (my problems), because I felt really damaged when I was younger,"

he said. Kane survived an alcoholic father who regularly beat him. He says he was once abused with a pair of hedge clippers, causing his head to bleed so badly his pillow stuck to his bloody scalp. He was never taken to the hospital. He also says that he was sexually molested by a stranger near the railroad tracks by his Bronx home — but never told his parents. "I knew my father would blame me and beat me." Like father like son: Kane turned to the bottle. It was the only thing they shared. He later became an even tougher guy, joining the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club because to him, it was the most prestigious — the best. "I was arrogant and full of drinking. It was all ego." But being tough was a way of shielding himself, he now says. "I said to myself nobody is ever going to do to me what was done to me as a kid. I'm not going to let anybody put their hands on me. I became a fighter." His real battle came after a rival gang's members beat him and left him for dead. He was then thrown out of the Hell's Angels

because members thought him too rowdy, and said he made the gang look bad. His alcoholism got so bad it gave him the shakes. His health deteriorated even further, and he contracted Hepatitis C. "I ran and hid in a bottle of booze because I didn't know there was anything good in me. I asked God to show me the good in me." And, he says, God answered that prayer. Through Alcoholics Anonymous, meditation and looking to a higher power, Kane found strength to forgive his father, the man who molested him, and the men who tried to kill him. "They never touched my core being. That's where the light is. There's a part of everybody that's pure that nobody can get to you there." Kane is seriously considering going to college, perhaps to study journalism. He's ready to explore new challenges for a new life, and new strength. "I don't know what's going to happen (in the future), but I'm not afraid." This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

(Yahoo! News: U.S. News) Submitted at 11/20/2009 3:10:12 PM

OKLAHOMA CITY – A former Marine was charged Friday with six counts of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of four people whose bodies were found in a burning home, including a prostitute featured on the HBO reality series "Cathouse." David Allen Tyner, 28, of Locust Grove, is accused of shooting, stabbing and then burning the bodies of Brooke Phillips, Milagrous Barrera, Jennifer Ermey, 25, and Mark Barrientos, 32, at a southwest Oklahoma City home. Because Phillips and Barrera, both 22, were pregnant, two more murder counts were filed. Phillips had worked at the Moonlite BunnyRanch, a legal brothel near Carson City, Nev., that is featured in the HBO reality show "Cathouse." According to a police affidavit filed with the charging document, a witness inside home told police someone known as "Hooligan" was arguing with one of the victims when the shootings happened. The witness later identified "Hooligan" as Tyner,

the affidavit said. The document doesn't say which victim Tyner was arguing with or what the dispute was about. The witness ran from the home when Tyner yelled he had no problem with the witness, it says. Oklahoma City firefighters who responded to a report of a fire at the house about 5:20 a.m. Nov. 9 found one of the victim before extinguishing the blaze. After putting out the fire, they found three more bodies inside, authorities said. Autopsies showed all four had been shot. Police have said one of the three women had cuts on her stomach, face and neck. Shell casings from two different handguns, along with several knives, ammunition, drug paraphernalia and about seven grams of marijuana were recovered from the scene. An attorney for Tyner, a cage fighter, couldn't immediately be reached for comment Friday afternoon. Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater also didn't immediately return a phone call seeking comment. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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Sears Tower plot leader is jailed

Peru arrests 'human fat killers' (BBC News | Americas | World Edition) Submitted at 11/20/2009 2:18:58 AM

Four people have been arrested in Peru on suspicion of killing dozens of people in order to sell their fat and tissue for cosmetic uses in Europe. The gang allegedly targeted people on remote roads, luring them with fake job offers before killing them and extracting their fat. The liquidised product fetched $15,000 (ÂŁ9,000) a litre and police suspect it was sold on to companies in Europe. At least five other suspects, including two Italian nationals, remain at large. Police said the gang could be behind the disappearances of up to 60 people in Peru's Huanuco and Pasco regions. One of those arrested told police the ringleader had been killing people for their fat for more than three decades. The gang has been referred to as the Pishtacos, after an ancient Peruvian legend of killers who attack people on lonely roads and murder them for their fat. Human tissue At a news conference in the capital, police showed reporters two bottles containing human body fat and images of one of the alleged victims. One of the alleged killings is reported to have taken place in

(BBC News | Americas | World Edition) Submitted at 11/20/2009 2:57:59 PM

mid-September, with the person's body tissue removed for sale. Cmdr Angel Toledo told Reuters news agency some of the suspects had "declared and stated how they murdered people with the aim being to extract their fat in rudimentary labs and sell it". Police said they suspect the fat was sold to cosmetics and pharmaceutical companies in Europe, but have not confirmed any such connection. Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. The group allegedly sold body fat to be used in cosmetics in Europe Human fat is used in modern cosmetic procedures but in most

cases it is the patient's own fat that is used and under strict legal guidelines. Medical authorities have expressed scepticism about a black market for human fat, partly because of the wide availability of fat for use in surgical procedures. 'Detailed confession' Gen Felix Burga, head of Peru's police criminal division, said there were indications that "an international network trafficking human fat" was operating from Peru. The first person was arrested earlier this month in a bus station in Lima, carrying a shipment of the fat.

The Associated Press news agency quoted Col Jorge Mejia as saying one of the suspects had described to police in detail how the victims were killed and their fat removed. The suspect said the fat was then sold to intermediaries in Lima and that the gang's leader, Hilario Cudena, had been carrying out such murders for decades, AP reported. The alleged buyers of the fat are also being hunted by police. Print Sponsor This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

The leader of a group which plotted to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago has been sentenced to 13.5 years in prison. Narseal Batiste, 35, also planned to bomb FBI offices, along with four other men who have already been given prison sentences. Prosecutors said the men conspired to provide material support to al-Qaeda but defence lawyers said the plot was never serious. Prosecutors in Miami had sought the maximum 70-year sentence for Batiste. But he maintained he only went along with the plot to seize the $50,000 (ÂŁ30,000) offered by an undercover FBI agent posing as an al-Qaeda operative. The men, most of whom have Haitian backgrounds, were arrested in Miami in 2006. They had been caught on tape by the FBI informant discussing plans to cause an antigovernment insurrection. Batiste was heard on audio and video tape saying they should start a "full ground war" that would "kill all the devils". 'No threat' SEARS page 75