LNP Oct-19-09 by Liberty Newspost

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19/10/09 - 19/10/09

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Storm-hit Philippines in disease warning By Justin McCurry (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk) Submitted at 10/19/2009 3:42:07 AM

Experts warn of deadly epidemics in country still in the grip of devastation caused by two powerful storms In pictures: Storm survivors face disease threat Survivors of two powerful storms that caused widespread destruction in the Philippines in recent weeks are threatened by outbreaks of potentially lifethreatening diseases, as the country braces for another supertyphoon, health experts have warned. Charity workers say disease and poor sanitation could afflict large numbers of people, many of whom are still waiting for medical and other supplies from the government and international aid organisations. "It's a perfect storm because there's standing water, there's cholera, leptospirosis is endemic in the population and there's a disease called dengue which is spread by mosquitoes," said Dr Sean Keogh, emergency health assessor for Merlin, a UK-based

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medical relief agency. More than 800 people died after tropical storm Ketsana and typhoon Parma swept through the country in late September and early this month. Ketsana caused the worst flooding in the capital, Manila, for more than 40 years, while Parma lingered for a week, triggering floods and deadly landslides in mountainous areas of the main island of Luzon. A fortnight later, 340,000 people are still living in cramped evacuation centres, while more than 7 million people have been affected by the storms, local officials said. Many areas are still underwater. Today, preparations were being made to evacuate areas threatened by typhoon Lupit, which could brush the northern tip of Luzon by Thursday, according to the US navy's joint typhoon warning centre. Lupit's force has intensified since the weekend, with sustained winds of 108mph and gusts of up to 130mph. Forecasters said they expected the typhoon, which would be the 18th big storm to hit the Philippines this year, to spare Manila but warned that Lupit

could wreak havoc in northern regions. The reassurances failed to put Manila residents at ease, however. "We're scared. We haven't even recovered from the last flooding and here comes another typhoon," said Gerardo Martin, who lives in the city's suburbs. In the mountainous Cordillera region of Benguet province, police officers have been ordered to tell people to evacuate before the typhoon arrives, although some residents are reportedly refusing to leave their homes. About 290 people in the area, located 130 miles north of Manila, died in landslides triggered by typhoon Parma. "Those in critical areas should be evacuated now that there is still time," said the head of the weather service, Prisco Nilo. "It would be more difficult to rescue people in the middle of a typhoon." Health officials say that as many as 1.7 million people living in and around Manila risk exposure to leptospirosis, a waterborne disease that has killed 96 people this month. The disease, which can be contracted by wading through

floodwater, can lead to kidney failure if left untreated. State-run hospitals say they are inundated with leptospirosis cases, with many patients forced to sit on chairs as there are not enough beds. The disease has infected more than 1,300 people, according to the National Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. The health department plans to hand out antibiotics to 1.3 million people in high-risk areas. The government has packed tonnes of food aid and prepared a fleet of helicopters to lift people to safety in Benguet and other northern regions, the national disaster co-ordination council said. The international community has pledged at least $100m (£61m) in food and other humanitarian aid. "Most people are getting some clean water, but the problem is that people are using the standing water as a toilet and children are swimming through it," said Keogh, who recently visited two of the most badly hit areas. "People are walking in the water all day. "All these things are coming together. There's another storm

coming, there's standing water, endemic disease and people walking through the water, which has all sorts in – petrol, human waste – it's a complete mess. This is a communicable disease disaster in the making." Keogh said he was concerned that vital medical and other supplies were not getting to people in flooded areas quickly enough, adding: "The death toll has been modest for a disaster of this scale. But this is something that can turn around and bite really quickly. These diseases can spread like wildfire and once they have got a grip in the community it's a real struggle to contain them." • Natural disasters and extreme weather • Philippines • Cholera Justin McCurry guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

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The First Draft: White House vs. Fox News By David Alexander (Front Row Washington) Submitted at 10/19/2009 8:42:14 AM

In case you’ve not been paying attention, the White House is feuding with Fox News. In the latest salvo, President Obama’s senior political adviser David Axelrod told ABC’s “This Week” that Fox’s programming “is not really news” but “pushing a point of view.” White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel echoed those remarks on CNN’s “State of the Union” program Sunday, saying Fox “is not a news organization so

much as it has a perspective.” The White House began pushing back against Fox’s coverage of the Obama administration a week ago after the president won the Nobel Peace Prize. Embedded video from & a m p ; a m p ; l t ; a href=”http://www.cnn.com/video” mce_href=”http://www.cnn.com/v ideo”&amp;amp;gt;CNN Video&amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp; gt; White House communications director Anita Dunn noted that conservatives who were “rejoicing” over Obama’s failure

to bring home the Olympics seemed “quite bitter” about the Nobel prize. “Fox News often operates almost as either as the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party,” she said. “What I think is … fair to say about Fox, and certainly it’s the way we view it, is that it really is more a wing of the Republican Party,” Dunn said. Karl Rove, former President George W. Bush’s political adviser, told “Fox News Sunday” the White House was dominated by “Chicago-style politics.” “If you don’t like the questions

that are being asked by Major Garrett or Wendell Goler or Chris Wallace, then you try and demonize Fox News,” Rove said. News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch saw a bright side to the White House attacks. “There were some strong remarks coming out of the White House about one or two of the commentators on Fox News,” Murdoch told an annual meeting of News Corp. shareholders. “And all I can tell you is that it’s tremendously increased their ratings.” Despite all the back and forth between the two sides, the White

House says Obama will accept interviews with the network. “We’re going to appear on their shows,” Axelrod told ABC. “We’re going to participate, but understanding that they represent a point of view.” For more Reuters political news, click here. Photo credit: Reuters/Jim Young (Obama with Emanuel and Axelrod at a meeting in Turkey in April)

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Afghanistan fraud inquiry 'strips Karzai of outright victory' By Jon Boone, Ewen MacAskill, Mark Tran (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

results or the need for a runoff as required by Afghan electoral law," said Aleem Siddique, a UN spokesman in Kabul. According to the independent Submitted at 10/19/2009 8:47:25 AM analysis by the US-based R e c o u n t b y U N - b a c k e d Democracy International, Karzai's watchdog ends with Afghan share of the vote fell from 55% to president's tally falling below the 48.3% after fraudulent votes 50% required for outright victory identified by the EEC were A U N - b a c k e d e l e c t i o n stripped away. The figures watchdog has declared invalid c o n f i r m e d v i e w s e x p r e s s e d hundreds of thousands of votes anonymously by several foreign for Afghanistan's president in the diplomats and election workers d i s p u t e d A u g u s t e l e c t i o n , that Karzai's share of the vote had apparently stripping Hamid dropped to around 48%. Karzai of outright victory and The president's closest rival, setting the stage for a second Abdullah Abdullah, gained from round. his preliminary tally of 28% to After nearly two months of 31.6%. investigations, the Electoral A spokesman for the Karzai Complaints Commission (ECC) – campaign, Moen Marastial, said controlled by a majority of non- they would accept only the results Afghans – found Karzai's total published by the Independent had fallen to 48.3%, according to Election Commission, an Afghanan independent analysis. He led organisation thought to be needed 50% to clinch another heavily partisan in favour of term in office. Karzai. A separate election commission "Nothing has been officially that backs the president will have announced so far. Only the ECC to endorse the findings and call has said some votes should be for a second-round vote to be held disqualified," Marastial said. in the next few weeks. He warned that the IEC could "Now that we have the ECC disagree the ECC's findings. "I o r d e r s , w e e x p e c t t h e I E C don't know whether they will [ I n d e p e n d e n t E l e c t i o n accept it or not. They have the Commission] to implement those right to work on the procedures orders with haste and move and formulas of the investigations swiftly to issue the final certified and after that they will decide

whether they will accept or not, if it is according to international rules of investigation," he said. In its published findings, the ECC stressed that the IEC was constitutionally bound to accept its orders. Marastial said Karzai may also refuse to accept the results if there was evidence of "interference in the fraud investigation". Karzai's supporters have several times suggested that the ECC is controlled by foreign interests. Any refusal by the IEC to accept the results would spark yet another crisis for a country that has been paralysed by the twomonth delay in settling the election result. Ahead of the announcement, pressure had been mounting on Karzai to accept a possible second-round vote or work out a deal to break the deadlock. The tainted election has undermined Karzai's credibility and complicated Barack Obama's decision on whether to send more US troops to fight a resurgent Taliban. The White House has linked the Afghan political crisis to a decision on sending extra US troops to the country. Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, said the US administration could not make a decision about a request for

'The Berlin wall was a monster'

Sexy & Sizzlin': TV's Hottest Hunks!

By Rebecca Lovell, Francesca Panetta, Christian Bennett, Kate Connolly (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

(ETonline - Breaking News)

Submitted at 10/19/2009 9:49:09 AM

Berlin wall 20 years on: In the first of five films Berliners describe a city divided Rebecca Lovell Francesca Panetta Christian Bennett Kate Connolly

Submitted at 10/19/2009 3:06:00 AM

What do Simon Baker, David Boreanaz and Rob Lowe all have

40,000 extra troops without a credible government in place in Kabul. The administration has been delaying a decision on extra troops because of a divide between members of the cabinet, aides, generals and the intelligence services. Emanuel is among those advising the president not to send more troops, partly because of the impact on domestic politics. The war is increasingly unpopular with Afghans. The US wants Karzai to accept the runoff to establish a semblance of legitimacy. The Obama administration has long privately expressed its lack of faith in Karzai because of the widespread corruption in his government. Karzai has a fortnight's window to hold a runoff before winter snow makes it impossible. • Hamid Karzai • United Nations • Afghanistan Jon Boone Ewen MacAskill Mark Tran guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

in common? They are all ET's picks for TV's hottest hunks! So who gets the nod for the Hottest Cop, Hottest Reality Contestant, Hottest Vampire, and

Iran: IAEA talks begin in Vienna By Julian Borger (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk) Submitted at 10/19/2009 7:51:05 AM

Talks under way in Vienna on future of uranium enrichment The meeting here in Vienna on the fate of Iran's enriched uranium has started, amid lots of negative noises coming from Tehran. Everything about this meeting, including team lists, has been under wraps until the last minute. The only senior-ish figure known to be here is Dan Poneman, the US deputy secretary of energy, and a non-proliferation veteran from the Clinton era. There are reports that the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, Ali Akbar Salehi, is in town to step in if needed but that has not been confirmed. No one knows how long it will last, but it should be clear pretty quickly if there is anything to negotiate at all. • Iran • International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) • Nuclear weapons Julian Borger guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds Hottest Nerd on TV? Keep clicking to find out the answer to these and many more smokin' hot categories!

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Diocese delays trial with bankruptcy move (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk) Submitted at 10/19/2009 3:20:04 AM

Wilmington becomes seven US diocese to file for Chapter 11 protection since clergy abuse scandal erupted in Boston in 2002 A Catholic diocese in Delaware has filed for federal bankruptcy protection on the eve of a civil trial in a high-profile sex abuse case. The bankruptcy filing, which automatically delays the case, is the seventh time a US diocese has filed for Chapter 11 protection since the scandal erupted seven years ago over sex abuse allegations against Catholic clergy in Boston. "This is a painful decision, one that I had hoped and prayed I would never have to make," said W Francis Malooly, the bishop of Wilmington, on his diocese website. Malooly said the decision was made "after careful consideration and after consultation with my close advisers and counsellors" and he believed that "we have no other choice". He said filing for bankruptcy "offers the best opportunity, given finite

resources, to provide the fairest possible treatment of all victims of sexual abuse by priests of our diocese". Thomas Neuberger, a lawyer representing 88 alleged victims, described the bankruptcy filing as a "desperate effort to hide the truth from the public and conceal the thousands of pages of scandalous documents" from being made public in court. "This filing is the latest, sad chapter in the diocese's decadeslong cover-up of these despicable crimes, to maintain the secrecy surrounding its responsibility and complicity in the sexual abuse of hundreds of Catholic children," he said in a statement. The Wilmington diocese covers Delaware and the eastern coast of Maryland and serves about 230,000 Catholics. The sex abuse case would have been the first to come to trial under a Delaware law that created a two-year "lookback" window allowing claims of abuse to be brought regardless of whether the statute of limitations had expired. More than 100 lawsuits were filed before the period ended this summer, four of which were settled. Civil liability is the only

recourse for victims of abuse that happened long ago because the US supreme court has said states cannot change the statute of limitations for criminal cases. Neuberger said the diocese's action may mean some ill and ageing victims – some of whom claim they were abused when they were as young as eight – could die before getting their day in court. Lawyers negotiated throughout yesterday trying to reach a settlement, but failed. Dioceses in Iowa, Alaska, Portland, Oregon, San Diego, Washington state and Arizona have also sought bankruptcy protection since 2002. The San Diego Chapter 11 application was dismissed. Neuberger said he would make court filings in Delaware to "meet this fraudulent tactic with the full and immediate force of the law". He vowed to seek out all assets of the Wilmington diocese and its parishes. More than 20 plaintiffs have filed lawsuits against Francis DeLuca, a former priest who served for 35 years in Delaware until 1993. He was defrocked last summer after being jailed in 2007 in New York for repeatedly molesting his grandnephew.

Lawsuits filed by DeLuca's alleged victims in Delaware were scheduled for trial on 1 October. Barbara Blaine, the head of the advocacy group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said the church had all the resources it needed to take care of victims, and she described the bankruptcy filing as a way of hiding the truth. "The bottom line is that the bishop doesn't want the truth to be exposed," Blaine said. The Wilmington diocese has paid more than $6.2m (£3.8m) since 2002 to settle sexual abuse lawsuits. Like others around the country, it also has paid settlements to alleged victims who did not file lawsuits. This year an annual report by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops stated that the church had paid more than $2.6bn in settlements and related expenses since 1950. • Catholicism • United States guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

iRobot (IRBT): From vacuums to military defense By Steven Halpern (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 10/19/2009 10:30:00 AM

Filed under: Newsletters, Stocks to Buy "For a pure play in automated and remotely controlled vehicles, consider iRobot(NASDAQ: IRBT)," says Jim Powell. Here's the latest from his Global Changes & Opportunities Report. "The company is best known for its Roomba vacuum cleaners that wander around the house bumping into everything and setting off security alarms. "A similar product cleans the surface of swimming pools. iRobot also makes automated mail and product delivery carts for businesses. Continue reading iRobot (IRBT): From vacuums to military defense iRobot (IRBT): From vacuums to military defense originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

GM can't find a new CFO who will work for peanuts By Zac Bissonnette (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 10/19/2009 11:30:00 AM

Filed under: General Motors (GM) The Wall Street Journal reports(subscription required) that "General Motors Co.'s search for an outsider to replace its chief

financial officer is being complicated by the pay restrictions the Treasury Department is imposing on companies that received large bailouts from the federal government, according to people familiar with the matter." GM is expected to be able to

offer its CFO a pay package consisting of a significant amount

of stock (Hah!) but a salary of only about $1 million per year -not much for a company of GM's size and problems. Plus, ya gotta live in Detroit and work with Fritz Henderson. Continue reading GM can't find a new CFO who will work for peanuts

GM can't find a new CFO who will work for peanuts originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

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No winner for African leadership prize By Mark Tran (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk) Submitted at 10/19/2009 7:39:28 AM

Billionaire businessman says committee considered a range of candidates – but could find no winner A foundation set up to award a $5m (£3m) annual prize for good governance in Africa has said there will be no winner this year because it could not find anyone to award it to. In a snub to recent ex-presidents and heads of state in Africa, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation- set up by the billionaire businessman and philanthropist - said its prize committee considered some credible candidates, but could not select a winner. "The prize committee is independent of the board," Ibrahim said. "It is the prize committee's decision not to award a prize this year and we entirely respect it. We made clear at the launch of the foundation that there may be years when there is no winner."

The seven-member prize committee is chaired by Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary general. It includes Martti Ahtisaari, the former president of Finland and Nobel laureate, Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency and Nobel laureate, and Graça Machel, the former minister of education and culture in Mozambique. Launched in 2006, the Mo Ibrahim foundation was designed to encourage good governance in Africa and to hand out the world's largest annually awarded prize. The Ibrahim prize for achievement in African leadership is worth $5m over 10 years and $200,000 for life annually thereafter. Past winners include Festus Mogae, the former president of Botswana, Joaquim Chissano, the former president of Mozambique, and Nelson Mandela, who was made an honorary laureate in recognition of his "extraordinary leadership qualities". A Sudanese-born former BT

engineer, Ibrahim moved to Britain in 1974 and created and sold two highly successful companies including Celtel International earning himself a personal fortune and turning many people into millionaires in the process. The Forbes rich list puts his wealth at $2.5bn, and he appears regularly at the top of lists of influential black Britons. Writing in today's Guardian, Ibrahim defended himself against critics who suggested he was trying to "bribe leaders to do their jobs". He said the critics "are failing to take into account how central governance and leadership are for Africa's development". He also argued that the lifelong nature of the award provided African leaders with the option of continuing a life in public service as they do not unlike leaders in the west have the option of jumping on the gravy train after office. In conjunction with the award, the foundation publishes an annual index on the quality of governance in every African country, designed to promote and

stimulate debate around the world. Although no prize will be given out this year, the planned events in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, next month will go ahead. They will include a discussion forum on issues critical to Africa's future, including climate change, agriculture and food security and regional economic integration. "At a time when, we are seeing overall progress in Africa, despite worrying setbacks in some countries, it is vital that African stakeholders and institutions come together to look for a way forward on the major challenges facing the African continent," Ibrahim said. "I look forward to the discussions around this urgent African agenda." • African Union Mark Tran guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

rules for all banks and other lenders, including lenders that have never faced significant regulation. But the banks with assets of less than $10 billion and credit unions smaller than $1.5 billion would not face regular exams by the agency. Instead, the consumer regulations would continue to be enforced in most cases by the agencies that monitor the financial condition of the banks. Mr. Frank said that under the amendment,

the new agency would still have the authority to investigate complaints raised at any bank. So the CFPA can write rules for small banks, and can investigate complaints at small banks, but can’t examine small banks, or enforce its own regulations at small banks? It all seems like a horrible mess to me. One thing is clear, though: in the wake of the amendment being accepted, consumer finance is crying out for some kind of

Honest Bank of the Day: Banco Popular (Financial Sector and Stocks Analysis from Seeking Alpha) Submitted at 10/19/2009 9:02:23 AM

San Juan, Puerto Rico, Monday, October 19, 2009 – Popular, Inc. (“the Corporation”) (NASDAQ: BPOP) reported a net loss of $125.0 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2009, compared with a net loss of $183.2 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2009, and a net loss of $668.5 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2008. For the nine months ended September 30, 2009, the Corporation’s net loss totaled $360.7 million, compared to a net loss of $541.0 million for the same period in 2008. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Crowdsource the CFPA! (Financial Sector and Stocks Analysis from Seeking Alpha)

however, it’s not exactly suprising to see the headline in The Hill this morning: “Tweaks to consumer Submitted at 10/19/2009 8:29:00 AM agency fail to calm banks, credit The credit unions and the banks unions”. Those lobbyists, they’re have won: thanks to something never satisfied. (If they were, known as the Miller-Moore they’d be out of a job.) amendment, the Consumer I’m actually a little unclear on Financial Protection Agency will w h a t t h e M i l l e r - M o o r e now be barred from overseeing all amendment does. Here’s how the but a handful of credit unions and NYT explains it: any bank with less than $10 Under the Miller-Moore billion in assets. That’s 98% of all amendment, the new agency the banks in the country. Even so, would have the authority to write

centralized, crowdsourced database of bank fees and practices. If the CFPA is barred from examining banks itself, then we should just get the banks’ customers to do its job for it. Then violations of CFPA rules could be automatically flagged and forwarded on to the agency as soon as they arise, even without formal examinations. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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Fed chairman calls for US to cut deficit (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

warned. For the United States' part, "the most effective way" to boost national savings in this country "is by establishing a Submitted at 10/19/2009 9:12:13 AM sustainable fiscal trajectory, Remarks by Ben Bernanke come anchored by a clear commitment d a y s a f t e r U S g o v e r n m e n t to substantially reduce federal reported a $1.42tn deficit for the deficits over time," Bernanke year said. He didn't suggest ways to do Ben Bernanke, the Federal so. Reserve chairman, today called And, for trade surplus countries for the United States to whittle like China and most Asian down its record-high budget economies, they need to get their deficits and for countries like consumers to spend more and rely China to get their consumers to l e s s o n e x p o r t - l e d g r o w t h , spend more, moves that would B e r n a n k e s a i d . help combat skewed global trade "In large part, such action should a n d i n v e s t m e n t f l o w s t h a t focus on boosting consumption," contributed to the financial crisis. Bernanke said. Bernanke's remarks to a Fed The bulk of Bernanke's remarks conference in Santa Barbara, largely offered a scholarly California comes just days after assessment of Asia and how it the federal government on Friday fared during the global financial reported a $1.42tn deficit for 2009 crisis, the focus of the Fed's budget year that ended on 30 conference. The Fed chief didn't September. The previous year's discuss the state of the US deficit was $459bn. economy or the future course of The Fed chief's comments were interest rates. aimed at reducing global Bernanke and his colleagues last imbalances, and echo pledges month held a key bank lending made by leaders of the Group of rate at an all-time low near zero 20 nations at their summit in and pledged to hold it there for an Pittsburgh last month. "extended period". Many "As the global economy recovers economists believe that means and trade volumes rebound, through the rest of this year and however, global imbalances my into next year. reassert themselves," Bernanke Deciding when to boost interest

rates and reel in the unprecedented amount of money ploughed into the US economy will be one of the biggest challenges facing the Fed in the coming months. Remove the supports too soon and the recovery could be derailed. Leave the supports in place for too long risks unleashing inflation. In terms of the world economy, "Asia appears to be leading the global recovery," Bernanke said. "Recent data from the region suggest that a strong rebound is, in fact, under way." Many economists predict the US economy — the epicentre of the financial crisis — started growing again in the third quarter at a pace of at least 3 percent, and is still expanding in the current quarter. Economic activity contracted in the second quarter at an annualised rate of 0.7%, marking a record four straight quarters of decline. • US economy • US economic growth and recession • United States guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Cramer on BloggingStocks: A monumental run By Jim Cramer (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 10/19/2009 9:30:00 AM

Filed under: Apple Inc (AAPL), Market matters, International Business Machines (IBM), Gap Inc (GPS), Cramer on BloggingStocks From TheStreet.com Network • Bulls Dig Oil: TheStreet Says • Focus on Revenue: Coming Week TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says that from a chart perspective, this could be about the greatest bull market in history. Chart to chart to chart this weekend and all I see, except for a couple of health maintenance, medical device and drug companies plus some fertilizer stocks, is just a remarkable and, yes, unheralded run in every single group. Some of them are of the pure recovery style: every oil and gas, now including refinery, as the crude price inches back to $100 and natural gas has started its way back up; the life insurers that were left for dead when we decided that all commercial mortgages would be destroyed taking them with the bad loans; the overly-indebted companies like Textron(NYSE:

TXT) ( Cramer's Take) that have roared back without any real support from anyone. But others are just monumental. Anything paper or wood or glass. These aren't quitting. Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: A monumental run Cramer on BloggingStocks: A monumental run originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

Video: Man breaks TV on Home Shopping Network while playing Wii By Nicholas Deleon (CrunchGear) Submitted at 10/19/2009 9:00:27 AM

Oh, this is embarrassing. A man on the Home Shopping Network

is demonstrating how much fun it is to play Wii Sports with one of those plastic tennis racket accessories. Gotta make the sale! And it all goes well until he raises his arm and goes for the serve…

BAM~! That’s one broken TV you have there, mister. Maybe you should have paid attention to the warning that comes on when you turn the Wii on: “please make sure the controller is strapped to

your wrist, lest you break the TV, and look like a fool.” Though full credit to the man for, as the Brits say, getting on with it. And for the life of me I can’t get

the video to queue up to where I want it, so you’ll have to skip manually to 4m53s if you just want to go right to the action.

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South African police shot dead 556 in year By David Smith (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

newspaper that an estimated 653 people were shot dead by the police in 1976, the year of the student uprising in Soweto. Submitted at 10/19/2009 7:26:59 AM Police tactics ahead of next Rise to highest toll for a decade year's World Cup are under comes as father blames Zuma scrutiny after the killing this rhetoric for death of daughter month of 30-year-old Olga mistakenly shot by police Kekana, who was on her way to a Police in South Africa shot dead party in a car with three friends 556 people – including 32 near Pretoria. Police allegedly bystanders – last year, the highest sprayed the grey Toyota with at annual total for a decade. least 13 bullets after mistaking the The increase was revealed as the occupants for hijackers. Kekana father of a 30-year-old hairdresser died after being shot in the head, mistakenly shot dead by police and two others were injured. blamed calls for a shoot-to-kill Kekana's father, Frans policy from the president, Jacob Makgotla, blamed the police Zuma. actions on Zuma's rhetoric. The The death toll of 556 suspects president has backed the demands and others up to April this year of the new national police was the fourth consecutive rise commissioner, Bheki Cele, for a recorded by the Independent return to apartheid-era legislation Complaints Directorate. It was making it easier for officers to almost double the 281 deaths that open fire on suspects without resulted from police action in fearing the consequences. 2005-06. The controversy deepened The toll has almost returned to yesterday when Zuma's African the levels of the apartheid era. National Congress was accused of David Bruce, of the Centre for the politicising Kekana's funeral. S t u d y o f V i o l e n c e a n d Angie Molebatsi, an ANC MP, R e c o n c i l i a t i o n , t o l d S o u t h reportedly told mourners: "One A f r i c a ' s M a i l & G u a r d i a n way or another we are all going to

Next Xbox Live Update Breaks 'Unauthorized' Memory Cards [Broken] By Mark Wilson (Gizmodo)

important data to your hard drive before the update hits. It also means that we're likely to see A new Xbox update coming to more "authorized" third party some of as as soon as this week memory units on the way. [ Major w i l l b l o c k t h e u s e o f Nelson via Gamers Reports via "unauthorized" memory cards. Kotaku] That means you should copy any Submitted at 10/19/2009 6:48:24 AM

die, regardless of whether a cop shoots you or you were ill. Let's not lose hope towards the police. Let's keep on trusting them. Forgiveness is what God wants. This was her destiny, let's not blame the police." Dianne Kohler Barnard, the shadow police minister, called on Molebatsi to apologise for the comments. "Quite understandably, according to the reports, her comments were received very poorly by mourners," she said. "Ms Molebatsi's comments were callous and cold, and she ought to publicly apologise immediately." Cele has announced plans to rebrand the police as a force instead of a service, with a military-style command structure of generals and lieutenants. • South Africa David Smith guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Earnings Preview: The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (Financial Sector and Stocks Analysis from Seeking Alpha)

low revenues, the analysts said. Separately, Rochdale analyst Richard Bove, in an interview Submitted at 10/19/2009 8:11:25 AM with CNBC, recently named Bank The Bank of New York Mellon Of New York as one of five banks Corp.( BK) is expected to report whose stocks he would consider Q3 earnings on Tuesday, October owning. In addition, Sandler O' 20 before the market opens, with Neill last month upgraded the a conference call scheduled for 8 bank to Hold from Sell, with a am ET. Guidance $32 target. While a majority of Analysts are looking for EPS of banks will lose money over the 47c on revenue of $3.16B. The next six months, Bank of New consensus range is 30c-60c for York is sure to report pre-tax EPS and $2.99B-$3.31B for profits, according to Bove. revenue, according to First Call. Meanwhile, the bankruptcy of Analyst Views Reader's Digest may have a J.P. Morgan's ( JPM) results significant negative impact on the contained negative information b a n k , t h e N e w Y o r k P o s t for trust banks such as Bank of reported. The publisher owes New York Mellon, UBS and Bank of New York Mellon about Goldman Sachs analysts said last $600M. week. J.P. Morgan's results This content has passed through indicated that its trust bank unit fivefilters.org. had weak revenues in Q3 due to

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Earnings Preview: Jefferies Group (Financial Sector and Stocks Analysis from Seeking Alpha)

By Tom Johansmeyer (BloggingStocks)

Submitted at 10/19/2009 7:16:12 AM

Jefferies Group( JEF) is expected to report Q3 earnings on Tuesday, October 20 before the market opens, with a conference call scheduled for 9 am ET. Guidance Analysts are looking for EPS of 28c on revenue of $535.52M. The consensus range is 23c-33c for EPS and $461.40M-$608.36M for revenue, according to First Call. There have been several optimistic reports about Jefferies and its sector in recent months. Last month, Reuters reported that mid-size firms like Jefferies are starting to win a bigger share of merger advisory fees amid worries about pay limits and other restrictions at large investment banks. Analyst Views In August a Goldman Sachs analyst upgraded Jefferies' sector and raised 2010 and 2011 estimates for the company. Goldman Sachs increased its rating on the mid-cap brokerage sector to Attractive from Neutral. The firm expects the sector to

MySpace (still) refocusing on entertainment content Submitted at 10/19/2009 11:00:00 AM

benefit from stepped-up M&A activity and IPOs. Also in August, Investor's Business Daily said that the demise of some of Wall Street's largest investment banks had allowed Jefferies to hire many experienced executives. According to Investor's Business Daily, Jefferies' biggest coup on this front was hiring UBS' former head of health care banking, along with about 34 former employees of the department. In July, Investor's Business Daily predicted that Jefferies would be a leader in the mid-cap investment banking sector if current trends

continue. Meanwhile, better than expected trading results by Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan may be a positive sign for Jefferies' results. Jefferies sold an additional $300M of 8.5% senior notes last month. The company had issued $400M of the notes in June. Investors may try to determine tomorrow if the investment bank will need to issue any further debt or shares anytime soon. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Filed under: Internet, Google (GOOG), Yahoo! (YHOO), General Electric (GE), Time Warner (TWX), Walt Disney (DIS), News Corp'B' (NWS), Media World A new executive team is trying to bring MySpace back to its former glory. By focusing on music, videos and games, it hopes to recapture some of its luster. With the MySpace refugees mounting, it's time for some new blood to make some brilliant, future-changing decisions. This week, the company is holding a conference for its global ad sales team to explore ways to bring in traffic and beef up ad spending. MySpace is poised to haul in $495 million in ad revenue this year, down 15% from last year's $585 million, according to research firm eMarketer. In

August, MySpace attracted 64.2 million unique visitors from the United States, off 15% from August 2008, according to comScore, while Facebook pulled in 92.2 million unique U.S. visitors - up more than 100% year -over-year. Continue reading MySpace (still) refocusing on entertainment content MySpace (still) refocusing on entertainment content originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Earnings Preview: Comerica (Financial Sector and Stocks Analysis from Seeking Alpha)

$675M for revenue, according to First Call. Analyst Views Credit Suisse downgraded Submitted at 10/19/2009 8:58:34 AM Comerica to Neutral from Comerica( CMA) is expected to Outperform earlier this month, report Q3 earnings on Tuesday, citing valuation and risk from the October 20 before the market bank's consumer and construction opens, with a conference call NPL/NCO book. More generally, scheduled for 8 am ET. Guidance the firm thinks that regional Analysts are looking for EPS of banks' return to profitability may (53c) on revenue of $609.41M. be later than many investors The consensus range is ($1.03)- believe, while commercial real (26c) for EPS and $582.20M- estate will not reach an inflection

last month that Comerica's shares were pricing in overly severe tangible book value erosion. The firm said the shares had strong upside potential, and set its target for the stock at $32. This content has passed through fivefilters.org. point before the second half of 2010. On the other hand, Goldman Sachs upgraded Comerica to Neutral from Sell on

October 5, citing moderating consumer credit and expectations for improved Q3 revenues. Meanwhile, J.P. Morgan wrote

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KaChing hopes to be the sound of success

Blackstone: Piles to be made from theme parks?

By Tom Johansmeyer (BloggingStocks)

By Tom Taulli (BloggingStocks)

Submitted at 10/19/2009 12:00:00 PM

Submitted at 10/19/2009 12:30:00 PM

Filed under: Deals, Products and services, Internet, Yahoo! (YHOO), Apple Inc (AAPL), Mutual funds, Personal finance KaChing! KaChing! It only makes sense to call a company a sound you like to hear. This is exactly what CEO and cofounder Andy Rachleff must have had in mind. His new company -kaChing, of course -- is backed by Marc Andreesen (a name often associated with that sound) and Jeff Jordan, the CEO of OpenTable(NASDAQ: OPEN), two guys who usually do a solid job of backing winners. But, they've taken on a challenge by backing a company in the financial services industry. Continue reading KaChing

Filed under: Private equity, Blackstone Group L.P (BX) In the U.S., the prevailing sentiment is that the consumer is tapped out. And, even for those that have money, there will continue to be a good deal of frugality. So, it would seem that theme parks would suffer, right? Perhaps not. This is the thinking of Stephen Schwarzman, who is hopes to be the sound of success KaChing hopes to be the sound the chief of the Blackstone of success originally appeared on Group(NYSE: BX). Interestingly BloggingStocks on Mon, 19 Oct enough, he's doubling down on 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see t h e m e p a r k i n v e s t m e n t s , our terms for use of feeds. a c c o r d i n g t o R e u t e r s . c o m . Permalink| Email this| Comments

Kraft: Suddenly, it's a 'frugal consumer' play By Joseph Lazzaro (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 10/19/2009 10:00:00 AM

Filed under: Kraft Foods'A' (KFT) Kraft Foods(NYSE: KFT) is turning into a "frugal consumer" play, which is why I'm reiterating my Buy rating for the company, first recommended on July 13, 2009, at a price of $26.88. Kraft will benefit from the nowestablished "frugal consumer" trend, whereby Americans save more and eliminate needless, optional purchases. Included in the above will be more meals

What Could Possible Go Wrong on a Skatekeyboard? [Art] By Mark Wilson (Gizmodo) Continue reading Blackstone: Piles to be made from theme parks? Blackstone: Piles to be made from theme parks? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

Submitted at 10/19/2009 7:00:00 AM

ASDFG and ZXCVBâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;those aren't just QWERTY strings, they're also potential sounds you'll make when face-planting off the Skatekeyboard. [ F.A.T. via MAKE]

Where Plastic Goes When It Dies: Birds' Stomachs [Image Cache] By Mark Wilson (Gizmodo)

consumed at home per month, which is good news for food company Kraft. Continue reading Kraft: Suddenly, it's a 'frugal consumer' play Kraft: Suddenly, it's a 'frugal consumer' play originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

and, in one case, a piece of what looks to be a headphone. From the photographer: This nature photography by On this diet of human trash, Chris Jordan isn't for the faint of every year tens of thousands of heart. The series of decomposing albatross chicks die on Midway b i r d c a r c a s s e s f a i t h f u l l y from starvation, toxicity, and documents the impact of the Great choking. Pacific Garbage Patch on To document this phenomenon albatross chicks in the Midway as faithfully as possible, not a Atoll. single piece of plastic in any of His collection of 30 hauntingly these photographs was moved, similar shots show what adult placed, manipulated, arranged, or birds are feeding to their young: altered in any way. These images bottlecaps, lighters, spray bottles depict the actual stomach contents Submitted at 10/19/2009 8:40:00 AM

of baby birds in one of the world's most remote marine sanctuaries, more than 2000 miles from the nearest continent. It's gross stuff, to say the least. Hopefully, if you're buying every USB foot warmer cigarette lighter that Brando releases, you're disposing of your plastics in a more sustainable way. (But really, in case it wasn't clear, we don't expect you to actually buy any of this junk...) [ chris jordan via Treehugger]

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Gateway EC series ultraportables are basically Acer Timelines that say ‘Gateway’ By Doug Aamoth (CrunchGear) Submitted at 10/19/2009 8:00:00 AM

Let’s say you’re intrigued by Acer’s new Windows 7 Timeline ultraportables due to ship out this Thursday but you like saying “Gateway” more than you like saying “Acer” for some reason. You’ll be happy to know that Gateway (which is owned by Acer, by the way) has just announced two ultraportable computers that are spitting images of two of the recently-announced Timeline machines: an 11.6-inch model and a 15.6-inch model. The 11.6-inch Gateway EC14 series is virtually identical to the Acer Aspire Timeline AS1810 series, save for a slightly lower MSRP ($550 versus $600) thanks to a slightly different CPU – the Gateway has a low-voltage Intel Pentium SU4100 at 1.3GHz with 2MB of L2 cache and an 800MHz frontside bus while the Acer has a low-voltage Intel Pentium SU7300 at 1.3GHz with 3MB of L2 cache and an 800MHz frontside bus. As for the 15.6-inch model, the Gateway EC54 series and the Acer Aspire Timeline AS5810TZ series are identically spec’d and carry the same $650 MSRP. Granted, Acer/Gateway will likely be offering a myriad of different configurations for these machines so you may be able to find something that best fits your needs in a Gateway versus an Acer or vice versa. Both are due this Thursday, October 22nd, when Windows 7 ships.

Full press release: Thin-and-Light Gateway EC

Series Notebooks Deliver Long Battery Life and Distinctive Style

All-day productivity, fun, communication with up to eight

GATEWAY page 11

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GATEWAY continued from page 10 hours of battery life in headturning lightweight and thin designs IRVINE, Calif.–( BUSINESS WIRE)–The new Gateway EC Series notebook PCs debut today in two of the most popular sizes for today’s busy computer users – 15.6-inch mainstream size for productivity maximizers and the 11.6-inch ultraportable size for road warriors – both delivering up to eight hours of battery life. The new Gateway EC Series models will both be available this week in retail stores nationwide with the launch of Windows 7. The new Gateway EC58, EC54 and EC14 notebook PC lines deliver all-day productivity, reliable wireless connectivity and 6-8 hours of battery life, so customers can get more done while away from their home or office. Plus, the Gateway EC models let customers go longer without having to recharge, reducing energy consumption and making them very environmentally friendly. The upscale and distinctive design of the new Gateway EC58 and EC54 lines is the ideal complement to its advanced battery life and thin-andlightweight form factor. Both models start at only 5.29 pounds and are merely an inch thin, so they can be comfortably transported by hand or in a briefcase or backpack. The sleek form factor still has room for a large 15.6-inch LED-backlit HD widescreen display that delivers video in stunning detail, for excellent mobile cinematic entertainment. Plus, the EC58 and EC54 notebook PCs come in a sophisticated and understated design featuring a brushed aluminium alloy chassis available

in Arctic Silver and Pacific Blue. Mobile enthusiasts who want to remain connected and productive on-the-go will find the Gateway EC14 ultraportable notebook the ideal choice for them. With its 11.6-inch HD LED-backlit display, notebook-standard Intel processors and a full-size keyboard, customers can use it to enjoy web browsing, video chats and running all their usual applications. Plus, it’s designed for mobility — its integrated 802.11b/g/Draft N Wifi, compact form factor and low weight of only 3.79 pounds make it ready to take on the road. Flashy and fun in an eye-catching glossy chassis, the Gateway EC14 series comes in Cherry Red and NightSky Black. “The new Gateway EC Series product lines were designed for the many PC users that have embraced the fun and productivity of being able to compute and stay in touch while away from their home or office,” said Ray Sawall, senior manager of product marketing for Acer America. “We’re delivering exactly what they need – incredibly long and reliable battery life, vibrant widescreen displays, and wireless connectivity – all in uniquely stylish thin and lightweight designs.” Full Productivity and Entertainment in a Sleek, Lightweight Size Elegantly crafted, the Gateway EC58 and EC54 Series notebooks are thin and light enough to take anywhere, and so stylish that customers will want to show them off. The slim one-inch profile simplifies mobility, since it’s easy to grip and handle on the go. The ultra-durable aluminium alloy design delivers excellent

protection for the display, while the brushed silky smooth cover is upscale in its minimalist approach. The high-capacity 6-cell Li-ion battery gives users up to eight hours of battery life for all-day productivity, fun and communications. Integrated 802.11b/g Draft-N wireless provides a reliable untethered connection to hotspots and wireless networks. Plus, the integrated webcam and digital microphone delivers smooth video and voice quality for realtime video streaming, online chatting, and video conferences. In addition, Gateway customers can enjoy even more uptime with the Gateway PowerSave onetouch key, which puts the notebook into energy conservation mode with a single touch. The Gateway EC58 and EC54 lines feature the Gateway MyBackup Manager for backingup important files and information, as well as the PowerSave solution for maximizing battery life. Designed to readily handle everyday computing tasks, the EC58 and EC54 notebooks use ultra-low voltage Intel Core 2 Duo and Pentium Dual-Core processors. The notebooks deliver excellent computing performance and generate low heat output, since they use Intel’s Laminar Wall Jet technology to cool internal components and the case. As a result, the Gateway EC58 and EC54 notebooks are incredibly comfortable in customers’ hands as well as on their laps. On-the-go entertainment is dynamic and exciting with the large 15.6-inch LED-backlit display that features a 16:9 aspect

ratio and 1366 x 768 (WXGA) pixel resolution. Images are incredibly clear and crisp, while the cinematic-quality video is realistic and smooth. Dolby Sound Room audio enhancement and two built-in speakers deliver crisp, natural surround sound to complement the stunning video. Compact, Packed with Features They eye-catching design of the Gateway EC14 Series lets everyone know it’s the ultimate notebook for on-the-go computing. Available with a 6cell battery, the Gateway EC14 notebook line provides battery life of up to eight hours, so customers can use it nearly all day to stay in touch. This long battery life is the perfect complement to the ultraportable notebooks’ sleek size that measures only about an inch thick and weighs only 3.79 pounds. Updating social networking sites and exploring web pages is easy with the EC14’s integrated Wifi 802.11b/g/Draft N. Plus, customers can capture video and photos and stay in touch via video chat with the integrated webcam and built-in digital microphone that provides excellent voice quality. Consumers will enjoy listening to audio with the Dolby Headphones and two built-in stereo speakers. To ensure customers have all the horsepower they need to drive applications, the Gateway EC14 line is well-appointed with Intel Ultra Low Voltage Pentium Dual Core, Intel Celeron Dual Core and Celeron (single core) processors, a hard drive up to 500GB in capacity, a multi-in-1 media card reader and 4GB of memory that may be upgraded to 8GB. The attention-grabbing design of the Gateway EC14 models is

fun and youthful, while details such as rounded edges, engraved logo and silver trim make the design even more compelling. The textured palm rest provides a comfortable hand rest for consumers. Gateway Extras Maximize Mobile Capabilities The Gateway EC Series notebooks enhance productivity with a Multi-Gesture Touchpad that can be used with unique movements so customers can intuitively move through Internet sites and digital media. For example, customers can make an inward or outward pinching motion to naturally zoom in and out on photos. They can move two fingers horizontally to flip through photos and web pages. Also, customers can swirl their fingers in a circular motion to scroll through web pages, long lists of files and music playlists. The TouchPad can also be disabled with a one-touch button, eliminating accidental cursor movement with palms and wrists when using an external mouse. Additionally, these new models come with Windows 7 Home Premium, which makes mobile computing more reliable and responsive, enhancing the user experience. In addition, the Gateway EC notebook lines are Energy Star qualified. Configurations, Pricing and Availability The new Gateway EC Series will be available beginning Oct. 22, each with Windows 7 Home Premium. Sample configurations and pricing are listed below. Gateway EC1430u: MSRP $549.99 • Intel® Pentium Dual Core GATEWAY page 12

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GATEWAY continued from page 11 Processor SU4100 (1.3GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 800MHz FSB) • Windows 7 Home Premium 64 -bit • 11.6-inch HD Widescreen Ultrabright LED-backlit TFT LCD (1366 x 768 resolution, 16:9 aspect ratio) • Mobile Intel® GS45 Express Chipset • Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD • 4096MB DDR2 Dual-Channel 667MHz memory upgradeable to 8GB • 320GB(2) 5400RPM SATA hard drive • Integrated webcam • Multi-in-1 digital media card reader • Intel® WiFi Link 1000 802.11b/g/Draft-N WiFi CERTIFIED® featuring MIMO technology • Gigabit Ethernet LAN • Three USB 2.0 ports • HDMI port • Multi-Gesture Touchpad with Keypad lock • Standard 6-cell Li-ion (5600 mAh) Battery • 3.08 lbs. • 11.2” (W) x 0.87-1.18” to

1.18” (H) x 8.03” (D) Gateway EC5409u: MSRP $649.99 • Intel Pentium® Dual-Core Processor SU4100 (1.30GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 800MHz FSB) • Windows 7 Home Premium 64 -bit • 15.6-inch HD Widescreen Ultrabright LED-backlit TFT LCD (1366 x 768 resolution, 16:9 aspect ratio) • Mobile Intel® GS45 Express Chipset • Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD • 4096MB DDR3 Dual-Channel 1066MHz memory upgradeable to 8GB • 320GB(2) 5400RPM SATA hard drive • 8x DVD-SuperMulti DoubleLayer Drive • Integrated HD webcam • Multi-in-1 digital media card reader • 2 nd Generation Dolby Sound Room® Audio Enhancement • Intel® WiFi Link 1000 802.11b/g/Draft-N WiFi CERTIFIED® featuring MIMO technology • Gigabit Ethernet LAN

• Three USB 2.0 ports • HDMI port • Multi-Gesture Touchpad with Keypad lock • Dedicated numeric keypad • Standard 6-cell Li-ion (5600 mAh) Battery • Gateway MyBackup Button • 5.29 lbs. • 14.85” (W) x 1.01-1.08” (H) x 10.0” (D) Gateway Limited Warranty, Service and Support The Gateway EC Series notebook PCs are backed by a one year warranty. Gateway’s commitment to quality and reliability is evident in its awardwinning line of PCs as well as in its exceptional service and support programs. In addition to the company’s standard limited warranty options, its extensive online support center helps customers maximize their PC investment; it gives them easy access to customer support representatives and information on important issues such as warranties, technical issues and upgrading.

Submitted at 10/19/2009 8:26:25 AM

Google is going to make a lot of frequent flyers, and Virgin America, happy this holiday season. As a gift to people who fly on Virgin America's WiFiequipped planes, Google will be footing the bill for everybody on

By Joshua Topolsky (Engadget)

Host: Nilay Patel Produced and Directed by: Chad Mumm Submitted at 10/19/2009 12:22:00 PM Edited by: Michael Slavens If you're a reader of Music by: Bit Shifter Engadget(and let's be honest -Subscribe to the Show: you're reading this, right?) then [ iTunes] Subscribe to the Show you surely know Ben Heck's directly in iTunes (M4V). work. The master modder has [ Zune] Subscribe to the Show been the source of some of our directly in the Zune Marketplace favorite tweaks, hacks, and flat- (M4V). out crazy gadget manipulations [ RSS M4V] Add the Engadget over the years. We recently had a Show feed (M4V) to your RSS chance to take a peek inside his aggregator and have it delivered workshop and hear straight from automatically. flies Virgin America. But Google Ben about what drives him to Download the Show: is really giving a gift to Virgin create the madness we've see on Download The Engadget Show America in the form of yet one our pages. It's a phantasmagoric in HD (720p M4V) more incentive to fly its planes adventure you won't likely forget Download The Engadget Show over competitors'. Will American -- so sit back, crack a cold one, formatted for iPod / iPhone Airlines and others with WiFi on and enjoy the ride! The Engadget Show: Inside Ben board between November 10, board have to respond with their Note: Don't forget, our next full Heck's magic kingdom originally 2009, and January 15, 2010. For own freebie giveaways? I hope so. l e n g t h E n g a d g e t S h o w i s appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Google, this is a smart marketing happening this Thursday, and our Oct 2009 12:22:00 EST. Please move because it generates tons of guest is Steve Ballmer! see our terms for use of feeds. good will among everyone who Update: Video is now live! Permalink| Email this| Comments Sorry about that!

Google Gives The Ultimate Holiday Gift: Free WiFi On Virgin America Flights By Erick Schonfeld (CrunchGear)

The Engadget Show: Inside Ben Heck's magic kingdom

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Facebook, Twitter, Zune Video and Last.Fm on Xbox Live Hands On: Hrm, That's Interesting [Xbox Live] By matt buchanan (Gizmodo) Submitted at 10/19/2009 8:33:13 AM

Google Voice voicemails appearing in public search results By Nilay Patel (Engadget)

Twitter and Facebook, on your Xbox. It's weird, like people who put ketchup on their eggs. Tweet Tweet Twitter actually makes the most natural jump to the Xbox. It's a really basic app, with your timeline, search, and trending topics, but it works, largely because the vertical stream is preserved, even if you can only see four (very legible) tweets at a time, so you won't be powerbrowsing, TweetDeck style, by any means. It's slow, and typing's reeeeeeeally frustrating, like having your eyeballs poked out one pinprick at a time, if you don't have the chatpad (part of thinks this entire update is all a giant conspiracy to sell more Xbox 360 chatpads). Updates can sometimes take forever to hit your Twitter stream, too. Still, it's pretty, and works the best of the new apps. Facebookin' Facebook uses the standard Xbox tile UI instead of rolling its interface, like Twitter did. Which is disorienting (and disappointing), since you're browsing through a stream horizontally, one choppilyanimated tile at a time. Why is the tile-sliding animation so terrible on a monster console like the Xbox 360? We don't know. Like Twitter, it's basic—focused on Newsfeeds. Your groups are ported over, so you can browse

Submitted at 10/19/2009 10:42:00 AM

We're not exactly sure what's going on here, but it certainly seems like at least some Google Voice voicemails are being indexed and made publicly available somehow. If you punch i n "site:https://www.google.com/voi ce/fm/*" as a search string you get a few pages of what appear to be test messages, with a couple eyeopening obvious non-tests scattered in there as well. Dates on these messages range from a couple months ago all the way until yesterday, so this is clearly an ongoing issue -- hopefully Google patches this up awful fast. P.S. - Google Voice their newsfeeds individually, but better if it could play in the u s e t h e p o s s i b l e k i l l e r transcription accuracy really falls you literally have to browse one background. It can't. Meaning feature—Party mode, where you off a cliff when it's listening to post at a time, which is agonizing, once you link your accounts and c a n w a t c h s t u f f w i t h y o u r muffled audio, doesn't it? making you far less inclined to all of you stations are nicely and friends—yet, but if anything Update: Google says it's c o m m e n t o n u p d a t e s . T h e automatically ported over, to makes the Zune video store really changed how shared messages are interface works much better, and listen to Last.fm, you just have to stand out, that could be it. indexed and made available to feels way more natural, with sit there and leave it running, with Previews, alas, didn't come in at public searches, so we're hoping photo albums. What's interesting band pictures floating up to your 1080p, even over FiOS, which this was just a one-time thing. is that, at least in the preview, screen every once in a while. clearly has the bandwidth to [Via Boy Genius Report] your friends have to link their Lame. Zune Video Marketplace deliver. Filed under: Misc. Gadgets Xbox Live and Facebook Not a whole lot to write home All in all, the new apps, they're Google Voice voicemails accounts together themselves in a b o u t y e t b e s i d e s 1 0 8 0 p interesting, they add something, appearing in public search results order to show up in the "Xbox streams—it's a video store on but with the exception of Zune originally appeared on Engadget Live Friends on Facebook" (and Xbox, with movies for rent or Video Marketplace, aren't critical. on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 10:42:00 vice versa) pages—you can't purchase, TV shows, trailers—but At least for now. EST. Please see our terms for use manually go in and link Jason Zune Video is here and it, um, of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email Chen's accounts so you'll see them works. You browse through the this| Comments together in your app. Last.fm standard Xbox interface, like This would be would be way Netflix. We didn't get a chance to

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What On Earth Is Mozilla's Mystery iPhone App? [IPhone Apps] By John Herrman (Gizmodo) Submitted at 10/19/2009 8:14:35 AM

Mozilla's CEO says an iPhone app is due within a few weeks, and that it'll "surprise people." I mean, that's neat and all, but the m o s t e x c i t i n g possibility—Firefox—would be the least surprising. So, uh, what is it? Om Malik's got a little embryo of a theory, and it revolves around Mozilla's hosted services/browser sync service called Weave: I sat around gabbing with Lilly and Jay Sullivan, Mozilla's VP of Mobile, talking about Weave and the Awesome Bar, which is a way to get access to all your browsing history and bookmarks by just typing them in the URL bar on your browser. And while we were talking about Weave, I asked them if it was going to be part of this new, mysterious iPhone app. Lilly and Sullivan smiled and remained silent. Interestingly, they didn't correct me. It's a telling anecdote, and nearly enough to assume that Weave will be some part of the app, and if the alternative is a

browser—which Apple probably wouldn't be too excited to approve—then maybe the whole app. But goddamnit, let's indulge our depressingly modest mobile Firefox fantasies anyway! Lifehacker flags a (cautious) thesis by Kevin Tofel at JKOnTheRun, who sees a Fennec hiding behind the smoke: Apple did begin to approve third -party applications earlier this year, so a Mozilla browser does

have a chance for approval. And that could open the door for the Weave service, as well. Apple's Mobile Me service doesn't sync bookmarks or web passwords over-the-air currently, although I suspect these functions could be added in the future. In light of that, I'm thinking we're about to see Fennec on the iPhone. So in conclusion, Mozilla: ^ This.^ [ GigaOm and JKOnTheRun via Lifehacker]

Submitted at 10/19/2009 6:00:00 AM

Mozilla CEO John Lilly tells tech blogger Om Malik that the Firefox maker will "release an app to the iPhone App Store in the next few weeks," and that "It'll surprise people." Kevin Tofel guesses it might be a Fennec-type browser, based on screenshots and

By Adam Frucci (Gizmodo)

Spoiler: the box only opens when brought to Île-de-Bréhat, France. As for what's inside? This box is a GPS puzzle build With all the electronics, there as a wedding gift by Mikal Hart. wasn't much room inside the box It only opens when it's in a for anything too substantial. I put specific location, and the puzzle in a few local (US) gift cards to involves discovering just where entice them to visit soon, a set of that location is. Kazuo Ishiguro audio books (on a The box has a button and an U S B k e y ) , a n d a n o v e r l y LCD display on the lid. When you sentimental card. And of course, press the button, the display will as I pointed out in the card, if Based on what Mozilla Mobile show you how far, in kilometers, either of them fancies doing a VP Jay Sullivan told us, the latter you are from the goal location. It little Arduino development, seems more likely, but it'll be doesn't give you directions, so t h e r e ' s a p e r f e c t l y g o o d interested in any case to see what you need to triangulate where Duemilanove to play with, not to Mozilla app Apple would approve you're supposed to go via trial and mention an LCD, a servo, and a for use on the iPhone, given its error. Oh, and you can only press GPS. I guess the puzzle itself is p o l i c i e s t o w a r d a p p s t h a t the button 50 times. There's a pretty sweet disguised present enough, really. Pretty cool "duplicate features" and "cause other evidence, but Malik tends c o n f u s i o n . " [ G i g a O M , back door built-in as well, just in stuff, no? [ Arduiniana via Make] case the battery dies or the GPS toward an app to implement the j k O n T h e R u n ] unit fails. synchronizing service Weave.

Mozilla Releasing Unknown App for iPhone [Mozilla] By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker)

GPS Puzzle Box Only Opens In One Specific Location [GPS] Submitted at 10/19/2009 7:59:47 AM

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How To Enable MMS on iPhone 2G, Tethering on OS 3.1.2 [IPhone]

Penn Badgley: Relationship with Blake Lively Might Not Be a Smart Move

By John Herrman (Gizmodo)

(ETonline - Breaking News)

Submitted at 10/19/2009 7:32:04 AM

What better way to kick off the week than with two questionably safe iPhone hacks, each of which scratches a particular nagging itch: the first being lack of MMS on 2G iPhones, and the second being tethering on OS 3.1.2. The hacks are pretty hardcore, and demand not just a jailbroken iPhone, but a working knowledge of the handset's operating system internals. Basically, I wouldn't recommend anyone who enjoys having a not-bricked iPhone try either one. Anyway! The former comes by way of the Hackint0sh

forums, courtesy of user Whiterat: 1. Backup original CommCenter (goes without saying...) 2. Replace CommCenter in: /System/Library/PrivateFramewor ks/CoreTelephony.framework/Su pport/ with a patched one.

3. Chmod the new CommCenter to 755 4 . O p e n /System/Library/CoreServices/Spr ingBoard.app/M68AP.plist and insert a true boolean value for "mms" under capabilities

and the latter, from the Dev Team Wiki, step-ified by The Beat Mix(the instructions are too long to include here; just check them out at the link). If they're soooooo dangerous, then why even mention them? Because in their respective forums, the chatter around the hacks is that they'll make their way to the Cydia jailbreak app store before too long, and both be installable with little more than a tap. [ MuscleNerd's Twitter via 9to5Mac]

Submitted at 10/19/2009 8:55:00 AM

Penn Badgley-- who's dating costar Blake Lively-- reveals that he believes dating your co-worker could be a big mistake! The "Gossip Girl" star talks to Men's Health about love -- and jeans -- in the magazines November issue and "Denim Guide: 2009." Speaking about his co-star and real-life love Blake Lively, Penn says, "Having a relationship with someone you work with might not always be the smartest move," he says.

Gateway intros 15.6 and 11.6-inch EC Series laptops: EC58, EC54 and EC14 By Darren Murph (Engadget) Submitted at 10/19/2009 11:26:00 AM

It's quite possible that you've missed the memo, but Microsoft's next major operating system launches this week. Along with pretty much every other PC maker on the planet, Gateway is also announcing new laptops that hum along on Windows 7. Starting

things off is the 11.6-inch EC14, which gets going at $549.99 and includes a 1.3GHz Pentium Dual Core SU1400 CPU, 1,366 x 768 resolution LED-backlit panel, Intel's GMA 4500MHD graphics, 4GB of DDR2 RAM, a built-in webcam and multicard reader, 320GB HDD, WiFi, gigabit gesture trackpad and a battery Ethernet, a trio of USB 2.0 good for around "six to eight sockets, HDMI output, multi-

hours" of life. The EC58 and EC54 models are 15.6-inchers, with a base model starting at $649.99 and featuring most of the same specs in a larger enclosure. Naturally, the gang will ship on October 22nd, complete with bundles of " Wow!" in tow. Er, wait. Filed under: Laptops Gateway intros 15.6 and 11.6-

inch EC Series laptops: EC58, EC54 and EC14 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

SNES / Sega Genesis USB cartridge adapter now available for pre-order By Joseph L. Flatley (Engadget)

project, Snega2USB, adds Sega Genesis, read and write for battery -backed SNES games, open Submitted at 10/19/2009 11:04:00 AM source firmware, and up to four Looks like our old friend, gamepads to the homebrew fave Matthias -- the developer of the of classic gaming fanatics world USB SNES cart reader-- is back o'er. This is a work-in-progress, on the scene, and this time he's but all the pieces are in place to December, 2009 street date. Pregoing commercial. His newest have all orders met on the orders will be taken until October

31 for $90 in the United States or â&#x201A;Ź75 in Europe. Video after the break. [Via Gadgetoid] Continue reading SNES / Sega Genesis USB cartridge adapter now available for pre-order Filed under: Gaming SNES / Sega Genesis USB

cartridge adapter now available for pre-order originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Tiny $80 travel router does wireless N By Doug Aamoth (CrunchGear) Submitted at 10/19/2009 7:30:00 AM

Take it from me: a good, inexpensive, small travel router is hard to find. This $80 pocketsized wireless N-compatible router may be just what the doctor ordered, assuming your doctor is progressive enough to write you prescriptions for computer peripherals. The “Mini 300Mbps Wireless N Travel Router” from ThinkGeek.com is being pitched as the “world’s smallest” and, at 2.5 inches wide by 3.25 inches long by 0.75 inches thick, that may very well be true. According to the product description: “It has a reset button, power port, one 10/100Mbps Wide Area Network Ethernet port, and an LED display that communicates power and link status. The router features convenient Access Point

Samsung develops first chip for US mobile digital TV transmission, provides no release date By Darren Murph (Engadget) Submitted at 10/19/2009 9:33:00 AM

Mmm, nothing like a pinch of predictability to wake us in the morning. Just days after the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) finally announced that a North American mobile DTV standard was struck, Samsung has jumped in with what it's calling the planet's first single chip solution designed to handle and Access Point Client modes. those very transmissions. All The latest in wireless encryption we're told is that the solution protects valuable data, while combines RF and "digital chip advanced Multiple Input Multiple c o m p o n e n t s " i n t o o n e 6 5 O u t p u t ( M I M O ) a n t e n n a nanometer chip, making it ideal technology delivers high speed for smaller devices such as wireless connectivity and broad s m a r t p h o n e s , c a r - m o u n t e d coverage that minimizes dead televisions and portable media spots.” players. Of course, Sammy Looks like it might be worth a doesn't even bother to mention a closer gander for anyone who mass production date, so we're spends a lot of time on the road. g u e s s i n g w e a l l j u s t r i s e Mini 300Mbps Wireless N Travel Router[ThinkGeek.com]

awkwardly and start a roaring slow clap to celebrate the accomplishment. Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Video, Wireless Samsung develops first chip for US mobile digital TV transmission, provides no release date originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Original BlackBerry Storm to get flick scrolling, better browsing through firmware update? By Darren Murph (Engadget) Submitted at 10/19/2009 10:19:00 AM

Despite Verizon's best efforts to ignore the obvious, RIM's BlackBerry Storm2 is not only official, it's (un)officially destined for Big Red's airwaves. If you're one of those slightly disgruntled Storm 9530 owners, however, you could be looking at a rather nice firmware update coming your way

in the near future. According to phoneArena, the Storm and Storm2 will eventually be "practically identical" in terms of software, with a forthcoming update to add flick scrolling, tabbed browsing and threaded texting to the original. Of course, we should probably wait for VZW to confirm the existence of the to go about your day with Storm2 before expecting any cautious optimism. Filed under: Cellphones formal word on this, but feel free

Original BlackBerry Storm to get flick scrolling, better browsing through firmware update? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 10:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Heat diodes give thermal computing a fighting chance By Darren Murph (Engadget) Submitted at 10/19/2009 9:57:00 AM

Anyone who has tried their hand at overclocking recognizes just how evil waste heat is, and we're guessing that one Wataru Kobayashi at Waseda University in Japan understands explicitly. He, along with a few colleagues, has recently devised a new diode that allows heat current to travel in one direction but not in the other. The breakthrough essentially paves the way for thermal computing to actually take off, with obvious applications including heat sinks for microprocessors. Kobayashi, who may or may not be able to eat a dozen hot dogs per minute in his spare time, also hopes that his discovery will lead to a thermal transistor, thermal logic gates and a thermal memory. The future's yours, friend. Filed under: Science Heat diodes give thermal computing a fighting chance originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Woot! Refurb 19-inch Philips HDTV for $150 By Doug Aamoth (CrunchGear) Submitted at 10/19/2009 7:00:00 AM

Maybe you need a 19-inch HDTV for your den, office, or rumpus room. I don’t know. I really don’t want to get in the middle of a conversation that should definitely be happening solely between you and your domestic partner. If price is a concern, though, then please feel free to reference this $150 TV from Philips being sold on Woot.com today (and today only). It’s refurbished but carries a 90day manufacturer’s warranty. Specs include the following: • 19-inch display, 1400×900 resolution• 2 HDMI inputs, VGA input• ATSC/QAM over-the-air

DIY: DSLR hand strap By Matt Burns (CrunchGear) Submitted at 10/19/2009 9:30:56 AM

tuner• 300cd/m2 brightness, 800:1 contrast ratio, 5ms response time The deal is good today only, which ought to force you to finally have the uncomfortable “I’d like a new TV for the rumpus room” conversation you’ve been putting off for so long. P h i l i p s 1 9 - i n c h L C D By Vladislav Savov (Engadget) HDTV[Woot.com] Submitted at 10/19/2009 11:44:00 AM

LG BL40 New Chocolate review

Wall Street digests mixed earnings results (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 10/19/2009 7:45:33 AM

US equities were mixed, with S&P 500 modestly higher, early Monday as a slate of earnings reports damped some pre-market optimism about the latest quarterly results.

BB&T said its quarterly profit fell 58 per cent as the financial company continued to sort through credit issues lingering from the financial crisis. Its shares were down 4.7 per cent at $26.91. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Mobile where we explore what's under the glossy hood in more detail, and give you a definitive You know the deal by now: we answer on just how useful that grab a slab of fresh new hardware, elongated screen really is. fiddle, play, and tinker with it Gallery: LG BL40 New until exhaustion or boredom is Chocolate review reached, then wax poetic about Filed under: Cellphones the whole experience, with a side LG BL40 New Chocolate serving of pictures and videos review originally appeared on thrown in. Today's candidate for a Engadget on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 grilling is LG's BL40, which is 11:44:00 EST. Please see our now available in Europe. You'll terms for use of feeds. Read| be familiar with it already from Permalink| Email this| Comments our hands-on look last month, but do join us over at Engadget

I’m not a big fan of the camera neck strap. I never use it as a next strap but I put up with it because I would drop my camera if that strap wasn’t there. However, I’m going to ditch that strap and make me one of these hand straps. That is, of course, if something else on the Internet doesn’t distract me first. The instructions are easy enough. Basically the strap is made up of nylon webbing and a couple of grommets. The whole thing is attached to the tripod mount on the bottom and one of the neck strap mounts up top. What I like best about this simple solution is that you could easily switch the strap’s side for left handed weirdos like my wife.

Video: Extreme Hang Gliding with the Nikon D300s [Photography] By Danny Allen (Gizmodo) Submitted at 10/19/2009 8:25:00 AM

This isn't the first time Nikon has teamed up with sports photographers to showcase the D300s' new 720p video capabilities, but this footage of the world's top hang glider surfing

Australia's mysterious " Morning Glory" wave-cloud phenomenon, is just as spectacular. The D300s was mounted to the front of the hang glider and fitted with a 10.5mm fisheye lens. A custom hardwired trigger and Of course, the $1800 D300s release mechanism was used to now has some serious semi-pro fire both video and stills.

competition from the $1900 Canon 7D. And the 7D is an 18megapixel, 1080p video beast. Click through the links above for our in-depth primers. [ YouTube via CrunchGear]

Livescribe Plus Smartpen gets I’ve heard so much about the Pulse LIVESCRIBE Smartpen, the page little 18 pen that By Johnwhat Biggs records you write at along with (CrunchGear) Submitted the audio around you at the time

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LIVESCRIBE continued from page 17 of writing, that I’ve grown curious. Who out there has used this little thinger? Is it good for students? The elderly? Members of the Spanish Inquisition? Anyway, there’s a new model that holds 4GB for $199.95 and a 2GB version for $169.95. It also comes in titanium.

Gartner: Loosen up on social networks, security

There’s also a Business Bundle for $249 that includes a A5 notebook, transcription software, and a charging cradle. It will be available at Target and Apple By Stephen Shankland (Webware.com) Stores shortly.

down administration, said Peter Sondergaard, senior vice president of research at Gartner. Submitted at 10/19/2009 8:16:00 AM "We're moving from control to ORLANDO, Fla.--OK, IT greater autonomy," Sondergaard managers, it's time to loosen up. said. Managers also must find an That's how analysts advised a p p r o p r i a t e p l a c e o n t h e Gartner Symposium attendees spectrums of in here vs. out there h e r e M o n d a y , a r g u i n g t h a t and owned vs. shared. corporate computing departments To underscore her view, shouldn't block social networking Rozwell argued that humans are a n d t h a t s e c u r i t y s h o u l d n ' t social creatures and that there's c o m p l e t e l y l o c k d o w n more to employee relations than a communications with the outside paycheck for work performed. world. And even if information "While a job may be regarded as technology authorities want to an economic transaction, the shut down such activity, they h u m a n b r a i n t h i n k s o f t h e can't. workplace as a social system," she Carol Rozwell, a Gartner vice said. Social networking can make p r e s i d e n t ( C r e d i t : S t e p h e n employees "feel valued, a part of Shankland/CNET) a community, and earn the respect "Banning access to social media of peers." from the corporate network is Peter Sondergaard, senior vice futile," said Carol Rozwell, a president of research(Credit: Gartner vice president. "The Stephen Shankland/CNET) world we live in is digitally Employees should get used to a enabled and socially connected." greater corporate presence in their T h e a d v i c e r e f l e c t s t h e social-networking lives, though. transformation of the information For companies, social networking technology world as the Internet can reveal previously unknown steadily pervades more and more influence and performance in corners of everybody's life. employees, and companies should device, to be shown in Tokyo on Although the Gartner event tell employees that corporate October 22 (SER-KAAAAN! Go historically has concerned itself conduct rules apply online, too. "We can't stop social to this!) has a 96×128 resolution with matters such as justifying the expense of a new enterprise networking, but harnessing the and 24-bit color palette. It’s just a prototype but this is resource management computing p a s s i o n o f e m p l o y e e s a n d the kind of 3D I can stand behind. system, the broadening show e d u c a t i n g t h e m a b o u t t h e reflects the growing scope of responsibilities is essential," Or walk around. Or sit next to. work that IT managers face. Rozwell said. Overall, companies must Computing security, too, is acknowledge that not everything changing, argued Paul Proctor, is under control of their own top- another Gartner vice president. IT

Sony to finally create “Help Me Obi Wan Kenobi” interface By John Biggs (CrunchGear) Submitted at 10/19/2009 8:30:41 AM

Sony will show off a crazy 360 stereoscopic display that essentially places a 3D figure inside a little tube and allows it to be viewed from all angles. The

security staff should think carefully before exercising a reflex to prevent employees from communicating with Facebook's e -mail or Skype's Internet telephony. Paul Proctor, a Gartner vice president(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET) Companies should rationally evaluate services such as Google's Gmail and decide whether the potential cost savings might well be worth the risks. Even evaluating such services will be a big step for IT departments accustomed to being able to rule their own domain with an iron fist. "You cannot protect yourself from everything. You must learn to balance risk and performance," Proctor said. "The cloud and software as a service have appeal, but they introduce a huge shift in how technology is managed and controlled." He is no Pollyanna. Software for intrusion detection, antivirus, and firewall protection is still essential, Proctor said. But there are limits to what's practical. China's incoming firewall revealed that while it's possible to block some incoming information, it's not practical to block the widespread outbound flow of information. "Don't try to shut down the twoway flow of information because you can't stop it," Proctor said. "Transparency is in." Originally posted at Deep Tech

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Yahoo betting on content biz revival By Tom Krazit (Webware.com)

Yang, a renewed focus on search as Yahoo's bread and butter, the distracting--and equally disastrous SANTA MONICA, Calif.--Drive --takeover fight with Microsoft about 350 miles down U.S. 101 and Yang's eventual departure from Yahoo's Silicon Valley from the corner office. campus and you'll find what CEO It's possible, however, that the Carol Bartz appears to believe is Internet content idea was clever, the future of her pioneering even if the execution was terrible. Internet company. Bartz, the former CEO of CADYes, we're talking about software maker Autodesk and no Yahoo's often-ridiculed Media tech-industry dilettante, appears to Group headquartered about two believe this. Yahoo's new strategy miles from the famous Santa hinges on a basic premise that Monica pier and a world away many have figured out, but some from the technology-oriented still don't get: The Internet plans of Bartz's predecessor, demands a unique approach to company founder Jerry Yang. content creation. You can't just Yahoo is turning its focus back pick up a newspaper or television toward content with an eye to and plug it into an Ethernet jack. shows like Prime Time in No And you can't take the network T i m e , s t a r r i n g F r a n k TV approach to Internet N i c o t e r o . ( C r e d i t : Y a h o o ) programming, as Braun's failures Just a few years ago, amid the demonstrated. Yahoo executives ruins of the disastrous reign of are finally trying to marry the former Yahoo media boss Lloyd huge audience afforded by its Braun, that notion would have technology products such as ebeen laughable. Sure, lots of mail and instant messaging with smart people agreed the Internet news and entertainment content was going to be a big deal for designed for the 21st century. content creators, and Braun, We're talking about shows like having selected hit show after hit Prime Time in No Time, a 3- to 5show for ABC, was at one point minute recap of last night's primeconsidered one of the smartest time television shows, perfect for and best-suited individuals to giving you a few quips to share build a real media business at over the coffee machine at work Yahoo. without having to actually watch But his tenure was a flop-- the shows. Or Yahoo Sports perhaps most notable for a Minute, which won't get confused controversial Los Angeles Times with ESPN's SportsCenter but piece that declared, among other gets the basics across. tech industry heresies, Braun The result could be a page-view received a special parking space machine. Yahoo lost the second a n d a d e l u x e o f f i c e . ( T h e round of the Internet advertising historical record was disputed by wars to Google and its ubiquitous some, including All Things D's search engine, but as Yahoo Kara Swisher.) He lasted a little prepares for its third-quarter more than two years, and former earnings call Tuesday it's hoping CEO Terry Semel soon followed that by increasing its focus on him out the door. Then came quality, home-grown content it Submitted at 10/19/2009 4:00:00 AM

can attract the types of brandname advertisers that still plow most of their money into television. By the numbers Yahoo has the second largest collection of Web sites in the world, as measured by unique visitors, trailing Google by 5 million unique visitors. 160 million people visited a Yahoo site in September 2009, according to ComScore, and Yahoo Media counted 85.9 million unique visitors, up from 80 million a year ago. Those sites include Yahoo News (48 million unique visitors in September), Yahoo Entertainment (44 million), Yahoo Sports (38 million), and Yahoo Finance (22 million), among others. If it was counted as a separate entity, Yahoo Media would be the seventh-largest property on the Internet as measured by unique visitors. That's not the best way to look at it--since many of those visitors first entered Yahoo's world by checking their e-mail or customized home page--but any way you cut it, it's a lot of people. Those visitors--a mass that covers many demographics--are the kind of people that big-brand advertisers covet. Yahoo Sports and Games get the guys, and Yahoo has launched a number of women-oriented sites over the last year--such as OMG and Shine-drawing readers, viewers, and advertisers with a conscious decision to focus on "sunny and friendly" entertainment and women's news, said Sibyl Goldman, vice president of entertainment at Yahoo. That's compared with some of the more tawdry sites in this category-think TMZ--that draw a lot of

traffic but not necessarily the kinds of high-profile advertisers that Yahoo likes. Bartz has set clear priorities for the Media group: do what you do best, and we'll find resources to invest in your business by getting rid of dead weight. Yahoo announced a round of targeted layoffs in April that were designed to funnel investment toward businesses the company wants to stay in for the long haul, and the Media group will be perhaps the largest beneficiary of that investment. And that doesn't even count the savings that will eventually be realized if Yahoo's search outsourcing deal with Microsoft is approved by federal regulators. What does Yahoo plan to do with that money? Yahoo's content sites currently obtain their content from three different buckets: aggregation, original content created in-house, and content partnerships. At the moment, that division roughly breaks down at about 80 percent aggregation, 10 percent original content, and 10 percent content partnerships: the divisions are slightly different for different properties. During the next year, managers such as Goldman are being asked to increase the amount of original content they produce. That means building on the success of shows like Prime Time in No Time-which Yahoo claims is the mostwatched original show ever developed for the Internet--and avoiding the mistakes of the past. By the Internet, for the Internet Jimmy Pitaro, head of Yahoo's Media group, wants to make it very clear that Yahoo is not in the sitcom business. Pitaro has been with Yahoo's

media operation forever--or nearly forever, joining the company after it acquired Launch Media in 2001, where he had been vice president of business affairs. As a result he has seen all the ups and downs of the previous decade at Yahoo, and while he refuses to slag Braun directly he does admit that the company has learned its lessons from that era. Jimmy Pitaro, vice president of Media at Yahoo.(Credit: Yahoo) During a recent lunch in the restaurant below the Yahoo's Santa Monica offices, Pitaro makes roughly 5,397 attempts (perhaps a slight exaggeration) to make sure I understand that Yahoo is not going to be producing 22-minute programs with earnest moms and dads solving life's little crises, or searing crime dramas ripped from the headlines. Instead, Yahoo wants to continue developing shows similar to Prime Time in No Time, a Talk Soup-like show featuring comedian Frank Nicotero that glibly summarizes the previous evening's prime time network shows. ("The gift that reality TV gave us," Goldman chortled.) The company claims Prime Time in No Time is the most watched original show in the history of the Internet, with 280 million streams since it launched in early 2008 and several million viewers per day, comparable to a mid-tier broadcast network program and much easier to produce: Nicotero rolls into the office after watching the eastcoast network feeds at home to tape the short show. YAHOO page 20

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YAHOO continued from page 19 News and entertainment will be Yahoo's focus over the next year, Pitaro said. He wants to make Yahoo known as a source of breaking news developed by professionals, building on several high-profile scoops involving college athletics and recruiting generated by the Yahoo Sports team, which he built in his prior role as vice president and general manager of Yahoo Sports. He wants to expand Yahoo's original programming to include longer 10 - to 12-minute scripted programs with more of a documentary or news magazine style. And he wants to bring in people who can offer point-of-view content, as opposed to straight news or flame bait opinion. But whatever Yahoo ends up producing, it has to take advantage of the Internet's proclivity toward short-term attention spans and viewer participation, Pitaro said. This was the fatal mistake of the Braun -era Yahoo, which Yahoo execs tried to replicate the TV production process on the Internet. Yahoo learned that approach is simply too expensive and too fraught with risk to work on the fast-moving Internet. TV

executives green-light dozens of programs to fill out the clock, knowing full well that only a handful of those programs will turn into long-term successes. But they have to fill airtime to sell commercials, whereas Internet businesses don't need to "program" against time slots and they can develop programs that fill specific needs rather than trying to ram another hospital show down our throats. Developing short Internetfocused scripted comedy or drama shows is equally risky. There have been a few successes, but more failures, and such programs don't necessarily fit in with the rest of Yahoo's newsy content. Will it blend? Yahoo's strategy with the Media group hinges on a couple of factors. One is that advertisers will increasingly invest in display ads. That's Yahoo's historical strength, but it's a category advertisers have considered less attractive than search ads for several years. In the first half of 2009--albeit a terrible six months for Internet advertising--companies spent $5.1 billion on search ads and $3.8 billion on display ads, according to the Interactive Advertising

Bureau, with search ad spending rising slightly and display ad spending falling slightly year over year. Display ad spending grew from 2007 to 2008, but search grew faster, and some analysts think that pattern will repeat as the industry emerges from recession. Another risk is the competition: Advertisers might prefer to work with Google's YouTube as they build out their display advertising strategy: CFO Patrick Pichette said last week that Google is now monetizing 1 billion video views a week and sold out 90 percent of its home page inventory in the third quarter. Google recently launched a revamped display ad exchange that has a long way to go to catch Yahoo but could create problems for the company if Google is able to sign more content deals with publishers to put professionally produced content on YouTube. Still, Google seems unlikely to get into the content production business itself. A third risk comes from the establishment media: Will they finally get their act together online? At the moment, they've mainly focused on ways of getting their television content online

through partnerships like Hulu, but they haven't put a strong focus on developing shows unique to the Internet, with a few exceptions like The WB that was once a television network and is now an online-only destination. But with Bartz at the helm, Media group execs no longer feel like Yahoo's weird cousins from Southern California. "With Carol coming on board, she's providing a clarity around becoming a destination," said Kyle Laughlin, head of sports and games at Yahoo. Jerry Yang had famously attempted to describe Yahoo as "a place where you start your day," but Bartz is attempting to refine that definition by making sure Yahoo develops the kind of content that gets people in the door--any door, any time--and encourages them to stay. And so, the fate of one of the Silicon Valley Internet industry's seminal companies might be determined by a group of Angelenos. The perennial Yahoo debate--is it a technology company or a media company?--is entering another round. Originally posted at Relevant Results

Video: Debi Mazar Dances into 'Castle' (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 10/19/2009 12:01:00 AM

ET was on the set of "Castle" where Nathan Fillion and former "Dancing with the Stars" contestant Debi Mazar dish about what's to come on Monday night's episode of the hit ABC show! Mazar was honored that a head of ABC thought of her for the part. She hopes this guest stint could turn into a recurring role. She told ET, "If they want to have me back and if Steve McPherson thinks I'm fabulous, then he'll work out the dates." In the episode entitled "When the Bough Breaks," book agent Paula Haas (Mazar) approaches Castle (Fillion) with an extraordinary career opportunity that would mean an end to his relationship with Beckett ( Stana Katic). Will this be their last case together? Find out when "Castle" airs Monday night at 10 p.m. on ABC.

Office 2010 to enter public beta next month (CNET News.com) Submitted at 10/19/2009 9:00:00 AM

Microsoft on Monday is announcing that it will release in November a public test version of Office 2010. The software maker released a limited technology preview of the software in July and plans to

release the final version next year. It also started testing of the browser-based "Office Web Apps" in September. Microsoft, which is making the announcement at its SharePoint conference, is also detailing some of the features of the next version of its portal software, which will also enter beta next month.

The new version, SharePoint 2010, includes Office's Ribbon user interface as well as enhanced support for video, audio and Silverlight. Programmers will also be able develop Sharepointl sites using the next version of the company's Visual Studio, which is going into a second beta this week.

SharePoint is an important product for Microsoft as it is one of the company's fastest growing large businesses. Last year it brought in more than $1.3 billion in revenue, up 20 percent from the prior year. "SharePoint 2010 is the biggest and most important release of SharePoint to date," CEO Steve

Ballmer said in a statement. "When paired with Microsoft Office 2010, SharePoint 2010 will transform efficiency by connecting workers across a single collaboration platform for business." This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Internet News Record

Gartner: Loosen up on social networks, security (CNET News.com)

Rozwell said. Computing security, too, is changing, argued Paul Proctor, ORLANDO, Fla.--OK, IT another Gartner vice president. IT managers, it's time to loosen up. security staff should think That's how analysts advised carefully before exercising a Gartner Symposium attendees reflex to prevent employees from here Monday, arguing that communicating with Facebook's e corporate computing departments -mail or Skype's Internet shouldn't block social networking telephony. and that security shouldn't Paul Proctor, a Gartner vice completely lock down president(Credit: Stephen communications with the outside Shankland/CNET) world. And even if information Companies should rationally technology authorities want to evaluate services such as Google's shut down such activity, they Gmail and decide whether the can't. potential cost savings might well Carol Rozwell, a Gartner vice be worth the risks. Even president(Credit: Stephen evaluating such services will be a Shankland/CNET) big step for IT departments "Banning access to social media accustomed to being able to rule from the corporate network is their own domain with an iron futile," said Carol Rozwell, a fist. Gartner vice president. "The "You cannot protect yourself world we live in is digitally from everything. You must learn enabled and socially connected." to balance risk and performance," The advice reflects the Proctor said. "The cloud and transformation of the information software as a service have appeal, technology world as the Internet but they introduce a huge shift in steadily pervades more and more how technology is managed and corners of everybody's life. controlled." Although the Gartner event He is no Pollyanna. Software historically has concerned itself spectrums of in here vs. out there president of research(Credit: for intrusion detection, antivirus, with matters such as justifying the and owned vs. shared. and firewall protection is still Stephen Shankland/CNET) expense of a new enterprise To underscore her view, Employees should get used to a essential, Proctor said. But there resource management computing Rozwell argued that humans are greater corporate presence in their are limits to what's practical. system, the broadening show social creatures and that there's social-networking lives, though. China's incoming firewall reflects the growing scope of more to employee relations than a For companies, social networking revealed that while it's possible to work that IT managers face. paycheck for work performed. can reveal previously unknown block some incoming information, Overall, companies must "While a job may be regarded as influence and performance in it's not practical to block the acknowledge that not everything an economic transaction, the employees, and companies should widespread outbound flow of is under control of their own top- h u m a n b r a i n t h i n k s o f t h e tell employees that corporate information. down administration, said Peter workplace as a social system," she conduct rules apply online, too. "Don't try to shut down the twoSondergaard, senior vice president said. Social networking can make " W e c a n ' t s t o p s o c i a l way flow of information because of research at Gartner. employees "feel valued, a part of networking, but harnessing the you can't stop it," Proctor said. "We're moving from control to a community, and earn the respect p a s s i o n o f e m p l o y e e s a n d "Transparency is in." greater autonomy," Sondergaard of peers." This content has passed through educating them about the said. Managers also must find an fivefilters.org. Peter Sondergaard, senior vice responsibilities is essential," appropriate place on the Submitted at 10/19/2009 8:16:00 AM

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MPAA's CEO will leave in 2010 (CNET News.com) Submitted at 10/19/2009 9:31:00 AM

Dan Glickman, chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America, will leave the MPAA in September, when his contract runs out. On Monday, the blog Politico quoted Glickman saying: "My guess is that I'll end up in the nonprofit or academic world. People who know me know I've had these great extracurricular interests that have been very significant in driving me." On Friday, I cited an industry source who said that Glickman wouldn't last until the end of his contract. Apparently, the studios will let him stick around until then but it's unlikely that many would have asked Glickman to stay beyond that, my sources said. Politico's story on Monday cited problems with Glickman's lobbying efforts in Congress. My sources said there were plenty of people who were dissatisfied with the MPAA's antipiracy efforts. On Friday, I wrote that the MPAA canned three of Glickman's top antipiracy chiefs and also changed the name of the unit from "antipiracy" to "content protection" as part of a major overhaul. The content protection group is also being combined with the MPAA's legal department. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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Internet News Record

Why Would The Copyright Lobby Sprint to acquire iPCS Be Concerned About An Anti-Spam to end lawsuit Bill? (CNET News.com)

Submitted at 10/19/2009 8:14:00 AM

By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)

spyware/DRM: Sources say that the Liberals have introduced a motion that would take these Up in Canada, there have been practices outside of the bill. In its ongoing discussions and place, they would define negotiations over an anti-spam computer program as, among l a w . W h i l e I h a v e v a r i o u s other things, "a program that has reservations over anti-spam as its primary function...inducing legislation (here in the US it's a user to install software by done little to stop spam, but intentionally misrepresenting that plenty to outline how to installing that software is "legitimately" spam people), it's a necessary to safeguard security or bit surprising to find out that the privacy or to open or play content c o p y r i g h t l o b b y i s h e a v i l y of a computer program." This sets involved in the process as well. s u c h a h i g h b a r - p r i m a r y Why would the copyright lobby f u n c t i o n , i n t e n t i o n a l care about an anti-spam bill? mispresentation - that music and Apparently, they're afraid that it'll software industry can plausibly hinder their use of DRM, since argue that surreptitious DRM the current bill requires consent installations fall outside of C-27. before installing software on A n d , o f c o u r s e , o n c e t h e computers. And, as we learned in copyright lobby can put spyware Sony's famous rootkit debacle, on your machine, they want to be p l e n t y o f D R M w o r k s b y sure they can spy on you and use surreptitiously installing software that information against you: that watches what you do with PIPEDA currently features a content. Of course, the last thing series of exceptions to the the entertainment industry would s t a n d a r d r e q u i r e m e n t s f o r want is to be required to be 100% o b t a i n i n g c o n s e n t f o r t h e upfront and truthful with you collection of personal information when it's installing spyware/DRM (found in Section 7). Bill C-27 on your computer. That would -- includes a provision that bars in their minds -- defeat the point. t h o s e e x c e p t i o n s i n c a s e s So, the copyright lobby has involving computer harvesting of been making sure to water down e m a i l a d d r e s s e s a n d t h e the bill, to try to cut out the " c o l l e c t i o n o f p e r s o n a l language that would cover their information through any means of u s e o f s u r r e p t i t i o u s telecommunication, if the Submitted at 10/19/2009 4:43:25 AM

collection is made by accessing a computer system or causing a computer system to be accessed without authorization." In other words, email harvesting and spyware would not be permitted and would not qualify for the PIPEDA exceptions found in Section 7. The copyright lobby is deeply concerned that this change will block attempts to track possible infringement through electronic means. The Section 7(1)(b) exception in PIPEDA currently states that collecting personal information without consent or knowledge of the individual is permitted if it is reasonable to expect that the collection "would compromise the availability or accuracy of the information" and the collection is "related to investigating a breach of an agreement or a contravention of the laws of Canada." It's really stunning what kind of sense of entitlement the entertainment industry has -- insisting that it should have the right to install spyware on your computer without you knowing about it, and to then collect all sorts of private info about you and what you do on your computer. Shameful. Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

Sprint Nextel has settled its legal dispute with its wireless affiliate iPCS by striking a deal to acquire the company in a transaction valued at around $831 million. Sprint announced Monday that it plans to buy iPCS for $24 a share, a 34 percent premium to its Friday closing price of $17.88, which means the company will be spending about $426 million in cash. Sprint also agreed to assume $405 million of debt, bringing the total price tag to $831 million. The deal is expected to close in late 2009 or early 2010. And once it is completed, the companies plan to suspend litigation. The original agreement between Sprint and iPCS precluded Sprint from operating a competing wireless service in its territory. When the company bought Nextel in 2005, it violated this agreement, iPCS has argued. The courts have sided with iPCS on this issue. Last year, the Supreme Court of Illinois upheld a lower court's ruling that Sprint must stop owning, operating, and managing its Nextel iDEN network in Sprint affiliate iPCS's territory. Sprint was given 360 days to divest itself of the iDEN assets in that territory or strike some kind of deal with iPCS. Given that

Nextel is the only operator that has used the iDEN wireless technology in the U.S., divesting these assets appeared unlikely. As the deadline looms, it appears that Sprint was either unable or unwilling to get rid of its Nextel iDEN assets in this area and has instead decided to strike a deal with the company. Once the merger is completed, Sprint said that it will no longer have to divest its iDEN network in the iPCS markets. Sprint's merger with Nextel has been blamed for many of the problems facing the wireless operator today. One if its main problems has been a steady loss of valuable wireless subscribers. Since its new CEO Dan Hesse came on board nearly two years ago, the company has worked to improve its network and customer service. It's also been trying to repair its damaged reputation. But even Hesse has admitted that customer perceptions do not change overnight. Sprint said the iPCS transaction is valued at 6.4 times estimated 2010 adjusted earnings before income, taxes and depreciation. The company forecasts $30 million of annual cost savings and expects the deal to add to free cash flow in 2010. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Donny Osmond: 'We're beating each other up!' (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 10/19/2009 5:50:00 AM

New video: ET is with Donny

Osmond as he prepares for this week's "Dancing with the Stars" challenge, where the question is -will he make it to the show

unharmed? dangerous! "She's beating me up says. "We've had a few misses. I He and partner Kym Johnson again," Donny says with a laugh. scratched [Donny's] eyeball." are doing the Argentine tango, "We're beating each other up!" which is very fast -- and "It's really fast footwork, Kym

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Internet News Record

UK ISP Shows Why Kicking People Meet New People Near Off The Internet Based On An IP You Using Your iPhone Address Is Dumb and Loopt Mix By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)

of Tom and Jerry and you will never catch the mouse. The mouse always wins in this battle and we UK ISP TalkTalk has been a need to be careful that politicians strong critic of the way the do not get talked into putting recording industry has tried to legislation in place that, in the turn ISPs into copyright cops in end, ends up looking stupid.... the past. A year and a half ago it If people want to share content swore it would not be a copyright they will find another way to do c o p , a n d s c o l d e d B P I f o r it.... TalkTalk is continuing to s u g g e s t i n g i t h a d a n y show how silly the recording responsibility to enforce the industry's plans are, by doing a entertainment industry's poor little demonstration. The company excuse for a business model -- sent out a security expert on staff while also complaining about "the to an ordinary street in Stanmore, most unbelievably rude letter" Middlesex. Then it had him find t h a t B P I s e n t T a l k T a l k i n all the WiFi connections there -demanding it do so. At the time, noting that many were totally he told them:"They're not just open, and many others used weak shutting the stable door after the security. From a few open ones, horse has bolted -- the horse has he went and downloaded some left town, got married, and started songs including Barry Manilow's a family." Well said. Then, earlier hit Mandy and the soundtrack to this year, TalkTalk's CEO also the 1992 film Peter's Friends -pointed out how naive it was to those two choices in honor of think that the industry could do P e t e r M a n d e l s o n , t h e U K anything to stop unauthorized file Business Secretary who suddenly sharing, noting: If you try speed because a supporter of kicking file humps or disconnections for peer- sharers off the internet using a to-peer, people will simply either three strikes provision after dining disguise their traffic or share the with entertainment industry content another way. It is a game mogul, David Geffen. Submitted at 10/19/2009 2:21:32 AM

To be clear, in this case, the music downloads were both done legally -- and the company checked with the WiFi access point owners first to make sure they were okay with it -- but the point is still clear. Just because you have an IP address, it doesn't act as any sort of proof. TalkTalk's director of strategy and regulation, Andrew Heaney made the point clear:"The Mandelson scheme is every bit as wrongheaded as it is naive. The lack of presumption of innocence and the absence of judicial process combined with the prevalence of wi-fi hacking will result in innocent people being disconnected." This, of course, is the same point that plenty of people have been making for ages, but the recording industry never has a good response. They also haven't been able to respond to a more important point: how will kicking people off the internet make anyone more interested in buying music? Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

Jennifer Love Hewitt & Jamie Kennedy Debunk Break-up Rumors (ETonline - Breaking News)

personally invited ET to the event. She attracted quite a full house, with entrants such as Jennifer The stars tried to keep a straight Love Hewitt, with boyfriend face as they versed lady luck in a Jamie Kennedy by her side, Joely charity poker tournament on Fisher, Cheryl Hines, and Jennie Saturday. Garth. The host, Camryn Manheim, Despite rumors that they had Submitted at 10/19/2009 4:55:00 AM

broken up, Jennifer and Jamie told ET that they are still all in the game of love. As he embraced his girlfriend, Jamie said, "We're very happy. Yes, we're a couple and things sometimes are up and down."

By Christina Warren (Mashable!) Submitted at 10/19/2009 8:41:23 AM

Geolocation is one of the big current trends in social networks and mobile applications. And why not? Being able to find out what’s going on around you and what your friends are doing nearby is pretty awesome. It’s one of the reason apps and services like Foursquare are gaining traction. Today, Loopt, one of the early players in connecting users to their friends based on location, is launching a new app that helps you meet new people, called Loopt Mix. Loopt Mix(iTunes link) is a free app for the iPhone that lets you connect with people nearby that you don’t already know, but might want to meet. With it, you create a profile (your e-mail address is never shown and you can choose to hide or show your age) and you can search for people nearby. Your exact location is never shown and you can choose to hide your profile from public view at any time (so if you’re on a date and you don’t want to be bothered by potential new friends, or if you’re trying to get stuff done — you can turn off your public profile). See someone interesting

nearby? You can send them a free message and see if they want any company or want to meet somewhere close-by. You can post status updates showing what you’re doing – so if you are playing basketball and looking for someone to join in, you can include that information so that would-be ballers can know to message you to join in on the fun. Meeting new people can be hard and the social web is supposed to make it easier. Unfortunately, that isn’t always the case. Loopt Mix is aiming to fix that. What do you think about using the social web to meet new people while on the go? How do you meet new people when you are in a new city or looking to expand your social circle? Let us know! Tags: geolocation, iphone, loopt, loopt mix

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TUAW Tips: Sync The Hit List on multiple machines with DropBox By Kent Pribbernow (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

process on every machine running THL. That's it! There is one small caveat. It's a good idea to always ensure that Submitted at 10/19/2009 7:00:00 AM Dropbox has fully synced all of Filed under: Software, Tips and your local changes before loading tricks, TUAW Tips THL on another machine, or else One of the great torments of you risk losing your most recent owning several computers is data. Be wise to this and you'll keeping all of your personal data have no troubles at all. You're in sync; having multiple copies of welcome. the same application speak the By the way, if you use Things same jive. Take The Hit List, for rather than The Hit List for your example. I use this app on my task management, be sure to see MacBook Pro at work for our previous post about how to organizing tasks and collecting sync it using Dropbox as well. thoughts like a virtual inbox to my just this, and all that is required is Good, now let's do this. TUAW TUAW Tips: Sync The not quite done yet. Here's where brain. At the end of the day I need for each machine to be running Hit List on multiple machines First, you need to locate THL's the magic happens. a way to get all the day's notes Dropbox. By now all of you main database file which can be Hold down the option key while with DropBox originally appeared from my laptop into my home should be using this amazingly f o u n d h i d i n g launching The Hit List. A dialog on The Unofficial Apple Weblog desktop, which also happens to be awesome free service for saving in/Users/userprofile/Library/Appli window will appear, asking what (TUAW) on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 running THL as well. What to do? and sharing data to the cloud. If cation Support/The Hit List. Look the hell you've just done with its 07:00:00 EST. Please see our The ideal solution is to get each y o u h a v e n ' t y e t o p e n e d a n for a file called The Hit List library. Just select "Choose terms for use of feeds. machine sharing the same THL account, and downloaded and Library.thllibrary. Find it? Good, Library" and point it the file Read| Permalink| Email this| database file synced to the cloud, installed the Mac desktop client, now simply drag this file to your located in your Dropbox folder. Comments instead of a locally rooted file. go now. It's ok, I'll wait. Got it? Dropbox folder. Hold on, we're You must repeat this part of the Fortunately, there is an way to do

NaNoWriMo participants: Scrivener has some deals for you By Steven Sande (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

Are you considering giving Scrivener a try while you're writing your entry for NaNoWriMo 2009? You're in Submitted at 10/19/2009 9:30:00 AM luck! Normally, the application Filed under: Odds and ends, comes with a 30-day free trial. Deals After my post about While that's long enough to last NaNoWriMo preparation the through the 30 days of writing other day, a couple of TUAW ecstasy that it NaNoWriMo, you readers pointed out that Literature should get to know the tools of and Latte, the folks behind your trade before you start Scrivener 1.52, have a special writing. Downloading the trial deal going on for NaNoWriMo version of Scrivener between now 2009 participants. and the start of NaNoWriMo on

November 1st gives you a trial version that lasts until December 7th, long enough for you to not only finish your tome, but also make your first editing pass before sending it to your publisher. Now here comes the really fun part -- if you are successful in

writing your 50,000 words by November 30th, you can buy Scrivener starting on December 2nd at a 50% discount off the normal license price of US$39.95. Those who run out of luck or time and aren't NaNoWriMo finishers can still get 20% off by using the promo code NANOWRIMO. If you'd like to be able to take notes in between writing sessions, you'll be happy to know that WriteRoom notes can be synced to SimpleText.ws, and then

imported directly into Scrivener. Thanks to Cthulu Saves and sophielynette for the tip! TUAW NaNoWriMo participants: Scrivener has some deals for you originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Shepard Fairey Destroys Evidence, Goodwill; Harms His Case For No Good Reason

Alex: Dual Screen eReader With Google Android

By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)

By Christina Warren (Mashable!)

Submitted at 10/19/2009 8:30:00 AM

Submitted at 10/19/2009 7:59:08 AM

On Friday morning, someone "working with" Shepard Fairey alerted me that some news was coming out that day about his lawsuit with the Associated Press over his famous Barack Obama poster: I finally got the "official" statement from Fairey late on Friday, just as I was about to leave work for the weekend, and the whole thing was so ridiculous that I just figured I'd leave it until today. Apparently, Fairey, for absolutely no good reason, tried to destroy evidence and then lie about which photo he actually used to make his poster. He's now come clean about this, and while he's right in his statement that this shouldn't have any impact on the underlying case, it certainly doesn't help. It was already pretty well known that Fairey was hardly the poster child of fair use -- given that he has a history of going after others who copy his own work, despite being an "appropriation artist" himself. But, even so, this is beyond dumb -- something I don't say lightly. Fairey still has a very strong fair use claim -- which is entirely separate from the question of whether or not Fairey did something incredibly stupid here.

Even if he used the image the AP claimed he did (which he now admits), it still seems like this is an obvious case of fair use. But destroying evidence and lying -especially when there was no good reason to do so -- just harms his credibility and makes it that much more likely that he'll lose his case not for any legitimate reason, but because of his own separate actions in dealing with this case. There are important fair use issues at play here, and Fairey just made it that much harder to maintain the high ground.

While some are pointing out that this is the sort of thing that happens when copyright laws always seem to stack the deck against fair use, that's still no excuse for lying and trying to destroy evidence. Yes, the system sucks, but doing something like this only harms an otherwise strong case. Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

Amidst all of those tasty Apple Tablet and Microsoft Courier rumors, some very real products are preparing to enter the eReader/web-browser space. Last week we got more information on the forthcoming Barnes & Noble eReader, and today Engadget points us towards another eReader/browser hybrid from a company called Spring Design— and this one runs on Google’s Android. The Spring Design device is called “Alex” and like the Barnes & Noble eReader, it features a dual-screen. The top portion of the screen is a 6 E-Ink EPD display and the lower display is a 3.5 color LCD. This seems to be the popular work around for taking advantage of the readability and energy saving features of E-Ink, while also offering support for color graphics and multimedia. Spring Design has patented what it calls its Duet Navigator dual-screen technology, which allows hyper-linked content and images to show-up in the lower screen, while text shows up on the

Street Chic: New York By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 10/19/2009 4:00:00 AM

A perfectly fitted blazer chicly tops a simple black sheath. Photo: Jonathan Alpeyrie Think you are Street Chic? E-

mail us your photo and you could

appear in ELLE.com's Street Chic Daily. Follow ELLE on Twitter.

EPD. Spring Design says users can toggle where data shows up in order to save battery life. The device has both Wi-Fi and support for mobile networks like 3G, EVDO and GSM (which makes it sound like it could be customize for multiple carriers) and has an SD slot for more storage options and for viewing other media. There’s also a headphone jack, which emphasizes the multimedia nature of this type of device. There’s no word on price or partnerships — but Spring Design says they are working with a number of content providers and plan to release it by the end of the year. What do you think of these web browser/eReader hybrid devices? Is this something you could s Tags: alex, android, ereader, spring design alex

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What do you do after you start Twitter? Invent a credit card reader. By Steven Sande (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 10/19/2009 11:00:00 AM

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, Retail, Odds and ends, iPhone, iPod touch If you were Jack Dorsey, one of the cofounders and current chairman of Twitter, you'd want to think about something else big to follow up on your huge success. While it doesn't sound like anything groundbreaking, Dorsey's new company Square is developing a tiny white cube (see photo above) that plugs into the headphone jack on either an iPhone or iPod touch. The cube is a credit card reader, something missing from all of those credit card apps currently in the iTunes App Store.

The Square iPhone Payment System consists of the reader and an app. After a card swipe, the customer uses a finger to sign the iPod touch or iPhone, one of the participants in the transaction enters the customer's email address, and a receipt with the

location of the transaction, the signature, and other standard information is emailed to the customer. While most online journalists are anticipating that this device and software are going to be used in retail (can you say Apple

Store?), I think Dorsey has bigger ideas - let's face it, the guy doesn't think small. So why not make it possible for anyone with an iPhone or iPod touch to be able to accept credit cards for payments? Word has it that the card reader's manufacturing price will be as low as US$0.40, which means that Square could give away the readers and still make money on the transaction fees. [via Engadget] TUAW What do you do after you start Twitter? Invent a credit card reader. originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Jenna Elfman Reveals Why She Returned to TV (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 10/19/2009 8:51:00 AM

"Accidentally on Purpose" star Jenna Elfman is giving ET's Mark Steines an inside look into her new show and revealing why she chose this time to return to television. A pregnant Elfman also plays a mommy-to-be on the show. Her character is expecting a child with a much younger man. "It feels great to be back on a show that I love. ... I laughed out loud reading these scripts," she tells Mark. "Everyone on this cast, honestly, is the most decent, hard working, loyal, wonderful human beings I've ever met, and completely talented."

Three-wheel vehicles eligible for federal funds (CNET News.com) Submitted at 10/19/2009 8:08:00 AM

Worth promoting with federal dollars?(Credit: Aptera) Congress has approved a measure that will allow makers of three-wheel cars to receive funding for fuel-efficient auto technologies, according to published reports. The bill, which still needs to be signed into law, could be a boost to companies developing alternative car designs, notably

Aptera Motors and Elio Motors. Both companies have argued that their three-wheel cars deserve federal funding meant to promote more efficient vehicles. The legislation, passed late last week, would overturn an Energy Department rule that limited funding to four-wheel vehicles meeting emissions and fuele c o n o m y b e n c h m a r k s , gallon and can carry at least two Automotive News reported on adults, according to the report. Friday. The new guidelines will Vista, Calif.-based Aptera plans now allow vehicles that get an in the middle of next year to start average of at least 75 miles per

producing its 2e, a three-wheel electric vehicle that it says will be able to go at least 100 miles on its battery charge.

Elio, based in Tempe, Ariz., is developing a narrow, three-wheel gasoline car it says gets more than 70 miles per gallon. It intends to sell the vehicle for less than $7,500. General Motors, which is applying for DOE funds to promote electric vehicle production, has opposed changes in the rules in the past, Automotive News said. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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Cameron Diaz and Mike Sponsored Post: Big Things Myers Banned From for Small Business – Sacred Twitter? Stan Schroeder Wind Communications, Inc! By(Mashable!) By Sponsored Post (Mashable!)

Submitted at 10/19/2009 7:50:21 AM

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Submitted at 10/19/2009 3:50:59 AM

We’ve been reporting about the use and misuse of a social media policy in companies for quite a while now, but it all got a bit more mainstream when NFL players were prohibited from using Twitter (or have someone update their account) during games. A couple of days ago, we heard that even Hollywood is afraid that its stars will reveal something they shouldn’t on the microblogging network. Now we know the first victims: Cameron Diaz and Mike Myers. While we haven’t seen this explicitly confirmed by the actors themselves, it seems that the folks at DreamWorks want to make sure Diaz and Myers will keep mum about the new Shrek sequel, in which they’ll both be starring next year.

him which vendor it was so that Sullivan could avoid doing business with them in the future? Danny Sullivan has a blog post Of course not. But much more blasting Citibank for how it insulting is that when he went to h a n d l e d a s e c u r i t y b r e a c h , activate the new card, Citibank requiring him to get a new credit tried to upsell him on a credit card. Apparently a vendor where check offering. As Sullivan notes, Sullivan had used the card had a shouldn't Citibank be offering that breach, meaning Citibank sent to him for free? It's probably him a new card. But did they tell cheaper than having to send out Submitted at 10/19/2009 7:00:00 AM

thousands of new cards every time a vendor screws up. Of course, when Sullivan points that out to the person on the phone, the person at the other end says "we're just the activation department, you'd have to talk to customer service for that." Of course, if they're just the activation department, why are they doing sales as well? I'm sure

Join TUAW for Apple Q4 earnings call liveblog at 5 PM EDT today By Steven Sande (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 10/19/2009 12:00:00 PM

Filed under: Apple Financial, Liveblog Time flies when you're having fun -- it seems like it was We know that actors’ contracts only a few weeks ago that we routinely contain confidentiality were enjoying the Q3 earnings clauses, but it seems that there are report from Apple, Inc. Well, today the wizards of now specific clauses on top, related to social media and Cupertino are on the phone again Twitter in particular. We hate to with top Wall Street analysts to disappoint you, Hollywood, but report how the company did Facebook and Twitter are just during the fourth quarter (July forms of communication. You can September, 2009). Many analysts also leak information by, you are expecting Apple to continue know, speaking, or writing an its recession-defying high wire act, with an analyst poll by email. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Thomson Reuters Financial LPETTET Reviews: Facebook, showing an earnings forecast of US$1.42 per share. That's 13 Twitter, iStockphoto Tags: Cameron Diaz, Mike percent over the same quarter a year ago, and higher than Apple's Myers, twitter own forecast of US$1.18 US$1.23 per share. As usual, we'll be covering the earnings call via CoverItLive. Drop by TUAW at approximately the big banks will claim that these 5 PM EDT (2 PM PDT) and join sorts of sales processes work in us. Bring your questions, and that enough people are suckered w e ' l l s u p p l y t h e n e w s a n d into these high margin upsell c o m m e n t a r y . TUAW Join TUAW for Apple offerings, but wouldn't it be nice to have a bank that actually Q4 earnings call liveblog at 5 PM EDT today originally appeared on treated customers well? Permalink| Comments| Email The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 This Story 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

Using A Security Breach As An Upsell Opportunity? By Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

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Microsoft to Restore Some of the Lost Sidekick Data This Week

Waveboard: Google Wave Client for Mac and iPhone is Coming By Stan Schroeder (Mashable!) Submitted at 10/19/2009 4:50:39 AM

By Stan Schroeder (Mashable!) Submitted at 10/19/2009 1:08:59 AM

Recently, Microsoft and TMobile had a very embarrassing episode: after a server failure, Sidekick data was lost for a portion of users, and originally Microsoft had said that the data was lost forever. Shortly after that, Microsoft announced that they were able to recover “most, if not all” of the lost customer data. Now, if you’re one of the users who’ve been affected by this incident, you’ll be happy to know that your data will be restored soon. From Microsoft’s official announcement on the matter: “We continue to make steady progress, and we hope to be able

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to begin restoring personal contacts for affected users this week, with the remainder of the content (photographs, notes, to-do -lists, marketplace data, and high scores) shortly thereafter.” Sounds encouraging; if you’re one of the affected Sidekick users, please let us know how the data restoration process is going. Tags: microsoft, sidekick, TMobile

The desktop version of Waveboard for Mac, although in a very early stage, is already available for download. Official info on the app is very scarce, but some users have tried it out and called it “simple and practical”. The same developer is currently waiting for Apple’s approval of a Google Wave client for the iPhone under the same name. You can already run Wave on your iPhone by simply accessing wave.google.com/wave from your iPhone, with mixed results (works a bit better on Nokia N900), but

Be the First to Nab New CoverGirl Products! By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 10/19/2009 8:54:33 AM

we expect the app to make the entire experience far smoother. All you Mac users out there, please let us know how you like the application in the comments. Reviews: Google Wave Tags: Google Wave, mac, Waveboard

Make like a beauty editor and get your own stash of new CoverGirl products before they hit stores! Starting November 2, head to covergirl.com to score our latest obsessions: ShineBlast Lip Gloss, LashBlast Length, and Smoky ShadowBlast—buy all three and save $5! There's a limited quantity, so plan to make your move fast. —Janna Johnson, Beauty Assistant Photo: Courtesy of CoverGirl Follow ELLE on Twitter

Cartoon: Blogging Was Made Possible by... By Rob Cottingham (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 10/19/2009 8:09:31 AM

The new FTC guidelines for disclosure by bloggers have stirred up some anger among bloggers accustomed to getting free stuff and blogging about it without the heavy hand of governmental Big Brother yadda yadda - oh, you can finish the sentence yourself. Sponsor I can respect that it might get people's backs up to suggest that

their integrity is for sale, especially for such low prices. (Although, the last time I checked the exchange rate, integrity was down sharply against the dollar... and against the free chewing gum.) Then again, I've seen enough obviously feigned enthusiasm in some "reviews" to convince me that at least a few bloggers are happy to rent their voices - and readers - to any marketing department with a gift of course; I have a job and make a c a r d a n d b l o g g e r o u t r e a c h pretty good living (touch wood). I program. can imagine that I might be All easy enough for me to say,

tempted to modify my views if money was short and a blog review could put another meal on the table for my kids. Then again, for every blogger out there who's struggling to make ends meet, there are countless more blog readers - the people the marketers are really trying to reach. Don't they deserve to know about the relationship between product and blogger when they assess what they're reading? I'm a fan of disclosure, and while I haven't examined the FTC guidelines in detail, I support the

idea in principle. But it's interesting that the FTC went after bloggers rather than, say, entertainment writers who don't mention the expensive junkets that movie studios take them on. A blogger who has to disclose that she or he received a free package of hot dog weiners has every right to feel burned after dropping fifty bucks to take the family to the latest "THRILLING!" "FANTASTIC!" "SURE-FIRE WINNER!" More Noise to Signal. Discuss

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Sweb Apps 2.0: Build Your Own Mobile Storefront for the iPhone By Sarah Perez (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 10/19/2009 6:59:19 AM

New from Sweb Apps, the company whose online service lets anyone create their own iPhone application - no coding required - is Sweb Apps 2.0, the next generation of the company's app builder product. Among a handful of new features, including a real-time WYSIWYG style landing page builder and YouTube integration, is the ability to create an iPhone-based store where you can sell inventory within your app and take payments via PayPal. Sponsor Sweb Apps is an interesting company to watch because it's one of the first to democratize the iPhone app-building business by taking the complexity of coding out of the equation. With their service, anyone can create their own application in as little as five minutes. Of course, you aren't necessarily designing any masterpieces with this sort of click-to-build process, but it provides an easy - if a bit simplistic - way for small to medium-sized businesses to establish a presence in the iTunes App Store. Real-Time View of App Creation With the next generation of the

product, Sweb Apps 2.0, some of the original concerns about the well, let's say it- rather boring user interface of the Sweb-built apps - have begun to be addressed. Whereas before you could only customize your own background color and upload your own buttons, today you can customize the background to be an image instead. And if you don't have one of your own, Sweb Apps is providing an online library of images to choose from. That's a step in the right direction even if some of the backgrounds are reminiscent of early GeoCities webpages or Windows 98 wallpapers....after all, you have crawl first before you can run. As you build your app's landing page, you're provided with a realtime view of your app in progress which makes it much easier to tell whether your images, buttons and colors look good together or not. That's a handy feature for SMB owners who may be doing app creation on their own without the aid of a professional designer. The app builder also uses drag-anddrop functionality to make the process even more painless for the inexperienced end user. Mobile Storefronts However, one of the most interesting developments in the 2.0 version of Sweb Apps' online service is the new "store"

streams, and YouTube integrations, all of which stream the audio or video within the app itself as opposed to launching an external program such as the functionality. Now, as easy as it is iPhone's own built-in YouTube t o b u i l d a n a p p , y o u c a n app. Also news is the ability for essentially build a mobile users to manage multiple storefront for your business. This applications from one account. feature, still in beta, allows you to Sweb Apps says they've seen categorize, subcategorize, itemize, good results since their August and write descriptions for your 2009 launch with a 400% increase products. You can manage and in sales, but won't share any maintain your inventory through actual numbers. That doesn't Sweb's CMS and your mobile really tell us much about the customers can "check out" via the service's adoption by the SMB included PayPal integration. market. Since the company isn't Sweb Apps tells us that they touting any high-profile clients or envision this sort of feature being case studies in their PR though, used by restaurants, boutiques, we have to imagine that they're and small retailers. It's easy to flying a bit under the radar on the imagine. For example: wish you business front at this point. Still, had picked up a t-shirt from that it's very early in the game and seafood place where you dined on services like this can take a while vacation? In theory, you could to catch on and gain popularity. now even if you were halfway The pricing for Sweb Apps home thanks to these new mobile remains the same despite the new storefronts. In a way, these sorts features. The company offers of mobile storefronts are an even four, six, and eight button better choice than having the packages which all include a one same functionality on via an time set-up fee of $50 per button. online store on the "real" web Then there is a $25 monthly mainly because not everyone hosting fee applied to every ports their laptops around with application going forward. them 24/7. But their iPhones? Discuss People don't leave home without them. And More... Other features being introduced today include podcasts, audio

DIY Hand Strap Keeps Your DSLR Off the Ground [DIY Creations] By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker) Submitted at 10/19/2009 5:35:00 AM

A long camera strap is great for carrying a camera hands-free, but if you're more concerned about dropping your photo rig, Photojojo's got a cheap and customizable hand strap anyone can make. The materials are fairly cheap and accessible at your local crafts or hardware store. Find a good piece of one-inch-wide nylon or polyester webbing, a few bits of miscellaneous straps and slide hardware, and find a needle and thread and a match, and you're on your way. If you wanted, you could likely use the hand strap in conjunction with a longer, neckstrung strap to alternate uses of your camera. The Dashing DIY Hand Strap[Photojojo]

Will 'The Simpsons' Create an Episode Based Off of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Balloon Boyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Saga? (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 10/19/2009 4:50:00 AM

Characters and stars walked the "yellow" carpet in honor of "The

Simpsons'" 20th Anniversary. According to the Associated Press, director Morgan Spurlock said the "Balloon Boy" headlines would make "such a perfect

'Simpsons' episode." He continued, "It was American news at its best. We run with something without having all the facts. We turn it into a big lead story."

"The Simpsons" had a lot to celebrate as they cut their cake. The series is the longest-running American sitcom, animated program, and primetime scripted

entertainment program, according to the AP. "The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special in 3-D on Ice" is set to air in January.

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Google Enterprise Campaign Shifts Into High Gear on the Eve of Sharepoint Conference By Alex Williams (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 10/19/2009 1:00:25 AM

On the eve of Microsoft's Sharepoint conference in Las Vegas, Google is launching its international phase to an advertising campaign that is the largest ever for its push into the enterprise and one of the most extensive in the company's history. The "Gone Google," campaign is significant in a number of ways. Sharepoint is one of Microsoft's crown jewels. It's a huge business. The technology generates a cool $1 billion in revenues. The technology is at the heart of Microsoft's strategy to remain king over the enterprise. Steve Ballmer says Sharepoint will surpass 1 million developers in the next year. Sponsor Steve Ballmer is banking on customers making major investments in Sharepoint 2010. With the upgrade, customers face a host of new IT expenses. For example, Sharepoint 2010 requires upgrade from 32-bit to 64 -bit technology on all servers. Office 2007 will run on Sharepoint 2010 but Microsoft is recommending investments in Office 2010 for richer integration. Office 2003 users will need to upgrade to Office 2007 to run

across the globe. With the launch, Google launched a montage video. We find this interesting. If nothing else, YouTube offers Google a great way to promote its own products. Sharepoint 2010. Google has not slowed down Google App services require no IT environment to manage, no with it service offering. In expensive software upgrades and September, Google announced an no new server purchases. That's application program interface (API) for its Google Sites enticing for any size business. T h e G o o g l e c a m p a i g n technology, effectively providing highlights why the Microsoft users with a way to import and model may be slipping a bit. export apps from Microsoft Companies are questioning if they SharePoint sites. Google Wave is n e e d t o m a k e s u c h m a j o r a collaboration platform. It has i n v e s t m e n t s i n M i c r o s o f t received mixed reviews, its effectiveness in the enterprise still technology. For its part, Google has more too soon to tell. Google and many others see a than 2 million businesses on Google Apps, representing 20 giant in Microsoft that can be m i l l i o n u s e r s . G o o g l e i s slow and at times uneasy in how it expanding its Google Apps steps through the market. With service to the United Kingdom, each step, they face a community France, Canada, Japan, Australia network of micro-size businesses and Singapore. Clients include that are proving formidable with Motorola, New York Life and their best-in-breed technologies. It's a big week for Microsoft. Konica Minolta. The "Gone Google," campaign Sharepoint is at a juncture. With is a continuation of the roll out Google in such an aggressive they did over the summer. It mode, Microsoft will have to features changing messages from move faster with its own product businesses that have switched to development, convincing its Google for Google Apps, Google customers that what they provide Search Appliance and services is still the best choice for the such as Google Postini, their enterprise. Discuss hosted security and archiving service. The campaign is now running

Spring Design Announces Android-Based DualScreen eReader By Frederic Lardinois (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 10/19/2009 10:05:18 AM

Spring Design, a relatively unknown hardware design company, just announced that it will enter the eBook market with a dual-screen eReader based on the Android operating system. This device, the 'Alex,' will combine a 6-inch eInk display with a 3.5-inch color LCD touchscreen. According to Spring Design's press release, the company will use an 'enhanced' version of the Android OS that has been optimized to facilitate the integration between the two screens. Spring Design plans to release this device later this year. Sponsor Hardware The dual-screen concept is definitely interesting and somewhat reminiscent of the rumored Barnes & Noble-branded eReader that is scheduled to be announced tomorrow. For now, Spring Design's press release remains quiet about any content partnerships. Even though the company says that the device will be able to connect to 3G, EVDO/CDMA and GSM networks, Spring Design doesn't appear to be ready to announce any partnerships there either. Multimedia Books Maybe the most interesting aspect of the device is that the

company plans to give developers and publishers the ability to enhance the text that appears in the eInk screen with multimedia content on the LCD screen. This could open up a lot of new avenues for publishers, but at the same time, we have to wonder if a lot of publishers will be willing to develop new content for this device. Creating an eBook version of a manuscript is easy, but adding additional content to this text could quickly become a costly undertaking. Color us Skeptical Given how vague the details are, we remain skeptical about this device until we get more details. For now, all we know is that it will run Android, feature two screens, that it will have an SD card slot, and that users will be able to cache web content on the device and then display it on the eInk screen. We also can't help but look at the device and think that it would be rather unwieldy to use. It is definitely exciting to see that somebody is using Android to develop an eReader, but this device seems to forego usability for novelty. While we are all looking forward to color eInk displays, this device looks like an odd Discuss

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Loopt Launches "Loopt Mix": Less about Networking, More about Dating By Sarah Perez (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 10/19/2009 9:01:00 AM

Loopt, the makers of a popular mobile social networking application by the same name, is introducing a new iPhone application today called Loopt Mix. Where their original app focuses on connecting you with your friends while you're out-andabout, Loopt Mix is more about introducing you to "the people you wish you knew." In other words, "people" like that attractive person giving you eyes from the other end of the bar. Sponsor The new application is actually a spinoff of Loopt's "Mix" feature which lets you browse the Loopt profiles of those around you within its original mobile social networking application. Now Mix is its very own app - a change that could attract a whole new user base looking to do a little more than just basic "networking." Although the company is not specifically marketing Mix as a dating application, it's clearly designed for mobile singles because - let's face it- who else wants to browse the photos and profiles of nearby folks and strike up IM-based conversations with those who look interesting? If that's not about dating, then it's just borderline creepy.

ability to send you real-time push notifications - something which a few other social networking apps, Facebook included, have yet to adopt. In Loopt Mix, the push notifications work with the app's built-in chat functionality so you're notified when and if someone responds to you without you having to sit there looking uncool while constantly reloading the page or staring at the stillWhile Loopt Mix is not the first blank chat window. iPhone-based dating application It's also worth mentioning that others like DatingDNA and Skout you don't have to be out on the have beaten them to the punch - town to take advantage of Loopt the company may have a leg up Mix. Since it simply locates on their competition already people near you, you could use thanks to brand recognition alone. this anytime - even from your That's because Loopt was featured own home - to find and connect to in one of the many iPhone TV o t h e r i n t e r e s t i n g p e o p l e . commercials last year as a great However, should you ever want to way to stay in touch with friends. go offline, you and the other Given widespread exposure like person would have to make that, Loopt is already well-known a r r a n g e m e n t s t o m e e t outside of the early adopter set. somewhere...just like you would Loopt Mix Features on a "real" dating website like Like its competitors, Loopt Mix Match.com or eHarmony. The lets you tap into the iPhone's only difference with Loopt Mix is location-based features to see that, unlike traditional dating what other Loopt Mix members sites, the app is completely are nearby. You can browse their free.That, too, could help Mix profiles, view and post photos and grow - especially in this tough status messages, and start chat economy where finding love for a sessions - all of which are par for fee is a luxury many can no the course in mobile dating apps longer afford. Discuss these days. In fact, there's nothing all that revolutionary about Mix's feature set except for perhaps its

Windows 7 Recovery Discs Gets Your System Out of Tight Spots [Downloads] By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker)

pre-installers. Boot your system from NeoSmart's CD, and you'll get a Windows 7: If you run into a stripped-down Windows system boot-up error with Windows 7 with a window offering startup and don't have a recovery disc file repair, Restore Point returns, handy, you're usually in for some recovery from a whole-cloth manic fiddling, or you're just out image, memory testing, and a of luck. NeoSmart's recovery command prompt for those dire discs, however, can set things moments when only frantically right. Google-d terminal instructions Download NeoSmart's recovery can save you. discs for 32- and 64-bit systems, These Windows 7 System burn them to CD, and pop them R e c o v e r y D i s c s a r e a f r e e into any system that claims it's download via BitTorrent from unable to find the files needed to NeoSmart; alternately, hit the boot or is otherwise corrupted. CyberNet link to grab a copy from These discs contain the same directly from file-hosting site system recovery tools as a full MediaFire. Download Windows 7 Windows 7 disc, which are also S y s t e m R e c o v e r y g i v e n o u t b y n i c e P C Discs[NeoSmart via CyberNet] makersâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and sold as an expensive accessory by skimpy Windows Submitted at 10/19/2009 4:30:00 AM

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The Best Windows Tweaks that Still Work in Windows 7 [Windows 7] By The How-To Geek (Lifehacker) Submitted at 10/19/2009 9:00:00 AM

The final version of Windows 7 is being released this week to the general public, and after you get your hands on it the first thing you'll need to know is: Do all my tweaks still work? If you haven't already made the switch over to Windows 7, be sure to check out our guide to upgrading to the Windows 7 RC, which should still be applicable for the final release. If you aren't sure whether you want to make the switch full-time, you can always setup a dual-boot with Vista or XP. Disable Shortcut Icon Arrows This is one of those little annoyances that doesn't really affect functionality at all, but if you are worried about making your system look just right, you might want to get rid of the unseemly arrows that show up on any shortcut. There's loads of different methods to get rid of these icons—back in XP you could just use Tweak UI, but starting with Windows Vista you needed another application: the Vista Shortcut Overlay Remover. It still works in Windows 7, and is just about the simplest way to get rid of the arrows. Why this setting isn't built into Windows, I just don't know. Disable Shortcut Icon Arrow Overlay in Windows 7 or Vista Add Defrag to the Right-Click Menu If you want to quickly defragment your drive, there's way too many clicks that you

have to go through to start the defrag process—but you can use a simple tweak that adds defrag to the context menu for each drive. It's as simple as a little registry hack, which you can download and install without having to mess around in the registry yourself. Add Defragment to the RightClick Menu for a Drive Create Shortcuts to Lock the Screen, Shutdown, Restart Microsoft keeps moving the shutdown buttons around with every new version of Windows, but it seems like people are still asking for shortcuts to shut down or restart the PC, and the good news is that the old tweak still works just fine on Windows 7. You can even assign a shortcut key to them if you choose, just make sure to put the shortcut on the start menu or desktop if you want the shortcut key to work. Create Shutdown / Restart / Lock Icons in Windows 7 or Vista Make Windows Log On Automatically When you are the only person

using your PC at home, there's really not much reason to require a login every time you restart your computer. Luckily there's an easy way to make sure that Windows doesn't ask you for a password when you log on, using the netplwiz utility. Just uncheck the box that says "Users must enter a user name and password", enter your password in twice, and you won't have to login anymore. Make Windows 7 or Vista Log On Automatically Stop Windows Update from Automatically Restarting Your PC This is my personal pet peeve with Windows—you are right in the middle of a few dozen things, with a ton of applications open on your screen, and you come back to your computer only to find that your PC has restarted because of Windows Update decided that rebooting that instant was more important than all that work you had on your screen. If you are sitting in front of your PC, you can always temporarily disable

the automatic reboot, but there's another registry hack that will prevent it from happening in the first place. Prevent Windows Update from Forcibly Rebooting Your Computer Add Any Folder To Your Taskbar This tweak has worked on every version of Windows for a very long time, and even with the new taskbar in Windows 7, it still works perfectly. Just right-click on the taskbar, choose Toolbars –> New Toolbar, and pick the folder you'd like to add. You can make them icon-only, remove the label, or make them use large icons. You can even use this trick to add the Quick Launch folder back to Windows 7. Add "My Computer" to Your Windows 7 / Vista Taskbar Add "Take Ownership" to the Context Menu If you were rocking an administrator account on Windows XP, you pretty much had access to do anything you

wanted, but since Vista, Windows made it extremely difficult to change files and folders in any of the system directories. To easily solve this problem, there's a simple little registry hack that will add a "Take Ownership" item to the context menu, after which you can rename, delete, or do whatever you'd like. Add "Take Ownership" to Explorer Right-Click Menu in Win 7 or Vista Add Copy/Move to the Context Menu Sure, there are loads of ways to copy or move files around in Windows, but there's one simple little registry hack that will add a "Copy To folder" and "Move To folder" option to the context menu. Once you've added them to the menu, you can pop up a dialog box that lets you easily choose a folder to move or copy the items to—it's one of those great little hacks that's been around forever, and still works in Windows 7. Add Copy To / Move To on Windows 7 or Vista Right-Click Menu Disable the Caps Lock Key The Caps Lock key is by far my least favorite key on the keyboard—at least the scroll lock key doesn't interfere with my typing when I hit it by accident. Thankfully it's easy enough to get rid of with a simple registry hack, or you can map any key to any key using an easy freeware utility. If you'd rather not disable it, you can instead use Caps Lock as a keyboard-friendly navigation tool or turn it into a dedicated BEST page 33

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BEST continued from page 32 minimize button. Disable Caps Lock Key in Windows 7 or Vista Stop Losing the Sleep/Shutdown Button to Windows Update So you're rushing to finish up that TPS report so you can duck out early and avoid Lumberg asking you to work on the weekend, only to realize that Windows hijacked your Sleep/Shutdown button and is now slowly installing updates for the next twenty minutes or so. Thankfully there's another simple registry hack that will prevent Windows from changing out your regular shutdown button with the install updates variety. Stop Windows Update from Hijacking the Sleep Button Enable Remote Desktop Remote Desktop doesn't come with all the flavors of Windows—you can only use it if you are running the Ultimate, Pro, or Business editions. If you are using one of those versions and want an excellent way to control the PC in the other room, Remote Desktop is where it's at—in Windows 7 or Vista it will even enable Aero through the Remote Desktop session. To enable for yourself, simply head into System properties, choose Remote

Settings, and then change the radio button to enable it. Turn on Remote Desktop in Windows 7 or Vista Disable Sticky / Filter Keys Dialogs Have you ever been playing a game, or doing something else that required pressing the Shift or Ctrl keys a bunch of times, and then had the "Do you want to turn on Sticky Keys?" question pop up on your screen? It might be a great feature for some people, but it's not useful for the rest of us—and it's really annoying. Thankfully you can disable the keyboard shortcuts entirely by heading into the Control Panel's Ease of Access center and looking under the keyboard section. Disable the Irritating Sticky / Filter Keys Popup Dialogs Disable Windows Explorer Click Sounds Ever noticed that every time you double-click on anything in Windows Explorer, it makes an annoying clicking sound? If you do a lot of file management, this sound can quickly drive you batty. Thankfully there's a really simple way to disable it—just head into the Sounds panel and find the item called "Start Navigation" in the list. Once you've disabled that sound, you should be finally free

of the irritation. Turn Off Windows Explorer Click Sounds in Windows 7 or Vista Disable User Account Control's Annoying Prompts UAC has noble intentions, but for power users who know what they're doing, they can be extremely annoying. Windows 7 makes it so much easier to get rid of those annoying prompts than Vista—you can simply head into Control Panel, find the UAC settings panel, and then drag the slider to fit the level of annoyance you feel like dealing with. If you'd rather keep UAC enabled but want to prevent the prompts for a particular application, you can always create shortcuts that bypass the UAC prompts with a simple task scheduler trick. Disable User Account Control (UAC) the Easy Way on Win 7 or Vista These are just a few of the many Windows tweaks that still work in Windows 7. Do you have a can't-live-without tweak that you want to still use in Windows 7? Tell us in the comments. The 20 Best Windows Tweaks that Still Work in Windows 7[How-To Geek]

Karzai vote ‘fell short of victory’ (Financial Times - US homepage)

outright victory in the country’s flawed presidential poll, raising the chances that a prolonged Submitted at 10/19/2009 9:28:49 AM election crisis may result in a runFraud investigators ordered off. Afghan election officials on The findings of the United Monday to deny Hamid Karzai, Nations-backed watchdog will Afghanistan’s president, an fuel an escalating confrontation

between Mr Karzai, who is adamant that he won the August 20 vote, and western powers embarrassed by evidence of massive rigging in their ally’s favour. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Apple Pulls EyeTV App Over 3G Streaming By Charles Jade (TheAppleBlog)

of AT&T’s terms of service in the U.S. and Apple’s policy everywhere else. Just last month, Submitted at 10/19/2009 5:00:26 AM another video streaming app, Although El Gato’s EyeTV app SlingPlayer, was released in has been able to stream content Europe, still shackled to Wi-Fi over AT&T’s seemingly fragile only. Sad, but those are the rules, 3G network since last month, it which makes you wonder why El wasn’t until this past weekend Gato broke them. According to that people were talking about it. Julio Ojeda-Zapata of Your Tech That talk, at Gizmodo, was Blog, El Gato says “test code” followed by swift and decisive was “accidentally left in the action by Apple. EyeTV is no EyeTV app.” El Gato has already more at the App Store. resubmitted a version of the For those who don’t know, the EyeTV app without the offending EyeTV app accesses content from code. an EyeTV, the company’s Personally, I applaud El Gato television recording device, for its user-friendly sloppiness. attached to a Mac, and sends it to The real error here is allowing an iPhone. As the pictured telecommunication companies to warning from the app clearly regulate content on any network. states, a Wi-Fi connection is As Q4 begins, online video is required. However, tapping the now mainstream. Read the, " warning text instead of the “OK” Connected Consumer Q3 Wrapbutton enables streaming over a up." cellular connection. Unfortunately, that’s a violation

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Android 2.0 Features Combined Inbox, "Car Home" [Android] By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker)

By Bob Sassone (TV Squad) Submitted at 10/19/2009 12:33:00 PM

Submitted at 10/19/2009 8:00:00 AM

The Boy Genius Report got its hands on the upcoming Android Verizon phone, "Droid," and toured its early-release 2.0 firmware. The blog finds a few keen features to be released, including a unified inbox and voice-controlled car accessibility. The screens come from Motorola's phone, now heavily advertised over the weekend as a direct competitor to the iPhone, but the Android 2.0 features will presumably make their way to Android phones of all stripes (eventually). The neatest stuff inside, from a usability standpoint, includes a "Car Home" that presents big buttons and voice-controlled instructions, like saying "map of wendys" and getting a Google Map filled with

Three Rivers: Good Intentions open thread

the popular square-burger-patty chain. A "combined inbox" loads your work email messages, SMS, Facebook pings, important blog updates, and other messages into one screen (though Gmail remains separate), and settings offerings like haptic feedback (subtle vibration) for virtual keys, selective account syncing, and

other offerings. What's still missing from Android 2.0 from a software standpoint? Tell us your take on the presumed future of Google's open source phone system in the comments. Android 2.0 screenshot walkthrough[Boy Genius Report]

I hate when football runs over. I want to watch 60 Minutes but two teams insist on ending the fourth quarter in a tie and have to go to overtime. Even when it's not OT the game often runs over, and for some reason CBS then goes to another game instead of starting the prime time shows right away. Last night they went to another game and fans of Cold Case were left in the dark because CBS didn't have enough time to show the episode. But Three Rivers fans got to see Alex O'Loughlin and his friends try to save lives. What did you think of the episode? [Watch episodes and clips of Three Rivers and other shows at

Fed confirms reverse repo tests

LastPass Adds Auto-Fill Password Management to Google Chrome [Downloads] By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker)

Firefox and Internet Explorer, and it's a bit more convenient and Submitted at 10/19/2009 7:00:00 AM functional than its bookmarklet Google Chrome (on Windows): form filler. The concept remains Password saving and management the same: you only have to webapp LastPass offers a single remember your LastPass login, space to drop your web site and LastPass remembers all your passwords and quickly use them other passwords and, if you want, on any browser—now including credit card and form data, too. Chrome, through an extension Before you ask, here's how available to development channel LastPass justifies its safety and development channel version of users. encryption. LastPass works on Chrome The extension and its features Google Chrome on Windows. similarly to how it does on w o r k e d a s p r o m i s e d o n a Testing it out on a daily build of

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extension-supporting Chromium on Ubuntu, however, led to consistent crashes, and I'd expect the same out of Mac OS X builds, at least until those platforms mature or LastPass gets around to addressing them. LastPass' Chrome extension is a free download, works wherever Chrome does, and requires a LastPass account to use. LastPass - Downloads[via MakeUseOf]

(Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 10/19/2009 7:30:27 AM

The Federal Reserve on Monday confirmed it had been testing reverse repurchase agreements known as “reverse repos” - with primary dealers and said it had broadened the use of these monetary policy tools to include triparty repos. In a statement released to clarify market concerns about the monetary policy implications of the Fed’s recent testing of reverse repos, the central bank’s New York arm sought to downplay the immediate effects. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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What's On Tonight: Accidentally on Purpose, Little People, Big World, Gossip Girl By Bob Sassone (TV Squad) Submitted at 10/19/2009 12:15:00 PM

• At 8, ABC has a new, two-hour Dancing with the Stars, then a new Castle. • CBS has a new How I Met Your Mother at 8, followed by new episodes of Accidentally on Purpose, Two and a Half Men, Big Bang Theory, and CSI: Miami. • NBC has new episodes of Heroes, Trauma, and The Jay Leno Show. • FOX has a new House, then a new Lie To Me. • The CW has a new One Tree Hill at 8, followed by a new Gossip Girl. • ABC Family has a new Lincoln Heights at 8, then a new Greek. • TLC has two new episodes of Little People, Big World at 8, followed by a new Jon & Kate Plus 8. • Also at 8: Food Network has a new Good Eats. • At 8:30, ESPN has Monday Night Football, the Broncos vs. By sarahrae (Lifehacker) need of tool storage inside her San drawer organizers and hardware the Chargers. Francisco apartment. Like any from IKEA, plus casters that • At 9, USA has a new Monday Submitted at 10/19/2009 8:30:00 AM good crafter with a repurposing allow the unit to roll from place to Night RAW. A rolling tool chest is a mind, she found a starting point place. She did some basic repair • Food Network has a new functional way to store your tools, for just $10—a dresser that had to the piece before beginning, Unwrapped at 9. but it's not always the most definitely seen better days. which will help it hold up to the • At 10, Food Network has a attractive option for your home if Although, it was in a sad state of weight of her tools overtime. new Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. it needs to inhabit a space where affairs before, a little paint, Hit up Craftynest to read the full it's always on display. A rolling primer, and hardware can go a tutorial and list of materials dresser addresses this problem long way, and she's created a needed to recreate this project at nicely. functional place to keep her tools home. Old Dresser = Rolling Tool Monica Ewing of the home in order. Cabinet[Crafty Nest] decor weblog Craftynest was in Ewing also used some simple

Make a Rolling Tool Chest From a Discarded Dresser [DIY]

• TLC has a new Ultimate CakeOff at 10. • Bravo has a new Million Dollar Listing at 10. Check your local TV listings for more. After the jump, the late night talk shows. Continue reading What's On Tonight: Accidentally on Purpose, Little People, Big World, Gossip Girl Filed under: Late Night, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

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Rock Band Comes to the App Store By Liam Cassidy (TheAppleBlog) Submitted at 10/19/2009 8:22:51 AM

It had to happen sooner or later. EA Mobile’s Rock Band is now available in the iTunes App Store. From the EA Mobile web site: Take your band on the road with 20 legendary songs from great bands like Smashing Pumpkins, Lynyrd Skynyrd & the Beastie Boys, all delivered with the highest, MP3-quality sound. Rock out solo on lead bass, drums, guitar & vocals, or start a band with other rockers from around the world! Jump into Quickplay for casual jam sessions, or take it on the road in Tour Mode in EA Mobile’s ROCK BAND! The big-brother version of Rock Band (for major consoles such as the XBOX 360 and PS3) requires the use of mock instruments, which lends a certain sort of verisimilitude to the gaming experience — that is, so long as you can ignore the Thunderbirdsstyle avatars and the fact that you’re not actually playing an instrument, you’re just thumbing buttons on a plastic stick. Oh, and you absolutely must be prepared to ignore how foolish you and your friends look while you’re doing it. But that’s really all part

already firing up iTunes to get it. Otherwise, take a look at the bundled songs and decide whether there’s enough here to warrant hitting that Buy App button and parting with $9.99. • Attack– 30 Seconds To Mars • Girls Not Grey– AFI • Move Along– All American Rejects • Sabotage– Beastie Boys • All The Small Things– Blink182 of the appeal of Rock Band. It’s • Hanging on the Telephone– supremely silly and mountains of Blondie fun. • Learn To Fly– Foo Fighters Obviously the iPhone’s • Everlong– Foo Fighters 320×480 pixel capacitive • Bad to The Bone– George touchscreen is hardly reminiscent Thorogood & the Destroyers of a Stratocaster. Without the faux • Hymn 43– Jethro Tull -instruments, Rock Band for • Bad Reputation– Joan Jett iPhone offers an unavoidably • Simple Man– Lynard Skynard watered-down gameplay • Ace of Spades ‘08– Motorhead experience. In short, it loses the • Debaser– Pixies original feel of Rock Band. • Ladybug– Presidents of The Instead, it becomes a clone of the United States of America hugely popular Tap Tap from • Give It All– Rise Against Tapulous, which was first • Lazy Eye– Silversun Pick Ups released in the App Store way • Cherub Rock– Smashing back in September 2007. Pumpkins Rock Band for iPhone and iPod • Take The Money and Run– touch launches with 20 songs Steve Miller Band (listed below), and it’s probably • We Got The Beat– The Go only a matter of time before more Go’s tracks are made available via inIn Q3, NewNet focus turns to app purchasing. If you’re a fan of business models and search. Read Rock Band and want a complete the, " NewNet Q3 Wrap-up." collection, you’re probably

Heene family faked 'Balloon Boy' accident to get on TV By Danny Gallagher (TV Squad) Submitted at 10/19/2009 9:03:00 AM

Everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing when they learned about"Balloon Boy." Rather, they remember what they were thinking: "Has the news media completely run out of things to cover today or was Chester the Squirrel That Can Water-Ski taking a day off?" Every section of your TV had been preempted and saturated with coverage of what sheriff's deputies believed to be a runaway balloon that was carrying the life of an innocent boy with it. It even preempted the so-called cable "news" networks that interrupted coverage of the pending health care reform bill. That move only would have made sense if insurance companies refused to cover victims of hot air balloon accidents because they considered "gravity" to be a pre-existing

condition. And the really funny part is now it starts getting weird. The Larimer County Sheriff's Office said the family faked the whole thing just so they could get on TV. Continue reading Heene family faked 'Balloon Boy' accident to get on TV Filed under: Other Reality Shows, News, Video Permalink| Email this| | Comments

Does loving Glee make me a bad feminist? By Hemal Jhaveri (TV Squad) Submitted at 10/19/2009 11:03:00 AM

There are plenty of ill-conceived female characters all over primetime TV (just pick any show on the CW for starters) but is it fair to dump Glee into that category? While Glee undoubtedly has some

of the most egregious, misshapen teen girls around, I don't think it's this fall's worst offender. Sadie over at Jezebel makes some very salient points in her gender-critique of Glee, but she misses the mark when she calls the show "cheap and disingenuous." Yes, stock

but I don't think that's what's Continue reading Does loving happening on Glee. Glee make me a bad feminist? As an avid fan, I think you can Filed under: OpEd, Realityappreciate the show without Free, Glee dismissing it because it doesn't Permalink| Email this| | portray women in a positive light. Comments This is a Ryan Murphy show. And portrayals of female characters no one comes out looking good in can reinforce harmful stereotypes, a Ryan Murphy show.

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WolframAlpha iPhone: Why the $50 Ann Coulter has the most annoying voice ever Asking Price? By Jane Boursaw (TV Squad)

By Darrell Etherington (TheAppleBlog)

Submitted at 10/19/2009 10:33:00 AM

Submitted at 10/19/2009 7:36:26 AM

WolframAlpha Web App When it was first released, WolframAlpha generated a lot of buzz surrounding the impressive computational power the new search engine-type service offered. Specifically for mathematical and statistical queries, it goes quite beyond what Google is able to offer. But does all that power justify a $50 price tag on the site’s iPhone app treatment? Wolfram Alpha LLC seems to think so, since it’s asking $49.99 for the just-released app, the first developed using Wolfram Alpha’s new API. Mashable also seems to agree, but I’m not so sure, and I’ll tell you why. Mashable’s Christina Warren is quick to point out that the iPhone version “is much more than just a mobile version of the website,” a claim which I definitely agree would justify at least some kind of extra expenditure, but then I compared my results on the webbased version running in Safari to the ones she showed from the app itself. Guess what? The results are identical. In the app, things are slightly more readable and optimized for the iPhone’s screen, but the data is exactly the same, and the web interface is far from clunky itself. Things like Source Information do seem to work a lot better in the app than in the web interface, because they weren’t specifically

designed for mobile touchscreen platforms, but if you’re like me, you don’t go around dropping $50 to resolve every minor inconvenience that comes your way. The Mashable piece also rolls in the value of the Wolfram app as a graphing calculator, which would be useful for students, it goes on to suggest. Putting aside the fact that you get the same graphs using the web app as you do with the app, students would never be able to use this app in a test situation, when cheating is an issue, and a device that requires network connectivity to work is involved. Professionals that might use it would benefit just as much from using the web app, so I don’t buy this argument either. So is the price of WolframAlpha for iPhone an example of absurd hubris on the part of its

developers? I don’t think so. I think they’ve just made a highly polished, non-browser based version of their awesome computational engine targeted at professionals and businessmen who look at a $50 application as a justifiable expense for something they use many times daily. Don’t, however, try to tell me that the price is justified by added features or functionality, or that anyone other than an elite class of niche users would find enough value to merit the cost. The price will come down if Wolfram decides it wants to sell the app, so my advice is to just be patient if you’re anxious to get your mobile stats analysis on. What was the big news that happened in your sector in Q3? Catch up with GigaOM Pro's, " Quarterly Wrap-ups."

I don't fit neatly into any one political category. There are things I like about the Republican party and things I like about the Democratic party. I watch Fox News and CNN equally, and there are talking heads on both networks that I like and don't like. I will say this, though: Ann Coulter has one of the most annoying voices on TV right now. It's hard to listen to what she's saying, because her whiny voice is so distracting. Sometimes when I'm just listening to her but not watching her, I almost expect to look over at the TV and see a cartoon character droning on about ... whatever. I don't watch Saturday Night Live regularly, but surely someone must have spoofed her by now. With her nasal voice, hair fixation, and political opinions,

she's like a skit waiting to happen. Aside from their political views, what other commentators just bug the heck out of you? (Yes, I realize I'm going to be in the eye of the storm here; keep it as clean as possible!) Filed under: News, OpEd, Celebrities, Talk Show Permalink| Email this| | Comments

Biggest ad markets will see no growth until 2011 (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 10/19/2009 8:07:45 AM

The world’s largest media markets will return to growth in 2011, according to the latest advertising spending forecast, but with only a “meagre” recovery as emerging markets take a greater share of global ad budgets. ZenithOptimedia, the media

agency owned by Publicis Groupe, said on Monday that advertising spending in the developed markets of western Europe, North America and Japan would fall by 2.9 per cent next year, growing 1.5 per cent in 2011. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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Apple Acknowledges Battery Overheating in First-Generation iPod Nano By Darrell Etherington (TheAppleBlog)

shortage of pages like this that seem to indicate that Apple users were well aware of the tendency a Submitted at 10/19/2009 6:53:32 AM full four years before Apple If you have a first-generation decided to acknowledge them. If iPod nano (the one that looks like you bought your device in 2006 a slimmed-down version of the and you paid extra for extended iPod video and comes in only AppleCare service, you may still black and white), you may be able be covered, but it’s unclear to get a replacement or a fix from whether devices not under Apple, depending on what kind of warranty will be eligible for symptoms your device is replacement. exhibiting. If I was the suspicious type, I’d Specifically, Apple think it highly unusual that Apple acknowledged via a knowledge would wait this long to base article that the early nanos than 0.001 percent) and the issue acknowledge a problem that have a tendency to display battery has been traced to a single battery s e e m s t o b e f a i r l y w e l l overheating problems, an issue supplier. There have been no documented in the past. Even if it that it seems like every one of its reports of serious injuries or is providing replacements for production mobile devices is property damage. Additionally, those without AppleCare, which accused of at one time or another. there have been no reports of such seems to me unlikely without an The article posted by Apple does incidents with any other iPod official announcement of an admit to the problem in the 1G nano model. extension of eligibility, the timing Discoloration, overheating, and means that many nano owners nanos, but it sure goes out of its way to downplay its significance, case deformity near the battery will already have ponied up for a as is evident from the following are all symptoms of the problem, newer model, or an iPhone. so it should be fairly easy to tell if passage: If you have an affected model Apple has determined that in y o u r m o d e l i s a f f e c t e d . iPod nano, do us a favor and very rare cases, batteries in the Remember, though, that there’s contact AppleCare and let us iPod nano (1st generation) sold overheating and then there’s just know how Apple responds. between September 2005 and plain heating, which is something What was the big news that December 2006, may overheat all Apple devices do even when in happened in your sector in Q3? and prevent the iPod nano from fine working order. Catch up with GigaOM Pro's, " Interestingly, if you do a quick Quarterly Wrap-ups." working and deform it. Apple has received very few and dirty Google search for nano reports of such incidents (less overheating woes, you find no

I'm psyched about Crystal Chappell's return to Days of Our Lives By Allison Waldman (TV Squad) Submitted at 10/19/2009 10:03:00 AM

I'm still not really over the end of Guiding LIght, but if there's one thing soap fans know, you have to move on. You get over the end of Santa Barbara, mourn the loss of Another World, remember forever that before vampires were in vogue in prime time, Barnabus Collins ruled daytime, despite rickety sets and off-the-rack costumes. That said, even while people are saying that soaps are dead -- or dying -- I'm excited about Crystal Chappell returning to Days of Our Lives. You want to know how excited? I'm going to watch. After Deidre Hall and Drake Hogestyn were unceremoniously dumped by the soap, I drifted away. But I'm willing to give Days another try, especially because my curiosity has been piqued about Crystal's

return. Continue reading I'm psyched about Crystal Chappell's return to Days of Our Lives Filed under: OpEd, Daytime, Video, Casting, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

TLC's Heavy Haulers looks like fun By Jane Boursaw (TV Squad) Submitted at 10/19/2009 9:34:00 AM

Following the season six premiere of American Chopper on Thursday at 9 PM (I sure hope

those squabbling Teutuls can work things out), TLC is premiering a new pilot titled Heavy Haulers at 10 PM. That picture sort of says it all, doesn't it? In addition to the logistics of

moving such a huge piece of

machinery, I'm wondering how you even get into the thing once you get where you're going. Continue reading TLC's Heavy Haulers looks like fun Filed under: Other Reality

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WNBA's Detroit Shock reportedly moving to Tulsa By Associated Press (ESPN.com)

league by the end of October with the goal of having a team in Oklahoma next season. Submitted at 10/19/2009 9:00:23 AM Cameron and fellow investor The WNBA's Detroit Shock are David Box -- both Oklahoma City moving to Tulsa, Okla., a team businessmen -- announced last official told The Associated Press. month that former Tulsa and The official spoke on the Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson condition of anonymity Monday would serve as the WNBA team's because he was not authorized to coach and general manager if make the announcement. Tulsa landed a franchise. Detroit made its debut in the The Shock had a lot of success league in 1998 and won titles in on the court, but not in the stands 2008, 2006 and 2003. The Shock i n a s t a t e w i t h f o u r m a j o r lost last month to the Indiana professional teams along with Fever in the Eastern Conference Michigan and Michigan State By Jonathan Toomey (TV many high points. Last night's finals after rallying to earn a athletics. In the 2003 WNBA Finals, Squad) installment had some of those playoff spot. Last week, a group of investors Detroit did draw 22,076 fans -moments, but for the most part, I Submitted at 10/19/2009 11:28:00 AM didn't give a crap about the white in Tulsa said they would formally setting a record for the largest apply to the WNBA to purchase a crowd to watch a women's ( S01E05)"Is vodka really made dove or why she was lonely. professional basketball game -from potatoes?" - Jonathan Continue reading Review: franchise. Lead investor Bill Cameron has but most games were sparsely Bored to Death isn't boring me, Bored to Death - The Case of the said his group, called Tulsa Pro attended with a curtain covering but after last night's extremely Lonely White Dove slow episode, it's close. The Filed under: Other Comedy Hoops LLC, will exercise its up the upper level of The Palace premise of the show coupled with Shows, OpEd, Episode Reviews, option to buy a WNBA team and of Auburn Hills. expected a decision from the Tulsa, with about 385,000 a really great cast speaks to the Reality-Free potential Bored to Death has, but Permalink| Email this| | save for last week's episode(the Comments one with Parker Posey and still the best so far), there haven't been

Review: Bored to Death - The Case of the Lonely White Dove

people, would be the secondsmallest city with a WNBA franchise -- after Uncasville, Conn. The team would play at the BOK Center, which holds about 18,000 and opened last year. Cameron and Box are members of the ownership group of the Tulsa Talons of arenafootball2. Cameron also is part of the ownership group of the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder. That group bought the thenSeattle SuperSonics and the WNBA's Seattle Storm in July 2006, but sold the WNBA franchise to Seattle investors before moving the NBA franchise to Oklahoma City last year. The Shock's move would give the state of Oklahoma two professional basketball teams. Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Washington Redskins have Sherman Lewis calling plays By Associated Press (ESPN.com) Submitted at 10/19/2009 9:21:00 AM

Schefter On Zorn: 'He Will Get Fired' Schefter On Zorn: 'He Will Get Fired' VIDEO PLAYLIST • Schefter On Zorn: 'He Will Get Fired' Schefter On Zorn: 'He Will Get Fired' • Schefter: NFL QB Woes

Schefter: NFL QB Woes ASHBURN, Va. -- From calling Bingo to calling plays, Sherman Lewis is taking Jim Zorn's favorite duty. Mike and Mike in the Morning Hall of Famer and ESPN NFL analyst Mike Ditka talks about how good the Saints are, both offensively and defensively. Ditka also talks about the decision in

Washington to take away Jim Zorn's play-calling duties. More Podcasts » The Washington Redskins said Monday that Lewis will take over the play calling for an offense that is averaging only 13.2 points per game. The front office stripped Zorn of the play-calling role following Sunday's 14-6 loss to previously

winless Kansas City. The Redskins are 2-4, and they have failed to score a touchdown in two of their home games. Two weeks ago, Lewis was enjoying retirement in Michigan, calling Bingo games at a senior center and delivering Meals on Wheels. He previously spent 22 years as an NFL assistant and was originally hired as a consultant for

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Cliff Lee, Philly’s One-Man Bullpen Cure (WSJ.com: The Daily Fix) Submitted at 10/19/2009 8:35:35 AM

Baseball teams aren’t supposed to just swap a bunch of prospects for a big-name star and ride said star to the World Series. Baseball is complicated, after all, and one player can only do so much and now, it seems, we maybe have an outlier on our hands. The Philadelphia Phillies sent a package of prospects to Cleveland at the trading deadline for 2008 American League Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee. Lee pitched brilliantly down the stretch and has since announced himself as the defining super-ace of the 2009 postseason. Lee struck out 11 in a thoroughly dominant eight-inning showing Sunday night as the Phillies claimed an 11 -0 win and a 2-1 series lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Reuters Watching Cliff Lee and CC Sabathia dominate this month probably doesn’t comfort Cleveland fans as LeBron James heads into a contract year. “Cliff Lee spent 43 minutes, give or take a few seconds, on the pitchers mound Sunday night,” Yahoo’s Jeff Passan writes. “TBS spent nearly an hour of the National League Championship Series airing commercials. One was far more entertaining than the other.” In the Philadelphia Inquirer, Andy Martino marvels at how the locked-in Lee “impose[d] his patience on the entire game.” Lee’s brilliance — and the antibrilliance of Dodgers starter Hiroki Kuroda, who allowed six earned runs and got just four outs — did much to conceal the continuing issues with Philadelphia’s ramshackle bullpen. Both managers in the

NLCS have drawn criticism for their handling of pitchers thus far. Joe Torre heard about it for leaving Clayton Kershaw in too long in Game One. Charlie Manuel drew heat for pulling Pedro Martinez too soon in Game Two. In the Washington Times, Mark Zuckerman encourages Manuel to throw out his regularseason playbook. While the Dodgers are down in their series, the New York Yankees remain seemingly inevitable in holding up their end of what Diane Pucin reports is America’s preferred World Series match-up — Dodgers and Yanks. The Yankees’ dramatic, or at least very long and very cold, 13inning win over the freezing, flubby, balaclava-clad Angels Saturday gave them a 2-0 series lead. In the New York Times, Jack Curry addresses the suddenly mistake-prone Angels.* * * It might be the team’s almost proud heritage of losing. It might be the memories of owner Tom Benson’s embarrassingly stumbleintensive pseudo-second-line “boogie” from back in the day. Or it might be the fact that this year’s seemingly unstoppable Saints feature a fun run-and-gun offense headed by an astonishingly locked -in passer in Drew Brees, and thus have been given the dreaded “finesse” tag. But whatever the reason, something delayed the acknowledgement of the nowinarguable for-realness of this year’s very talented New Orleans team. The Saints rudely dispatched the previously unbeaten New York Giants Sunday, 48-27. Or, in the words of Saints defensive end Bobby McCray, “finesse-ively” kicked some blue rear end.

And yet the Saints continue to resist the “finesse” label. At CBS Sports, Pete Prisco argues that they shouldn’t. “Trust me, it isn’t a bad thing,” Prisco writes. “What that word means for the Saints is that they are a precision passing team that is led by one of the game’s best passers, who has his plays called by the NFL’s best play-caller. If that makes them a finesse team, so be it.” The outcome was never in doubt in Sunday’s Saints win, but that game was a nailbiter relative to the New England Patriots’ whipping of the Tennessee Titans. Tom Brady passed for six scores in New England’s merciless 59-0 stomp-out of the winless Titans, which brought back memories of the remorselessly, seethingly dominant Patriots of a couple years ago. “If this were smoothsailing 2007, youd say it was business as usual,” The Patriot Ledger’s Eric McHugh writes. “Since this is up-and-down/hardto-figure 2009, youre not sure what to make of Patriots 59, Titans/Oilers/Human White Flags 0. Maybe its the start of something great.” For the flailing Titans, who wound up passing for minus-7 yards in the snowy conditions, it was more of the same. “You felt like you were watching a Madden game between someone who had been playing for two decades and a novice gamer,” FanHouse’s

Clay Travis writes. The Boston Globe’s Bob Ryan found the stunningly lopsided game — New England’s 45-0 halftime lead set an NFL record — hard to believe. The Baltimore Ravens nearly pulled off a hard-to-believe result of their own by charging back from three scores down in the fourth quarter in Minnesota Sunday. The Vikings held on to win thanks to some late-game heroics from Brett Favre and receiver Sidney Rice, but still could’ve lost had Ravens kicker Steve Hauschka made a 44-yard field goal with seconds left on the clock. He didn’t, and the Vikings have their first 6-0 start since 2003. In the St. Paul Pioneer Press, John Shipley discusses the kicker fellowship that led Vikings kicker Ryan Longwell to seek out Hauschka after the game.* * * Both the University of Texas and University of Florida have solid chances at the BCS Championship this season. You probably already know this. But those who watched both teams pull out none-too-inspiring victories Saturday might need a reminder. Texas beat Oklahoma, 16-13, as Longhorns quarterback Colt McCoy led the team to victory despite playing with a broken thumb. FanHouse’s Greg Couch does some pre-emptive deflation on the dominant narrative of the latest Red River Rivalry game. “[When you] hear the fairy tale of McCoy, keep this in mind: He wasn’t any good,” Couch writes. “And Texas? Worse. The Longhorns are a long, long way from being a legit national championship team. Sure, the fun and pageantry of the rivalry were great, as always. But the game?

Bad. Texas? Worse.” Sports Illustrated’s Stewart Mandel wasn’t impressed with either the ‘Horns or the Gators, who pulled out a 23-20 win over Arkansas on a late field goal. Florida’s uninspired and uninspiring effort led voters to move undefeated Alabama into the top spot in the BCS rankings on Sunday. “Technically speaking, it’s all a formality,” Mandel writes. “All three still control their own BCS destinies, since the two SEC powers would ultimately face one another in a conference-title elimination game should they win their preceding games. The question is, do you still believe Florida and Texas will make it to December undefeated?”* * * Dan Snyder, a forward for the Atlanta Thrashers, was killed in a car accident a little over six years ago. On Sunday, his former teammates visited the small Dan Snyder Memorial Arena in Elmira, Ontario, for an open practice. Teams seldom practice after back-to-back games, but as ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun writes, this was much more emotional than an ordinary practice, both for the Thrashers and the 1,500 mostly young fans who came out to watch them.* * * It’s hard to know what to make of the United Football League, which has quietly kicked off its inaugural season. The league’s progenitors — from the doomed meatheadism of the XFL to the fun-but-bankrupt USFL — don’t suggest much reason for optimism. But the UFL has some big-name coaches to its credit, many semi-notable football names CLIFF page 41

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Teammates tended to UConn Huskies cornerback Jasper Howard after stabbing By Brian Bennett (ESPN.com)

An autopsy showed Howard, 20, was killed by a single stab Submitted at 10/19/2009 9:40:51 AM wound to his abdomen, and the UConn Community Mourns state medical examiner's office H o w a r d ' s D e a t h U C o n n ruled the Miami native's death a Community Mourns Howard's homicide. Death The medical examiner's office T h e r e a r e a t l e a s t t w o released its findings Monday. Connecticut players who have Howard and another male been so strongly affected by the student were stabbed outside the stabbing death of cornerback UConn Student Union early Jasper Howard that they may not Sunday morning, after a pulled play Saturday at West Virginia, fire alarm forced an evacuation coach Randy Edsall said. during a university-sponsored Edsall declined to identify them dance. Monday, calling it a private The other student, who has not matter, but said one player had been identified, has been released held Howard in his arms after the from a local hospital. stabbing, while another tried to UConn police Maj. Ronald address the wound and was Blicher said Monday that no covered with blood. arrests have been made and "I've talked to both of them each authorities have no suspects. day," Edsall said. "If they don't Blicher says the stabbings feel like they're mentally ready to stemmed from a dispute between play, that's their decision, and I two groups of people, including will honor whatever decision they some who were not students. want to make." Police interviewed dozens of Edsall said there was no real witnesses on Monday but said thought about postponing this there were no suspects and no week's game in Morgantown. arrests, although around 300 "I know Jasper wouldn't want us people were in the area when a to do that," he said. "That's the fire alarm sounded and students real reason. He was a competitor, evacuated the building. a guy who loved the game, the "We're pursuing active s p i r t o f t h e g a m e a n d t h e investigative leads," Blicher said. competition of the game. His want "The investigation will continue and his will would be for us to go into this week." out and play." Forsberg: Butler carries on

Patriots cornerback Darius Butler tries to focus on football after learning of the death of former teammate Jasper Howard, ESPNBoston.com's Chris Forsberg writes. Blog Edsall said it will be good for his team to return to the practice field on Tuesday and "get back to a little bit of normalcy." There has been nothing normal about the last 48 hours for the Huskies. Howard's death has shaken the UConn community and put Edsall in situations he never thought he'd have to deal with. Edsall said he will pick up Howard's family at the airport this afternoon, drive them to see the doctor that attended to him and then take them to see Howard's body. Edsall tried to find other coaches who had been through a similar situation, losing a star player to tragedy in the middle of the season, but he couldn't find any other examples. He said he talked to someone who lost a teammate in the offseason. "You've got to be yourself in this situation," Edsall said. "As the focal point and the leader, you have to be strong and stand strong, be the pillar of strength for our coaches, my players and even the players' families, and that's

what I'm trying to do." UConn will honor Howard by wearing "JH" stickers on the backs of their helmets. They will also take either Howard's jersey or his helmet with him to all their remaining games this season. West Virginia plans to honor Howard in some way as well on Saturday, coach Bill Stewart said. He will announce specifics on Tuesday. Stewart addressed the tragedy with his team at a meeting on Sunday afternoon. "I opened up with the story," Stewart said. "Our youngsters from the Miami area that knew him took it very, very hard. Our guys were quite shaken, as they should be. They really, really liked that young man." Edsall said he had heard from every head coach in the Big East in the past 24 hours and that he was grateful for the outpouring of support. "It's times like these when a close conference like the Big East needs to come together," Rutgers coach Greg Schiano said. Brian Bennett covers Big East football for ESPN.com. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Nancy Pelosi. — 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

LeBron James says cancer scare in January was 'nerve-racking' By ESPN.com news services (ESPN.com) Submitted at 10/19/2009 7:36:01 AM

CLEVELAND -- Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James tells a newspaper that a cancer scare earlier this year was "nerveracking" and had him on edge for a few days. James had to wait for biopsy results in January after doctors at the Cleveland Clinic found a growth in the right side of his jaw. He tells The Plain Dealer that doctors didn't think it was cancer but had to make sure. "I was working with some good professionals," James said. "They were telling me they didn't think it was cancer, but we had to be sure, of course." He says his family was nervous, too. James says he was glad the season was under way, so he could focus on basketball. It turned out the growth was benign. James had surgery to remove it in June, a few days after the Cavaliers' season ended. "I wasn't scared," James said, "but it wasn't something I was comfortable with." He says the week of bed rest following the operation was some of the best sleep he's ever had. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

CLIFF continued from page 40 and novelty in its favor. In the Washington Post, Les Carpenter tells the story of another notable UFL name. Paul

Pelosi, owner of the California Redwoods, is a wildly successful Northern California investor and husband of Speaker of the House

consider your find for inclusion in the Daily Fix. You can email David at droth11@gmail.com.

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Bobby Valentine, Manny Police Account of Steve McNair Death Doesn't Add Acta, Travis Fryman Named Finalists in Cleveland Up By Pat Lackey (FanHouse) By Michael David Smith (FanHouse)

by Pat Lackey Filed under: Indians, AL by Michael David Smith Central, MLB Rumors The Filed under: Titans, NFL Police Indians' managerial search has Blotter The law enforcement apparently whittled its way down investigation of the deaths of to just three names after a round Steve McNair and his girlfriend, of phone interviews last week. Sahel Kazemi, concluded that Paul Hoynes at the Cleveland Kazemi shot and killed McNair before committing suicide. But a hour period when she was absent Plain Dealer is reporting that the new investigation from CBS from work. But Keteyian reported I n d i a n s h a v e c a l l e d B o b b y News raises serious questions that the police were wrong about Valentine, Manny Acta, and about whether the police properly the date on which Kazemi was Travis Fryman to Cleveland for a investigated the incident, and gone from work for two hours, second round of interviews and whether they may have reached and that there are major questions that GM Mark Shapiro is likely to name a manager before the World the wrong conclusion. about whether she purchased the Series ends. On Monday's Early Show, gun at all. Valentine's name is the big one correspondent Armen Keteyian Police Account of Steve McNair reported that his own three-month Death Doesn't Add Up originally that's obviously going to get investigation(video after the appeared on Fanhouse NFL Blog people talking. He's got over jump) found errors made by the on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:58:00 1,000 career wins and a National police, including a major one EST . Please see our terms for use League pennant over his 15-year career with the Rangers and the about when Kazemi supposedly of feeds. Mets, plus a Japanese Series title bought the murder weapon. Police Permalink| Email this| Linking in 2005 with the Chiba Lotte claimed that they had pinpointed Blogs| Comments Marines. It's been rumored that the time when Kazemi bought the he's made it clear there are teams murder weapon as during a twohe won't manage for in 2010, so presumably the Indians are a job

(MediaPost | Media News) Submitted at 10/19/2009 8:11:29 AM

Submitted at 10/19/2009 10:29:00 AM

Submitted at 10/19/2009 11:58:00 AM

MediaDailyNews: Hallmark Movie Channel Widens Distribution, Adds 'hoopsandyoyo' Special

Hallmark Movie Channel has secured distribution in the top 30 TV markets and is now in 25 million households, an increase of more than 100% over a year ago. New HMC launches year-to-date include Comcast systems in Detroit, South Florida, San Francisco, Washington State, Portland, Boston, Atlanta, Houston and Pittsburgh; on Time Warner in Charlotte; on Cox systems in Phoenix and Las Vegas; and, on Charter in St. Louis. Separately, the first on-air programming and marketing for popular Hallmark Cards' he would want. characters runs Fridays Nov. 27Bobby Valentine, Manny Acta, Dec. 25, entitled "Movie Night Travis Fryman Named Finalists in with hoops&yoyo." The newly Cleveland originally appeared on animated characters began as Fanhouse MLB Blog on Mon, 19 animated e-cards in 2004. Since Oct 2009 10:29:00 EST . Please their debut, there have been more see our terms for use of feeds. than 77 million hoops&yoyo ePermalink| Email this| Linking card senders and recipients. Blogs| Comments This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Furry Furor Growing Over David Beckham's Beard By Randy Kim (FanHouse)

visages on the globe. Yes, America, it's time to beard it like Beckham, as the English by Randy Kim soccer star is going grizzly these Filed under: English Premier days. League When is a beard more While this news might only arch than a beard? When it's attached a few eyebrows on this side of the to the face of an international, pond, in England they're going metrosexual heartthrob who has positively batty over the beard. e x a c t l y g i v e B e c k h a m ' s one of the most recognizable The Guardian, for one, doesn't hirsuteness rave reviews: It's the Submitted at 10/19/2009 11:49:00 AM

way (the beard) reaches far down beneath his chin and his neck, over his Adam's apple, toward the top of his chest, like an unstoppable hairy fungus ... It's colonising him. That beard looks like it leads a sinister life of its own, after dark. Furry Furor Growing Over David Beckham's Beard originally

appeared on Fanhouse Soccer Blog on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:49:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments

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Pittsburgh Steelers kicker Jeff Reed cited for public intoxication

FanHouse Preview: Jazz

By Associated Press (ESPN.com)

by Chris Tomasson Filed under: Jazz FanHouse previews all 30 NBA teams in advance of the 2009-10 season. Carlos Boozer is still with the Jazz. Well, at least he was 10 minutes ago. Heading into the season, Boozer's status is the biggest issue surrounding the team. He said during radio interviews during the summer that he wouldn't mind ending up in Chicago or Miami, and that Jazz officials told him they were looking to trade him. The forward, though, didn't get moved. And now he's saying that, if the Jazz keep him throughout

Submitted at 10/19/2009 9:30:43 AM

PITTSBURGH -- Pittsburgh Steelers kicker Jeff Reed has been cited by city police for public intoxication and disorderly conduct outside a bar a couple of blocks from where the team beat the Cleveland Browns a few hours earlier. Police say Reed was cited outside McFadden's Bar about 9 p.m. Sunday. Reed kicked two field goals in the 27-14 victory. This is Reed's second brush

with the law this year. He paid $543 in fines and restitution after pleading guilty to disorderly conduct and criminal mischief for damaging a paper towel dispenser in a convenience store bathroom in New Alexandria in February. Team spokesman Dave Lockett says the team is still gathering information and has no comment. Police say Reed will be mailed a summons to appear in city court. Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

By Chris Tomasson (FanHouse) Submitted at 10/19/2009 11:00:00 AM

the season, impressive things can happen in Utah. "If they keep us together, we can be very good,'' he said. FanHouse Preview: Jazz originally appeared on Fanhouse NBA Blog on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments

Triple Threat Pacing Phillies in October

CBS' Jim Nantz Gets Emotional During Divorce Trial

By Ed Price (FanHouse)

By Ryan Wilson (FanHouse)

Submitted at 10/19/2009 1:36:00 AM

Submitted at 10/19/2009 11:30:00 AM

by Ed Price Filed under: Dodgers, Phillies, MLB Playoffs, National League Championship Series PHILADELPHIA -- So far this postseason, Ryan Howard has as many triples as home runs. That's not a bad thing. "Ryan's a lot of fun to watch," Phillies teammate Jimmy Rollins said after Sunday's biggest beatdown west of Foxborough, Mass. "We don't have the power-hitting Ryan Howard right now, but we have a great hitter in Ryan Howard, delivering, driving in RBIs." A lot of RBI. Game 3: Phillies

by Ryan Wilson Filed under: Sports Media I watched part of the Titans-Patriots game Sunday, a lopsided affair that saw Tom Brady throw six touchdowns (five in the second quarter), and Tennessee lose by 59 points. CBS, as the network usually does for its marquee NFL matchups, had Jim Nantz and Phil Simms calling the action. And aside from the on-field beatdown taking place, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Except that Nantz, just a few days before, had been in court for his divorce trial. CBS' Jim Nantz Gets Emotional

During Divorce Trial originally appeared on Fanhouse Backporch on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments

Need for Speed Nitro rushes to retail in early November By Ludwig Kietzmann (Joystiq) Submitted at 10/19/2009 12:01:00 PM

Need for Speed Nitro, the graffiti -laced second entry in EA's "fresh" Need for Speed trio, has pulled out of the garage sooner than expected. Promising a mixture of "the franchise's trademark attitude, sense of speed and addictive gameplay," the colorful Nitro has gone gold, with both Wii and DS versions now set to ship on November 3 in North America and November 6 in Europe. Capitalizing on its Unique Art Style, the game will drape ingame vehicles with skins designed by popular "lifestyle brands," including Upper Playground, tokidoki, and i am 8-bit. You'd be right in calling it a product of marketing, but it's preferable to the alternative conjured up by the Dante's Inferno promotional team: in-game vehicles draped in human skins. Gallery: Need for Speed NITRO Need for Speed Nitro rushes to retail in early November originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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First Assassin's Creed: Lineage episode debuts Oct. 27 By David Hinkle (Joystiq) Submitted at 10/19/2009 11:04:00 AM

Xbox 360 update to add Music Games Store, news section By David Hinkle (Joystiq) Submitted at 10/19/2009 11:40:00 AM

Microsoft has revealed new details about its Fall 2009 Xbox 360 Dashboard Update -- yes, the same update set to bring Twitter, Last.fm and Facebook support. New to the list of update features is a dedicated Xbox Live storefront for music games DLC and a specific area of Inside Xbox called "News and More." The Music Games Store will take a big step toward dealing with the clutter on Xbox Live, offering a one-stop shop for all Rock Band, Guitar Hero and Lips DLC. Aside from the convenience of a single destination for all music game DLC purchases, shoppers will also be able to preview each track from right there in the Dashboard.

It's hard out there for an assassin. It was hard for Giovanni Auditore da Firenze, anyway; father of Assassin's Creed II protagonist Ezio. As you can see in the teaser for Assassin's Creed: Lineage above, the dude had a lot on his plate -- and good thing he had a sharp knife, too, to handle all that meat carving. According to Ubisoft, you'll get to see how it By Alexander Sliwinski audience." The game will now went down when the first of three (Joystiq) launch with a "smaller core team." Lineage short films, introducing Gazillion is also publishing the plot elements leading up to Submitted at 10/19/2009 11:22:00 AM delayed Jumpgate Evolutions and Assassin's Creed II, debuts on P u b l i s h e r G a z i l l i o n 2012's Marvel Universe MMO. YouTube on October 27. Entertainment has confirmed Source-- Gazillion Confirms What we really want to know is: layoffs at John Romero's studio, Layoffs At Romero-Led MMO How did Giovanni manage to Slipgate Ironworks, which is D e v S l i p g a t e I r o n w o r k s keep his whites so white? With all currently working on an unnamed [ G a m a s u t r a ] of that blood flying around, it MMO. Although the publisher Source-- Romero's Slipgate must have been one helluva wouldn't reveal the number let go, Ironworks Hammered Down, laundry day for the 15th century Kotaku reports that former MMO Project Still On [Kotaku] assassin. staffers estimate around 50 people Romero's Slipgate Ironworks Gallery: Assassin's Creed: are looking for a new place of c u t s s t a f f , w o r k c o n t i n u e s Lineage (behind the scenes) work. originally appeared on Joystiq on First Assassin's Creed: Lineage A statement from Gazillion Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:22:00 EST. episode debuts Oct. 27 originally obtained by Gamasutra claims Please see our terms for use of appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 19 that the company decided to feeds. Oct 2009 11:04:00 EST. Please "change the format" of the P e r m a l i n k | E m a i l t h i s | see our terms for use of feeds. Slipgate Ironworks project to C o m m e n t s Permalink| Email this| reach the "widest possible Comments

Romero's Slipgate Ironworks cuts staff, work continues

As for the News and More section of Inside Xbox, it's described as "a regularly-updated stream of content from MSNBC.com, MSN Autos, The New Yorker and Dilbert." We're totally expecting some Akira-like monstrosity that is equal parts balloon boy, coffee station chitchat and political cartoons we don't understand; though we're sure in reality the feature will be less scary and far less lifethreatening. Xbox 360 update to add Music Games Store, news section originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. P e r m a l i n k | E m a i l t h i s | (MediaPost | Media News) Comments Submitted at 10/19/2009 9:31:53 AM

MediaDailyNews: CNBC Launches Free Real-Time App NYSE and NASDAQ. The app also provides breaking news alerts and analysis and the ability to CNBC has launched the CNBC track stocks live, in real-time. Real-Time App on the App Plus, users will have access to StoreSM. Users can access live CNBC business videos and streaming, real-time stock quotes, market updates via CNBC video before, during and after market on demand. The CNBC Realhours, directly from both the Time App is available for free

from the App StoreSM on iPhoneTM and iPod touch or at www.itunes.com/apps/CNBCReal -Time. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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Live Hairstyling Window Display at Bloomie's Today! By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 10/19/2009 9:33:18 AM

Bloomingdale’s 59th Street flagship store in NYC has redesigned their cosmetics department—and one of the most bedazzling features of the new beauty floor is the Bb.StylingBar and Shop! Perfect for fashionistas on the go, the hair destination offers no-wash-no-appointment possibly conjure. To help in this styling services and one-on-one endeavor, we've even added a consultations with Bumble and table of contents! bumble pros. The interactive Man, we're seriously too nice station also has touchscreen for our own good. styling and product menus, and Continue reading Full Band video tutorials. Hero track list, importable songs To celebrate the partnership revealed with Bloomie’s, Bb. Full Band Hero track list, e x t r a o r d i n a i r e R o l a n d o i m p o r t a b l e s o n g s r e v e a l e d Beauchamp (clients include Mary originally appeared on Joystiq on -Kate Olsen and Kim Kardashian) Mon, 19 Oct 2009 10:34:00 EST. will be creating runway-ready Please see our terms for use of hairstyles on models in a live feeds. window display today at the Read| Permalink| Email this| corner of Lexington Avenue and Comments 60th Street. Swing by on your lunch break or afternoon coffee run to catch the action! —Emily Hebert Photo: Courtesy of Bumble and bumble

FIFA 10 won't relinquish top Full Band Hero track list, songs revealed UK sales spot to Uncharted 2 importable By Griffin McElroy (Joystiq) By Alexander Sliwinski (Joystiq)

on the PS3 chart during its second week at retail. Brütal Legend's assault of the charts was less Submitted at 10/19/2009 12:29:00 PM savage. The Tim Schafer creation FIFA 10 may have seen a 54 premiered in the seventh position percent sales drop in the UK last behind -- really?!-- Mario and week, but it still maintained its Sonic at the Olympic Winter place in the top sales spot for the Games. region. The soccer football title Source-- FIFA hat trick [Chart has now surpassed the million Track] sales mark and has done so three Source-- All formats chart weeks faster than FIFA 09 did last [Chart Track] year. FIFA 10 won't relinquish top Last week's PS3 mega-release, UK sales spot to Uncharted 2 Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, originally appeared on Joystiq on entered the " All Formats" chart in Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:29:00 EST. s e c o n d p l a c e , b u t w a s t o p Please see our terms for use of (naughty) dog on the PS3 sales feeds. chart. The franchise wasn't in Read| Permalink| Email this| uncharted territory, though, as the Comments original also reached the top spot

Submitted at 10/19/2009 10:34:00 AM

If you've been savoring the slow trickle of track list announcements for Activision's tween-oriented rhythm title, Band Hero, your prolonged pleasure is about to come to a satisfying, yet abrupt end. The publisher has revealed all of the songs that will be available on the generically monikered game, and we've posted them -- along with details about compatible DLC and song importing from other Guitar Hero games -- after the jump in the least confusing manner we could

NintendoWare Weekly: LostWinds, Shootanto, Rygar ... Domo By JC Fletcher (Joystiq)

There's an arcade classic on Virtual Console, and DSiWare features the arrival of one of the It's an unexpectedly packed weirdest game series to be week for Nintendo downloaders! announced at E3: a set of five On WiiWare, there's a game that games based on NHK mascot and should be wonderful and another generally adorable monster Domo that should be, uh, interesting. -kun. Submitted at 10/19/2009 9:51:00 AM

Gallery: Domo games (DSiWare)

Continue reading NintendoWare terms for use of feeds. Weekly: LostWinds, Shootanto, Permalink| Email this| Rygar ... Domo Comments NintendoWare Weekly: LostWinds, Shootanto, Rygar ... Domo originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:51:00 EST. Please see our

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Adviser: Obama waits on finished health care bill (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News) Submitted at 10/19/2009 6:15:41 AM

Found: The Perfect Fall Boot for Under $200 By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 10/19/2009 5:36:00 AM

Remember the chunky, sexy sandals Pierre Hardy designed for Gap back in spring 2009? The ones spotted on chic people everywhere (from blogger Camille of Childhoodflames.com to Amanda García Santana of Yigal Azrouël). Well, the Parisbased designer is at it again, this time creating a collection of boots so cool, so versatile, so wearable,

it’s hard to believe they cost less than $200 (the shearling-lined version is $190, while the ankle boot is $175). The styles are available starting today at the Gap flagship store on Fifth Avenue and 54th Street, as well as the 34th Street location. Now, the big question – which ones to get: the mid-calf shearling-lined boot (below left) or the unlined ankle boot (below right)? —Violet Moon Gaynor

WASHINGTON – The White House is waiting for Congress to settle on a final health care bill, even though President Barack Obama has a clear preference in favor of at least one specific — the much-debated public option, advisers said. Obama, however, will not demand that legislation include a government-run insurance plan intended to drive down costs through competition with private insurers, they said. Instead, the White House will let Congress work out the details required to get something passed. "There will be compromise. There will be legislation, and it will achieve our goals: helping people who have insurance get more security, more accountability for the insurance industry, helping people who don't have insurance get insurance they can afford, and lowering the overall cost of the system," presidential adviser David Axelrod said. The White House and lawmakers are trying to blend five House and Senate committee versions of health care reform legislation into a bill that will pass both houses. Near unanimous Republican opposition is

expected. The bill approved last week by the Senate Finance Committee drew the only Republican vote yet cast with Democrats on the health care overhaul. Even then, Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, did not commit to supporting the final version of the legislation. House Democrats are insisting on the government-run plan, or public option. In the Senate, Republicans and some Democrats oppose the measure, meaning inclusion of the public option would fail to gain the 60 votes needed to overcome a Republican filibuster. Some in the Senate strongly support inclusion of the public option. Obama "will obviously weigh in when it's important to weigh in" on the possibility of a public option, chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said. Added Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett: "He's not demanding that it's in there. He think it's the best possible choice." The president promoted his health care initiative Saturday in his weekly radio and online address and challenged policy makers to resist special interests. He accused the insurance industry of "filling the airwaves with deceptive and dishonest ads" and paying for studies "designed to mislead the American people."

Around the Net In Media: NBCU Connects Shows, Causes to Snag Ads -(MediaPost | Media News) Submitted at 10/19/2009 8:28:11 AM

NBC Universal is increasingly offering marketers the chance to

hitch their products to programs promoting a cause or health or social issue. The company is creating special programs across its broadcast, cable and online

properties. It then packages existing episodes that promote a specific cause, such as the environment. These issue packages are touted to marketers

as a way to better target their ads and product placements. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

A study commissioned by the industry reported that the Democrats' health care effort would drive up premiums for the insured, a conclusion faulted for taking a decidedly narrow view of legislation. The industry also has been running an ad that could easily be interpreted as asserting that basic Medicare coverage is at risk. Asked if Obama would sign a bill that ended the antitrust exemption for the insurance industry and allow caps on premiums, Axelrod said, "We'll see what Congress does." A 1945 law lets states regulate insurers without federal interference. Axelrod was also noncommittal when pressed about whether Obama would support taxing insurance benefits, a proposal that has brought criticism from labor unions and others. "I think that this thing is going to be adjusted as we go along," he said, "so let's see what the final proposal says before we talk about what the president will or won't sign." Axelrod spoke on ABC's "This Week," Emanuel spoke on CNN's " State of the Union" and CBS' "Face the Nation" and Jarrett appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press." This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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Sheriff: Balloon boy hoax may have conspirators (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News)

carries out various scientific experiments. "This will be the most significant FORT COLLINS, Colo. â&#x20AC;&#x201C; The UFO-related news event to take lawyer for the man accused of place since the Roswell Crash of perpetrating the balloon boy hoax 1947, and the result will be a to promote a reality show said dramatic increase in local and M o n d a y t h a t h e e x p e c t s national awareness about The authorities to bring charges Heene Family, our Reality Series, against his client in the coming as well as the UFO Phenomenon days as investigators analyze e- in general," according to a copy of mails that show Richard Heene the show's proposal provided to and an associate discussing the the site by Thomas. stunt months ago. Gawker.com editor-in-chief Lawyer David Lane said he Gabriel Snyder confirmed the expects charges to be filed by New York-based Web site paid Wednesday and that Heene and Thomas, but declined to say how his wife Mayumi are willing to much for the story billed with the turn themselves in. Lane declined headline: "Exclusive: I Helped t o s a y d i r e c t l y w h e t h e r h e Richard Heene Plan a Balloon believes the incident was a hoax Hoax." but said the Heenes are innocent Snyder said Thomas was unless convicted. planning to meet with "If they (prosecutors) can prove investigators, though sheriff's their case beyond a reasonable officials did not return messages doubt, that's one thing. If they seeking confirmation. Messages can't prove their case beyond a l e f t f o r T h o m a s b y T h e reasonable doubt, that's another," A s s o c i a t e d P r e s s w e r e n o t he told The Associated Press. returned. In addition to drawing up Thomas, 25, said in his possible felony charges against Gawker.com story that the plan he t h e 4 8 - y e a r - o l d H e e n e , knew about did not involve investigators say they want to Heene's children. question an associate of his after e The emergence of the e-mails is -mails surfaced showing the two the latest twist in a story that had discussed a balloon hoax played out live on national months ago as part of a public television on Thursday when a relations campaign for the reality silver, helium-filled balloon show. floated away from the Heenes' Robert Thomas of Denver home with 6-year-old Falcon claimed Heene had told him he believed to be aboard. But he was was planning a media stunt to never in the balloon. promote a proposed reality show. Some flights at Denver T h o m a s , a s e l f - d e s c r i b e d International Airport had to be researcher, sold his story to changed to a different runway, but Gawker.com and provided the the airport remained open during Web site with e-mail exchanges the balloon's flight, airport between him and Heene. Thomas spokesman Chuck Cannon said said the show would feature Monday. Previous reports said the Heene as a mad scientist who airport was temporarily shut Submitted at 10/19/2009 9:14:05 AM

down. The National Guard provided two helicopters in an attempt to rescue the child, costing several thousand dollars. When the balloon landed without the boy, officials thought he had fallen out and began the grim search for his body. Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden announced Sunday that he's seeking charges, including felonies, against Richard and Mayumi Heene. Alderden said the stunt two weeks in the planning was a marketing ploy by the Heenes, who met in acting school in Hollywood and have twice appeared on ABC's reality show "Wife Swap." "We certainly know that there's a conspiracy between the husband and wife, you've probably seen some of the e-mails and some of the things on the Internet suggesting that there may be other conspirators," Alderden said. Alderden said documents show that a media outlet has agreed to pay money to the Heenes with regard to the balloon incident. Alderden didn't name the media outlet but said it was a show that blurs "the line between entertainment and news." It wasn't clear whether the deal was signed before or after the alleged hoax, or whether the media outlet was a possible conspirator. "Let's call it (my statement) short of speculation that a media outlet was in on the hoax, but let's not discount the possibility," he said. In an e-mail Sunday to the AP, Snyder said editors at Gawker.com had not contacted the Heene family or offered them money for their story, referring to Alderden's reference to a deal

being struck by a media outlet. "No, that wasn't us," Snyder said. The sheriff said he expected to recommend charges of conspiracy, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, making a false report to authorities and attempting to influence a public servant. Federal charges were also possible. The most serious charges are felonies and carry a maximum sentence of six years in prison and a $500,000 fine. Alderden said they would be seeking restitution for the costs, though he didn't have an estimate. As Alderden told reporters Sunday that the whole thing was a hoax, the Heenes were shopping for snacks at Wal-Mart, where Richard Heene told the AP he was "seeking counsel." "This thing has become so convoluted," Heene said, tears welling in his eyes. He said his wife was holding together better than he was. Once investigators got a good look at the "flying saucer" they determined that the thin mylar balloon covered with foil and held together with duct tape would not have been able to launch with the 37-pound-boy inside, according to Colorado State University physics professor Brian Jones. Alderden said he didn't know whether the 6-year-old had been hiding in the rafters of the family's garage during an intense five-hour search, as the family claimed. "For all we know he may have been two blocks down the road playing on the swing in the city park," the sheriff said. The sheriff said all three of the Heenes' sons knew of the hoax,

but likely won't face charges because of their ages. The oldest son is 10. Alderden said investigators had an "aha" moment that the story was a hoax when Falcon turned to his father during a CNN interview Thursday and said what sounded like "you had said we did this for a show" when asked why he didn't come out of his hiding place. On Friday, Falcon got sick during two separate TV interviews when asked again why he hid. Alderden said they didn't question the family Friday because they wanted to keep the family's cooperation by maintaining the appearance that they believed their story. That's the same day the sheriff gave a press conference in which he said he believed the saga was a "real event." He said Sunday that those assurances were part of his effort to keep the family's trust. Records show that police have responded to the house at least twice in the past year, including a possible domestic violence incident in February. No charges were filed. Alderden said officials tried Saturday to persuade Mayumi Heene, 45, to go to a safe house, but she declined. Alderden said the children were still with the parents Sunday and that child protective services had been contacted to investigate their well-being. On "Wife Swap," Heene was portrayed as erratic, at one point throwing a glass of milk on a participant on the program. "Clearly, from all indications, Mr. Heene has somewhat of a temper," Alderden said. SHERIFF: page 48

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Bankruptcy filing delays church sex abuse case (AP)

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SHERIFF: continued from page 47

Lane said Alderden should "put up or shut up" about domestic violence. "For the sheriff to put out for (Yahoo! News: U.S. News) hundreds of Catholic children," enough to cover what it might be, was dismissed. public consumption that Richard Neuberger said in a statement. b e c a u s e t h e c o u r t s a w a r d At least three bankruptcy cases is a wife beater and not have any Submitted at 10/19/2009 7:41:00 AM Malooly said the decision was a n y t h i n g . " ended with payments for victims. charges even considered to be ANNAPOLIS, Md. â&#x20AC;&#x201C; A sex made "after careful consideration The bankruptcy filing lists the In May 2008, the Davenport filed is irresponsible and is abuse case against Delaware's and after consultation with my diocese's assets as being between diocese agreed to pay $37 million designed solely to turn the public Catholic Diocese of Wilmington close advisers and counselors" $50 million and $100 million but to more than 150 people. A $50 even more against the Heenes, in and a former priest will be and that he believed "we have no said its estimated debt is between m i l l i o n s e t t l e m e n t i n 2 0 0 7 particular Richard," Lane said. delayed after the diocese filed for other choice." He said "filing for $100 million and $500 million. involving about 175 lawsuits Heene has a profile listed on a federal bankruptcy protection on C h a p t e r 1 1 o f f e r s t h e b e s t Lawsuit plaintiffs as well as banks ended a bankruptcy filing by the Web site that helps people get cast the eve of trial. o p p o r t u n i t y , g i v e n f i n i t e and pensions were listed as Portland archdiocese, which set in reality shows, and the producer The bankruptcy filing late resources, to provide the fairest creditors. aside another $20 million for of "Wife Swap" said it had a show Sunday delays a lawsuit that had possible treatment of all victims Monday's case would have been future claims. The Tucson diocese in development with the Heenes been set to start Monday in Kent of sexual abuse by priests of our the first to come to trial under a emerged from Chapter 11 in 2005 but the deal is now off. TLC also County Superior Court, the first of diocese." Delaware law that created a two- after creating a fund of more than said Heene had pitched a reality eight consecutive abuse trials "Our hope is that Chapter 11 year "lookback" window that $20 million for people molested show to the network months ago, scheduled in Delaware. proceedings will enable us to allowed claims of abuse to be by clergy. but it passed on the offer. "This is a painful decision, one fairly compensate all victims brought regardless of whether the More than 20 Delaware ___ that I had hoped and prayed I t h r o u g h a s i n g l e p r o c e s s statute of limitations had expired. plaintiffs have filed lawsuits Associated Press writers would never have to make," the established by the Bankruptcy More than 100 lawsuits were filed against former priest Francis Catherine Tsai, P. Solomon Banda Rev. W. Francis Malooly, the Court," Malooly said. before the period ended this DeLuca. DeLuca served for 35 and AP contributor Breck Larson bishop of the diocese, said in a Pat Arndt, 61, a bookkeeper, summer, with four being settled. years but was defrocked last in Fort Collins provided material statement on the diocese's Web read about the bankruptcy filing Civil liability is the only summer after having been jailed for this report. site. in a newspaper Monday morning recourse for victims of abuse that i n 2 0 0 7 i n N e w Y o r k f o r (This version CORRECTS that Wilmington is the seventh U.S. before attending Mass at Holy happened long ago because the r e p e a t e d l y m o l e s t i n g h i s sheriff said some parts of Heene Catholic diocese to seek Chapter Cross Church in Dover, Del. U.S. Supreme Court has said g r a n d n e p h e w . story were in doubt sted definitely 11 bankruptcy protection since the "We put full trust in our priests states cannot change the statute of The diocese has paid more than untrue. ) church abuse scandal erupted and then we have this happening," limitations for criminal cases. $6.2 million since 2002 to settle This content has passed through s e v e n y e a r s a g o i n t h e said Arndt, who believes the Under federal bankruptcy rules, sexual abuse lawsuits. Like others fivefilters.org. A r c h d i o c e s e o f B o s t o n . diocese was wrong to file for a bankruptcy filing results in an around the country, it also has The Wilmington diocese covers bankruptcy and that it was an automatic stay or halt to all paid settlements to alleged victims Delaware and the Eastern Shore a t t e m p t , i n p a r t , t o a v o i d litigation in which the filer is a who did not file lawsuits. of Maryland and serves about r e s p o n s i b i l i t y . defendant. The trial would be ___ 230,000 Catholics. " T h e y ' r e j u s t p r o l o n g i n g delayed for the duration of the Associated Press writer Randall Coach says 2 Thomas Neuberger, an attorney something that's not right," she b a n k r u p t c y . H o w e v e r , t h e Chase in Dover, Del., contributed teammates with victim representing 88 alleged victims, said. lawsuits could move forward if to this report. described the bankruptcy filing as David Balcerak, 70, a member the plaintiffs ask and the request ___ during stabbing (AP) a "desperate effort to hide the of the Knights of Columbus and a is approved by a judge. On the Net: truth from the public and conceal Eucharistic minister who delivers Attorneys negotiated throughout C a t h o l i c D i o c e s e o f (Yahoo! News: U.S. News) t h e t h o u s a n d s o f p a g e s o f Communion to the homebound, S u n d a y t r y i n g t o r e a c h a W i l m i n g t o n : Submitted at 10/19/2009 9:42:10 AM scandalous documents" from was not aware of the bankruptcy s e t t l e m e n t , b u t c o u l d n ' t . http://www.cdow.org STORRS, Conn. â&#x20AC;&#x201C; One being made public in court. f i l i n g b u t s a i d h e c o u l d Before Wilmington, bankruptcy (This version CORRECTS that "This filing is the latest, sad understand the reasons behind it. protection was also sought in diocese, not church, filed for teammate performed CPR while another comforted a University of chapter in the diocese's decades "They may not be able to afford abuse scandals by dioceses in bankruptcy.) long 'cover-up' of these despicable it," he said of the damages that Davenport, Iowa; Fairbanks, This content has passed through Connecticut football player who was fatally stabbed during a fight crimes, to maintain the secrecy c o u l d b e a w a r d e d i n c i v i l Alaska; Portland, Ore.; San fivefilters.org. surrounding its responsibility and lawsuits. "They probably have Diego; Spokane, Wash.; and complicity in the sexual abuse of insurance, but probably not Tucson, Ariz. The San Diego case COACH page 49

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COACH continued from page 48 outside a school-sanctioned dance over the weekend, their coach said Monday. Coach Randy Edsall wouldn't identify the teammates or say how many players witnessed the fight that led to the death of 20-yearold Jasper Howard, a native of Miami. "One had Jasper in his arms and the other was pressuring where the wound went in and had blood on his hands," Edsall said. "And those two young men are pretty deeply affected right now." The state's medical examiner's office said Monday that Howard died from a single stab wound to the abdomen. The death was ruled a homicide. Police interviewed dozens of witnesses on Monday but said there were no suspects and no arrests, although around 300 people were in the area when a fire alarm sounded and students evacuated the building. "We're pursuing active investigative leads," UConn police Maj. Ronal Blicher said. "The investigation will continue into this week." A second student was also stabbed and was treated and released from a local hospital. UConn police would not identify the student. Blicher said Howard was wounded during a fight between two groups that included students

and non-students. The altercation broke out just after a fire alarm went off in a student center, forcing around 300 people to evacuate from the party and dance sponsored by the school's West Indian Awareness Organization. Blicher said it was the first homicide at the university in the more than 30 years he has been associated with the school. The violence came less than 12 hours after UConn's 38-25 homecoming victory over Louisville. Edsall identified Howard's body at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford Sunday morning. He said he doesn't know if the two teammates who helped Howard will play when the Huskies visit Big East foe West Virginia on Saturday. The team will wear a sticker with Howard's initials on their helmets for the rest of the season and will carry Howard's helmet or jersey to away games, Edsall said. "I've talked to both of them each day," he said. "I've got to see where they're at today, see where they're at tomorrow and I will tell them if they don't feel they are mentally ready to play, that's their decision, and I'll honor whatever decision they want to make. " Howard, a junior and the team's starting cornerback, came to the school to get away from the violence on the streets of his

hometown. He was the first person in his family to go to college. Blicher said officials don't believe anyone else is in danger and that the stabbing did not appear premeditated. "The university does not have an individual walking around just stabbing people," Blicher said. Some students on Monday said they never considered their campus unsafe before. Some, like freshman Alexander Wegh of Terryville, stayed indoors on Sunday as police gathered evidence. "I kind of just stayed inside (Sunday) because they really didn't tell us what was going on," he said. "I didn't come here thinking about safety, because its not like when you pick your school you're like, 'Oh, its going to be really safe or not.' You assume it's going to be safe." Howard's death was especially tragic, because he was about to become a father, Edsall said. Neither police nor the university provided any additional information about the expectant mother, whom Edsall identified as Howard's girlfriend. The coach gathered his team at its training facility at 6 a.m. to deliver the news. Howard and the other student who was stabbed were taken to Windham Community Memorial

Hospital, where the surviving student was treated and released. Howard was later airlifted to St. Francis, where he died. Howard had a career-high 11 tackles Saturday and made perhaps the game's biggest play, forcing a fumble as Louisville was about to score with UConn up 21-13 in the third quarter. "I felt my hand go on the ball and I felt that I had a chance to get it out," he said after the game. "I just stripped it out. It was a big play. We needed it." Joanglia Howard said she got news of her son's death about 4 a.m. Sunday, and described him as a "good kid" who never got into trouble. "All I wanted him to do was go to school and get an education, and he was doing what I asked him to do," she told WSVN-TV in Miami. Edsall planned to meet Howard's parents at a Connecticut airport later Monday. He also had two teenage sisters. Edsall said the team will not practice until Tuesday. "It'll be good for us to be getting back on the practice field tomorrow and getting a little bit of what in this tragic situation, back to a little bit of normalcy with what we have to do," he said. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

US offers Sudan 'incentives' (BBC News | Americas | World Edition) Submitted at 10/19/2009 9:22:30 AM

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Hillary Clinton: "Backsliding by any party will be met by credible pressure" US President Barack Obama has offered "incentives" to Sudan, if it acts to improve the situation in Darfur. However, as he unveiled a new policy on Khartoum, Mr Obama threatened "increased pressure" if Sudan failed to make progress towards achieving peace. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the US was still focused on addressing the effects of "genocide" in Darfur - a term Sudan said was "unfortunate". The UN estimates that 300,000 people have died in Darfur since 2003. In a statement, Mr Obama said: "If the government of Sudan acts to improve the situation on the ground and to advance peace, there will be incentives. "If it does not, there will be increased pressures imposed by OFFERS page 51

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Fed boss says US should cut budget deficit (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News) Submitted at 10/19/2009 9:05:18 AM

WASHINGTON â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Monday called for the United States to whittle down its recordhigh budget deficits and for countries like China to get their consumers to spend more, moves that would help combat skewed global trade and investment flows that contributed to the financial crisis. Bernanke's remarks to a Fed conference in Santa Barbara, Calif., comes just days after the federal government on Friday reported a $1.42 trillion deficit for 2009 budget year that ended Sept. 30. The previous year's deficit was $459 billion. The Fed chief's comments were aimed at reducing global imbalances, and echo pledges made by leaders of the Group of 20 nations at their summit last month in Pittsburgh. "As the global economy recovers and trade volumes rebound, however, global imbalances my reassert themselves," Bernanke warned. For the United States' part, "the most effective way" to boost national savings in this country "is by establishing a

sustainable fiscal trajectory, anchored by a clear commitment to substantially reduce federal deficits over time," Bernanke said. He didn't suggest ways to do so. Fielding questions after his speech, Bernanke said the United States is in a "difficult fiscal situation" and that Congress and the White House will need to develop an "exit strategy." That's important to maintain confidence in the U.S. economy and the dollar, Bernanke said. The Fed chief said he believes those stakes are "very well understood in Washington." Red ink from the budget deficit reflects costs of spending on wars in Iraq and Afghanstan and on fighting the financial crisis at home. It also reflects the bite of the recession on tax revenues, which plunged. And, for trade surplus countries like China and most Asian economies, they need to get their consumers to spend more and rely less on export-led growth, Bernanke said. "In large part, such action should focus on boosting consumption," Bernanke said. The bulk of Bernanke's remarks largely offered a scholarly

assessment of Asia and how it fared during the global financial crisis, the focus of the Fed's conference. The Fed chief didn't discuss the state of the U.S. economy or the future course of interest rates. Bernanke and his colleagues last month held a key bank lending rate at an all-time low near zero and pledged to hold it there for an "extended period." Many economists believe that means through the rest of this year and into next year. Deciding when to boost interest rates and reel in the unprecedented amount of money plowed into the U.S. economy will be one of the biggest challenges facing the Fed in the coming months. Remove the supports too soon and the recovery could be derailed. Leave the supports in place for too long risks unleashing inflation. "Unwinding the stimulative policies introduced during the crisis will require careful judgment," Bernanke said, not only for industrialized countries like the United States but others countries as well. "Policymakers will have to balance the risks of withdrawing policy support too early, which might cut short a

nascent recovery, against the risks of leaving expansionary policies in place for too long, which could overheat the economy or worsen longer-term fiscal imbalances," he said. In terms of the world economy, "Asia appears to be leading the global recovery," Bernanke said. "Recent data from the region suggest that a strong rebound is, in fact, under way." Many economists predict the U.S. economy â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the epicenter of the financial crisis â&#x20AC;&#x201D; started growing again in the third quarter at a pace of at least 3 percent, and is still expanding in the current quarter. Economic activity contracted in the second quarter at an annualized rate of 0.7 percent, marking a record four straight quarters of decline. Skewed trade and investment patterns, or global imbalances, not only played a role in the most recent financial crisis but also in others like the 1990s Asian financial crisis, Bernanke said. That's why guarding against another is so "extraordinarily urgent," Bernanke said. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Balloon family 'ready for arrest' (BBC News | Americas | World Edition) Submitted at 10/19/2009 9:11:35 AM

The US couple accused of faking the disappearance of their son in a weather balloon are ready to turn themselves in to police, their lawyer says. David Lane said he shortly expected police in Colorado to bring charges against his client, Richard Heene. "These folks are absolutely willing to turn themselves in, so I don't want to see a 'perp walk' done for media consumption," Mr Lane told NBC TV. Mr Heene and wife Mayumi are accused of planning the hoax as a

US drone 'shot down over Somalia' (BBC News | Americas | World Edition) Submitted at 10/19/2009 8:32:38 AM

Islamist insurgents say they have shot down an unmanned US spy drone off the coast of southern Somalia. An al-Shabab official said the drone had been hit by anti-aircraft

fire and had fallen into the Indian Ocean near the port of Kismayo. The claims could not be independently verified. US forces last month launched a helicopter raid in southern Somalia and said they had killed a senior al-Qaeda suspect who was working with al-Shabab. The BBC's Mohamed Olad

Hassan in Mogadishu says the incident increased Islamist suspicions of US activity in Somalia. He says that, if confirmed, it would be the first time that alShabab fighters had shot down a US drone. An Islamist official told the BBC: "The suspected US aircraft

had been flying in Kismayo airspace for days before being shot down two miles north-east of the town on Monday morning. "It fell into the water and our fighters are trying to locate it." Al-Shabab and other Islamist groups control much of southern Somalia, while the UN-backed government controls only a few

parts of the capital, Mogadishu. US forces have long been working against Somalia's Islamist groups from their military base in Djibouti, north-west of Somalia. Print Sponsor This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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OFFERS continued from page 49 the United States and the international community." He said the world must act "with a sense of urgency and purpose" on Sudan. "First, we must seek a definitive end to conflict, gross human rights abuses and genocide in Darfur. Second, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the North and South in Sudan must be implemented to create the possibility of long-term peace". In his statement, Mr Obama said he would renew tough measures against Khartoum later this week. Language 'unfortunate' The US has stressed the new approach does not mean it will deal directly with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, says the BBC's Kim Ghattas in Washington. There had been a fierce debate in the US on how to deal with Sudan - President Bashir and his party are regarded by many with real distaste. The new policy seems to have softened previously hard edges but not so much as to completely infuriate the anti-Khartoum lobby in America. The word "genocide" is intensely annoying to Mr Bashir's camp, it seems sanctions are to be

BALLOON continued from page 50 renewed, and the warnings about "credible, meaningful disincentives" if progress is not made will not please, either. But the offer of "incentives" and engagement would not have been made by an American administration a few years ago. Mr Bashir is wanted on an international arrest warrant for crimes against humanity in Darfur. Mrs Clinton said the US remained intent on "reversing the dire human consequences of genocide" in the Darfur region by addressing problems in refugee camps and protecting civilians from attack. She said Washington's engagement with Sudan would hinge on the provision of a safe haven for refugees. "We are looking to achieve results through broad engagement and frank dialogue," she said. Sudan has said the new US strategy is an improvement on the previous US stance. "Compared to previous policies there are positive points, we don't see the extreme ideas and suggestions which we used to see in the past," said senior presidential adviser Ghazi Salaheddin "I will say it is a strategy of

engagement, not a strategy of isolation." But he said the use of the word "genocide" to describe the situation in the Darfur region was "unfortunate" and "does not reflect the realities in Darfur". The Obama administration will no doubt face criticism from human rights group, who oppose engagement with Sudan because of the indictment against Mr Bashir, says our correspondent. It also remains unclear what incentives the US is offering and what the consequences will be for Sudan if the situation does not improve, she adds. The Darfur conflict began in 2003 when rebel groups attacked government targets, accusing Khartoum of oppressing black Africans in favour of Arabs. Pro-government militiamen hit back with brutal force, which the US and some rights groups have labelled genocide. Khartoum denies supporting the militias, but the international court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant earlier this year for Mr Bashir, accusing him of war crimes. Print Sponsor This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Bankruptcy move delays abuse case (BBC News | Americas | World Edition) Submitted at 10/19/2009 12:01:02 AM

A Catholic diocese based in the state of Delaware has filed for US bankruptcy protection on the eve of a civil trial involving highprofile sex abuse. The move automatically delays

the case, the seventh of its kind in the US since a scandal in Boston seven years ago. The bishop of the diocese said the move offered the best chance for victims of sexual abuse to be treated fairly. But an attorney for the victims said the action was a desperate

attempt to hide the truth from the public. The case, due to be heard on Monday, would have been the first to go to trial under a state law creating a two-year window allowing claims to be brought BANKRUPTCY page 52

publicity stunt. The disappearance of their son, six-year-old Falcon Heene, became a media drama, but he was later found at home. His parents appeared on several TV networks with Falcon and his two brothers to talk about the incident and insist it had not been staged. Acting abilities Official details of any charges the Heenes might face have not yet been made public. However, Sheriff Jim Alderden said on Sunday that charges might include conspiracy and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Some of the most serious charges each carry a maximum sentence of six years in prison and a $500,000 (ÂŁ305,000) fine. Sheriff Alderden said that at first the parents' acting abilities had made them appear credible to the police. But it had become clear when the son referred to his hiding as part of "a show" during a television interview that they were not telling the truth. Sheriff Alderden said the authorities were investigating whether anyone else may have been involved, including a media outlet that may have been in on the hoax. "We certainly know that there's a conspiracy between the husband and wife, you've probably seen some of the e-mails and some of the things on the internet suggesting that there may be other conspirators," he told reporters. Investigators have said they want to question Robert Thomas, an associate of Mr Heene's from Denver, who provided the website Gawker.com with e-mail

exchanges in which he and Mr Heene talk about a possible balloon stunt to promote a proposed reality TV show. Police have searched the house of Richard and Mayumi Heene for evidence that the family was hoping to use the incident to obtain a lucrative contract for such a show. The family has made previous appearances on a US reality show, Wife Swap. Other conspirators? US news networks devoted hours of live coverage to the drama on Thursday after it was reported the boy might be in a balloon floating high over Colorado. Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. The sheriff accused the Heenes of staging a publicity stunt Denver International Airport was temporarily shut down during the incident. When the balloon landed in fields there was no trace of him, prompting a major ground search and further fears for his safety. The sheriff said the police may seek compensation for the time wasted. He did not give an estimate, though the Associated Press news agency said the cost of two police helicopters sent out on a rescue mission was $14,500 (ÂŁ8,900). The boy, his two brothers and his parents gave numerous TV interviews late on Thursday and early Friday. Falcon was twice sick on camera. Print Sponsor This content has passed through fivefilters.org.