LNP Oct-15-09 by Liberty Newspost

Internet News Record

14/10/09 - 15/10/09

LibertyNewsprint.com U.S. Edition

Afghanistan’s protracted election sours the mood By Sean Maguire (Front Row Washington)

or if the suspiciously similar ticks on the ballot paper are attributable to only one man in the village Submitted at 10/14/2009 10:49:31 PM knowing how to write. Many of A n a t m o s p h e r e o f s t a l e the rural voters will never have defensiveness has sunk over held a pen in their hand, argued Kabul. The mood has been one official. It is natural in such a lowered by the protracted saga of tribal society for the village to the Afghan election count, almost establish a consensus on who to two months on from the first support. Do such ballot papers round August 20 vote. It's a drama count? Remember Florida, and veering towards farce more often how 'hanging chads' and the U.S. than post-modern play, as we wait Supreme Court gave George W. endlessly for a result, that like Bush the presidency over Al Godot, does not want to come. Gore? It's that kind of agony. Winter has not yet arrived in Behind the scenes the whispers Kabul, though the evenings are are that hesitation and delay are cold, quickly taking the heat of b e c a u s e t h e o u t c o m e i s the sun out of the day. Afghan excruciatingly close, too close to politicians are frustrated and call. President Hamid Karzai, twitchy, second-guessing the once set clear for victory, may reasons for the U.N.-backed find first round success ripped election watchdog's plodding. We f r o m h i s g r a s p b y t h e are being solidly methodological disqualification of votes stuffed to retain the confidence of all, i n t o b a l l o t b o x e s b y h i s says the Electoral Complaints supporters. He'll likely win a Commission, as it examines second round, if it happens, thousands of dodgy votes. A a g a i n s t h i s f o r m e r f o r e i g n thankless task, most likely. The minister Abdullah Abdullah; but ECC officials will be puzzling there will have been a loss of over whether a box of votes has dignity, of self-confidence and of been mass-endorsed for one a n o p p o r t u n i t y t o s t a b i l i s e candidate, and should not stand, Afghanistan and get on with

will come from the haggling over the shape of the next government. Meanwhile Afghanistan is Limbo-stan. Obama won't decide his strategy on Afghanistan until he sees what kind of Afghan partner he has to deal with. At least until then, and possibly longer, he won't say yes or no to fighting the Taliban. the extra troops that General Other more fraught scenarios Stanley McChrystal says he needs are possible, as outlined by my t o c a r r y o u t t h e c o u n t e r colleague. Would Karzai gamble insurgency strategy that he has that the West has no alternative to prepared. (Though he'll carry out him in Afghanistan? And that he a different strategy, with no or can therefore afford to ignore the fewer extra troops, if that's what opprobrium that would follow if h e ' s o r d e r e d t o d o b y h i s he rejected an outcome he did not commander-in-chief). So in this like? Or are the suspicions of limbo - the Washington policy chicanery, back-room pressure on void is filled with echo-chamber election officials and string- exhortations across the political pulling by all involved just a d i v i d e s ; t h e T a l i b a n i s proliferation of nonsense to fill e m b o l d e n e d ; A f g h a n i s t a n ' s the void left by the lack of a clear n e i g h b o u r s a r e p o s i t i o n i n g outcome? themselves to benefit or at least Eventually the result will be out, guard against strategic loss should perhaps by the time some of you Washington fold its tent; and get round to reading this. Most Western publics are wondering if likely I will be back in London, there is a real purpose to their watching from afar. Optimists boys getting their limbs blown off would have it that clarity will while trudging through the fields clear the air, the Afghan political of southern Helmand. mood will lighten and spoils to all

Told Ya Nokia Was Doomed [Cellphones] By matt buchanan (Gizmodo) Submitted at 10/15/2009 8:37:17 AM

While most of Nokia's billion

dollar loss comes from its network equipment side, it's worth noting their marketshare has tumbled again, down to the 35

percent, from 41 percent last quarter. It used to be over 50. Anyone wanna guess where it's stopping? [ Nokia]

How Securitization Works (Financial Sector and Stocks Analysis from Seeking Alpha) Submitted at 10/15/2009 9:34:02 AM

GP: We thought we’d found a way where even if house prices didn’t go on rising forever, we wouldn’t have to worry about it. Q: This is securitization. GP: Securitization. You see, the problem about lending money who don’t have a glimmer of a chance of paying it back is that there’s a risk. Q: That they won’t be able to pay it back? GP: That’s not a risk, that’s a cast-iron certainty. No, no, the risk is that in some very complicated way the bank will lose money. Now what happens with securitization? You see before securitization, we could see the risk. It was there. We had it. And then, after securitization, what that did was, whooooo. The risk was sort of out there. Somewhere. Nobody knew. Then we looked back, and my god, it was still there after all! This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Top News/ Finance/

Internet News Record

The First Draft: No Decisions By Tabassum Zakaria (Front Row Washington) Submitted at 10/15/2009 6:33:44 AM

Beau Biden, son of the vice president, says he is considering running for his dad’s Senate seat but hasn’t made a decision yet. “I’ve been away from my family for a year, first things first,” Biden said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” after returning from Iraq with the Army National Guard. “There’s time to make that decision.” “Look, am I considering it? Absolutely. Absolutely,” Biden, who is Delaware’s attorney general, said. “But I’ll be making the decision in due course.” President Barack Obama is still likely weeks away from a decision on a new Afghanistan strategy. A BBC report last night created a bit of a stir in saying that the Obama administration had told the British government that it would soon announce a troop increase that “could exceed 40,000.”

Laser-etched Corn Flakes of the future? By Mark Fightmaster (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 10/15/2009 12:30:00 PM

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs roundly denied it — “I’ve seen the report. It’s not true, either generically or specifically.” Beau Biden, the not-yet candidate for senator, had some wise words on the Iraq and Afghan wars: “Understand that they’re two different wars. What works in Iraq doesn’t necessarily mean it will work in Afghanistan. They are fundamentally different places.”

Closed-door meetings on healthcare legislation continue on Capitol Hill focused on resolving differences among the various bills. Click here for more Reuters political coverage Photo credit: Reuters/Pool (Vice President Joe Biden talks with son Beau Biden in Iraq in July)

Filed under: Rumors, Kellogg Co (K) Let's file this under something that didn't need to happen (kind of like a Bob Dylan Christmas album) -- if the story is real. Apparently, Kellogg(NYSE: K) is planning to battle the rampant counterfeit cornflake market by individually laser etching its name into each of your cornflakes. Seriously, the Guardian quotes Kellogg's as stating, "Now you'll be able to tell your Corn Flakes from you corn fakes!" So, is it real? It seems like a good number of bloggers feel that this is a hoax, but there are others that are covering the story like it is true news. So are we dealing with a master hoax or reality? We will find out in the coming days, I

am sure, but let's treat this like it is real. Could you imagine personalized Corn Flakes? Perhaps we could call them (insert your own name here) Flakes, with your last name etched into each corn flakey little morsel. The possibilities are endless: advertising, wedding proposals, birthday wishes. Of course someone would have to read the flakes before they get soggy. Continue reading Laser-etched Corn Flakes of the future? Laser-etched Corn Flakes of the future? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

With solar overheated, here are two indirect ways to play climate change By Alex Salkever (BloggingStocks)

and 2008, then crashed with stock market and commodity price declines in 2009. Since then, Submitted at 10/15/2009 9:50:00 AM some of the most obvious stock Filed under: ETF Investing, plays have strongly rebounded. Stocks to Buy, Green Stocks Many solar stocks have posted Investors hoping to ride the high double-digit gains since climate change bandwagon have rebounding off year-to-date lows had a roller coaster ride over the in March 2009. past two years. Greentech stocks The leading solar panel ( N A S D A Q : F S L R ) h a s soared with the oil spike in 2007 m a n u f a c t u r e r , F i r s t S o l a r appreciated by 45% from lows of

near $100 to a closing price of $154 on October 14. "I wouldn't be stepping into buying these stocks right now," says Pacific Crest senior analyst Mark Bachman, who covers solar stocks. Still, he rates FirstSolar as a market perform and considers it the best solar stock at present on his coverage list. Continue reading With solar

overheated, here are two indirect ways to play climate change With solar overheated, here are two indirect ways to play climate change originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

World/ Finance/ Tech News/

Internet News Record

Dozens dead as militants launch attacks on Pakistan police By Declan Walsh, Adam Gabbatt (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

officials were stranded on the first floor. After a 45-minute gun battle, seven people were dead, including at least four police officers. By mid-morning Submitted at 10/15/2009 6:54:09 AM authorities said the situation was At least 38 dead as gunmen and in hand. suicide bombers target law Last year the same building was enforcement centres in Lahore devastated by a suicide truck and North-West Frontier bomb that killed at least 19 Militants launched a series of co people. -ordinated strikes against police The second target hit today, the facilities in Lahore today, killing Munawan police training centre, dozens of people and plunging the was the subject of a militant Pakistani city into chaos. attack last March. This morning a Attackers armed with weapons team of gunmen entered the and suicide jackets attacked the complex in an attack which killed Federal Investigation Agency nine police officers and four (FIA) headquarters in the city militants, according to police and centre and two police training hospital reports. One of the centres on the outskirts just after gunmen was killed by police and 9am, as a suicide bomber struck three more blew themselves up, in the North-West Frontier officials said. province. At least 38 people are Seven people were reported to reported to have died. have died at the Elite police Today's events mark the sixth training school, located among terrorist spectacular in Pakistan in rice fields on the edge of the city, 11 days, following attacks on in an attack which lasted several United Nations offices and the hours. Major General Muhammad army headquarters, underscoring Shafqaat, commanding officer of fears for the country's stability. It the 10th division of the Pakistan is believed to be the first Mumbai- army, said five attackers scaled a s t y l e a t t a c k s o n P a k i s t a n , boundary wall where they were involving co-ordinated attacks on i m m e d i a t e l y c o n f r o n t e d b y multiple targets. guards. "The enemy has started a One of the five was shot dead, guerrilla war," the interior Shafqaat said, while another was minister, Rehman Malik, told a wounded before blowing himself television station. up. The remaining three headed In the attack on the FIA for a residential area within the building at least four gunmen compound, forcing women and forced their way into the offices in children to lock themselves the city centre, where about 50 indoors. The gunmen climbed on

to the roof of a residential unit where one was shot by a police sniper and the remaining two blew themselves up. Shasqaat said two more people were killed in the conflict, a nursing assistant and a civilian. One rescue worker said some of the gunmen had been wearing uniforms when they mounted the attack. Helicopters hovered overhead as television footage showed armed paramilitary forces taking cover outside the compound. Provincial law minister Rana Sanaullah said the emphasis was on trying to take attackers alive to garner information on the attacks. Conflicting reports suggested the attackers may have included women, which would be a new departure in Pakistan's rapidly escalating battle against extremist militancy. In North-West Frontier province a Taliban suicide bomber exploded his vehicle next to a police station, killing three police officers and eight civilians, including schoolchildren. There were no claims of responsibility but many such attacks over the past year have been carried out by Taliban or Punjabi militant groups or, as in the army headquarters attack last weekend, a combination of both. The violence came as the army was preparing to launch a major assault on the Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan at the southern end of the tribal belt.

The attacks in Lahore underscore how much of the militant problem is to be found in Punjab, the country's most populous and prosperous province. Hardline madrasas that have served as incubators for extremism are dotted across southern Punjab but the authorities have been slow to crack down on them, citing limited resources and fears of provoking a wider militant backlash. The violence is reminiscent of the Mumbai attacks in India last year, when organised militants engaged in co-ordinated attacks on several different targets. The attacks, over four days in November, left more than 170 people dead. In the aftermath of the violence Indian police said the attackers had come from Pakistan, and Ajmal Mohammad Ajmal Amir, the only attacker to be captured alive, is believed by India to be a member of Lashkar-e -Taiba, the Pakistan-based militant group. • Pakistan • Global terrorism • Taliban Declan Walsh Adam Gabbatt guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

at capturing photos, but even your freshest movie is going to look

faded.

Nikon's D5000 Takes 2 Steps Back By Se&aacute;n Captain (Wired Top Stories)

Nikon's D90 was awesome, but the D5000 not so much. It's a star

Green Moutain (GMCR): A coffee revolution By Steven Halpern (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 10/15/2009 10:30:00 AM

Filed under: Starbucks (SBUX), Newsletters, Stocks to Buy "One of the guiding principles of our growth investing system is the concept that major trends tend to persist longer and go farther than originally expected," says Timothy Lutts. In The Cabot Stock of the Month, he explains, "It's a principle that supports our current bullish market stance and our recommendation of Green M o u n t a i n C o f f e e Roasters(NASDAQ: GMCR), even though the stock is already up more than four-fold since March." "The business, of course, is coffee, a true global mass-market product. And while Starbucks' stock peaked in 2006 (ending a 14 -year run), Green Mountain Coffee Roasters is younger and far less famous. Continue reading Green Moutain (GMCR): A coffee revolution Green Moutain (GMCR): A coffee revolution originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

World/ Finance/ Tech News/

Internet News Record

Seroxat blamed for baby's heart defects By Sarah Boseley (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

February 2005, she discovered she was pregnant. According to her lawyer, Sean Tracey of Houston, Texas, her obstetrician Submitted at 10/15/2009 3:03:46 AM gave her the standard advice at the • British maker of Seroxat told to time: that Paxil was safe. David pay £1.6m damages later stopped taking it because of • GlaxoSmithKline denies drug side-effects that might have been harms foetuses attributable to the pregnancy. A family has been awarded Her son, Lyam Kilker, was born $2.5m (£1.6m) in damages after a in October 2005. A couple of jury in Philadelphia decided that weeks later he stopped feeding the British-made antidepressant and doctors found he had two Seroxat was responsible for their holes in the heart and a very rare three-year-old son's heart defects. congenital defect called an GlaxoSmithKline, the British interrupted aortic arch. "The manufacturer of Seroxat, known hospital put in a stent to keep him as Paxil in the US, said it would alive," said Tracey. "He had a p p e a l a g a i n s t t h e v e r d i c t . acquired an infection – the heart Although drug regulators in the c o n d i t i o n m a d e h i m m o r e US and UK warned in 2005 that s u s c e p t i b l e . " Seroxat could be linked to heart Soon afterwards, Lyam had the defects, GSK does not accept its first of two open heart operations drug is the cause. and spent five months in hospital. T h o u s a n d s o f w o m e n He will need more major heart w o r l d w i d e h a v e t a k e n surgery in five to 10 years. antidepressants such as Seroxat in A number of studies have p r e g n a n c y , a s s u r e d b y suggested that rates of congenital manufacturers and doctors that heart defects are higher among they are safe. The case is one of a women taking Paxil and other number in the US and the first to drugs of the SSRI (selective end in a verdict against the serotonin reuptake inhibitor) company. class. David Healy, professor of Michelle David, 24, was psychiatry in Bangor, Wales, who prescribed Paxil in the US after gave evidence in the Kilker case, panic attacks. Around mid- said that at 4%, the rate of birth

defects was double the normal rate, while the rate of major defects was 2% compared with 1%. The general rate of miscarriages is 8%, but 16% of women on Seroxat miscarry. GSK denied that its drug was responsible for harm to babies in the womb. "While we sympathise with Lyam Kilker and his family, the scientific evidence does not establish that exposure to Paxil during pregnancy caused his condition," said the company in a statement. "Very unfortunately, birth defects occur in 3-5% of all live births, whether or not the mother was taking medication during pregnancy. "GlaxoSmithKline acted properly and responsibly in conducting its clinical trial programme for Paxil, including sharing documentation and submitting results from studies on Paxil to regulators. Once approved for use, the company acted properly in marketing the medicine, including monitoring its safety, updating pregnancy information in the medicine's labelling as new information became available, and in communicating important safety information to regulatory agencies, the scientific

community and the public." Lawyers for women in the US allege that GSK knew of the problem earlier than it admits. Internal documents produced at the Kilker trial suggest that it was investigating complaints as early as 2001, when a woman emailed GSK to ask whether Paxil could be the reason for her baby developing severe heart defects in the womb. The pregnancy was terminated. GSK replied with a formal letter telling her to consult her doctor. But an internal report recorded that the link between her baby's defects and Paxil was "almost certain". In court, GSK officials said the report was a mistake and that somebody had filled in the form wrongly. • Health • GlaxoSmithKline • Drugs • Depression in adults • Pregnancy • United States Sarah Boseley guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Private equity biz back in action By Tom Johansmeyer (BloggingStocks)

with and could load up their acquisition targets with it. So, they could realize a fantastic Submitted at 10/15/2009 11:00:00 AM return on equity, mitigate their Filed under: Private equity, own risks, and show that they Blackstone Group L.P (BX), were the studs of the Street. Initial public offerings, Recession Then, all that went away. Credit Up until the credit crisis, private markets dried up, and private equity firms had it made. They equity companies lost their had plenty of leverage to play

biz back in action Private equity biz back in action originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see acquisition fuel. The numbers our terms for use of feeds. aren't as big as they used to be, Permalink| Email this| Comments but it looks like the private equity market is back in action. Continue reading Private equity

More static at Nokia By Tom Taulli (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 10/15/2009 12:00:00 PM

Filed under: Earnings reports, Nokia Corp. (NOK) Even for a company the size of Nokia(NYSE: NOK), a quarterly loss of $834 million is still a big deal. And, this is what the company posted for its Q3 report(it's the first net loss since 1996). OK, the main reason for the red ink was the write-down of a joint venture with Siemens that develops network equipment. No doubt, the business has been brutal. But, Nokia somehow thinks there's potential for growth. Continue reading More static at Nokia More static at Nokia originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

Plant Siblings Play Nice, Share Dirt By Hadley Leggett (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 10/14/2009 3:00:00 PM

Mustard seedlings are able to recognize siblings from the same mother plant using chemical signals, and they try not to compete with each other for soil and water like they would with unrelated plants.

World/ Gadgets/

Internet News Record

Northern Congo 'needs urgent aid' By Mark Tran (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk) Submitted at 10/15/2009 1:48:47 AM

Agency says rape, killing and child abduction rife and 40,000 people displaced as Lord's Resistance Army fights military Relief groups should increase their presence in the north of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to help civilians amid an upsurge of fighting between government troops and the notorious Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), an aid agency said yesterday. The UN estimates that 400,000 people in this remote region of the DRC have fled their homes as the LRA – once based in Uganda – responded to attacks from Ugandan and Congolese troops by striking out against civilians. Led by Joseph Kony, who is wanted by the international criminal court, LRA fighters have looted towns and villages, abducted hundreds of children, and raped and killed people. "We are talking about tactics of

violence aimed at instilling fear in the people," said Luis Encinas, the co-ordinator of Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) operations in central Africa. "Our patients have told us the most brutal stories – about children who are forced to kill their parents and people burnt alive inside their homes." Civilians increasingly have come under threat since September last year, when Congolese and Ugandan forces moved to crush the last remnants of the LRA after they were driven out of Uganda. The fighting has spilled over into Sudan and the Central African Republic. In response to the LRA's terror tactics, civilians have fled to the main towns, where they are being helped by the local population as best they can and by relief groups such as MSF and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Towns such as Gangala and Banda have become enclaves for 20,000 displaced people each as outlying fields and villages are deserted. The humanitarian crisis in the Haut-Uélé district, in north-

eastern DRC bears some parallels with that in eastern Congo, where government forces are battling Hutu rebel groups who fled Rwanda after the 1994 genocide in which 800,000 Tutsis were slaughtered. In both regions, the violence against civilians has been a consequence of military attempts to crush an elusive and ruthless rebel force. But the situation in the north has received less media attention than eastern Congo. MSF is making an urgent appeal to the UN and other relief agencies to redeploy staff from the central town of Dungu to outlying areas to stabilise the situation. "We are saying to other groups: just stay in the outlying areas beyond the main town of Dungu," said Katharine Derderian, MSF humanitarian affairs adviser, who was in northern Congo in July. "Even such a small step could make a huge difference." In several places, such as Dingila or Niangara, MSF is the only group present despite security concerns. This lack

of security and the absence of roads in some isolated areas means MSF has had to use planes to bring in supplies. "Delivering humanitarian aid to the people of this region is of course a challenge," Encinas said, "but we believe much more can and must be done to address the consequences of war on the population. Humanitarian organisations should urgently address people's needs in areas that are most affected by the fighting and have so far been neglected." • Democratic Republic of the Congo • International aid and development • Uganda • Central African Republic • Sudan Mark Tran guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Why Didn't Verizon Announce the Storm 2 When RIM Did? [Huh] By matt buchanan (Gizmodo) Submitted at 10/15/2009 9:02:48 AM

The BlackBerry Storm 2's had a pretty weird debut. The original launched with a ton of coordinated fanfare from Verizon and RIM, but this time around, it's a murky, limbo launch, basically announced by Walt Mossberg. So what happened? Officially, the reason that Verizon hasn't announced the Storm 2 is that "it's not available yet," and when it is, they'll "share that like normal." Okay. Unofficially, well, we just think it's weird, but why you tell us? [ Storm 2 Coverage @ Giz]

CEIVA outs 8-inch wireless photo frame By Doug Aamoth (CrunchGear)

home network. The frame normally sells for $180 but CEIVA is offering Submitted at 10/15/2009 7:30:00 AM special pricing throughout the As digital photo frames go, the 8 holidays at $148. PicturePlan -inch Pro 80 from CEIVA is an service is included for one year, otherwise attractive device with so friends and family can send built-in Wi-Fi connectivity that pictures directly to your frame can pull pictures down from the over the internet. After the first company’s photo delivery service, year, the service costs $10 per For people without wireless PicturePlan, as well as from m o n t h o r $ 7 p e r m o n t h i f networks, the frame also includes connected computers across your purchased as an annual plan.

a standard phone jack for oldschool connectivity so you can safely give this to your grandma and instruct her to sit next to it all day long while waiting for new pictures to show up. Other features include an 8-inch 640×480 screen, support for most popular memory card formats, and two interchangeable frames (black and wood). While the ability to send photos to the frame

via the internet is a great feature, it’d be nice to offer no-cost Flickr and/or Picasa streaming for those of us who can handle setting up that functionality. CEIVA Pro 80 with 1 Year Local PicturePlan Photo Delivery Service[CEIVA.com]

World/ Gadgets/

Internet News Record

Arctic summer ice could soon disappear By David Adam (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

now first year ice, it is clearly more vulnerable. The area is now more likely to become open water each summer, bringing forward Submitted at 10/15/2009 5:54:58 AM the potential date when the Catlin Arctic survey finds summer ice will be completely evidence that ice is thinning more gone." rapidly than expected, say The average thickness of the ice analysts floes measured by the team was A pioneering expedition to the 1.8m, a depth considered too thin north pole has confirmed that to survive the next summer's ice A r c t i c i c e i s t h i n n e r t h a n melt season. The team's data has expected, highlighting fears that not yet been published, but will be the region could be free of ice in submitted to the journal Cold the summertime within a few Regions Science and Technology. decades. Announcing the findings at a The Catlin Arctic Survey, led by press conference yesterday, polar explorer Pen Hadow, found Hadow said: "This is the kind of that the area covered by their scientific work we always wanted survey was covered almost to support, by getting to places in entirely by ice less than one year the Arctic which are otherwise old. The region, in the northern nearly impossible to reach for part of the Beaufort sea, used to research purposes. It's what contain older, thicker ice that modern exploration should be formed over several years, and is doing." more resistant to summertime Problems with a radar designed melting. to scan the ice meant the explorers The survey, carried out earlier were forced to make several t h i s y e a r t o i n c r e a s e thousand measurements of ice understanding of the impact of thickness using a handheld drill climate change in the Arctic, was along their 300 mile route. beset with technical difficulties Wadhams said the results and ended with the three explorers agreed with other studies of the being plucked from the ice 300 region, but that the thinning could miles short of the pole, their not simply be blamed on global original destination. warming. Recent changes in wind Peter Wadhams of the Polar patterns in the Arctic have also Ocean Physics Group at the contributed, he said, because it University of Cambridge, who has redirected much of the analysed the team's findings, said: floating ice. "With a larger part of the region A Nasa study this summer

showed that the Arctic's permanent blanket of ice around the North Pole has thinned by more than 40% since 2004. While dramatic reductions in Arctic sea ice have fuelled concern about global warming and led to more dire predictions about how soon the ice could disappear, the issue has provoked controversy among scientists. Earlier this year, Vicky Pope, head of climate change advice at the Met Office said"apocalyptic predictions" about the course of global warming could mislead the public. She said there was little evidence to support claims that Arctic ice has reached a tipping point and could disappear within a decade or so, as some reports have suggested. "The recordbreaking losses in the past couple of years could easily be due to natural fluctuations in the weather, with summer ice increasing again over the next few years," she said. • Catlin Arctic survey • Arctic • Polar regions • Climate change • Climate change David Adam guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Google clarifies plans for Google Editions ebook store launching next year By Paul Miller (Engadget)

with Google collecting 55 percent of the profits and supposedly sharing much of that with "retail Despite the fact that nobody partners." The books will be reads anything anymore, the available to any device with a web ebook market sure is hot lately, browser, but will be available with Barnes & Noble about to offline after they've been accessed make some sort of big splash and the first time -- that sounds like now Google getting in on the Google Gears to us, but since action in a new way. After phones and other devices are shaking up the industry quite a bit mentioned for compatibility, with its Google Books initiative, hopefully there's more to it than Google is going to offer paid just a browser-based reader. ebook purchases in its new Filed under: Software "Google Editions" store in the Google clarifies plans for first half of next year, which has Google Editions ebook store been bumped back from the 2009 launching next year originally launch originally planned. The appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 store will offer somewhere in the Oct 2009 11:11:00 EST. Please range of 400,000 and 600,000 see our terms for use of feeds. b o o k s ( c o m p a r e d t o t h e Read| Permalink| Email this| 100,000ish offered by Sony and Comments the 330,000+ on Kindle), and prices will be set by publishers, Submitted at 10/15/2009 11:11:00 AM

Coat Hanger Gorilla in Captivity [Image Cache] By Mark Wilson (Gizmodo) Submitted at 10/15/2009 9:00:00 AM

Great, just when I was over the

Boogie Man, there's a new monster living amongst my nice shirts. Where's Jane Goodall's modular closet organizer when

ReubenMiller via Geekologie] you need it? [ David Mach via

World/ Gadgets/

Internet News Record

Pepsi sorry for 'sexist' iPhone app By John Plunkett (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

"rebound girl" it offered a map of local ice-cream shops. The app, which was launched last Friday, also encouraged users Submitted at 10/15/2009 4:43:43 AM who were successful with one of Drinks firm PepsiCo accused by its chat-up lines to record it via Twitter users of stereotyping email, Facebook or Twitter. women with iPhone app "Let's say you meet a girl who is s u g g e s t i n g p i c k - u p l i n e s way into being green, and you PepsiCo has apologised after it need a vegan restaurant – we've was accused of stereotyping got you covered," says an online w o m e n w i t h a n i P h o n e promo for the app. application for its Amp Energy "Or say you need a quick primer drink helping users "score" on a on punk rock because she is date. staring holes in you and you are a The app featured 24 types of little scared – we have got your w o m e n , i n c l u d i n g " n e r d " , back. If you are anticipating a "foreign exchange student" and successful night the Before You "treehugger", and offered possible Score app gives you up to the pickup lines including "Wasn't I minute info, feeds, lines and much in Space Academy with you?" and more to help you Amp up and talk "You know the Mona Lisa has no to 24 different types of ladies." eyebrows. I wonder what else she Under the headline"Alienate shaves?" your customers? PepsiCo has an Pepsi's "Amp Up Before You app for that", social media Score" app prompted a storm of website Mashable said it was p r o t e s t o n T w i t t e r , w i t h "certainly bold and controversial, commenters suggesting people but does it go too far?". drink Coke instead. Twitter users certainly appeared The US drinks giant responded to think so. "So is there only 1 with a tweet apologising for any type of man? A neanderthal who offence caused. "Our app tried 2 needs a cellphone app to talk to show the humorous lengths guys women? Here's a hint: put down go 2 pick up women," Pepsi said. the cellphone," said one. "We apologise if it's in bad taste Another said: "Enough with the & appreciate your feedback." sexist apps – at least make it Other categories of women equally sexist and make a version featured in the app included that women can play." "sorority girl", "cougar" and When asked if PepsiCo would "punk girl", and offered suggested withdraw the app, a spokesman pick-up lines for each one. For told the Wall Street Journal it was

evaluating its options. "The application was designed to entertain and appeal to Amp's target market," said the spokesman. "We'll continue to monitor the feedback from all parties and act accordingly." But not all Twitter users thought the app controversial. Another said: "Calm down PC pansies. Go read a Cosmo and get a sense of humour. You all make me sick with your sheltered approach to life." • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. • If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication". • iPhone • Mobile phones • Twitter • Internet • Marketing & PR • Social networking • Digital media • United States John Plunkett guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

All-weather GPS device handles golf, skiing, running, and more By Doug Aamoth (CrunchGear) Submitted at 10/15/2009 9:00:00 AM

Sport-specific GPS devices can often cost hundreds of dollars each and if you’re someone who’s into all different types of outdoor activities like skiing, golfing, and running, buying separate GPS gizmos can add up quickly. Sure, you could probably use your smartphone to run multiple sports GPS apps but then you’ve got to deal with sweat, the elements, and… um, cell phone thieves that hang around ski resorts. That’s a real thing, right? London’s Satsports Ltd. just announced what the company’s calling the “world’s first truly multi-sport interactive all weather GPS,” a $490 handheld device with built-in navigation applications for skiing, golfing, running/cycling/hiking, and an optional automotive application. The “Satsports GPS” is currently available through the company’s web site and “at select ski resorts worldwide.” It’ll apparently also be available at

“additional mass market retailers to be named soon.” The optional turn-by-turn automotive application costs $65 and Satsports also sells Windows Mobile-specific GPS apps for $8 apiece, with similar Android versions to be available soon. Multi-sports GPS[SatSportsGPS.com]

Obviously, a Bar Made of a Boeing 747 Engine Attracts Girls In the Skimpiest Dresses [Furniture] By Jesus Diaz (Gizmodo) Submitted at 10/15/2009 8:45:50 AM

Say whatever you want. It may be naff. It may be tacky. It may

not attract buxom women in tiny black dresses. It will make me look like that guy. What. Evah. The Motoart PW-747 Cowling Bar rocks my world:

A world with ejection seat

chairs, airplane piston engine tables, and a mirror bed made of wings, with a big-boobed blonde always by the side, preferably in a stewardess costume and

semitransparent yellow lace lingerie. [ Motoart via BornRich]

World/ Gadgets/ Tech News/

Internet News Record

Limbaugh dropped from NFL bid group (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk) Submitted at 10/15/2009 3:37:51 AM

• NFL players and team owners objected to Limbaugh's views • Lawrence Donegan: English football should heed NFL's stance Rush Limbaugh has been dropped from a group trying to buy the St Louis Rams after several black NFL players objected and the league commissioner weighed in against the controversial rightwing talkshow host's "divisive comments". "It has become clear that [Limbaugh's] involvement in our group has become a complication and a distraction to our intentions," said the SPC Worldwide chairman, Dave Checketts, who is leading the bid to buy the Rams and keep them in St Louis, in a statement. "We have decided to move forward without him and hope it will eventually lead us to a successful conclusion." Several black NFL players have told newspaper reporters they would never play for a team owned by Limbaugh because of remarks they found racially objectionable, including his

comment that the media wanted the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb to succeed because he is black. The Indianapolis Colts owner, Jim Irsay, said on Tuesday he could not even consider voting to approve Limbaugh as an owner because of comments that were "inappropriate, incendiary and insensitive", according to a report posted on the NFL's website. The report also quoted the NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, as telling the NFL's fall meeting: "I think divisive comments are not what the NFL is all about. I would not want to see those kind of comments from people who are in a responsible position within the NFL." Checketts's group is bidding for the Rams as part of a sale being conducted by Goldman Sachs. While the process limits Checketts on what he can say, he obtained special permission to clarify the investor group's intentions. A spokeswoman for Limbaugh could not immediately be reached for comment. Checketts, who owns the NHL's St Louis Blues, wants to keep the Rams in St Louis, and to bolster these efforts, his group had invited Missourians to join them,

leading to Limbaugh getting involved. Limbaugh was to have had a limited partnership role, said Checketts, and little day-today involvement. A native of Missouri, Limbaugh is one of the most highly paid figures in broadcast media and an ardent football fan who came close to landing a spot as a commentator on Monday Night Football on ABC in 2000. Three years later, Limbaugh, who played football in high school, joined ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown. After a month on the show, he resigned amid controversy over his remarks about McNabb. Limbaugh was born in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and later worked for the Kansas City Royals baseball team. Forbes magazine recently valued the Rams at $913m (£562.6m), ranking them 25th out of 32 NFL teams. • NFL • US sport guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Altec Lansing FX3021 Expressionist Plus reviewed, deemed good value By Vladislav Savov (Engadget)

considered rich and well detailed. The reviewer also notes that while the design is attractive, the Speakers might be among the positioning of the power button worst hardware to assess online. and extra audio input on the What do 36 watts of power output subwoofer makes for awkward and a 40Hz to 20kHz response day-to-day use. On the whole, range tell you about the actual with online prices in the vicinity audio quality? A kindly soul over of $75, this looks like a decent at Macworld has tried to clear that value, so hit up the full review if up for us with a review of Altec your interest has been piqued. Lansing's prettified Expressionist Filed under: Peripherals Plus 2.1 setup. The tiltable Altec Lansing FX3021 satellites score design points for Expressionist Plus reviewed, their looks, though that all- deemed good value originally important sound output was appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 deemed only middle of the road. Oct 2009 09:43:00 EST. Please Real bass response begins at see our terms for use of feeds. somewhere around 70Hz and the Read| Permalink| Email this| midrange is, well, middling, Comments though treble definition is Submitted at 10/15/2009 9:43:00 AM

California County Hoarding Map Data Ordered to Pay $500,000

Road Trip! GM Sends the Volt Out Into the World

By Kim Zetter (Wired Top Stories)

By Chuck Squatriglia (Wired Top Stories)

Submitted at 10/14/2009 3:45:00 PM

A California county's three-year

battle to prevent a nonprofit group from obtaining public mapping data has ended disastrously for the county after it was ordered by a court to pay the group $500,000

in legal costs. The county had once tried to charge the group $250,000 for the data.

Submitted at 10/14/2009 3:00:00 PM

Eight range-extended electric

vehicles hit the road for a threeday shakedown cruise to see how they perform in the real world.

World/ Gadgets/ Tech News/

Internet News Record

Three get death penalty for China riots (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

man to death, Xinhua said. The others had Uighur names, except for one defendant sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve Submitted at 10/15/2009 1:44:06 AM whose name was not included in Nine now face death penalty the report. over Urumqi riots between Five others were given prison Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese terms, it said, without providing which killed nearly 200 people details. China sentenced three people to On Monday, six Uighur d e a t h t o d a y o v e r m u r d e r s defendants were sentenced to committed during riots in the death by the same court. Those western Xinjiang region in July, sentences were the first to be bringing the number of people handed down in the trials of facing the death penalty for the scores of suspects arrested during riots to nine. and after the riots. Nearly 200 people were killed The violence flared on 5 July when riots erupted in the regional after police broke up a protest by capital of Urumqi, with Muslim Uighur youths demanding an Uighurs attacking members of investigation into a deadly brawl China's dominant Han ethnic between Han and Uighur workers group. It was the country's worst at a toy factory in southern China. communal violence in decades. Angry Uighurs attacked random The official Xinhua news b y s t a n d e r s i n U r u m q i , a n agency said three new defendants overwhelmingly Han city in the were sentenced to death by the heart of the Uighurs' traditional Urumqi intermediate people's homeland. Two days later, Han court and three others were carried out revenge attacks in sentenced to death with a two- U i g h u r n e i g h b o u r h o o d s a s year reprieve – a penalty usually security forces struggled to restore commuted to life in prison. order. One of the condemned men The Chinese government has appeared to be Han Chinese based blamed the rioting on overseason his name, Han Junbo, and was based groups agitating for more convicted of beating a Uighur Uighur rights in Xinjiang. Beijing

has presented no direct evidence, and overseas Uighur activists have denied supporting violence. One of those figures blamed by Beijing, the World Uighur Congress leader, Rebiya Kadeer, condemned the earlier sentences, saying the accused had been denied due legal process and warning the court's actions could stir new unrest. Kadeer has denied any role in the protests and denounced the use of violence. Swift punishment of those arrested over the rioting were among the demands of Han protesters who swarmed into Urumqi's streets early last month calling for the firing of Xinjiang's powerful Communist party boss, Wang Lequan. Five people died in the protests under circumstances that remain unclear. • Xinjiang • China • Capital punishment guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Hands-On: Nokia Booklet 3G Promises Monster Battery Life By Priya Ganapati (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 10/14/2009 3:50:00 PM

We get some hands-on time with Nokia's first netbook, the Booklet

3G, and it's a head-turner. Its design and monster battery life make it stand out from the competition.

New Archos 5 with Android unboxed, meets its chubby predecessor By Paul Miller (Engadget)

Thankfully for Archos fans those differences don't break compatibility with the optional The folks at Pocketables have an Archos 5 mini dock, and overall Archos 5 Internet Media Tablet the Android model seems to have with Android in house, and after just a slight bit of "premium" vibe the requisite unboxing they've put to it. it up against the older, wiser Filed under: Handhelds, Archos 5 Internet Media Tablet Portable Audio, Portable Video original. It's not quite a fair fight, New Archos 5 with Android since the Android model shown u n b o x e d , m e e t s i t s c h u b b y here has 32GB of flash storage predecessor originally appeared compared to the old IMT's 250GB on Engadget on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 HDD (there's also a HDD option 11:34:00 EST. Please see our for the new Android tablet, a terms for use of feeds. Read| whopping 500GB), but there are Permalink| Email this| Comments some other notable differences like materials and curves. Submitted at 10/15/2009 11:34:00 AM

Wired.com's Crazy Flyer Survives With Mental Health Intact — Mostly By Hadley Leggett (Wired Top Stories)

Wired.com's Terminal Man, who flew JetBlue for a month without ever leaving the airports, managed

to stay relatively sane, we think.

Finance/ Tech/

Internet News Record

5 Key Takeaways from SNL's Bank M&A Conference (Financial Sector and Stocks Analysis from Seeking Alpha) Submitted at 10/15/2009 9:20:06 AM

Last week I attended the SNL Bank M&A Symposium in New York. That may not seem like a big deal to you, but it is to me. I’m something of a bankingconference aficionado, and have been going to them for years. (I’ve even hosted a few.) And I must say, last week’s event ranks up there with the most interesting I’ve been to. Which is a bit of a surprise. Other than government-assisted deals, bank M&A activity has been virtually non-existent lately. You’d think, then, that a banking M&A conference in 2009 would be a bit of a snoozer. But this one wasn’t. The speakers were (for the most part) a distinguished group who had some interesting things to say. Anyway, here are my key takeaways from the event: 1. No deals likely anytime soon. Sullivan & Cromwell chairman Rodgin Cohen set the tone for the conference in his keynote address, when he described the current state of the bank M&A market as “dismal.” If anyone should know the state of future bank M&A activity, it’s Rog Cohen. Along with Wachtell’s Ed Herlihy, he has been Bigfoot among banking

M&A counsel for the past 25 years. Cohen’s view was echoed by investment bankers from four different firms. One of them described the amount of M&A activity that will end up getting done this year as a “rounding error.” As long as government-assisted acquisitions are available to acquirers, the panelists said, riskier go-it-alone deals won’t happen. But over the longer term, everyone agreed that a period of massive consolidation for the banking industry lies ahead. (Then again, these are investment bankers. They always think that.) The lack of activity has made some bankers downright petulant. KBW’s Joe Moeller, for example, complained that buyers’ focus on assisted deals was “almost unhealthy.” It might be unhealthy for your income, Joe, but it sure won’t be for the shareholders of institutions that get to participate in well-structured FDIC-assisted acquisitions. 2. What’s needed to get deals going. Cohen had five suggestions for what should be done to get the deal pipeline moving again. All struck me as thoughtful. First, he says, change the accounting rules so the acquirees’ assets and liabilities don’t have to be marked to some (currently unrealistic) market levels at the time of closing.

Second, permit more favorable treatment of tax loss carryforwards, as was temporarily done to enable Wells Fargo’s ( WFC) acquisition of Wachovia and PNC’s acquisition of National City. Third, allow banks the FDIC rates as “3” to make acquisitions. (The FDIC rates banks for financial strength on a five-point scale, with 1 being the strongest.) Right now, the FDIC generally only allows 1- and 2-rated banks to do unassisted deals. Cohen believes that’s too restrictive, especially considering the number of banks that have been downgraded from a “2” (many likely just temporarily) over the last year has probably doubled. Fourth, bank examiners should stop using a “worst case” financial scenario when evaluating banks. Finally, the Fed should finalize its rules governing private equity investors’ ownership of controlling stakes in banks. 3. The regulators are way too bearish. One panel of regulators included Joe Giampietro from the FDIC and Tim Long of the OCC. Yes, that Tim Long. You won’t be surprised to learn that they are extremely negative on banks’ near - and medium-term earnings outlook. Long in particular stated flatly that, “we are early in this credit cycle.”

Ugh. Here we go again. This is the same Tim Long that, back in the early 1990s, significantly overestimated the magnitude of the credit problems at Zions Bank in Utah ( ZION). And it’s the same Tim Long that forced Wells Fargo to take such massive loan loss provisions in 1991 that the bank was still reversing them years later. And it’s the same Tim Long that, back in the early 1990s, forced First Interstate’s subsidiary banks to take enormous, redundant reserves. Not only is it the same guy, he’s higher up in the OCC now than he was then, and so is in a position to inflict even more needless damage. Thanks to regulators like Tim Long, the entire banking industry is building excessively high reserve levels now, which will inevitably be reversed (starting next year at some banks) and boost bank earnings for years to come. 4. Even the investment bankers believe bank stock prices have moved too far too fast. So do the private equity types, for that matter, but that’s understandable. They’re the buyers; of course they’re grousing that stock prices are too high. But the bankers? Investment bankers make their money by, among other things, pushing secondaries. You’d think their natural inclination would be to resist believing the stocks

might be overvalued. (I take their caution as a very bullish sign by the way.) I assume that, given what’s happened in the financial world over the past 24 months, the panelists were simply trying to be conservative. 5. Bank of America’s ( BAC) motivation on M&A was just as corrupt as we thought. One panelist, Nick Paumgarten, the founder and chairman of Corsair Capital, recalled a telling conversation he had with Hugh McColl back when Nick was an investment banker in the 1980s: McColl: Nick, do you ever read bank proxy statements? Paumgarten: Sure. McColl: Have you ever noticed that the CEOs of big banks make more money than the CEOs of small? Paumgarten: Yes, I have. McColl: Well then, Nick, I’m going to become a big bank. I’ve heard other people recount similar conversations with McColl. The stories would be funny if they hadn’t been so costly to shareholders over so many years. In all, it was a great conference. The tone at next year’s will be a lot different, I suspect, once unassisted M&A finally comes back into vogue. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Smart Use Of Facebook By College Helps Students By Michael Masnick (Techdirt) Submitted at 10/15/2009 12:15:48 AM

Earlier this year, a study claiming that students who used Facebook had lower grades got a lot of attention, with the typical

fear mongering and moral panics coming out of the woodwork. But, of course, correlation does not mean causation, and Facebook is just a tool. For schools that use it in a smart way, perhaps it could do good. Reader Ben Ketteridge

points us to the news of how Gloucestershire College has embraced Facebook to help students do better. It's kept the staff and faculty better in touch with students and reduced drop out rates, so far. It's also helped

students work together in virtual study groups, something that other colleges have complained was a form of cheating. It's nice to see at least some higher education institutions looking at ways to use tools to improve the overall

experience, rather than just complaining about such online services. Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

Finance/ Gadgets/ Tech/

Internet News Record

Earnings Preview: Bank of America (Financial Sector and Stocks Analysis from Seeking Alpha) Submitted at 10/15/2009 9:13:39 AM

Bank of America( BAC) is expected to report Q3 earnings before the market open on Friday, October 16, with a conference call scheduled for 9:30 am ET. Guidance The consensus estimate is (7c) for EPS and $27.71B for revenue, while the consensus range for EPS is (33c)-8c and $25.60B$30.05B, according to First Call. Investors will be listening for information about the search for a new CEO. Current CEO Kenneth Lewis announced last month that he was stepping down by year's end. Several institutional investors have reportedly urged BofA to consider external candidates. However, the bank is considering two internal candidates, the Wall Street Journal reported: Chief Risk Officer Gregory Curl and Brian Moynihan, the bank's consumer and small business banking chief. BofA is also dealing with the legal ramifications from its takeover of

Merrill Lynch last year, and some have questioned whether the bank did enough to inform its shareholders about Merrill's losses. On a positive note, some of the bank's investors may be encouraged by the much better than expected results announced by J.P. Morgan ( JPM), although most of their profits came from trading activities. But J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon said he was "seeing some initial signs of consumer credit stability." Also, Citigroup ( C) today reported a smaller than expected Q3 loss. Analyst Views

Wells Fargo recently upgraded BofA to Outperform from Market Perform, with a target range of $24-$27. The firm wrote that BofA was trading "at a deep discount to peers." Wells Fargo noted that BofA was trading at a 1.5x price to total book value ratio, a 17% discount to the average of the large cap regional banks they cover. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Submitted at 10/15/2009 5:08:45 AM

The first beta of the upcoming new version of Firefox, 3.6, is now available for download. This release is aimed only for the adventurous types, as it’s not really a complete beta; technically, it’s the test build of the first 3.6 beta version. In other words, if you decide to upgrade, expect bugs. As far as new features go, you

can expect better JavaScript performance, new version of the rendering engine (Gecko 1.9.2), and the uber-neat tab previews.

By Darren Murph (Engadget)

actually explains how to build a PS/2 keyboard-to-iPhone converter, so you're not Oh sure, we've seen hacker after necessarily tied to a certain board. hacker brag about their success in Hit the read link if you're down connecting some sort of keyboard for a weekend project. to Apple's iPhone, but have any of [Via MAKE] A s f a r a s r o t a t i o n - r e l a t e d them bothered to take the time to Filed under: Cellphones, functions, we don’t have a laptop explain the process behind the equipped with an accelerometer, magic? Exactly. The man behind Peripherals How-to guide details PS/2 but if you do, we’d like to hear AwghBlog, however, is a kinder, keyboard-to-iPhone mod, just for your opinion in the comments! gentler soul, and he's found the Another new release recently time to detail in quite specific you originally appeared on posted is the release candidate for terms how he connected a legacy Engadget on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 Firefox 3.5.4; since this is an PS/2 keyboard (you know, the one 10:50:00 EST. Please see our update that aims to improve you're not using any longer) to terms for use of feeds. Read| stability, we’d recommend most A p p l e ' s c a s h - c o w o f a Permalink| Email this| Comments users to simply wait for the final smartphone. Best of all, the guide version before upgrading.

Firefox 3.6 Beta Now Available for Testing By Stan Schroeder (Mashable!)

How-to guide details PS/2 keyboard-to-iPhone mod, just for you Submitted at 10/15/2009 10:50:00 AM

Gadgets/ Tech/ Tech News/

Internet News Record

Amber Alert GPS device keeps kids close By John Biggs (CrunchGear) Submitted at 10/15/2009 8:02:59 AM

Now YOU Can Contribute and Comment to Gizmodo Directly [Announcements] By Jason Chen (Gizmodo)

two new ways you can contribute First, you can directly comment from the top of the main page, Tweaking the design is actually which is useful for sharing tips the less interesting design change about stuff (#tips) or telling the w e m a d e t o d a y . T h e m o r e world about how some gadget you interesting one is adding ways for o w n i s d e f e c t i v e a n d t h e you to get your tips and problems manufacturer won't address your onto Gizmodo instantly. issue properly (#broken). Just All of Gawker's sites opened up type in your problems and make our comment systems four years sure to include the correct ago, and since then, not only have hashtag, and a hashtag page will you folks contributed to the be created just for your tag. In this content of each post—many case, http://gizmoodo.com/tag/tips people skim through the post just a n d so they can get to the comments, http://gizmodo.com/tag/broken. like some sort of home-made These work for new tags as well, d e s s e r t — y o u ' v e a c t u a l l y not just existing ones, so go ahead contributed to making many of a n d c r e a t e a s m a n y those posts better, with tips and http://gizmodo.com/tag/jasonis[va things we hadn't thought about. riationofhandsome] that you like And also, many of the Editors You can also create these new on all our sites were commenters hashtag tag pages from inside before they started working here; regular posts as well, just by something that will definitely tagging them with the correct happen again in the future. So, the #hashtag inside your comment. Submitted at 10/15/2009 8:43:43 AM

Oct. 15, 1956: Fortran Forever Changes Computing's Fortunes By John C. Abell (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 10/14/2009 9:00:00 PM

IBM publishes a user manual to launch the first high-level programming language.

Creating hashtag pages will essentially give you guys forums to talk about stuff, since every comment with that hashtag will display there. So, the most important bit is that your tips can appear directly on the site without going through the filter that is us; and we'll go through them regularly to feature them on the main site. As with all new releases, there will be bugs. In the spirit of the new comment system, you can report bugs directly to our tech team here, without waiting for us to pass along your bug reports: http://getsatisfaction.com/gawker Make sure to include an image of your problem and as much description as possible (OS, Browser). And as for regular commenting, here's a FAQ that should get you up to speed on the basics.

What BrickHouse lacks in photoshop skills they more than make up for in caring for kids. BrickHouse sells the Child Locator, a little thinger that lights up when your kid moves up to 600 feet away from you, and now they have this. It’s basically a little tracking device that hangs off of your kid’s clothes and allows you to track them anywhere on Earth. The Amber Alert device is not in any way associated with the real Amber Alerts – a fairly disingenuous bit of naming, if you ask me – but it seems like it could help out in worst case scenarios. It costs $379 ($279 if you act now) and requires a monthly subscription.

This is basically a little GPS transponder that transmits the device’s current location to a central server. You can then follow the device on a map. The technology isn’t earth-shattering, but it’s nice to know it exists. Seems a bit over the top to me. Product Page

Negotiating Through Lawsuit Continues: EMI Drops Lawsuit, Signs Deal With Grooveshark By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)

happen over and over again, and saw it happening when EMI sued Grooveshark this past summer. We've noticed a troubling trend And, of course, a few months in how legitimate online music later, the lawsuit is dropped and a services are being pressured into licensing deal has been reached, deals with the major record labels. though you can bet the terms are The labels begin the negotiations not quite what Grooveshark on licenses... and then sue the originally intended. That's what company. That, of course, makes h a p p e n s w h e n p a r t o f t h e life difficult for the startup, which "negotiation" involves a lawsuit. is then pressured to offer even Permalink| Comments| Email better (read: ridiculously onerous) This Story terms to the labels. We've seen it Submitted at 10/14/2009 9:50:00 PM

Gadgets/ Tech Tips/ Entertainment/

Internet News Record

Massive 'Google Editions' eBook Store Pushed Back Until Next Year [Google] By John Herrman (Gizmodo)

courtesy of Google, of all companies). 55% of the fees, Submitted at 10/15/2009 8:39:43 AM which will be set by "This time we mean it" was the publishers—Google's already got last declaration Google made 30,000 partnerships in place, about their plans to open an evidently—will be skimmed off eBook store, set to launch before the top, then given to retail then end of 2009. And hey, it partners. If this sounds weird, looks like they did! Well, except that's because it is—Google for that 2009 part. Editions isn't quite like the Kindle Google's come forth with a few store in one major way. From more details about how their Google 's Tom Turvey: store, called " Google Editions" Google Editions allows retail and now slated for the first half of partners to sell their books, 2010, will work. It'll open with a especially those who haven't staggering 400,000 to 600,000 invested in a digital platform," he Another way it's not the Kindle books to Amazon's 330,000 and said. "We expect the majority (of Sony's 100,000 (though the latter customers) will go to retail store? From the sounds of it—and is supplemented by nearly a partners not to Google. We are a i n l i n e w i t h w h a t h e h e a r d before—it's a browser-based million public domain books, wholesaler, a book distributor.

shop: The books bought from Google, and its partners, would be accessible on any gadget that has a Web browser, including smartphones, netbooks and personal computers and laptops. A book would be accessible offline after the first time it was accessed. In-browser book buying with Google Gears support sounds like a nice feature to add to a book store, but what about the basics? ePub? PDF? I mean, they've got to be planning on including some kind of eBook format support, but they haven't mentioned any at all. [ AP]

Clive Owen and Catherine Keener are 'Trust'-worthy (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 10/15/2009 3:58:00 AM

Clive Owen and Catherine Keener will star in 'Trust.' The dark drama is to be directed by David Schwimmer, according to Variety. This is not the first directorial gig for the "Friends" star. He also called the shots for 'Run Fatboy Run.' 'Trust' follows parents, played by Owen and Keener, who find out their 14-year-old daughter has been victimized by a sexual predator on the internet. The predator poses as a teenager in a chat room.

Cyberbike may be the largest Wii accessory to date By Doug Aamoth (CrunchGear)

helicopter bike for some reason or another. According to Kotaku: Submitted at 10/15/2009 9:30:00 AM “The game that comes packed-in If you’re a Wii owner and places you in the role of an ecoyou’ve been thinking to yourself, citizen, using your head and legs “Boy, there aren’t nearly enough to clean up the planet. You clear available accessories for my pollution by riding over land, sea, console,” then maybe you’d enjoy and air, powering your strange blowing off some steam on a full- vehicles with your feet.” size Wii-compatible exercise bike. And while I can’t speak to the Yes, a bike. effect of being able to clean up The Cyberbike will apparently large swaths of land simply by be available in January 2010 from h o v e r i n g o v e r t h e m o n a German accessory maker Bigben helicopter bike, I can tell you with Interactive. It’ll come with its 100% certainty that if I don’t get own game, wherein you find my own real-life helicopter bike y o u r s e l f p e d a l i n g a w e i r d for Christmas I will burn… this

place… to the ground. The accessory is apparently also compatible with Mario Kart Wii. I’m not quite sure how you would steer, but maybe the handlebars

shimmy from left to right. There’s no pricing information available for the Cyberbike yet and, as a fully-grown Norwegian standing 6 feet 4 inches tall and

tipping the scales at 230 pounds, I’d actually be more interested to know whether or not I’d even fit on this thing and, if so, how long it’d take for the apparatus to buckle under the pressure of an individual my size frantically pedaling like an eight year old in a neighborhood bike race. Unless this tiny lady is secretly a center in the WNBA, I’m guessing this bike might not be meant for big kids like me. Ooh, look! Just found a video, too. Enjoy… [ Kotaku via Crave]

Are You Planning to Upgrade to Windows 7 [Reader Poll] By Adam Pash (Lifehacker) Submitted at 10/15/2009 9:30:00 AM

Windows 7 officially drops on October 22nd, so with just one week before its release, we're

wondering: Are You Planning to Upgrade to Windows 7?( answers)

Give us the specifics on your upgrade plans in the comments.

Gadgets/ TV/ Entertainment/

Internet News Record

AMD’s low-voltage ‘Congo’ platform due soon? By Doug Aamoth (CrunchGear) Submitted at 10/15/2009 8:00:00 AM

Not content to sit back and let Intel have all the ultra low voltage fun, AMD’s low voltage Congo platform is apparently due in the coming weeks – late October or early November, according to DigiTimes. The processors will be used in ultraportable notebooks and will consist of various dual-core Turion Neo and Althlon Neo X2 chips, as well as a single-core Athlon Neo MV-40 chip similar to the one currently found in HP’s dv2 system. So yes, the Congo platform is already kind of here but we can apparently expect to see more and more available systems in near future. It’ll be interesting to see how the systems are priced. With

Fitbit review By Tim Stevens (Engadget) Submitted at 10/15/2009 12:16:00 PM

It wasn't that long ago that a bathroom scale was the only gadget you needed to track weight loss. Today even videogame consoles, once the bane of the fitness industry, are trying to help AMD traditionally undercutting you recycle that spare tire, and of Intel’s pricing and current ultra course there's no shortage of low voltage notebooks hovering specialty doo-dads getting in on in the $600 to $1000 range, if the action. The Fitbit is one of AMD were able to, say, push out those, a little accelerometer that some models starting near $500, By Joseph L. Flatley from Jim Kramer. Supports pledges to keep an eye on what things could heat up. (Engadget) iPhone and iPod touch with (OS you do so that you can just go 2.2.1 or higher) and will run you ahead and do it, reporting back at Submitted at 10/15/2009 11:55:00 AM $9.99. PR after the break. the end of the day on how well Just a quick note to all you Continue reading HAVA media HAVA Player enthusiasts: the streamer for iPhone available now you did at staying active. It sounds nice, but it's not quite that iPhone app that the company Filed under: Cellphones, Home self-sufficient. Read on to see if announced at CES is finally ready Entertainment it's worth the commitment. for public consumption. Available HAVA media streamer for Gallery: Fitbit unboxing from the App Store (of all places), iPhone available now originally Of course, he'll still maintaining Continue reading Fitbit review "controlling interest" in both the software lets HAVA owners appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, control it all remotely -including Oct 2009 11:55:00 EST. Please companies but it won't feel the Wireless cable, satellite, and your DVR. see our terms for use of feeds. same. Now, no one will have Fitbit review originally enough power to make media What's more, you can stream your Read| Permalink| Email this| appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 recorded programming right onto Comments bigheads like Stephen Colbert Oct 2009 12:16:00 EST. Please the handset for all those times (literally) dance. see our terms for use of feeds. The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs when you can't stand to be apart Permalink| Email this| Comments 11:30pm / 10:30c Mega Millions www.colbertnation.com Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Paris Hilton & 'Melrose Place' Star Sport Same Style Humor Michael Moore (ETonline - Breaking News) sparkled separately in the same r o c k e d t h e m i n i - d r e s s a t Filed under: Industry, Realitydress. Tuesday's Fox Reality Channel's Submitted at 10/15/2009 6:53:00 AM Free Cassidy was seen in the Brian Really Awards. Permalink| Email this| | These blondes are looking a little Lichtenberg dress in August at To see more style savvy celebs, Comments blue. Paris Hilton and "Melrose T h e C W " M e l r o s e P l a c e " click HERE. Place" actress Katie Cassidy Premiere Party, while Hilton

Sumner Redstone selling his share of CBS, Viacom By Danny Gallagher (TV Squad) Submitted at 10/15/2009 9:33:00 AM

One of television's oldest and most powerful names is about to get a little less powerful. Media mogul Sumner Redstone is selling nearly $1 billion shares of CBS and Viacom to pay off a big portion of his debt to preserve his media empire. He owes nearly $1.46 billion and has to pay at least $500,000 of it by the end of October. Maybe he's got some used DVDs he can sell at his local Gamestop.

HAVA media streamer for iPhone available now

Gadgets/ Tech Tips/

Internet News Record

Google to Launch EBook Store in Early 2010 [Ebooks]

Logitech outs the G110 gaming keyboard

By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker) Submitted at 10/15/2009 6:00:00 AM

By Matt Burns (CrunchGear)

maintains customizable backlighti ng, on-the-fly macro recording, 15 dedicated macro buttons, and it When I think of Logitech even adds USB audio to the mix. gaming keyboards, I picture large, But it’s the styling that draws me oddly shaped creations because in. Dare I call it sexy? It’s sleek, that’s what they traditionally look clean, and thin. Logitech has like. However, the new G110 finally made a gaming keyboard throws out those styling cues for that can easily blend into a s o m e t h i n g a l i t t l e m o r e work environment. minimalistic and I like it. Want it? The G110 carries a The G110 might not have LCD $79.99 MSRP and is currently screens or futuristic color schemes available for a pre-order. No word like its G19 or G15 big brothers, on when it will ship out though. but it also has a lot lower price at $ 7 9 . P l u s , i t Submitted at 10/15/2009 8:30:53 AM

Perhaps because there isn't enough news about the Google Books deal already, Google announced that it would offer up more than half a million books to "any device with a browser" in early 2010. Google will offer e(definitely going to need that), books both directly, and with and a USB 2.0 port. There's no links to other online stores like word on pricing or availability for Amazon, but the main feature will the G110 quite yet -- we'll keep be searchable text from publishers with whom Google has reached you posted. F i l e d u n d e r : G a m i n g , an agreement. Google also states that it's not focused on selling to Peripherals Logitech's G110 gaming any particular e-reader or device, keyboard announced originally so it might be interesting to see appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 how various parties line up on the Oct 2009 10:27:00 EST. Please Google/Amazon/Other divide. [ see our terms for use of feeds. Reuters/Yahoo News] Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Logitech's G110 gaming keyboard announced By Laura June (Engadget) Submitted at 10/15/2009 10:27:00 AM

The just announced Logitech G110 gaming keyboard is the followup to the G11-- and it shows. Aesthetically, it's a bit tamer looking than the previous version. This bad boy boasts customizable red and blue backlighting LEDs, 12 programmable G keys, three M keys, automatic game detection which allows you to create custom profiles for each game, plus integrated headset support

Layar Augmented Reality Browser Hits the iPhone 3GS [Downloads] By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker) Submitted at 10/15/2009 7:00:00 AM

Layar, the (somewhat) augmented reality browser previously available only on Android, has hit the App Store. If it seemed cool on a G1, it's probably going to zoom at

showing you what's nearby and where on a 3GS. All the same features apply to the iPhone release. Choose your layers from sites like Wikipedia, Trulia real estate search, Flickr and Twitter mashups, point your phone around you, and Layar planar, sonar-type screen, with a brings up the results as blips on a smidge of information about each

one. You can tag favorite layers, grab screenshots, and get mapped directions to anything that seems just a tad to far to blindly walk toward. The best use case is finding food, services, and neat stuff to check out on vacation; at worst, you're probably going to loose some pocket cash on yet

another coffee fix. Layar is a free download for iPhone 3GS models running the 3.0 firmware. Layar[iTunes Store (direct link)]

Tech/

Internet News Record

Is Quicken at the end of the road? By Rafe Needleman (Webware.com) Submitted at 10/14/2009 4:00:00 PM

Conventional wisdom is that Intuit's acquisition of the personal finance Web service Mint will mean the end of the line for the company's standalone software app, Quicken. Upstart Mint, which is being acquired by Intuit for $170 million, has a personal finance product more in line with the times, with a younger demographic, a working business model, and a passionate CEO, Aaron Patzer, who's slated to take over the Quicken product line at Intuit once the acquisition closes. It doesn't look good for the old desktop app, Quicken. It's a shame that we think of Quicken that way, but it's Intuit's own fault that we've gotten here. The product, according to Intuit legend, started at founder Scott Cook's kitchen table in 1983 as he watched his wife struggle with paying bills. The original Quicken, little more than an DOSbased checkbook and register, over time became an ambitious personal finance suite that handled budgeting, retirement planning, loans, public equities and employee stock options. It became more capable but also more complex, harder to use, and much harder to get started with. Mint got access to investment data a year ago.(Credit: Mint.) More importantly, as Julie Miller, director of corporate communications for the consumer group at Intuit told me, "Quicken made its way through the organization. We shuffled the Quicken business around. That had a direct effect on the quality of the product." You can see the

effect on CNET's own reviews. Users hate Quicken. Few products have user reviews scores as low: none of the variations of of Quicken from recent years have user reviews garnering more than 1 and a half stars out of 5. (Our official reviews score the products higher.) Another reason that Quicken suffered: Intuit shifted its focus away from the flagship product to new moneymakers, in particular its small-business product, QuickBooks, and its tax software and service, TurboTax. As Miller says, "There were decisions made over time that had the unintended consequence of putting the Quicken business where it was starved for focus and resources." Finally, though, the light began to dawn at Intuit. Miller: "Our thinking was too limited. We weren't thinking beyond the desktop solution. The way we grow this, we realized, was to look for acquisitions." Fortunately, while Quicken was alienating users, in 2005 Mint was born. Patzer, who had held several engineering jobs, including at Sony (working on the PlayStation) and at Internet startups, founded the company in his own kitchen table moment, when he became frustrated with existing personal finance software apps-like Quicken. And now the upstart is moving into the big house. When the Mint acquisition closes, Patzer will be vice president and general manager of the personal finance group at Intuit, which will include Mint as well as Quicken. (TurboTax will stay with Patzer's new boss, Dan Maurer, senior vice president of the Intuit consumer group.)

Quicken 2010 is a bit easier to user than Quicken 2009.(Credit: Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET) What will Patzer do with the ailing Quicken product line? While he hasn't taken the role officially yet--the acquisition has yet to close--already we can see that there may be a few conflicts as the two products come under unified management. Ultimately I believe this will be good for personal finance users, although I expect a few rough years for Intuit employees and their customers, too. Here are some points of conflict: Quicken Online versus Mint: Patzer told me, when he came in to be interviewed for a recent Reporters' Roundtable podcast, that Quicken Online, Intuit's existing Web-based personal finance products and its competitor to Mint, will "go away" some time after the companies merge. "We have four personal finance code bases," he said, referring to Mint, Quicken Online, Quicken for the Desktop, and Quicken for the Mac. He made it clear that he sees it as inefficient to maintain them all. Miller told me more recently that Mint will be seen as a "customer acquisition engine" at Intuit. (To decipher: She probably means that the free online personal finance site will be kept feature-light to encourage users who want more capability to pay for the full desktop version of Quicken.) And compared with Mint, she said, Quicken Online will be "more connected to the desktop experience."(This paragraph has been updated from the original version of the story, based on a clarification from

Intuit.) Quicken for the Mac: At MacWorld 2009 in January, Scott Cook, now chairman of Intuit's executive committee, handed me a copy of the beta version of Quicken for the Mac, then called Quicken Financial Life. The product is still not out. Miller told me it's scheduled to be released in February 2010. Based on my talk with Patzer, I strongly doubt he will devote resources to its separate code base. Furthermore, Quicken Mac will not be able to read and write files from Quicken for Windows. I gather the conversion code is yet to be completed, since Miller called it "a top priority," not an existing feature. She also said the conversion of data from Windows to the Mac version will be a oneway trip. Patzer has indicated to me that his vision is to give consumers access to their data no matter what platform they are on. A locked-in financial application like Quicken Mac doesn't fit with this world view. The Quicken code base overall: While Patzer has yet to take the reins at Intuit's Quicken group, he's already thinking about unifying the code bases of the various personal financial products that will be under his purview. He's considering developing a cross-platform version of Quicken on Adobe Air, not just because it's one code base that can run on Windows and the Mac but because it's easier to make a version that integrates with the Web. Patzer admits that "getting up to feature parity on an Air app will take years," though. Quicken's enforced upgrades: Quicken "sunsets" its desktop applications every three years. If

you're using an older version of Quicken, it will still function on the desktop, but its ability to access online information, like stock prices and bank balances, will end. Intuit does this so it can focus its development and maintenance on newer versions and shifting standards for online financial services, I'm told. Skeptics believe it's so Intuit can squeeze upgrade dollars out of locked-in users. Regardless of the reason, it angers users who are forced to upgrade their software even if they're satisfied with it. Miller told me that Intuit "will continue its sunset policies." But Patzer told me that "we might go to a subscription model," adding that it's "speculation," as he's not yet on the job. The key point is that he's open to examining the sunset practice, even if the existing Intuit management has not considered doing so. The good news: Assuming Patzer can exercise control over the combined Mint/Quicken product lines, the best possible outcome for customers will be a personal finance suite that exists online for those users who want it, on the desktop for those who don't, and in both places at once, as well as on mobile devices for the more flexible consumers. The desktop product will get easier to use (as Mint is), but the online version will get more features as well as the capabilities to pay bills and do other transactions (as Quicken allows). Miller also said that TurboTax Online and Mint will get integrated, although not likely in time for the coming tax season. All this is great, but in the short QUICKEN page 24

Tech/ Tech Tips/

Internet News Record

Online Web-design tools for the beginner By Don Reisinger (Webware.com)

The premise of CSS Typeset is simple: take some CSS from your site, modify it with the drop-down Submitted at 10/14/2009 3:51:03 PM lists featured at the bottom of the If you're not an advanced Web page, and CSS Typeset generates designer, and you don't want to the CSS code you can paste back pay a company to create a Web into your site. You can change the site for you, there are services font type, its color, alignment, and across the Web that can help you more. If you need a little help create the site you want. All of the with CSS, CSS Typeset is the tools listed below are designed service for you. specifically for beginners. If that's CSS Typeset will help you you, give them a whirl. change your site up.(Credit: Get your design on Screenshot by Don Color Wizard: Having trouble R e i s i n g e r / C N E T ) finding the right color for a Dotemplate: Dotemplate portion of your site? Color provides several free templates Wizard will help you determine that you can customize right from which color works with your the company's Web page. From current color scheme. there, you can download the When you get to Color Wizard's template and place it into your site, just input the color you want site. to match. From there, the service When you get to Dotemplate, will spit out several colors that you can choose between a bunch match well with your base color. of free templates. You can change If you're unhappy with all the the color of the navigation bar, colors on your site, you can also input text into different sections use the site's sliders to create a of the site, and more. You can color you desire. It then gives you even change the colors of all the a color tag that you can place in different headers across the site. your site's HTML. It's a simple, Dotemplate allows you to use neat tool that I use quite often. your template anywhere on the Color Wizard helps you match Web as long as you provide a link colors or create your own.(Credit: to the service. You can also Screenshot by D o n donate $10 if you don't want to Reisinger/CNET) link to it. CSS Typeset: If you're looking Dotemplate lets you change to quickly edit portions of CSS t e m p l a t e s q u i c k l y a n d from your site, CSS Typeset is easily.(Credit: Screenshot by Don one of my favorite tools to do just Reisinger/CNET) that. Favicon Generator Tool: Every

site needs its own unique Favicon, that little image you find next to a URL in your address bar and on the tabs in your browser. But creating one might not be easy for novices. That's where the Favicon Generator Tool comes in. The Favicon Generator Tool is about as simple as they come: upload an image that you want to make tiny. From there, click "upload" and the service will convert the image into a Favicon. Simply download the image, upload it to your site, and you're all set. It's that easy. Favicon Generator Tool is simple and easy to use.(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET) Flickrslidr: If you're having trouble adding a slideshow to your site, make it easy with the help of Flickrslidr. The premise is simple: input the link to a Flickr album you want to add to your site. From there, you can name it and input tags. Flickrslidr then spits out HTML code, allowing you to quickly and easily input the slideshow into your site. Add a Flickr slideshow from Flickrslidr.(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET) Roxer: If you want to create a quick site that doesn't feature all the Web 2.0 features that have become so commonplace on the Web, Roxer might be a good place to start.

Roxer allows you to drag and drop different elements of a site onto your homepage. You can add images, drag-and-drop YouTube videos, change the header of your page, and more. You can also create content to make it a little more useful to visitors. I should note that Roxer is GeoCitiesesque in that your site is free to build and features a Roxer domain. Regardless, it's a great way to quickly build a site for simple purposes. Roxer makes it quick and easy to create a simple Web page.(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET) Web 2.0 Button Generator: If you want to add a Web 2.0 feel to your site, you'll want to consider using Web 2.0 Button Generator. The site allows you to create a Web 2.0-like button for your site. When you start using Web 2.0 Button Generator, you'll find that you can choose from three button designs. From there, you can choose a color, modify the text in the button, and decide if you want to add logos to sites across the Web, including YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, and others. Creating the button takes just a few seconds. Once complete, you can download it as an image, place it where you want on your site, and you're all set. Web 2.0 button generator is free and easy to use.(Credit: Screenshot by Don

Performance Update Targets Hard Drive Issues in Leopard, Snow Leopard [Updates] By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker) Submitted at 10/15/2009 5:30:00 AM

Apple pushed a Performance Update out for certain models

running Leopard or Snow Leopard last evening, aiming to fix occasional hard drive performance issues the Mac maker says affects a small number

of users. You can grab the

Leopard or Snow Leopard updates from Apple's site, or use your built-in software update tool. [ The Loop via Gizmodo]

Reisinger/CNET) Wordpress Theme Generator: If you're unhappy with the themes other Wordpress users have created, you can create your own with the help of the Wordpress Theme Generator. Wordpress Theme Generator allows you to create a two-column or three-column Wordpress theme. To the left of the design page is a listing of all the elements you can change, including font type, text color, tag clouds, and more. To the right of the site is a look at what your site looks like. It will change as you modify the site's many elements. When I used the service, I was quite happy with what it offered. Granted, it won't allow you to change everything, but if you want to create a basic, but unique theme, I think Wordpress Theme Generator is a worthwhile tool. Wordpress Theme Generator features simple Wordress-theme creation.(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET) My top three 1. CSS Typeset: If you want to quickly modify a site's design, CSS Typeset is the place to go. 2. Color Wizard: Find the right color with Color Wizard. 3. Wordpress Theme Generator: It's not advanced, but if you want a simple, unique Wordpress theme, Wordpress Theme Generator is worth trying out.

Internet News Record

Tech/

Business as usual in search market share By Tom Krazit (Webware.com)

News Corp Lawyer: Aggregators Steal From Us! News Corp: Hey Check Out Our Aggregator!

Submitted at 10/14/2009 3:15:00 PM

(Credit: Comscore) New month, same story: the Internet search market doesn't move very much. Comscore released the latest By Michael Masnick (Techdirt) just a few years ago, News Corp little column based on our reader's Row, 471 U.S., at 589 (dissenting was happily hyping up its own comment. According to News opinion). It is, rather, "the essence data on search engine market Submitted at 10/15/2009 8:51:00 AM aggregator, and even today it Corp. and Jacobs, Newsweek just of copyright," ibid., and a share Wednesday, and stop me if We've already covered how appears to run a number of made money "off the sweat of our constitutional requirement. The you've heard this one before: Rupert Murdoch has flip flopped different aggregators, with a Wall b r o w " ( o r t e c h n i c a l l y , o u r primary objective of copyright is Google has a commanding lead. It his position on free online news, Street Journal editor proudly readers). But, frankly, I think it's not to reward the labor of authors, gained 0.3 percent to up its share but his recent foray into blaming talking about how useful the pretty awesome that someone but "to promote the Progress of of search queries to 64.9 percent search engines and aggregators is aggregator is. Fox News has its from Newsweek isn't just reading Science and useful Arts.... The in September, as compared with really reaching the height of own news aggregator, the WSJ's Techdirt, but getting value out of "sweat of the brow" doctrine had August. As usual, Yahoo and hypocrisy. We've already looked tech page has Popular Technology our community as well. numerous flaws.... So, let's sum Microsoft trailed in the second into the issue of aggregators and Stories from Around the Web and Oh, and why stop there? Seeing up. While Murdoch and Jacobs and third positions. Such has been the order in the found there's no problem there at AllThingsD has its "Voices" as Lawrence Jacobs is general are out trashing aggregators for all. Most aggregators either direct section -- all of which aggregate counsel of News Corp., one has to making money based on the sweat U.S. search market since at least traffic to the original sites or are content from elsewhere with no assume that he's a lawyer with a of their brow, News. Corp. itself 2004, according to an old post on too small to matter. There's no payment. real law degree and such. And gleefully offers up at least three J o h n B a t e l l e ' s b l o g . T h e evidence they actually siphon any So, according to News Corp., thus, you would think that he was aggregators itself, which its percentages have obviously traffic away at all... but it seems News Corp., is one of the worst familiar with copyright doctrines writers and editors happily changed--Google has doubled its that the old newspaper guys need offenders, right? in the US, and would choose his promote. The tech staff uses its share since 2004 at the expense of an enemy, and these days it's And, of course, things get even language carefully. It's then robots.txt file to point aggregators its rivals--but the rankings have those evil "aggregators." worse, the more you look at what especially odd that he chose the to exactly where they should go, not. Microsoft's latest attempt to Following on the lead of his Jacobs has to say. As one of our phrase "sweat of our brow" in explicitly calling out some b o s s , N e w s C o r p . G e n e r a l readers pointed out earlier this describing his complaint, given a g g r e g a t o r s ( t h e " w o r s t " change that picture with the Counsel Lawrence Jacobs made week, not only doesn't Fox News that in Feist, the US explicitly according to Jacobs) by name. launch of Bing hasn't set the some interesting statements, use robots.txt to block Google and rejected "sweat of the brow" as a And, oh yeah, the Supreme Court world on fire but is making some claiming that aggregators are a other aggregators, it specifically reason to grant copyright. Since has already ruled that the "sweat progress, according to the latest big problem:"Aggregators and tells Google News where to find Jacobs appears unfamiliar with o f t h e b r o w " a r g u m e n t i s results. Bing's share increased Google News are, to us, the worst its news. So as its execs and the ruling in Feist, here's a quote meaningless when it comes to slightly to 9.4 percent of the market in September, as offenders," general counsel lawyers are whining about how for him: It may seem unfair that copyright law. compared with the 8 percent share Lawrence Jacobs said today at a evil Google News is to index its much of the fruit of the compiler's Time for a rethink, perhaps? luncheon talk at Brooklyn Law site, its tech people are putting up labor may be used by others Permalink| Comments| Email that the former Live Search held in May, just before the Bing School. "They make money by a big glowing sign that says "Hey! without compensation. As Justice This Story launch. Those gains have come at living off the sweat of our brow." Google News! Over here! Come Brennan has correctly observed, the expense of Yahoo, down from This isn't just ridiculous and and get it!" Hypocrites. By the however, this is not "some 20.1 percent of the market in May wrong, it's hypocrisy of the worst way, Weston Kosova, over at u n f o r e s e e n b y p r o d u c t o f a to 18.8 percent of the market in kind. As Gabe Rivera points out, Newsweek even wrote up a nice statutory scheme." Harper & September. Originally posted at Relevant Results

Tech/ Entertainment/

Internet News Record

Where the clean-tech jobs are (CNET News.com) Submitted at 10/15/2009 9:17:00 AM

General unemployment may be on the rise, but the clean-tech sector should be a bright spot for job seekers, according to a report released Thursday by Clean Edge research. The clean-technology sector was one of the largest recipients of venture capital last year, raising about $3.35 billion in the U.S., according to New Energy Finance statistics in the the " Clean Tech Job Trends 2009" report (PDF). Unlike most reports from research firms, this one is free to download in full. The 29-page report, which also draws on statistics from other organizations such as the Pew Charitable Trusts, includes a plethora of useful information for the clean-tech job hunter, including schools offering green career training, job posting and social media sites dedicated to clean-tech jobs, a list of the largest clean-tech employers, and a list of the best green-tech blogs. Based on the number of job postings and placements, and public and private investment, the report found the solar industry to be the leading clean-tech sector, followed by biofuels and

biomaterials, conservation and efficiency, smart grids, and wind power. For those willing to move for a job, the report lists the 15 areas in the U.S. where people are likely to find the most clean-tech job activity, as well as a separate list for global clean-tech hotspots. "Unlike the early days of computers and IT, the clean-tech economy is a highly dispersed phenomenon, with no single place, industry, or professional demographic controlling the sector," Ron Pernick, co-founder and managing director of Clean Edge, said in a statement. Not surprisingly, the San Francisco and Los Angeles greater metropolitan areas topped the U.S. list at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively. The greater New York metropolitan area (which includes northern New Jersey and Long Island) was No. 3 for cleantech jobs. Here's the breakdown: • San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose • Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County • New York-northern New Jersey-Long Island (N.Y.-N.J.Conn.-Pa.) • Boston-Worcester-LawrenceLowell-Brockton (Mass., N.H.) • Washington, D.C.-Baltimore

(Md., Va., W.V.) • Denver-Boulder-Greeley • Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton • Portland-Salem • Chicago-Gary-Kenosha (Ill., Ind., Wisc.) • Sacramento-Yolo County • San Diego • Austin-San Marcos, Texas • Phoenix • Detroit-Ann Arbor • Houston-Galveston-Brazoria The report also contains a comprehensive spreadsheet detailing the type of clean-tech jobs available, the typical degree level required, and the median pay levels. The jobs range in median pay from $36,100 to $106,000. And while some jobs like project developer or geothermal power engineer required a bachelor's degree or even a specified engineering degree, most of the jobs on the list were true "green-collar" jobs in that they only require a high school diploma. Those jobs included HVAC service technician, journeyman lineman for smart grid, network operations center technician for smart grid, solar fabrication technician, and solar energy system installer. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Submitted at 10/15/2009 8:34:00 AM

ET has the latest... A Connecticut judge has reportedly granted a release of the information found in the search warrants in the case against

Robert J. Halderman, the man who allegedly tried to extort $2 million from David Letterman. The judge ruled Thursday that sealed documents will be released, provided that the information identifying witnesses and "victims by association" are

By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)

commons will automatically get overrun simply isn't true in practice. And that's exactly what With the Nobel Prize in we've seen in areas where there Economics being awarded to i s n ' t i n t e l l e c t u a l p r o p e r t y Elinor Ostrom(as well as Oliver protections. The supposed fear of Williamson) this year, plenty of a "tragedy of the commons" never people are noting that Ostrom's seems to show up. Instead, the seminal work has to do with how markets adjust. the concept of "the tragedy of the What struck me as really commons" isn't really true in interesting, however, is that this is m a n y c a s e s , a n d h o w t h a t the second time in three years that " c o m m o n s " c a n o f t e n s e l f - the Nobel committee has awarded regulate itself. And, Ostrom s o m e o n e w h o s e r e s e a r c h definitely recognizes how this highlights this point. In 2007, the applies to the "commons" that is award went to Eric Maskin, who the public domain. I didn't want to has done work showing why comment right away on this. patents can often be harmful (his While I've read Ostrom's work in focus was on software) -- again, the past, I wanted to revisit some suggesting that government of it, to refresh myself on it. intervention can be harmful in But what comes out in reading cases of "public goods." And, through her work is that she while it's less tied to the reasons recognizes that government why he got his Nobel or his core intervention -- such as with areas of research, last year's award monopoly rights -- really doesn't winner, Paul Krugman, has make sense in many situations of r e c e n t l y c o m e a r o u n d t o "public goods." In a recent recognizing that "infinite goods" discussion on this site, people or public goods aren't a problem, pointed to the concept of a "public but a potential opportunity as a good" as something that needs market shifts. government intervention -- and I It's nice to see the Nobel noted that more recent economic committee helping to get these analysis showed that wasn't true at ideas out there -- and highlighting all. Ostrom's work is much of the research that debunks the old what kicked off that line of wisdom that the answer to any removed, the Associated Press analysis (Coase deserves credit as public good is to create a gov't reports. well...). Her key finding was that regulated monopoly system, The warrants were acquired in in commons situations, the rather than letting the market order to search the home and car players can often work out work out a solution on its own. of news producer, Halderman. perfectly reasonable solutions on Permalink| Comments| Email Halderman has pleaded not guilty. their own, that don't involve This Story regulatory efforts to put up fences or restrictions. The idea that a

Search Warrants Released in David Letterman Case (ETonline - Breaking News)

Three Economic Nobel Laureates In A Row Recognizing Power Of Infinite Goods Submitted at 10/15/2009 4:22:00 AM

Tech/ Popular News/

Internet News Record

PhoneView gives you an inside look AT&T's Ridiculous at your iPhone data Argument Against Google Voice By TJ Luoma (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

your address book, so you will see who those calls came from • Play/Export/Delete Voice Submitted at 10/15/2009 11:30:00 AM memos Filed under: iPhone, iPod touch The best part of PhoneView is Some time ago, I looked around that it does not require you to for a way to access my iPhone to jailbreak your iPhone, and it is use it as a portable hard drive, quickly updated to support each almost like a generic USB device, new version of the iPhone OS. for copying files back and forth I've never found myself unable to between computers. I decided on access my iPhone through PhoneView. At the time I didn't PhoneView. even care too much about the PhoneView can only be used other features it offered. As time over USB. I wish they would has passed, I've liked it even Voicemail. Got a message you come up with a way to access the want to save? You can copy it as iPhone over Wi-Fi, but my guess better and better. The application has been an .mp4 (or add it to iTunes, is that is not possible because they polished with each release and although I can't imagine anyone would have to have an iPhone app now includes a very substantial wanting to do that). The filenames to serve the phone's data, and I feature list. In no particular order, include the date, time, and name have a hard time believing that here is what the just-released (if known). Apple would approve such a • Shows you a list of music, thing. Fortunately, I have an PhoneView 2.3 brings to the ringtones, videos, podcasts, and iPhone cable around most of the table: • View pictures on the iPhone. audiobooks on your iPhone, and time. This was a lifesaver to me when allows you to copy them off the The application costs $19.95, iPhoto suddenly refused to import iPhone if you need to (preserving but that includes free upgrades for any of the pictures I had taken on metadata) life. If you ever find yourself • Use iPhone (or iPod touch) as a wanting more access to your my iPhone. It includes a thumbnail of the pictures (and portable drive iPhone, PhoneView provides the • Access the full "Media" folder easiest way to just about every videos) as well the time-stamp. You can even import them o n n o n - j a i l b r o k e n d e v i c e s corner of your iPhone. (jailbroken devices will have the directly into iPhoto. TUAW PhoneView gives you • Displays Safari's history, full file structure displayed) an inside look at your iPhone data • Allows you to view/export originally appeared on The bookmarks, and open windows (ever visit a site on your iPhone SMS and MMS messages (MMS U n o f f i c i a l A p p l e W e b l o g a n d t h e n w i s h y o u c o u l d support is new in 2.3) (TUAW) on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 • View, Edit, and Create Notes remember where it was?). It also 11:30:00 EST. Please see our • View call log, including terms for use of feeds. includes the ability to search the browsing history (URLs and whether the call was incoming or Read| Permalink| Email this| outgoing, completed, missed, or Comments Titles). • View/Play/Export Visual cancelled (it also integrates with

Carter: Obama's Nobel mixes achievement, promise (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News) Submitted at 10/15/2009 8:48:03 AM

bob buzzed up: Justice Ruth

Ginsburg hospitalized for drowsiness (Reuters) 8 seconds ago 2009-1015T09:42:03-07:00

This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)

gatekeeper control it wields over the Internet? But... uh... that's the thing. The FCC cannot stop We've been covering the Google from also blocking ridiculous attempt by AT&T to d i s f a v o r e d w e b s i t e s f r o m sic the FCC on Google for appearing in its results. That's deciding to block certain calls via because Google has every right to Google Voice. AT&T is being determine what sites appear in its m i s l e a d i n g a n d i n c r e d i b l y index and which don't -- and the disingenuous. While there are courts have said exactly that in the s o m e i s s u e s w i t h G o o g l e ' s past. Google's rankings and site decision to block certain calls, the index are Google's own opinion, issue there has nothing to do with and there's no legal right for net neutrality -- as AT&T aims to Google to include anyone if it tweak Google for supporting net chooses not to. Google knows neutrality -- and everything to do this. The FCC knows this. AT&T with bad regulations-- which certainly knows this -- so why is it AT&T is just as against as Google pretending that this is some big is. issue? But the latest letter/PR play Then there's the claim about from AT&T sinks to ridiculous Google "blocking access to lows -- and it's a shame that no applications that compete with its reporter I've seen so far calls own email, text messaging, cloud AT&T on any of the crazy claims. computing and other services." W h i l e t h e r e ' s s o m e f u n i n Except... Google physically mocking the use of nuns(who are cannot block such things, because apparently also blocked), AT&T's Google is not the pipe. If I want to "slippery slope" argument isn't go to another email service just questionable, it's wrong: provider, I just type that URL into Indeed, if the Commission cannot my address bar, and Google isn't a stop Google from blocking party to that at all. The only one disfavored telephone calls as who could block such a thing is Google contends, then how could (oops) my ISP: AT&T. So why the Commission ever stop Google even make this argument? It's from also blocking disfavored totally nonsensical. websites from appearing in the Obviously, AT&T is having fun results of its search engine; or poking at Google over this prohibit Google from blocking particular issue, but, honestly it a c c e s s t o a p p l i c a t i o n s t h a t should at least limit its complaints compete with its own email, text to things that actually make sense. messaging, cloud computing and Permalink| Comments| Email other services; or otherwise This Story prevent Google from abusing the Submitted at 10/15/2009 6:19:00 AM

Tech/ Tech Tips/

Internet News Record

Wood-chip ethanol maker opens plant (CNET News.com)

two years with a number of producers shutting operations in the face of falling gas and commodity prices. Corn ethanol has also been accused of having questionable environmental benefits. Meanwhile, there still aren't commercial-scale secondgeneration ethanol operations with use nonfood, cellulosic biomass for fuel. Roe said Coskata's demonstration facility will give it

Coskata will use a plasma gasifer from Westinghouse Plasma that converts biomass, such as wood chips, into what's called synthesis gas, a combination of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen, Roe explained. Then genetically optimized, proprietary bacteria digest the synthesis gas and convert it into ethanol. There is a third step for upgrading that liquid into fuelgrade ethanol, with a lot of the water being recovered in the process, according to the company. The greenhouse gas reduction compared with gasoline is 96 percent, it says. The facility in Pennsylvania will be able to produce about 40,000 to 50,000 gallons per year. Once scaled up, the cost will range depending on the feedstock but it will be about $1 per gallon, Roe said. a technical and engineering "Because we have the ability to blueprint to scale up. Financially, use a wide array of feedstocks, the it intends to license its technology cost point for this ethanol will be and to finance at least it first world class. It's a whole new plant, he said. General Motors, a game. If you're limited to one supporter of flex-fuel vehicles, is feedstock like a grain, you're an investor and is testing its fuel. probably setting yourself up for Coskata's hybrid process challenges," he said. combines different technologies, This content has passed through i n c l u d i n g a g a s i f i e r a n d a fivefilters.org. bioreactor that uses microorganisms to produce ethanol. At the Pennsylvania facility,

leadership is yet another bounce. While under Patzer the product may finally have a loving home, it will take time for it to settle in. I will avoid Quicken 2011. At least, Quicken 2010, just released, seems to be a solid if unspectacular yearly upgrade of

the Windows Quicken legacy product. I use Quicken 2008 (I've been using the product line overall since 1989) and will be moving to Quicken 2010 to manage my own finances. I also find myself using Mint more and more; it works well alongside

Submitted at 10/15/2009 7:50:00 AM

Start-up Coskata on Thursday is starting up a facility that can turn wood chips into ethanol, a step toward producing at large scale next year. The "semi-commercial" plant in Madison, Pa., will use a variety of techniques to convert the cellulosic material in plants or even municipal trash into liquid fuel that's cheaper than gasoline, according to the company. Its method reduces greenhous gas emissions dramatically and uses less than half the water than is needed to process gasoline, according to the company. A 1,500-gallon bioreactor at Coskata's demonstration ethanol facility.(Credit: Coskata) It plans to test a number of different feedstocks at the Pennsylvania plant, called Lighthouse, and is now negotiating with feedstock providers for planned large-scale operations next year, Coskata CEO Bill Roe said in a phone interview. It is also designing a 50 million to 100 million gallon per year facility somewhere in the southeast U.S. that would use southern pine wood chips, he said. The ethanol industry has slowed down significantly over the past

QUICKEN continued from page 19 term I fear greatly for Quicken desktop users. As Patzer said, integrating the products will take years, especially if a rewrite of Quicken is part of the plan. Recall that Miller said that Quicken has been bounced around for years. This acquisition and change of

Quicken. Assuming I'm not forced to by sunset policy, I am fine with waiting a few years to upgrade Quicken itself again until Patzer puts his mark on the product. Originally posted at Rafe's Radar

Firefox 3.6 Beta 1 "Test Build" Now Available [Downloads] By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker) Submitted at 10/15/2009 4:40:00 AM

Windows/Mac/Linux: It's not the official beta of Firefox 3.6â&#x20AC;&#x201D;that's been put off for a week. But a "test build" of Firefox 3.6 has landed, with Windows 7 compatible taskbar thumbnails, visual tab previews, and a new rendering engine. You can grab your early build of Firefox 3.6 Beta 1 from Mozilla's FTP serversâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;select the OS and processor platform from the folder list, and grab the binary inside. There are bound to be some bugs, as you might imagine, and the actual beta is now set to launch Oct. 21, the day before Windows 7 launches. Along with tab previews in the taskbar, you can check out visual previews of tabs when you switch through them with Ctrl+Tab. It's not enabled by default, but as with the 3.6 alpha, you can enable them by heading to about:config in your address bar, searching for browser.ctrlTab.previews, and setting that value to "true." Give Firefox 3.6 Beta 1 a try and tell us your impressions in the comments. Firefox 3.6 Beta 1[via Download Squad]

Tech/ TV/

Internet News Record

Netflix and Roger Corman to haunt the Internet (CNET News.com)

including Netflix-ready Blu-ray players, Microsoft's Xbox 360, and TiVo DVRs Renowned horror filmmaker "Splatter" tells the tale of rock 'n' Roger Corman is going "boo" on roller Johnny Splatter, whose the Internet this Halloween. sudden death has drawn together Corman and online rental his professional hangers-on, eager company Netflix are joining to see what the star has left them forces to frighten online audiences i n h i s w i l l . B u t J o h n n y ' s w i t h a t r i l o g y o f I n t e r n e t unexpected return to the living Webisodes charmingly titled may bring his "friends" more than "Splatter." they bargained for. The first episode rises from the Known for such classic '60s grave on October 29, the second horror films as "Little Shop of appears on November 6, and the Horrors," "Pit and the Pendulum," third closes the bloody chapter a n d " T h e R a v e n , " C o r m a n later in November on, of course, jumped at the chance to scare up a Friday the 13th. story that would let the audience But the trilogy is more than just join in on the fun. an online scarefest. Using the "When Netflix approached me interactive power of the Net, with this unique idea, I was truly viewers will be able to vote on the i n t r i g u e d a b o u t c r e a t i n g fate of the characters in each of something that left the ending up the three "Splatter" stories. to the audience," said Corman in a The episodes will be free for statement. "Making content for everyone to watch on their the Web is a natural progression c o m p u t e r s ; n o N e t f l i x for me, but 'Splatter' is a rare membership is required. But opportunity to involve my horror Netflix members on an unlimited fans who really love being a part plan will be able to check out of the process." "Splatter" on other devices, To create the Webisodes, Submitted at 10/15/2009 9:30:32 AM

Corman recruited other horror film veterans. Filmmaker Joe Dante ("Gremlins," "Twilight Zone: The Move") applied his directing talents to each Webisode, while actor Corey Feldman ("The Goonies," "The Lost Boys") plays the lead role of Johnny Splatter. "Netflix is delighted to be working with such film luminaries as Roger Corman and Joe Dante to bring our instant streaming capabilities to life in a unique and creative way for horror fans across the country," said Leslie Kilgore, chief marketing officer for Netflix, in a statement. "'Splatter' is a celebration of classic horror movies and it gives fans of the genre an exciting way to sample watching instantly at Netflix." Starting October 29, the Webisodes can be seen at www.netflix.com/splatter. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

By Danny Gallagher (TV Squad) Submitted at 10/15/2009 11:29:00 AM

The late Capt. Lou Albano wore many hats in his career (some wrestlers wear hats). But in my nostalgia filled mind, none of those hats were greater than the red service cap with the giant "M" on it. The famed wrestler played both the live action and animated

version of video game hero Mario on the top rated syndicated kids' show The Super Mario Bros. Super Show, along with actor Danny Wells as Luigi who Jeffersons fans will recognize as Charlie the bartender. Mario Bros. is a show I vividly remember from my childhood because my parents never bought me a Nintendo and that just drove me to want and watch anything and everything with the Mario Bros.

First Look: ZenNews brings the news cloud to your iPhone By Brett Terpstra (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 10/15/2009 12:30:00 PM

Filed under: iPhone, First Look, App Review Zensify announced its latest app, ZenNews[ iTunes link], this morning. It's basically an intelligent news aggregator, using algorithms to find "what's hot" from a variety of sources including the New York Times, the Washington Post, Al Jazeera, the Guardian and more. It parses Twitter and other social mediums to figure out who's talking about what, and then creates a tag cloud of hot topics. There's an aggregated view combining all sources, or you can view a tag cloud for each source. You can toggle sources and/or categories on and off in the preferences. If a keyword in the tag cloud reveals more than 5 articles, tapping it will drill down into another tag cloud, repeated until the keyword returns a list of 5 or fewer articles. View articles on it. within ZenNews using the built-in Here's my all-time favorite webkit browser, or open them in episode because it combined the Safari. You can always switch two things I worshiped as an from the tag cloud to a list view organized religion: Nintendo and for any page, and there's a default Ghostbusters. view titled "All News" which lists Filed under: Video, Celebrities, all the aggregated news (in list Obituaries, Children, Reality-Free format) at once. You can drill Permalink| Email this| | down to specific topics in the Comments Categories view, and see what's new/hot from all enabled sources for a single category. As you read, you can mark any article as a

Eat a mushroom for the fallen Mario

favorite, and view a list of your marked articles in the Favorites view. You can quickly share articles via Twitter or email, as well. It's all quite slick, and pretty solid for a first release. I did run into a bug which would bring up blank tag cloud pages if a specific combination of being on a certain view and losing a network connection at the right time occurred. I spoke with the developers yesterday, and I'm confident they'll smooth out any wrinkles quickly. Zensify is offering ZenNews for free. Their plan is to demonstrate the buzz-detecting algorithms, and then offer white-label versions -using a subscription model -- to companies with a need for up-tothe-minute buzz tracking. For the rest of us, this is a good-looking and, as far as I've been able to tell, accurate way to see what's happening in the world at any given moment. Check out the gallery below for a preview, and grab a copy on the App Store. Gallery: First Look: ZenNews TUAW First Look: ZenNews brings the news cloud to your iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Tech/ Entertainment/

Internet News Record

Waze for iPhone has a ways to go By Mel Martin (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 10/14/2009 7:30:00 PM

Filed under: iPhone, App Review Several of our readers suggested that we take a look at Waze, a free navigation app [ iTunes link] that depends on other users for reports of traffic tie ups, accidents, and speed traps. It also functions as a turn-by-turn navigator with spoken directions, although it doesn't have text to speech capabilities for naming streets or points of interest. As a navigator Waze is fine, but it seems to be missing a lot of residential addresses. Waze had a nasty habit of jumping my vehicle icon to a nearby parallel street, and while it was nice to have both 2D and 3D maps, the software seemed to change the zoom factor without me telling it to. This erratic zooming seemed to happen when I went to a menu and then returned to the map. The maps aren't very attractive. There are both day and night views for the Waze maps, but even when set to 'auto,' the night map comes up no matter what time of day it is. The maps and

incidents, it is pretty lightly populated. Of course, that should get better as more and more people use Waze. A clever aspect of the app is that it keeps track of where you are while you're navigating, and uses your speed to add to its database of road conditions. I think Waze is promising, and if you don't want to spend money on a turn-by-turn nav app, it's a start. To be really useful some of the bugs need to be fixed, the address data needs to be more complete, and there need to be a heck of a lot more people using Waze so there is more incident reporting. This app is free and implements some creative ideas. If you're thinking about getting a nav app, but you're on the fence, make the risk-free download of Waze and see if it enhances your driving. TUAW Waze for iPhone has a ways to go originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Submitted at 10/15/2009 5:40:00 AM

Taylor Swift is set to host "Saturday Night Live," and the obvious question is: who will play Kanye West? The rapper famously upstaged

By Stephen Shankland (Webware.com) Submitted at 10/15/2009 5:00:00 AM

Those of you who hate the recent arrival of Yahoo's logo on Flickr now have an easy way to erase it-and get a number of useful features--as long as you're using an edgy version of Chrome. Fittr Flickr lets you click 'EXIF' to expand a box below the image to show photo details.(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET) Chrome extensions let people POI data are all downloaded from customize the browser's behavior, the internet, so if you're in a "dead and the Fittr Flickr extension from zone" for data, you have no Gmail programmer Dan Pupius navigation. whips Yahoo's photo-sharing site As for the social functions of into shape. Some people use the app, they are a great idea, but extensions for using Delicious in reality you're only going to get bookmarks, banishing ads, and information in a densely filling out forms, but this is my populated areas. Even then, you favorite Chrome extension so far. may not get much of anything in The Yahoo logo is ugly but not terms of reported incidents. If you too bothersome in my eyes. go to the Waze web page and look Instead, what I like best about at the national map for reported Fittr Flickr is its keyboard navigation options. Once the extension is installed, you can type "?" to see the options, but the two I now use a lot are "." and "," to navigate forward and backward Swift at the MTV VMAs this -old told the Associated Press. through a person's photostream. year, now the country cutie may "There are definitely some Typing "s" will star a photo as a have her revenge as she takes a h i l a r i o u s t h i n g s t h a t h a v e favorite, and in a nice Google comedic turn on "SNL." happened to me over the past touch harkening to the vi text While there's no word on what couple of months that I think will editor, "/" will put your cursor in type of skits she may take part in, be pretty substantial skits." the search field. "I've been thinking about skit To use Chrome extensions, ideas for a long time," the 19-year

Will Taylor Swift Spoof Kanye West on 'Saturday Night Live'? (ETonline - Breaking News)

How Chrome users can scrub Yahoo logo off Flickr though, you must be using the developer preview version of the browser, since extensions are something of a work in progress. (Click to download for Windows or Mac OS X.) I've had to restart Chrome sometimes to enable the last two extensions I tried out. Another nice feature for pixelpeepers such as myself is the addition of an EXIF button below the photo that reveals camera, lens, and exposure details without navigating away from the photo. Nearby are direct links to the small, medium, and large version of the photos. There are some other nice tidbits, too, involving viewing photos against a black background, comments, and other matters. Yahoo has to make Flickr appeal to a large swath of people, most of whom probably don't care about these options. But for me, they unlock some of Flickr's potential. Firefox users who want similar technology can try Dustin Diaz's Quickr Flickr script, which requires the Greasemonkey addon for Firefox to be installed before the script can be added. Greasemonkey fans also can use a number of scripts that will unYahoo the logo. Originally posted at Deep Tech

Tech/ TV/

Internet News Record

Wi-Fi Direct to bring secure peer-topeer networking in 2010 By Steven Sande (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

and can be implemented in existing devices through software updates. Wi-Fi Direct competes directly with Bluetooth, and will Submitted at 10/14/2009 11:30:00 PM provide much faster data transfer Filed under: Wireless, Odds and s p e e d s ( u s i n g m o r e p o w e r , ends, Apple If there's one thing unfortunately). According to the that I've wanted to be able to do Wi-Fi Alliance, for years, it's to set up a direct Wi"The specification, previously Fi connection to another device code-named 'Wi-Fi peer-to-peer,' without having to actually be near can be implemented in any Wi-Fi a Wi-Fi base station, or going to device, from mobile phones, the trouble of getting an ad-hoc cameras, printers, and notebook network set up on both devices. computers, to human interface T h i s t y p e o f p e e r - t o - p e e r devices such as keyboards and networking is nothing new; back h e a d p h o n e s . S i g n i f i c a n t l y , in the Newton MessagePad days devices that have been certified to we could beam address cards and the new specification will also be data between devices through an able to create connections with IrDA connection. hundreds of millions of Wi-Fi Now the Wi-Fi Alliance has CERTIFIED legacy devices announced that this will be already in use. Devices will be possible next year through the use a b l e t o m a k e a o n e - t o - o n e of Wi-Fi Direct. Wi-Fi Direct will connection, or a group of several come built into many new devices d e v i c e s c a n c o n n e c t

simultaneously." I can imagine that at some point in 2010, we'll be able to sync our iPhones using Wi-Fi Direct, directly send address book information to other iPhone-toting people, and enjoy high-speed multi-player gaming fun. Apple is a sponsor corporation for the WiFi Alliance, so adoption of Wi-Fi Direct on Macs, iPhones, and future Apple equipment will hopefully be swift and widespread. [via MacRumors] TUAW Wi-Fi Direct to bring secure peer-to-peer networking in 2010 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Yo Gabba Gabba! returns to amuse, confuse, terrify kids By John Scott Lewinski (TV Squad) Submitted at 10/15/2009 11:01:00 AM

Disclaimer: Children should not take Acid. In fact, no one should sample LSD, but children should really stay away. That said, speaking theoretically, if kids did drop a soaked sugar cube or six, they would see visions potentially less bizarre than what they take in during an episode of Yo Gabba Gabba(!). The Nick, Jr. and Noggin show is back this week with new episodes for fascinated children and really high adults. A lot of kids love it. It's colorful, kinetic, and everybody involved keeps a smile on their face -- even the bizarre anthropomorphized, toys-turnedlife size characters -- Muno (red cyclops), Foofa (pinkish bow thing), Brobee (the green monster

with no elbows) ), Toodee (the blue cat) and Plex (the yellow, 50s-ish robot). Continue reading Yo Gabba Gabba! returns to amuse, confuse, terrify kids Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, Daytime, Animation, Children, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

Pretty Web journal tool Penzu goes pro By Josh Lowensohn (Webware.com)

A pro membership now gets you all kinds of goodies, including a rich text editor, tags for Submitted at 10/14/2009 11:23:00 AM organization, image hosting, 256Penzu, the stylish Web word bit AES encryption on posts that processor we checked out about a you've locked, and themes that year ago, is ready to make a skin the entire interface to your business out of its hosted writing liking. Pro users can also slurp in tools. their posts from another blog The company on Wednesday service (currently Live Journal introduced a professional version only), as well as export them as of its service that costs $19 a year PDFs and raw text files. and fixes many of the gripes we Penzu can now be skinned in originally had about its very one of six themes for those who pretty, but feature-light, offerings. pay for the service's new pro

membership.(Credit: Screenshot by Josh Lowensohn/CNET) New features are not limited to pro users. All users now have a way to share a read-only version of a post to others that does not require any special sign-up for the person who's viewing it. The tool can also now grab your photos from Flickr, not just your desktop. This feature worked without issue when we tried it, albeit slowly. You first have to dig through all your Flickr albums, then cycle eight photos at a time

to find the shots for which you're looking. After that, you have to wait while they're imported, which, in our case, took close to 2 minutes per photo, making the tool take too long to be usable. It's worth noting that the service is still designed as a diary replacement, not as a collaborative document editor, the way Google Docs, Zoho Writer, Adobe's Acrobat.com, and others operate. Penzu's focus makes it difficult to make strong comparisons to

those tools, but to be honest, I don't see much value in paying the $19 for some of the extra features it adds. Things like rich text editing, data exporting, and tagging should be standard features on just about any Webbased writing tool, if it hopes to compete for user attention and, in this case, dollars. Originally posted at Web Crawler

Tech/ Entertainment/ Popular News/

Internet News Record

LockerBlogger: An All-Access Pass Poland launches to Sports Stars Auschwitz page on Facebook By Jennifer Van Grove (Mashable!)

focused around athletes or sports. Coaches can also use the space to start online groups and share Submitted at 10/15/2009 7:32:03 AM video content with team members, With the wealth of social media and there’s even a way for high tools available for professional school athletes to connect with athletes to leverage and connect college scouts. with fans, do they really need LockerBlogger doesn’t appear their own celebrity blogging to be all that different from sites platform? like Yardbarker, nor does it sport The brand new service, and combines blogging, social anything that is groundbreaking in LockerBlogger, seems to think so, media, and rich media, enabling the technology sphere. It’s biggest and they’re launching today with stars to better control their online selling point is the big name an all-star lineup of professional personas. Depending on what the members. Fans will follow their athletes to prove their point. athletes post, fans could get a heroes, so the fact that they’ve There are already more than 140 better, more unfiltered view of recruited high profile names could celebrity athletes using the their favorite athletic heros on and be all they need for an instant s e r v i c e , w i t h t o u t e d off the field. victory. LockerBloggers including Dwight For a taste of LockerBlogger, With LockerBlogger, you can F r e e n e y , L a r r y J o h n s o n , expect personal “lockers” to watch this clip: L a w r e n c e T a y l o r , D a r r y l include typical social network Image from CC_Chapman on Strawberry, Jason Kidd, Don features like photo and video Flickr Reviews: Facebook, Flickr, Mattingly, Alan Houston, and galleries, friend lists, following MySpace Dominique Wilkins. Tags: athletes, lockerblogger, options, onsite messaging, groups, LockerBlogger is designed to user bios with links, and a sports make it simple for athletes to member blog. It’s pretty much connect with fans. The service like Facebook or MySpace, but caters to the sports community

Larry Birkhead Speaks Out on Anna Nicole Smith Case (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 10/15/2009 8:14:00 AM

Larry Birkhead-- father to the late Anna Nicole Smith's 3-yearold daughter Dannielynn-- reveals how he plans to testify in the criminal case against attorney Howard K. Stern, Dr. Khristine Eroshevich and Dr. Sandeep Kapoor, who are being charged on counts of conspiracy to furnish the late Smith with drugs.

"What I could testify to is the timeline before she died and what was going on in people's heads. ... I guess the coming and going of different people around her," Birkhead told "Today" show host Matt Lauer. Birkhead said he attempted several times to talk to the former Playboy model and Stern about her drug use. "There's several times and attempts I made and conversations. The thing is and

what's so odd about this situation is when you said something to Anna ... she referenced you back to the bottles with the doctor's names on it. So, you found some comfort basically that a doctor is prescribing this and there was someone, supposed to be, having the right mind to be in charge of this."

By Chris Matyszczyk (Webware.com)

and frightening a place as you can ever visit, view the site as an experiment but hope that it will be Submitted at 10/14/2009 4:41:11 PM a lasting reminder to younger When I lived and worked in generations of the concentration Warsaw, Poland, just before the camp's painful significance in turn of the century, I had a client history. who was about to make a TV Pawel Sawicki, a museum spot. The client insisted on a official at Auschwitz, told the Polish director. We offered the BBC, "If our mission is to educate name Marek Dawid. the younger generation to be "Who's his DP (director of responsible in the contemporary photography)?" the client asked. world, what better tool can we use "Pawel Edelman," was the to reach them than the tools they answer. use themselves?" "Oh, I'm not having two Jews on These tools are already being my shoot," came the reply, which used, after all, by those who seek was both stunningly anti-Semitic to deny that the Holocaust ever and frighteningly stupid, as happened, which has led to much Edelman went on to be DP on controversy as to whether they such movies as " The Pianist." contravene Facebook's terms of I tell this story only because service. Poland, despite its pride in being The new Auschwitz Facebook t h e o n l y E u r o p e a n c o u n t r y site allows for discussion and, as occupied by Nazis that didn't have yet, nothing has been posted by a collaborator government, is not deniers. devoid of anti-Semitic attitudes. However, it will be interesting This is why many will welcome to see whether, over time, it will the creation of an Auschwitz serve as a lasting reminder when Facebook site. there is no one still alive who Auschwitz, a very real place p e r s o n a l l y e x p e r i e n c e d indeed.(Credit: C C Auschwitz's horrors. Lumiere/Flickr) Originally posted at Technically According to the BBC, the Incorrect authorities at Auschwitz, as bleak

Judge OKs release of warrants in Letterman case (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News) Submitted at 10/15/2009 8:45:36 AM

1 buzzed up: Federal contractors report 30,000 stimulus jobs (AP)

16 seconds ago 2009-1015T09:41:43-07:00 This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Tech/ TV/ Fashion/

Internet News Record

Jim Dolan's Lawsuit Against Cityfile Reports: Google to Highlights The Need For Stronger launch online bookstore Anti-SLAPP Laws (CNET News.com)

directly from its Web site, the search giant said at the book fair that it would give publishers 63 By Michael Masnick (Techdirt) considering getting rid of the back against such bogus lawsuits, Watch out Amazon. Google is percent of the sales and keep 37 famous "Christmas Spectacular" whose purpose is only to silence hitting the online bookstore percent itself. For books sold Submitted at 10/15/2009 2:17:32 AM involving the Rockettes at Radio s p e e c h ( S L A P P s t a n d s f o r business. through Amazon or other The Citizen Media Law Project City Music Hall in New York. As Strategic Lawsuit Against Public The search giant announced retailers, the publisher would get has yet another story of bogus Arthur Bright points out, the Participation). The problem, Thursday at the Frankfurt Book 45 percent, the retailer would get lawsuits being used to silence original post doesn't seem all that however, is that right now anti- Fair that in the first half of next 55 percent, and Google would something someone doesn't want different than speculative articles SLAPP laws are at the state level, year it will launch Google k e e p t h e s m a l l r e m a i n i n g written about them. In this case, it published all the time in pretty and only a few states have really Editions, a new service that will p e r c e n t a g e . involved Jim Dolan, known (but much every media outlet. strong ones. New York is not one deliver e-books to anyone with a The company said that not particularly liked) to New U n f o r t u n a t e l y , f a c i n g a of them. While Bright says this is Web browser. consumers would be able to read Y o r k e r s a s t h e o w n e r o f protracted legal fight, Cityfile evidence of why NY should Partnering with publishers the books on any connected Cablevision, the Knicks and agreed to settle and "retract" the strengthen its anti-SLAPP laws, a which whom it already has digital device, including PCs, Netbooks, Madison Square Garden. More story. Bright notes that this is better solution might be a strong rights deals, Google plans to and smartphones. Apple iPhone recently, Cablevision bought the silly, and any decent lawyer federal anti-SLAPP law, that initially offer about a half-million users could access the e-books newspaper Newsday -- so you should have been able to get the shows a strong support for b o o k s t h r o u g h t h e s e r v i c e , through their Gmail accounts. might think that Dolan would be a l a w s u i t t o s s e d o n F i r s t freedom of speech, and helps according to press reports from Google said it doesn't plan to little more aware of why it's bad A m e n d m e n t g r o u n d s . T h e prevent bogus lawsuits whose Frankfurt. Readers will be able to offer a dedicated e-book reader to t o s u e a n e w s p u b l i c a t i o n problem is the time and resources only purpose is to allow those purchase the books directly from accompany the new service, claiming defamation over a needed to fight such a thing. with more money to silence Google or from online bookstores according to the press reports. clearly speculative piece. And, Bright then points out how this speech they dislike. such as Amazon and Barnes & "We're not focused on a yet, sue he did. Dolan sued the highlights the need for stronger Permalink| Comments| Email Noble. dedicated e-reader or device of blog Cityfile for posting a piece anti-SLAPP laws in New York. This Story In September, in conjunction any kind," Tom Turvey, Google's about rumors that Dolan was Anti-SLAPP laws let people fight with Congressional hearings into director of strategic partnerships, its Google Books project, the told journalists at the Frankfurt Pink Ribbon Beauty: Estee Lauder Lip Glosses search titan had revealed a reseller Book Fair. By ELLE.com (ELLE News —Janna Johnson, Beauty p r o g r a m t h a t w o u l d g i v e Google was not immediately Blog) Assistant competitors a share of money available for comment to CNET complete with a lipstick, gloss Photo: Kevin Cremens from such a service. News. Submitted at 10/14/2009 8:00:00 AM (shown), pencil, and mirrored Follow ELLE on Twitter Google plans to share the sales This content has passed through case. Sales support Estée Lauder’s Evelyn Lauder and Elizabeth with both publishers and the fivefilters.org. Hurley handpicked these lip sets, $500,000 donation to the BCRF. online bookstores. For books sold Submitted at 10/15/2009 7:31:00 AM

Cougar Town: I Won't Back Down By Joel Keller (TV Squad) Submitted at 10/15/2009 10:29:00 AM

(S01E04) First, let's get a mystery out of the way: the Tom Petty centric titles. I shot off a note to Bill Lawrence asking about it, and he Blackberried back to me that it's because a) Tom Petty is from rural Florida and b)

he's Bill's favorite singer. So there you have it. Now, on to this episode. We've all seen Courteney Cox play neurotic; she played neurotic for ten seasons on Friends. But we've also seen her play tough, confident and warm, whether it was on Friends or any of her other writing or the way she interprets roles. Right now, either via the the role, she's playing Jules Cobb

as a purely neurotic mess, and a loud one at that. It's not endearing, it doesn't help me connect with Jules' plight, and, most importantly, it's not funny. Tonight's episode was Jules at her most neurotic, and it made for the least funny episode of the first four. It's a bad trend that's starting to make me worry about the

overall health of the show. Continue reading Cougar Town: I Won't Back Down Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Cougar Town Permalink| Email this| | Comments

Tech/ TV/

Internet News Record

Offshore iPhone/iPod USB power adapters: Caveat Emptor By David Winograd (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 10/14/2009 6:30:00 PM

Filed under: Accessories, iPod Family, iPhone When I opened my iPhone 3GS, I was surprised to find that the power adapter was nothing but a little 2-prong AC plug (I live in the US) that allowed you to plug in the standard USB to 30-pin connector to charge the phone. I wanted to get a spare; checking online told me that the Apple Store wanted US$29 for the little plug, which just seemed like too much for too little, so I went shopping. On eBay I found a bunch of auctions based in Hong Kong selling what looked like the exact same thing for anywhere from under around $2-4, and they often included the USB cable to boot. I ordered four from a vendor

and after a few weeks received them. They looked perfect, right down to the little green dot -- but none of them worked. They might start charging, but after a few minutes the iPhone would beep a few times and I would be informed that "this accessory is not compatible." And so it went for all four pieces. After sending some pictures back and forth and reading a few emails containing a combination of surprise and

amazement from the vendor, my money was refunded. Undaunted, or maybe just dumb, I went back to eBay and found another vendor that claimed to be selling, "100% Brand New Original OEM Charger and Original OEM USB Cable for iPhone/iPod" for around US$4. I just checked eBay and found this same vendor raising the price to US$10 in one auction and lowering it to $US.01 in another. Continue reading Offshore iPhone/iPod USB power adapters: Caveat Emptor TUAW Offshore iPhone/iPod USB power adapters: Caveat Emptor originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Submitted at 10/15/2009 9:03:00 AM

Vampires aren't scary anymore. They haven't been for a while. Anne Rice saw to that while she was making her fortune turning vampires into the kind of delicate camp caricatures you see hosting cooking shows on Bravo. It's continued through Twilight and Bank now, and no one gives a every Twilight clone coming cuss what I think. down the pipe. Still, Twilight can Now, I've officially typed the build it's own Federal Reserve word "Twilight" way more than I

By Stan Schroeder (Mashable!) Submitted at 10/15/2009 7:00:25 AM

The EU Parliament has on several occasions stated that access to the Internet is one of basic human rights. Now, Finland has become the first country to actually declare fast (broadband) Internet access a legal right. In practice, this means that telecom companies in Finland will be required to provide all Finnish citizens – all 5.3 million of them– with broaband Internet connection of at least 1 Mbps, starting in July. That’s not all. According to the legislative counselor for the Ministry of Transport and Communications Laura Vilkkonen, the plan is to provide all the citizens with even faster broadband speeds (100 Mbps) by 2015. “We think it’s something you cannot live without in modern society. Like banking services or water or electricity, you need wanted to today, and I need to get Internet connection,” she said. This task is easier to achieve in to the point. So, vampires will be the cause celebre of Spike TV's Finland than most other countries, 4th Annual "Scream.," Tuesday, since its broadband penetration rate is among the highest in the October 27 at 10 PM ET/PT. Continue reading Spike TV's world. In the US, the FCC may Scream special celebrates our need as much as 350 billion nation's vampires Filed under: Other SciFi/Supernatural Shows, RealityFree, True Blood, Vampire Diaries Permalink| Email this| | Comments

Spike TV's Scream special celebrates our nation's vampires By John Scott Lewinski (TV Squad)

Broadband Internet is Now a Legal Right in Finland

dollars to expand broadband coverage throughout the country. This decision by the Finnish Government is in contrast with the often heard proposals (especially in France and the UK, but also – surprisingly – in Finland) about the possible introduction of the three-strikes law, under which illegal file sharers would be disconnected from the Internet after repeated offenses. Making something a legal right doesn’t mean it cannot be taken away, but the government’s stance that broadband Internet access is similar to “banking services or water or electricity” should mean that net access should not be taken away from people lightly, if at all. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Eraxion Reviews: iStockphoto Tags: broaband internet, Finland, legal right

Tech/ TV/ Entertainment/

Internet News Record

TweetDeck Adds New Notification System and New Follower Column By Christina Warren (Mashable!) Submitted at 10/15/2009 8:07:11 AM

TweetDeck is one of the most popular Twitter clients, and with the bevy of features, support for multiple accounts and services — plus groups — TweetDeck has defined itself as a solid crossplatform Twitter client for the power user. Today, TweetDeck has released version 0.31 and with it a slew of new features, including keyboard shortcuts and a new notifications system. The new notifications system can be applied to certain groups (instead of being the same across all columns) and now features inline reply, RT, and direct message access from within the notification menu. Also new with

making changes and sending messages without ever having to go to the mouse. TweetDeck 0.31 has also been optimized to consume less memory — which should result in an overall better user-experience, especially for heavy users. Here’s a demo of the new features: You can update your existing TweetDeck v 0.31 is the ability to TweetDeck program or download view your newest 100 followers. it from here— and don’t forget to From there you can follow, block, c h e c k o u t M a s h D e c k , a or add to an existing group — customized version of Tweetdeck w i t h o u t h a v i n g t o l e a v e with some extra Mashable love. What’s your favorite Twitter TweetDeck. For keyboard addicts (like client? What do you think of the myself), TweetDeck has often new Tweetdeck features? Let us been frustrating because you’ve k n o w ! R e v i e w s : M a s h a b l e , really got to use a mouse to use T w e e t D e c k , T w i t t e r Tags: tweetdeck, twitter, twitter the program with any consistency. N o w T w e e t D e c k s u p p o r t s clients keyboard shortcuts and a Headsup Display (HUD) for quickly

Dress like Don Draper with Brooks Brothers' help By Allison Waldman (TV Squad) Submitted at 10/15/2009 12:03:00 PM

Lately, Don Draper has not been coming off as a very nice guy on Mad Men. In fact, he's been a complete jerk. However, if there's one thing positive about the tall, dark and handsome ad man, he's a great dresser. Jon Hamm looks amazing in Don Draper's suits. Well, now so can you. Brooks Brothers is selling the Mad Men Edition suit for a mere $998. (Hey, that's not a grand, unless you count tax). Don't dawdle, though. There's only 250 suits in the limited edition run. The look is inspired by the Mad Men 1960's Madison Avenue style, which could also be the How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying look from the Broadway show or The Dick

Twitter to squeeze the wine business for charity (CNET News.com)

the self-described "social winemaking venture" has a Twitter page too that just kicked "ABC" refers back in minutes ago. to the mission. But "As a company that's only one no bird?(Credit: Twitter) percent into its journey, we're For your non sequitur of the always thinking about our long day... term impact on the world," In an attempt to boost literacy Twitter co-founders Ev Williams rates around the world, Twitter and Biz Stone wrote on Fledgling has launched a wine label with W i n e ' s h o m e p a g e . " T h e San Francisco-based winery Fledgling Initiative embodies two Crushpad. things that are at the core of The label is dubbed Fledgling Twitter's mission: providing Wine. In addition to its Web site, a c c e s s t o i n f o r m a t i o n a n d Submitted at 10/15/2009 7:59:00 AM

highlighting the power of open communication to bring about positive change." For now, Fledgling Wine is available only as a pre-order-pinot noir or chardonnay. The wine will be bottled in August 2010. In the meantime, anyone interested in buying Twitter's 750ml bottles of wine can pay $20. According to Stone and Williams, $5 from the proceeds "will be donated to Room to Read, a transformational nonprofit that brings books, libraries

and ultimately literacy to people in the poorest areas around the world." The remaining $15 will be used for production costs. Twitter's co-founders said they believe Fledgling Wine will help Twitter as well. They reason that "if you can't read, you can't Tweet!" The news was first reported by San Francisco Weekly. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Van Dyke Show look, depending on your favorite reference point from the '60s. Continue reading Dress like Don Draper with Brooks Brothers' help Filed under: OpEd, RealityFree, Mad Men Permalink| Email this| | Comments

Russell Crowe Involved in Car Accident (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 10/15/2009 7:04:00 AM

Action star Russell Crowe has reportedly had a fender-bender with a Pittsburgh fire truck. Crowe is in Pennsylvania shooting 'The Next Three Days' and was clipped by a fire truck while filming, according to an ABC news affiliate (WTAE) in Pittsburgh. The truck was reportedly pulling out of the Deutschtown Fire Station Wednesday afternoon when it hit the front end of a van that was parked in the street.

Tech/ Entertainment/ Fashion/ Popular News/

Twitter to squeeze the wine business for charity By Don Reisinger (Webware.com)

"As a company that's only one percent into its journey, we're always thinking about our long Submitted at 10/15/2009 7:59:00 AM term impact on the world," "ABC" refers back Twitter co-founders Ev Williams to the mission. But and Biz Stone wrote on Fledgling no bird?(Credit: Twitter) Wine's home page. "The For your non sequitur of the Fledgling Initiative embodies two day... things that are at the core of In an attempt to boost literacy Twitter's mission: providing rates around the world, Twitter a c c e s s t o i n f o r m a t i o n a n d has launched a wine label with highlighting the power of open San Francisco-based winery communication to bring about Crushpad. positive change." The label is dubbed Fledgling For now, Fledgling Wine is Wine. In addition to its Web site, available only as a pre-order-t h e s e l f - d e s c r i b e d " s o c i a l pinot noir or chardonnay. The winemaking venture" has a wine will be bottled in August Twitter page too that just kicked 2010. In the meantime, anyone in minutes ago. interested in buying Twitter's

750ml bottles of wine can pay $20. According to Stone and Williams, $5 from the proceeds "will be donated to Room to Read, a transformational nonprofit that brings books, libraries and ultimately literacy to people in the poorest areas around the world." The remaining $15 will be used for production costs. Twitter's co-founders said they believe Fledgling Wine will help Twitter as well. They reason that "if you can't read, you can't Tweet!" The news was first reported by San Francisco Weekly.

Internet News Record

Insurers dropping Chinese drywall policies (AP)

Uma Thurman, Minnie Driver Dish on 'Motherhood'

(Yahoo! News: U.S. News)

(ETonline - Breaking News)

Submitted at 10/15/2009 9:01:39 AM

Submitted at 10/15/2009 3:21:00 AM

[ fivefilters.org: unable to retrieve full-text content] AP - James and Maria Ivory's dreams of a relaxing retirement on Florida's Gulf Coast were put on hold when they discovered their new home had been built with Chinese drywall that emits sulfuric fumes and corrodes pipes. It got worse when they asked their insurer for help — and not only was their claim denied, but they've been told their entire policy won't be renewed.

ET joined Uma Thurman, Minnie Driver and Anthony Edwards at the premiere of their new comedy 'Motherhood' in NYC on Wednesday night, and the stars dished about being reallife parents! “It’s a beautiful sort of family love story,” said Uma of the film, adding, “motherhood has been the great experience of my life.” “I was heavily pregnant, so it was pretty intense to be that heavy with child and working, but it’s a great movie,” said Minnie.

BW: Apple's Schiller sees opportunity for Mac with Windows 7 launch By Ken Ray (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

"a very good opportunity" in the Windows 7 noise, in an interview with Business Week's Peter Submitted at 10/15/2009 10:30:00 AM Burrows. Filed under: Hardware, OS One While no one expects Windows week from today, Microsoft will 7 to be as poorly received as try to shake the stink of Vista. Vista, the new operating system BusinessWeek reminds the world will mark the first time in a long that Microsoft is set to launch while that millions of PC owners Windows 7 on October 22nd. I've will start looking seriously at got the day free, since all of my replacing existing machines, invitations to Windows 7 launch especially with so many PCparties seem to have been lost in p e o p l e h a v i n g s k i p p e d t h e the mail. purchase cycle when Vista came As the spotlight shifts toward around. Redmond, WA, Apple Senior VP And there's where Apple gets of Worldwide Product Marketing them. Or tries to, anyway. Phil Schiller says that Apple sees Apple is likely to aim new ads

with a Mac out of the box, like iMovie and GarageBand. Continue reading BW: Apple's Schiller sees opportunity for Mac with Windows 7 launch TUAW BW: Apple's Schiller sees opportunity for Mac with Windows 7 launch originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. at PC users, trying to pull them to Read| Permalink| Email this| the Mac side in the coming days. Comments The ads will probably hit familiar points, such as the susceptibility to malware worn by Windows, and extra programs buyers get

Pink Ribbon Beauty: Charlotte Moss Air Freshener By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 10/15/2009 8:00:00 AM

Named after the romantic Parisian neighborhood, Charlotte Moss Left Bank AirEssence infuses your space with lemongrass and patchouli. Ten percent of proceeds on Agrariahome.com during the month of October benefits the BCRF. —Janna Johnson, Beauty Assistant Photo: Kevin Cremens Follow ELLE on Twitter

Tech/ Sports/ Economy/

Internet News Record

It's Natural To Freak Out Over BlackBerry Storm 2 to Feature WiFi, More Memory, Someone Copying Your Stuff... But It Doesn't Make It Rational Improved Touchscreen By Michael Masnick (Techdirt) freaking out isn't going to make

Pete Carroll Makes His Line Coaches Slide in the Mud

the situation any better (and it has a better than even chance of Submitted at 10/15/2009 7:45:51 AM Owen Kelly has a nice post up, making it worse). But embracing where he basically admits that, it, and figuring out ways to use When the BlackBerry Storm was even though he's not against the copying to your own benefit released last November, RIM was copying, he had an initial visceral can be tremendously rewarding. hoping that the first touch-screen bad reaction when he recently saw But, of course, that doesn't BlackBerry would set the world his own work copied, but after mean we don't recognize that on fire. It didn’t. taking a step back and thinking normal impulse reaction. It's Now the Canadian smartphone company is looking for a second- BlackBerry Storm — the new about it rationally, he realized it entirely natural, even if it's chance at touch-screen bliss with model will be fully electronic (so wasn't so bad. The problem is that i r r a t i o n a l . S o , w e ' r e n o t the BlackBerry Storm 2. Verizon the screen won’t shift when you most people, when they see their necessarily surprised when people is bringing the Storm 2 to the type) and will sport a full-width own work copied, never take that overreact to such things -- even if United States and Vodafone will keyboard while in landscape second step. They see it, they we think it's not a particularly freak out and go negative (or, smart long-term strategy. But, be a carrier in seven European mode. worse, call in the lawyers). But if hopefully, as more and more countries as well as South Africa. Will these changes be enough to The Wall Street Journal’s Walt counter the other touch-screen you take a step back, you can ask people show how allowing more Mossberg gives an overview of s m a r t p h o n e s s t o r m i n g t h e yourself (1) if the copying really widespread copying helped rather the new BlackBerry Storm 2 (on marketplace? Only time will tell. matters one way or another and than harmed them, this won't Verizon) in his column and hints What do you think about the new (2) if there's any way to use that seem so counterintuitive to so that the phone should be coming BlackBerry Storm 2? Are the new copying to your advantage, rather many people. Permalink| Comments| Email out sometime in November for features enough to make you than freaking out about it. That's the point we've been trying to This Story around $200. consider switching over or are On the specifications side, the y o u a p h y s i c a l k e y b o a r d make for years. In most cases, BlackBerry Storm 2 has more BlackBerry diehard for life? Let Xstrata walks away from Anglo bid memory, will take up to a 32GB us know! American, five days before the microSD card, includes a 3.2 Tags: blackberry, blackberry (Financial Times - US deadline that UK takeover megapixel camera, and now s t o r m , b l a c k b e r r y s t o r m 2 , homepage) authorities had set for it to make a Submitted at 10/15/2009 5:23:24 AM includes WiFi. The biggest s m a r t p h o n e s formal offer. change is in the keyboard — gone Xstrata has dropped its proposed The move means the Swissis the mechanical “button” merger with rival miner Anglo based miner cannot make another keyboard from the original

Submitted at 10/15/2009 10:55:00 AM

By Christina Warren (Mashable!)

Submitted at 10/15/2009 7:40:00 AM

By Michael David Smith (FanHouse) by Michael David Smith Filed under: USC, Coaching, Video It was a rare rainy day in Southern California on Tuesday, and the rain gave USC coach Pete Carroll a bright idea for what to do at the end of practice: Settle a tied scrimmage between the offense and the defense by having his offensive and defensive line coaches see who could slide farther in the mud. Pete Carroll Makes His Line Coaches Slide in the Mud originally appeared on Fanhouse NCAA Football Blog on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:55:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments

offer for six months, unless it is an agreed bid or an approach comes from a third party. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Pickin' on the Big Ten: Teams for Sale By Mark Hasty (FanHouse)

Thursday, Pickin' on the Big Ten gives you the bottom line on the upcoming weekend's games. by Mark Hasty Every team now has six games Filed under: Illinois, Indiana, on the books. Well, Illinois Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, doesn't, which is good news/bad Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio news. Illinois fans have only had S t a t e , P e n n S t a t e , P u r d u e , to watch five games so far; that's W i s c o n s i n , B i g 1 0 E v e r y good news. They have seven Submitted at 10/15/2009 10:30:00 AM

games left to watch, which is not

such good news. This would be a perfect time for mid-term report cards, but letter grades are so one-dimensional, don't you think? There are more meaningful comparisons to be made. Make the jump and see every Big Ten team compared to ... well, just go and look.

Pickin' on the Big Ten: Teams for Sale originally appeared on Fanhouse NCAA Football Blog on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments

Tech/ Economy/

Internet News Record

Gartner and IDC agree: 3rd Meghan McCain’s Twitter Photo Creates Drama quarter Mac sales are up

Tandberg investors seek to block $3bn Cisco bid

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

(Financial Times - US homepage)

By Adam Ostrow (Mashable!) Submitted at 10/15/2009 7:43:48 AM

John McCain might’ve been criticized during his Presidential campaign for being somewhat of Filed under: Apple Financial a technology neophyte (he’s since Amidst the ongoing joined Twitter), but his daughter macroeconomic malaise (is it over Meghan is anything but. yet? Can we come out from under An active Twitter user and a the covers?), the PC industry's sales have been suffering as big shipments, with US numbers up blogger for The Daily Beast, corporations and cash-strapped f r o m 8 . 6 % t o 8 . 8 % s h a r e Meghan McCain is seemingly all c o n s u m e r s p o s t p o n e t h o s e (Gartner) or a blazing 9.4% share over the social web. However, last discretionary purchases of shiny (IDC). For the unvarnished night things apparently got a little new gear. The expectation, based results, you can tune in this dramatic when McCain the on 2008's results, was that this coming Monday, 10/19 at 2pm PT younger posted the picture you quarter would be tough sledding. to hear Apple's quarterly earnings see here to TwitPic. More than 80,000 views and Results from analysts Gartner call. many comments (some of them and IDC, however, both show an [via BrainstormTech] uptick in unit sales across the PC TUAW Gartner and IDC agree: decidedly negative) later, she’s market year-over-year (2.3% 3rd quarter Mac sales are up threatened to pull a Miley and quit higher globally per IDC, 0.5% originally appeared on The Twitter altogether. She tweeted higher per Gartner). Any pickup U n o f f i c i a l A p p l e W e b l o g “so I took a fun picture not in sales comes as a surprise to (TUAW) on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 thinking anything about what I Gartner, which had predicted a 09:45:00 EST. Please see our was wearing but apparently anything other than a pantsuit I 5.6% decline in unit shipments. terms for use of feeds. For Apple specifically, the news Read| Permalink| Email this| am a slut, this is why I have been considering deleting my twitter is also good: both firms predict a Comments boost in unit sales and share percentage for Apple's CPU

Submitted at 10/15/2009 5:53:11 AM

Submitted at 10/15/2009 9:45:00 AM

Investors holding 24 per cent of the shares in Tandberg look set to block Cisco’s $3bn bid for the Norwegian video conferencing company, raising hopes that the US networking company might account, what once was fun now sweeten the offer. Cisco offered NKr153.5 a share just seems like a vessel for for Tandberg this month in a harassment.” That seems unlikely, as the buzz move designed to make it a created is no doubt helping her dominant force in the growing stats over at The Daily Beast, and video communications market. her account has become an The Cisco deal was recommended important medium for promoting by the Tandberg board, but a her work. Before signing off for g r o u p o f m a i n l y s m a l l the night, she even posted a link shareholders including the Oslo to her latest post. Ultimately, this Pension Fund and Rasmussen just might add up to a savvy Group on Thursday said they s o c i a l m e d i a p l a y , e v e n i f would not sell shares to Cisco unintentional. Reviews: Twitpic, under the current offer. This content has passed through Twitter fivefilters.org. Tags: meghan mccain, twitter

WARNING: “98B351 AMBER Alert Hoax Still Spreading on Twitter, Facebook By Stan Schroeder (Mashable!)

boy has been kidnapped in a Mitsubishi Eclipse with the registration plate “ 98B351“, and Submitted at 10/15/2009 4:29:01 AM many users have fallen for it, A very resilient hoax is making spreading it further via Facebook, t h e r o u n d s o n T w i t t e r a n d Twitter, and SMS. Facebook. It consists of a message According to IT security that poses as an AMBER Alert company Sophos, the message is about a 3-year-old kidnapped boy. nothing more than a hoax, but the already ranking high among the The message further claims the said license plate number is most commonly searched terms

on the internet, which means the hoax is working. Don’t fall for it! A quick search on the reveals there are currently no active AMBER Alerts. Interestingly, this hoax has been making the rounds for several weeks, but – as hoaxes often do – it seems to now be resurfacing stronger than ever. An AMBER Alert is a child

abduction alert issued upon the suspected abduction of a child; the best way to check if it’s real is to go straight to National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children’s website. Tags: amber alert, facebook, hoax, twitter

Tech News/ Sports/ Fashion/

Internet News Record

Google Wave More Secure than Traditional Email By Sarah Perez (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 10/15/2009 8:17:12 AM

Google Wave, the company's new real-time collaboration platform currently in private beta, is more secure than traditional email, claims the company. According to Greg D'alesandre, Google Wave product manager, that's because Google has focused on addressing privacy and security issues as the product was built from the ground up instead of waiting to deal with them later. Speaking to media in Sydney today, he detailed several of Wave's security features which are meant to stop criminals from exploiting the new technology and harming Wave users. Sponsor Built In Features to Prevent Spoofing As reported by Australian news outlet ITNews, Wave has multiple levels of security which are designed to prevent email spoofing. Spoofing, meaning when you receive an email that claims to be from either a person or company you know but is actually from someone else - a hacker in most cases. D'alesandre says the Wave protocol is more secure because it includes something he jokingly

refers to as "crypto fairy dust." That's obviously meant to be a simple and fun way to explain the security complexities built into Wave which involve detailed authentication mechanisms to keep users safe from malicious attacks. In Wave, every bit of info you receive from another Wave user has already been authenticated as to its origin so you can be assured that they are who they say they are. "You know you are getting the Wave from the person that is sending it to you and it has not changed mid-stream. This is a very big problem in current communication technologies data can be changed mid stream and you will never know," said D'alesandre. HTTPS Enabled by Default For an additional layer of security, all Wave traffic is by default encrypted via HTTPS, a protocol for secure communications. That represents a big change in Google's standard policy regarding use of this protocol. It wasn't until July of 2008 that Gmail users were even given the option to encrypt messages using SSL and to enable it, you had to go into your settings and make a change - something that most mainstream users would never have bothered with. By the

(which probably explains the company's hesitance to switch it on in other products, too), but they ultimately decided that the security it provides was worth it. Whitelisting Kills the Noise A third security feature of sorts coming to Wave in the future is the ability to do "whitelisting." Wave users will be able to select which people they want to end of 2008, Google was only collaborate with and place them offering SSL as a feature in its on a whitelist of approved other Google Apps programs if persons. Only those who are on users were on either the Premier the list will be able to contact you or Education editions. That meant via Wave and everyone else will that for non-paying consumer be ignored. That feature should certainly users, Google Docs, Calendar and other online offerings were only help to address the concerns available via unencrypted HTTP certain folks have about Wave's "noise level," to some, an sessions. Today, little has changed. Still, overwhelming amount of activity o n l y u s e r s o f P r e m i e r a n d that led them to call out Wave as a Education Editions have access to distraction and a time-waster SSL and it's not switched on by i n s t e a d o f t h e f u t u r i s t i c default. The protocol is now productivity product it intends to a v a i l a b l e f o r G m a i l , C h a t , be. By allowing those who can't Calendar, Docs and Sites but not s e e m t o e m b r a c e W a v e ' s the Start page, Google Video or cacophony the ability to limit the Google Talk desktop client. their collaborators, Wave could Consumers using free Google transfer from noisy attention killer apps like Docs still don't have to useful tool in an instant. Of the three features, the first SSL unless they type it in the two are already in place. No date address bar manually. D'alesandre admitted that was given on the whitelisting switching on encryption in Wave feature, only that it will be slows down the service a little "coming soon." Discuss

Luxury Hair Treatment for $10: Tomorrow Only! By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 10/14/2009 12:03:57 PM

Whether your strands are limp and greasy or frizzy and dry L'Oréal Professionnel’s exclusive in-salon Powerdose Treatment is customized to your specific hair needs. Typically a $35 value, the targeted treatment will be offered for just $10 at the Roy Teeluck Salon in NYC tomorrow. Bonus: Teeluck’s Powerdose won’t just leave your tresses in better shape—it will leave victims of local and global disasters in better shape too. 100 percent of proceeds from tomorrow’s event will be donated to Fashion Delivers, a not-for-profit organization. To book your appointment with the celebrity hairstylist and his team of specialists, call 212-888-2221. —Emily Hebert Photo: Courtesy of Roy Teeluck Salon Follow ELLE on Twitter

Fantasy Football Cram Session: Rebirth? By Matt Snyder (FanHouse) Submitted at 10/15/2009 11:05:00 AM

by Matt Snyder Filed under: NFL Fantasy Felony, NFL Waiver Wire, NFL Injury Report, Podcasts, NFL Start 'Em Sit 'Em Former fantasy football stars

Braylon Edwards and Jamal Lewis were left for dead in fantasy leagues across the internet after abysmal beginnings. Low and behold, a trade and a return from injury (against the hapless Bills) made them both look like their old selves in Week 5. Was it a rebirth or an aberration? Fantasy

FanHouse's dynamic duo, Tom Herrera and Matt Snyder, discuss

this and many, many other things (including Herrera's underwhelming movie experience and Snyder channeling his inner 2Pac to forgive Mike SimsWalker) in this week's cram session. Fantasy Football Cram Session: Rebirth? originally appeared on

Fanhouse Fantasy Football on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:05:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments

Tech News/ Sports/ Fashion/

Internet News Record

Is Apple Going to Support Augmented Reality, After All? By Marshall Kirkpatrick (ReadWriteWeb)

beginning to change. Layar is a browser that displays geo-located information like realSubmitted at 10/14/2009 6:53:13 PM estate listings and restaurant The cranky elves that run the reviews on top of a mobile i P h o n e A p p S t o r e m a y b e camera's view of its surroundings. warming up after all to the The company has used well-made emerging field of Augmented demo videos to stoke excitement Reality (AR). AR app makers, among iPhone owners for months. who are building sci-fi-like The app has long been available interfaces for viewing data about on Android handsets but just the physical world on top of the emerged from the dark and mobile phone's camera, were mysterious iTunes App Store beginning to feel spurned. approval process this morning. Today Apple both approved the Its competitor Wikitude displays m o s t e a g e r l y a n t i c i p a t e d Wikipedia data (as Layar does) as Augmented Reality app yet, well as user-generated Points of Amsterdam's AR browser Layar( Interest input through its website iTunes link), and made its primary Wikitude.me. Wikitude was made challenger, Wikitude( iTunes a featured app in iTunes today, link), a featured app in the iTunes just hours before Layar went live App Store. in the store. Sponsor A long list of AR companies Those moves came a month were at the edge of their seats after many AR-watchers were waiting for a big announcement in dissapointed that Apple didn't September, believing that Apple offer big support to Augmented w o u l d m a k e p u b l i c a l l t h e Reality when launching the latest technical hooks they needed to version of the iPhone OS. Some create an Augmented Reality critics complain that even if some e x p e r i e n c e . I n s t e a d o f t h e forms of AR are being permitted expected opening-up and perhaps by Apple, the company still has a some publicity for this very eyetight grip on APIs that could catching software niche, Apple enable whole new methods of opened up only some of the APIs displaying data on top of the needed, didn't make any public phone's camera view if made mention of AR and has slowly let publicly available. It's not a happy AR apps trickle into the App relationship, but perhaps that's Store with no fan-fare over the

developers and venture capitalists need to abandon Apple entirely. There are good alternatives out there that may not be as shiny, but are certainly as powerful and definitely more open for us to work with." It's also possible that Apple hasn't been offering AR apps meaningful support because so far they are a little dissapointing once consumers get their hands on them. GPS data is clumsy, data sets are incomplete and the user experience still hasn't been nailed last month. All of this creates a very yet by anyone. It's also borderline different experience for startups embarrassing to wave your phone compared to the way they can around in the air when out in launch apps on Android phones. public, surrounded by people you They simply post them to the don't know. That's quite unlike the Android App Store, no approval usual experience Apple tries to process needed. Application associate with itself. Perhaps things are changing, developers are also working on AR for Nokia, a handset with far though. It's exciting to think about greater user numbers than the bringing latent geo-located data iPhone has - but everyone's been out into a view accessible through waiting for AR to bloom on the a mobile phone. It would be nice much-hyped iPhone and Apple to see Apple help advance this early field, instead of giving it the hasn't been very supportive. Robert Rice wrote in an open cold shoulder and silent treatment. letter last week that:"One of two End-users should recognize as things needs to happen. Either well that the super-wow but Apple needs to quit screwing us controlled experience of the around and make [all] the APIs iPhone could be holding back public so we can get back to the o t h e r , e v e n m o r e e x c i t i n g business of innovating and i n n o v a t i o n s . D i s c u s s building a new industry, or the respective communities of

Street Chic: New York By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 10/15/2009 4:00:00 AM

Cherry-colored kicks add a

punch of color to black and gray separates. Photo: Lee Satkowski Think you are Street Chic? Email us your photo and you could

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

After a Year on Sidelines, Kim Couture Ready to Resume MMA Career By Ariel Helwani (FanHouse) Submitted at 10/15/2009 10:51:00 AM

by Ariel Helwani Filed under: Strikeforce, FanHouse Exclusive Kim Couture will compete in the co-main event spot on the Nov. 20 Strikeforce Challengers show in Kansas City, Kan., 364 days after her last MMA fight. Her opponent will be Kerry Vera, the wife of UFC light heavyweight fighter Brandon Vera, and the bout will be contested six days after Vera faces Couture's ex-husband, Randy Couture, in the main event of UFC 105. "I think it was a brilliant idea on Strikeforce's part," Couture recently told FanHouse. After a Year on Sidelines, Kim Couture Ready to Resume MMA Career originally appeared on Fanhouse MMA Blog on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:51:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments

Tech News/

Internet News Record

AlphaLab Demo Day Showcases Pittsburgh's Finest By Dana Oshiro (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 10/14/2009 3:00:00 PM

Pittsburgh-based startup incubator AlphaLab hosted its Fall demo day earlier this morning. Created by seed funding group Innovations Works, AlphaLab provides 6 promising startups with funding, office space and business advice over a 20week mentorship program. Today's event showcased half of those companies and was similar in format to YCombinator, Techstars and Launchbox Digital demo days. Investors, entrepreneurs and advisors clamored to get a peek at these early-stage companies. Sponsor CloudFab: CloudFab is an online fabrication platform where owners of 3D printers, machining tools and laser cutters can offer their services to designers. Similar to Ponoko or Shapeways, designers and hobbyists visit the site with ideas for custom jewelry, furniture, vinyl figurines or even bike parts. From here users connect with those who can help make their ideas reality. CloudFab CEO Nick Pinkston is so dedicated to the maker-lifestyle that he started Hack Pittsburgh- a non-profit organization dedicated to DIY tinkerers and hobbyists. Fooala: Fooala is restaurant platform that offers instant ordering options for hungry website visitors. This service ensures that for every web access point and mention of a restaurant, there is a corresponding online

site has already penned partnerships with HarperCollins and the American Booksellers Association. It will be interesting to see if the publishing industry uses the service to broadcast readings and launches, or if they will find new methods to engage readers and fans. NavPrescience: NavPrescience is a GPS system that incorporates predictive technologies. By observing driver behavior, the order button. After scanning a service continually tweaks route u s e r ' s m e n u a n d b a s i c recommendations according to information, the company indexes d r i v i n g p a t t e r n s a n d r o u t e your restaurant in its "Anywhere preferences. The company is Ordering Network". Customers seeking funding to launch a then order menu items over their mobile and web-based freemium desktop computers and mobile service for the Pittsburgh area. Zipano: Zipano is a personal devices via the Fooala widget. The company already has 60 privacy platform that allows users restaurant partners and is actively to better express their privacy seeking investment to expand into preferences and contacts. The group claims to solve the privacy new regional markets. LeftRight Studios: LeftRight issues associated with locationStudios is an independent game based services by offering users development house specializing in another layer of information iPhone applications. The studio's s h a r i n g o p t i o n s . Z i p a n o goal is to create a branded gaming demonstrates its capabilities with network where companies can i t s L o c a c c i n o F a c e b o o k expand their customer reach via application. Users specify their entertaining mobile games. To level of comfort with location show off its development abilities, requests and have instant access the group has already released to those who have already looked Smackbots, an iPhone version of for their location. There is also an the classic Rock'em Sock'em option to create rules so that your public whereabouts only display robots game. Vivo: Vivo is a lifestreaming in specific locations, during service that allows users to share specific times, and for specific live event broadcasts. Rather than friends. Photo Credit: Alex Thomson pursuing the Justin.tv lifestyle Discuss audience, Vivo pitched AlphaLab investors as a platform for live video customer engagement. The

Real-Time Web Summit: Announcing the Live Streams and Our Next Premium Report By Marshall Kirkpatrick (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 10/15/2009 7:27:02 AM

Today is the big day! It's time for the ReadWrite Real-Time Web Summit. Hundreds of people working on or with real-time web technologies have come to Mountain View, California and ReadWriteWeb staff has arrived from around the world as well. We'll be live-streaming selected sessions from the event, starting at 8:30 AM PST, thanks to Justin.tv. You can see and join the Twitterchatter by using the hashtags#rtwsummit or#rtws. We've set up a page displaying both the live video and the flowing hashtag stream at http://readwriteweb.com/summit. Conversation there has begun already. But wait, there's more! Sponsor The Real-Time Web and Its Future: A Premium Report We're also excited to announce that our next premium report will be on the topic of the real-time web and is available for pre-order starting today. Our first report, the ReadWriteWeb Guide to Online Community Management, was a commercial and critical success (most recently it got nice links from CNN and PBS). This next report should be even better- we've interviewed more than 40 companies building or using the real-time web and now

hundreds of people will be discussing various parts of the real-time story today at the Summit. All the knowledge we've gleaned from all those conversations will be expertly concentrated into one high-value research report that you can preorder starting today. Please note that this is a different beast from the conference e-book documenting Summit sessions that all registered Summit participants will receive at no cost. And Now Get Ready For a Deep Dive! We hope you'll join us in person or online for an in-depth conversation with some of the smartest people around the world who are working on the real-time web. In the meantime, please check out these sponsors, whose generosity made this whole thing possible. Several have come from outside the United States to participate in the Real-Time Web Summit, so please join me in learning about what they do in thanks for their support. See you on the live stream! Discuss

Tech News/ Apple/ Economy/

Internet News Record

More Details Emerge on "Google Editions," Google's eBook Store By Sarah Perez (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 10/15/2009 7:19:17 AM

At the Frankfurt Book Fair, Google announced more details about their upcoming online ebook service known as "Google Editions." Originally revealed earlier this year, Editions will be a hosted electronic bookstore for a selection of in-print books which would be provided by Google's publishing partners. And unlike some other ebook formats, like those designed for Amazon's Kindle for instance, the so-called "Google editions" will be readable on any device whether that's a laptop, phone or dedicated eReader. According to news coming out of the Book Fair event, the new digital books program will launch in the first half of 2010 and will offer 400,000 to 600,000 ebooks at that time. Sponsor Access Anywhere Although we already knew that the online store would host books in the cloud, we didn't know just how that would work. Tom Turvey, Google's director of strategic partnerships, now explains that the device does not need to be connected to the Internet to read the book after it

was accessed once. He also clarified that the company is "not focused on a dedicated eReader or device of any kind." Instead, consumers would go online one time from their device of choice and afterwards, a cached version of that book would be stored so that it could be read offline at anytime. "As long as you can get onto the library, you can access it," says Amanda Edmonds, Google's director of strategic partnerships, who was speaking at O'Reilly's Tools of Change conference, also being held in Frankfurt at a venue near the Book Fair event. Although not specified, it seems probable that the offline caching done by Google Editions will be made possible via Google Gears, a browser extension that allows website content to be taken offline and then re-synced when an Internet connection returns. Business Models As noted on The Bookseller, a site covering the Tools of Change conference, Google Editions will offer three business models. The first will allow a consumer to

purchase the ebook from Google Books, Google's online collection of digitized books. The second will allow consumers to purchase from a partner retailer and the third would direct consumers to a publisher's website. In the first route, payments are split 63/37 in the publisher's favor. If purchasing from a retailer, that split would be 45/55 with the 45% going to the publisher and the retailer splitting the remaining 55% with Google. No decision has been made on the split for the third option, purchases made via a publisher's own website. Edmonds also noted that these splits are not set in stone just yet discussions were "just beginning." In addition, Google may discount books from their list price where permitted, but the discount would be taken from Google's profits and not anyone else's. Other news from the O'Reilly event pinned down the launch date of the Google Editions store. It will launch simultaneously in the U.S., U.K., and Europe in June 2010. Google would not give the names of the device manufacturers they intend on partnering with, but Edmonds says she doubts Kindle will be one of them. Discuss

AB InBev sells central Europe assets to CVC (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 10/15/2009 12:33:15 AM

Anheuser-Busch InBev has agreed to sell its central European

operations to CVC Capital Partners, the private equity group, for up to $3bn. The deal is the latest non-core asset to be sold following last year’s $52bn merger of the US’s

Anheuser-Busch and Belgium’s InBev, which created the world’s largest brewer. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Apple Releases Performance Update, Fixes Hard Drive Stalls By Liam Cassidy (TheAppleBlog) Submitted at 10/15/2009 6:30:18 AM

Apple has released what it calls “Performance Update 1.0,” an update to its Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) and 10.6 (Snow Leopard) operating systems for selected iMacs and MacBooks. As Apple describes it — in typically brief fashion — in its Support pages, ”This update addresses intermittent hard drive related pauses reported by a small number of customers.” Gotta love those detailed descriptions! The update may be related to an EFI Firmware Update in June that some MacBook owners suspect was the cause of intermittent crashes and system freezes. This latest update may well put these problems to rest once and for all, except there’s something interesting about the name…that 1.0 suffix hints at the possibility of further revisions to come. A “Performance Update, Update” perhaps? The update isn’t for everyone, however. It applies only to the following Mac models. MacBook MacBook (13-inch, Aluminum, Late 2008) MacBook (13-inch, Early 2009) MacBook (13-inch, Mid 2009) MacBook Pro

MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2008) MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2009) MacBook Pro (17-inch, Mid 2009) MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2009) MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2009) MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2.53GHz, Mid 2009) MacBook Air MacBook Air (Late 2008) MacBook Air (Mid 2009) Mac Mini Mac Mini (Early 2009) iMac iMac (24-inch, Early 2009) iMac (20-inch, Early 2009) iMac (20-inch, Mid 2009) As Q4 begins, online video is now mainstream. Read the, " Connected Consumer Q3 Wrapup."

Tech News/ Tech Blog/ Sports/ Economy/

Internet News Record

LinkedIn Hits 50 Million Users; Still An open letter to Om a Roach Motel (Updated) (Scripting News)

Submitted at 10/14/2009 8:26:23 AM

By Marshall Kirkpatrick (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 10/14/2009 10:47:14 AM

Updated at 11:30 PST with comment from LinkedIn. One million new people signed up for LinkedIn accounts already this month, taking the professional social network past the 50 million user mark. LinkedIn has some of the most valuable user data in all of social networking, not just because its members are disproportionately wealthy, but because the site is one of the only places you can find a person's occupational information and history. "What do you do for a living" is one of the most potent questions a person can be asked and online that means LinkedIn. Unfortunately, in this era of data portability and connected social networks, LinkedIn isn't playing very nicely. Sponsor Every time I see a new social application online I think "it sure would be nice if a person's job title and employer were displayed along side their profile on this service." Where is that

information? LinkedIn! Who won't let startups access that info? LinkedIn! Programmatic access to LinkedIn data is reserved for a very select few high-profile API partners. The company appears to operate under the assumption that only heavyweight partners could move the needle for its bottom line, not a thriving ecosystem of independent innovators. Hardly surprising for a company that spends so much of its time in public talking about how wealthy its users are. FriendFeed used to include updates to your LinkedIn profile in the activity streams it displayed. That was great, but there was nothing official going on - FriendFeed was scraping LinkedIn. When LinkedIn added a layer of obfuscation over its HTML, FriendFeed took the hint and stopped, the now Facebookowned company says.

Why not make LinkedIn all the more valuable by making it the currency that social sites all around the web make us of? Would that not drive all the more people to LinkedIn itself, to fill out their profiles there? It's possible that LinkedIn has done a serious analysis of the benefits of a developer ecosystem vs. very limited partnerships and come to the conclusion that it has - but it still seems like a real shame. Imagine the innovation that could be made possible by developer access to LinkedIn! Congratulations to LinkedIn for hitting 50 million users. Now please open up the data! Otherwise we'll have to cheer for a more open competitor to challenge your dominance in this market. Update: Adam Nash, Vice President, Search & Platform Products at LinkedIn, says things are set to improve in the future. Below in comments he writes: "Marshall, I think you'll be quite happy with our plans for improvements to our APIs. Stay tuned." Fantastic! Let's see what you've got, Adam. Discuss

In a thread about netbooks on his blog, Om asks what he's missing in his analysis of the relationship between the computer industry and users re netbooks. I spent some time thinking of an analogy, and came up with one about the industry we all love to hate -- the airline industry. So here's the story... Once upon a time there was an MIT professor who said: "I have an idea, let's design an airline that can get you to a great resort for $100! Then every schoolkid can afford to have a great vacation in Mexico, Italy or Thailand!!" No matter how hard he tried the professor couldn't come up with a solution. The moguls of the airline industry sighed in relief. Their margins were safe. Not so fast! A Taiwanese airline named Susa discovered a way to do it for $600, which was still a lot cheaper than the airlines could get you to Italy or Spain for. Huge numbers of people signed up and

Nokia weighed down by networks venture (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 10/15/2009 6:36:16 AM

FanHouse Preview: Suns By Brett Pollakoff (FanHouse) Submitted at 10/15/2009 11:00:00 AM

by Brett Pollakoff Filed under: Suns, NBA Preseason, NBA Previews FanHouse previews all 30 NBA teams in advance of the 2009-10 season.

The 2009-10 Phoenix Suns are caught somewhere between the past and the future. But just because they don't know where they're going, and have one foot stuck in a place where they've already been, doesn't mean that of basketball along the way. the team can't win this season, FanHouse Preview: Suns while playing an entertaining style

the airline bustled with new business. People came home from their holidays and told everyone that they had a great trip. And with the new economies of scale Susa was able to get the price down to $350. Not the $100 that the MIT professor promised, but still cheap enough that lots more people could have a vacation, and while some people still went on the more expensive and luxurious airlines, more and more people were flying Susa. In fact this happened in the airline industry, and it forced a lot of the big airlines to either merge or go out of business. Maybe analysts in the airline industry say that any day the users will tire of the cheap flights, but they'd be just as wrong as the analysts in tech who predict the demise of netbooks.

originally appeared on Fanhouse NBA Blog on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments

Nokia weighed down by networks venture By Andrew Ward in Stockholm Published: October 15 2009 12:51 | Last updated: October 15 2009 14:36 This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Tech News/ TV/ Fashion/

Internet News Record

Elance Index: Online Contract Work What's On Tonight: Vampire Diaries, 30 Rock, Project Shows Growth By Alex Williams (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 10/14/2009 1:25:17 PM

The other day, National Public Radio (NPR) featured a tech worker who has been out of work for some time. He spends his days in San Francisco coffee shops looking for work. His job search may improve if the " Elance Work Index," proves true. Elance reports that they are seeing a 46% increase in hiring for contract work, compared to a year ago. Sponsor Contract work is always hot during a recession as employers look to get their work done without hiring people full-time. In other words, it's a great time to be in consulting. The "Elance Index," looks at the top 100 skills in today's online job market. The results arrive from more than 100,000 jobs posted on Elance in recent months, making it a credible barometer of online hiring trends. Tech skills carry 11 of the top 25 spots in the index. And marketers look like they have better prospects, with skills in

graphic design, social media and search engine optimization (SEO) being the kind that employers want. Writers are also in demand First, let's look at the top ten on the Elance Index: Some tech highlights: • Knowing PHP is still a great bet for getting a job. It remains the #1 sought-after skill by prospective employers. • HTML skills jumped two notches to the #4 slot.

• People with Java skills have some reason to be optimistic. Their skill advanced 36 slots to the #24 position. • Joomla! rose 15 spots to #6. In marketing: • Graphic design is a hot skill to have. It rose to the #5 slot. • Illustrator is in the #8 spot. • Social media marketing came in 14th on the index. • SEO skills are still in demand, ranking #15 in the index. In writing: • Content Writing moves up 6 spots to #2. • Article Writing came in the #3 spot. • Copywriting and Creative Writing move up to the #12 and #13 spots, respectively. Contract jobs are not a reality for many people. Health insurance costs can be steep for contractors. On the upside, skills in web development, online marketing and writing may be signs that the overall web technology market is rebounding, with employers focusing more on those types of projects. Discuss

Runway, It's Always Sunny By Bob Sassone (TV Squad) Submitted at 10/15/2009 12:20:00 PM

• At 8, ABC has a new FlashForward, followed by new episodes of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice. • CBS has a new Survivor at 8, then new episodes of CSI and The Mentalist. • NBC has a new Community at 8, followed by new episodes of Parks and Recreation and The Office, the season premiere of 30 Rock, and a new Jay Leno Show. • FOX has new episodes of Bones and Fringe. • The CW has a new Vampire Diaries at 8, then a new Supernatural. • TBS has Baseball Playoffs at 8, the Dodgers vs. the Phillies. • At 9, Spike has a new TNA Wrestling. • MTV has a new Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory at 9, followed by new episodes of Bully Beatdown, Nitro Circus, and Pranked. • Cartoon Network has a new Total Drama Action at 9, then a new Stoked. • At 10, Lifetime has a new Project Runway. • FX has a new It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia at 10. • Comedy Central has a new

Tosh.0 at 10. • At 10:30, Current has a new Rotten Tomatoes Show. Check your local TV listings for more. After the jump, the late night talk shows. Continue reading What's On Tonight: Vampire Diaries, 30 Rock, Project Runway, It's Always Sunny Filed under: Late Night, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

Blake Lively Goes Nude in Marchesa By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 10/15/2009 8:30:00 AM

Back in September, during New York Fashion Week, I caught up with Blake Lively at Marchesa’s

spring 2010 presentation and You seemed split down the pondered what the Gossip Girl middle, but Blake knew exactly star might wear from the which one she liked best. For collection of slyly sexy Tuesday’s premiere of Where the confections. From the 25 looks, I Wild Things Are, she decided on chose two favorites—one short look 25 (paired with nude pumps). both with one-shoulder styling. and frothy, one long and airy, Do you think she made the right

decision after all? And do you think this look translates from runway to red carpet? —Violet Moon Gaynor Photos: Imaxtree (left); Retna (right)

Tech Tips/ Sports/ Economy/

Internet News Record

Make TweetDeck and Other AIR Apps Use Your Chosen Browser [Adobe AIR]

Albert Pujols in no hurry to talk extension with St. Louis Cardinals

By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker)

By ESPN.com news services (ESPN.com)

However, the 2008 and 2005 NL MVP still gets nervous when speaking of the award. Submitted at 10/15/2009 9:28:18 AM Adobe AIR apps like TweetDeck "Let's wait. I'd rather not talk The St. Louis Cardinals have about it, but I can tell you that I work on all platforms, but with a expressed interest in extending had a good season and I deserve few quirks—like not opening your Albert Pujols' contract during the it, but also Prince Fielder and preferred browser on clicked winter, but the slugger is not in a Ryan Howard," he said. links. Here's a few solutions for hurry. TweetDeck and other AIR apps Pujols indicated that he will "I'm not desperate to sign a undergo an MRI exam next week running on Windows, Mac, and contract extension. I still have one to check the status of his elbow, Linux. year remaining in my contract for which was operated on last On a Windows system, the 2010 and a club option for 2011. I winter. solution is actually more simple leave the rest in God's hands," than you'd think. You might have "It's just a routine that I do when Pujols told a Dominican radio the season is over to make sure set a browser like Chrome or s t a t i o n ( C D N 9 2 . 5 F M ) that everything is OK. I feel good, Opera as your default browser and Registry fix to ensure it sticks. dump into a new file: e x p o r t Wednesday during an interview but it's something I will confirm," have it launch from most apps as Remember, kids: back up your GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ on the sports program "Manana he said. such, but that doesn't mean it registry before editing it. In Mac OS X, the default ID=Default Deportiva." passed the memo along to Pujols lamented that the /opt/TweetDeck/bin/TweetDeck Pujols signed a seven-year Cardinals were swept in the first Windows itself. Richard Barley's browser setting is set in Safari's Make that script executable ( contract for $100 million after the round of the postseason by the exhaustive Tweetdeck FAQ has preferences—as if they want to guarantee one last visit from you! chmod a+x in a terminal, or right- 2003 season, but the two-time Los Angeles Dodgers. the solution: • Select Start > Default Programs Head there to set up which click and check off that property), MVP said money will not be the "I didn't think we would be > Set Program Access And b r o w s e r i s o p e n e d f r o m keep it somewhere it won't get central issue in his next contract. swept, but only God knows what TweetDeck. deleted, then edit your menu "We have not sat down to talk will happen to you," he said. Computer Defaults. On a GNOME-based Linux launcher to point at that script about contracts yet. Last week, • Click Continue in the Security Pujols' prediction is that the platform like Ubuntu, the most instead of the default TweetDeck the GM [John Mozeliak] called Dodgers will advance to the Alert dialog box, if it appears. me and I told them to talk to my World Series to face the Los • Select Custom, and then select elegant solution I've seen—in location. Found another way to make lawyer. But I reiterate that money Angeles Angels. your preferred browser under other words, one without too Choose A Default Web Browser; much terminal work—is the TweetDeck and other AIR apps is not everything, it's better to "I know the Yankees and creation of a small script that open your actual default browser, have a competitive team that can Philadelphia have good teams, but click OK. The process is fairly similar for resets an antiquated variable that or, even better, a custom browser go to the postseason," he added. my favorites for the World Series Pujols, 29, hit .327 with 47 are the Dodgers and the Angels," XP, but if you want a walk- Adobe AIR checks on your of your choice? Tell us about it in through of the process, or find s y s t e m , t h e n l a u n c h e s the comments, and we'll update home runs and 135 RBIs this he said. season for the Cardinals, and is a that it doesn't work, Fred Von TweetDeck. From Roy Tanck's this post with the good stuff. This content has passed through heavy favorite to win the NL fivefilters.org. Graf explains it all, along with a blog post, here's some code to MVP. Submitted at 10/15/2009 8:10:00 AM

Goldman Sachs profits jump to $3.2bn (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 10/15/2009 7:41:01 AM

Goldman Sachs reported on

Thursday that it had nearly quadrupled its profits in the third quarter compared with a year ago, driven by a jump in trading revenues and strong returns on its

own corporate investments. Meanwhile, Citigroup defied expectations of a third-quarter loss, reporting profits of $101m on the strength of its customer

deposits. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Tech Tips/ Sports/ Picture/ Apple/

Internet News Record

VistaSwitcher is an Absolutely Awesome Alt-Tab Replacement [Screenshot Tour] By The How-To Geek (Lifehacker)

By Heather Champ (Flickr Blog) Submitted at 10/14/2009 3:54:10 PM

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

Submitted at 10/15/2009 9:00:00 AM

Window switching utility VistaSwitcher replaces the boring Alt-Tab built into Windows with an incredibly useful alternative—complete with eye candy and loads of keyboard navigation options. (Click any of the images for a closer look.) It's a little difficult to showcase how well this thing works with just a screenshot, but you can see the partially transparent Alt-Tab switcher window, complete with a massive preview window and the window titles easily readable. Awesome Keyboard Window Manipulation Once you've brought up the AltTab dialog, you can use the "S" key to select more than one window at a time—and then you can use the C, V, or H keys to either Cascade, Tile Vertically, or Tile Horizontally for just the windows that you've selected. The X key will close them, or the M key will minimize them... there's

Asuka Lighting Festival

actually a whole set of hotkeys that you can use to manipulate open windows. Switch Between Open Instances of a Single Application One of the few features that I've always been jealous of from the Mac OS X operating system is the Alt+` shortcut key that switches between open windows of a single application—and now with VistaSwitcher, I've got that feature on Windows. Just hit the Ctrl+Alt+Tab shortcut key

combination, and you'll be able to switch between just windows from that same process—in my case, I'm switching between open Windows Live Writer windows. If you head into the preferences, you can re-map the "Application windows hotkey" to Alt+` and get the same feature built into Mac OS X—it will allow you to just switch between open windows of the same type. Hit the link for the download, or check out the rest of the review

over at How-To Geek(my home away from Lifehacker). VistaSwitcher is a free download, works on Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7—but you'll have the best luck on a system with Aero enabled, since it can take advantage of the smooth Desktop Window Manager. VistaSwitcher[via How-To Geek]

By Liam an Cassidy released update to iMovie ‘09. The latest version, 8.0.5, brings

In Perry, Blount Still a Hometown Hero By Jim Henry (FanHouse)

understand what triggered The Punch. Mark Southerland, a local businessman, School Board by Jim Henry member and Taylor County High Filed under: Oregon PERRY, School resident historian, waited Fla. -- As LeGarrette Blount two days after Blount's meltdown follows the corrective measures on national television before he that may signal his return to the telephoned. Oregon football team next month, Blount recognized the 850 area residents in this small, coastal city code and number and immediately o f f H i g h w a y 2 7 s t i l l d o n ' t answered. Southerland didn't want Submitted at 10/15/2009 11:00:00 AM

to know why. Never asked, in fact. Instead, Southerland, who

Update for iMovie ‘09 Brings Support for New Nanos, Industry Home movie makers, start your Standard Software Updater, for Apple has

played football with Blount's father Gary at Taylor County in the mid-1970s and considers himself a family friend, offered advice and support. A remorseful Blount, 2,357 miles from his Florida safety net in Eugene, Ore., quietly listened. "I told him three things," Southerland, 49, said in an interview with FanHouse.

In Perry, Blount Still a Hometown Hero originally appeared on Fanhouse NCAA Football Blog on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments

Sports/ Game/

Internet News Record

UPDATE continued from page 42 the usual improvements in compatibility and fixes for “minor issues,” but the real story here is the introduction of a brand new video format called ‘iFrame.’ iFrame (not to be confused with the troublesome iFrame HTML tag) is a video standard based on Apple’s hugely successful H.264 Video and AAC Audio codecs. Just as we’ve come to expect from those codecs, iFrame offers reasonably high quality audio and video with low file sizes. Smaller files are ideal for those of us who make home movies with digital camcorders, keeping to the absolute minimum the time it takes to import video from a camcorder into iMovie. The smaller sizes are not surprising, considering iFrame records video at a resolution of 960×540 (at 30fps). While a little higher resolution than SVGA, it’s still shy of HD’s lowest standard offering, (1280×720). Apple released a support document on its website briefly describing iFrame: The iFrame Video format is designed by Apple to speed up importing and editing by keeping the content in its native recorded format while editing. Based on

industry standard technologies such as H.264 and AAC audio, iFrame produces small file sizes and simplifies the process of working with Video recorded with your camera. For your Mac, smaller files can potentially mean less time spent crunching numbers during an edit. That’s assuming, of course, you’re tweaking a short video of your pet cat falling off the couch, not cutting an epic feature of Lucasfilm proportions. (If you are, you won’t be using iMovie to do it.) There’s no word yet from Apple on whether it plans to add iFrame compatibility into its prolevel Final Cut software, though it’s probably only a matter of time; after all, Final Cut supports just about every other format, one more can’t hurt. Cameras with native support for iFrame offer faster imports into iMovie because the files they create will not require the usual (often lengthy) conversion that takes place when importing other formats. iFrame already has some native hardware support in the form of the latest iPod Nano, which uses iFrame as its default format. In addition, earlier this week Sanyo

announced the availability of two dual cameras (digital cameras which capture both still images and full speed video)…the snappily named VPCHD2000ABK and the VPCFH1ABK. Both provide full iFrame support in addition to the more typical MPEG-4, H.264 video formats. It’s easy to imagine next year’s iPhone upgrade including native support for iFrame. The iPhone 3GS records video in the .mov file format, managing a measly 640×480 (VGA) resolution. Nevertheless, shortly after its launch the iPhone 3GS quickly became one of the most popular portable devices used for capturing and uploading video to YouTube. If that trend continues, I’ll welcome iFrame for the improved quality it brings to video sharing networks. For casual movie making, iFrame should be very well received. I wonder whether competitors in a similar space will take it seriously? In Q3, NewNet focus turns to business models and search. Read the, " NewNet Q3 Wrap-up."

Big East Controls Its BCS Destiny By Brett McMurphy (FanHouse) Submitted at 10/15/2009 11:00:00 AM

by Brett McMurphy FanHouse Big East writer Brett McMurphy empties out his reporter's notebook every week. TAMPA, Fla. -- A one-loss team getting selected over an undefeated Big East team for a spot in the BCS national title game? It isn't going to happen, said ESPN analyst Craig James. "Cincinnati is so high [ranked No. 9 in the coaches poll], if they run it, they have a real good chance," James told FanHouse. "The Pac-10 [USC or Oregon] is not going to leap frog them. I don't see that. If Cincinnati goes undefeated, they'll play for the national title [over a one-loss team from another conference]. "USF? They have more of a climb." The Bulls, who are ranked No. 21 in the coaches' poll, host Cincinnati tonight in a matchup of the Big East's only unbeaten teams. James, who was in Tampa Wednesday speaking at the Outback Bowl's Deloitte Kickoff Luncheon, said the only one-loss

team that could threaten keeping a 12-0 Cincinnati or USF out of the BCS title game would be an 11-1 Texas team, presumably if the Longhorns lose to Oklahoma Saturday and then win out. Big East Controls Its BCS Destiny originally appeared on Fanhouse NCAA Football Blog on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments

Activision wisely promotes DJ Hero with Daft Punk By JC Fletcher (Joystiq) Submitted at 10/15/2009 11:45:00 AM

If Activision really wants to reach the widest possible audience with DJ Hero, TV commercials are probably the best way to expedite that process. If said TV

commercials happen to feature Daft Punk's wonderfully catchy "Around the World," even better. After the break, see one TV ad starring a digital version of Daft Punk (though, since the band is ostensibly robotic, what's the both a clip of Justice vs. Public difference?) and another featuring

Enemy, and an improbably shiny DJ Hero controller. And if you like those, Activision continues to upload preview clips of in-game songs to its YouTube channel. Continue reading Activision wisely promotes DJ Hero with Daft Punk

Activision wisely promotes DJ Hero with Daft Punk originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Apple/ Game/

Internet News Record

AT&T Using the iPhone as a Prospective Employee Search Tool By Darrell Etherington (TheAppleBlog)

browse a list of all the events AT&T is holding or participating in relating to job seeking. Many Submitted at 10/14/2009 8:32:58 AM are college-based job fairs, but There’s already a few apps for there are also info sessions and getting a job on the iPhone, but teleconferences listed. Finally, the today sees the release of the first Media section provides potential one dedicated entirely to one employees with plenty of employer. AT&T is taking information about the company advantage of the device it remains and the industry so that they can the sole distributor of in the U.S. study up. to help in its ongoing search for It may not be perfectly executed quality staff. (job listings load in an in-app web The AT&T Jobs App(iTunes view, for example, instead of as link) is the first app of its kind, properly integrated components of one designed by a company to the app), you can’t apply to any promote only its specific job job directly from your device listings. Job seekers will find (though would you want to?), and updated info on openings, careerthere’s no feature to take related events, and even company advantage of your phone’s information, so you can take it location services to find jobs or with you to the interview and do a suggest jobs to qualified people in events in your immediate area. little last minute cramming while your network of friends and Still, it’s a step in the right family, thanks to a job post direction for major employers, you’re waiting to see HR staff. Scott Smith, AT&T’s Vice sharing feature, or forward it to and others would do well to President of Staffing, had this to your email address so you can follow AT&T’s example. If you s a y a b o u t t h e a p p a n d t h e give more detailed attention at want to reach as wide an audience reasoning behind its creation to home on your primary computer. a s p o s s i b l e , w h i c h s h o u l d Finding jobs is as simple as theoretically net you the best job mobile site Mobiletor.com: The AT&T Jobs App combines performing a fully customizable candidates, what better way to do greater accessibility with up-to- search, or by browsing the s o t h a n t o o f f e r i P h o n e d a t e i n f o r m a t i o n o n c a r e e r available positions via categories accessibility, which most people advancement at AT&T on one of l i k e b r o a d b a n d , r e t a i l , a n d probably have on them even when the world’s most popular devices. wireless. You can also search there isn’t a computer in reach. This app provides a mobile and using criteria like geographic area What was the big news that interactive way for applicants to and qualifications required, which happened in your sector in Q3? network and identify employment should expedite the process of Catch up with GigaOM Pro's, " opportunities, while expanding f i n d i n g a s u i t a b l e l i s t i n g Quarterly Wrap-ups." the reach of our AT&T career s o m e w h a t . If you’re interested in doing portal to even more people. You can also use the app to something in person, you can

Demonstrated: Controlling facial expressions in-game with camera By Christopher Grant (Joystiq)

the same FaceAPI software he used for his first demo). Much like Hideo Kojima's visions of a There are two things we can say Natal-enabled future, Sko's never about Torben Sko. First: He's involve replacing the controller probably never had a problem (or keyboard and mouse) but getting 'torbensko' usernames. rather supplementing it with, in We'd like to applaud his forward- this case, your face. No word on thinking parents who clearly saw support for particularly ugly the benefit of a unique name in faces, but we suspect Microsoft's the distant, internet-enabled got its best and most beautiful future. Second: Sko's technology people on it. demos (remember this headContinue reading Demonstrated: tracking demo?) have helped us Controlling facial expressions inconceptualize what a Natal- game with camera enabled future will be like, more Demonstrated: Controlling so than jury-rigged versions of facial expressions in-game with Burnout Paradise or Katamari camera originally appeared on Damacy. Joystiq on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 In his latest video (found after 10:45:00 EST. Please see our the break), Sko demonstrates how terms for use of feeds. to control the facial expressions of Read| Permalink| Email this| a virtual character using nothing Comments but a plain ol' web cam (oh, and Submitted at 10/15/2009 10:45:00 AM

Apple/ Game/ Media/

Internet News Record

Apple Backs Wi-Fi Direct, Indicates Better Peer-to-Peer On the Way By Darrell Etherington (TheAppleBlog) Submitted at 10/14/2009 12:18:52 PM

Move over Bluetooth, there’s a new direct device connectivity technology out there, and it’s on track for a mid-2010 production rollout. The tech in question is Wi -Fi Direct (previously known as “Wi-Fi peer-to-peer”), and Apple is now one of its main proponents, along with other heavy hitters like Microsoft, Intel and Sony. With legacy device support, improved speed, and easier connectivity than Bluetooth but with a lot of the same functions and usages, Wi-Fi Direct is expected to be in ‘direct’ competition with the older devicet0-device tech when it does eventually see the light of day. With those companies backing it, Bluetooth may be looking at a competition it can’t hope to win. The only downside of the new standard, when compared to Bluetooth, is that power consumption would be considerably higher using it. According to sources familiar with the technology, Wi-Fi Direct power demands would be “on par” with the requirements of

Wi-Fi connection between two devices without the need for an intermediary router or bridge. If so, my only concern would be frequency chatter. If your mouse, keyboard, iPhone, and network are all working on Wi-Fi connections, won’t the interference cause lag time, current Wi-Fi tech. It’s hard to slowdowns, etc.? Without more find solid numbers quantifying the detail or a practical demonstration difference between the two, but o f t h e t e c h i n a c t i o n , i t ’ s sources agree that Bluetooth’s impossible to tell at this point. power requirements are best The idea that your iPhone could described as “low,” while Wi-Fi is theoretically connect with your in the “high” range. Mac for the purposes of using But what exactly does Wi-Fi a p p s l i k e R e m o t e , o r f o r Direct do, and how? Perhaps Wi- transferring files, without having Fi Alliance Executive Director to be on the same network Edgar Figueroa, as quoted by controlled by a router is very AppleInsider, can help clarify interesting. At home, this kind of things: thing is never an issue, since all Wi-Fi Direct represents a leap my devices, both portable and forward for our industry. Wi-Fi otherwise, are plugged into the Wi users worldwide will benefit from -Fi network at all times. But when a single-technology solution to I’m working from the road, it can t r a n s f e r c o n t e n t a n d s h a r e be annoying to accomplish, and applications quickly and easily often involves elaborate network among devices, even when a Wi- connection sharing over Wi-Fi Fi access point isn’t available. from my Macbook to accomplish. The impact is that Wi-Fi will As Q4 begins, online video is become even more pervasive and now mainstream. Read the, " useful for consumers and across Connected Consumer Q3 Wrapthe enterprise. up." Essentially then, it sounds like a

Submitted at 10/15/2009 9:41:43 AM

Smithsonian Media named Meryle Lowenthal and Lori Scelzi to its integrated sales team in New York. Lowenthal, returns to

Smithsonian after a three-year hiatus where she sold for both The Week and More. Prior to joining Smithsonian, Scelzi spend five years at Time Inc.. where she worked for both Life and Targeted Media. Smithsonian

By Richard Mitchell (Joystiq)

allow up to four players the opportunity to survive "The Parish" campaign. The PC version R e m e m b e r w h e n V a l v e will be playable online or through announced that the Left 4 Dead 2 a local network, while the Xbox demo would launch on October version features the same options 27? It turns out that said day is plus two-player split screen. actually the early access date for Valve notes that the demo those that pre-order the game on includes "all the new boss Xbox 360 or PC (via Steam). infected zombies and all the new Starting November 3, the demo melee weapons." So, please, do will be available to all PC players yourself a favor: grab a katana and Xbox Live Gold subscribers. and start cutting fools down. Xbox Live Silver members, as L4D2 pre-order demo out Oct. usual, will have to wait an 27, public demo Nov. 3 originally additional week to demo the game appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 15 on November 10. Then again, if Oct 2009 12:40:00 EST. Please you only have a Silver account, see our terms for use of feeds. you probably aren't too excited for Permalink| Email this| an exclusively multiplayer Comments shooter, anyway. The Left 4 Dead 2 demo will Media comprises Smithsonian, Air & Space, goSmithsonian and the Smithsonian Media digital network. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

MediaDailyNews: Smithsonian Add 2 To Integrated Sales Team (MediaPost | Media News)

L4D2 pre-order demo out Oct. 27, public demo Nov. 3 Submitted at 10/15/2009 12:40:00 PM

Apple/ Game/ Media/

Internet News Record

Apple Takes Aggressive Next Step in the Ongoing Jailbreak Dance By Darrell Etherington (TheAppleBlog)

comfortably under the yoke of Apple and friends. Of course, if you haven’t bought your device Submitted at 10/14/2009 8:29:08 AM within the last week, you should It can’t really do anything about have no problem using the the iPhone hardware that’s recently released jailbreaking already on the market, aside from tools for the most recent iPhone trying to block jailbreaking via OS release, 3.1.2. software methods again and Apple’s main problem with again, but Apple has made jailbreaking, in all likelihood, is hardware changes to the latest the fact that it leads to shipments of iPhone 3GS devices significantly high rates of piracy that should ensure they can’t be on the company’s devices. unlocked, at least for the time According to MacRumors, of the being. nearly four million jailbroken The newest devices hitting the iPhones estimated to be in market have an updated boot existence, a full 38 percent of ROM that blocks the exploit those are using at least one pirated typically used in jailbreaking the app. Additionally, of iPhone apps 3GS, known as the 24kpwn that have been successfully exploit. iPhone Dev-Team cracked and distributed, a full member MuscleNerd confirmed ever that Apple has changed the third of the installations are of that the block does indeed mean boot ROM on a production pirated copies. that for now, a standard jailbreak device. Previously, Apple has So, to Apple’s mind, on these devices is out of the waited until it released brand new jailbreaking is depriving it of a devices to do this, like when the nice chunk of its revenue on some question. The 24kpwn exploit was 3GS was originally introduced. of the most popular apps available originally discovered early on in Presumably, there is a not in the App Store. Even if the boot the production life of the iPhone insignificant cost associated with ROM update only effectively 3GS, thanks to connections making that kind of change mid- blocks jailbreaking for a month or between the iPhone Developer production. two, it should have a positive In all likelihood, it’s only a effect in Apple’s income stream community and iPhone unlockers. matter of time before another George Hotz (also known as for that period. geohot), building on the iPhone exploit is discovered and taken As Q4 begins, online video is Dev Team’s work, published a advantage of in order to jailbreak now mainstream. Read the, " way to jailbreak the 3GS a few the newer 3GS phones, too, but Connected Consumer Q3 Wrapweeks after the exploit was for now, Apple has dealt a up." significant blow to the Dev-Team revealed. Apparently, this is the first time and those who’d rather not rest

Nintendo, Capcom, friends file suit over DS piracy-enabling R4 sales By Christopher Grant (Joystiq)

warnings. Enter: a new lawsuit, which Capcom hopes leads to a ruling that acknowledges "our Faced with The Truth that - company and other software regardless of what sorts of anti- manufactures have sustained piracy technology it folds into its [ e x t r e m e ] d a m a g e s f r o m DS platform - pirates will p r o l i f e r a t i o n o f i l l e g a l invariably hack the dual-screened instruments." Seems pretty cut handheld, Nintendo has buddied and dry to us, but we'll let the up with Capcom and 53 other courts decide. video game publishers in Japan to Nintendo, Capcom, friends file file suit against four resellers of suit over DS piracy-enabling R4 the popular R4 flash cartridge. sales originally appeared on Earlier this year, a Tokyo court Joystiq on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 banned the sale of the devices; 11:15:00 EST. Please see our however, Capcom now says that terms for use of feeds. "legal action has had no Read| Permalink| Email this| m e a n i n g f u l e f f e c t i n t h e Comments intervening period" and that sellers would "ignore" its Submitted at 10/15/2009 11:15:00 AM

MediaDailyNews: Clownfish Helps Vodafone Go Green (MediaPost | Media News) Submitted at 10/15/2009 10:04:13 AM

Clownfish, the communications consultancy, has been hired to

develop a green brand strategy for Vodafone, an international mobile telecommunications group, internally and externally. Since 2004, Vodafone has focused on

reducing the environmental impact of its own operations. Earlier in the year, it set itself as a target to be recognized as a green brand in its developed markets, a

change in focus toward enabling Vodafone's customers to be greener. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Apple/ Game/

Internet News Record

Rumor Has It: Next-Gen Mac Pro Getting Six-Core “Core i9 Processor By Darrell Etherington (TheAppleBlog) Submitted at 10/15/2009 6:59:38 AM

Apple’s powerhouse configurable tower desktop aimed mostly at semi-pro and pro users could be getting some update love in the near future, according to the latest rumblings coming out of the rumor mill today. Hardmac.com is reporting that one of its sources has solid information on the new Mac Pro, which should appear sometime in early 2009. The new Mac Pro will feature a brand new Xeon CPU from Intel, if the rumors are accurate, which it will offer exclusively for a short time until the second quarter of 2009. The CPU, code-named Gulftown, boasts a huge six processing cores, which beats the current single core total by two. With two processors, like the more expensively configured Mac Pro has, that would result in a total of 12 cores of processing power. The Gulftown processor also sports 12MB of shared cache, instead of the 8MB on current models, uses 32-nm engraving instead of 45, and will feature slightly lower power consumption than the current generation Xeon. Also, even though it’s a true successor to the Xeon line currently found in Mac Pros, rumor has it that it will be ditching that moniker in favor of the “Core i9 namesake.

Nintendo officially announces PokePark Wii Hardmac.com speculates that the new six-core Core i9 processor might not immediately be put to work across the Mac Pro line, instead suggesting that Apple may want to extend its line in that category by continuing to offer the quad core version in an entrylevel Pro. It’s a nice thought, but without any real basis, so I’d file this one under wishful thinking for the time being. Hardmac believes a lower-priced, entrylevel Pro might attract some mini customers, but I doubt that’s something Apple really wants to do. They do have other info directly from the source, who remains anonymous, as per usual. The motherboard will sport some major changes that should allow it to increase performance exponentially. There will be an Ethernet 10Gbits/s port, and a bump up in the RAM module

capacity for 8 and 16GB units, which would mean that the future Mac Pro could theoretically support up to 128GB of RAM at once. Being way more hardwaresavvy than myself, Hardmac sums up with the tantalizing prediction that the combination of Snow Leopard, the Core i9 processor, and top-of-the-line graphics cards from either NVIDIA or ATI could provide more than enough power for real-time rendering in Final Cut Studio 3.0. Speaking for my friends who work in television editing, who’ve spent many a late night waiting for a render to finish, this is very good news indeed. What was the big news that happened in your sector in Q3? Catch up with GigaOM Pro's, " Quarterly Wrap-ups."

By JC Fletcher (Joystiq) Submitted at 10/15/2009 10:05:00 AM

Only a week after everyone found out about Nintendo's PokePark Wii: Pikachu's Big Adventure, Nintendo has revealed the game, which will be released in Japan on December 5 for ¥4,800 ($53). Though it's certainly not the console debut that fans really want, this happens to be the first console Pokémon game developed by Creatures Inc., creators of the main handheld series. The game involves Pikachu competing and cooperating with other Pokemans in a sort of theme

park through, according to Andriasang, " tag, battle, and quiz mini-games." The game emphasizes Pikachu's interactions with his new friends and includes a camera mode to allow you to photograph the Pokémon you meet. Gallery: PokePark Wii: Pikachu's Big Adventure Nintendo officially announces PokePark Wii originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Apple/ Game/

Internet News Record

Lots of Nearly Live TV Now Available Free to UK iPhone Users By Darrell Etherington (TheAppleBlog) Submitted at 10/14/2009 7:30:04 AM

TV on the iPhone isn’t anything new, but a new web site makes it much easier, more direct, and less expensive for iPhone users in the UK. Just by visiting the site and logging into the new beta web app from TV Catchup, you can access 11 slightly delayed British TV channels, streamed directly to your iPhone. As long as you live somewhere within the UK, pointing your iPhone’s Safari browser at the TV Catchup optimized site will allow you access to Britain’s five main networks, including BBC 1 and 2, ITV and Channel 4, as well as six additional channels, including BBC 3 and 4 Music. Attempting to access the site from outside of the UK results in a dialog informing you that you aren’t authorized to play back the content in question, which comes as no surprise given the general attitude of major U.S. TV networks when it comes to international access. If you are in the UK, you get streams from each channel delayed only about 20 seconds behind the live TV feed. You can

also watch in either landscape or portrait mode (using your phone’s built-in Quicktime player) and pause any footage. Keen readers will observe that the BBC is already available to all on the iPhone via its own iPlayer web application (also limited to UK residents). That app provides on-demand access to many BBC programs, like TV.com does for various CBS shows in the U.S. Apps like Slingplayer and Orb can also potentially bring live TV to the iPhone, but require expensive hardware and software additions to your existing setup, or at least an iPhone app if you already have everything else. TV Catchup only requires that you have an iPhone and a network connection, which can be either Wi-Fi or 3G. No word on whether TV Catchup will eventually try to expand its service to include international audiences, or

international stations, but I sure hope someone out there is watching and thinks this is a good idea. True, AT&T would likely try to block something like this because of the network load or because it can’t control access via subscriptions, but if it’s a similar web-based application from someone like Hulu, there’s little it can do to stop it. Asian cell phone users have been enjoying TV on their mobile devices for years, thanks to 1seg TV antennas. It’s about time we started catching up. I suspect the last barrier will be stubborn networks. Don’t worry guys, you can still advertise to us on a mobile platform. What was the big news that happened in your sector in Q3? Catch up with GigaOM Pro's, " Quarterly Wrap-ups."

Band Hero demo walking on Xbox Live By Richard Mitchell (Joystiq)

Burn" That's right, Taylor Swift is right there. With some clever The Major sends word that a positioning and a few mirrors, you Band Hero demo is now available might be able to convince your on Xbox Live Marketplace. The daughter this is the full game, demo allows players to try out saving you the trouble of actually three different songs in the new, buying it. Good luck. family-friendly Hero title, and Band Hero demo walking on offers both the Party Play mode Xbox Live originally appeared on and the new Sing-Along mode. Joystiq on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 The three playable songs are: 12:00:00 EST. Please see our • Finger Eleven - " Paralyzer" terms for use of feeds. • Katrina & The Waves - " Read| Permalink| Email this| Walking on Sunshine" Comments • Taylor Swift - " Picture to Submitted at 10/15/2009 12:00:00 PM

Tech Blog/ Fashion/ Media/

Internet News Record

What's obvious about netbooks (Scripting News)

can't get him to use my software these days because it runs in a desktop style web browser. Of Some people in the tech industry course what he's doing is a believe netbooks are a mistake reasonable choice. But it's never that will be corrected any day w o r k e d f o r m e b e c a u s e now. Problem is they've been communicating on an iPhone is saying that for hundreds of days too slow. Not just the typing, not while the netbook market keeps just the cramped keyboard, but the growing, as the market for more actual networking. I had an expensive portables stagnates. interesting experience the other The trend won't reverse because day on my mother's new FIOS netbooks represent a far more home network, all of a sudden I fundamental shift than they could use the iPhone the way recognize. Far more significant Scoble does. For some reason it than I've realized until just the doesn't work very well on my other day. network at home, and the net 12/17/08: What is a Netbook? connection from AT&T is At one level, a netbook is just a infinitely too slow to be usable. new product, something between So it could be that my iPhone a notebook and an iPhone. It fits experience is much worse than e a s i l y i n t o a b r i e f c a s e o r most people's. knapsack, has a keyboard and As a product a netbook is less screen that while not exactly expensive, more portable, and has spacious, are functional. longer battery life than a The iPhone is a compromise, a n o t e b o o k . good one because of its supreme It has a bigger keyboard, bigger portability (it fits in a pocket). But screen and is a better reading and netbooks are a good compromise writing tool than an iPhone. too. It's in the middle -- and there is An aside, I know some people a middle -- a product between an use iPhones for their networking. iPhone and notebooks Scoble is my prime example. I But the netbook is not just a Submitted at 10/14/2009 7:46:57 AM

new product. It exposes something pretty ugly about the computer industry. They've been controlling prices. There must have been price collusion before netbooks came out. It's clearly possible to build notebooks for much less than they manufacturers are charging. That's a matter for the Federal Trade Commission to look into, but even that is not what's going on with netbooks. The truly significant thing is this -- the users took over. Let me say that again: The users took over. I always say this is the lesson of the tech industry, but the people in the tech industry never believe it, but this is the loop. In the late 70s and early 80s the minicomputer and mainframe guys said the same kinds of things about Apple IIs and IBM PCs that Michael Dell is saying about netbooks. It happens over and over again, I've recited the loops so many times that every reader of this column can recite them from memory. All that has to be said is that it happened again. Once out, the genie never goes

Submitted at 10/14/2009 12:21:22 PM

Sienna Miller has been seen sporting them. A version of one came in the front-row gift bag at Sass and Bide. And now Central Saint Martins design student Cynthia Zichy Thyssen is creating ultra-luxe versions of them for her MA collection. What am I talking about? Bondage harnesses.

MediaDailyNews: Cheers: Bud Light Sole Sponsor For 'SNL' Oct 17 (MediaPost | Media News) Submitted at 10/15/2009 9:56:54 AM

Anheuser-Busch will buy out all the TV commercial time in this weekend's "Saturday Night Live" on NBC to help launch its new Bud Light Golden Wheat beer. While other network and cable shows have done this before -especially with new season premieres -- this is the first time "SNL" has done so in its 35-year history. "Anheuser-Busch has supported "Saturday Night Live" since the early days of the show. We are very happy Bud Light Golden Wheat has chosen "SNL" for this event," said Lorne Michaels, executive producer, "Saturday Night Live" in a release. The sponsorship for the Oct. 17 show will also feature "Backstage with Bud Light Golden Wheat," a series of never-before-aired clips from "SNL" throughout the years. As part of the promotion, "SNL" will feature highlights from "SNL" viewing parties that will be hosted by Bud Light Golden Wheat across the country this Saturday. The new Anheuser-Busch beer Those in the London fashion in Italy are also on the table as launched nationwide on Oct. 5. sphere have been taking the design elements. "This first-of-a-kind sponsorship leather accessories better known She says hers are different from of "Saturday Night Live" by Bud for their use in bondage-related other takes in the trend: "Mine are Light Golden Wheat perfectly activities and wearing them as a luxury tool. What we find illustrates the kind of deal we part of their outfits, layering them nowadays are fun, but they don't mean when we talk about wanting under and over various articles of speak the aesthetic language I am to innovate with our clients," said clothing. looking for, and they undervalue M i k e P i l o t , p r e s i d e n t o f Cynthia's harnesses (see left) power. Sex is an art form. a d v e r t i s i n g s a l e s f o r N B C will be the epitome of luxury, Changing one's sexual life can U n i v e r s a l T e l e v i s i o n . lined in nubuck and made from semi-precious stones and jewels. change anything." This content has passed through stingray skin, hers can also be Closures created by silversmiths â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Rebecca Suhrawardi Austin fivefilters.org. personalized with accents such as Follow ELLE on Twitter.

Cynthia Zichy Thyssen's Luxe Harnesses By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog)

back in the bottle. This should serve as a lesson to the architects at Twitter and Facebook. The day will come when your users figure out that they can do what you do without the costs you impose. Better to prepare for that day, factor it into your economics, than be surprised by it as Michael Dell appears to have been. He's complaining about netbooks probably because his expense structure can't sustain the business. He's a leading vendor of netbooks, yet is selling against them. This means only one thing, and it's kind of obvious -- he's losing money on each sale. He can't afford to be in the business. Which means he can't afford to be in business at all. Windows 7 may be nice, I don't know and I don't care. I like my XP-based netbook just fine with its 10 inch screen, 160GB hard drive and 8-hour battery life. My computer cost $350. I'm not a likely customer for an upsell. Those are the new economics, like it or not.

Tech Blog/ Fashion/

Friends see things you don't (Scripting News) Submitted at 10/14/2009 9:28:38 AM

This is a very personal time for me, lots of observations, things I'm learning about myself, things you can only see when a big tree falls and light shines on spaces that were previously hidden. Here's a reason why it's good to have friends (as if one needs a reason) and why you should share your childhood pictures with them as soon as you can. I waited way too long for this. When they see pictures of you as a baby and toddler and then as a small child they see something you never see in those pictures --> You! Doc Searls' comment, as usual, hits the nail square on the head. "That's Dave! Great to see the kid, the son and the big brother, and how they match with the man and the friend." Francine Hardway sees it too. What a revelation. I never liked looking at those pictures, and now I know why. I didn't believe it ever happened. I have no memory of it, but friends can see what you can't -- that you were there. Now all of a sudden things your parents

Internet News Record

Be Your(Secret)self This Halloween at the Santa Monica Museum of Art's Halla Gala By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog)

Tickets to the grand event start at $350 for a Hall’va one-pass and go all the way up to the indulgent Halloween isn’t typically a $25,000 Gardeners of Eden 10festivity associated with high pass, which includes many, many fashion, but this year, the Santa luxuries, most notably: pre-gala Monica Museum of Art is doing assistance for two from two something to remedy that. With designers (see full-list here) to the hosting help of Leonard help create your secret self say start making sense. They were memorial site. there too. Of course they have the Another observation. My Dad Nimoy and his wife Susan, along ensembles. All ticket packages advantage of remembering. did a great job of organizing all with designers Jenni Kayne, The above $5,000 also include a Some of Dad's pictures are so the pictures. All I had to do was Row’s Ashley and Mary-Kate personal secret self photography good they deserve to be called out write some scripts to merge the Olsen, Society for Rational Dress’ session with the man of the night, specially. captions, and link the thumbs with Corinne Grassini, among others, Leonard Nimoy. Tickets are tax-deductible and That's my grandmother, Lucy the originals. I'm storing all the the SMMoA will throw the first Kiesler, on the left, and my stuff in Amazon S3 because I Halla Gala, one part high-art, one on-sale now, so if you’re in the Santa Monica area over mother, Eve Winer, on the right. think it's the most reliable storage part high-style Halloween party. And the dress code? “Come as Halloween weekend, stop being My brother Peter Winer is sitting we have right now. Should I die with his back to us, and the guy in or become incapacitated they will your secret self, your alternate frugal and start envisioning your the loud 70s style coat is me, at just keep billing my credit card, identity or inner persona,” the o n e - o n - t w o s e c r e t s e l f consultation with the sisters age 21. The picture was taken in and hopefully my successors will invitation instructs. The unique costume concept, Olsen. New Orleans, not sure exactly just let the charges go through. Fashion and photography lovers where (possibly Commander's Amazon really ought to allow a c c o r d i n g t o S M M o A Palace) just before or after my people (as opposed to companies) C o m m u n i c a t i o n s D i r e c t o r Leonard and Susan Nimoy will college graduation. Click on the purchase perpetual hosting. What Miranda Carroll, was actually serve as honorary hosts of this picture to see the full image. And a contribution to our culture they i n s p i r e d b y L e o n a r d ’ s year’s Halla Gala (photos to the photography exhibit of the same right of the couple include the full set of pictures, uploaded would be making if they did so. name, not Halloween. But the Masquerade and Tree Man, both yesterday, is on my Dad's timing couldn’t have been more taken by Nimoy) perfect, as everyone this time of Photos: Getty Images and year has an itch to be someone or courtesy of Leonard Nimoy something else for a night. Submitted at 10/14/2009 2:27:27 PM

Sports/

Internet News Record

Uruguay’s Soccer Team Could Ruin Argentina’s Decade (WSJ.com: The Daily Fix)

himself in the third person and once claimed to have been the victim of a total lack of respect Fervent national soccer rivalries from the Pope.” That would be like the one between Argentina the inimitable Diego Maradona, and Uruguay are a big part of one of the greatest players of his what makes international soccer generation but not, thus far, a so fun to watch. But Wednesday’s great success as the coach of meeting between Argentina and Argentina’s national squad. Uruguay is for more than regional In the Independent, Neil Clack bragging rights. The intensity outlines Argentina’s struggles, level, in fact, should be more akin and the task before the team. In to the 1930 World Cup final The Irish Times, Damian Cullen between the two, which led to approaches the game and the Argentine rioters stoning r i v a l r y f r o m U r u g u a y ’ s U r u g u a y ’ s e m b a s s y a f t e r perspective. And in the Telegraph, Uruguay’s 4-2 win. The slate of Giles Mole explains the anxiety of p o s s i b l e p e r m u t a t i o n s i s FIFA officials at the prospect complicated — play-in games that Messi — the defending against Ecuador could be involved UEFA Club Footballer of the — b u t f r o m A r g e n t i n a ’ s Year — might not reach the perspective, Wednesday’s task is World Cup.* * * simple enough to understand: Malcolm Gladwell is a big Argentina needs to beat Uruguay sports fan, and proved as much in Montevideo or risk not making earlier this year in a series of the World Cup for the first time nearly unreadable back-and-forths since 1970. Associated Press If he with ESPN’s Bill Simmons. But finds himself with too much time his sports knowledge is not the o n h i s h a n d s s o o n , D i e g o thing for which he’s best known. Maradona could swap coaching Gladwell became a national brand ideas with Wayne Gretzky and not because of his ability to Magic Johnson. dissect the cover-two, but because “How they came to stand on this o f h i s u n c a n n i l y r e a d a b l e knife edge is a mystery to anyone presentation of provocative ideas. who looks at a squad made up of His methods can be argued with, outstanding players, with Lionel and your Fixer generally isn’t a Messi top of the bill, but not to big fan, but Gladwell is at his best those who consider the man in in a recent piece for the New charge,” the Daily Mail’s Martin Yorker that gives a controversySamuel writes in a terrific piece. begging question whether pro “The management of an football is different than international football team dogfighting — its due. requires a strategist, a clear “Part of what makes dogfighting thinker, a cool head, a man who so repulsive is the understanding will use the restless space that violence and injury cannot be between games to resolve removed from the sport,” problems clearly and rationally. Gladwell writes. “Its a feature of Argentina instead went for a the sport that dogs almost always c r a c k e r j a c k , a m a v e r i c k , a get hurt. Something like stock-car p h e n o m e n o n w h o r e f e r s t o racing, by contrast, is dangerous, Submitted at 10/14/2009 8:30:12 AM

almost certainly keep him off the team’s roster for the 2010 World Cup. Davies’ absence will be foremost among the many things on the U.S. team’s mind when they face Costa Rica with the Concacaf regional title at stake Wednesday. “His teammates must carry on,” but not unavoidably so. So what t h e M i a m i H e r a l d ’ s L i n d a is football? Is it dogfighting or is Robertson writes. “It’s another setback for a team that has fought it stock-car racing?” The question itself is a through many. [But] no matter classically Gladwellian reduction, what happens, expectations will but it’s worth asking if only continue to grow over the next because — basic moral objections eight months for the most talented to the NFL meat-grinder aside — team the United States has fielded football players continue to bring in modern times.”* * * Furman Bisher, whose very their concussed brains onto the field. At Yahoo’s Dr. Saturday name seems to belong to a bygone blog, Dan Shanoff examines the era, has retired from the Atlanta more modest post-concussion Tim Journal-Constitution after an Tebow, who took the field in astonishing 59 years at the paper. Florida’s win over LSU last It was a career long enough for weekend. “In between cringing Bisher to have received stock tips moments every time Tebow hit from Ty Cobb and interviewed the line, I actually found myself Shoeless Joe Jackson, and one liking this version of Tebow at that Bisher — a healthy 91 — least as much as the classic could probably have kept going ‘Tebow Smash!’ edition,” Shanoff had he wanted to. As it is, Bisher writes. “Whether from the play- leaves behind a legacy that — as calling from coaches or his own Bisher himself wrote of Joe Louis decision-making, he was letting after the Brown Bomber’s death the talent around him carry more — “shall become a national of the load — and they proved resource.” “With Bisher retired, there is no they could handle it. Hopefully, he showed himself that he doesn’t one left who has had such an have to rumble his body into an impact on his craft — especially oncoming tackler to prove he has in the South — as measured by imposed his will — he can simply the stack of awards at his door or the reverence of those who keep winning games.”* * * Charlie Davies, an emerging followed him,” the Journalstar at forward for the United Constitution’s Steve Hummer States men’s soccer team, was writes. “Someone may one day injured in a scary car accident m a t c h h i s i n f l u e n c e , Tuesday. He suffered numerous accomplishments and stature, but broken bones and internal injuries it wont be easy. There is no one in a one-vehicle crash that left who writes so doggone Bisher-ly, a n o t h e r p e r s o n d e a d . L e s s in a courtly voice reminiscent of a importantly, the accident will time before snarky blogs and

Tweets.” Bisher’s exceptionally graceful final column is here, and some of his greatest hits, which function as a sort of guided tour of a halfcentury of sports history, can be found here.* * * Rod Benson had a good college career at the University of California and has played very well during his seasons in the DLeague, the NBA’s minor league. But his rebounding and athleticism are not the attributes for which he’s best known by basketball heads. No, thanks to his work at his own blog and Yahoo’s indispensable Ball Don’t Lie blog, Benson has made his name with his sharp sense of humor, unfailing honesty and, um, obsession with actress Jenna Fischer. Benson has demonstrated that he’s a good enough player to earn a training camp invite from the Indiana Pacers this season, but he might have proven too good a blogger over the past few years for his own good. The Pacers placed a gag order on the blogging big man for the duration of training camp. He’ll have his work cut out for him in terms of making the Pacers roster, but FanHouse’s Chris Tomasson writes, “The bigger issue for Benson, 25, is whether his blogging ever could cost him a chance to make an NBA team even if he might be playing better than non-blogging candidates.” It has happened before — the very funny Paul Shirley earned a Journal profile from yours truly for his blogging work while with the Phoenix Suns, but hasn’t played in the NBA since. Instead, URUGUAY’S page 52

Sports/

Internet News Record

Torre Bets on Kid Kershaw Against the Phils (WSJ.com: The Daily Fix) Submitted at 10/15/2009 7:58:30 AM

The Yankees, Angels and Phillies all have won World Series since 2000. The Los Angeles Dodgers, the fourth team left in this year’s playoffs, haven’t ended a season with a Champagne shower since 1988. To have a shot they’ll have to survive their rematch with Philadelphia, which won the NLCS in five games a year ago. Getty Images Joe Torre ponders how much harder it would be to manage a team without a payroll in the gazillions. For Game 1 on Thursday night, manager Joe Torre has chosen 21year-old left-hander Clayton Kershaw to face Cole Hamels, who’s had an erratic 2009 season. In the Los Angeles Times, Bill Plaschke agrees with Torre’s decision. “The choice was Kershaw, because nobody on the staff throws more fearlessly to more sides of the plate,” Plaschke writes. “The choice was Kershaw, because he has an attitude to match his command.” While pitching will play a big role should L.A. win its series, CBS Sports’s Scott Miller writes that Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp are a dangerous duo for Phillies pitchers to corral. In the Philadelphia Daily News, Sam Donnellon wonders which Hamels will show up for the Phillies. The Philadelphia

Inquirer’s Bob Ford looks at the different routes Joe Torre and Charlie Manuel have taken in their managerial careers. The ALCS between the Yankees and Angels begins Friday. In the New York Daily News, Bill Madden isn’t sure New York’s pitching is good enough to beat L.A. Be sure to catch tonight’s live blog of the Dodgers-Phillies game, with Jonah Keri presiding.* ** To merit consideration for the national championship with an undefeated season, Boise State must prove each week it deserves its ranking despite playing in the WAC. The No. 5 Broncos’ 28-21 victory over Tulsa on Wednesday likely won’t convert any doubters. The Broncos trailed by six after the first quarter, then hung on after building a 14-point lead. Rather than make a statement, Boise raised doubts with its lessthan-impressive victory. “Wednesday was a huge opportunity missed for a program trying to shatter the sport’s glass ceiling,” Charles Durrenberger writes at CBS Sports. “With the baseball playoffs idle and the rest of college football looking on, the fifth-ranked Broncos swung and missed at convincing the fencesitters of their legitimacy.” In the Idaho Statesman, Brian Murphy writes that coach Chris Petersen isn’t preoccupied with

the polls. Sports Illustrated’s Frank Deford believes Boise isn’t getting a fair shake from the BCS.* * * The NFL has a lot of crummy teams this season, including Tampa Bay, Kansas City, St. Louis and Tennessee — all 0-5. Washington’s two victories have come against the Bucs and Rams and a third is probable when the Redskins host the Chiefs on Sunday — Washington’s unprecedented sixth straight game against a winless opponent. Sure, Washington isn’t likely to earn a playoff spot, especially in the tough NFC East, but it’s not a bottom-feeder yet, the Washington Post’s Thomas Boswell writes. In Washington City Paper, Dave McKenna reports on an imposter Hogette infiltrating Redskins games. Perhaps that explains their bad start. Meanwhile, Rush Limbaugh won’t be part of the group led by Dave Checketts bidding for the Rams. The group ditched the controversial talk-show host after

news of his potential inclusion unleashed a shower of criticism. In the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Bernie Miklasz isn’t surprised — Limbaugh wouldn’t have been approved anyway, he writes.* * * Belgian Frank Vandenbroucke could have been the next Eddy Merckx, one of the best cyclists ever. But drug abuse, domestic violence and mental-health p r o b l e m s m a r r e d Vandenbroucke’s life, and he died of a pulmonary embolism on Monday in Senegal at age 34. At Cycling News, Greg Johnson and Les Clarke write about the rise and fall of “a precocious talent.”* ** Gilbert Arenas has spent much of this decade being the closest thing to a sure bet for NBA reporters in need of a pithy quote. But those days appear over. The Washington Wizard was adamant he’d no longer speak with the media until that stance cost him a $25,000 fine earlier this week. So after scoring 24 points Tuesday in only 28 minutes of Washington’s 101-98 preseason win over Detroit, Arenas spoke with reporters, as the Washington Post’s Michael Lee blogs, but didn’t say much. Is Arenas trying to pay tribute to Rasheed Wallace?* * * Diversity is paying off handsomely for Patterson High School in Baltimore, where the boys’ soccer team is 10-0 and

URUGUAY’S continued from page 51 he wrote a book and has a music column at ESPN.com. Benson won’t stay gagged forever. More broadly, the NBA has its work cut out if it really wishes to enforce rigid message control.

With a third of the NBA’s players on Twitter, there are a great many cats to put back in bags. In the Journal, David Biderman reports on Twitter detective Brendan Wilhide, who specializes in

determining which Twittering athletes are real, and which are imposters. – Tip of the Fix cap to Fixer emeritus Carl Bialik. Found a good column from the

world of sports? Don’t keep it to yourself — write to us at dailyfix@wsj.com and we’ll consider your find for inclusion in the Daily Fix. You can email David at droth11@gmail.com.

aiming for the city championship. Patterson’s 20 players represent 12 countries on five continents, Glenn Graham writes in the Baltimore Sun, and they’re meshing as a team without the cliques on past teams.* * * John Wooden remains the standard-bearer of success for college-basketball coaches: 10 national championships in 12 seasons, four perfect seasons amd 88 straight victories, all records that have stood since the Wizard of Westwood retired in 1975. Wooden celebrated his 99th birthday Wednesday. He retired at the right time and other coaches could learn from his example, Dean Hybl writes at Sports Then and Now. In the Los Angeles Times, Mike Penner lists 99 facts about Wooden. Finally, from Sports Illustrated’s Vault, read the cover story from Dec. 25, 1972, when the magazine named him sportsman of the year. – Tip of the Fix cap to reader Don Hartline and the Journal’s Lydia Serota. Found a good column from the world of sports? Don’t keep it to yourself — write to us at dailyfix@wsj.com and we’ll consider your find for inclusion in the Daily Fix. You can email Garey at ris84rap@gmail.com.

Sports/

Internet News Record

Joe Torre gives Clayton Kershaw Game 1 start for Los Angeles Dodgers in NLCS vs. Philadelphia Phillies By ESPN.com news services (ESPN.com)

straight year, making them the closest thing the NL has to a couple of dominant teams. Submitted at 10/15/2009 8:08:00 AM They are the first repeat teams LOS ANGELES -- Clayton since Houston and St. Louis K e r s h a w w i l l s t a r t f o r t h e squared off in 2004 and '05, and Dodgers on Thursday against only the third repeaters since fellow left-hander Cole Hamels of Atlanta and Pittsburgh met in the Phillies in Game 1 of the NL 1991 and '92. Championship Series. "I heard Joe Torre say the beauty At 21 years and 209 days, of it is always going back and Kershaw will be the third- seeing how many times you can youngest Game 1 starter in win," Phillies manager Charlie postseason history. The youngest Manuel said Wednesday of his was Fernando Valenzuela, who counterpart. was 20 years and 339 days when "Believe me, we came back here he started for the Dodgers in the to win. I have more determination 1981 division series. probably than I had last year, and Joe Torre in NLCS I mean that from the fact that Joe Torre will attempt to end a that's how much I want it, and I two-series losing streak in an LCS think I know how much our when the Dodgers face the players want it." Phillies for the second A year ago, the Phillies took a 2 consecutive season. -0 lead at home and went on to "I've grown up a lot since last beat the Dodgers in five games in year," said Kershaw, who worked the NLCS before defeating Tampa out of the bullpen in last year's Bay to win the World Series. NLCS. "It's not obviously the Now, they're trying to become same starting Game 1 of a series the first repeat World Series or anything like that, but just to winners since Torre's Yankees did have the experience to get out so from 1998 to 2000. there and pitch against them a "When you repeat, you basically little bit is definitely going to help have to go through a tougher me out." season to get there," Torre said. The Phillies and Dodgers are "You've got a bull's-eye on your back in the NLCS for the second back. Everyone seems to put on

their Sunday best to play you. You always get the best pitchers matching up." This year, the Dodgers own home-field advantage against the team they beat four times in seven games during the regular season. "Because we're the ones that took it away from them, they definitely want to prove something," Hamels said. "If I'm able to go out and execute strikes and really get ahead of them, I can definitely make this a better game for my pitching." Torre went with Kershaw because he came up big in the Dodgers' division-clinching win against Colorado on Oct. 3. Kershaw pitched six scoreless innings in that game, striking out his first five batters and retiring his first 11 in a row. "He's the most mature 21-yearold kid I've run across," teammate Randy Wolf said. "At the same time, he's stubborn and that's good because I don't want a pushover guy. If he's throwing strikes, he's pretty amazing." The rest of the Dodgers' rotation will be Vicente Padilla, Hiroki Kuroda and Wolf, who would pitch Game 4 against his old team in Philadelphia. Chad Billingsley, who led the

Dodgers with 12 wins, will pitch out of the bullpen in the series. "I have no problem with it," Billingsley said, according to MLB.com. "I've always told Joe that whatever situation he puts me in, I'll always do the best I can. If this is what he thinks is best for the club, why should I get upset or frustrated? We're here to win games. We're not here for individual achievements." Jon Garland, who won three games for the Dodgers after being acquired from the Arizona Diamondbacks, was left off the NLCS roster. Kershaw will be backed by a starting lineup of Rafael Furcal, Andre Ethier, Manny Ramirez, Matt Kemp, Casey Blake, James Loney, Ronnie Belliard and Russell Martin. Ramirez wasn't a factor in the first two games of the division series against St. Louis, going 1 for 8, but he broke out with three hits and two RBIs in Game 3 to close out the sweep. "I'm comfortable all the time, my confidence level is up all the time," he said. "I'm just excited and can't wait to see what happens. The rest of the guys grew up a lot. They're more ready this time."

Manuel wouldn't disclose his rotation beyond Hamels. Kershaw was 0-2 against the Phillies in the regular season, but he plans an aggressive approach Thursday. "That's what I try to do every time," he said. "I'm not trying to sit up there and walk people or try and pitch around someone else. You can't go out there with that mindset. They've got a great lineup. But the pitcher's job is just to go right after them with your best stuff." The Dodgers worked out Wednesday in light rain and 89 percent humidity. The rain had ended by the time the Phillies took the field. Thursday's forecast calls for a high of 78 degrees. Reliever Jeff Weaver was sent home from practice with flu-like symptoms. He's the third member of the team to fall ill this week. Martin was sent home Tuesday. Hitting coach Don Mattingly also has been ill. However, Martin and Mattingly were both feeling better at Wednesday's workout. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Sports/

Internet News Record

Report: Players want Washington Redskins to endorse Jim Zorn

Rush Limbaugh to be out of bid for St Louis Rams

By ESPN.com news services (ESPN.com)

The team's three losses include a Week 3 defeat at Detroit, which ended the Lions' 19-game losing Submitted at 10/15/2009 8:12:08 AM streak. The Giants, who Washington Redskins coach Jim Washington lost to in Week 1, are Zorn appears to be sitting on one the only team the Redskins have of the hottest seats in the NFL. played so far that has a winning With uncertainty surrounding record. their coach, some players would Two of the players questioned like the front office to give the by the newspaper said that even a embattled Zorn a public vote of "no comment" by Redskins confidence -- if it doesn't intend to management will lead to division fire him during the season, The within the ranks just when players Washington Post reported. are attempting to salvage their SportsNation: Approval Ratings season. Only 12 percent of SportsNation A Redskins official refused to approves of the job Jim Zorn has comment when asked by the done with the Redskins this newspaper about Zorn's status on season. Just the Raiders' Tom Wednesday. In a conference call Cable and Bills' Dick Jauron rank last week, Redskins executive lower. Ratings vice president of football The newspaper talked with two operations Vinny Cerrato chose prominent offensive players and a not to give Zorn an endorsement. veteran defensive player who Mike and Mike in the Morning wished to remain anonymous. ESPN NFL analyst Mark "I wish someone upstairs would Schlereth talks about the former just say he's going to be our coach Redskins players speaking out for the season," one of the about coach Jim Zorn. Schlereth u n n a m e d p l a y e r s t o l d t h e says Zorn was set up to fail and newspaper. "That way, we don't it's the team's fault. Plus, Mike h a v e t o a n s w e r a n y m o r e Greenberg moderates as Mike questions about it and everybody G o l i c j o i n s S c h l e r e t h f o r knows we're in this boat True/False. together." More Podcasts » The Redskins are last in the Zorn has a career 10-11 record NFC East with a 2-3 record. The as the Redskins' coach. subpar record is even more Everyone from former stars Joe glaring because each of their Theismann and John Riggins to games -- including this week's people writing for the team's matchup against the Kansas City official Web site are ripping the Chiefs-- has been against a Redskins lately. winless team. "A lot of us have sort of

tempered ourselves, to be honest with you. The expectations for this team were so much greater coming into the year -- and they haven't come even close to living up to it," Theismann said in a telephone interview Wednesday. "It's the little things that bother the living daylights out of me more than anything. ... They waste timeouts at an astounding rate. To me that's disgraceful. That's Football 101," Theismann said. "Ultimately, where does it have to fall on? It has to fall on coaching and teaching." Theismann, for one, said the team is "fundamentally not sound at all," referred to how Washington "mucks along in futility," called the offense "inept," and added, "What is unacceptable is the lack of effort to do more than just what is required." “ "You're out of your league, Jim," and "you ... are not a head football coach in the NFL. High school? Definitely. You can coach in high school. You can coach my son in high school any time."”-- John Riggins on Jim Zorn Ex-players such as Hall of Fame members Sonny Jurgensen and Sam Huff -- whose framed photos hang on a wall outside the locker room at Redskins Park -- have questioned play-calling and individual players' fitness on game-day radio broadcasts. According to the Washington

Post, Jurgensen was particularly critical of quarterback Jason Campbell, saying during a pregame show last weekend he would have used backup Todd Collins instead and that, "I think Collins would have won all four of these games." Campbell's response to such thoughts coming from exRedskins? "You can't get mad," the quarterback said. "You can't agree or disagree. They're entitled to their opinion." Riggins, a Redskins teammate of Theismann's and member of the Hall of Fame, spared no one in a diatribe he posted as a video on YouTube, then linked to on his Twitter feed. Riggins on Cerrato: "You're a great guy, Vin, but you're no GM." On Zorn: "You're out of your league, Jim," and "you ... are not a head football coach in the NFL. High school? Definitely. You can coach in high school. You can coach my son in high school any time." Through a team spokesman, Cerrato declined to respond. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Submitted at 10/14/2009 10:00:47 PM

Sources: Checketts To Drop Limbaugh Sources: Checketts To Drop Limbaugh Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh was dropped from a group bidding to buy the St. Louis Rams. ESPN's Adam Schefter first reported the story on Wednesday. Limbaugh was to be a limited partner in a group headed by St. Louis Blues chairman Dave Checketts. Checketts said in a statement Wednesday that Limbaugh's participation had become a complication in the group's efforts and the bid will move forward without him. Checketts told the Associated Press he will have no further comment on the bid process. Three-quarters of the league's 32 owners would have had to approve any sale to Limbaugh and his group. Earlier this week, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay predicted that Limbaugh's potential bid would be met by significant opposition. Several players have also voiced their displeasure with Limbaugh's potential ownership position, and NFL Players Association head DeMaurice Smith, who is black, urged players to speak out against Limbaugh's bid. A Limbaugh spokesman told ESPN that Limbaugh would have no comment on Wednesday. Earlier, on his syndicated radio show, Limbaugh was defiant, RUSH page 55

Sports/

Internet News Record

Louisville Cardinals players Terrence Jennings, Jerry Smith to face single charge, won't miss any games By Dana O'Neil (ESPN.com)

Calif., and Smith, a 6-foot-2 senior from Wauwatosa, Wis., are scheduled to appear Monday LOUISVILLE -- Louisville morning in Jeffersonville City basketball players Jerry Smith and Court. Terrence Jennings each will face Pitino said both players only one charge stemming from understand the severity of the their involvement in an altercation situation. with off-duty police officers "Anytime you defy a police during the weekend, and coach officer, it's serious," Pitino told Rick Pitino said the two would E S P N . c o m . " T h e y w i l l b e not miss any game time. punished and are being punished Clark County (Ind.) prosecuting right now. But no, they will not attorney Steve Stewart said that miss game time." after reviewing the police report, The two were taken into custody he has decided to charge the two in Jeffersonville, following a with a single count each of confrontation with off-duty police resisting law enforcement. The o f f i c e r s d u r i n g a n a l u m n i misdemeanor charge carries a homecoming party early Sunday maximum of one year in jail and a morning. Jeffersonville is across $5,000 fine. the Ohio River from Louisville. The police report initially asked The police report said several that the pair be charged with off-duty officers -- all of whom multiple counts. were wearing T-shirts with â&#x20AC;&#x153; "Police" clearly marked on the Anytime you defy a police front and back -- were working at officer, it's serious. ... They will the party when a fight broke out be punished and are being inside. Officer Tom Mitchell punished right now. But no, they found Jennings pushing and will not miss game time.â&#x20AC;?-- Rick shoving people, according to his Pitino report. "People don't understand that Jennings was eventually police make a recommendation in escorted outside and placed on the the report, but the prosecutor ground but "continued to fight makes the decision what charges with officers; trying to get back to will be filed," Stewart told the his feet and refusing to place his Jeffersonville (Ind.) Evening hands behind his back," according News. to the report. Jennings, a 6-foot-10 Jennings said he wasn't aware at sophomore from Sacramento, the time he was being confronted Submitted at 10/15/2009 9:09:22 AM

by off-duty police. Officers needed to strike Jennings twice with the Taser to subdue him. Police said Jennings, 20, also had a low level of alcohol in his system, according to the report. Police said Smith, 22, approached officers after Jennings was placed in handcuffs. Smith, the Cardinals' team captain, refused to comply with requests to back away and resisted when an officer attempted to restrain him. After the incident, Jennings apologized to police and event organizers in a statement issued through his attorney. He said he had been minding his own business when he was provoked by a person he did not know. He also said Smith was only trying to help him and meant no disrespect to police. "I think Jerry saw a teammate on the ground and didn't want to abandon him," Pitino said. "I think he saw a teammate taking some pretty good blows and tried to help." Dana O'Neil covers college basketball for ESPN.com and can b e r e a c h e d a t espnoneil@live.com. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

RUSH continued from page 54 holding on to hope that he still could be part of the ownership group that buys the Rams. "This is not about the NFL, it's not about the St. Louis Rams, it's not about me," Limbaugh said. "This is about the ongoing effort by the left in this country, wherever you find them, in the media, the Democrat Party, or wherever, to destroy conservatism, to prevent the mainstreaming of anyone who is prominent as a conservative. "Therefore, this is about the future of the United States of America and what kind of country we're going to have." Without Limbaugh, Checketts and his group will have to find another partner. At the NFL owners meetings this week in Boston, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell addressed Limbaugh's potential involvement in the league and said "divisive comments are not what the NFL is all about." Goodell added: "I've said many times before, we're all held to a high standard here. I would not want to see those comments coming from people who are in a responsible position in the NFL -absolutely not." In 2003, Limbaugh was forced to resign from ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown after saying of Philadelphia's Donovan McNabb: "I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous

that a black quarterback do well." The Rams had no comment, reissuing a statement from Oct. 5 in which owner Chip Rosenbloom said a review of the team's ownership was under way and the club will make an announcement when it's over. Checketts, the chairman of SCP Worldwide, announced that Limbaugh had been dumped toward the end of a news release. "It has become clear that his involvement in our group has become a complication and a distraction to our intentions; endangering our bid to keep the team in St. Louis," Checketts said. "As such, we have decided to move forward without him and hope it will eventually lead us to a successful conclusion." The move was hailed by the Rev. Al Sharpton, one of the most vocal critics of Limbaugh's bid. "It is a moral victory for all Americans -- especially the players that have been unfairly castigated by Rush Limbaugh," Sharpton said in a statement. "This decision will also uphold the unifying standards of major sports." Information from The Associated Press is included in this report This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Sports/ Popular News/

The Count: A Very Unlucky Nats Fan (WSJ.com: The Daily Fix)

statistician at the University of California, Irvine, said. “The second is a nice retrospective In a Washington Nationals question (given this series of season that finished with 103 outcomes how could someone losses, the most in the major have been so unlucky). The only leagues, there was little good caveat to either number is that news for the team’s dwindling fan they are essentially asking the base. But at least the Nats had the probability that a specific person courtesy to win seven more games chance of 47/80, because one loss sees 0-19, not the probability that at home than on the road — was taken. The third’s probability someone in Nat Nation would roughly in line with typical home- of being a loss would be 46/79, have this experience. You need to field advantage in the majors — a n d s o o n . M u l t i p l y t h o s e know how many Nat fans went to and therefore won 40.7% of their probabilities for all 19 games and 19 or so games, which makes it home games. Associated Press you arrive at one in 131,204. not so unusual. (This is akin to the For the Nationals, 2009 home There are other ways to look at difference between a person games were slightly less awful it. Suppose that the Nats had a winning the lottery twice in a year than road ones. 40.7% chance of winning any and you winning the lottery twice Yet one unlucky Nats fan told given home game. Then the in a year.)” Washington Post sports blogger probability of seeing 19 straight As bad as the Nationals were, Dan Steinberg he went to 19 losses would be 48/81 to the 19th h a d t h e y s o m e h o w b e e n home games, and saw the Nats power, or one in 20,800. Or m i s t a k e n l y e n t e r e d i n t h e lose all 19 games. What are the suppose that the Nats’ 33-29 playoffs, they’d have had about a c h a n c e s ? T h e f a n , S t e p h e n performance in the 62 games 1% chance of winning the World K r u p i n , c o n s u l t e d w i t h K r u p i n m i s s e d w a s t r u l y Series, according to the blog Walk mathematician friends, and they indicative of the team’s quality. Like a Sabermetrician. That came up with a probability of one Then the probability was an calculation shows how likely it is in 131,204. That’s a reasonable infinitesimal one in 1.86 million. for upsets to happen even when a estimate, according to several “They are two slightly different team is much worse than its mathematicians I consulted. calculations. [One in 20,800] is opponents. Keep that in mind Here’s how to arrive at the the chance of seeing 19 straight before assuming that the Yankees estimate. Look back on the Nats occurrences of an event that and Dodgers will advance to the schedule and figure that Krupin happens with probability .6. [One World Series. The Angels and could have chosen any game as in 131,204 is] the probability of Phillies are nearly as strong. his first to attend. That game happening to choose 19 losing Hat tip: Deadspin. Thanks to would have had a chance of 48/81 games from 81 with 48 known statisticians Shane Reese and Carl of being a loss. His next choice, losses among them,” Hal Stern, a Morris for their consultations. though, would have a lower Submitted at 10/14/2009 3:01:54 PM

Internet News Record

Mom gets at least 6 years for attempt to kill kids (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News)

for a long time for what she did," Friedly's son wrote to the judge, saying he was "emotionally MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. – A scarred for life." woman with bipolar Friedly, appearing in court disorder"forfeited" her right to be shackled and wearing jail clothes, a mother when she served her apologized. children drugged hot chocolate "I love my children before setting the house on fire, a unconditionally, and I was sick," j u d g e s a i d T h u r s d a y a s h e she said, her voice breaking with sentenced her to six to 20 years in emotion. "The worst punishment I prison. can have is the loss of contact Tanya Friedly, 33, of Warren, a with my children." Detroit suburb, pleaded no contest Viviano noted that Friedly by all last month to one count of arson accounts was "a loving, devoted and two counts of assault with mother" but suffered from bipolar intent to murder. disorder with depression and Macomb County Circuit Judge anxiety. David Viviano also ordered "There's no question in my mind Friedly not to have contact with that you had and continue to have her son and daughter, who were a serious mental illness," the 13 and 10 when she took them out judge said, though not reaching of school early on Nov. 18, 2008, Michigan's legal definition of and told them she was going to a lacking criminal responsibility for psychiatric hospital. her actions. She then gave them hot Macomb County assistant chocolate, which made them prosecutor Michael Servitto said "lightheaded and drowsy," and set the six-year minimum sentence their home on fire, her son wrote will give Friedly's children time to in a letter to Viviano that was read grow up before having to confront aloud in court. Neither child their mother again. appeared in court, and Viviano There is a "special bond" asked news media not to identify b e t w e e n a m o t h e r a n d h e r them or the guardian now raising children, Viviano told Friedly, them. adding that her actions "severed "We're all going to go to a better that bond forever" and "forfeited place now," Friedly told her son your right to raise your children that day, he wrote. He then ran and be their mother." out of the burning building along This content has passed through with his sister. Friedly was pulled fivefilters.org. out by a neighbor. "My mom should be gone away Submitted at 10/15/2009 9:35:11 AM

Game/ Popular News/

Internet News Record

Profits up for top US banks (BBC News | Americas | World Edition) Submitted at 10/15/2009 7:49:17 AM

Report: EA acquires social games dev Playfish By James Ransom-Wiley (Joystiq) Submitted at 10/15/2009 12:20:00 PM

Industry sources claim EA has completed a deal to acquire social games developer Playfish, report Inside Social Games and Silicon Alley Insider. Unconfirmed estimates put EA's buyout bill at $250 million, while ISG believes Playfish could earn as much as $75 million in revenue this year alone. That's alotta money for those janky, little games on Facebook, right? For years, EA has been dabbling

in social gaming -- a slightly less dirty designation than "casual gaming" -- starting with the launch and consolidation of the EA Casual Entertainment division in 2007, and then with the creation of EA Blueprint expressly for social ventures in 2008. The company has done plenty of outside spending, too, like throwing some dollars at Napster creator Shawn Fanning for his Rupture service. Just this week, EA launched Pogo Puppies for Facebook -- which actually competes with Playfish's Pet Society(pictured above) -- and

scooped up social games publishing technology company J2PLay, as reported by Games.com. It's difficult to predict how EA Casual's major investments in social gaming might affect the EA Games label -- makers of the kinda games we care about-- but let's just hope there's a mighty thick wall between the two divisions. Okay, so maybe we've got some social anxiety, but we just can't stand the thought of our extravagant, big-budget, dim-thelights, and shut-out-the-world games go the way of the dodo.

[Via Industry Gamers] Source- Is EA Going to Buy Zynga or Playfish in Social Gaming Bid? [Inside Social Games] Source- Rumor: EA Acquires Playfish For $250 Million [Silicon Alley Insider] Report: EA acquires social games dev Playfish originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

Two major Wall Street banks have reported better-thanexpected profits between July and September. Goldman Sachs' profits for the period were $3.19bn (ÂŁ1.96bn), a four-fold increase from the same period in 2008. It has set aside $5.35bn to cover pay and bonuses for the quarter, an average payout of $172,581 per worker. Citigroup's profits also grew, but the much lower figure of $101m reflected the impact of the recession on its High Street banking operation. It is highly exposed to consumer loans and has more bad debts than Goldman, which concentrates more on investment banking; trading and helping companies to merge with each other. In the same period a year earlier, Citigroup had made a loss of $2.82bn. But its latest profit figure was significantly lower than the previous quarter, when it made $4.82bn. Citigroup is currently 34%owned by the US government and has written off more than $100bn of assets since the start of the credit crisis. Shares in both banks fell in early trading because while the results were better than had been expected, they were still not as PROFITS page 58